Product Placement Category
It’s embarrassing, but I like to sing the praises about things sometimes. I think it’s a side-effect of copywriting. I’m not much of a consumer (too poor to buy, buy, buy!) but when I find a thing I like, I have to tell everyone. Listen up!
Book Review: The Time Traveler’s Wife
2
Oct
2004
In: Product Placement
As a wedding gift, Liz sent me a copy of Audrey Niffenegger’s The Time Traveler’s Wife. For some unknown reason, possibly tied to my own discomfort with my own new title of “wife,” I was a little hesitant about the book.
Thankfully, I overcame my irrational concern and dove into the book while Andreas and I were camping in France. What a great story! The book takes the science fiction premise of a man who travels through time and makes it so straight-forward as to be fact. Henry De Tamble has Chrono Displacement Disorder, and it’s sort of like epilepsy, but with time travel. The author then twists this fact into a romance, following Henry and his relationship with Clare, his wife.
It’s an easy read, but suprisingly literary. Niffenegger dealves into concepts of patience, prophecy, and learning with your partner. Since Clare first meets Henry when she’s six and he’s 36, and he cares for her in many ways. But Henry doesn’t meet Clare until he’s 28 and she’s 20, so the tables turn and she cares for him as he struggles through his disease. This clever premise is a great way of exploring the ways in which partners take turns caring for each other, and the ways we relate to the people our partners used to be (and will become).
I finished the book and immediately handed it over to Andreas to read so that we could talk about it. I wasn’t at all surprised to see the “Book Club” questions in the back — this is a book that demands discussion.
There were some aspects of the characters that I pushed against a bit … Clare’s stereotypically blueblood wealthy family, and the traditional male/female roles of her waiting, and him disappearing. But these were minor quibbles towards a truly engrossing, remarkle book. Recommended!
Two DVDs
27
Aug
2004
In: Product Placement
I finally got around to renting “How’s Your News” based on Matt’s strong recommendation. I loved it almost as much as he did, and would recommend it to just about everyone. As many others have observed, “How’s Your News” strongly clarifies the difference between laughing with and lauging at … and it does so with so much grace and insight. The people who made this movie clearly care deeply about the cast. The DVD extras are great, too…I love that we get to see Ronnie Simonsen meet with his “spiritual brother Chad Everett”! And the How’s Your News interviews with producers Trey Parker and Matt Stone provide some awesome insight into how the flick got made, and confirms that these guys really get the concept of the movie and the cast. Bonus: most of the crew working with the cast of the film are sort of hot New England granola dudes. Yum: cute dreadie dude pushing a wheelchair.
I also recently watched “You Got Served.” I actually enjoyed it, but here’s why: I was working on wedding Thank You cards, and whenever there was any dialogue (perhaps 2/3 of the movie?) I would minimize the DVD player screen on my computer and focus on my Thank Yous. This way I only watched the good parts of the movie (totally amazing athletic street dancing) and none of the bad (toiletpaper-thin plot and dialogue that includes gems like “This feud is stupid, selfish, and it affects a lot of people!” and “My name is ‘Beautifull,’ with two Ls.”). I did not, however, spot Britney Spears’ fiance, who dances in the film.
Listen Lola Listen
17
Aug
2004
In: Product Placement
The Run Lola Run soundtrack is giving me some crazy synesthetic nostalgia. How can cheap soundtrack techno inspire such wistful emoting? It’s all wrapped up in Dre and my trip to Europe in ‘99 and raving and Lotus and Love Parade and temporary autonomous zones and urban true love and jeez: enough already.
One of my father’s thoughts, post-wedding, was how strange it was to hear many of my friends (folks ranging from about 25 to 35) wax poetical about “the good ol’ days” five or ten years ago. He remarked on the power of nostalgia, and how if five years ago seems nostalgic now, just imagine how FOURTY YEARS AGO will feel when you’re at your daughter’s wedding and you start thinking back on your own earlier days.
Time, memory and nostalgia mesmorize me.
Radio Nova
25
Jul
2004
In: Product Placement
Yet again, I’m hooked on Radio Nova, Paris’ best radio station. I used to listen to it non-stop, but got frustrated by their limited streaming options and lack of a live playlist. But three years later, they let you listen with real player, quicktime, winamp or itunes, and they have a live playlist. Thanks to the 9 hour time difference, during the day here on the West Coast there are almost no ads, since it’s the middle of the night over in Paris.
Go listen now! Great funk, dub, soul, downtempo, hip hop and other fantasticness. Radio Nova Live / Novaplanet.com
New Camera
14
Jul
2004
In: Product Placement
Remember how last year I bought a new camera? Well, the Sony CyberShot DCS-U20 sure was cute, but guess what: photo quality pretty much sucked. Day photos have disappointing colors, and night shots are practically monochromatic they were so blown out. Don’t get me started on the red eye — even the seizure-inducing red eye reducing mode gives people glowing demon lenses. The camera can’t take close up shots, and the lag time between pressing the shutter button an the picture actually being taken is interminable. I have a lot of pictures of people turning their heads. The videos are tiny, short, silent, and the lowest quality I’ve seen — worse than a 5 year old webcam. In short: the CyberShot DCS-U20 is fine for snapshots, but not real pictures. It was an ill-advised purchase, one I made in part because I had a friend who was working at Sony who got me a deal…but a discounted piece of shit is still a piece of shit.
I’ve been considering gettng a new camera for several months, and thought about buying myself one for my birthday. But I held off — it’s never really the right time to drop a chunk of change like that. But with an impending three week trip to France coming up in a couple months, I decided I needed to take the plunge.
Meet my new camera. It should be arriving in a couple days.
Earthsea Trilogy
8
Jun
2004
In: Product Placement
I forgot to mention a book I’ve been devouring: A Wizard Of Earthsea, by Ursula K. LeGuin. Andreas and I have been reading it aloud to each other. Despite it being a classic, I’ve never actually read it: my father read it to me in the early ’80s. I’m not as fond of LeGuin’s attempts at archaic-styled language as I was back then…some of it feels stilted and distant from the characters. That said, still a great story and I’m looking forward to reading book two of the trilogy (The Tombs of Atuan), which I was totally enraptured by 20 years ago.
Book Review: The Time Traveler’s Wife
2 Oct 2004 In: Product PlacementAs a wedding gift, Liz sent me a copy of Audrey Niffenegger’s The Time Traveler’s Wife. For some unknown reason, possibly tied to my own discomfort with my own new title of “wife,” I was a little hesitant about the book.
Thankfully, I overcame my irrational concern and dove into the book while Andreas and I were camping in France. What a great story! The book takes the science fiction premise of a man who travels through time and makes it so straight-forward as to be fact. Henry De Tamble has Chrono Displacement Disorder, and it’s sort of like epilepsy, but with time travel. The author then twists this fact into a romance, following Henry and his relationship with Clare, his wife.
It’s an easy read, but suprisingly literary. Niffenegger dealves into concepts of patience, prophecy, and learning with your partner. Since Clare first meets Henry when she’s six and he’s 36, and he cares for her in many ways. But Henry doesn’t meet Clare until he’s 28 and she’s 20, so the tables turn and she cares for him as he struggles through his disease. This clever premise is a great way of exploring the ways in which partners take turns caring for each other, and the ways we relate to the people our partners used to be (and will become).
I finished the book and immediately handed it over to Andreas to read so that we could talk about it. I wasn’t at all surprised to see the “Book Club” questions in the back — this is a book that demands discussion.
There were some aspects of the characters that I pushed against a bit … Clare’s stereotypically blueblood wealthy family, and the traditional male/female roles of her waiting, and him disappearing. But these were minor quibbles towards a truly engrossing, remarkle book. Recommended!
Two DVDs
27 Aug 2004 In: Product PlacementI finally got around to renting “How’s Your News” based on Matt’s strong recommendation. I loved it almost as much as he did, and would recommend it to just about everyone. As many others have observed, “How’s Your News” strongly clarifies the difference between laughing with and lauging at … and it does so with so much grace and insight. The people who made this movie clearly care deeply about the cast. The DVD extras are great, too…I love that we get to see Ronnie Simonsen meet with his “spiritual brother Chad Everett”! And the How’s Your News interviews with producers Trey Parker and Matt Stone provide some awesome insight into how the flick got made, and confirms that these guys really get the concept of the movie and the cast. Bonus: most of the crew working with the cast of the film are sort of hot New England granola dudes. Yum: cute dreadie dude pushing a wheelchair.
I also recently watched “You Got Served.” I actually enjoyed it, but here’s why: I was working on wedding Thank You cards, and whenever there was any dialogue (perhaps 2/3 of the movie?) I would minimize the DVD player screen on my computer and focus on my Thank Yous. This way I only watched the good parts of the movie (totally amazing athletic street dancing) and none of the bad (toiletpaper-thin plot and dialogue that includes gems like “This feud is stupid, selfish, and it affects a lot of people!” and “My name is ‘Beautifull,’ with two Ls.”). I did not, however, spot Britney Spears’ fiance, who dances in the film.
Listen Lola Listen
17 Aug 2004 In: Product PlacementThe Run Lola Run soundtrack is giving me some crazy synesthetic nostalgia. How can cheap soundtrack techno inspire such wistful emoting? It’s all wrapped up in Dre and my trip to Europe in ‘99 and raving and Lotus and Love Parade and temporary autonomous zones and urban true love and jeez: enough already.
One of my father’s thoughts, post-wedding, was how strange it was to hear many of my friends (folks ranging from about 25 to 35) wax poetical about “the good ol’ days” five or ten years ago. He remarked on the power of nostalgia, and how if five years ago seems nostalgic now, just imagine how FOURTY YEARS AGO will feel when you’re at your daughter’s wedding and you start thinking back on your own earlier days.
Time, memory and nostalgia mesmorize me.
Radio Nova
25 Jul 2004 In: Product PlacementYet again, I’m hooked on Radio Nova, Paris’ best radio station. I used to listen to it non-stop, but got frustrated by their limited streaming options and lack of a live playlist. But three years later, they let you listen with real player, quicktime, winamp or itunes, and they have a live playlist. Thanks to the 9 hour time difference, during the day here on the West Coast there are almost no ads, since it’s the middle of the night over in Paris.
Go listen now! Great funk, dub, soul, downtempo, hip hop and other fantasticness. Radio Nova Live / Novaplanet.com
New Camera
14 Jul 2004 In: Product PlacementRemember how last year I bought a new camera? Well, the Sony CyberShot DCS-U20 sure was cute, but guess what: photo quality pretty much sucked. Day photos have disappointing colors, and night shots are practically monochromatic they were so blown out. Don’t get me started on the red eye — even the seizure-inducing red eye reducing mode gives people glowing demon lenses. The camera can’t take close up shots, and the lag time between pressing the shutter button an the picture actually being taken is interminable. I have a lot of pictures of people turning their heads. The videos are tiny, short, silent, and the lowest quality I’ve seen — worse than a 5 year old webcam. In short: the CyberShot DCS-U20 is fine for snapshots, but not real pictures. It was an ill-advised purchase, one I made in part because I had a friend who was working at Sony who got me a deal…but a discounted piece of shit is still a piece of shit.
I’ve been considering gettng a new camera for several months, and thought about buying myself one for my birthday. But I held off — it’s never really the right time to drop a chunk of change like that. But with an impending three week trip to France coming up in a couple months, I decided I needed to take the plunge.
Meet my new camera. It should be arriving in a couple days.
Earthsea Trilogy
8 Jun 2004 In: Product PlacementI forgot to mention a book I’ve been devouring: A Wizard Of Earthsea, by Ursula K. LeGuin. Andreas and I have been reading it aloud to each other. Despite it being a classic, I’ve never actually read it: my father read it to me in the early ’80s. I’m not as fond of LeGuin’s attempts at archaic-styled language as I was back then…some of it feels stilted and distant from the characters. That said, still a great story and I’m looking forward to reading book two of the trilogy (The Tombs of Atuan), which I was totally enraptured by 20 years ago.
Hey there. I'm Ariel Meadow Stallings, a native Seattleite who's written my way up and down the Left Coast. Electrolicious is where I post daily randomata, but I also write for a living. My first book, Offbeat Bride, was published last year.
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