Epinions Recent Reviews for astrid

My paddling blankie

Mon, 21 Mar 2005 16:37:15 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author astrid - Noseplugs are a little bit like blankies for many paddlers; a comforting plastic-and-wire piece of security against the dreaded nasal douche . . . and a sign that you're not quite ready to play with the big kids. I honestly believe that with my, uh,...

The Tale of Tippy the Ripper; or See You on the Nearest River

Fri, 11 Mar 2005 20:21:25 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author astrid - Epinions is approximately four years out of date with their whitewater kayak listings. In real-world terms, this is roughly the equivalent of searching for an iPod and finding only cassette tape recorders. Because kayak technology evolves so quickly,...

Philosophy 101 . . . or is that Room 101. . . .

Thu, 1 Nov 2001 20:26:28 GMT

rating: 1/5 by: Epinions Author astrid - A couple of nights after seeing Waking Life, I had a dream . . . I was talking to a small group of teenagers about the nature of love, and I was really on a roll. I was reciting sections of the Symposium, quotes by Kant, I think I gave them the whole...

A Tale for our times

Thu, 25 Oct 2001 16:40:43 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author astrid - Today as I was driving to work, my local NPR station broadcast a request for listeners to call or email the station and report what, if anything, has changed about them since the September 11th terrorist attack. "Well," I thought grimly, "I've gotten...

La Cienaga: Sinking in the Mire

Tue, 23 Oct 2001 16:49:33 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author astrid - La Cienaga is not an easy film to watch. Lucretia Martel's first full-length film is deeply steeped in dark Chekhovian ambiance and emerges as a slow-moving but tense study of a family's collapse.

While parents Mecha and Gregorio isolate and...

Sprint Mobile Phone Service in Chicago: Dear SprintPCS . . . .

Fri, 19 Oct 2001 12:16:37 GMT

rating: 1/5 by: Epinions Author astrid - It's not you, it's me.

I've changed, and you . . . well, you have stayed exactly the same. It's not that I never cared. When we first met, I was so attracted to you. You were such a rebel--no one else was offering nationwide long distance for...

Memory's Murder

Wed, 4 Apr 2001 17:32:34 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author astrid - You're awake. Heart-poundingly, throat-constrictingly awake in the pitch darkness. For a second, there is only fear. Then your rational mind kicks in--you know who you are. Your eyes adjust to the darkness and you notice the digital display of an alarm...

Desert Island Quiz

Mon, 26 Feb 2001 16:19:24 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author astrid - Stranded on a Desert Island Quiz

1) Your plane crashes during a terrible storm in the Pacific and after a harrowing night of being buffeted by winds and nearly drowned in saltwater, you find yourself washed up on a beautiful white sandy beach...

Potato Creek State Park: My Park

Thu, 21 Dec 2000 17:58:19 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author astrid - It's not a particularly majestic place. There are no snow-capped peaks or trails which force you to scramble over huge boulders or hug rocky ledges to avoid cliff drops. This is Northern Indiana. The main trails are immaculately groomed. Even the more...

An AT Ramble

Mon, 4 Dec 2000 17:50:26 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author astrid - The Appalachian Trail. Ever since Bill Bryson came out with A Walk in the Woods, the AT has held the same lure for outdoors types as New Orleans' garden district holds for goths. While the prospect of taking off five or six months of my life to...

Confessions of a Kung Fu virgin

Tue, 21 Nov 2000 19:57:50 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author astrid - I'll admit it. Before Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, I was a Kung Fu movie virgin. My brother, who saw this film the day before I did, told me that he didn't imagine that I'd like it too much. "This isn't Jane Austen," he said,...

Gaylord Opryland Hotel: The girl in the bubble

Wed, 18 Oct 2000 19:01:34 GMT

rating: 2/5 by: Epinions Author astrid - The Opryland Hotel, located a $25 dollar cab ride (you can pay a mere $18 round trip on the Opryland Hotel shuttle bus, but you have to abide by their schedule, which is not terribly convenient) from the Nashville airport, is a huge, garish, Disneyland...

Lincoln Park Zoo: Otters and Emus and Orangutans, Oh my!

Mon, 16 Oct 2000 19:36:14 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author astrid - Two city blocks from the Clark Street Starbucks and the plethora of sushi bars, Chicago pizza joints, bars, music stores, and small boutiques specializing in hats or interesting eyewear, the noise of the city dies down a bit, and you find yourself in...

The proud, vain, smoke-free me!

Wed, 30 Aug 2000 18:59:07 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author astrid - I'll admit it, I'm one of those smoke-intolerant people who will leave a restaurant rather than sit in the smoking section. I have a resentful little glare that is reserved for smokers who light up in non-smoking areas. I'll even go so far as to tramp...

My Dreamboat

Tue, 29 Aug 2000 19:33:29 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author astrid - Have you ever had a dream where you're moving very fast and all of a sudden a huge object appears out of nowhere directly in your way and you're heading right for it and OH NO you're going to crash and then at the last possible second, you somehow are...

Thule 520 - Kayak Stacker: The Dangers of Thule

Wed, 26 Jul 2000 19:15:56 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author astrid - Since buying my Thule multipurpose roof rack with the kayak stacker accessory in April, I have nearly lost my boat twice. The first time happened a week after spending an entire Sunday afternoon at my parents' house with my father trying to install the...

A Renaissance Film

Mon, 3 Jul 2000 19:09:46 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author astrid - If a young boy left a package outside a shop and came back to find it gone in an American film, what would we assume? That it had been stolen, of course! And yet, when Ali comes out of the grocery store to find his sister Zahra's newly-mended shoes gone,...

A Medici Morning

Thu, 15 Jun 2000 19:13:45 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author astrid - I once saw a Medici cook preparing their flaky, sweet, dense, melt-in-your-mouth cinnamon rolls as I waited patiently in line at the coffee and pastry counter at the entrance to the restaurant. He rolled out the dough into long strips which he dusted...

A Gentle Giant

Wed, 7 Jun 2000 16:40:30 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author astrid - The problem with whitewater kayaking in Chicago is that, well, there's no water.

I had been sea kayaking (Great Lake kayaking, really) for a season when serious cold and big waves finally drove me off the lake. A friend and I decided to take...

Faith and Love and lots and lots of Sex.

Fri, 2 Jun 2000 16:23:13 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author astrid - Fifteen minutes into End of the Affair, I very nearly gave up on it and pulled out my copy of The English Patient instead. After all, if Ralph Fiennes' character is almost exactly the same, and the storylines are closely related, I prefer...

The Unforgettable Betty Blue

Thu, 1 Jun 2000 18:03:04 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author astrid - While the plot of Betty Blue is not entirely different from Jonathan Demme's Something Wild (i.e., nice, normal boy meets strange, wild woman and they share misadventures together), the ensuing relationship is more complicated and subtle...

A diamond-in-the-plastic

Mon, 22 May 2000 18:46:49 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author astrid - When I started seakayaking, I picked huge boats. I wanted to be sure that if something happened and my boat went over there was no chance I would get stuck in it. In fact, the first time I tried a wet exit in one of these boats, I quite literally fell...

Starbucks: Hmmm. Why is there one on every corner?

Thu, 18 May 2000 15:31:28 GMT

rating: 2/5 by: Epinions Author astrid - I'm not normally a paranoid person. Although I watch the occasional X-Files, I don't really buy into conspiracy theories. The CIA probably didn't kill Kennedy. My phone line is most likely not being tapped. No one cares enough to steal and read my email...

2000 Toyota ECHO: Why I didn't buy a Toyota ECHO

Fri, 12 May 2000 18:57:20 GMT

rating: 2/5 by: Epinions Author astrid - I like the ECHO on paper. I like the image Toyota is trying to establish for the ECHO. I like how roomy the interior is. I like the little storage spaces everywhere. I think it's a really cute little car . . . in a bulldog-cute sort of way.

...

A Spectrum of Red

Thu, 11 May 2000 18:27:26 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author astrid - Have you noticed that life in the Soviet Union was colorless? What I mean is that I've never seen a film depiction of life in the Soviet Union (biased, of course, by being exclusively Western-made) as being much more than drudgery and fear, long bread...