Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, by Sijie Dai, presents the story of two young men moved from the city to the Chinese countryside to be re-educated during Mao's Cultural Revolution. The young men discover and read a number of foreign books (forbidden during the revolution), the contents of which captivate their thinking.

BLCS is beautifully written and has an evenly flowing prose. It gives a glimpse into the toils and struggles so many in history have had to endure. For the most part, I found reading it relaxing and enjoyable.

As a whole, though, I cannot give an enthusiastic recommendation. First, the plot wasn't overly gripping; while I finished it in two sittings, there was rarely a spot where it wouldn't have been easy to put it down. While the narrative contained some twists and turns, it was for the most part linear and often predictable. Ultimately, the story's conclusion left me unsatisfied.

I think a word of warning is also in order for those who are sensitive about mature themes. BLCS contains some crudeness and graphic imagery, as well as some explicit sensuality. Additionally, an important component of the plot deals in a matter-of-fact way with a subject that is divisive and many find offensive.

At last, "Who Moved My Cheese?" has found its target audience--children.

It is a simple parable that illustrates the natural tendency to resist change. The uncertainty that generally accompanies change provides a level of discomfort that some try to escape. Rather than take the necessary steps for change, some people cling to old notions and actions that produce little or no results.

These are good concepts to learn at an early age, as long as it is undertood that reducing such a simple little concept into practice is the hard part. Knowing that we need to "search around the maze for new cheese" doesn't help much, without guidelines for determining when we are "moving around the maze" or simply "sitting at the cheese station."

Hopefully, parents can provide some insight where the book doesn't.

The sub-title of this book -- Practical Advice on Creating and Maintaining Your Blog -- is dead on, delivering just that. I thoroughly enjoyed reading the book. It is not a book about the mechanics of blogging. Rather, it is about the experience. This is a good book for beginners, or those who want to rejuvinate their blog.

I am an instant fan of Rebecca Blood and her website because of this book.

There is no reason that you wouldn't want to buy this game now. The graphics are stunningly beautiful. The sound is powerful. The gameplay is fast and challenging. There are plenty of masterfully-rendered cut scenes.

The game is somewhere in between Halo and Ghost Recon. You have the action approaching Halo, but with the need for squad-based strategy. Is it as good as Halo? Well, no. But is the best game I have played for the Xbox since Halo. It lacks some of the smoothness of Halo (e.g., the character movement can have a jerkiness to it at times), and the storyline isn't as polished.

The gameplay DOES have a depth, though, that Halo doesn't. This is because of the different weapons and abilities of the squad. This adds considerable enjoyment and replay value to the game. Brute Force is designed so you will need to use the different squad characters to do well.

Buy it. You won't be disappointed!

Stay away from this game. I loved RCT when it came out for the PC, and was looking forward for the Xbox version. THIS IS A TERRIBLE PORT! The graphics are a joke, three generations behind -- approaching Atari 2600. Playing the game with a thumbstick is also very difficult.

This is a shame . . . an aweful shame . . .

At last, we have another album from Al. Fans will not be disappointed with this album, and I suspect it will appeal to a wide audience base. Don't hesitate to order it now.

Some notes on the songs: COUCH POTATO - Great parody of Emimen, at least musically. The lyrics are frequently clumsy. HARDWARE STORE - More words per minute than Albuquerque, technically brilliant. TRASH DAY - Mediocre parody of Nelly's Hot In Herre. PARTY AT THE LEPER COLONY - Instant classic! Catchy tune, clever lyrics. ANGRY WHITE BOY POLKA - Standard fare. WANNA B UR LOVR - Definite dud. A COMPLICATED SONG - Excellent parody of Complicated. WHY DOES THIS ALWAYS HAPPEN TO ME? - Irony like only Al can create. ODE TO A SUPERHERO: Spiderman theme on Piano Man tune. BOB - True to form Dylan parody. EBAY - Back Street Boys meet on-line garage sale. GENIUS IN FRANCE - Musically awful, but with a message that should resonate to a lot of Americans.

This expansion includes 12 different multiplayer modes, 8 new maps, and, of course, will include downloadable content from Xbox Live. If you haven't purchased the first Ghost Recon, get that and this one right now.

Okay, you are not going to get the same game as on the Xbox, PS2, or Game Cube, but in and of itself, this is a great GBA game. And there ARE stealth aspects to the game, but game play is much simpler than on the consoles. Graphics are super detailed.

Reading this book before you get started with a blog will save you time, money, and frustration. It will give you a fantastic overview of what is available as far as platforms and tools for blogging. It is not a reference, and it omits a lot of things one may wish to do with their blog. But it will be helpful to the novice. While this is a beginner's book, it is not written at a "Dummy" level, and the typical computer user will be right at home. The only disadvantage of the book is that once you zero in on a particular blog management system (e.g., Blogger) the sections dealing with the other systems are no longer particularly useful.

I am always suspicious of an overly-hyped game, but Splinter Cell left nothing to be disappointed about. If this is a taste of what's down the road for video games, I'll have to quit my job! The graphics are super, game play and sound awesome, and the implementation of the stealth concept is powerfully convincing.

I have only three minor issues with the game. The first is that it takes a bit to get the controls down. Not a big deal, just a forewarning. What really bugged me was that pistol aiming was too slow. The number of bullets it took to put someone down was also on the unrealistically high side. You could be right over someone and shoot him in the back of the head, and it still would take a couple shots.

These minor flaws aside, the game if simply awesome!