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05 Jan, 2016
Great inexpensive flashlight that is Oh so green!
2 of 2 found this helpful The J5 Tactical V1-Pro Flashlight, is an inexpensive light-weight item. The powerful 300-lumen beam is enough to light up even the brightest places, allowing even the hardest places to be highlighted in broad daylight (great for finding lost things!)
It just uses one battery cell! It clips to your belt It fits in a stuffed tool bag and weighs next to nothing. It is a great and highly invaluable but inexpensive gift for even your most fastidious friends. It makes the perfect gift for the people you know who already have "everything"!
Whatever you want to do with this flashlight, you will sure be doing something for the planet, too! :)
06 Mar, 2007
Easy Exotic, a Tasty Easy Way to Stay Healthy
2 of 2 found this helpful In this handy volume, Padma Lakshmi throws in a few handfuls of her own experiences, living as a photographer's model, around the world, and there is even more "couleur locale" from the discussion of her family and her mother, written in a way that makes you feel you were actually there, watching her culinary adventures.
Here is a book that is not only a beautiful work for those of you who want to be able to cook exotic food, but a delightful biography of Padma's life in various countries, working with discerning photographers, who were conscious of every extra bulge!
Her book is liberally interlarded with beautiful photos of some of the great dishes in her book, and also pictures of her and her family. At the bottom of every recipe, she has faithfuly recorded the per serving count of: calories, protein, fat, carbs, cholesterol and sodium. The book is not a low-sodium diet book, although, I dare say you could reduce the sodium even more by leaving out the salt and looking at ingredients which normally have a high sodium level, like bouillon cubes and varying the amount in the recipes individually. So this is worth a second glance, if you had thought about excluding this as a cookbook because of the potential for high sodium merely because of its content in exotic food.
Padma Lakshmi, the author, is married to Salman Rushdie, the well-known Indian novelist. At the wedding, Salman, in the bridegroom's speech, observed that his new wife had three names, which were also the names of Hindu deities with some potency. "Three goddesses in one," he declared. "How could I pass this up, even if I am an atheist?"
The book is half the work of a goddess, but probably more accurately, three quarters of it is the work of a person who is concerned about people eating healthy food, and, at the same time, not losing out to bland taste, so often the problem with dietetic food. The book would gain merit from Rachel Ray for it's simple down-to-earth style, at the same time as leaving no well-traveled international stone unturned. The book was actually written before Padma met Salman Rushdie, but it stands alone as a masterful work, to be thoroughly recommended for anyone who wants to stay healthy and have a great taste experience.
06 Nov, 2009
Scholarly Reflections on all that is New Vivaldi
This book is much more than a reflection on the new trend towards Vivaldi and the sudden return of his popularity in the middle of the 20th century. Vivaldi died unknown in an unmarked grave outside of the city walls in a country apart from where he had lived and worked and had gathered much acclaim, causing all of his work to be hidden from view for two centuries.
Robbins Landon tells Vivaldi's story like it is, translating specific sources by himself and highlighting the struggle that was the life of this composer who is a household name today. There is more than the usual amount of "couleur historique" and Robbins Landon brings a lot of very clear information about actual events that occurred in the time. For example, he gives the exact vote of the governors of the Pieta when deciding if Vivaldi was to stay or not. Also, a very accurate picture is painted of the girls of the Pieta and their musical talents, along with their abilities to charm from behind an ironwork grille.
Like all the other scholars Robbins Landon is not entirely clear as to why Vivaldi should be so unanimously voted from his position in the Pieta during 1709, and returned a few years later as if nothing had happened. However, he paints clear pictures of all the music which is now well-known, some which is not, Vivaldi's expertise at the violin and his opera works. Also, all of Vivaldi's patrons are named and extracts are shown of the dedications Vivaldi made to these people with translations of the texts.
The Appendices are a great resource, showing the work that he did and other useful information such as the arrangments by J S Bach, and examples of other really exclusive musicianship that Vivaldi displayed such as the "ritornello" form. (The music is identified by the catalog form of scholar Peter Ryom, the Ryom-Verzeichnis, which gives the RV catalog numbers to which we refer.)
All in all this is a book that no serious Vivaldi scholar should be without. It really helps piece together the puzzle that was Antonio Vialdi's life.