Epinions Recent Reviews for chaospump

Paint It, Black: The True Adventures of the Rolling Stones

Sun, 30 Mar 2003 08:04:32 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author chaospump - the quick and dirty:

Reading this book was not a particularly pleasant experience. Much of it is dark and dismal, and at times it becomes repetitive and monotonous. It’s nervous and jerky, skipping back and forth in time confusingly,...

Melitta Fast Brew MEFB2W – Café Olé!

Sun, 23 Mar 2003 04:40:25 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author chaospump - the quick and dirty:

Melitta is it. This Melitta Fast Brew MEFB2W is attractive and wonderfully functional. It’s easy to program, use and clean, it makes 12 cups of coffee quickly and well, and the $40 price is a terrific deal.
...

Cryptonomicon: A Grand Disaster

Sun, 16 Mar 2003 23:21:11 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author chaospump - the quick and dirty:

Neal Stephenson’s Cryptonomicon is a thousand pages of his agile, informative, thought-provoking, and frequently hilarious digressions. Unfortunately, this leaves only about a hundred-fifty pages for a story to...

Flash is Trash

Sat, 8 Mar 2003 22:18:28 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author chaospump - the quick and dirty:

No tortoiseshell rosette around the sound hole. No abalone fret markers shaped into birds or dragons. No whimsical etchings on the pickguard, no inlays of any kind save for the simple pearl dot fret markers. This guitar...

” There Can Be Only One” – Sarcasm W/O

Fri, 28 Feb 2003 05:50:25 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author chaospump - Additional Note: I’m not really entirely sure if the plot details revealed in this review are major or minor; that’s just how complex and dauntingly intellectual this revered classic is.

the quick and dirty:

...

It’s DELL-lovely!

Sun, 23 Feb 2003 06:28:19 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author chaospump - the quick and dirty:

I purchased this sweet machine a month ago, and it’s not given me a single problem, though I’ve put it through the paces of ludicrous multitasking, video conferencing, and even multitrack sound recording.
...

Cap’n Chaos

Tue, 18 Feb 2003 22:17:36 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author chaospump - the quick and dirty:

James Gleick is an excellent chronicler and biographer of science, as evidenced by his superb bio of Richard Feynman, Genius. Perhaps that’s why he uses the stories of some of the key players in the early...

Cosmic Compendium

Tue, 11 Feb 2003 05:22:02 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author chaospump - the quick and dirty:

Astrophysicist John Gribbin is one of the world’s leading writers of science for popular consumption. He’s a prolific writer, best known for his groundbreaking 1985 work, In Search of Schrödinger’s Cat:...

The Beelzebub Book

Wed, 5 Feb 2003 01:27:20 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author chaospump - Note: This review reveals major details about the book’s plot, but there’s no ending-spoiler.

the quick and dirty:

A planeload of upper crust British schoolboys evacuated from London during the Blitz crashes on a lush,...

Fine Furniture

Fri, 31 Jan 2003 05:02:22 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author chaospump - the quick and dirty:

The 1957 Les Paul Goldtop is a thing of beauty and magic, an electric guitar icon, and just about any guitar player would own one if money were no object.

But money is an object, generally speaking. The...

Randy Newman is the Godfather of Punk

Wed, 29 Jan 2003 20:56:16 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author chaospump - the quick and dirty:

In 100 years, I believe that Randy Newman will be recognized by the general public (he already is, by many songwriters) as one of the greatest songwriters of this or any age.

Here is a massive (but it could...

Sauder Woodworking Sauder® Heritage Hills Computer Armoire: IKEA is a Four Letter Word

Mon, 27 Jan 2003 21:43:32 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author chaospump - the quick and dirty:

This is the perfect piece of computer furniture for tight spaces and tight budgets. You won’t find anything comparable for less than twice the price. The piece is very ergonomically and intelligently designed, with a...

Doh!

Mon, 27 Jan 2003 21:22:27 GMT

rating: 1/5 by: Epinions Author chaospump - the quick and dirty:

For about a thousand bucks including the 17” monitor, this looked to my careless eye like a good deal.

It isn’t.

The integrated audio and video are low quality and problem-prone. The...

Hidden Treasure

Sat, 25 Jan 2003 02:02:13 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author chaospump - the quick and dirty:

David Hyde Pierce is the alien narrator of a Discovery Channel style documentary about the Mating Habits of the Earthbound Human. It’s very funny, because the Earthbound Human is a very funny species,...

Timelessly Trite

Wed, 22 Jan 2003 17:11:14 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author chaospump - I first read Catcher in the Rye when I was about 16. I loved it. I kept it in moderate to heavy rotation for a good decade.

How could I not love a book about an intelligent and sensitive and basically decent young post-adolescent male,...

Nobody Does it Better

Sun, 19 Jan 2003 22:32:40 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author chaospump - Seems like everybody thinks they’re smarter than Einstein these days. Sci-fi writers, psychics, and a bewildering array of cranks and crooks and crackpots. Under every informational bridge on the internet lurks a muttering mob of obstreperous trolls,...

Ups and Downs

Fri, 17 Jan 2003 05:48:48 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author chaospump - Reading Ender’s Game was, for me, a wonderful and yet disturbing experience. Rarely, if ever, has a book (or a series, or an author) elicited such strong positive and negative reactions from me at the same time.

This book won the...

A Blizzard from a Wizard

Thu, 16 Jan 2003 03:21:17 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author chaospump - Note: Minor plot details are revealed herein.

Here's a recipe:

Combine, in roughly equal proportions, the startling imaginativeness of Philip K Dick, the cyberpunk sensibility and savvy of William Gibson, the surrealism of Thomas...

Too Many Pages

Wed, 3 May 2000 23:06:28 GMT

rating: 2/5 by: Epinions Author chaospump - I've read a number of Ann Rice books; her descriptive powers are phenomenal, and she creates complex, intriguing characters.

However, she does have a tendency to preach her singular world-view, something which increased throughout the first...

Handbook for Reality

Thu, 27 Apr 2000 23:56:05 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author chaospump - In this one slim volume, less than 200 pages long, lies understanding of the deep underlying principles of reality as we currently understand it, and the signposts which point the way to deeper understanding to come.

Richard Feynman was a...

The Stigma of Deception

Mon, 24 Apr 2000 22:59:09 GMT

rating: 1/5 by: Epinions Author chaospump - First of all, let's clarify what this movie is and is not.

It is not a thriller, or a thought-provoking philosophical investigation.

It is not suspense, drama, or any other familiar movie genre (of the post-WWII era). It is...

Best of the Best

Thu, 20 Apr 2000 22:46:12 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author chaospump - This book, for my money (and for yours too, if you take my advice), is Roger Zelazny's best, and that's saying one helluva lot.

For the uncounted millions of Amber fans out there, if you haven't stepped off the Pattern to read this one, you're...

Fie Upon Sleep

Wed, 12 Apr 2000 00:15:31 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author chaospump - With "A Fire Upon the Deep," Vernor Vinge joins the short list of authors capable of creating an alternate reality with believable civilizations, technology, and characters both human and alien (some suspension of disbelief is, of course,...

Travelocity Flight Reservations: Trouble-osity

Mon, 10 Apr 2000 20:58:03 GMT

rating: 2/5 by: Epinions Author chaospump - If I had written my review before my last encounter with Travelocity, it would have been quite a glowing one. I always found good prices and selection, the website is easy to use, and most of my experience with them was hassle-free.

But then...

Fabulous!

Thu, 6 Apr 2000 20:19:33 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author chaospump - The bible is an enormous, confused, self-contradictory, appalling, uplifting, beautiful compendium of political allegory, myth, history, sense and nonsense. It is the greatest and easily the most influential of all the world's fable collections. Aesop,...