Archive for the ‘Product Tests’ Category

  • CD Review: Various Artists, “Putumayo Presents A Family Christmas”

    Oct 28, 09 • In Music, Product Tests

    Putumayo’s countless compilations of mall-friendly world music would be eminently mockable even if the company hadn’t been sent up so memorably on Seinfeld, but you’ve got to hand it to them — these folks know how to put together a nifty mix CD. Their umpteenth holiday compilation, A Family Christmas, breaks the label’s strenuously pan-cultural stereotype, instead serving up a tasty souffle of high-quality yuletide music while still managing to stay eclectic enough to include the likes of Martin Sexton, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, and Leon Redbone. At 11 tracks and just over 33 minutes in length, A Family Christmas lasts just long enough to down a couple mugs of eggnog, or to string half the lights on your tree — or, really, to play for hours while you cook dinner, wrap presents, or enjoy

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  • Product Review: Fridge Phonics by LeapFrog

    Feb 15, 09 • In Product Tests

    My wife and I went to our first pre-school tour a couple months ago. We live in Los Angeles and had been frightened into action by a friend who was visiting for coffee. The friend was admonishing us for waiting so long to start the waiting list process. After all, Zoe was already eighteen months old. For all intents and purposes, we were “too late to get into any good schools.” The way she said it made it sound as though we had consigned our daughter to a lifetime in the service industry after four years at a community college because the only choice left to us was the J. W. Gacy Clown-Around pre-school. Before calmer heads had the chance to talk some sense into us we found ourselves in the office of one of

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  • Product Review: Fortamajig and Connectables

    Oct 29, 08 • In Product Tests

    We live in cynical times, my friends — times in which we’ve sadly grown accustomed to the folly of trusting in the word of our public institutions. Whatever a corporation or a piece of legislation tries to tell us it is, we’ve learned to quickly expect the opposite. Clear Skies Initiative? Please. Best Buy? Not hardly. But there’s one name you can trust, and I’m going to give it to you now. Are you ready? Here it is. The Happy Kid Company. Sounds ridiculous, right? Like the name of the company that the skeevy toy salesman played by Dan Aykroyd in the old SNL skit might have worked for? I know, I know. But hear me out, because I have real, empirical proof behind my claim. Check it out: The Happy Kid Company sent me

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