Epinions Recent Reviews for jkkelley

Delos: ancient tranquility

Wed, 5 Nov 2008 18:03:16 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author jkkelley - The Cyclades are a roughly circular group of islands in the Aegean Sea. In their midst, about a forty-minute boat ride from picture-postcard Mykonos, lies the island of Delos. As the birthplace of Apollo and Artemis, ancient Greeks considered...

an Aventful experiment: the Drippy Cup

Wed, 21 Mar 2007 17:55:48 GMT

rating: 1/5 by: Epinions Author jkkelley - Some people are blessed with a good deal of natural grace and dexterity. Others simply know not to pile great heaps of crap on end tables, work areas and by their computers. Others remain sober at all times. The rest of us spill our beverages...

was he or wasn't he?--The Mr. Grover Appreciation Writeoff

Sun, 28 Aug 2005 21:46:34 GMT

rating: 2/5 by: Epinions Author jkkelley - In The Hidden Hitler, Lothar Machtan, a German professor of history, assembles the evidence for Adolf Hitler's homosexuality. As I was telling our host, my good friend eplovej
oy:
"Man, gay people just cannot catch a...

Philips DSX 5500C Satellite TV receiver: DefectiveTV--the Soviet Union of TV providers

Fri, 1 Jul 2005 05:28:46 GMT

rating: 1/5 by: Epinions Author jkkelley - Some years back I bought a copy of the _Necronomicon_. It purported to be this Cthulhuesque Babylonian magical treatises full of glyphs and symbols and dire warnings about monsters and demons. It did a good job of scare tactics. "There are no...

Sid Meier's Pirates: yo, ho, ho...hum

Fri, 3 Dec 2004 21:52:29 GMT

rating: 2/5 by: Epinions Author jkkelley - Preface: it has been pointed out to me, by those who have been writing reviews far longer and know far more about such things, that I have been unclear in this review, leaving the reader to wonder what I am talking about. I feel very guilty and sad...

2004 Pride Write-Off: yeah, what's wrong with us, anyway?

Sat, 26 Jun 2004 16:25:04 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author jkkelley - If you want me to hork my cookies, you don't need to feed me cooked spinach (though you could). Just lead me through the front area of your local Barnes & Ignoble, where all the political books scream at me: Treason! Lies! Hate! Betrayal! Media...

XXXtortion: reading it for the articles

Tue, 13 Jan 2004 19:03:20 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author jkkelley - We took Playboy for two years, and it's over now. We enjoyed reading it most of the time, but we've never seen such business practices from a magazine in all our lives. The sample issue used for this review was labeled the 'December 2003'...

it's not all bad

Tue, 5 Aug 2003 16:55:01 GMT

rating: 1/5 by: Epinions Author jkkelley - Losers' Club is a trade paperback fiction novel about a young Hispanic guy who is trying to b...

AT&T: I commune with the undead, and barely escape with my soul

Thu, 6 Mar 2003 19:07:27 GMT

rating: 1/5 by: Epinions Author jkkelley - I have spoken with the dead.

Here is a paraphrased account of a conversation, if you can call it that, with AT&T about my long distance service with them:

ME: (dialing)

DISEMBODIED SPECTRAL FEMALE VOICE:...

July Cross-Media Writeoff: chasing a dream

Sat, 13 Jul 2002 04:03:06 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author jkkelley - I still remember the photo in Ball Four Plus Ball Five of Jim Bouton, grim and shirtless, late thirties, sitting in the bleachers of a minor league ballpark, tossing a ball in one hand. The caption was immortal: "Chasing a dream." He looked...

Gardening Writeoff: I decipher the operation of the TardMachine, and commune with James Herriot

Wed, 15 May 2002 21:06:20 GMT

rating: 2/5 by: Epinions Author jkkelley - I'd always told myself that when I grew up I wasn't going to buy cheap crap. Huh-uh, not me. You see, growing up, my parents were the world's cheapest, and everything they bought fell apart. And they were not raised in the Depression, so they have no...

Stealth Writeoff: a cheap tablesawyer's first lesson--a 'dado' is not an extinct bird!

Sat, 6 Apr 2002 01:29:21 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author jkkelley - Until we bought a house, I'd last used a table saw in high school woodshop. Having worked for four summers in a lumber mill, I've got respect for saws of all types. It always sobered me that I was one bad hand placement and a swat of my knee from a...

a real women's magazine

Wed, 6 Mar 2002 22:28:22 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author jkkelley - (Note: this review contains no warnings about content on the grounds that I'm not here to parent your children, and moreover, they already know all this stuff anyway from watching HBO. Furthermore, I think content warnings are stupid and insulting to...

Scads Consumerly-Helpful Writeoff: room 7312, Hyatt San Jose, and meeting Epinionators

Fri, 8 Feb 2002 15:14:11 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author jkkelley - When writing a review of a place like the Hyatt San Jose, the reviewer attempting to provide scads upon scads of information helpful to consumers is faced with a dilemma: how can one truly give the hotel a thorough review without spending at least one...

Lexiphiliac Writeoff: finally got sick of being asked to autograph kids' "JigglyPuff" Pukémon cards

Thu, 3 Jan 2002 17:15:30 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author jkkelley - One thing that tends to happen to us as we age is this: too much butter, greasy McRodentburgers, muffins with that cream cheese stuff in them, and cheap stanko pizza will blimp you out. They will plump...

Proxomitron: the MUTE button of the Web, so "in yo' face!"--and Shonenware

Sat, 6 Oct 2001 16:49:57 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author jkkelley - For those who don't give a damn how we got here, nor about whys and wherefores of the Internet marketing situation, please skip down to the line that says "END OF MY ANTI-MARKETING VENT, BEGINNING OF REVIEW". I understand.

If you've...

prison camps, kudzu, billboards, and lack of Sunday beer: Georgia on my mind

Sun, 30 Sep 2001 02:35:00 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author jkkelley - One truly wonderful aspect about life in the Tri-Cities is that it helps one to get in better touch with the earth. Truly a New Age Elysium (next to a nuclear facility and a nerve gas arsenal), on the face of it. Unfortunately, it achieves this by...

meet Herbert, the bane of our existence

Fri, 21 Sep 2001 13:08:50 GMT

rating: 2/5 by: Epinions Author jkkelley - When having company, Deb wants us to launch into Mass Cleaning Mode. The motivation behind Mass Cleaning Mode is to hoodwink visitors into imagining that we don't really live like Poland China hogs, and to impress people one or the other of us...

HTP Lovefest Writeoff: venturing among the forlorn, giving a whole new meaning to "self-expression"

Wed, 5 Sep 2001 16:16:34 GMT

rating: 1/5 by: Epinions Author jkkelley - What seems like forever ago (about four months), I was writing my 50th Epinion. As we all know, the tradition is that we who have become 'established' here in some way are supposed to reserve milestone reviews for Grand Wisdom and Advice to share. So...

"...we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender..."

Mon, 27 Aug 2001 05:11:03 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author jkkelley - Good reader, please allow me to pose you a question or two.

How many historians can write so beautifully as to elevate one's concept of the beauty of the language?

How many can compose so enthrallingly that their work appeals to...

abebooks.com: Idiotic Writeoff: I quake over buying used books, and wind up looking like a dolt

Thu, 16 Aug 2001 04:40:08 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author jkkelley - The Advanced Book Exchange, at www.abebooks.com (hereafter just, affectionately, 'Abe') has enabled me to find and acquire a score of truly obscure books without a single bad experience. I hope it receives a fee or royalty from my purchases...

Dr_Steph and I stuph ourselves at Red Lobster...and my notes on meeting in person

Thu, 2 Aug 2001 13:58:55 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author jkkelley - I had to be up in Yakima recently for business, and well-liked Epinionatrix Dr_Steph lives in that general neck of the sagebrush, so we decided to have lunch together while I was in town.

(Apologies to those who read and rated the...

Pop Your Cherry Writeoff: repulsemonkey offers me some (Talking) Head(s)!

Fri, 27 Jul 2001 20:53:04 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author jkkelley - Note: this review contains adult content. Since our (US) society has come to a general consensus decision that all children must be sheltered completely from any utterance or image that could later be blamed for them cooking crank or shooting up...

Rock-Off: Maryhill State Park, and the Ice Age Floods

Thu, 19 Jul 2001 22:20:23 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author jkkelley - Maryhill State Park, on the Washington side of the Columbia River looking across into Oregon, is one of the better-maintained and most spacious parks in the Columbia Gorge. It is approximately an hour from the Tri-Cities of Richland, Kennewick and...

amateur diabolist Louie and sultry minx Cecelia Nuthatch almost hump up

Fri, 6 Jul 2001 19:52:35 GMT

rating: 2/5 by: Epinions Author jkkelley - Most people feel that children's videos should be educational as well as entertaining. I'd say that it's desirable, but the media do better in some areas than in others. One area of childhood education that is often neglected today is that of demonic...