About Nicola
Nicola is a sarcastic, opinionated sort of person that is hard to please. She doesn’t like relationships, she doesn’t like people, she doesn’t like Americans, she doesn’t like kids, she doesn’t like the Beatles and she certainly is not the life or soul of a party. She’s reserved, she doesn’t like confrontations and her ability to communicate through speech would score a -546 on a scale from 1 to 10. Fortunately for her, she can write. Not all is lost then.
Nicola is an English Literature graduate, and is, therefore, quite naturally a bookworm, especially as she works in a library. She’ll mostly write reviews on books, but she is happy to dabble in music, especially classical. She’ll reluctantly write an inadequate, ignorant film review from time to time and rarer still, write about some random topic that takes her fancy.
The Critical Cynic 
1 December, 2008 at 10:01 pm
I love this new website Nicola, I am having problems trying to keep up with you!! You have the gift of intelligence, I have the gift of a ‘Thikko’!!
Loadsa Love, Dave xx
Thats a stunning photo of Luna, I adore it!!
2 December, 2008 at 12:10 am
Ah, Dave, it doesn’t take much to set one of these up, believe me! And yeah, I think that’s my favourite photo of Luna. 😀 But there are so many to choose from. 😉
3 December, 2008 at 11:16 am
Aw! My dog was a shepherd huskey mix and looked a little bit like yours. She was a sweetheart.
3 December, 2008 at 11:26 am
Aww! I’ve seen plenty of that cross breed when I was hunting for Luna. 😀 They are gorgeous. XD
6 December, 2008 at 11:21 pm
Oooooooooooooh, I absolutely adore malamutes and huskies, Luna is beautiful, pls give him/her a pat from me.
Mal 🙂
15 December, 2008 at 10:24 pm
very nice website, nic, hope to continue reading what you have to say, even the part about hating us americans, love ya, your friend from the good old USA, Rich (mom’s friend)
15 December, 2008 at 10:26 pm
Oh Rich. You know the part about me hating Americans is in jest!
…
Kinda.
15 December, 2008 at 10:29 pm
Wow, a lot on this site Nic, would take forever to read it all. I am not surprised though to find a picture of Luna on here, she gets everywhere lol.
3 January, 2009 at 9:56 pm
We use the same layout because we’re smart enough to know what works!
Thanks a bunch for the add, I had no idea you’d started one of these on your own. And how prolific you are! I’m trapped on my own in university accommodation with nothing to do, and I still can’t manage a fifth of what you come up with. I’ll look forward to reading about your exploits in the future.
Oh, and of course I’ll repay the favour. I hope you’re getting plenty of hits because it looks like you’re doing a lot of good work.
7 January, 2009 at 7:27 am
Thanks for your kind words, you’re the first person who’s actually given me any real feedback on my writing despite my attempts to get people to say something! I’m looking for critical eyes to help me improve my style, which is at risk of being a bit too stilted at times.
I’ve been reading through some of your articles so far and they’ve been a pleasure to read (even if I completely disagree with your opinion of films, which are to me as books are to you!), but was extremely relieved to see you didn’t conjure them all up in a single month. I average about 200 words an hour right now, so I couldn’t do that even with all the time in the world.
I was curious to ask about what you meant by the custom-made banners. If you’re referring to the picture atop my page, that’s simply a cropped still from the short film ‘Hotel Chevalier’ (which precedes the better-known feature, Darjeeling Ltd.) that I trimmed and uploaded using the simple editor on the WordPress dashboard. I want to add my own custom text etc., but I don’t have access to Photoshop apart from when my co-writer’s around, and we tend not to spend our time together working on the blog, haha. Anyway, it’s just a standard .jpg crop. Hope that helps.
Oh, and I’d kill for that many hits, haha. Maybe one day I’ll get that many, but I doubt it. The problem with trying to cover the stuff people don’t know about is that people don’t know to look for it! But please check out my Film Review of 2008 that’ll be coming up this week. I’d be interested to hear your thoughts.
enf x
1 February, 2009 at 7:05 pm
”I could read all day and every day for the rest of my life and still be behind. But people are ultimately more important than books, so I could never be an academic”. Sylvia Plath.
6 February, 2009 at 2:26 pm
Hey ! Nicola ! :> :> :> :>
I didn’t know that you major in Eng Lit. .
I really hope that one day you will write reviews on the book ” Wild Swans ” written by Jung Chang , and also ” Mao — The Unknown Story “.
I am from China and would very much love to read about your opinions on these books .
6 February, 2009 at 2:32 pm
Hmm, need more information. I just looked it up on my Library catalogue, and several things come up. Does it have a subtitle: Three Daughters of China? Is it non-fiction? (it is coming up as non-fiction, anyway)
I am always happy to take recommendations, as I like finding new things. I haven’t read anything from China before, so I’ll be very interested in your recommendation. 🙂
6 February, 2009 at 2:36 pm
Ah, I Wiki-ed it. I have ordered it into my library (one of the perks of being staff is ordering any book, dvd or cd for free). 😀
6 February, 2009 at 4:32 pm
Oh great, now that I have looked into it properly, I feel like the only ignorant fool to not have heard of it.
This will change!
6 February, 2009 at 6:31 pm
:> :> :> :> :> :> :> :> :> :>
“”””” I feel like the only ignorant fool to not have heard of it. “””””
Nevermind !
I look forward to reading your reviews .
It will take some time. I know .
Those 2 books are kinda long and contain lots of pages .
6 February, 2009 at 6:47 pm
I read like a demon. During my course we used to have to read up to four books a week sometimes. 😦
I’d give myself two weeks for it. Mainly for it to arrive. If it’s under 500 pages I could probably finish it in two or three days. If over 500… hmm… give me a week! 🙂
18 February, 2009 at 1:32 am
I very much like your website, Nicola. I enjoy reading your reviews on books and music. I also enjoy reading and listening to music. Like you I also enjoy reading books, although slightly different genres to what you read.
I love the picture of your dog. I love huskies, or dogs that look like them. They’re so cuddly!
3 March, 2009 at 3:44 pm
I am impressed by your intelligence. Might I ask your nationality? You are likely a member of Mensa, and I would hope to meet you someday to engage in a bit of intellectual sparing, if that would please you.
3 March, 2009 at 5:28 pm
I’m English. From London, UK. And as such, I automatically assume that you’re being sarcastic. :(!
25 March, 2009 at 4:53 pm
http://tlt.its.psu.edu/suggestions/international/accents/codealt.html
alt key + 0235 = ë
You asked somewhere about getting the umlaut…. see the above website.
love your review re Twilight. Well written (your reviews) and amusing – I have been amusing myself reading the reviews on Amazon. The only good thing about the series is the amount of discussion it has generated!
29 March, 2009 at 3:32 pm
I love your site. Keep it up !
28 May, 2009 at 4:46 pm
hi nic, think your site is great keep up the good work your cuz, nathan
29 May, 2009 at 9:03 pm
well nic what can i say this is you all over and i think your great keep it up lots of love auntie rainey xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
15 July, 2009 at 7:45 pm
Hey !!! Nicola !!! :> :> :> :> :> :>
This is ChungChung here again .
I took a further probe into your Blog and I must say that you write brilliantly ! 😀
I have been continuously amazed by your intellectual powers .
One thing that I am longing to hear from you is your personal opinions and insights about those ” TOP Model ” TV shows like “Britain’s Next Top Model” and “America’s Next Top Model” .
It seems to me that these “Model” competitions have become a cult favourite in the West or even across the globe .
So , it would be really nice to hear your opinions about it ! :> :> :>
~~~~ Keep up the good works !!! ~~~~ :> :> :> :>
2 November, 2010 at 12:29 pm
Hi Nicola, I’ve been writing under the Pseudonym ‘the critical cynic’ for my company magazine “Test Focus” here in South Africa for the past 5 years. Could I start a blog here :The Critical Cynics Column without offending you or would you prefer I give you exclusivity and post my articles somewhere else?
Oh yeah, I should add that what I have read on your blog I have enjoyed so far – always great to see intellect in action.
20 April, 2011 at 10:43 am
Hi – came across your column here and just wondered if youre still active on here?
5 March, 2012 at 6:47 pm
Hi.just read your reviews of Hayley Westenra, I have to say you are a much better reviewer than all the supposed critics around nowadays, mostly agree with your comments apart from a few tracks, listen to Hayley sings Japanese (1) beautiful album, keep up the good work, oh Hayley is much better live, will make you cry . Thanks Brian
5 March, 2012 at 9:02 pm
Thank you for your comments, Brian. I have Hayley’s Japanese albums.
I no longer write on this blog as I founded a website called classical-crossover.co.uk which I devote my time to instead. There are many more reviews there based solely on artists similar to Hayley – feel free to check it out.
http://www.classical-crossover.co.uk