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Wheel of Time Series by Robert Jordan in general
by Zakalwe
I started the Wheel Of Time saga 20 years ago when I discovered The Eye Of The World, and have been reading the series on and off ever since. I got A Memory Of Light on release day in January, but have only just got around to reading it, and therefore completing the series.
The complete series spans 15 books, 14 in the main ... series and a prequel, and all 14 books of the main series are weighty volumes, typically between 800 and 1000 pages, so definitely not a light read. Robert Jordan died in 2007 following the release of the 11th book, but left extensive notes for concluding his epic, and the mantle was passed to Brandon Sanderson to write the final 3 books. (I would highly recommend Sanderson's own books, especially the Mistborn trilogy and Elantris).
Jordan created a fantasy world (similar in vein to Tolkien or Clemens) that cycles through repeated ages - any time epoch has both occurred already in the past, and will repeat again in the future. Fundamentally the Wheel Of Time is a story of the battle between good and evil; previously, "good" won, but failed to successfully banish the evil from the world completely, and it is now beginning to re-surface in the guise of the Dark One and his lieutenants. As the wheel of time turns towards the final battle again, the challenge is to win without making the same mistakes as the last time.
Jordan's style of writing is very detailed, often overly detailed, where sometimes pages could have been effectively condensed into a couple of sentences without losing anything from the story. I developed a very love/hate relationship with this, as at times of plot progression and action Jordan painted a very detailed picture that was a pleasure to read; however, it becomes frustrating to real page after page of nothing happening during the slower periods. This was seen with whole books too - the first couple of books read at a good pace as characters were introduced and the premise of the story was explained, but the middle books (5-10) largely felt like filler, where nothing of real interest happened until the final 100 pages, and the plot stagnated until the end of individual books. Although I liked Jordan's story and writing, I felt that Sanderson re-energized the series (books 12-14), and compared to the previous 11 books, he managed to fit a lot into the final 3 books, and successfully closed the majority of plot holes.
There are many, many characters in this series, and I guess everyone will find a few that they enjoy, and one or two that really are memorable. Or maybe that's just me, as they have been constant companions for 20 years. Jordan's characters are very gender biased though - there are some strong female characters, but they become typically stereotyped and not explored enough. It took Sanderson to strengthen them and address the divide, but he was limited by page-counts for publishers and the damage already done. Maybe that is one of the problems with a series that took 23 years - social opinions changed faster than the characters could be adapted.
My biggest criticism of the WoT series is the scope of it - it is too vast. It feels at times like Jordan started with grand idea's, introduced dozens of main characters, wrote countless tangent plot lines, and then ran out of steam and struggled to rein it all in again. The overall story could have been just as compelling if whole side plots were omitted and less characters were introduced. Although Sanderson claims he worked closely from Jordan's notes to finish the series, I wonder if Jordan himself could have completed it so successfully. Usually when I have been asked about the series, I have told people to read the first 5 books, then skip to book 11, and read the summaries for the middle books from Wikipedia.
If you have already started the series, then it is well worth completing it, as the final books really are as good as the first ones. If you are contemplating starting it, personally I would advise against it (or at least skip the middle books). If you are looking to get stuck into a long saga, go for A Song Of Fire And Ice (George RR Martin), or The Sword Of Truth (Terry Goodkind). Or even The Stormlight Archive (Brandon Sanderson), though that is in early days (only 2 books published so far).
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Jane Greenoff's CrossStitch Pattern Creator 2
by NUDUL
Jane Greenoff has a number of different design software out but as I have found from trying different ones, it is definitely not the most intuitive or easy to use. In fact, some of the features needed just aren't there like the ability to print a colour chart with symbols.
I have been cross stitching for over twenty years ... and designing for over five years. Like most, I started out small on graph paper with coloured pencils keeping it nice and simple. After that, I had to have a long period of time off work due to ill health. I was that poorly that I couldn't even get out of bed, stitching and designing were all that kept me going - staring at the same four walls day in, day out can be draining. So when my husband saw the software for £5 in The Range he bought it for me to try and to give me something to do during the day.
It took a little time to get used to, but quite soon after I had mastered the basics and I had managed to chart some small designs. I found I was still using paper and pencils first though, eventually, I managed to chart something without having to draw it out first. It was then on to working out how to print it in a way I could read to stitch. When buying cross stitch magazines, the patterns are always printed in colour with the symbols on and a key, however, most kits, have black and white charts with a key. The software would only do colour blocks (no symbols) or symbols in black and white. When it came to sizing for the printer I also had difficulty. Many cross stitch design programs allow you to select how many stitches per inch you want to print and how you want the chart positioned on the page as well as what information you print (things such as the colour key, page numbers and extra information you may have put in) but this one doesn't. You have eight magnification sizes and landscape/portrait options but that is about it. You have to print the key and information separate which takes up a lot of extra paper too.
The second disc has tutorials on it, for both stitching and designing, but I am not overly keen on them and didn't watch more than one or two as I didn't rate them. I am okay with speciality stitches but I can see how they would be of use to a new stitcher.
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Lush Shampoo Bars in General
by musicdave
If you want a shampoo that simply cleans your hair with mostly natural ingredients leaving your hair smelling fresh then the solid shampoos from Lush are a must.
The main thing that attracted me to the Lush solid shampoos is that they do not contain any preservatives. I was told buy a staff member in lush that because they ... make the bars solid and dry this allows them to be preservative free. There is a lot of controversy over different ingredients in products but when you look at the ingredients in the lush there is a very small list compared to other brands and most of them you can recognise compared to a list of chemicals.
I have tried a few different Lush shampoos but the one that I am using at the minute is the squeaky green solid shampoo. The shampoo leaves your hair feeling clean and smelling fresh. If you look at the list of ingredients below you can see names you can pronounce and that you can recognise unlike many other brands. The list below is for the squeaky green solid shampoo bar.
Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, Perfume, Rosemary, Nettle, Water, Tea Tree Powder, Peppermint, Rose Absolute, Chamomile Blue Oil, Vanilla Absolute, *Coumarin, *Geraniol, *Benzyl Benzoate, *Limonene, *Linalool, Hydroxycitronellal, Chlorophyllin
This shampoo is advertised as good for your scalp as the ingredients have different and beneficial properties. The nettle is used for healthy hair growth, the rosemary is antiseptic for a clean scalp, the tea tree is anti fungal and antiseptic, the peppermint is for itchy skin conditions, the rose helps to calm skin, the chamomile is used to calm skin and the vanilla is an antioxidant and leaves a fresh smell to your hair. These ingredients have other properties also which are beneficial to your hair and scalp.
I would recommend purchasing a solid bar soap tin which are only £2.50 as if you leave your solid shampoo lying around the shower it might get too wet and start turning a bit gunky.
All I do to use the shampoo is to wet my hair, rub the bar on my hair once and then that's it. Rub the shampoo in and your hair feels and smells so clean.
I know some people might think that this shampoo is a bit expensive but it lasts me for months and you know you are using ingredients that you can pronounce and that are natural without any preservatives. For £5.25 I think its worth it.
A really good shampoo, I would never change now. I am looking forward to trying the other shampoo bars to see how they compare.
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