Advantages: Amazing Graphics, Great Stroyline, Wide Array of Weapons, Amazing Multiplayer
Disadvantages: Can be slightly repetitive

...After replaying the marvel that is Halo 2 again on my Xbox, I felt compelled to write a review. As most people probably know by now, you play as the Master Chief, but in this game you can also play as a member of the Covenant - the Arbiter. From the 1st few minutes of the first level, you are thrust into the action, defending a space base from a Covenant invasion, which, in my opinion, really helps you to settle into the game very quickly, when blasting the heads off various enemies. Witihn the first couple of levels, you can obtain various destructive weapons, such as the Rocket launcher and the amazing Shotgun, which can blow enemies to pieces. However, the game really comes into its own when playing Multiplayer. Having played a Slayer Dearhmatch with 3 friends, I can say it truly is amazing. I have had a bit of a go on Xbox Live... Read review

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Advantages: Good chick flick
Disadvantages: well used story line

...Said by John Urgayle in the movie. Watched this for the first time the other night and really enjoyed it. Story ******* Demi Moore plays Lt. Jordan O'Neil an inteligence officer picked to train with the navy SEALs by the politicaly ambitious Senator Lillian Dehaven ( Anne Bancroft ). The senator wants to prove women are as able as men to fight on the front line. Jordan had always wanted to be a front line soldier so jumps at the chance to help prove a point. She is the thrust into the very male world of the navy SEAL and meets resentment at every turn. The Commander gives her special privilages such as seperate bunk but Jordan shuns these to be on a level pegging with the boys. She meets her Master Chief, a tough, no punches pulled man played wonderfully by Viggo Morensen (Crimson Tide, Lord of the Rings). She is tested to the limits... Read review

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Advantages: Entertaining novel with unusual backdrop
Disadvantages: Not the author's best effort, a little predictable

...to be the great oeuvre that he wants it to be, it must contain the instructions for a master fencing stroke: the perfect, unstoppable thrust. He works on this day and night, but cannot come up with the perfect thrust. He does however have a thrust which he teaches only to a special few who have a certain level of practice in fencing: the two-hundred escudo thrust. He is approached by the beautiful Adela de Otero to learn the two-hundred escudo thrust, and when he takes her onas a pupil he finds himself unwittingly mixed up in dark political intrigues. The novel is told in the third person, and centres around Jaime Astarloa. However, there are several other characters who provide the framework for the novel: Adela de Otero, the beautiful mysterious woman who appears almost from nowhere; Luis de Ayala, a member of the aristocracy whom Jaime has... Read review

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Advantages:
Disadvantages:

...Metallica goes pop. This is the album which thrust metal maestros Metallica firmly into mainstream musical culture, following on from the highly acclaimed thrash fest ‘…And Justice For All’. Die-hard thrash metallers may be disappointed that the god-fathers of thrash have produced an album that is so accessible – and some have even made claims to the band selling out and following a cash cow with this release. Gone are the 10 minute (or longer) epics to be replace with shorter more radio friendly numbers which would reach a larger audience. Gone too is the aggressive thrash style to be replaced with a much slower style and an album full of songs which will appeal to those who do not like thrash as a general rule. However to accuse this album of being a sell-out is plainly stupid... This album may be different to the aggressive... Read review

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Advantages: Excellent shape
Disadvantages: No force feedback

...... Read review

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Advantages: Pacey thriller
Disadvantages: adapted into an awful film

...The Firm is the book that really brought Grisham into the spotlight and it is not hard to see why. The master of the legal thriller, Grisham has such a love for his subject which supported by gripping storylines and believeable characters creates the basis for some of the best literary works around. The firm is no exception, it is beautifully written, it is at times very fast and intense yet does not seem rushed. The characters are also given time to develop and Grisham's descriptive style help you familiarise with the setting. The story itself focuses on Mitch McDeere and his wife Abigail. Mitch has had to work for everything during the course of his life after coming from a poor family, while his brother Ray went to prison Mitch went to law school. Things start to get better however when Mitch passes the Bar exam with flying colours... Read review

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Advantages: Realistic steering and speed controls
Disadvantages: No force feedback

...... Read review

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Advantages: See opinion
Disadvantages: see opinion

...Four tracks is all you get on this mini LP. To be fair, it has to be said that they're pretty damned good four tracks, two of which are performed live and these prove the point that dynamite comes in small packages "Bad" at 8 minutes long ultimately has Bono thrusting his tonsils at full pelt. The gentle start coaxes a bit of gentle head nodding before building up into the jumpaboutalot sort of style you develop after listening to U2 over the years. I defy you to not go wooooohoooo! towards the end. A personal favourite now with "A Sort Of Homecoming". This is a fantastic track and worth the price of the album alone. Bono does a masterful job of cranking up the pace and passion, and at only 4mins 40secs it is CRIMINALLY short. What a voice! What a band! Fan-bleedin'-tastic. "The Three Sunrises" sadly suffers a little having had... Read review

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Advantages: The first in a new series from a wonderful author
Disadvantages: None in my opinion

...Vetch is an Altan serf owned by a Tian master. His family once owned the farm on which he now lives as a serf. When the Tian army came, they killed his father and took the farm. Then they parcelled out the land to their own people, along with all the remaining members of Vetch's family, as Tian law states that no one may own land that does not own a serf who was originally tied to that land. However there are no Tian laws governing the treatment of such serfs. Vetch has a miserable existence, overworked and practically starved, until the day one of Tian's dragonriders, known as Jousters, lands at the farm in search of refreshment. Seeing the master's unnecessarily harsh treatment of Vetch, he decides to appropriate the boy to become his new dragonboy. Vetch finds himself thrust into a new life caring for the dragon of Tian's most well... Read review

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Advantages: An inspiring book that can improve the quality of life.
Disadvantages: ...

...As you would expect from me, this is a review about a book that is very Zen-related. Its author Karlfried Graf Von Dürckheim (1896-1988) was a philosopher and psychotherapist who lived in Japan learning the techniques of zazen (meditation) from Zen masters. A technique that focuses on the hara (lower abdomen) that is equivalent to focusing on the centre of Self - or True Essence of Being. I would think, that living to the age of 92, as many Zen masters tend to do, he learned something of considerable value for living in today's modern world. Dürckheim writes in an authoritative and convincing style that is also very inspiring, yet it is a style that seems devoid of ego. Hara, The Vital Centre of Man is a book I have owned since the early 80s and still refer back to its pages from time to time. It is not a long book being just over... Read review

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