FEATURES
The Amazon Review Project
/ Dodie Bellamy's Writing Workshop
07.22.07
Megan O' Patry
Original Mane ‘n Tail Horse Shampoo and Conditioner
Bill was right you do have hair like a Palomino says Lee Horsley to Lindsay Frost in NBC’s 1997 TV movie, Palomino based off the Danielle Steel novel of the same name, which is my favorite Christmas movie of all time. (5 stars) This quote has haunted me like all great writing can do so that when I stumbled across the equine beauty line Mane n’ Tail at my local drug store, I was immediately thrown back to this timeless story of a big city photographer’s marriage gone awry, forcing her to seek refuge at a friend’s cattle ranch. Of course a freak horse accident leaves her paralyzed from the waist down but her hair is in top shape throughout the fifty-nine minute feature. And her savvy New Yorker sense kicks in when things get rough, allowing her to turn misery into second chance by opening a horse ranch for handicapped children! (I can’t wait for Steel to expand into graphic novels) A true tale trumpeting the tenacity of the human spirit. Surely her success is directly attributed to her palominic features. Had she been riddled with split ends, I doubt she would have survived the crisis at all. Thank goodness for main stay hair care. I imagine every sweeping landscape epic involving a horse wrangler has a couple of bottles of Mane n’ Tail on hand. Did you know there are over 2000 products in this line? My favorite is the original shampoo and conditioner although I do have the braid sheen spray and the hairdressing. As marketed, these formulas will offer the ultimate conditioning moisturizer for natural and synthetic hair. The line can be expensive, but if you order in bulk off Amazon as I do, you can save money on shipping and handling. As these products were originally designed for horses, they’re animal safe! But I digress as usual.
Roald Dahl’s Revolting Rhymes
I’m not sure I’ve ever taken to anything quite so fast; you know a connection is burgeoning when a book can be used on pubic transportation as well as under the dinner table. The illustrations alone cause a spark similar to wintergreen lifesavers in the dark of the bathroom. Remember that commercial? I’m still waiting for the option to pre-order commercials releases to dvd by decade. Perhaps they’ll divvy it up by category; I think I’d do just about anything to have the Honey Nut Cheerios version of A Christmas Carol at my beck and call. I’m sure Dickens would feel as I do, Ebenezer’s miser hood is left intact in his greedy display for General Mills cereal. He likes rhymes a lot. But I digress as usual. The good people at Amazon suggest pairing Dahl’s Revolting Rhymes with his Dirty Beasts. I say go for it- I did. The BCCB promises pithy language but it didn’t take the fun out of the book. I think the promise of pithy language is a foresight all it’s own, I know it forced open my wallet. (Note accidental pun)
Many fans of Dahl come to expect the absurd baked-in, unhygienic humor associated with classics such as The Twits and James and the Giant Peach but Dahl administers the same lack of consideration for sanitary situations in this collection, so there is no fear of disappointment. You can take this book anywhere. 5 stars.
Danger UXB mini series
Reminds me of a poem, like “The Charge of the Light Brigade,” but instead of the Crimean War we have World War Two and instead of Tennyson we have A&E. And the sappers aren’t nearly as romantic clearing away mud and debris to access bombs as Anthony Andrews is in disposing of them.
Why Anthony Andrews has escaped into obscurity, I’ll never know. If only they issued a glossy 8X10 calendar every year, I would be content. Half a league. Half a league. Instead I’m doomed to my pitifully minimalist collection of Andrew’s greatest hits, such as Agatha Christie’s Sparkling Cyanide and Danielle Steel’s Jewels. But I digress as usual. Into the mouth of hell! Sounds like a Christmas card. Can you imagine opening your season’s greetings to the image of a butterfly bomb or perhaps an exploding pier? Well, ours is not to reason why, ours is but to do and die. And many do in this short-lived series, which manages to box in everything from tea and toast to nightclub singers and your occasional adulterous visit to the country inn. And what a fancy car the man drives! You’d think the scarcity of petrol would have regulated the mount as a permanent lawn ornament, but Brian Ash (Ash, you funny Brits!) made mileage. Rode the six hundred he did.
Of course Andrews steals the series, but it also marked the great performances by actors who would go on to appear in groundbreaking work such as Judy Geeson in Episode 48 of the WB’s Charmed and Maurice Roeves as Col. Edmund Munro in The Last of the Mohicans. 5 stars.
Twinings English Breakfast
The original hand prop, a cup of tea- long before cigarettes or handguns became popular. And what a compatible beverage it is, friendly with cream, toast, scone, or gum. Why it wasn’t until I was able to dress my own cup that I realized Cremora wasn’t included in the individual tea bags, it seemed a natural combination. And what a deceptively passive verb steep is. To say I left the room to let the bag steep! Hmm….
I do know, without a doubt, certain activities lack luster without the participation of tea. Christmas shopping for one is best enjoyed while juggling an insanely hot cup of tea that is forever spouting up onto your hand, forcing you to stumble and knock passers by into oncoming traffic.
Board games become completely one-dimensional if there is no gigantic Styrofoam jug to accidentally fall, morphing the cardboard surface into a Chagall simulation.
And of course, television is best digested along the rhythm of slurp and gulp. I for one don’t think it’s possible to fully relate to any tragic situation without your palm sweating against a ceramic mug boasting a swollen Santa Clause. If it hadn’t been for Twinings English Breakfast, the intensity of Beaches would have surely escaped me. It is a particularly bold blend. But I digress as usual. 5 stars.
Michele Hayes
Spaghetti And Meatballs For All (Marilyn Burns Brainy Day Books) (Hardcover)
Once upon a time many years ago I watched my daughter Emma play with her cousin Brian, whom Emma lovingly referred to as Meatball . . .
San Francisco (1936)
The first time I met Charlie Beardsley he was staring intently at the window of a diner at the corner of Market and Larkin St . . .
45 Fantastic Fights of the Century
Emma and I sat on the couch watching the DVD of the 45 Fantastic Fights of the Century . . .
Besame Cosmetics Enchanting Lipstick
Enchanting, certainly. Rita Hayworth stood on the front steps of the Steinhard Aquarium waiting for director to make a decision about the shot . . .
Original Mane ‘n Tail Horse Shampoo and Conditioner
Bill was right you do have hair like a Palomino says Lee Horsley to Lindsay Frost in NBC’s 1997 TV movie, Palomino based off the Danielle Steel novel of the same name, which is my favorite Christmas movie of all time. (5 stars) This quote has haunted me like all great writing can do so that when I stumbled across the equine beauty line Mane n’ Tail at my local drug store, I was immediately thrown back to this timeless story of a big city photographer’s marriage gone awry, forcing her to seek refuge at a friend’s cattle ranch. Of course a freak horse accident leaves her paralyzed from the waist down but her hair is in top shape throughout the fifty-nine minute feature. And her savvy New Yorker sense kicks in when things get rough, allowing her to turn misery into second chance by opening a horse ranch for handicapped children! (I can’t wait for Steel to expand into graphic novels) A true tale trumpeting the tenacity of the human spirit. Surely her success is directly attributed to her palominic features. Had she been riddled with split ends, I doubt she would have survived the crisis at all. Thank goodness for main stay hair care. I imagine every sweeping landscape epic involving a horse wrangler has a couple of bottles of Mane n’ Tail on hand. Did you know there are over 2000 products in this line? My favorite is the original shampoo and conditioner although I do have the braid sheen spray and the hairdressing. As marketed, these formulas will offer the ultimate conditioning moisturizer for natural and synthetic hair. The line can be expensive, but if you order in bulk off Amazon as I do, you can save money on shipping and handling. As these products were originally designed for horses, they’re animal safe! But I digress as usual.
Roald Dahl’s Revolting Rhymes
I’m not sure I’ve ever taken to anything quite so fast; you know a connection is burgeoning when a book can be used on pubic transportation as well as under the dinner table. The illustrations alone cause a spark similar to wintergreen lifesavers in the dark of the bathroom. Remember that commercial? I’m still waiting for the option to pre-order commercials releases to dvd by decade. Perhaps they’ll divvy it up by category; I think I’d do just about anything to have the Honey Nut Cheerios version of A Christmas Carol at my beck and call. I’m sure Dickens would feel as I do, Ebenezer’s miser hood is left intact in his greedy display for General Mills cereal. He likes rhymes a lot. But I digress as usual. The good people at Amazon suggest pairing Dahl’s Revolting Rhymes with his Dirty Beasts. I say go for it- I did. The BCCB promises pithy language but it didn’t take the fun out of the book. I think the promise of pithy language is a foresight all it’s own, I know it forced open my wallet. (Note accidental pun)
Many fans of Dahl come to expect the absurd baked-in, unhygienic humor associated with classics such as The Twits and James and the Giant Peach but Dahl administers the same lack of consideration for sanitary situations in this collection, so there is no fear of disappointment. You can take this book anywhere. 5 stars.
Danger UXB mini series
Reminds me of a poem, like “The Charge of the Light Brigade,” but instead of the Crimean War we have World War Two and instead of Tennyson we have A&E. And the sappers aren’t nearly as romantic clearing away mud and debris to access bombs as Anthony Andrews is in disposing of them.
Why Anthony Andrews has escaped into obscurity, I’ll never know. If only they issued a glossy 8X10 calendar every year, I would be content. Half a league. Half a league. Instead I’m doomed to my pitifully minimalist collection of Andrew’s greatest hits, such as Agatha Christie’s Sparkling Cyanide and Danielle Steel’s Jewels. But I digress as usual. Into the mouth of hell! Sounds like a Christmas card. Can you imagine opening your season’s greetings to the image of a butterfly bomb or perhaps an exploding pier? Well, ours is not to reason why, ours is but to do and die. And many do in this short-lived series, which manages to box in everything from tea and toast to nightclub singers and your occasional adulterous visit to the country inn. And what a fancy car the man drives! You’d think the scarcity of petrol would have regulated the mount as a permanent lawn ornament, but Brian Ash (Ash, you funny Brits!) made mileage. Rode the six hundred he did.
Of course Andrews steals the series, but it also marked the great performances by actors who would go on to appear in groundbreaking work such as Judy Geeson in Episode 48 of the WB’s Charmed and Maurice Roeves as Col. Edmund Munro in The Last of the Mohicans. 5 stars.
Twinings English Breakfast
The original hand prop, a cup of tea- long before cigarettes or handguns became popular. And what a compatible beverage it is, friendly with cream, toast, scone, or gum. Why it wasn’t until I was able to dress my own cup that I realized Cremora wasn’t included in the individual tea bags, it seemed a natural combination. And what a deceptively passive verb steep is. To say I left the room to let the bag steep! Hmm….
I do know, without a doubt, certain activities lack luster without the participation of tea. Christmas shopping for one is best enjoyed while juggling an insanely hot cup of tea that is forever spouting up onto your hand, forcing you to stumble and knock passers by into oncoming traffic.
Board games become completely one-dimensional if there is no gigantic Styrofoam jug to accidentally fall, morphing the cardboard surface into a Chagall simulation.
And of course, television is best digested along the rhythm of slurp and gulp. I for one don’t think it’s possible to fully relate to any tragic situation without your palm sweating against a ceramic mug boasting a swollen Santa Clause. If it hadn’t been for Twinings English Breakfast, the intensity of Beaches would have surely escaped me. It is a particularly bold blend. But I digress as usual. 5 stars.
Michele Hayes
Spaghetti And Meatballs For All (Marilyn Burns Brainy Day Books) (Hardcover)
Once upon a time many years ago I watched my daughter Emma play with her cousin Brian, whom Emma lovingly referred to as Meatball . . .
San Francisco (1936)
The first time I met Charlie Beardsley he was staring intently at the window of a diner at the corner of Market and Larkin St . . .
45 Fantastic Fights of the Century
Emma and I sat on the couch watching the DVD of the 45 Fantastic Fights of the Century . . .
Besame Cosmetics Enchanting Lipstick
Enchanting, certainly. Rita Hayworth stood on the front steps of the Steinhard Aquarium waiting for director to make a decision about the shot . . .