Epinions Recent Reviews for EdSmith

Puts the "West" in "Country and Western" (Manly Write Off)

Sat, 21 Jun 2003 19:57:20 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author EdSmith - This is my submission to the Manly Write-Off, held in honor of Hawgwyld's and Joubert's third annive...

Labyrinths: Selected Short Stories & Other Writings: An Argentinian Minotaur

Sun, 30 Mar 2003 23:56:31 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author EdSmith - Jorge Luis Borges is one of the writers of the Twentieth-Century most likely to continue to astonish readers for centuries to come. His work was limited to short forms and this is occasionally held against him. What makes this criticism absurd is the...

Almost Ultimate

Sun, 29 Dec 2002 16:21:57 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author EdSmith - Jerry Jeff Walker is one of the leaders of the Progressive Country movement of the early 1970's. He's never had the popular success of contemporaries like Kriss Kristofferson and Willie Nelson, but his work is well worth a listen. He has one of those...

A good bedside companion.

Tue, 11 Jul 2000 05:08:40 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author EdSmith - This is one of the best anthologies of its sort. Clifton Fadiman states in his introduction, "This collection is intended not for theoreticians or historians of the short story but for the curious, intelligent reader." In supplying a fine...

Hidden History.

Mon, 10 Jul 2000 01:26:52 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author EdSmith - It would be hard to underestimate the eye-opening impact this book can have on a person that is accustomed to getting his news from television. Tracing the development of the American intelligence community from its puny existence at the time of World...

One you might've missed.

Sat, 8 Jul 2000 06:31:07 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author EdSmith - Oh Mercy is another one of those strangely ignored albums Dylan released in between Infidels and Time Out Of Mind. Like Good As I Been To You, Oh Mercy is a strong effort by a mature artist fully in command of his idiom. The producer was Daniel Lanois...

Down-home Dylan.

Wed, 5 Jul 2000 04:08:48 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author EdSmith - The title, Nashville Skyline, is a little misleading. There's far more of Dylan here than of the ghosts of Hank Williams And Patsy Cline, but it is one of his better albums. The album opens with a duet with Johnny Cash on Girl From the North Country...

Good as he's been to us.

Wed, 5 Jul 2000 01:58:50 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author EdSmith - When Time Out of Mind was released there was a lot of press about Dylan finally being back in form. I wonder where everybody else was while I was enjoying things like Oh Mercy, Good As I Been To You, and Bob Dylan Unplugged. In many ways his most...

One of the Beatles Best.

Tue, 4 Jul 2000 19:58:01 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author EdSmith - This is one of my favorite Beatles albums because it sustains the catchiness of their earlier tunes and reveals the deeper concerns that would surface in later albums like Abbey Road and The Beatles (the White Album). You Won't See Me, What Goes On, If...

Take your shoes off and dance.

Tue, 4 Jul 2000 03:32:41 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author EdSmith - This is one of the best soul albums of recent years. Robert Cray is hip but definitely not hop. His backing on this album is reminiscent of Marvin Gaye's better work, but there is also an undercurrent here that bounces along showing us that the reggae...

Joe Cocker Comes Home.

Tue, 4 Jul 2000 01:51:20 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author EdSmith - This is one of Joe Cocker's better albums, and certainly one of the best two or three I've purchased this year. Over the years he has given us many different versions of certain songs, much like a jazz musician running through endless variations of a...

Things that go bump....

Sun, 2 Jul 2000 22:45:30 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author EdSmith - Ghosts, edited by Marvin Kaye, is a fine collection of short fiction with a smattering of poems thrown in for good measure. The stories range from anonymous examples taken from the folk tradition like "A Suffolk Miracle," to lesser known works...

As light and fluffy as a biscuit.

Sun, 2 Jul 2000 01:26:49 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author EdSmith - Biography is not the place to go for hard-hitting adversarial coverage of politicians and celebrities. But it doesn't pretend to be. In it's treatment of its subjects it is faultlessly polite. Deferential even. It is something of a press agent's...

McDonnell, Patrick: Mutts II "Cats and Dogs"

Sun, 2 Jul 2000 00:26:01 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author EdSmith - Mutts II "Cats and Dogs," is the second collection of the comic strip by Patrick McDonnell. The cast of the strip includes Earl the dog, Mooch the cat, Earl's owner Ozzie, and Mooch's owners Frank and Millie. There are a number of other...

A forgotten film.

Sat, 1 Jul 2000 06:11:06 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author EdSmith - "What did you do in the war, Daddy," was released in 1966 when the screwball comedy was already on the way out and was perhaps overlooked because it wasn't as outrageous as director Blake Edwards other films of the period. It is well directed...

Discover a graphic designer...please.

Sat, 1 Jul 2000 05:19:41 GMT

rating: 2/5 by: Epinions Author EdSmith - I subscribed to Discover earlier this year, and although it is not a terrible magazine, it is not consistently interesting enough to occupy my attention. There have been some issues I only managed to skim before sending them on to the great recycler in...

A comprehensive guide to world literature.

Fri, 30 Jun 2000 14:47:14 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author EdSmith - Merriam Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature is a handy general reference for book-lovers. I bought this as part of an introductory package when I joined a book club, but having had it for several years now I wish I had gone out and spent the extra...

An old friend.

Fri, 30 Jun 2000 06:51:45 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author EdSmith - I've been a subscriber to Smithsonian for about eight years now. I don't see this changing anytime soon. This is general interest magazine with a slant towards science for the layperson.

Regular features are: A Note from the Secretary,...

Baby You're the Tops.

Thu, 29 Jun 2000 05:54:55 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author EdSmith - The Top 500 Poems is the best general anthology of English poetry available. I have nothing but affection for the Norton Anthology of Poetry and the Oxford Book of English Verse, but they pale by comparison. This anthology selected the top 500 poems to...

Look out World.

Thu, 29 Jun 2000 05:07:39 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author EdSmith - My friends and I used to play Risk for hours when we were in high school. Heck, it just took that long. That is one thing that even the "Fast Dice" option on the PC version can't avoid. If you want to kill two or three hours this is a great...

Yes he Could.

Thu, 29 Jun 2000 04:07:58 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author EdSmith - I've Gotta Be Me: The best of Sammy Davis Jr., is a good introduction to one of the great song and dance men. What makes Sammy exceptional is that he can more than hold his own as a singer. As talented as Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly were, I find it...

I love this movie.

Wed, 28 Jun 2000 04:40:17 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author EdSmith - To my mind this is the best of Bogie and Bacall. I don't need to tell you anything about the plot except the casting. Bogart plays a war veteran, Bacall his buddy's widow, Lionel Barrymore his buddy's father, Edward G. Robinson a gangster on the run,...

Everbody said it was funny.

Wed, 28 Jun 2000 03:50:27 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author EdSmith - I didn't see this movie until it came out on video and I will preface my opinions by admitting that part of my negative response is due to the fact that by the time I saw the movie I had over a year's worth of word of mouth to overcome.

I will...

Still "the new yorker" but not "The New Yorker"

Mon, 26 Jun 2000 05:44:07 GMT

rating: 1/5 by: Epinions Author EdSmith - Recently I subscribed to The New Yorker after not having read it for years. Back when I was in my early twenties and not earning a lot of money I wished I could afford to buy it every week but only got an occasional issue as a treat. Unfortunately the...