It's long; it's tedious; it's depressing; it's Ellison's Invisible Man. Indeed, I feel the hours of my life I poured into this 600 page monstrosity were funneled directly down the drain. The book is, by all accounts, difficult to read and only a further pain to analyze. The plot focuses on a young, black, and unnamed (and therefore invisible) man. The character is subjected,...

The Dockers wallet at first glance is hardly anything special. It has a sleek, black exterior and leathery-smooth surface, but hey, what wallet these days doesn't? It is only after opening the black trifold that one may appreciate the genius of this wallet. For within the soft-textured flaps lies a multitude of pockets. Specifically designed slits and holes of all sizes and purposes fit cle...

The Wii is, by all means, revolutionary. Even its freshly designed body is a far cray from the large, bulky, wired boxes of old. With a sleek, white body and color flashing LEDs, the Wii is by far the most aesthetic console to date. Beauty aside, the Wii functions just as well. The wiimotes, though take some getting used to, are a very clever ploy by Nintendo. The controllers slide perfectly in...

Transformers was the stuff of my childhood; even now I remember hopping out of bed to catch the new episode, thus I feel I hold the authority to claim that High Score 100 is the best transformer on the market. Indeed, the extreme coolness of this action figure begins from a glance at the box. For you see, as illustrated on the color-plastered cardboard, High Score 100 has the amazing Autobot ab...

Paper, we've all used it; I mean, school requires at least a thousand sheets and work another two thousand. You would think, then, that companies would have gotten it right by now. Unfortunately this is hardly the case. Just recently I came home with a new stack of HP Printer Paper. I was quite excited, for now I could finally print some wonderful vacation pictures. However, before I shoved...

Cell phones are most definitely a necessity now a days. Adults, teenagers, children alike recognize their usefulness. If yours runs out of batteries, no problem, simply ask the passing fifth grader to borrow hers. However, with such a wide market, sales tactics from all over have popped up; so the question has become: which phone is the best? For all intents and purposes, I am thoroughly satisf...

What time is it? This question, verbatim, is repeated to me several times a day. Annoying classmates, coworkers, strangers alike open their mouths to issue forth this simple yet exasperating inquire. To all these people who are forever lost in a state of anachronistic confusion, I offer you this simple advice: get a watch. However, if you happen to be picky about wrist accessories, then I recom...

Math: a pain, right? Not anymore; the TI-89 Titanium cuts all of the brain-numbing, teeth-clenching frustration from the former toil that was mathematics. Any course from Algebra to Calculus would hardly be complete without the 89. Its funtions range from simple addition (of course) to automatic integration. Still, what truly makes the Ti-89 a spectacular calculator, and sets it apart from simp...

Hemmingway is a man who has faced thrice the obliteration of war. His services have shown him scarring images, led him to scarring wounds, and has forced upon him a scarred mentality. The trauma encircling bloody battles is shown in most all of Hemmingway's novels, and The Sun Also Rises is no exception. The book is, first and foremost, as entertaining as it is profound. It's characters...

Lord of the Flies is one of the most recommendable books to date; its plot is entertaining and its depth conceivable. The novel opens with the unfortunate crashlanding of several British, adolescent children in a festering wilderness. They, unsupervised by adults, locate each other under the blaring trumpet of a conch shell and proceed to recreate civilization. The children, however, are not a...

A highly developed vocabulary is a wonderful and necessary asset to all authors, journalists, poets, or  pretentious wannabes. All but the latter, however, have probably naturally augmented their fishing pond of words through studies and reading. But to those who wish an even sharper edge on the competition, I recommend the Sadlier-Oxford Vocabulary Workshop. This workbook is filled with a...

USB drives used to be the stuff of the future: rendering CDs, floppys, massive storage units totally obsolete. However, since their dabute, flash drives have become commonplace; their price has shot down while their capacity has risen to the sky. Dell's 512 MB model is hardly impressive when it comes to space. Today, even 2 GB drives sell for relatively low prices, so what place is there fo...

Emails and PDF files may be the stuff of the future, but the present is still synonymous with tangible paper and nonuniform penmanship. If you have something to say, a hand written letter is still acceptable. However, in such instances where the pen is preferrable to the mouse, a problem also arises of which pen or pencil to use. I have recently come across the Sharpie Ultra Fine Point Permanen...

Everyone recognizes Nintendo's lovable mushrom-gobbling, turtle-stomping, mustached hero. Indeed, Mario has been on every one of Ninteno's gaming systems from the NES to the Wii, and his many virtual escapades have taken him through jungles, oceans, portraits, even. Now in a desperate bid to up the innovation, Nintendo has sent Mario into space. To me, creating a space sequal seems a fi...

Diablo II: Lord of Destruction is best and flawlessly described as meth in pixalated form. I picked up the game in middle school and played it on and off until recently, and who knows when I'll decide to once again pop the CD into my computer. So, why is this game so addictive? Well, Blizzard plays through mankind's two most basic addictions: gambling and competition. The entire point o...

The Nintendo DS, I must admit, I was skeptical at first. Did Nintendo actually expect the right to claim groundbreaking originality by simply slapping an extra screen onto just another rectangular Gameboy? Indeed, they did. And they deserve to too. The second screen actually adds a new level of gameplay; games become far more interactive, far more interesting, and far more fun. I am now able to...

The PSP was to be a thing of the future. Sony was going to blow our socks straight off with their new movie- playing, MP3-blasting, picture-holding, handheld gaming system. And it certainly looked the part; the thing is beautiful. Its sleek, black casing, innovative analog stick, massive screen all give it a persona of technological perfection. Sadly, looking pretty is all the PSP is good for. ...

This thing came out when I was but a wee child, and like most children of the era, I wanted one more than food or water. I waited in line for hours for one of these Nintendo 64s, and all these years later I don't regret the boring, bathroom-deprived hours I spent in the local Toys R Us. Nintendo truely revolutionized gaming with this system. Mario 64 introduced a completely explorable wor...

I've had this camera for three years now; I've taken it camping, running, boating, and I've dropped this thing enough times to split granite. But remarkably this small, black camera has survived all these ordeals, and with nothing but scratches to show for it. Still, it is not only the durability that impressed me. The Kodak V530 takes wonderful pictures. The clarity is remarkable, ...

There are a lot of writing utensils out there, and they all basically perform the same function- mark on paper. Still, even in such a small niche, there are those pencils that simply perform better than others. The Pentel E-Sharp happens to be one of the better pencils I've gripped between my fingers. It uses standard 0.7 lead- thin enough to make delicate marks and hard enough to not snap....