Advantages: nearly everything including the frame, forks, brakes, wheels and 1.5 big headset
Disadvantages: the shimano alivio front mech and the double chainrings on the front

...I had owned an older model of the cannondale chase 2, i think it was the 2004 one and it was excellent, only flaw being the avid cable disc brakes which i had to upgrade. I had had this for a while and thought of getting a new bike so i looked at the cannondale range as i liked my old one so much. I saw the chase 2 2007 model and fell in love with it. Among the strengths is the chase hardtail frame which is chunky, made from cnc machined 6061 aluminium which is mega strong and has nice simple graphics. Also the ISGC BB is great as it give you a better ability to keep the chain on when used with a suitable chain guide and single ring at the front. The forks are an upgrade from the 2004 model. The 100mm Marzochi dirt jump 3s are slightly better than the manitou stance 100mm which used to rock bottom if used for jumps. Although... Read review

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Advantages: Great read and quite beleivable
Disadvantages: None that I am aware of

...For all the insomniacs out there this particular book will make you want to do something about it. Stephen King once again takes something almost far fetched and makes it totally believable. Completely enjoyable book, although ordinarily I don’t go for books that deal with different dimensions and planes, after a dose of insomnia myself, you feel like anything is possible. Basically Ralph, the main character experiences an increasing case of insomnia after losing his wife and begins experiencing hallucinations. He eventually can tell who’s going to die next. He acquires a few new friends from the “other dimension” who are amusing short bald doctors. He also finds there is a another bald doctor brandishing a rusty scalpel who likes nothing more than to cut peoples "life lines" before they are ready to die... Read review

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Advantages: Grip, durability and looks
Disadvantages: Costly

...The Panaracer Fire XC Pro has proven itself to be one of the wisest, if costly, upgrades to my Cannondale Jekyll. In our murky winter (and summer) months you need a tyre that will cope in the claggy conditions, providing grip and shedding mud quickly and efficiently, but not so aggressive in tread pattern that it hinders progress on fire-roads and tarmac – The Panarcaer achieves this and is one of the most striking designs available, with its white writing emblazoned on the sidewall. It has performed admirably in the mulched leaves of the Dorking Redlands Trails; it kept my fatigued body moving on the punishing mud, roots, rock gardens, hairpins and drop-offs of the Afan Skyline Trail and has dug me out of the sticky Cotswold clay. A true all-round performer that is perfectly suited to our changeable climate. There are a great number... Read review

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Advantages: Any insomniacs out there...I believe this film was made for you!
Disadvantages: Its BORING as hell and was milked to the very end!

...has got him really confused! With all the comforts of home Washington tries to workout where the murdering collector will strike next! I think that he got his biggest clues from a book that the killer was using called (again no prizes) 'The Bone Collector'! It seems that the collector is not at all original and uses his techniques and ideas from this fictional book! I thought this would be one of those films where by the time it was half way through, the audience has guessed that the collector is the least implicated person in this film, but no not this film! It turns out that the murderer was someone who was seen twice throughout the film (for about 30 seconds each) and of course at the end when we realise that he's the bone collecting freak! This film is extremely sick, all I'll say is scalpel, no anaesthetic, blood curdling screams... Read review

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Advantages: see text
Disadvantages: see text

...Ruth Rendell, writing as Barbara Vine, once again uses her razor-sharp scalpel to dissect a dysfunctional family in "The Chimney Sweeper's Boy." She has done this many times before. Rendell shows how our "loved ones" have the power to destroy us and how families are the battlefield of humanity. This book is about Gerald Candless, a successful and famous novelist who has a wife, Ursula, and two daughters, Hope and Sarah. He treats his daughters like goddesses and he is indifferent and, at times, vicious to his wife. Sarah begins to do research for a biography about her father's life, and she finds that Gerald had hidden a secret identity from the rest of the world. Rendell makes the gradual revelation of the truth about Gerald's past extremely suspenseful. She brilliantly interweaves bits of Gerald's writing into the book to show how he... Read review

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Advantages: See Review
Disadvantages: See Review

...successful'.When you successfully complete the surgery you get a rank, A, B or C. Rank A is "Senior Surgeon", B "Specialist", and Rank C "Rookie Doctor". If you fail the Operation you get the message 'Operation failed'. If you fail the operation, you will get the chance to either Retry the operation or to Quit. On the left and right sides of the screen, there are small icons which are the tools that you will need to use, your clamp, laser, scalpel, and even antibiotic gel which will disinfect anything which you put on. The rest of the screen is the part of the patient you are performing surgery on. If the patient is uncut (which is most of the time) then you will need to cut open the patient with the scalpel very carefully using a steady hand. Depending on the patient, you could be removing a normal tumor or a GUILT-infected tumor which... Read review

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Advantages: Acting. Direction. Cinematography. Themes.
Disadvantages: Too subtle for the average cinema goer ?!

...This is a film in which very little happens. The timescale is a week, the characters are few, there is no action or special effects, the storyline could be written on a postage stamp and even the ending is underplayed and inconclusive. Hey and guess what, its not even very funny. but .... Lost in Translation has to be one of the finest pieces of film-making in years. Its precisely because it ignores all of the standard routines of modern cinema that it is so fresh and awe-inspiring. Instead of grand melodrama we are forced to take a scalpel to the minutiae of life: thanks in large part to the quite brilliantly subtle performances of Bill Murray and Scarlet Johannson and the seemingly nerveless direction of Sofia Coppola. The voyeuristic camera follows as these two mismatched souls -stifled by the claustrophobic intensity of high... Read review

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Advantages: Great idea for a game, excellent use of the stylus and double screen
Disadvantages: Soooo hard!

...In Trauma Centre you take on the role of Dr Derek Styles, who has just qualified as a doctor, and is still trying to improve his surgery skills. You are faced with patients who have a variety of different problems which you are expected to sort out with an operation. to begin with, the operations are easy, as simple as just opening up the patient, removing a foreign body, and stitching him back up again. You use the stylus to choose the tool you want to use - choices include scalpel, suction, antibiotic gel, dressings, bandages and lasers. The stylus becomes your tool, and you use it slice, cover, massage and stitch. The game is very enjoyable for the first chapter, but when chapter two gets underway it begins to become frustrating that you cannot cure the patient! It is so difficult at this stage. Dr Styles discovers that he has a power... Read review

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Advantages: Pass the time by piercing a percardium
Disadvantages: Minor niggles with the stylus

...Apart from Theme Hospital, Trauma Center: Under the Knife is the only other game I can think of to involve some sort of medical setting. Whilst Theme Hospital was more Sim City, in that you designed a hospital and tried to stop your patients from spreading epidemics or the MRI machines from exploding – Trauma Center puts you straight into the operating theatre, scalpel and all. The DS touch screen facility comes to the fore with this title. Using the little plastic stylus: you perform basic incisions into the forearm with a scalpel; make injections into some ugly swelling in an intestine to stop it from rupturing; use forceps to yank out large shards of glass from someone’s heart; make ultrasound scans by tapping the screen; or as a needle and thread to stitch back together whatever poor bugger you’ve just cut up. Trauma Center... Read review

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Advantages: 3 years contraception, hardly any periods, no need to keep taking pills
Disadvantages: None, just slight discomfort in arms for a short while

...puncture. It was then time for the extraction of the other one which I wasn't looking forward to as I had never had it doen before. My doctor asked whether I was ready again bfore he started. Firstly he got a scalpel and cut about an 8 mm slit in my arm by the old implanon, he then moved it around and put some odd shaped tweezers in to pull it out. It came out very easily and was quite painless at the time. He again put micropore on it when the bleeding had stopped. The whole process took about 25 minutes to complete. When I left he gave me a card with the date on, and another date which stated when I would need it replaced. It is now 9 hours later my arms are both a little bit sore, and there is a slamm amount of briuising. But I would totally recommend this form of contaception.... Read review

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