Epinions Recent Reviews for AuntieEmma

A Thousand Splendid Suns -- A thousand-tissue tear-jerker

Sat, 20 Dec 2008 01:04:44 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author AuntieEmma - This is the second novel by Khaled Hosseini, author of The Kite Runner. I read this one first, so I can't compare the two (yet). I liked this very much. I got pulled into the story so completely that it reminded me of the way I used...

Escape from a polygamous cult

Sun, 6 Jul 2008 14:29:00 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author AuntieEmma - This a memoir written by Carolyn Jessop, a former member of a strange polygamous sect, the FLDS. The first time I heard of the FLDS was a few months ago, when their Texas compound was raided and pictures of prairie-dress clad women were all over the...

The good lawyer, the bad lawyer, and the naked lawyer

Tue, 1 Jul 2008 17:17:10 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author AuntieEmma - This is a legal thriller which combines some familiar elements in an entertaining way. As in Erin Brockovich, the villain in Michael Clayton is a corporation that doesn't care that its product kills people. And as in many legal TV shows...

Neurons: Ready, aim, fire!

Sun, 24 Dec 2006 16:12:02 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author AuntieEmma - The brain, just like the body, responds to exercise. Especially as you get older, it’s important to exercise both. You’ve probably heard various health experts recommending that people do crosswords to help keep their brains sharp. Some say...

An excellent reference book for writers

Tue, 19 Dec 2006 17:41:19 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author AuntieEmma - I bought this many years ago in a used bookstore, and it’s still my favorite grammar/usage guide. Grammar/usage guides all cover pretty much the same material. The differences are in how well they are organized, how clearly they explain things,...

Your arms and abs won't really turn into steel, but they will get more toned

Fri, 15 Dec 2006 16:50:18 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author AuntieEmma - This is an old VHS tape which is a great program for people who are new to weight-training, and/or who want a quick workout. The instructor is Tamilee Webb. The tape consists of three 15-minute segments, each one a complete exercise session. Each...

Man of the Year: Man of the Year

Mon, 16 Oct 2006 02:35:57 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author AuntieEmma - This film has two premises, both of them good. During the taping of a political comedy show (similar to Jon Stewart's or Bill Maher's shows), an audience member says that she wishes the comedian himself would run for president. In the space of just a...

Sex and death -- well, more death than sex

Fri, 25 Aug 2006 02:27:31 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author AuntieEmma - This is a little book. Literally. It's about eight inches by five inches, and only 182 pages long. Yet Philip Roth works his magic, and by the end of the book, I felt as if I knew his main character through and through, as if I knew everything, from...

Blinded by the Right -- David Brock

Mon, 8 Mar 2004 17:57:08 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author AuntieEmma - David Brock has changed his mind. He used to be a propaganda writer for the right-wing -- author of the infamous "Troopergate" story in The American Spectator and of the book The Real Anita Hill -- but now he's sorry. In this book, he...

Gaslight (1944)

Sat, 27 Dec 2003 11:03:37 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author AuntieEmma - Evil husband tricks his wife into believing she is losing her mind. If you're ever heard the term "gaslighting," which was derived from this film's title, you already know that much about the plot. But that knowledge won't ruin the film, because the...

Paula Abdul's Cardio Dance exercise video

Wed, 29 Oct 2003 17:06:27 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author AuntieEmma - I get most of my exercise videos at the library, and usually get a new one there every couple of weeks. I've seen this one on the shelves before, but it just didn't grab me, and I didn't take it out until one day when there was nothing else on the...

Fewer than 200 words on Lilias Folan's "cardio challenge" yoga tape

Mon, 8 Sep 2003 19:21:36 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author AuntieEmma - The sun salutation is good for getting the kinks out of the spine by bending it alternately backwards and forward, both standing and on the floor. Lilias does it slowly, to warm up, emphasizing form, then speeds it up, repeats a bunch of times, then sl...

20 words on The Postman Always Rings Twice

Mon, 8 Sep 2003 18:26:35 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author AuntieEmma - Turner and Garfield conspire to murder Turner's husband and learn the hard way that crime doesn't pay. Entertaining. Worth seeing...

Loathsome film

Sat, 21 Jun 2003 03:51:51 GMT

rating: 1/5 by: Epinions Author AuntieEmma - I recently saw "Dancer in the Dark." Didn't like it much, but it was original enough that I thought...

Everything you've always wanted to know about trendy restaurants but were afraid to ask

Sun, 9 Mar 2003 06:59:58 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author AuntieEmma - This is an interesting semi-obscure film that I missed when it came out three years ago and just caught on TV. Definitely worth seeing.

It's set in an Italian restaurant in lower Manhattan, the kind of place where the tables are packed close...

Small Pieces Loosely Joined by David Weinberger -- Internet junkies, hold your heads high

Sun, 22 Dec 2002 06:46:13 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author AuntieEmma - I spend a lot of time on the internet. Too much time, I tend to think, feeling vaguely guilty, as if I were in the habit of watching hours of daytime TV or otherwise slothfully squandering precious chunks of my life. If someone asks, after I’ve...

The Same Sea by Amos Oz

Sat, 14 Dec 2002 19:47:05 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author AuntieEmma - "The Same Sea" is an unusual book.

The first time I really became aware of the author, Israeli novelist and peace activist Amos Oz, was when I saw him on television talking about possible outcomes to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He said...

Do metallic buttocks go clink, clink, clink?

Sun, 1 Dec 2002 11:02:40 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author AuntieEmma - Love the title of this tape -- "Buns of Steel -- Mind/Body Series -- Power Stretch." It boggles the mind, not to mention the mind/body.

I'm a sucker for any exercise tape that I see at the library with the word "stretch" in it, though, so...

Hey! Don't be disrespecting your Poor Dad like that!

Fri, 2 Aug 2002 20:44:28 GMT

rating: 2/5 by: Epinions Author AuntieEmma - Soon after starting this book, I realized it wasn't at all what I expected it to be. Turns out I was in Motivational Speaker Territory! Infomercial land! Reminded me of that great Chris Farley character, the motivational speaker who lived down in a...

Best movie I've seen in a long time

Thu, 25 Jul 2002 09:09:22 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author AuntieEmma - This is a great big bubbling stew of a movie, and director P.T. Anderson ("Boogie Nights") is an exuberant cook, throwing in ingredients no one has thought to combine before: heaping cups of Robert Altman-style interwoven stories -- seasoned with a...

I melted like a stick of butter on a sunny windowsill

Sat, 1 Jun 2002 08:10:42 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author AuntieEmma - They say that if you can remember the 70's, you weren't really there. One thing I do remember, though, and quite fondly, is the "Lilias, Yoga, and You" series that ran on PBS. Lilias and I are both a lot older now. The passing years and my...

Random adventures in exerciseland

Sat, 20 Apr 2002 04:45:36 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author AuntieEmma - I didn't know much about Pilates. I had heard of it, of course, since it's such a big fad, and I was under the impression that it was something like yoga and that it involved a lot of specialized equipment.

I also thought it was hard, too...

Tastes like cardboard

Tue, 5 Feb 2002 22:50:33 GMT

rating: 2/5 by: Epinions Author AuntieEmma - While browsing at Costco, I saw Kashi cereals bundled in three-packs -- two Kashi "Good Friends" with one Kashi "GoLean" -- for six dollars and change. The price was tempting; I had tried "Good Friends" once before and liked it; and when I took a look...

Lord of the Rings -- a non-enthusiast's view

Sun, 30 Dec 2001 06:35:49 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author AuntieEmma - I read "The Hobbit" when I was a child, and I liked it, but although I started "Lord of the Rings" soon afterwards, I couldn't get through it. Now, I'm middle-aged and cranky, and I like to watch movies about dysfunctional neurotics trying to muddle...

Vanilla Sky

Wed, 26 Dec 2001 04:23:04 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author AuntieEmma - I had great expectations going into this movie, but I was disappointed. It starts off promisingly enough -- some odd, quick shots of New York from the air alternate with blank screens. An alarm clock goes off, implying that the previous images were...