Quick Review: Australian Hotels

This is a sponsored post. To view my policy on sponsored entries click HERE.

Sydney is the most populated city in Australia, situated on the picturesque New South Wales coast to the south east of the country. It is a popular holiday venue and has hosted the recent 2000 Summer Olympic and 2003 Rugby World Cup. The city has a comfortable average temperature of 22 degrees throughout the year. Famous landmarks include the Opera House, which is home to Opera Australia and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. The Opera House lies on a small peninsula close to the impressive Harbour Bridge and is the ideal place to relax, enjoy the scenery and dine alfresco. Hotels in Sydney are the ideal way to relax and unwind and enjoy one of Australia's most cosmopolitan cities. The Darling Harbour Hotel in particular is ideally situated for the nearby exhibition centre and fine wining, dining and nightlife. Why not just take a relaxing ferry cruise while you're there?

Melbourne is situated to the south west of Sydney, on the coast of neighbouring state Victoria. It is the second most populated city and again has a comfortable coastal climate. It is famous for its contemporary architecture, fine gardens and extensive tram network. It has thrice been voted the most livable city in the world by The Economist. Hotels in Melbourne are also the ideal base to explore Australia's south eastern coast and check out the sights of the city.

Also in Queensland you'll find the state capital of Brisbane. Hotels in Brisbane provide the ideal opportunity to enjoy the South Bank Parklands and City Botanic Gardens. If you're after more adventurous activity then the Gabba and Suncorp Stadia offer a range of fine sporting activities, from the energetic pursuits of Australian rules football and rugby to the more sedate game of cricket.

For more information on Hotels in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane check the website.

Quick Review: KicksTime.com

This is post is sponsored by KicksTime. To view my policy on sponsored entries click HERE.

Anyone knowing me will know that I am perhaps the most unfashionable person in the world. Instead of going for expensive designer labels I head for the cheap unbranded alternatives - more practical than posey.

If I'd found the KicksTime website a bit earlier I might not be such a fashion outcast. Here you'll find a wide range of affordable branded fashion. Hot for August is a brand new range of Gucci loafers - you don't get any better brand than that. Other big brands include Prada, Lacoste, Timberland and Adidas. They've also got some great deals on Nike Air Jordans at the moment.

KicksTime also stand out from the crowd in that they offer telephone support and free shipping and handling to the US. They accept a range of payment methods for their convenient, user-friendly online shop.

For all your branded fashion needs head over to KicksTime.

Quick Review: Farreys.com

This is a sponsored post. To view my policy on sponsored entries click HERE.

As Britain is gripped in the middle of some of the worst summer weather we've seen in years it hardly seems appropriate to be talking about ceiling fans. Just incase you have found yourself in the middle of a summer heatwave you should look no further than Farrey's for ceiling fan refreshment.

Farrey's are a leading US supplier of ceiling fans, light fittings and various other household fixtures. In this post I'm concentrating on ceiling fans, of which they have over 400 distinct styles from 13 different manufacturers. As if that selection wasn't enough, they also allow you to customise your fan using their wide range of blades, motors, downrods and other spare parts. A brand new range from the Casablanca Fan Company is just in stock. Casablanca fans are built with quality and energy efficiency in mind and come in a wide range of traditional and contemporary styles. The le Grande model, with carefully-crafted veneer blades, is shown as a contemporary example in the image above. The Casablanca range also has desktop fans and fans for damp conditions. Minka Aire ceiling fans are another new addition to the Farrey's catalogue. Just as the website tells you, these things really do have a unique combination of form, function and design - some of the traditional and retro models are particularly unusual.

What better way to relax over the summer than with a nice cool beer and the cooling breeze of a Farrey's fan? For further information visit the Farrey's website.

Quick Review: Hawaiian Beach Rentals

Imagine waking up in the morning and walking directly out onto a sunkist terrace with golden sands stretching for miles and the taste of salty sea breaze on your lips. The turquoise sea rumbles in the distance and bird chatter in the trees in your own little piece of paradise. All this can be yours if you go to Blackpool! Failing that you might like to try Hawaii instead. Poipu beach perfectly matches the little piece of paradise I mentioned before, but the weather is decidedly better than Blackpool. The ideal way of enjoying these stunning surroundings is to rent a beach front condo. You can also get a great condo rental rate kauai (whatever that means). A condo offers a style of living that can't be matched by a hotel - there's a great social interaction with everyone under the same roof with their own amenities. Best of all it offers you ultimate freedom to enjoy your surroundings any way you like.

For further information visit the Hawaiian Beach Rentals website.

Quick Review: Halloween-Store.com

A slinky little outfit from Halloween-Store.com's collection.

This post is a sponsored post. To see our policy on sponsored entries click HERE.

Is it just me or are traditional celebrations appearing earlier each year? I use the word celebration for Halloween in the loosest sense of the term, since Halloween is a bit of a misnomer - it has no more significance than coincidentally being the day before All Saints Day. A lot of it is to do with the commercialisation of these celebrations - Easters eggs appearing on the shelves the week after New Year and Christmas gifts being advertised from September onwards.

It's now April and I've been asked to give a quick review about the Halloween-Store.com. As you may have guessed these guys are purveyors of the finest Halloween tat - Halloween which is, of course, at the end of October. If you want to avoid the rush now is the idea time to get your Halloween costumes, masks, decorations, wigs, hats and accessories. They also have merchandise from blockbuster movies like Superman, Shrek and Batman, although the relevance of these to Halloween is, admittedly, very doubtful. They seem very reasonably priced to me and, Afghanistan withstanding, you can have your orders dispatched to anywhere in the world.

For further information visit the Halloween-Store.com website.

Soapbox Jury (Temporarily) Closed

Unfortunately I'm having to close Soapbox Jury for a while. I really hope this will be a temporary measure. The problem is that completing reviews is a very time consuming process and since Sam is now unavailable they all fall on my shoulders. As readers of my main blog, Tom Jackson Online, may be aware I'm really having to cut down my blogging due to work commitments at the moment.

I hope to be able to open Soapbox Jury once again when my current workload has decreased and I can dedicate more time to it - this isn't likely before Summer 2007.

In the meantime, thanks to everyone who has supported us and we hope to see you soon.

Blog Review: Ryan's Calamity

Ryan's Calamity
http://ryanvelting.com

The completed review will appear here shortly.

Blog Review: Turning The Pages Of Life

Turning The Pages Of Life
http://sweatysocks2.blogspot.com

The completed review will appear here shortly.

Blog Review: A Little Piece Of Me

A Little Piece Of Me
http://crpitt.blogspot.com

Appearance:
Blogger standard Tic Tac template in wisps of blue.

Organisation:
Neatly organised. I like the way Claire provides a regular hello message to her new readers.

Navigation and Functionality:
Sidebar links, blog archive and tags.

Advertising:
Google AdSense and a few other directory/blogging circle advertising buttons are located in the sidebar. Nothing too garish.

Comments:
This is a requested review that has been sitting in the in tray for a few weeks now. Apologies to Claire that it has taken so long to get this thing published.

A Little Piece Of Me begins in October 2006 with a short opening post and pleasant photo of seaside panorama. The setting is a beach in Scotland and Claire's nephews splash about in the water – they must be hardy lads because the seas around Scotland in October are very, very cold! Claire also includes a photo of herself, but the background lighting is low making the detail difficult to see (although she looks kind of cute). Claire has just had a heavy session at her sister's Halloween party and judging by the gory photos in early November it seems they all entered into the spirit of things. I can't quite decide if that's a very large pumpkin or a very small kitchen table – have a look and decide for yourself. Another permanent fixture in November is Guy Fawkes night, which provides the ideal excuse for fireworks and another family get together. Claire also uses the opportunity to tell us a little more about her home life – her openness is refreshing. Claire's on a steep learning curve in mid November as she desperately tries to juggle all her future arrangements (mostly parties) and experiences her first taste of haggis. For any non-Scots readers who don’t know what haggis is, it's a mixture of ground mutton, barley, spices and seasoning traditionally encased in a pig/cow intestine, although it tends to be in a synthetic casing nowadays.

Every now and then Claire poses counselling homework questions for her readers to ponder on, which is a solid continuous theme throughout her writing although a bit cerebral for me. Something I did find very interesting was the article on Barriers to Good Listening. The Christmas period is packed full of things to do. To begin with Claire heads to Scotland to see her sister and nephews and deliver the family's presents. Next off down home for a few days before hitting London for a Hawaiian party over the new year. The new year heralds the return of some of the bloggernity's old favourites – Wordless Wednesday and Thursday Thirteen. Two other memes that are new to me – Funny Monday and Friday Feast – make their debut. January is also a very in-depth month for counselling homework, but a few light discussion points also crop up: the great Bum Bags/Fanny Packs debate springs to mind – since I'm from the UK too I side with Bum Bag because you don’t crease up with laughter quite as much when you hear the name! The final point I want to mention in Claire's journey to date is that she's a hiker and beer drinker, which rates highly with me. Her first hike in six-months takes her to the beautiful Peak District. She visits Derwent Dams, famous for the old black and white Dam Buster’s movie and Baslow.

This is a solid blog and Claire is commended for her regularity of posting, which far exceeds me at the moment. Another noteworthy point is that she has a loyal following of comment leavers, most of which are already known to Soapbox – Erika, Skittles, Ruth et al. There is a lot of counselling content which won’t appeal to everyone, but there’s also plenty of light-heartedness and vivid imagery. I wish Claire continued success with her blogging.

Rating:
8/10

Reviewer:
Tom

Blog Review: My Quest To Make Money On The Internet

My Quest To Make Money On The Internet
http://westen30.blogspot.com

Description of site:
Martin from the South East of England describes his ongoing quest to make money using a free blog.

Appearance:
One of the standard Blogger templates with a sand colour scheme and custom £20 note header. The template has been adapted to include 3 columns.

Organisation:
On the whole neatly organised.

Navigation and Functionality:
Sidebar links and blog archive. The weekly progress reports have a dedicated link on the sidebar, so you can easily keep up to date with Martin’s progress so far.

Advertising:
Lots of advertising. This blog is monetised with Google AdSense, AdBrite, Adult Friend Finder, Commission Junction, Blogsvertise, Blogitive and MyLot. Martin also completes paid surveys (Ciao) as part of his project but obviously these don't feature on the blog apart from in the earnings reports. The ads are mainly confined to the periphery of the page, but more recently they have appeared between posts too.

Comments:
This is a requested review.

I have been following My Quest To Make Money On The Internet from the very outset so was very happy to oblige when Martin asked for this review. It's taken me a few days to get around to finishing this, so apologies for the delay. The author blogs fairly regularly, but has eased off (as have I) in the past month or so. Notwithstanding this, there is a large archive of interesting content and invaluable information.

As you'd expect for a money making blog there's lots of advertising. It isn't so bad having a page stacked with adverts when you know that is the whole purpose of the blog. What is much more offensive is when someone stacks their pages full of ads in a desperate bid to monetise third-rate content. Luckily, this blog does not fall into that category because it provides a valuable 'try before you buy' type service. Martin tests out all the different monetisation strategies, receives all the dodgy spam emails, fills in all the tiresome online registrations and reports back to his readers which schemes work and which don’t. He hasn't made a fortune yet but his perseverance has earned him just over GBP £100 (about USD $195) over the past 4 months. Another thing I like about this blog is the way Martin lends a hand to his fellow bloggers by his proactive link-exchanging and participation in 'Internet Money Makers Carnival' article sharing. Looking through the archive there's also a lot of return comment leavers, me included, and a loyal audience of readers.

The design of the site isn't a work of art, but it's practical and functional. With all the different HTML type elements the site takes a few seconds to load correctly, which some people may find off-putting. In my rating I also have to consider that some people will see My Quest as simply 'another money making blog' of which there are thousands already. Overall a good blog, which I enjoy reading, but the content of which wont appeal to everyone.

Rating:
6/10

Reviewer:
Tom