Richard and Judy have a wine club and a book club. They suck.

In tribute to this, I have decided to invent a new regular post that I will most likely do weekly called "UberMinx Recommends". This may take the form of anything I particularly take a shine to that week, and could be a computer game, a thought for the day, a cd, a recipe, something to do, an item of clothing, a sex toy, or whatever. Its not about consumerism, its about things what I think are good. Each thing will have a Minx rating, which hopefully will accurately reflect how Minxy something really is.

There is no obligation to go out and purchase or do any of my recommendations, but if you do happen to own or be aware of the item then please feel free to add your own comments. Likewise if you think my recommendation is worth following up.


Also, I am happy to take recommendations of things to try via PM and I will endeavour to attempt as many as I can given my own budgetary and emotional limitations. If you can think of anything I would particularly enjoy, please let me know.

Some posts may be NSFW, for obvious reasons. If they are, they will be marked at the beginning of the post. First recommendation will be here when my brain works for long enough.

If you let me know your preferences (white, red, rose, dry, sweet, medium) then I could think of a few reccommendations.

Sauvignon blanc from New Zealand, if you're over chardy. Like freshly mown grass, except it's wine. And not that expensive.

Warburtons Winter Loaf.

Its basically a hot cross bun in a loaf shape. Very nice.

Ooh. That does sound nice. And while I will try Cor_innit's suggestion, Wine Buffery is best left to the experts. Im just happy if it doesnt taste of wood shavings and wax.

Doh, I saw the first line and somehow assumed your idea was to do the same thing as R+J.

Can I also ask you for specific reccommendations on things? I've always asked for opinions on expensive things before buying, but often nobody knows or I'm disappointed...

Yes Maam. If I know or use or whatever , I will gladly offer an opinion. You can do with it what you like.

One for now... I recently splashed out a fair few quid on those Umberto Giannini shampoo and conditioner bottles, to find the contents which were supposed to give me 'dazzling shine' and 'frizz free' hair did bugger all except make my frizz a whole lot worse, and my hair a lot dryer.

Also, I forked over for Nicky Clarke's Hairomatherapy Creme Finisher, with faulty instructions on it (cover centre of palm -... well I did. Didn't realise it meant pin sized amount) and managed to nearly make myself late for a night out after having to wash the gunk back out of my hair.

Struggling to find another 'good brand' without splashing out a shitload. So basically I want to know which 'good brand' i.e. clarke, collinge, frieda actually does what it says on the bottle?

Also, at the other end of the spectrum, which cheap brands (Alberto, supermarket brands etc) do a good job?

I use that tresemme, well, we all do in my house now. It really is fantastic stuff, and not too pricey aswell, because while its £3 a bottle, its a big bottle.

My hair is relentlessly straight, and hideously overprocessed. I use Head & Shoulders 2 in 1 Classic Clean and its quite smashing. I find I get a better wash with just warm water, rather than hot or cool. Hot seems to dry my hair out excessively and cool just doesnt get it feeling clean enough.

Ahh, Tresemme... I use the heat defense spray which is ace, as I can spray it all over and not worry about using too much. Lovely stuff.

I wanted to try the shampoo and conditioner but as they were in such massive bottles I was too scared in case it was crap, however I'll have a go at them next now.

I find I can't use 2 in 1's because the conditioner isn't really good enough for my frizzy hair :/

I use that tresemme, well, we all do in my house now. It really is fantastic stuff, and not too pricey aswell, because while its £3 a bottle, its a big bottle.



definitely :stupid: been using this for a while now & very happy with it

Marie, my hair frizzes up something awful in the summer and i use Frieda's Frizz-Ease...not really satisfied with it even though the magazines always give it the best reviews.

though i haven't tried it myself, apparently Sebastian's Potion no. 9 is supposed to be the business.

Yup,John freida frizz ease is rather good if you have curly and/or frizzy hair marie.

I've used Frizz Ease. It's sticky and made my hair static. I used the spray serum and the little sachets, neither of them were up to much.

I gotta get hold of that Charles Worthington serum somehow...

I use some balm from the hairdressers, and it makes mine as straight as a die. It is £8 for a bottle, but, it has lasted me 8 months so far and I use it daily on longish hair ( beneath my shoulders)

Just started using Tresemme silk straightener. It's all right, but not spectacular.

What shall I recommend first then, so many choices.

OK. Being as Im listening to it now, Im going to recommend Keanes album Hopes and Fears.

Now, the way I decide if a cd is good or not is quite a complex method. It involves a number of relevant factors and so I shall address them individually.


1) Do I like the majority of this cd?
If it gets a 5 rating, then this means I like all of it.
If its a 1, theres only a couple of good tracks on it.


2) Does this music evoke any emotion in me? If it doesnt, I tend to find it a bit of a waste of time. If so, what emotion does it evoke and what mood is it best listened to in?
1=soulless trash aka babycakes
5=bodicerippingly special.


3) Are the vocals clear and strong? I find this quite important. Is the music compatible with the lyrics? Or do they sound silly when taken separately?
1= poor clarity and really odd lyrics or music that just dont work.
5= Smoother than a Smoothie on Smooth Sunday.

4) Do I need to concentrate on the song or does it sit happily in the back of my head? Some songs are hard work to listen to.
1=Makes my brain hurt
5=Makes my brain heal.


5) How many times am I likely to take out this CD and play it again?
1=Its going in the bin if it hasnt already, coz its not even worth a punt on E-bay.
5=I wont bother taking it out of the player for a couple of months its THAT good.

Right. So Im giving each criterion a rating of 1/5, giving a total of /25, and if multiplied by 4, a percentage. Clever eh?

So Keane...

1) I like the majority of this cd. I would say its a 4:note:. Its all much of a muchness, but I like their musical style, so in my opinion, thats no bad thing.

2) Emotional rating 4 <3. Im a soft hearted old tart on the quiet, so I like emotional stuff such as "Somewhere Only We Know" and this album is fairly well packed with such gems.

3) Very strong vocals, but soft when needed. Clarity not 100%, but its quite an ethereal sound, I suppose, so its not so important. Definitely one that will stay on the CD player for a while. This is the sort of album you could have on quietly while having dinner, or loudly while thrashing about in various positions with the partner of your choosing. I just like big build ups and crashy pianos. No harm in that is there? 5 :noticeme:


4) A definite background album. One of those ones you can have on repeat endlessly and barely notice. When I wrote the original list of 1000 people MATMH, the greatest hits of Pat Benetar saw me through the whole experience, and even catching a snippet of her stuff playing on a compilation advert brings back strong memories of that night. It was a very long session. The whole list took me about 7 1/2 hours. So, thats a 4 :yes:

5) I think this is going to get a lot of playing. I might drop a couple of tracks from the playlist though. Therefore I give it 4 1/2 :gar:


Total 21 1/2 out of 25. Which is 86% fact fans. So, definitely worth a punt. If you have heard the singles, and like what you have heard, then no question, buy this.

Keane are form Hastings. You see, all the best people come from there.

/me is from Hastings :fact:

all the best people come from there.

/me is from Hastings :fact:
Dom, honey, that's called stepping on your own point, dear.


i kid, i kid.