Only Good Thing: Great being able to record onto DVD then give the DVD straight away to a friend to take home and watch.
I bought the Samsung VP-DC161 as a panic purchase. It seemed great value and so flexible with the DVD's. The first Camcorder broke within a week. The second one annoys me ever time I use it. The LCD screen is so bad you can hardly see what you are recording on it. I am now going to throw it away and write it off as a mistake purchase. REALLY, don't waste your money on it.
Well, at least they didn't call it "Narnia 2: Electric Boogaloo." Book 2 of the C.S. Lewis' much-loved 7-book "Chronicles of Narnia" arrives on waves of Disney hype and a great trailer. And while it delivers a very cool adventure story, it dumps lots of the big ideas that make Narnia so much more than just a cool adventure story.
A plea: If you still have not read these short, easy-to-follow little novels, now is the perfect time. Take the movie for a ride, then sit down with the book to soak up the whole satisfying experience.
The beloved non-human characters from the book are less appealing onscreen than on the page. Reepicheep the mouse and Trumpkin the dwarf are both less severe and less memorable. Aslan is more impressive-looking than in the previous film, but his role is reduced to a couple of cameo appearances. The story belongs to Caspian and the siblings.
If you can't forget Lewis's book, the film is kind of a downer. It lacks the character development and depth of spiritual insight that makes the books literary classics and so satisfying to read again and again.
The life of your average game is short. This is because we usually discard the games we've played. Like novels and hamburgers, we consume them, and then we move on.
Team Fortress 2 is not a hamburger. It should not be taken for granted.
This is a game that has seen every facet of its structure fine-tuned by top-level craftsmen. Its designers have refined the original shape of Team Fortress, like carving masters whittling away at a piece of prime wood. Every wall and weapon and machine gun turret feels as solid as oak. Every map has been reduced to its most basic form, play-tested and polished with a glossy varnish. The finished product positively shines.
Put simply, I'll not be buying Dell again. This is my second Dell machine and the second that has failed within a few months. First there's the DVD/CD drive that makes some discs sound like a tractor. Then there's the failure of the OS (something about BOOTMGR not being found - why not?). I had to reinstall the Vista OS. Result? The machine no longer talks to my wireless hub and the whole thing freezes when I plug in the ethernet cable. Dell help people weren't much, er, help. English isn't their first laguage (not a criticism of them, I should add) and this does pose problems. They seem keener to clear the call. Shame, as the spec is good and the design sensible (eg DVD and volume on the front). MAC book anyone?
