Fireplace accessories are the gear you need so that you can more effortlessly tend to your fire to keep everyone and everything safe. But they can also be purely ornamental things that add to the ambiance of the surroundings.

Having the appropriate fireplace accessories before you even get started is ideal so that you don’t come across any circumstances where you are stuck unprepared. When you have all the things you need in place right from the start, you’re sure to enjoy your fireplace to the maximum, and also be confident in its safety.

Fireplace accessories don’t have to cost a lot of money but certainly, as with everything, there are various looks to choose from. Different brands and designs will differ in price but if you are on a tight budget, you can get a number of fireplace accessories at a reasonable price.

There are lots of specialty retail outlets that carry fireplace mantels, accessories and tools nowadays. You can be pretty confident that you’ll find what you’re seeking at these stores. As well, don’t forget to check out home improvement retailers as they carry a lot of nice fireplace accessories. Their selection will most likely be priced lower than a similar product in a more focused store.

If money is an issue, there is always the alternative of hitting some garage sales or searching in the local paper for individuals selling their fireplace accessories. Purchasing second-hand accessories can be a cost effective option, but only if the articles are in good condition.

Also, you can find online sites that are like want ads of merchandise that people are putting up for sale or simply trying to dispose of. Check out these sites for some great deals on fireplace accessories. You never know what sort of luck you’ll have. Keep an open mind and open eyes, and you may be surprised at what you come across.

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While her mom was buying some silverware, Radhika’s sister, Pallavi, stole her flip flops and pretended to throw them down a few floors. Then she handed me one and we ran off with them. Considering I’ve never stolen my friend’s shoes before, I was a little clueless as to what I should do with it, so I just tossed it lightly into a nearby kids’ store called Kidz Zone.

However, I seriously misjudged the height of the toss, and the flip flop got stuck on the Kidz Zone sign and knocked down the z in Kidz. Radhika and Pallavi laughed and I was stuck trying to explain to the store clerk what happened, with my best explanation being “It fell……up.” I had a difficult time telling the story not only because I was laughing, but also because it hurt to laugh with my mouth full of stitches.

My friend’s mom had no idea what was going on and wanted to shop in other areas, so Radhika made me give her my shoes so she wouldn’t get in trouble while I tried to get hers back. The manager was yelling at me for being a careless teenager, threatening to charge me for the damage. He wasn’t aware that the z was missing; I hid it in a corner to avoid further trouble. He called the building service’s men and someone came, laughing the entire time while climbing up a ladder to get the shoe. I quickly thanked him and ran out of the area before I received any fines. I went back down to find Radhika, Pallavi, and her mom crying with laughter at the sight of me wearing flip flops too small that had been on a serious journey.

From that day, I learned that destroying a sign in a mall is the best way to recover from painful stiches in the mouth area.

Cvcarnie116

Guitar Hero Review

The Guitar Hero franchise has been growing in popularity in the past few years so that most everyone has played it at least once, and for good reason. The latest in the series, Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, is one of the most played games today and chances are that anyone with either an Xbox 360 or a Playstation will have it. In my experience, it is so far the easiest to pick up and play. I say this because notes are easier to hit than any of the other Guitar Hero games because there is a larger area around each note for that note to be hit. The “grace period” is longer and you can hit a note, even after it’s past or before you’re supposed to, to a certain point.

The actual difficulty of the note charts of the songs, however, is much harder than Rock Band and any other Guitar Hero game and is meant more for the hardcore “rockers” rather than the casual players being the most difficult songs to play so far. So, notes easiest to hit, but also a lot more of them and faster. The song selection is excellent, as usual. There is a nice mix of classic rock, metal, punk and hard rock. Rather than list numerous examples, you can find the song list easily on Wikipedia or even guitarhero.com.

The learning curve as you progress through the song list is just right. You will however experience songs tending to lead to more metal as you go through the last two sets, mainly just because that genre is reasonably harder to play and faster than other genres. This can either be a positive or negative depending on your taste in music. Boss battles are a fun and challenging way to pretend like you’re playing with someone else if you cannot physically play with others or do not have an online service like Xbox LIVE.

Multiplayer consists of Cooperative, where one plays lead guitar and the other person plays either rhythm or bass, Face-Off, Pro-Face Off, and the most controversial, Battle. From my experience playing in Battle mode is people have either loved or hated it. The point of this mode is to collect power-ups to throw at your opponent by hitting certain phrases of the song perfectly to make them miss notes and eventually fail while also trying not to fail as they throw attacks at you. I personally like it as it levels the playing field for players who might not be as good as other players they’re against, but is also the reason why other people don’t like it because it is not a “true” test of skill.

The Les Paul style controller is nice and heavier than any other Guitar Hero controllers. I like this because it feels more like a real guitar and less like a cheap toy, but some people might prefer a lighter feel.

Downloadable songs are scarce compared to Rock Band’s weekly schedule, but I’ll talk more about that later. Guitar Hero’s schedule for putting out music must not be their first priority but they have put out some nice songs, usually only available in packs, though. Overall, I give Guitar Hero III a 9 picks out of 10.

Rock Band Review

Rock Band, on the other hand, is focused on cooperation and teamwork rather than a crushing your opponent. The object of Rock Band is to work together with your band mates and get the highest score possible for the whole band as opposed to Guitar Hero where the goal of multiplayer is destroying anyone in your path to rock stardom.

Rock Band also expands upon the rhythm game genre with two new instruments in the forms of drums and a microphone. This allows other people who may not want to play guitar or aren’t good at it to still enjoy the musical experience. The song list is also worthy of praise. Three new songs are available to download every week on the Xbox LIVE Marketplace providing you have an Xbox 360 and the money to buy them of course. The Downloadable Content (DLC) list has grown now to be almost as big as the song list that came with the game.

There are various combinations of instruments able to be played at any one time in the game. You can play just one of any of different instruments by yourself, two of them (playing one instrument and singing), three with friends, or even, the main focus of the game, all four. This is where the game really shines. In a band, you play your instrument as you normally would in single player, but the idea is to use your star power to bail each other out of trouble when someone is failing out and also to maximize you multiplier to get the most points possible.

Once you play through a song with three of your buddies and manage to get five stars, there’s an extremely satisfying feeling knowing that you all pulled it off. I give Rock Band a perfect 10 and was thoroughly surprised it did not get the Game of the Year Award. Really, was CoD 4 was that good?

Final Review

Both games are excellent in their own right. And while they have similarities, Guitar Hero is more for the competitive gamers while Rock Band is for the cooperative players who want to construct music rather than compete against each other. If you are interested in buying either one of these, I hope my “expertise” has been helpful. As for myself, I like to divide my time between both equally, I try not to play favorites

Stefan

Winning entry for April, 2008! Thanks, Stefan for giving us a honest experience and review of Rockband and Guitar Hero III.