Business For Sale?

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Ever wondered how you could buy a business? Well, its easy: you just hire in a business broker. Knowledge is power when it comes to both life and business. It pays to hire a specialist who can guide you and keep you away from any pitfalls in the process. A business is not a pair of shoes that you can just take back. You need help to make sure you are getting a good deal. It is a scary time full of potential mistakes, not to mention the unscrupulous people out there.

Of if you have built up a business that you want to sell, or you have a law firm for sale you will need someone who knows all about that niche area as well as every step of the sales process. It pays to bring in the professionals. One of the companies you could choose are Business Brokers UK, who are a dedicated UK specialist who can help you if you have physiotherapy practice for sale or a dental practice. They don’t get paid until they work with you to achieve your goal whether you are a buyer or a seller. Which I personally find impressive. Definitely people who work for their money. Good luck whether you are buying or selling.

Summer Wine Review

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Stowells Cabernet Merlot

I really like this red wine. Red wine is not usually my thing as the wrong one gives me a headache, but I think I have found a winner. This one is reasonably priced and medium-bodied and a little sweet. It is very smooth. A really good fruity red wine. It goes down very easily so you might drink too much. Never put red wine in the fridge. It is not meant to be drank cold.

Nottage Hill Chardonnay 2011

This is a nice white wine. Quite light. It doesn’t taste cheap or like acid as some white wines do. Has a very good, fruity flavour. Eat with white meat and always keep white wine and rose in the fridge.

Has tastes of melon and tropical fruit with subtle oak characters.

Hardys Crest Sparkling Rose

This is not my favourite Rose. I like my Rose sweet and this is the least sweet Rose I have ever tried. It is much drier than most rose’s but is perfect if you want some fizz. However, I know a lot of people who would love Hardys Crest Sparkling Rose because it is not overly sweet. It is an affordable, sparkling wine which is good for summer. Just not to my tastes.

Does it Work? | Chlorella

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I am an actress and since nearly every film and TV show is now filmed on HD I am always looking for ways to make sure my skin looks perfect. Here is the first of my ‘Does it Work?’ reviews on beauty and health products. We tell you whether or not it actually works.

 

Chlorella: The new Crème De La Mer?

 

I have to be honest here, I have never tried Crème De Lar Mer, but I do know it works because some of my rich friends told me. So when I was sent Chlorella to review and they said it was the new Crème De Lar Mer I got excited about finding something that works for a fraction of the price. Sun Chlorella ‘A’ also has a celebrity fan club, Miranda Kerr describes her beauty regime as such “To keep my skin in check I always eat lots of greens and take Chlorella supplements and drink lots of water”. Victoria Beckham, Fergie and Sadie Frost are also fans.

 

But did it work for me? Yes, my skin did become clearer and I felt better. One of my friends said I was ‘glowing’. I also felt like I had more energy. My nails even seem to stop splitting. So I am converted. It actually did make me healthier and improve my skin.

Sun Chlorella ‘A’ is a single-celled green algae . It is entirely natural and balanced and is packed with vitamins. It also has the iron equivalent of nine cups of spinach. If you can afford £21.95 per month I would definitely include this in your beauty regime.

 

Available from www.sunchlorella.co.uk or www.victoriahealth.com

Mari Wilson | Music Review

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The “Neasden Queen of Soul” is back with an album funded by fans and a glamorous “attic sale”.

 

The voice, the music, the all-round talent.

 

Wilson had done an album of cover versions with a difference: she really brings her own spin to the songs. Wilson first broke through 30 years ago with the 1982 hit “Just What I Always Wanted”. Although she already has an army of fans, hopefully Wilson will come to the attention of an even wider audience now.

 

Wilson had a career artists half her age could only ever dream about. She played Dusty Springfield in Dusty the Musical in 2000. Her brilliant version of Springfield’s “I Only Want to Be With You” is on the album. Her version is slower and more emotional. Wilson’s voice is just absolutely divine; soulful, powerful, emotional. She is a storyteller as well as a singer, and that is the description of what makes a great singer.

 

Wilson had been described as the “British Bette Midler” . That is about right. Buy her new album and have a look at http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/mariwilson to get your hands on some of her memorabilia.

http://www.mariwilson.co.uk/

 

 

King of Cats – America | Music Review

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King of Cats is a boy called Max from Oxford but I’m afraid I don’t know about the name. I don’t like to ask. He sends me nice emails and is very polite but I do need to get one thing off my chest: I don’t much like cats. My sister has one that looks like it is going to defecate when you look at it. My parents have one called Pumpkin who drew blood from me the first day we met, and 19 years later she’s nothing if not Machiavellian. What I do like, though, is the King of Cats.

This album is what happens when a singer-songwriter from Oxford takes himself off to America to travel around on greyhound buses armed with only an acoustic guitar and a four track. I say only but I hoped he’d taken some clean pants and a toothbrush but Max hasn’t let on to me about that so we’ll have to assume.

America, the debut record by KoC, was committed to tape in some odd places whilst on his travels in the USA. Max recorded on a cherry picker in Seattle, in the mountains of Oregon and at a hardcore show in San Fransisco. Having sat in on more recording sessions than is enjoyable I wish more were conducted in such delightful surroundings. The results are really rather good.

Each song on the album is named after where it was recorded. My personal favourite is “Hooters Casino, Las Vegas, whilst Mike was showering” but other stand out titles include “Next to the train-tracks in Flagstaff, Arizona” and “on a plane, in the high desert and Seattle”. It’s a nice record.

The album begins with the aforementioned “One a plane . . . “which builds with each of the many plucking of guitar strings. It sounds like Super XX Man were they to have been from Middle England.

Each song captures not only the sound of Max’s guitars and vocals but also incidental sounds such as dogs barking and the sounds of people clapping and talking. At the end of “Golden Gate Park . . .” a couple can be heard arguing between themselves including the female, Suzie, uttering the cutting line of “I’m not trying to be mean but I just don’t give a shit.” She’s set her stall out clearly there and so I will do the same for you: this is a good record. If you like the idea of the folky acoustic sound of the Mouldy Peaches with the vocals of Jeff Mangum of Neutral Milk Hotel then this is a record for you. Otherwise move along, because, like Suzie, you just won’t give a shit.

America is released on 19th May 2012 via http://kingofcats.bandcamp.com/album/america

 

Montezuma: The Best Chocolate in the World.

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Montezuma is a British chocolate company that makes the best chocolate in the world, and, dammit, it makes me feel so proud. Upon receiving Montezuma’s Monkey Bars in the post I was so happy that I actually couldn’t speak for at least a minute.

 

Montezuma have just brought out new Monkey Bars that are bigger than an ipad. These half-kilo slabs of pure chocolate heaven are named after Cockney rhyming slang for ‘500’. They measure an impressive 10” by 6”. They have been inspired for this special year for Britain; the Royal Jubilee and the Olympics in case you have been living in a cave.

 

I tried the Nanny Goat; Venezuelan Milk Chocolate with salted peanuts and butterscotch, and Adam & Eve; Venezuelan Milk Chocolate with Orange and Hazelnuts. It was so hard to pick a favourite but the latter just managed it. Rick Stein call this family business “food obsession at its best” but that’s an understatement. They also mix chocolate with traditional desserts like Eton Mess, Spotted Dick and Apple Crumble. Montezuma’s chocolate it one of my favourite things in the world, and, no, I am not being paid to say that.

 

Available from montezumas.co.uk, one of their stores [there is one in Spitalfields in London that I pass and nearly spend all of my money in], and John Lewis. They may be £13.99 but they are worth every penny. Foodie Heaven.

Swearing at Motorists – Burn Down the Wire EP | Music Review

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Swearing at Motorists – Burn Down the Wire EP

Dave Doughman is a tough man to please if Wikipedia is to be believed. According to the website, always an infallible source of information, the Swearing at Motorists singer has seen 16 changes of drummers during the band’s 17 year existence.

S@M were originally formed in Dayton, Ohio in 1995 when Doughman teamed up with Don Thrasher, formerly of lo-fi kings Guided by Voices and since then he’s averaged one new drummer per year. Impressive too considering that “Burn Down the Wire” is the band’s work since 2006.

This four-song EP begins with the lovely Stop, Drop & Roll, which is typical S@M, built around Doughman’s scraggly voice with him strumming away with a beautiful melodic guitar sound. This is trademark ‘motorists. A cover of The Smiths’ “Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want” gets put through the mincer and comes out rather nicely with the trademark S@M sound – often described as “the two-man Who”. I know I’m supposed to but I couldn’t have put it better myself.

It’s a lovely offering and one that you hope will be followed by more. And more. What the band do best is good songwriting, vocals that are at times angry and at others fragile and a mix of melodic guitar and skuzzy garage rock riffs. Imagine Thin Lizzy mixed with Queens of the Stone Age and you’re close.

Has it been worth the 6 year wait? Burn Down the Wire’s splendid but a mere morsel at four songs short and so hard to judge on that basis. A bit like when you’re thirsty – the quality of the water’s hard to tell with any clarity, you just need to ingest it quickly. Anyway, I’m still thirsty – more please Dave!

Burn Down the Wire is out now via http://swearingatmotorists.bandcamp.com/album/burn-down-the-wire

Game Over for Game – But why?

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Right now if you visit GAME’s official website  you’ll find it “down for maintenance” with a message explaining the company’s gone into administration, who’s been appointed to handle the process and a disclaimer that the company is “currently reviewing and processing orders placed on this website.”

Why is a huge question – right now many of the company’s employees are asking the very same question and with good reason – Game is a games retail giant – or at least it was. Their failure is probably the biggest British retail collapse since Woolworths when its 815 stores went under at the end of 2008.

So what went wrong for Game? Well, depending on what sources you read you get different viewpoints. Here is my take on reasons why they could have gone under.

Sky High Prices

Ask any gamer why Game has struggled and they’ll point to one fact: high prices. Game products always had a higher price tag to their competitors. If you think about Amazon and Play.com, they regularly shave a good £10 off of launch day prices. One could argue that with Game you are guaranteed the game before its release date but really who cares when you could be paying as much as £50 a pop.

Shoddy service

I remember the days when I would order from Game and get the game about two days before the release however, when they changed the website the service changed too. It was clunky and difficult to navigate, games would take an age to arrive, orders might go missing etc. Try and complain and you would be told to wait at least 20 days to see if the game would turn up. It’s enough to make you want to hurl your controller.

Better alternatives

Game made the majority of their profit from those looking to trade in their old titles. This was a fine move; some would even say inspired. However they made enemies out of the software giants who wanted more of a cut. Ever wondered why nearly all games require you to purchase an online pass in order to play your pre-owned game online? That is the games company trying to reap more cash from the pre-owned market which arguably Game helped to build. However it was these same enemies who promptly decided to turn their backs when Game was calling out for help like a little baby. Have these enemies pull out the big titles from Games shelves, Fling in a couple of rivals like CEX, and Game was on a slippery path.

Non PC Support

Head into a GAME store and you will see the scarcity of space dedicated to PC gaming. They simply just don’t really cater for PC owners – it’s ridiculous considering that they’re the single dedicated high-street gaming retailer and should be the first physical port of call for all gamers regardless of platform. What’s more nearly all of the titles released that have had a huge impact such as Minecraft and Skyrim, were PC based first and all but the exclusive console games such as Uncharted reach the PC platform eventually.

New Digital Distribution Methods

As fast broadband connectivity continues to spread across the nation, so too does the prevalence of digital download platforms for all sorts of media. Gaming is no different. The Xbox 360 has the Xbox Live Arcade; the PlayStation 3 has the Sony Entertainment Network; the Nintendo Wii has the Wii Shop Channel; PC gamers look to Steam and Gamefly. Some sources have said that the next generation of consoles will not be disc based but Sony have spoken out directly in contradiction to this because of inconsistencies in Broadband quality which means that to take this leap could cut many consumers out of the loop which in turn would effect sales.

Mobile Gaming Is On The Rise

One of the reasons Game could have fallen so badly is the rise of mobile gaming. Whether you have an Android, Windows Phone 7 iPad or iPod touch owner, chances are you’ve got access to more than a few games at your disposal.  As the quality of mobile technology gets greater so does the graphics and so does the gameplay. Right now some people are so addicted to Angry birds that they are writing songs about it – and…erm less interested in Sonic or pesky plumbers and whats more these titles are just a download away – meaning Game cannot make any profit from these sales.

Lack of Passion

In the words of my manager – when the passion is gone, it is time to move on. I have spoken to many gamers since I heard the news about Game – and guess what? Many of them weren’t at all surprised. One lad told me ‘If you go into HMV, there is theatre, excitement, things are fxxxing happening- you go into Game, and sure you can talk to them about games, but the shops are cramped, you cant really play the games and they are not really into it!’ Well, I cant really say any more than that.

We’re All In This Together

Yes – we have heard those words before haven’t we? This may seem like an obvious point but it is a true one. We’re in the middle of a recession, and everyone has less cash to spend on luxuries, which videogames ultimately are. If it’s a choice between a meal and rent payments or a PS3, it’s pretty obvious which choice people are going to make.