Epinions Recent Reviews for gogigantes

Elevating Allegory

Fri, 10 Aug 2001 21:50:21 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author gogigantes - At a time when most contemporary fiction is merely thinly disguised autobiography wallowing in its own self-reference and self-reverence, along comes Colson Whitehead's The Intuitionist, a novel unsullied by the scourge of self-aggrandizement and...

The Hollywood Hobbs

Thu, 6 Jul 2000 21:59:08 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author gogigantes - Imagine Francis Ford Coppola revising Mario Puzo’s novel so that instead of Fredo dying on a boat in Lake Tahoe, Don Corleone takes out his revenge by patting Fredo on the back, kissing his cheeks Italian style, and settling their differences over some...

Hijacking Hollywood Heroes

Wed, 21 Jun 2000 21:57:56 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author gogigantes - Strike out the memories of Robert Redford as Roy Hobbs, Wilford Brimley slurping rusty water, and the scenes with sultry seductress Kim Basinger (ok, sacrifice a little and keep that one). Shut out the visions of Bump Bailey’s slide, Max Mercy’s flash,...

Quod Me Nutrit Me Destruit—The Life Altering Enchirito

Tue, 13 Jun 2000 23:58:52 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author gogigantes - Several childhood traumas have contributed to form my rather skewed worldview. There was the time in fifth grade when I would have been beaten up by a first grade girl my friends and I called “Large Marge” had I not been a skinny, fleet-footed runt and...

The Apotheosis of an Adventurer

Thu, 8 Jun 2000 16:34:38 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author gogigantes - Last year, hoping to solve climbing’s greatest mystery, a group of men set out to find the body of George Mallory. Mallory had vanished on the slopes of Mount Everest in 1924, resulting in decades of unfounded speculation. Some were sure Mallory had...

Commissioner Costas

Tue, 23 May 2000 23:02:13 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author gogigantes - The following review is part of a write-off featuring three frustrated fans whose teams have never won the World Series in their lifetimes: CurtisEdmonds and his beloved Rangers, mshawpyle and his soon-to-be American League Astros, and gogigantes, who...

Transcending Transience

Tue, 16 May 2000 21:57:05 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author gogigantes - The Latin verb ‘errare’ is deceiving. At first glance, it means the obvious: ‘to err.’ But it also means ‘to wander’, suggesting an odd relationship between making mistakes and wandering. “Ironweed” is the last novel in the celebrated Phelan trilogy,...

The Apotheosis of an Ascent

Thu, 11 May 2000 20:22:26 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author gogigantes - Exploration has long been the cause of controversy. With revisionism now widespread, it should come as no surprise that many of the tales of exploration that we were instilled with are being reconsidered, revised, and even rejected. Revisionists have...

The Posthumous Pulitzer

Wed, 10 May 2000 17:12:14 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author gogigantes -

In 1981, twelve years after committing suicide, John Kennedy Toole was posthumously awarded the Pulitzer prize for his novel, “A Confederacy of Dunces.” It was not a case of the judges immortalizing the dead simply for having died, as often...

Highlighting Hideousness

Mon, 8 May 2000 16:29:33 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author gogigantes - David Foster Wallace’s creativity is stunning, and his verbal precocity is daunting and awe-inspiring, but both are overshadowed by the sheer and utter depravity of his protagonists in the collection of short stories, “Brief Interviews With Hideous Men.”...

The First Big Mac

Thu, 13 Apr 2000 13:20:32 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author gogigantes - There is a certain style of writing that is almost guaranteed to be devoid of literary value. Generally, it is the shoddy prose located in the Lifestyle section of USA Today, the pathetic paeans plastered throughout the pages of TV Guide, and the legal...

Dueling Duality

Mon, 20 Mar 2000 19:22:37 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author gogigantes - Professional wrestling requires an inherent duality; spectators are drawn not to the wrestlers themselves but to their characters. Terry Bollea must become Hulk Hogan just as Jake Roberts must become the serpentine Jake “The Snake.” “Beyond the Mat” is...

Files of a Footnote Fetishist

Mon, 28 Feb 2000 14:47:47 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author gogigantes - In a world beset by television gluttony and other inane postmodern infirmities, David Foster Wallace has an addiction--a beautiful addiction. He loves footnotes. They are not, however, the pedantic references at the bottom of the page that one glances...

Usury and Usage Charges

Thu, 10 Feb 2000 12:46:17 GMT

rating: 2/5 by: Epinions Author gogigantes - As an ex-expatriate who recently returned to the promised land of midnight pizza deliveries, peanut butter, and cable television, I came back to America having learned one immutable fact about my sojourn in Italy: Italian inefficiency is horribly and...

Gillette Mach 3 razor: Slashing Shaving and Haranguing Hype

Thu, 3 Feb 2000 14:29:53 GMT

rating: 2/5 by: Epinions Author gogigantes - I would be willing to forgive Spain its momentary lapses of judgement, specifically Franco and the Inquisition, by virtue of its unparalleled contributions to modern culture, most notably sangria and the siesta. In its history, however, there is...

From the Beast to the Undisputed Best--Mickey's Malt Liquor

Tue, 18 Jan 2000 17:19:14 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author gogigantes - Many self-proclaimed beer lovers think that drinking malt liquor for its subtle aroma, smooth taste, and choice hops is like claiming to watch Baywatch for its clever, intelligent dialogue—both thinly veiled attempts to cover up more sinister intentions...

A Slandering of Sequels and an Austin Powers Sidebar

Fri, 14 Jan 2000 15:32:03 GMT

rating: 2/5 by: Epinions Author gogigantes - We have suffered through the pseudo-intellectual films released under the profoundly misguided guise of profound iconoclastic thought (Natural Born Killers), endured blockbuster movies with a $100 million budget and a ten cent script (Volcano), and sat...

The Woes of Woeful Grammar

Fri, 7 Jan 2000 12:55:30 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author gogigantes - Gone are the days of the draconian teacher assigning sentence diagrams in English class or the person who feels comfortable answering the phone, "With whom would you like to speak?" Our grammar, once stringently taught in school, has succumbed...

Sports of Various Sorts

Wed, 5 Jan 2000 12:12:19 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author gogigantes - Sportswriting is generally a strange amalgam of pithy panegyrics to over-paid players or ill-fated attempts to turn sports into a metaphor for life. The new edition of Best American Sports Writing nicely counters this trend. The 1999 edition is edited...

Angst-ridden, Apathetic Anithero?

Mon, 3 Jan 2000 18:33:22 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author gogigantes - Perhaps readers should have been alerted by the name of Updike's most famous protagonist, Harry Angstrom. Angstrom, as in angst. Updike's antihero serves as the literary progenitor for Richard Ford's own antihero, Frank Bascombe, a middle aged writer...

Cheap, Efficient, and Slightly Illegal Italian Travel Tips

Mon, 3 Jan 2000 13:55:44 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author gogigantes - Trying to find a taxi in Milan can often be taxing. Walking around a city that was built before the novelty of running streets parallel and perpendicular to each other can be even more trying. A simple solution is to take public transportation. In...

Boone's Farm Wines: Boone's--How to Spend Your Last Three Dollars

Thu, 30 Dec 1999 12:35:58 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author gogigantes - I have seen the rolling hills and sprawling vineyards of Napa Valley, have tasted California's finest wines from goblets and chalices, and have listened to the expert opinions of world class sommeliers. It is thus with great conviction and a...

Cheating the System- Italian American Style

Tue, 28 Dec 1999 17:24:04 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author gogigantes - Traveling though Italy by train can sometimes be an ordeal. When it isn't the late trains (the phrase 'in ritardo', meaning late, is almost a mantra if not a way of life) it's the seemingly weekly strikes ('scioperi' for the uninitiated). While I can't...