Reviews by Friends of CloudNine

AngelaWLaFon says "Variety is the spice of life and I like the Aramis Life variety." about Aramis Life Eau de Toilette Spray

AngelaWLaFon — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 04:29:57 GMT

Aramis Life Eau de Toilette Spray

I like it! My husband has been a Estee Lauder for Men cologne wearer for a long time and I love the scent. He occassionally also wears Royall Lymn which is a winner with me too. It's easy to get comfortable in our ways and in our sprays but recently my husband tried out some Aramis Life Eau de Toilette. I like this one too!

Aramis Life has been described as "woodsy" and "spicy." I don't disagree but to me the scent is really soft. I don't mean "baby" soft. It's a very manly scent but many men's colognes start out soft and end with an edge and this cologne is just really smooth all the way through.

Yes, the bottle is attractive too. It's a bright blue with a silver top.

Aramis Life is very reasonably priced. It's smells clean and manly but yet very smooth and soft. It's more of a casual scent. It's easily an every day scent because it's in no way overpowering but to me anyway, it's very attractive. It makes you snuggle up a little closer...

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bkovacs says "Good hard drive for the older laptop computer" about Samsung HM160HC 160GB 2.5-inch IDE/PATA Laptop Drive

bkovacs — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 22:54:35 GMT

I have a five-year-old laptop computer that came with a 60 GB hard drive. Although the computer generally worked fine, it had a couple of minor problems related to its Windows XP operating system. After all, the OS had been updated over five years, and the computer has had two different anti-virus packages running on it. That's a sure way to make a computer sluggish and occasionally ornery, which this computer was.

A solution was to reload the operating system and if I was going to do that, I wanted to upgrade the old 60 GB hard drive to something bigger. The catch was that this laptop is so old that it uses a hard drive connection standard called IDE (Integrated Drive Electronics), a standard that has been out of fashion for... well, five years. Please note that IDE means the same thing as PATA (Parallel AT Attachment), and that the "AT" in the middle of PATA refers to the now-ancient IBM AT computer that was state-of-the-art in 1987. We're talking really old technology here.

So I went...

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bkovacs says "This movie really left me "Up In The Air"" about Up in the Air

bkovacs — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 20:46:42 GMT

I usually like George Clooney in movies and the previews for Up In The Air looked good, so I went to the cheap matinee at the theater. I'm glad I did, as Up In The Air was a good movie, even if it had a vague and not particularly satisfying ending.

Ryan Bingham's (Clooney) job is to visit people at work and fire them. He is good at it, hiring his service out to weeny bosses who don't have the guts to do the firing themselves. Ryan flies all over the country and has accumulated millions of frequent-flyer miles, and is closing in on his goal of 10 million miles. He loves all the perqs he gets at the airline, hotels and car rentals.

He also loves the bachelor life, especially when he meets Alex (Vera Farmiga), a fellow frequent flier who shares Ryan Bingham's travel sensibilities. The two quickly spark a relationship that starts Ryan thinking that maybe flying solo isn't as much fun as it used to be. At the same time back at Ryan's home office in Omaha, a hotshot young business analyst named...

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CyndiA says "Invest in quality and have great meals and no replacing pans." about Le Creuset Stoneware Baking Dishes

CyndiA — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 19:58:25 GMT

My Granny got me a set of Le Creuset pans when I was in college which I still use and love, so when I broke a favorite baking dish, I decided to splurge on a Le Creuset stoneware baking dish. I say "splurge," because the Le Creuset line is expensive. But, when you use them for a lifetime, it makes sense to pay more and get good cooking gear.

My pots are the hunter green which I love, but thy now have lime in the green. I'm not so fond of that color. So, I went with the red. Online it looked more orange, but it turned out to be a true red. I was glad. I really like the red in the baking dish with the beige inside. Nice color combo. It looks fine to put right on the table for serving or to take to a pot luck dinner.

As far as how this pan bakes - excellent. Le Creuset is known for products that heat up well and even, and the casserole dish is no exception. This can make a big difference in how dishes come out. I don't get burned edges and soggy centers with this high quality bakeware.

I hope...

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CyndiA says "Wild n Mild is a great grilling marinade and mop style BBQ sauce" about Wild n Mild Grilling Marinade & Sauce

CyndiA — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 19:42:16 GMT

Wild n Mild barbecue sauce is one of my favorites. It doubles as a marinade for meats or can be brushed or mopped on throughout the grilling process, since it does not have a ketchup or tomato base.

This grilling sauce can be used on basically anything. We use it on steaks, pork chops, chicken, and vegetables. It adds an interesting flavor - kind of sweet but with a bit of zip. The hot version has more kick than the mild, of course.

For any hunters out there, Wild n Mild is very good on game meat. It helps pull the gamey taste out when used as a marinade and adds the nice sauce flavor.

We also use Wild n Mild for stir fry. Neither of my sons really like the taste of soy sauce. This is similar in terms of the texture, but the flavor is nicer in stir fry dishes. Wild n Mild adds the moisture and then sauces up so that stir fry meats and veggies are very good over rice.

I have a grill site called Yes You Can Grill, and I try out lots of barbecue marinades and sauces. Wild n Mild is one of...

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PattyTherre says "So sticky, I feel like I just smeared syrup on my lips!" about Avon Mark Caribbean Shine Lip Gloss

PattyTherre — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 07:45:54 GMT

Quick View: This product is more of a balm than a gloss. It is very thick and VERY sticky. It hydrates but it's too thick for me. I feel like I need to wipe it off!

My Take on Avon Mark Caribbean Shine Lip Gloss

This gloss comes in a clear plastic squeezy tube with a slanted plastic tip to apply. There are three "beachy" swirled shade combinations. I chose "Kiss on the Beach" which has swirls of pink, brown, and white. It's pretty to look at!

The gloss has a sweet taste and a chocolately scent. It's more like cocoa butter, I think, than a true chocolate scent. It lightly tints lips (in the case of Kiss on the Beach, the tint is a deep pink. The others are what look to be a brown and a coral) and does add shine.

My issue with this product is that it is incredibly thick. I usually like good coverage but sticky, gooey stuff on my lips is not a good feeling. No matter how lightly I apply, it's still very thick and sticky.

Usually when balms or glosses are this thick, they last a long time on...

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PattyTherre says "Tarte lifts me up where eye belong! Smooth, lifted eyelids." about Tarte Lifted Natural Eye Primer With Firmatrol

PattyTherre — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 01:01:53 GMT

Quick View: I always wear eyeshadow primer to lengthen the time my shadow stays in. I discovered Tarte Lifted Natural Eye Primer With Firmatrol on the Tarte website during a 40% off sale and decide dto try it. I really like the subtle lift and smoothing this product gives my lids and it's a good primer as well.

My Take on Tarte Lifted Natural Eye Primer With Firmatrol

This product comes in a typical mascara-like tube with a small sponge tipped applicator. It is a light nude color and very creamy. I just apply a couple of swipes of the applicator sponge along my lids then blend. It dries fast and leaves a smooth canvas for eyeshadow. It also almost immediately tightens the kids and smooths them for more youthful looking eyes.

Tarte Lifted Natural Eye Primer contains no Parabens, Petrochemicals, Phthalates, Sulfates, GMOs, or Triclosan. It is considered a "green" product due to its lack of chemicals and its special tube that breaks down in landfills much faster than similar tubes.

I find...

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Fardreamer says "Jaws 3 stinks worse than three-day-old fish!" about Jaws 3

Fardreamer — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 17:48:44 GMT

Although Hollywood studios did make a few movie series (The Thin Man, Andy Hardy, Blondie) in the so-called Golden Era of the 1930s and 1940s, the modern concept of the Big Blockbuster Sequel really didn't emerge until the 1970s, starting with Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather: Part II, followed by Airport 1975, Airport '77, and Jaws 2. And, of course, the phenomenal success of Star Wars and the subsequent The Empire Strikes Back proved to be decisive in the studios' increasing dependence on sequels to make millions of dollars at the box office, especially in years where there are no real "boffo" champs deserving of either critical or popular acclaim.

While all the major studios are prone to make totally unnecessary sequels, Universal Studios is perhaps one of the worst purveyors of Film Sequels from Hell, and one of the best (or is it worst?) examples is Jaws 3, which was originally known as Jaws 3-D.

The third film in The Series That Never Should Have Been a Series actually has the...

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PattyTherre says "If you're gonna do purple eyeliner, be HIP and do it right!" about L'Oreal HIP Color Truth Cream Eyeliner, Eggplant

PattyTherre — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 03:08:12 GMT

Quick View: I'm obsessed with the color purple and have been buying purple eyeliner and mascara but have generally not liked the color. I am brunette with brown eyes and I like a very deep purple as opposed to a violet shade. I tried L'Oreal HIP Color Truth Cream Eyeliner in Eggplant and wow! The liner is dark, deep, and very dramatic. I like it!

My Take on L'Oreal HIP Color Truth Cream Eyeliner, Eggplant 960

This cream eyeliner comes in Black, Teal, Navy, Brown, and Eggplant. I bought the Eggplant because I wanted a dark purple liner and this one looked very deep. The brush included is not great. I can use it but I prefer to use my Smashbox eyeliner brush for a much more even line.

The cream is very thick and only a bit is needed. It does glide on well and looks very intense. It is almost a black purple shade which is exactly what I wanted. Anything less would look kind of weird with my skin coloring and at my age (45).

The liner is super pigmented as all HIP products are. It is intense...

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BayouBengal says "Maybelline Dream Mousse Eye Shadow -- It's Moussey!" about Maybelline Dream Mousse Shadow

BayouBengal — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 02:15:26 GMT

I'm not a morning person but I'm also not one to go out of the house without makeup! And that goes for eye shadow too on most mornings. One of my new finds is Maybelline Dream Mousse Eye Shadow. I picked it up because I found it at Dollar Tree and I knew my daughter loved the foundation. So I decided to give it a try.

I bought the pastal lilac shade of Maybelline Dream Mousse Eye Shadow for only a buck at Dollar Tree. I picked up two different shades if I recall. I have opened and have been using the lilac shade for several days now.

Maybelline Dream Mousse Eye Shadow is a whipped formula of eye shadow that is very lightweight. The shade I have is a pastel lilac and it has a shimmer to it that is barely noticeable.

I love the way Maybelline Dream Mousse Eye Shadow applies. It dries quickly, and will allow for you to add another dab if you need the shade to be a bit darker. It is not sticky nor greasy. The slight shimmer is just enough to catch the light and add a bit...

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ChrisJarmick says "Solid Randolph Scott Western with superb supporting cast" about Ride Lonesome (1959)

ChrisJarmick — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 10:27:31 GMT

Budd Boetticher made at least 7 several solid Westerns with Randoph Scott during the 1950s. One of the first big screen CinemaScope pictures he directed was 1959's Ride Lonesome. It's a solid fairly simple Western dealing with classic Western themes. Well cast, acted and directed, Ride Lonesome's screenplay is solid and spare. The story slowly unfolds for us, but we are never bored.

Brigade (Randolph Scott) is taking dangerous outlaw Billy John (James Best) to Santa Cruz where he will most certainly be hanged for shooting a man in the back. We don't yet understand why he seems to want Billy's even more dangers brother, Frank (Lee Van Cleef) to catch up with him. He has his reasons, though.

Brigade meets Carrie (Karen Steele) a very attractive woman whose waiting for her husband to return. There are also two wanted men who have decided to hang out on Carrie's property and watch over her for a while. They are Sam Boone (Pernell Roberts and his friend (played by James...

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ChrisJarmick says "Holiday Movies and dozens of Sherlock Holmes movies too!!!" about Classic Movies, Turner Classic Movies Christmas & Sherlock Holmes Movie Marathons Dec 24 to 26 2009

ChrisJarmick — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 08:39:08 GMT

TCM, cables classic movie station has programmed a marathon of under the radar holiday movies followed by around 20 Sherlock Holmes movies airing December 24th through the 26th.

The Christmas Eve program begins with a wonderfully entertaining romantic comedy written by Preston Sturges and starring Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray. It's 1940's Remember the Night . MacMurray plays an Assistant District Attorney who falls in love with the shoplifter (Stanwyck) he is prosecuting. He doesn't want the woman to spend Christmas in jail waiting for her trial so he bails her out and takes her to her childhood home in Indiana, but Stanwyck's mom is cold and mean so he takes Stanwyck to his mom's home also in Indiana where she sees so much love and affection it changes her attitude about life and love. Of course both realize that soon they will have to return to the city and resume the trial. Will MacMurray blow his own case? Would she let him do that? It's a lightweight film...

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bkovacs says "Cars and comedy" about Top Gear

bkovacs — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 19:16:23 GMT

My oldest brother got me interested in a British car show called Top Gear and it's become a favorite in my home. Produced by the BBC in the UK, Top Gear is shown in the US on BBC America -- I've found that new shows are usually on at 8PM Monday nights.

Top Gear features three middle-aged but usually surprisingly childish men (Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May) talking about, driving, trashing and daydreaming about cars. Many episodes have an unusual challenge, which run the gamut from bizzare to spectacular. In the show I watched last night, the hosts had a race to see which could get to the magnetic north pole faster: a dog team or a Toyota Hilux pickup truck. (The Toyota won, but not by much.)

What makes Top Gear really distinctive is the humor on the show. It's funny to the point where I mostly consider Top Gear to be a comedy information show about cars. Jeremy Clarkson has a biting take-no-prisoners wit that is sometimes too sharp for my taste but is often right on the...

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Fardreamer says "Willis is watchable in 1990's otherwise too formulaic Die Hard 2" about Die Hard 2: Die Harder

Fardreamer — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 16:37:41 GMT

One of the predictable consequences of the success of 1988's Die Hard was 20th Century Fox's decision to greenlight Renny Harlin's Die Hard 2: Die Harder, a spectacularly violent sequel to Bruce Willis' star-making hit about a brave, wise-cracking police detective who goes mano-a-mano with a band of sophisticated criminals in order to save his estranged wife (Bonnie Bedelia) and other civilians.

The studio's big shots, of course, rarely see movies as works of art but rather as investments for which they expect at least some profit, so when a stand-alone film such as Airport, Jaws, Smokey and the Bandit or Die Hard makes more money than they put into it, the temptation to make them into franchises becomes irresistible.

Although Die Hard director John McTiernan had been tapped to helm the sequel (written by Doug Richardson and Steven E. de Souza), he had to pass because he was working on Paramount Pictures' The Hunt for Red October. Determined to release Die Hard 2 for the summer 1990...

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ChrisJarmick says "Garbo, Astaire, Bogart & Bacall in several movie gems!" about Best Classic Movies, Turner Classic Movies, Bogart and Movie Pairings December 22 & 23, 2009

ChrisJarmick — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 16:36:25 GMT

Tonight Turner Classic Movies offers 'The Same but Different' mini movie festival in prime-time, tomorrow throughout the day and evening its Bogart Wednesday and coming up on Wednesday and Thursday lesser known holiday gems fill the Christmas TV.

The Same but Different tonight offers two movies with different casts and directors that tell the same story, shown back to back.

The audience pleasing 1964 Oscar winning musical My Fair Lady kicks things off at 5 p.m. It's directed by George Cukor and stars Rex Harrison as the phonetics instructor who bets that he can transform a lowly street urchin into a proper lady. The 'lady to be' is Audrey Hepburn.

The musical is based on the Broadway show that was based on George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion. And so at 8 p.m. on the West Coast, TCM offers the 1938 screen adaptation of Shaw's non-musical stage play, Pygmalion. Shaw wrote the screenplay himself and won an Oscar for it. That makes George Bernard Shaw the only writer to win both...

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vivasuzi says "Soft, warm and comfy - what more do you need!" about Martha Stewart Everyday Extra-Soft Blanket

vivasuzi — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 03:46:01 GMT

I never buy Martha Stewart brand things, not that I have anything against it, I just don't tend to buy it. My Grandmother-in-law gave us the Martha Stewart Everyday Extra-Soft Blanket at our wedding shower and we just busted it out this winter.

The Extra-Soft blanket is - extra soft! It says it's made of microfiber yarns. I'm not sure what that means but it must mean something that makes it soft. We have a queen/king size blanket so it fits great on our bed. We put it on top of our other blankets as an extra layer on really cold nights and it really helps keep us warm.

Outside of bedtime, I use this blanket a lot in the living room while I watch tv or work on the computer. It may be queen/king size, but I love how warm it keeps me so I pull it off the bed often :) It's so soft and cuddly that I can fall asleep and take a nap with it anytime. The great thing is, I never feel overly HOT when I use this blanket. I feel warm and toasty but not hot. So I don't end up...

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bkovacs says "A sports movie about rebuilding a country" about "INVICTUS"

bkovacs — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 21:14:22 GMT

Invictus is not a great movie but it is a good movie. It starts as Nelson Mandela (Morgan Freeman) takes over as the president of South Africa, in an orderly change that few scarcely dreamed would happen. Mandela immediately cuts off any talk of reprisals against the former white government and invites the remaining white staffers in the building to remain a part of his government. This includes assigning four white policemen to Mandela's security detail, which infuriates the the black captain who now runs the detail.

At the same time, the Springboks (South Africa's rugby team) are playing badly. The team is hated by black South Africans, who cheer for whichever team opposes the Springboks. The rugby World Cup is coming up in a couple of years and it will be hosted by Sough Africa, so Nelson Mandela has an idea: Can the Springboks be turned into an icon of a new inclusive South Aftrica? He reasons that whites and blacks cheering for the same team will be an important step to drawing...

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ChrisJarmick says "One of the Best Movies of 2009, much better than expected" about Up in the Air

ChrisJarmick — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 16:20:09 GMT

Up In the Air is NOT the warm predictable romantic comedy you might think it is from the ads. It's also NOT a savage satire on cold corporate business practices either. I can't tell you exactly what the movie is without spoiling it for you, but I can assure you unless you are looking for a dumb formula romantic comedy, or don't like smart movies--you are going to like this one.

There's something to think about AFTER the movie is over with Up in the Air, and that only happens with a handful of big studio movies per year (if we are lucky). So that makes this one of the best of 2009.

Oh sure, the movie at times seems like a romantic comedy and you'll find things to laugh at, and Clooney is in a slick movie star kind of mode here---but there's more. In fact a lot of very keen, smart observations are made throughout the movie. You'll recognize a lot of moments from your own life within this movie and never are you hit over the head or treated like an idiot when your watching...

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PattyTherre says "Nothing magic about this air freshener. Didn't last long at all." about Citrus Magic Solid Air Freshener (227 Gr.; 8oz)

PattyTherre — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 05:54:49 GMT

Quick View: This product is natural which is clearly a plus but not only is it big and ugly, it doesn't last long at all. For $6.00, I expect a solid freshener to work for at least a few weeks. I am not at all impressed with Citrus Magic Solid Air Freshener.

My Take on Citrus Magic Solid Air Freshener

This product comes in a round, white plastic tub with slits in it for the solid freshener inside to release its scent. It's big and ugly so I hide it behind things or put it near the litter box but it doesn't have the power to destroy tough odors like litter box type ones.

I bought the Citrus fragrance. There two others as well. It smelled orangey and decent when I opened the package but it soon faded. It was only fresh smelling for a week or two and then I smelled nothing at all. Now, this is a natural product and does contain charcoal to absorb odors so it could have been doing so without a scent but I didn't feel the house smelled fresher after a couple weeks of using the Citrus Magic Solid...

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Fardreamer says "De Palma's Mission Impossible reboot goes on Cruise control" about Mission: Impossible

Fardreamer — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 17:13:59 GMT

In 1996, 30 years after its debut on the CBS television network, producer Bruce Geller's spy-action adventure series Mission: Impossible followed Star Trek from the small screen into the silver screen when Paramount Pictures released Brian DePalma's film adaptation, which stars Tom Cruise as IMF operative Ethan Hunt and Jon Voight as Jim Phelps.

Because the series was so much a product of the Cold War - proving Nicholas Meyer's statement that "all art reflects the times in which it's created" - storywriters Steven Zaillian and David Koepp and screenwriters Koepp and Robert Towne couldn't simply take stories from the old show and update them for the film.

They could, however, take some of the series' basic premises and one character (Phelps) and try to extrapolate what the end of the Cold War has wrought on the IMF team and its leaders now that the Iron Curtain has fallen and their roles and missions are being redefined.

The big issue faced by Zaillian, Koepp and Towne was this: Tom Cruise's...

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