The Voodoo Review: "PAUL" on DVD

PAUL on Amazon DVD

I missed this at the cinema because DS10 was too young to go, so we bought it the week of the DVD release.

I have to admit, I've watched it about five times already! Not only do I love the Pegg/Frost dynamic (Hot Fuzz, Sean Of The Dead), it's revisiting all of my favourite films as a kid. Star Wars, E.T, Explorers, Raiders Of The Lost Ark, Close Encounters Of The Third Kind, The Goonies, The Karate Kid, Aliens - so many classic old lines and images (and so many classic new ones!) crop up in perfect synch with the plot. It's definitely more a film for big kids my age than little kids, with the added kick that it's for grown-ups by the use of colourful and irreverently hilarious language, that kids my age have since learned is part of the real world :)

Also featuring Kristen Wiig (Whip It, Bridesmaids) and Jason Bateman (Hancock, The Switch), the cast is packed out with comedy talent, including the voice of Seth Rogen as Paul, Sigourney Weaver at her boss-like finest since Working Girl, and brilliantly clumsy rookie agents Haggard and O'Reilly, played by Bill Hader and Jo Lo Truglio, both of whom I'd quite happily watch played again in another movie... Bateman in particular seems set to take over the boots of Harrison Ford, having picked up most of his cult lines for the film. Wouldn't mind seeing more of him in action. Er, I mean, action roles.



If, like me, you spent much of your youth in the video store scrutinising sci-fi covers, wondering whether to watch Ice Pirates again or Return Of The Jedi, the film PAUL is the perfect reassurance that you're not alone out there...

L xxxxxxx

The Voodoo Review: The Great eBook Pricing Debate...



(Image by NASA) eBooks will never be found in future archaeological digs...

When I go into a bookshop, I don't find an enormous range of prices with various authors and publishers telling me their generic sci-fi book is ten times better than the one next to it, so they've slapped a price on it ten times bigger. If you're lucky, paperbacks all come in at around the same price, based on genre and length of book.

I've recently bought a tablet and started reading eBooks, and it's a disposable medium. If something is no good, it can be returned or deleted, similar to a library. If I love something and want to keep it to re-read, I'd buy a paperback copy. Having read one which was a bit of a disappointment not long ago, I was really pleased it was less than a quid's investment. I'd have put it in a second-hand bookshop if it was a real book afterwards, rather than kept or recommended it.

When you look at the top 50 UK Kindle books, most are under £2, some are even free, with only the very high-profile celebrity books sneaking in here and there at £4.99. It's an expensive toy to start with, so of course readers want to save on a few bargains once they've invested.

The charts are telling us what the people who read eBooks WANT to pay for their books, and HAVE paid.

All those books out there priced at £9.99 aren't getting a look in at these top rankings.

So I've put all my prices down to 99c/70p. (Except for my one 3-in-1 Heavy Duty Edition, still available at a whopping £2.12 for 1280 KB). Not because I want to get a top ranking, but because it's what the readers are demonstrating is a reasonable price, and what I've concluded from my own reading is reasonable. It's like a Lotto ticket every time - you may not enjoy the book, or you may love it and want to buy the hard copy. It's a small investment for whatever return you receive in entertainment terms.



(Beaulieu Motor Museum - Bond exhibit) Buy my expensive eBooks so I can get one of these! LOL :)

Eventually eBook pricing will find its own level, but it will be determined by what the readers are actually buying - not by the publishers.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lisa-Scullard/e/B004LW3TLA/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0

L xxxxxxxxx

The Voodoo Preview: Meet my stuff :)



OOAK projects (in progress - costumes to follow)

Too much time on my hands, obviously :)

L xxxxxxxxxxx