A music fan gave 5 stars to: Parachutes
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A music fan reviewed: 
| | 14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:  A Beautiful CD, January 30, 2001 There is some similarity between Coldplay and Radiohead, but this does not prevent the band from making its own unique contribution to modern rock music. The track 'Shiver' is a poignant look at unrequited love that isn't warmed over, melodramatic, or contrite, a tremendous feat in and of itself. It's understated and that's where its power lies. I heard 'Yellow' on the radio and was instantly drawn to its unusual and memorable sound. 'Yellow' may be the most original love ballad I've ever heard. It is what initially compelled me to buy this CD, and it was most certainly worth it. 'Trouble' is another fantastic cut. The CD is full of gems. It alternates between rough and edgy and soft and subdued, sometimes all in the same song. The entire CD just *works.* Every track can stand alone, but the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, thanks to a common feeling of quiet, thoughtful reflection that flows from beginning to end. Coldplay has established for itself a distinctive feel. This band should have a huge impact on the modern rock scene and I can't wait to hear more from them. My only regret is that the CD isn't longer, ten tracks wasn't enough, though I understand the Import has two additional cuts.
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| A music fan gave 5 stars to: No Name Face |
A music fan reviewed: 
| | 25 of 27 people found the following review helpful: A wonderful major label debut, January 30, 2001 I bought this CD because 'Hanging by a Moment,' reawakened in me a sense that true rock music was still alive. In an era of sickly sweet pop delivered by boy bands and teen princesses and acidic, cacauphonic noise produced by artists like Limp Bizkit and Kid Rock, it is on this music that I hang my hopes for rock. That this is Lifehouse's first major label album is simply amazing. It is a wonderful CD wtih a sound that you would expect from a seasoned band, not a newcomer.It's an incredible CD with many absolute gems. Their first single, 'Hanging by a Moment' is no fluke. With great cuts such as 'Sick Cycle Carousel,' 'Only One,' 'Simon,' 'Breathing,' and 'Somewhere in Between,' to mention only a few, it seems as though Lifehouse is destined for greatness with their brand of poetry with a rock guitar. The lyrics are stunning. This is music with heart and soul and you can feel it when you listen to it. Jason Wade's voice has a unique quality to it, unmistakable, soothing, and rough at the same time, it creates an almost hypnotizing effect. Their sound is very different from Everclear's, but like that band, I believe that Lifehouse will come forward as purveyors of great rock music in our time. If you liked the feel of Matchbox20's 'Yourself...' or Third Eye Blind's self titled debut, or the honest, emotional storytelling of Everclear, you can't go wrong with Lifehouse's 'No Name Face.'
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| A music fan gave 1 star to: The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order |
A music fan reviewed: 
| | 25 of 42 people found the following review helpful:  Realism, plagued by a need for an enemy, rears its ugly head, July 24, 2000 Huntington is the last member of an Old Guard of Realist who have to define the world in Us. vs. Them terms. With no more Evil Empire to keep men like him in business, he turns to a new enemy. Realism, as a theory of International Relations, cannot stand up without an enemy. Right now, it's rather difficult to find that enemy. As opposed to assuming that the world may no longer be defined in strictly Realist terms, Huntington invents an enemy. Like a man obsessed with Eugenics and Race Theory, he puts forward a claim that the cultures and traditions of the Orient are bound to be hostile toward us. There is no way that people from the East and West can live peaceably together, we are doomed to violence and struggle; pure nonesense and drivel. Huntington does not ever put forth any evidence to prove this theory. He uses rhetoric and singular anecdotes, failing, among other things, to consider how traditions and civilizations change. 500 years ago, we in the West were pretty barbaric. The Spanish started killing heretics in mass numbers, women were forced into a state of perpetual subservience, we fought over the official religion of the state in wars that led to huge casualities, then found a New World with a population we could wipe out. Any civilized society that encountered us would have surely thought 'these barbarians are hopeless.' This is by no means an attempt to categorize other societies as being where we were five hundred years ago. I'm not calling the Middle East and Asia barbaric, nor am I saying we in the West are perfect, but I am saying that relegating relations between cultures to the status of futility is absurd. Democracy and economic development change societies for the better and reduce conflict between states. States that are democractic don't go to war with each other, it doesn't matter if the two states are both Western, both Eastern, or from different cultural traditions entirely. Complex Interdependence (A theory put forth by Keohane and Nye, who know far more about International Relations today than Professor Huntington) has shown that the world is indeed becoming a smaller place and that as all regions are becoming interconnected with each other through commerce and increased communication, we are going to have to learn to live with one another and understand each other. I sincerely hope that Huntington is alone in his girding for battle, the rest of us should be looking toward greater global interconnectedness, not another Crusade.The title of his book, "The Clash of Civilizations" actually comes from a Bernard Lewis essay. Lewis himself is a narrow minded outsider who claims to understand Islam from a Western point of view. His analysis turns the stomach as well. You know why radicals in the East love Lewis and Huntington? Because as long as these two continue to perpetuate the myth that East and West cannot resolve their differences and that they are eternally doomed to conflict, the right wing radicals abroad can continue to spew their angry rhetoric about the West. Men like Osama bin Laden read this sort of thing and use it to urge their followers on. They can claim that if we in the West really believe this stuff, then it is proof that we are girding ourselves for a battle against Islam, and they in turn, can point the finger at the enemy. Any attempts at reconciliation between the West and the East are hampered by the fact that there are people in our society who listen to these two. The struggle to understand and accept other cultures is a difficult one. It will take time. That however, does not mean we should throw up our hands and claim that tradition and society make the clash between the West and the Orient inevitable. Huntington breaks the world up into neat little societies, completely ignoring the economic interdependence between these 'civilizations.' He ignores the progress that has already been made thanks to the globalization of the world economy and ignores the fact that we have good relations with many non Western states. He ignores the effects of democracy and the development of the economy on International Relations as well. His theory is all about xenophobia, chauvinism, and the need to define and lash out against an easily identifiable enemy. Let us hope that this book is the death throes of the old Realist regime, as opposed to the healthy war cry, Professor Huntington would have it be.
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| A music fan gave 5 stars to: Yourself or Someone Like You |
A music fan reviewed: 
| | 1 of 1 people found the following review helpful: an amazing breakthrough album; worthy of it's Diamond Status, July 19, 2000 Very few albums make Diamond, (i.e. sell over ten million copies domestically). Most that do, are on the receiving end of the wrath of critics, some deservedly, others become anathema simply because they are popular. Whatever the critics gripes about popular music and anything that can sell ten million copies may be, they don't apply to this album. This isn't bubble gum, over produced, fabricated top forty pop music. It isn't over engineered or specifically targetted, the band wasn't put together by some big LA producer because they're the five hottest boys on the planet. This is real music. It does what music is supposed to do. It speaks to you. It draws you in, tells you a story, makes you feel what the singer and the band want you to feel, it is an experience. The fact that it touched as many people as it did is a remarkable feat, and I'm rather tired of the critics bashing this album simply because it is popular. Matchbox20's first offering has been a favorite of mine for years now. It is practically a personal life soundtrack at this point and I'm glad I own the CD because, if for some reason I'd bought the tape, I would have worn it out by now. For over three years it has maintained a spot in my changer and I can't see it ever leaving. The album is full of gems. There are a few songs that don't do much for me, but all in all, the album as a whole is a tour de force performance. Songs like "Hang," "Kody," "Shame," "Long Day," "Real World" and of course "3am" are all unbelievable tracks. "Kody" remains my personal favorite. The music is simple and unpretentious, the lyrics poetic, and delivered in an understated way that captures the emotions expressed beautifully. I am in awe of Thomas's abilities as a song writer. I can name few albums that have left me with similar regard for the talents of the singer as a storyteller, and not just someone creating pleasant sounds. This is great music, from the faster, more up tempo songs, to the slower ones, every track is worth listening to and I highly recommend this CD to all music fans.
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| A music fan gave 5 stars to: The X-Files - The Complete First Season |
A music fan reviewed: 
| | 6 of 7 people found the following review helpful: Wow, June 5, 2000 The X Files changed television as we know it. While recent seasons have been somewhat exasperating, this incredible box set of the first season of the X Files will remind you why the show became an instant cult hit and why, surprisingly, it attracted such a wide and diverse audience. There's really no need to go on about the acting. Anderson and Duchovney's successes in their portrayals of agents Mulder and Scully are already well catalogued. Though it is worth taking the time to point out the great cinematography, directing and score that made the X Files what it is. The first seasons were all gorgeously shot on location in Vancouver. The score by Mark Snow, while subtle, is vital to the overall creepy feel to the show. Dark, mysterious, and suspenseful, these episodes will scare you, intrigue you, and make you fall in love with the X Files if you haven't already. Watching the X Files will once again become an event, where you unplug the phone, turn off the lights, and prepare yourself to be scared senseless. Believe me, you won't be disappointed.A must for every fan, this set will also turn casual viewers into X Files fans. If you thought the X Files every Sunday was great, wait until you see the first season, on demand, on DVD.
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| A music fan gave 2 stars to: The World Is Not Enough |
A music fan reviewed: 
| | 4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:  A poor follow up to TND, June 5, 2000 Brosnan has all the makings of a great Bond, in fact, his acting in this film is just fine. His problem is the script, the storyline, and the supporting cast. The stunts were great, the opening sequene was exciting, plenty of explosions, neat toys and one gorgeous car, but these elements could not save the film from it's tired and trite villain, a storyline that you could completely figure out by the end of the first twenty minutes of the film, and really, really poor Bond girls. The character of Elektra was not only predictable but boring, and Denise Richards as a nuclear physicist, one can only wonder who comes up with that sort of rubbish. The bad puns in the movie were over kill. Bond films aren't supposed to be incredibly cerebral, but this was a joke. The film floundered horribly. I considered it a total waste of two hours. With a Bond like Brosnan, Hollywood has to be able to do better than that!
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| A music fan gave 5 stars to: So Much for the Afterglow |
A music fan reviewed: 
| | 8 of 8 people found the following review helpful: Powerful storytelling makes this a great album, June 3, 2000 Everclear has done it again, producing another fantastic album full of remarkable tracks. So Much for the Afterglow captures senses of bitterness, anger, scorn, sadness, and longing as only an album by Art Alexakis and Everclear can. Each song has a distinctly 'Everclear' sound, which, the first time through might make it a tad difficult to distinguish some songs from others, but on repeated listens it becomes clear that every song is a gem. Each song tells a story, a story of a brutal childhood in a dysfunctional family, of love that is anything but a fairy tale, of lost and broken Hollywood dreams. The truly amazing thing about this album is the fact that these stories aren't banal and tired. Alexakis really does make them personal stories, about real flesh and blood people. He tells these people's stories, some are his, some are of people he knows, some he's even made up, and each one has the power to make you really listen, to empathize with these people, to understand what Alexakis is trying to relate to you. It's an amazing album to listen to when you're down. It's incredibly cathartic to listen to these stories that are unpolished, rough, gutsy and real. This isn't some overproduced, syrupy album. It cuts deep and you'll find yourself listening to it again and again.
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| A music fan gave 4 stars to: Les Misérables (Signet Classics) |
A music fan reviewed: 
| | 3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:  An extraordinary book, but it requires a lot of effort, June 3, 2000 Hugo's classic novel, Les Miserables is an incredible novel, complicated in its construction and storylines, the novel suffers a bit from Hugo's tendency to explain in excruciating detail, though even that cannot detract from the fascinating stories that Hugo weaves, bringing to life so many deep and complicated characters. The range and depth of topics covered in the book from love to war to greed to struggles with conscience is in and of itself, mindboggling. The fact that Hugo handles all of these subjects so well is a testament to his power as a writer. Hugo was one of the most influential writers of his time and his work continues to speak to us today. Les Miserables is not one story, but many stories, all of which will captivate the reader, draw them in and create bonds between the reader and the characters. It is, quite simply a very long book and the length and complexity will no doubt discourage some. Regardless of length or the range and scope of topics Hugo attempted to touch upon, it is a wonderful read and I recommend it highly.
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| A music fan gave 4 stars to: The Wealth and Poverty of Nations |
A music fan reviewed: 
| | 9 of 12 people found the following review helpful: An Economic History view of the modern world, June 3, 2000 Personally, I must say that many of the revisionist claims about the state of the modern world--why some civilizations have succeeded and others have not--appeal to me. However, I must also say that in The Wealth and Poverty of Nations, Landes gives sound reasoning for his arguments about the role of culture in creating industrial societies. I admire Landes' meticulous application of economic theory to explain what we call success and how we came to arrive at this state in human history. There is no doubt, more than just an element of truth to the theory that competition has driven development, though it leads me to wonder how far apart Landes and the revisionists truly are. Landes does not make a strong attempt to explain away the differences between cultures and their views on the value of competition. Could it possibly be that both Diamond and Landes are right? Could it be that resources and geography have created the different cultures that have led to different levels of economic success and industrialization? It is a very interesting and still relevant debate and to understand it fully, one must at least read and understand Landes' arguments, if not fully agree with his assessment. This is a well written book, at times a bit dense, but with enough anecdotal evidence to keep the reader interested. Landes does a thorough job supporting his claims and covers broad topics in this treatment of the study of economic history.
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| A music fan gave 5 stars to: A People's Tragedy |
A music fan reviewed: 
| | 4 of 4 people found the following review helpful: Haunting and unforgettable, June 3, 2000 Figes manages to cover all of the major events leading up to, including and immediately following the Russian Revolution with a broad, almost cinematic, sweep. The signifcance and details of the events of the revolution are covered in exacting detail, but what makes this book truly important is the focus on the individuals. The Russian Revolution was an event that completely and drastically changed a nation, but Figes does not fall in the trap of focusing only on the broader aspects; he captures the story of soldier, peasant, revolutionary, bourgeiosie, and common individual through the harrowing events of the revolution. He lets the people tell their own stories--stories of feverish revolution, of the betrayal of a nation, of tragedy, and horror. The images of these stories are seared permanently into your consciousness. A People's Tragedy is a long book, but most definitely, worth the time it takes to read it. For any student of Russian history, it will shake up your dry and academic notions about the revolution. Figes' book places a distinctly human face on all of the events of the revolution, and the faces and stories are ones that you will not soon forget. | |
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