With all the swivel-store commercials that I see, and my disorganized spice cabinet, I went on Amazon to look at them only to find they had bad reviews about their flimsy and overall ineffectiveness. Then I found this thing, and while it is a little pricier than the swivel store, it was rated much better.
The box does take up all of the space where my spices were littered about in my cabinet, but now I can actually find them within seconds as opposed to rooting around and looking through all of them. You can double (maybe triple) the little spice bottles in one slot, and there are bigger slots for things like a big bottle of onion powder.
It also comes with pre-printed and blank labels to cover all your bases for organization.
With all that said, if you own your home (or can otherwise make permanent changes to your dwelling) and have a pantry with a door, I would suggest getting one of the racks that you can mount to the inside of the door. It will hold more spices and other miscellaneous things and is easier to grab things quickly. A friend of mine has one of these and I liked it a lot, but since we are renting we don't want to put holes in the doors.
However if all your spices are just shoved in a cabinet right now, pick up one or two of these so you can organize and go right for the chili powder the next time you need it.
This is my 2nd pair of Klipsch IEMs. I also own a set of Promedia in-ear phones. Bass is a bit deeper with the S4i vs. the Promedia (maybe it's my imagination) and having the iphone control on the earphone cable is great. The sound is a bit bright/harsh at high volume but at moderate/low volume it's exceptional; smooth and balanced. For the price these Klipsh phones are a steal for the sound they produce.
The same can be said about the overall sound quality of the Klipsh Promedia phones too, excellent sound for a great price. The main thing you get with the S4i over the Promedia is identical control of your iphone as with the Apple earphones (minus the lousy Apple earphone sound quality and better background sound isolation).
I was looking at some of the pics posted here about cables falling apart at the plug. I have to wonder if those images are from an older model (or a fake) since my connector is different. There's a definite strain relief on the cable and it looks like only abuse would fray in my unit I've had the Promedia IEMs for 4 months now (same strain relief) and they've done wonderfully so far.
I expect the same from the Noise-Isolating S4i.
The first chapters of American Sniper are a perfectly suited introduction to the aw shucks, God, Country Family school of American kickass manhood. It is mind-bendingly simple to understand exactly why this nation will continue to be greatly defended for generations to come, because anyone who reads Chris Kyle's book and knows where Kyle is coming from (I do!) will recognize in a heartbeat the kind of Texas cowboy we will always have millions of. Kyle himself would never tell you that he's a one man army, but he is just the kind to fill the top ranks of the best army on the planet so long as it's funded.
There's only a little to say about the metastory here, as I will be slightly intrigued but much informed and entertained by the story to come. That is that you see in Kyle's story, the new soldier - the prototype by which humanity will be defended for generations to come.
He is not an outsider. He is not from the dregs of society. He loves his father and his family - his is not desperate for approval. He rises to the challenges of defending his country, and it makes all the difference that he is a volunteer and that this remains a free country. So long as our military institutions retain their transgenerational links, then they will be the fuel that will power militaries of the future. We must hope and indeed pray that armies comprised of such free men will remain victorious from here on.
It's corny. It's easy to understand. Because of that we are most fortunate. We retain the formula. He's just a fighter and he hates to lose. He understands that he has become a weapon and he is serious about his patriotic committment. His mission is a job and he is remorseless and relentless. He understands the deal of morality he has made, and he values an American life first. That is the kernel of it. The rest is training and experience, and now his knowhow is plowed back into instruction. That, my fellows, is a professional, and that is what we want our military forces to be.
One more thing. I would compare this book unfavorably to Wasdin's SEAL Team Six. I must confess that I like Wasdin's sense of himself as a warrior and as a person better than I like Kyle. Kyle is his own worst enemy talking about the kind of man he might have been if he were better. It's the kind of explanation those who are apt to respect him don't ask for and the kind those who are apt to disrespect him will find ridiculous. He's a soldier. Period. I'm sure it comes off much better in person than it does in the book. At any rate, we are fortunate to have all sorts on our side.
With the world of social media dominating high volumes of b2b and b2c communications, what’s happening to email?
There is no doubt both the use and success of email has been in decline over recent years. What this means to marketing professionals is that of you want your email campaigns to succeed, then they need to be exceptional.
For me, email campaigns simply don’t work in isolation, especially in the b2b world. Perhaps that’s due to the nature of the business I work in but I believe to get the best results, email must be one dimension of a multi-touch strategy.
Anyhow, here are my top 5 tips for successful e-mail campaigns.
1. Subject Line
I believe around 80% of writing and design time should be spent on a compelling, engaging subject line and 20% on the rest of the content. If the subject line doesn’t scream ‘READ ME NOW’ then the content is pretty irrelevant.
2. The Hook
I can honestly say I don’t think I have ever replied to a ‘marketing’ email that did not have a great hook. We need to engage our audience with a great subject line the POW, give them an offer of something they can’t refuse. Take Tesco as a good example, I have used the £10 off your next shop voucher countless times.
3. Personalisation
Which brings me onto one of the most important factors. Personalisation is not just about adding the recipient’s name to the top of the email. It’s about understanding you target market. With a good knowledge of your customers needs and wants, your emails should render dynamic content based on the segment of people you are sending it to. Do not underestimate the important role CRM plays in marketing.
4. Screen Real Estate
People receive and read emails in different ways and as the sender you need to be acutely aware of this. Some recipients open their email fully in Outlook, others use the preview pane, others on iPhones etc etc. This means that you need to get you key message in the top left corner of your design so it has the beat chance of being seen, no matter what device the recipient is using.
5. Follow Up
Sadly, in my experience this is rare. I must get 30+ marketing emails a day and perhaps only 1-2 followed by a phone call. It is however those 1-2 that get my attention as they usually prompt me to revisit the email in my inbox. It’s the lack of professional follow-up that is usually at the centre of failing campaign, invest the time to do this properly and you will be more successful.
Next time you create a campaign review these 5 steps and see if you have them covered. Good luck
For those looking for a nice and free way to start 2012, there's free MP3s to download right now on Amazon.com. You will need to hurry though as the free download offer ends this week.
You don't have to buy anything - just select the whole CDs or any of the songs you are interested in and start downloading. If you are not familiar with any of the songs, there's a sample player on the site to help you listen before you start downloading. Who cares anyway, the whole thing is free so if you are not happy with the songs, just delete.
I have downloaded some of the songs myself so I thought I would put it up here in case anyone is interested. I believe in sharing - especially when it's online and free.
Why pay for something when you can get it for free - I say.
Hurry over here and start downloading NOW.
How's everyone doing? Hope you all had a nice Christmas holiday and looking forward to a happy and joyous new year. For me, mine was awesome. I spent the holiday with the family and finally made it to Paris for our anniversary.
We have been planning on going away to France since 2009, but didn't manage to afford it. The economy was bad and the fear of losing one's job was always a big thought. Luckily, we've all managed to sail through and still keeping our jobs.
So, to celebrate how lucky we've been... we thought we would go away to a romantic and exotic place. There's no better place that Paris.
But just before that, we dropped in London on our way and spent 3 days in the beautiful city. Visited lots of places such as Buckingham Palace, Leicester Square Cinema, the Tower of London and the world famous Harrods. You can't visit London and not see these places. They are what make it a great city - lots of history and architecture.
One thing thought that I notice is that the Kindle Fire has not been released in Europe, so if like me you are travelling to Europe, be sure to download Totally Free kindle Books here as you will not be able to get them in Europe.
We are still in Paris and hope to leave on Tuesday. I will post our holiday pictures next week.
When I decided to replace my old digital projection TV I did my homework by doing tons of research and read tons of reviews and ended up buying the PN64D8000. After 2 weeks of watching it I can honestly say that I was never been so disappoint with a "top of the line" product from any brand at any price point as I have been with that TV and decided to return it for the UN60D8000. It was one of the best decisions I have ever made because the UN60D8000 simply crushes the quality of the PN64D8000.
SAMSUNG UN60D8000 vs PN64D8000
The overall image brightness of the PN64D8000 was about 20% darker than any other TV I have ever owned so the picture ended up looking dull and didn't pop off the screen the way I had hoped it would. That overall brightness problem was also complicated by a brightness throttle built into the TV that keeps the picture at or below a fixed intensity. This throttle causes huge consistency problems as some scenes will look perfect and then and you see it kick in when the majority of screen has really light or white content and the TV keeps it from displaying a pure crisp white and instead it throttles it back so you get a muddy light grey. Before anyone tries to tell tell me it was a calibration problem I know that I work professionally in the film and video industry and I know how to calibrate a TV so this was not a problem with the settings.
If you read the review on televisioninfo.com so will see that they tested the peak brightness of the PNXXD8000 plasma vs. the UNXXD8000 LED and the plasma scored a 90.43 cd/m2 while the LED scored a 357.93 cd/m2 which is nearly four times as bright.
The UN60D8000 is the complete opposite as the picture is bright with pure whites and has the best overall quality I have ever seen on any TV. It handles day to day TV watching through DireTv incredibly well as the picture looks fantastic but when you watch a Bluray this TV is just jaw dropping.
OVERALL DESIGN AND SMART HUB
There is no denying that this TV looks beautiful with it's thin edge and it's slim design makes it look fantastic when you out it on the wall. I ended up hanging mine on the wall because the four legged TV stand made me nervous as it was stable side to side but it seemed like it could tip over fairly easily front to back. The Samsung Smart Hub is a nice addition but if I am going to surf the web I would rather do it on my laptop and I found that services like Hulu Plus and Netflix had better picture quality when I ran them on my Playstation 3 vs the Smart Hub. I do use the Yahoo! Smart Apps fairly regularly as it is an easy way to check the weather, items on eBay and the latest tweets without having to flip away from what you are watching.
SMALL BLACK LEVEL UNIFORMITY ISSUES
There are a lot of reviews that knock with TV for it's black level uniformity and there is some validity to this but having now owned both of Samsung's top of the line TV's I can tell you they both have a some issues. Most plasma's will throttle back the white level but I never saw one as bad as the muddy and dull whites of the PN64D8000 plasma. At the same time any edge lit LED will have a problem where the edges will look a little lighter than the middle and you get a little of this on the UN60D8000.
This TV does have a little of this problem but you will only see when the screen is completely black and on mine it looks like a subtle gradient that goes from a very dark grey to black running right to left. For me this slight black level problem was A LOT more acceptable than the dull and muddy white point on their plasma which just wrecked my watching experience for TV, Bluray and PS3. If you calibrate your UN60D8000 you can pretty much totally eliminated the black level problem.
I'M NOT A FAN OF 3D BUT THIS MIGHT CHANGE MY MIND
I have always thought that 3D was just a gimmick for movie studios to charge more for movie tickets and the movies I have seen with in the theaters never changed my mind. This TV came with two pairs of 3D glasses and I threw my the 3D version of Tron Legacy in to try it out and I have to say it was better than any 3D experience I've ever had in any movie theater. I was when I tried the 3D out with Killzone 3 on Playstation 3 that I saw how really cool this could be. 3D gaming on this TV is really fun and it is something I will be doing on a regular basis.
PS3 'MODE NOT SUPPORTED' ISSUE'
The one issue I have with the TV is an issue I never saw in any review and only found out about after I purchased the TV which is that there is an issue between Samsung LED TV's and gaming consoles especially the Playstation 3. When you plug in your Playstation some of the time you will see the TV display an error message suddenly saying 'Mode not supported'. I have done a a lot of research and testing to find out that there is an issue with the rate that Sony sends the HDMI signal to the TV which makes for a 'handshake' problem between the two devices.
Some people seem to have been able to fix this problem by buying a more insulated HDMI cable but I bought a top of the line cable and it had no effect. There is a simple solution where you can simply turn the TV off for a few seconds and then when you turn it back on it works perfectly. I am investigating if a HDMI signal detective will help fix this problem and I will update the review if I find a solution.
"Courage sometimes skips a generation. Thank you for bringing it back to our family." Skeeter (Stone) moved back home to Mississippi so she can get some experience writing for a paper before she can move to New York. When she gets a job answering letters about cleaning she asks one of the maids for help answering them.
A simple job about cleaning turns into something major that changes the course of the town. This is a very difficult movie to watch, but this is a must see. The subject matter will infuriate you and the Hillary character is one of the best movie villains to come along in awhile. For a movie that at its most basic level is about interviewing people for a book it is very engrossing and moves along pretty quick.
This is a very emotional movie that will leave you thinking and wondering how you would have behaved in that situation. The cast and acting alone is worth watching for. Emma Stone gives a great performance and is hard to believe this is the same girl that was is "Superbad".
Overall, the first real Oscar contender for best picture and numerous acting awards to come along this year. A definite must see. I give it an A.
I was a little hesitant purchasing The Elf on the Shelf, because I don't try to focus Christmas entirely on the Santa aspect, but more on the giving aspect. I broke down and got one this year figuring if I really didn't like it or thought it put too much emphasis on gifts that I could tell my son that Santa decided he was good enough he didn't need to send the elf for following years. The night after Thanksgiving our Elf landed on our mantel.
I called my son (almost 4) and daughter (22 months) in the room and my husband and I read the book to them and explained the process and rules of our new house guest. I never could've imagined how interactive this little guy would be.
My son insisted that his name is Elfey, and is so excited to talk to him every morning. He is genuinely concered about how is trip was and if he got too cold. I absolutely love listening to their one-sided conversation. He knows that if he is naughty Elfey will have to tell Santa and that he may not get his Santa gift this year.
The only downside I can see is that my son is already sad at the thought that Elfey will go back to the North Pole with Santa on Christmas Eve and will be gone for an entire year...Hopefully the gift Santa leaves will alleviate this dreaded time.
This doll is a great size big enough that my kids can spot him no matter where he decides to land for the day, but small enough that he can fit in/on anything, he even decided to perch on our Christmas tree one day. He has a great little face that adds a lot of character and life to the little doll. The book says the kids aren't allowed to touch the elf, which is why it's okay that Elfey isn't the most durable "toy" around. I have no doubt he will be more than able to survive the years of perching around my house for my kids and possibly even grandkids.
Discover and Link to Holiday Events
Have you seen our new Holiday Offers Page at Associates Central? Discover Amazon Holiday store fronts and promotions happening in November and December all in one location and quickly get text links and banners. Earn up to 15% advertising fees.
Black Friday Week and Cyber Monday Week Starting November 21st, the Holiday Offers Page has all the premier Black Friday special promotions. Below is a summary of the special promotions, gift guides and other events happening right now.
Big Holiday Events
* Holiday Deals - Black Friday and Cyber Week
* The Holiday Toy List – Hundreds of this year’s best gifts for Children
* The Christmas Corner: Holiday Decor, Tableware and Entertainment
* Holiday Gift Guide – Gourmet gift baskets, chocolates, cheeses and more for every occasion
Electronics* The New Kindle Fire – Now Shipping!
* Black Friday Deals Week for GPS, Car Electronics, MP3 Players and Consumer Electronics
* Wireless - All Phones sold with a plan for a penny and $100 Amazon.com Gift Card on Select Phones
Media
* Books Gift Guides – Adults, Kids and Teen
* Movies and TV Best Sellers and Deals
* Holiday Music - Playlists and Classics
* Video Game Best Sellers, New Releases and Deals
Home, Kitchen and Garden
* Home, Kitchen and Garden Gift Guide
* Buyer’s Guides -Espresso Makers, Juicers, Cuisinart Food Processors and Kitchen Aid Mixers
* Holiday Baking Store
* Grocery and Gourmet Foods - Including Gift Baskets
Auto and Home Improvement* Tools – Up to 50% off top name brands and popular items
* Black Friday Automobile Deals
* Lawn and Garden Gift Guide
I'm very impressed with the Kindle Fire, I was so thrilled when i heard about the price of it. Since 2009 I have been a True Kindle fan, it has changed my life of the way I read, and now we have the Kindle Fire that will also change the way I listen to music and watch films, and TV programming.
Lets start with the video. Wow Hulu+ looks and works great on this, I have it on my PS3 also and it is really buggy on the PS3 but on the Kindle no problems at all. Great picture and sound and easy to navigate. Netflix seems to run very well also other than every once in a while you hear a slight click in the audio. As for Amazon Streaming video it is where this Machine really shines. With a free month of Prime you get plenty of films and TV shows to watch for Free. With a click of the button within seconds you have the movie in amazing clarity and sound in the palm of your hand. Super Troopers was the first movie i watched and was a lot of fun, nice to be able to stop it at any point and then start it right back up where you left off. A nice feature is having it in your carousel so all you have to do is press on it to resume the playback. Side loading video from you own collection is very easy also just plug in the USB to you computer just drag and drop.
Music: What can I say but yes i'm in heaven with Amazon and their cloud service I think it was April when they announced the whole cloud service for music and then they offered unlimited cloud service and thats all it took. I have an obsession for music and have a failing hard drive with over 200 Gigs of music from my collection. So since May I have been uploading my entire music collection to Amazon Cloud and now with a Wifi connection I have all the music at my finger tips with the Kindle Fire. If i'm going to be on the road I can easily hit a button and zoom the music is downloaded to the Fire.Yes it is a dream come true. The ease of just popping on over to the store while listing to the music is all right there.
Apps: Along with Amazon's mention of the cloud service they also gave us an app store with a FREE app of the day that I usually start my day checking out and purchasing since the opening just to have plenty of Apps to go with the then rumored Kindle Tablet. Well the day is here and I have plenty of Apps to play with on the Fire. Games, utilities, art programs. they all run great on the Kindle Fire. I also have a Dell Streak tablet and the apps on it are so so sometimes it works other times it just sits there. The Kindle Fire always boots them up and your on your way.
Web: It is nice to sit on the couch or at the kitchen table and surf the web, It seems very quick and easy to me I enjoy it just sometime I forget the ability is there right on the Fire.
Books: Well here we go back in 2009 i purchased my first Kindle 2 and instantly became a true addict to reading again. Having Dyslexia reading has always been so hard and it took me forever to read a Dead Tree book but then the Kindle came out with the ability to adjust the type size and the line spacing and it was like being reborn I was able to finally read without using my finger following each and every word. Now with the Fire not only do you have the ability to adjust the txt, We also get to be immersed in full color graphics and photos. Reading on the Fire is also a lot of fun with a tap of the finger you can read the definition of a word with in seconds. If thats not enough you can link it right to Google of Wikipedia and explore more.
I just love going to the book shelf section and enjoying all the cover art of the books. Your done with a book you are just a tap away from browsing the Amazon Kindle store. The ease of syncing up across all of you Kindle's is just another amazing way Amazon has changed the way we read and enjoy all other forms of media. Sure there a few flaws but it all can be fixed in a firmware update. I hope they put the Twitter posting capability in the reading app into the Fire OS along with the ability to see popular highlights. But those are a few minor things.
I hear from others that the battery life is not up to what the iPad offers? I have no problems with the battery life, consider you can buy two Kindle Fires and still save a $100 over the iPad price and then get 14 hours of battery life. I love my eInk display but the Fire is also another great way to read and have all your media at your finger tips.
The game has been awarded an 18 certificate from the BBFC due to its graphic violence and real-world settings.
The game attracted some controversy over a scene set in London that shows an Underground train being blown up. There were calls for the scene to be removed because of an alleged similarity to the London bombings of July 2005.
The BBFC did not require any scenes to be removed but did point out that the game is "completely inappropriate" for children This year's release coincides with the launch of Call of Duty Elite, an online subscription service. Annual membership costs £34.99 and gives players extra downloadable content and competitions. Players can also access a free version that offers stats and the ability to arrange games with fellow players.
This year's edition broke the record set by its predecessor, Call of Duty: Black Ops, in 2010, which in turn broke the record set by Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 in 2009.
The Call of Duty series has been running since 2003 and more than 100 million copies of its various titles have now been sold.
According to Amazon, Kindle Fire is a premium product, offered at a non-premium price. It brings everything they’ve been working on at Amazon for 15 years - Kindle, Amazon Instant Video, Amazon MP3, Amazon Prime, Amazon Appstore, and Amazon Web Services - together into a single, fully-integrated experience for customers.
But do they really match the power, style, performance that Apple's products provide and we've all come to expect from smart devices? Well, they've put up a nicely written document which compares the two devices side by side. It makes a very nice reading especially if you've been wondering which of the two to buy for Christmas.
As someone who has an iPad already, it's quite fascinating to actually see how much they have in common and not only size, but in features and functionality.
See the whole Kindle vs iPad here. This might just change how you've always looked at products before because the retail price of a product does not necessarily mean it packs much better punch.
If you were thinking of buying an iPad in the next few weeks or months, you might want to read the comparison document to be sure you are not throwing away your hard earned cash.
I adored reading this book on my latest Kindle Fire 3G Wireless device. Many people have pointed out its faults, and one I will agree with is that at times it is repetitious. But for me, whom worked in the entertainment business and was a tech geek, in many parts it was a walk down memory lane. My first computer when I arrived at college was a used Apple III. I was the only one on my floor to have a computer, so many people used it. It lasted about 3 years, then the "C" key broke when I was writing a paper on "Marconi and the influence teens had on the invention of radio." I had to write the whole paper using as little C's as possible, but I still had to go into the final draft and pen in all the C's in Marconi's name.
I then got a Window's based computer, used again, while my friends were getting Mac's. It was clear to me then that the Mac was better, but I had what I had, and it turned me into a "hacker." By the time I finished college in the early 90's, I was switching and adding more ram, adding graphics cards, worrying about the fan, switched to a new motherboard, etc. etc. etc.
Then Napster came around and I was downloading music. I only had dial up at the time, so I would set up my computer to download songs all night line over an open phone line while I slept. Remember download times. I worked for a major studio at the time, and I remember the funniest stern memo that came out that voiced outrage at the fact that they had found that most of the work computers had at least one program on it for "stealing" music. People were "stealing" music at work from their own company!!! I just couldn't figure out why the studios and their music companies were not working on ways to make it easier to buy music online rather than prosecuting 12 year olds and trying to encode each song with an electronic booby-traps.
Nonetheless, I went the Frye's hacking route for way too long. Finally after having so much trouble with my windows crashing with my itunes software, I bought a MacBook. Wow. What a machine. I'm on my 3rd iPod, my 2nd MacBook, my second iPhone, and now I want an iPad.
I guess all of this doesn't have much to do with the book. It is my own experience. It's history though, and a history completely shaped by the characters in this book, especially Mr. Jobs.
On January 22, 1984, in what has become an iconic moment in advertising history, the first Apple Macintosh computer was introduced to the world. Striking a cinematic blow against an Orwellian Big Brother figure haranguing a grey and faceless army of brainwashed drones, an attractive and athletic young woman eludes pursuing stormtrooper guards and heroically hurls an iron hammer that shatters Big Brother's huge black and white telescreen, ending oppression, freeing everyone--changing the world. The voiceover intones--"1984 will not be like 1984."
1984. You know--the dystopian novel by George Orwell written in 1948 that depicts a nightmare no-hope future where everything is rotten and nobody ever has a nice day.
Rewind your cassette tape. On an average spring day in central Tokyo, April 1984, an impeccably attired, attractive young woman, Masumi Aomame, late for a very important appointment but marooned in a taxi on a hopelessly jammed elevated expressway, takes an extreme measure. At the suggestion of her slightly odd driver, she escapes the highway using a little-noticed rickety emergency exit to street level underneath a prominent Esso put-a-tiger-in-your-tank billboard. Before departing the cab, the driver cautions that if she does this, "Things may look different to you than they did before. I've had that experience myself. But don't let appearances fool you. There is always only one reality." And with that, while Leos Janacek's Sinfonietta booms ominously on the taxi's high-end FM radio, Aomame enters a world where there are two moons in the night sky and everything she knows is wrong--to her 1984 will not be like 1984, it will be 1Q84. Magic.
With this bravura and memorable opening, Haruki Murakami's vast, ambitious but flawed novel of everything, 1Q84, leaves the flat earth world of conventional fiction and begins the long, sometimes thrilling and entertaining, slog to the far distant end of some nine hundred beautifully written and translated pages. Not unlike flying to Tokyo on the Concorde, taking the long way around with the airbrakes on.
So, the title: 1Q84. The Japanese word for the number nine is kyu. The year 1984 is thus spoken sen kyu-haku hachi-juu shi-nen. The use of the English letter Q is a multilingual pun, signifying to the Japanese reader (and should to anybody else), "we ain't in Kansas anymore."--Reality has changed, old rules don't necessarily apply. We see that a weird novella named Air Chrysalis is rewritten, conspiracies are hatched, passions explode, people die, lovers are lost, puzzles and questions posed. While 1Q84 is indeed a novel of everything, probing notions of reality, truth, death, religion, identity, time, connections, pop culture, anger, duality, mirrors and strange sex, (the novels of Thomas Pynchon or David Foster Wallace and the stories of Jorge Luis Borges come to mind), it is not an envelope-pushing, hard to follow postmodern pyrotechnical fizz-fest. At its heart, it is a love story, sometimes achingly romantic.
Our two protagonists, Aomame (a tough, outwardly cold chick who happens to be a very capable assassin of abusive men--think a Japanese Lisbeth Salander) and Tengo Kawana (a blandly quiet math teacher, novelist and ghostwriter), are both outsiders, both lonely. They are disconnected from each other and much of the world and have been since a long ago innocent grade school encounter was indelibly etched on their souls. They must traverse nine months in a strange new world filled with weird characters and baffling events, where, as in 1984, good days don't happen. Stand-ins for Orwell's Big Brother, the so-called Little People are maybe real, maybe unreal, and bizarre obstacles and complications must be overcome. Whether they know it or not, Tengo and Aomame are in love, and, like lovers everywhere, they must connect. Will they find each other? That is the venerable V-8 engine of the novel--though it is in much need of a slimmed-down tiger in its nine hundred-page tank.
But how does one edit a Japanese National Treasure, an acknowledged master of world literature, a writer perhaps in line for a Nobel Prize? How? Slashing lines, cutting entire episodes--go from here to there, eliminate that back-story, do we really need to know that? Or how about the long passages of half-baked arcana of that sinister religious cult--you lost me there. Let's off-load some unnecessary baggage, fly higher.
Murakami, though, is a wizard. Using a technique familiar to his loyal readers around the world, Murakami, developing his theme of duality and reflected identities, alternates the narrative's point of view chapter by chapter. He is convincingly inside Aomame's head, then Tengo's, and in Book 3 adds the dogged and froggish detective Ushikawa--only then does the novel finally achieve lift off. Murakami carefully braids the threads of the story, gradually tightening them like a Chinese finger trap, ultimately permitting the reader differing views of the same event, resulting in our seeing the action from a higher altitude, a crafty cinematic device. Throughout, each chapter's title is a fragment of a line in the narrative--a delightful motif that prompts an engaging bit of paging back and forth as the reader works to decipher Murakami's narrative trail of bread crumbs.
With a painstaking Japanese, perhaps Apple-like, attention to detail, the book itself is beautifully designed and produced. Fine paper, a lovely binding and a translucent moon grey rice-paper dust jacket with haunting frontispiece images of the twin moons of the story add to the proposition of the presence of a new world. Page numbers alternate, printing backwards, sometimes left hand, sometimes right. And the book's logo, 1Q84, is mirrored across facing margins, reflecting itself, helping to produce an effective and unique coherence to the novel as a complete package.
And yet. The magic and promise of the opening chapter, the image of the elegant Aomame descending that fragile stairway into the heart of a gritty new Tokyo, is not sustained over the many miles in the long distance flight of this novel. The slim and beautiful Concorde flew fast and high. But the fat and beautiful 1Q84 aspires to do more, to fly us to the moon--too bad it staggers under its own weight, never quite leaving the orbit of this flat earth.
I really enjoyed the movie. It was fun, entertaining and really tied things up well, the movie deserves 4 stars, however!!!. The reason for this post is the HORRIBLE Ultraviolet copy, not a true digital copy. Ultraviolet streams the movie and dosn't use the now industry standards for Mac and Win. The movie is NOT stored on the computer as iTunes files or windows format video files. The movie streams from Flixter, which is horribly broken. If you dont have internet connectivity you cant watch the movie.
If you have a slow connection you loose frames for a horrible watching experience and if you pay for internet access by the megabyte you pay more then the movie costs on BluRay just to watch it once. It just dosn't work well.
Why is Warner Brothers changing a system people have become use to and a system for digital copies that most people like.. Ultraviolet is a solution where no problem exists. This is change that only WB and Flixter want. Digital format users are mostly happy with the system that has been developed, iTunes etc.
I have tried to contact WB to issue my complaint, to no avail. I did go to WB on Facebook and posted, along with only one other person, my dislike for Ultraviolet. I also recommend Amazon give feedback to WB of our dislike of Ultraviolet. I'm not a fan of ripping movies but it looks like that may be the only way to get WB movies in a digital format so we can watch the movie where and when we want and on what device we choose. Do what you can to avoid Ultraviolet and complain and complain often until they listen.
I brought this JBud earphones in March of this year and I notice about 2 weeks ago that they were splitting from cord to the plug. Well tonight it went bad, stopped working. I have just upgraded myearphones to a JBud J3. I hoped that the cord is better the 2nd time around. I can say that I was pleased with my choice that is why I upgraded my 2nd pair. I would really appreciate it if this cord is of better quality than my last purchase.
I enjoyed the sound of my music through the earphones. I also appreciated the color orange, it matched my Ipod to the tee. I would recommend the earphones just with knowing nothing last forever. And I will take my fault in how it went from my ear to my pocketbook back to my ear. Cord is not lasting. I would like for the company to make the cord out of a better material that will last with the way we try to put it away.
I would wrap my cord around my Ipod. Not in a forceful way but in a way to keep it together until it's next use.
Many of us don't drink enough water because of it's taste, and let's face it, 6-8 glasses of water a day is a lot of water if we're just not into it's taste.
NO, drinking soda and it's equivalent diet drinks is NOT the same thing because they all contain some form of sugar content, fake or real and really are not good for you.
What's the alternative? Put something in the water to make it more palatable and easier to drink and this just fits the bill.
Strawberries, Cherries, Blackberries, Pineapple, Lemons and whatever comes to mind to add a little taste to the water.
Water as you all know can do a lot for you, from losing weight to flushing out the toxins in your system. So, if that's what the doctor ordered, then this may make it easier to drink the stuff. LOL.
It does give the water some flavor, but don't expect it to be equivalent to drinking a real strawberry or a cherry soda because it just doesn't get that strong (in flavor) nor will it have enough sweetness to replace the real stuff.
So, that's why we use this Prodyne Fruit Infusion 93-Ounce Natural Fruit Flavor Pitcher
Very cheap and has revolutionise the way we now drink water in our household. I highly recommend it.
I used a computer stand similar to this one (with a 13" Macbook) at a place of employment. When I needed my own, I started looking through my options and decided to go with this Griffin stand. I have a 15" MacBook Pro, and this stand works perfectly for it. The height is not adjustable, but at 5'3" the height is great for me. When my 6' husband tried it out, it was great for him too.
My laptop gets hot, so I appreciate the way that air is allowed to circulate all the way around the computer. It is also not bulky or an eyesore since I started using this Griffin Technology GC16034 Elevator Laptop Stand. In fact, I think it's barely noticeable on my desk. I can stuff my keyboard underneath it when I want to use more desk space. I also greatly appreciate that it can be easily disassembled for storage or packing if I need to relocate it.
Several of the reviews that I read mentioned that the stand loses its grip after a while. The one at work that I used previously never lost its grip even after several years of use. Having said that, I was still a bit concerned. BUT when this shipment came, there are two small clips that attach to the ends of the top of the stand that should prevent the laptop from sliding off. Griffin must have listened to its customers and made this improvement.
Kudos for that, Griffin. The only issue for me is that my CD insertion point is on the front right side, and one of the clips impedes the ease of use. I rarely use the drive, though, so it's a non-issue for me. If I were inserting and ejecting CDs all day, though, I would probably just not use the clip.
Overall, a great buy and reasonably priced.
The new Kindle 4 is pretty sweet. It's weighs less than a paperback and can pretty much fit in your jean pocket (although I don't recommend it). For $79 bucks you get the smallest Kindle yet. One drawback is that you have to deal with ads and I have to say that I miss the old screen saves, but not enough to pay $109 for the ad-free model.
Another issue is with the keyboard, or lack thereof. I don't do much typing on the Kindle, which is why I elected to purchase this model, but still when I have to type something it's a pain. The Kindle 4 also lacks audio capability, so you cannot listen to music, audio books, or use text-to-speech. Honestly, who uses those features anyway?? The text-to-speech sounded like a great idea, but any time I tried using it my brain couldn't keep up with the speech.
My biggest gripe with the Kindle 4 is that Amazon cheaped out and didn't include the AC adapter. They include the USB cable only, which means you either have to charge it on a computer, or buy the adapter separately.
Again, it's all what you're looking for in your Kindle. If you really need to type and use the audio functions then wait for the touch model to come out; if you're looking for a cheap, super light, and small e-reader it's hard to go wrong with the Kindle 4 for $79 bucks!
But if you are looking for the Kindle that has all the features that rivals iPad, then look no further than this Kindle Fire.
