Buddhist Baseball

Tue, 9 Jul 2002 21:25:28 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author asilrenrut - I’m long overdue to produce some substantive explanations of why my Top Ten Reads are lodged in their current order--and why they’re not likely to move anytime soon. In the case of The Brothers K, I am triply remiss, especially after 1)...

Not Quite, Nike, but a Very Pretty Try

Fri, 1 Jun 2001 22:23:06 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author asilrenrut - Sometimes I feel overwhelmingly "targeted" as a consumer. I'm the person with a Jetta, a Palm, a cell phone . . . if I simply got the manufacturer's list of mandatory items for my demographic, my life would be much easier.

So when I first...

It's All Here, If You Want to Know

Mon, 21 May 2001 14:59:21 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author asilrenrut - Did you happen to live outside of Silicon Valley during the dot-com boom? No worries. Startup.com will give you a hyper-realistic taste of what the whole phenomenon was like.

I saw the earliest version, before it was converted from...

It Might Work (Can't Know For Sure)

Tue, 27 Mar 2001 18:13:24 GMT

rating: 1/5 by: Epinions Author asilrenrut - Having noted an alarming trend of rants-as-reviews lately I'll try to step back and be as objective as possible about Telocity. (If rants are your bag, however, see Any Hairy Sunday (

Any Hairy Sunday

Mon, 26 Feb 2001 17:46:24 GMT

rating: 2/5 by: Epinions Author asilrenrut - It's plain and simple: you've got to have thick skin to work out at 24 Hour Fitness. Actually, if you're a focused exerciser, and can tune out moderate to heavy leering, it's an adequate place to work out, since there's no shortage of machinery. What...

An Upbeat French Film?

Fri, 19 Jan 2001 19:48:40 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author asilrenrut - It's neither practical nor sensible to make sweeping generalizations about a country's entire body of film. Nevertheless, here's my ugly American take on French films: they are often dripping with stark melodrama, heaps of cruelty alternating with...

Three Moons Over White Sands

Fri, 1 Dec 2000 18:23:06 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author asilrenrut - I can’t say exactly why White Sands National Monument made me want to take my clothes off, but it did. Now hold it -- before you scan this review like a maniac looking for a cheap thrill -- there wasn’t any sex involved in my visit to White Sands. Just...

It Could Turn You AC/DC

Fri, 20 Oct 2000 20:37:14 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author asilrenrut - That is, if you’re a die-hard fiction lover like I am, Guns, Germs and Steel could convince you to spend more time on the “other side”.

While I hate to generalize, some of us took college Bio courses where an original science-fiction...

A Brainy Romantic's Trip to the Playground

Fri, 13 Oct 2000 19:26:26 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author asilrenrut - With The Romantic Movement: Sex Shopping and the Novel, Alain de Botton offers up a hard-hitting commentary on the psychological and philosophical implications of the average relationship. His uncanny analysis of classically female behaviors...

Clearer Than Sweat

Wed, 4 Oct 2000 21:50:47 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author asilrenrut - Have you ever seen the Cyndi Crawford ad for 24Hour Fitness, where she’s looking at the camera intently wearing boxing gloves and a bra? Knock that image on its ass, add some real sweat and spittle, and you’ve glimpsed some of the guts behind...

Frisco on the Half-shell

Fri, 29 Sep 2000 19:53:20 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author asilrenrut - If you’re a true oyster lover like I am, you could probably do without all the trappings of the shi-shi restaurants that generally serve these mouth-watering mollusks. Let’s just say that I don’t need a huge tray of chipped ice, seaweed garnishes, and...

. . . I Die Just a Little Bit

Fri, 22 Sep 2000 16:48:03 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author asilrenrut - “Blowfish Sushi to Die For” references the Japanese tradition of tempting fate by tasting this most exquisite and toxic fish—and then, more likely than not, dropping dead. That’s quite a legacy on which to found a business, but the Blowfish owners seem...

Napster Brought Me Beck (Now I Can Die Happy)

Thu, 17 Aug 2000 20:08:31 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author asilrenrut - Note: I first discovered a mixed collection of tracks from Mellow Gold, Midnite Vultures, Mutations, and Odelay on my company's Intranet, so this review will encompass bits of all of those CDs. (Napster actually filled in some...

Mamma: Yo Mamma Never Worked This Hard

Wed, 9 Aug 2000 15:08:30 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author asilrenrut - Snaps aside, Mamma.com is by far the best search engine to hit the Web in a while. In case you're not familiar with the concept of "Meta Search" engines, these tools compile the search results of all the major engines. That means that instead...

I Never Thought I'd Be Passionate About Browsers.

Tue, 1 Aug 2000 22:23:40 GMT

rating: 1/5 by: Epinions Author asilrenrut - It’s true. When I first began submitting my reviews to Epinions, I had a bunch of lofty, liberal-leaning ideas about how the site fostered creativity, democracy, and the American Way. It was a place where rants could turn into quality reviews that could...

Cradled in the Bay with Crackerjacks and Coke Bottles

Thu, 27 Jul 2000 15:48:48 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author asilrenrut - Newcomers to Pacific Bell Park might take one look at all the dot-com advertising decorating the walls, scoreboard, and even the handy seat cup holders, and lose their appetite for the stadium's phenomenal garlic fries. Once these signs sink quietly into...

Buy Me a River

Thu, 27 Jul 2000 15:13:37 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author asilrenrut -
Review Topic: Sights & Attractions

Those who know San Francisco understand that living in a multimedia hub means inhabiting the advertising industry's latest sweetheart of a stomping ground. For example, when Volkswagen came...

Seasickness Had Nothing to Do With It . . .

Wed, 12 Jul 2000 15:29:11 GMT

rating: 1/5 by: Epinions Author asilrenrut - The Perfect Storm made me want to wretch.

The weekend I saw this film was an action-filled one, with visits both to The Perfect Storm and to Gone in 60 Seconds. I'll include a caveat here: I tend to lean more toward the indie...

Guilt Trip

Fri, 2 Jun 2000 20:05:53 GMT

rating: 2/5 by: Epinions Author asilrenrut - Air travel isn't supposed to be complicated, right? Apart from the drama of defying gravity, the experience should be a cross between taking the bus and visiting the local café: no-nonsense, non-committal, with some nice people to help you feel...

Quadratic Opera

Fri, 2 Jun 2000 19:19:35 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author asilrenrut - Timecode follows four stereotypical L.A. entertainment types through their daily meetings and miseries, braiding together these characters' interrelated stories to produce a larger, "Life in L.A" quasi-narrative. Timecode's...

Ofoto Online Store: Indulged, then Marooned

Tue, 23 May 2000 21:42:15 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author asilrenrut - I was absolutely amazed when I tried Ofoto for the first time. Once they sent me my new member kit (film-safe, postage-paid envelopes made from recycled plastic, stickers to put on my disposable camera to help them keep track of my order, and fun gifts...

Not On Par with the Other "Americans"

Fri, 5 May 2000 23:39:13 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author asilrenrut - I mentioned in my review of The Virgin Suicides that we are steeped in an era of films that make us want to read their novels. American Psycho falls into this category, but overlooks us visual types who revel in other media.

As...

You Will Not Forget This Film

Fri, 5 May 2000 23:37:03 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author asilrenrut - I thought that American Beauty did a good job of capturing lusty adolescent angst. The Virgin Suicides, however, rivals the quality and filmmaking of Beauty, and surpasses its ability to capture what we all suffered through and, on...

Romantic Comedy Doesn't Have to Suck

Tue, 2 May 2000 19:42:46 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author asilrenrut - I've got proof now--Eureka! High Fidelity deftly and artfully proves that 1)romance isn't dead 2)the quirky knucklehead you're secretly in love with might turn out to be a winner after all, and 3)there is a God, and it appreciates good...

Guts of the Behemoth: A Sad and Scary Citibank Tale

Thu, 20 Apr 2000 19:25:56 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author asilrenrut - Once upon a time there was a land called America, where people were free to speak their minds, banks went about their business of making money, and customers were usually right. Free speech, banks and customers lived together peaceably, and life was...

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