I was lucky enough to have heard the album before its release date, thanks to a full (LEGAL) preview of it on the MuchMusic website. I must have listened to it about three or four times on that free stream alone, before finally getting my hands on a copy for my birthday.

If you love City and Colour, you will not be disappointed with this album. If you don't love City and Colour, you may well be pleasantly surprised by it.

While it does have its acoustic songs, which is what City and Colour is known for, Dallas Green has branched out further this time and has experimented with more instruments and tracks that have more of a beat.

The first single off of this album, 'Fragile Bird,' is only the first example of this; it's dark, its sound is gritty, and those who are not big fans of acoustic music will get a taste of what Dallas has to offer.

Another great example is 'Weightless,' where, upon one such live performance, Dallas himself told the audience that they could, 'feel free to dance.' It's a bit heavier on the rock side than most City and Colour music, though certainly not anywhere close to Alexisonfire fare.

The lyrics, as fans (myself included) have come to expect, are beautiful and poignant. They are oftentimes sad, but what strikes me most about this album is how many times I stopped and felt a small tingle run through me as I thought, 'this is exactly what I'm going through right now.'

The title track, 'Little Hell,' specifically made me feel this way. If you are going through a tough time in your life, the lyrics will no doubt resonate on a very deep level with you.

This album is nothing less than pure and sincere -- something which so many musicians are lacking these days. Give it a listen. I'm sure you'll love it.

We had heard how awful this movie was and we thought we'd get it just for a laugh. It was indeed the worst script, worst acting and worst editing ever seen in a movie. I hope there will be a sequel.

We ordered this movie after hearing from someone else that it so bad it was good! It definitely met with our expectations which were very low. The movie arrived quickly and in perfect condition! I'm sure we'll watch it many more times when we want a laugh.

It may be short (approx. 32 minutes in length), but it's tougher than most longer workouts on the market, and definitely tougher than her other DVDs!

This workout uses compound muscle movements to ensure that you're working multiple large muscle groups at once, meaning that you're burning more calories than if you isolated the movements. It also means it gets your heart rate up significantly and keeps it there, as the moves are fast and challenging.

If you're a less experienced exerciser, there is a woman in the background who does all of the movements without weights. As a long-time exerciser, I'm used to using heavier weights (10-30 pound weights), but I had to go through the workout with as little as 5 LB dumbbells, which surprised me.

There are no actual 'cardio' moves in the sense that you're not doing jumping jacks, high knees, etc. You're relying on the fast pace and muscle fatigue to increase your heart rate to the cardio zone. I was dripping sweat onto my exercise mat by the end of this workout!

Jackie takes you through a warm-up, lasting approximately three minutes, before moving into the workout. The exercises are done for one minute each and go as follows:

Shoulders/Gluts:
-Plie squat with shoulder raises
-Static runner's lunge with rear delt flyes (one minute per leg)
-Curtsy squat with a side kick and punch (one minute per leg)
-Squat overhead press

Quads/Arms:
-Static squat with bicep curls
-Forward lunge with tricep headbanger
-Forward lunge with chest press
-Backward lunge with front kick and punch (one minute per leg)

Back/Chest:
-Static squat with alternating row
-Bridge chest flye
-Walkout pushups with military press
-Elbow to knee (one minute per side)

Core & More:
-Split squat with an oblique woodchop (one minute per side)
-Knee raises with bicep curls (one minute per leg; outward bicep curls are done first, followed by regular bicep curls)
-Leaning shoulder raises (one minute per side)

To finish, Jackie takes you through a stretching routine for your cooldown. Again, this is only about three minutes, and while I found that to be sufficient enough for the warm-up, I find it important to stretch for a longer period of time after a workout, so you can continue on after she's finished.

I would definitely recommend this DVD for those who are strapped for time but still want a solid workout, as well as those looking to advance with their exercise routines -- this will likely throw you for a loop the first time. It's definitely challenging, and I'm looking forward to seeing some improvements in definition.

I think I made it about halfway through before giving up. As such, I can't give an opinion of the book as a whole, however, there are a few problems I can discuss which led me to tossing the book aside.

There is little time for introduction to the characters before Scott takes you right into the action side of things. Therefore, there is no rapport between the reader and the main characters, as you have no idea who they are, what fuels them to act the way they do, what they care about the most, et al. It's all set up so quickly that you just don't feel like you'd care if anything bad happened to any of them, and indeed, it seems trouble is afoot, so it's good to establish that connection from early on.

The writing style itself is a bit juvenile. I went into this expecting a series at least close to the calibre of Harry Potter, but I was severely let down. As J.K. Rowling's narrative can span generations, and can be read by both young and old alike (and still be enjoyable to both), these books have only one target audience: children. I would only recommend it to ages seven to fourteen. Anything above that and you will easily grow weary of how easy it is. I'm well above that, so it's not hard to grasp why I was thrown into tedium by it all.

The book itself, while its subtitle may be 'The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel', didn't seem to focus too much on Flamel himself, rather the people around him. There is surprisingly little insight into the [title] character of Nicholas Flamel, as the book focuses much more on the twins, Josh and Sophie, instead. This could have been manageable, had Scott painted a much more fascinating portrait of the two; again, though, this leads back to not setting up a solid foundation for the characters. There is nothing to know about them and thus, it's not very interesting.

I may consider giving this book to a younger relative instead. Hopefully they will get more enjoyment out of it than I did.

As such, I think I will keep this review fairly short, if I can.

The first thing which is in need of pointing out is that people seem to think that reading a larger book -- somehow, don't ask me how -- makes you smarter. 'Oh, I'm reading this 588-page book, it's big, good on me.' This is not necessarily true.

The second thing I need to say is that, up until now, I have liked Neil Gaiman's novels, contrary to what I'm about to say.

This book is very long-winded, often times not adding many plot points where it probably should. This hinders the reader from getting too engrossed in whatever may be happening, as Gaiman can't seem to keep focus on one thing at a time, veering off in a completely different direction when he should be trying to create a connection between reader and character.

This book is very much based on mythology, what with the Gods and all of that, and that's fine. That's good. That should be INTERESTING, when using it as the source for your fictionalization. Somehow, though, it's not, with many of the -- what should be -- fantastical creatures becoming humanized to the point that it's dreary. There is not much action at all, even though the text suggests that there is some sort of huge conflict between two sides of a war.

Which brings me to this last problem: there is no conflict to wrap things up. With the aforementioned warring beings, you would think it would be very hard to stop them from causing destruction to not only themselves, but to the humans as well. Everything ends way too easily, though, with a single human able to stop a single fight from occurring. Literally, nothing happens where something should.

Going back to the very first point I made, this is not a hard read. It does not require much, or at times, any, thinking. This is a case where the book -- maybe even its author -- thinks it's more clever than, in actuality, it is. You will see that fairly quickly.

Perhaps the most shining moment of this novel is Gaiman's characterization of a girl named Sam. She was crafted with care, and her depiction is certainly the most unique one in this book.

Considering this novel is about Gods, I think that's saying something.

A sincere and intimate look into the life of a man coping with the loss of his lover.

George is written as a wonderfully quirky character, with thoughtful insight into his day-to-day life leaving the reader feeling as though they were looking through his eyes.

As George goes through the motions of everyday life, he experiences 'spasms' of pain, internally torn at the memories of Jim which continually seem to interrupt his day, no matter what he's doing at that moment in time.

Every time George feels a spasm, you feel it, too, the words jumping off of the page and tugging at you until you're experiencing the same complex emotions this character -- truly, this man -- is feeling. That takes excellent description and over all wonderful writing.

If I have one beef with this splendid, touching, raw novel, it would simply be that it is far too short; indeed, finishing it in just a scant few hours, I felt myself longing for more.

This is a prime example of an author who truly knows the value of good storytelling. Dennis Lehane has spun a masterful tale, providing colourful description to create engaging characters, dialogue, and chilling atmosphere.

The novel is split into four sections, one for each day. It should be said that through the entirety of the latter end of the book -- the last sixty pages, or thereabouts -- I had chills, and my heart was pounding. As each character grows more paranoid, Lehane encourages the reader to sink into paranoia along with them.

If you are like me, you like a good twist -- key word there being GOOD. Although I was able to guess a couple of things ahead of time, it's nearly impossible to guess them all; making those few guesses (and being right) detracts none from the well-written story, which flows so well from the very beginning to the very end. It won't leave you feeling empty, like many twists will, because it is executed just so, leaving things open-ended enough for several interpretations of what really went on at Ashecliffe Hospital.

I've been following a strict regimen of diet and exercise for just over a year now, but I needed something more challenging. I ordered this DVD, which arrived this week, and I've been sweating it out big time!

I love that the workouts are challenging without making you feel like you want to give up; your muscles are constantly in motion, creating a lovely thermal burn which feels even better after you've stretched in the cool-down section.

Violet Zaki's approach is simply to give it your best, 100% constantly. If that means following the lower-impact, lower-intensity modifications that another on-screen trainer is doing, she's fine with it! As long as you're moving, you're doing your body good.

I'm heading into this new program at 5'4", 125lbs with a need for a further reduction of stomach fat. I'm hoping this will help me in my fitness goals.

I just finished reading the book, going into it with very high hopes -- and have to say, I was greatly disappointed. The first quarter of the book starts out promisingly enough, written in a way that's mesmerizing and touching, keeping your attention locked for more.

The majority of the book is spent on simply fluff, things that could have been left out. It's like the writer had an idea, but kept getting distracted and veering off track.

The last part of the book was angering and abysmal, full of lazy ways to supposedly tie things together and make people satisfied, when in reality, it lacks any sort of fluidity or emotion.

I think what bothered me most of all was the fact that the cops pretty much weren't even trying to catch George Harvey. Consider the fact that he had previously been caught with a screaming kid in his car, giving the lame excuse of 'fixing her shoes', and yet no one called the authorities on him -- like what, that wasn't the least bit suspicious?

After George Harvey skipped town, the cops were able to link several different cases to him, through previous victim's names and a few objects (Susie's charm bracelet, for example), and yet, they never take up pursuit. Do they simply not care?

Don't even get me started on the whole I'm-falling-to-Earth-and-having-sex-with-my-teenage-crush-who-just-happens-to-know-it's-really-me-inside-this-body thing. Absolutely ludicrous.

The only thing that spared this novel from receiving an even poorer rating (1/5 instead of the gracious two), is due to its initial beauty; the glimpse into what could have been.