Slight and anything but gimmicky
583166
This book is basically an art project, but it is an interesting one.

In 1944, a month or so after the liberation of Athens but before the beginning of the Civil War in December, a gadfly named Yorgos Makris issued a call for the destruction of the Parthenon in Athens to save Greece.  This forgotten literary history was brought up in the programme of the 2007 Athens biennial, the intentional irony of this is dwarfed by the historic variety.

In Chrissopoulos's 2010 work someone takes him up on it.  What follows is a dossier with a possible statement by the bomber, a series of witness accounts, the partial contents of Makris's manifesto, context on Makris, more witness accounts including the fate of the bomber and some very oblique but pointed commentary in dry recountings of subsequent events.

Who is this for?  I would say those interested in 20th century and contemporary Greek art, the relationship of modern Greeks to their Classical forbears, those interested in the nature of the city of Athens in the modern Greek conciousness, or modern Greek History not to forget those interested in the art movements of the 1920s-30s in Western Europe, and finally those with any familiarity with any of the above, especially those who have spent time in modern Athens.  All will find it rewarding.

It is very slight but it is very well constructed with careful and elegant prose and a sardonic iconoclasm.  As an aside I truly hope anyone too inspired by it read the last two sentences and keep them to heart.
3502154
The book is nothing more than a glorified set of labels for decoupage...okay, but nothing special. Unless you totally lack the creativity gene, don't waste your money.
3744019
I picked this up on a whim, as a lightish read to pass time on the metro commute -- wish I hadn't. From the very beginning, it reads like a highly derivative attempt to update the classic Hitchock plot of an everyman who gets swept up in some intrigue that he has to unravel as the audience watches along. In this case, the everyman is a Los Angeles loser, a 30ish bro-ish telesales dude with a weekly basketball game and an anonymously good-looking girlfriend.

He's whisked off by some people claiming to be US Marshals and claiming to put him in a witness protection program based on Catalina Island (off the coast of LA). Although what he's supposed to have witnessed is a mystery to him. There are some decent set-pieces where he tries to escape the Marshals a few times. There is a kind of lame subplot involving his relationship with the fake family that's part of his cover.

The book seems to be trying to generate a sense of paranoia and surrealism, because the character doesn't know who's really who they say there are, and just what exactly the government is expecting of him. The writing just isn't very compelling, and when the veil is finally lifted and the big secret is revealed, it just all falls kind of flat.
3888273
Bit gimmicky. Don't buy this for your shelf so you can impress people with how much you like the story and main character. Actually read the story so you know how not to be a boor. "A man sets out on a quest of self-discovery, misses the discovery that he's an uninteresting and uninspired person. Drives away friends."
1617250
These are cheap little things that might do in a pinch.  You get what you pay for
188618
I don't mind a simple concept in a simple movie, or the simple plot where the acting is okay, but it this one repeats such an over-used plot it becomes trite; not anywhere near as well as so many of the others.  I stuck it out, expecting maybe to be surprised, only to find it rather boring, trite, and repetitive with filler thrown in to give it the minimal length needed to be considered a movie and not a short. Really, the entire concept could have been done in 30  minutes instead.  I'm surprised only to find it being rated so well by other viewers.  Maybe are they all youngsters without having seen this concept a zillion times already?  Who knows.  Anyway, simple entertainment - don't expect even the slightest surprise.
3294377
Nowhere nearly as clever, witty, or snarky as advertised.
533087
This book might be fine for some people. I found the designs to be gimmicky and too cute for what I was looking for. I don't think it's possible to do a how to for true free form, anyway. That kind of takes the "free" out of it.
3805801
For the extravagant price and write up given , I thought I would be in coffee heaven.  there was nothing special about it that can't be replaced at a much lower price.  This is a high priced gimmick to appeal to pseudo connisseurs.
2207138
No surprise, but these don't glow as pictured. Several inches towards either end glow, but quickly fades out. Quality & feel are also no surprise. I doubt these will last even a month, given how cheap and chancy they feel.  Really, these are nothing more than a gimmicky product. They are for looks, but even so it is kinda pathetic that neither my kindle or galaxy tabs recognized a cable was plugged in. My phone (Kyocera brigadier) did give a slow charge notification, so these weren't a total loss.
4531533
For 0.99 don't expect much. There is very little content that cannot be gleamed from Wikipedia and other internet sources.
2070497
Some interesting features which turn out to be useless in game play.  Pretty standard shooter.
4749298
These are very light and formulaic. It's fairly easy to see everything is going to be resolved in a more or less predictable manner. The characters are stock and unsurprising hoeing to defined types. If you're looking for something with a little suspense and darkness this is definitely not it. Additionally there are some pretty glaring errors in the descriptions of Detroit even if you take into account another world. I think if you are mentioning existing freeways you might want to get them at least going in the right direction unless you want to explain why they are different. The most interesting part of this story was something sort of cribbed from Anne McCaffrey which was a visit to the original home world of the dragons. Those few pages I found quite intriguing but as there was little left unsaid by the time Julius and I can't even remember the girls name, got back, having more of it wouldn't make much sense.

It wasn't a complete waste of time, but I probably will not read the next book in the series. I find Julian wholly forgettable and frankly pretty unlikable in his utter lack of backbone. Or maybe not unlikable exactly. I just didn't really bother to feel one way or the other about him. If you read the first one this will give you some closure if you are interested. Otherwise I'd probably just skip it.

Somehow I can't quite escape the feeling that Ms. Aaron is trying out her "anyone can write Urban Fantasy" model on us and I for one won't be buying it. When there are people out there like Neil Gaiman, I can't see spending more time than I have to in this world.
3802213
Inside Silicon Valley aims for mediocrity and comes up short. This is a simple book that offers little more than general common sense.  The author presents himself as Woody Allen's Zelig.  His connection to the topic is through chance encounters with more interesting people whose words you would be wiser to follow. Consider the author's Illuminating Glossary that you would have paid $10 to learn the definitions to:  "Crowdsourcing, Deck, Family and Friends, Financial Runway,Hard Stop, Hitting your numbers, Keep their powder dry, Pivot, Pony Up".  LOL
3688209
Meh. Nice try but misses the mark. The clasp is weak and I can just pull it apart. So can my dog. The front of the harness essentially buckles under tension and makes the harness too loose.  The tether is too short to clip to the child restraint point in the seat and reach a correctly fitting harness on my 50lb staffy. If your dog likes to lean on the harness this isn't the one.
3630644
Well not sure if "gimmicky" is a word, but it is definitely how I would describe this item. Love the packaging and the idea (plus the commercial was really cool). The assessment of the tool itself however is the opposite. The tool does not have enough power to do the tough chores around the home. Changing the tips using the pump method is annoying because you will need to go through the whole chamber to find the right tip. I ended up just selecting manual the tip I wanted.  Good idea, poorly executed. I'm going to stick to my dewalt.
3367605
small cheap rip off, maybe worth 1/10 of the price. I'd give it less stars if possible.