Saturday, 5 June 2010

Razor Blade - planer knives, delta


Okay--I have the planer, and I have bought the spare blades. Both are great. I have a Makita planer as well, and the Delta, in my opinion, rates right up there with it. I just want to write a few words about the importance of sharp blades, and how to keep them that way.



When you replace the blades, you are going to notice an immediate difference. The new blades are exceptionally sharp. The planer will make a lot less noise, and the wood will slide through easily. This goes for very wide planks of very hard woods. The two hardest woods I have planed are bubinga (used for guitar backs) and olivewood. Both are dense, hard, and heavy. A 12" wide board seems to glide through with a new blade.



The thing is, a new blade doesn't stay "new" for that long, particularly if you are planing a lot, and are planing hard woods. So--after years and years of planing--here are a few things I have learned for keeping your blades sharp.



First--sharpen them with the Hone-Mate, which you can get from Woodworker's Supply (www.woodworker.com). This tool is meant for jointers, but it works great on planer blades, and the best thing is, you can sharpen them right there on the planer without taking them off. In 5 minutes, you're done. This will easily triple the life of your blades. It costs about $40, and I recommend the diamond version.



Second--sharpen often. The duller a blade is, the faster it wears--both on itself, on the planer, and on your nerves as you try to force a piece of wood through an increasingly noisy planer. Sharpening often also reduces nicks and tear-outs.



Third--plane in the right direction. Most woods, particularly hardwoods, have a certain slope to their grain. Feel the wood, with the grain, from one side to the other. Your hand will probably slide over it more easily in one direction than the other. The direction that your hand slides over smoothest is the direction that you should be feeding your board into the planer. It will give you a smoother board and save your blades some wear.



Finally--if your wood is really hard, wet it with a sponge before planing. Let the water soak in for about 30 seconds. This dramatically softens the grain, and eases planing. Don't worry too much about the wood getting wet and warping. With hardwoods, the water doesn't soak in much, and the wet wood is removed in one or two passes through the planer. I have used this technique when my blades were beyond sharpening and I didn't have a spare on hand.



I've planed literally thousands of board feet with my two planers. Sharp blades are a joy to work with, and take a lot of frustration out of woodworking. I hope these suggestions are useful. In any case, your blades will eventually wear out, so keep a set of spares on hand. Happy woodworking! DELTA 22-562 12-1/2-Inch Steel Knife for 22-560 Planer (2-Pack)

I have been running the same set of blades in my Delta 22-560 Planer for over a year. I use them to plane quarter-sawn white oak and have done about 1500 board feet. The blades are still sharp. I have not yet felt a need to flip them. I did remove them once to see how hard it would be. The locator holes in the blades made it EASY. The tight tolerence between the holes and the locator pins insured a minimal (less than .002")runout. The only possible problem is that the two blades MUST be ground exactly the same, there is no method to fine tune the alignment. This is not really a big problem for most sharpening services. The price is quite good, I would call them a good value.

There is no comparison to blades that go into other planers that require tedious alignment. These have alignment pins to give you an exact fit every time, plus, they are reversible, so for 2 knifes, you get 4 cutting edges.

This is an update to a review I placed here 5 years ago. These blades are still a good bargain but I just learned that they cannot be re-sharpened. I sent them to Burn's Tool sharpening service and they responded that the blades were "disposable, and will not sharpen nicely". BUT it took me 5 years to dull 1 1/2 sets of knives (3 edges), so I am not terribly disappointed. If anyone knows somewhere that will sharpen these knives, (at a cost less that just buying new ones), please leave comment here.

these knives are ok. they don't last too long as they are only steel, not carbide. next time i would spend the xtra and get carbide ones. these knives go dull in just soft wood, as is expected from a steel knife. these delta knives are good for what they are.

go carbide.

These 22-562 blades work well for softer woods, but for hard wood they seem to dull fast, I planed a small pile of hard maple and had to index the blades, it would be nice if they had carbide edge blades for hard wood. But all in all for the size of the machine they are worth the money. - Delta - Razor Blade - Planer Knives'


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Low-cut Socks


The older I get the more I realize it's better to spend a little more and get a good product that will last longer than pay half price for an inferior product that you'll have to replace time and time again. I never wear shoes in the house and I'm not a slipper kinda guy, so I've been wearing these socks every day. They haven't started to thin out. There are no holes. Wash them and they're like new. Nice, tight fit as well. Never thought I could love a pair of socks. Puma Men's Low-Cut Runner Sport Socks 6-Pack - Size 10-13 - White with Red/Navy/Grey

Pros:

Nice looking.

Very soft, even after washing.



Cons:

Design seems to fray a little. It's not serious, it just ends up making the lettering look a little less distinct.



Overall:

I would recommend these to anyone, and will probably buy more if mine ever wear out.'


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Cordless - cordless nailer, framing nailer


When me and my brother in law decided to build my house, I started looking for something to help us out. Neither one of us ever owned any kind of nail gun or phneumatic tools. I asked around and read the reviews on your web site. I went to LOWE's and Home Depot to get a closer look at all of the various guns. I decided to try the Paslode Impulse, so I bought one for each of us. I saved... on both by getting them from Amazon. These things are great. I even dropped one twice, once about 6' on a sidewalk. Never missed a beat. They are practically maintence free. Even though they didn't need it I cleaned them once just to make me feel good. The breakdown and cleaning was a snap. They sure made the job go faster and saved a lot of wear and tear on our arms. Not having air hoses laying all around was a big plus. I strongly recommend the Paslode Impulse. I even used the generic nails with no problems. Paslode 900420 Cordless IMCT Framing Nailer

I work with a company who employs over 100 union carpenters. We have used Paslode Air tools for the last 8 years with great reliability. The impulse framing nailer, however, certainly had its share of problems until Paslode came out with the improvements in last year,s model. The over-heating and freezing is no longer a problem. Paslode has made this product good enough for us to rely on everyday under extreme conditions. Keep in mind: this tool does require routine maintenance which takes very little time, but it must be done for the gun to function properly and last. Bottom line, if you are interested in an nail gun with convenience and reliability this really is the one. (I do not sell these things...they make us money.)

We have never found any tool as helpful as this cordless nail gun. It cut down our project times by more than half and saved my hands and wrists from pain (carpel tunel sufferer). Purchasing this was far more economical than purchasing a nail gun, compressor etc, where we would not use the compressor with anything else except for the nail gun. It doesn't take up a lot of storage room and its great not having to worry about triping over hoses or cords. We haven't had any problems with it and haven't had any jams in the 2 cases of nails we've gone through so far. This is a real timesaver!

I've had my Paslode for about a year and a half now. I have to say,"I'm pleased." It's great for small jobs. If I know I'just building a few walls or something else that's only going to take a few minutes I go straight for the orange case and get this baby out. Why ? It has plenty of power to sink nails in new lumber. You might have a little trouble every now and then in old dry studs but you can always finish beating the nail in with a hammer. It doesn't happen very often.The time saved in not lugging a compressor and hoses around is priceless.They designed it so that it won't dry fire when you are out of nails which I wish everyone did. One thing I don't like is you can't bump fire the thing. You have to have the nose safety engaged and then pull the trigger. Then for safety you have to let off the trigger and place the nose again and pull the trigger. At least it's impossible to double fire. Another thing is that it doesn't hold much more than one clip of nails so you have to reload often. For these reasons I don't use it for anything that's going to take more than an hour. If I have a lot of nailing to do I want to be able to hold the trigger and bump fire the nails. It's so much faster. It's not as safe but much more productive. For remodels and pick up work ,this gun is great. For framing a house this is not the right tool. You need a pneumatic nailer and lots of hose. When mine decides to quit or it walks off a job site I will definitely replace it.It's just too handy to be with out.

We've used Paslode Impulse Nailers for our framing crew since they first came out. We still have some of our first guns, from nearly ten years ago. Our crew is not easy on tools, so the tools have not been babied. The newer guns are not as good and the service sometimes leaves a lot to be desired. When I have complained to the reps I'm told that the tool is not for everyday framing, just for occasional use where pnuematic tools are inconvienent. This is what the retailers don't tell you when you buy them. They are not supposed to be a primary tool -- but that's how we use them anyway. We've learned to implement most repairs and cleaning on the job. It would be nice if Paslode would make the guns so they SHOULD be the primary tool.

Working on a residential/commercial framing crew that uses the Paslode Impulse almost exclusively and nearly every day of the year, I can honestly say this tool has held its own. We've owned around 14 or 15 of these guns in the past 4 years so we've had a broad range of experience with them. We have run thousands upon thousands of nails (both smooth shank and ring shank) through each of the guns before having any severe difficulties. I will say if you frame every day with them like we do, they do wear out, just like any nail gun (or tool for that matter).



We've worked in the nastiest conditions imaginable with them. 100 degree heat in the summer, and 20 below zero (-40 wind chill) in the winter (that's Minnesota for you) and they still work. Snow, rain, ice, mud, our guns have seen it all.



You can go quite a while without cleaning them, but not forever. Because they run off a combustion chamber (the gas is ignited) and not air pressure, they get carbon buildup. But unless you're working in Iraq in the sand, you don't need to clean them every two days.



The guns are durable! In terms of dropping or abuse, they are much more durable than the Pneumatic nailers because they are plastic. We've dropped them off of roofs two and three stories up, shook the dirt out of them and gone back to nailing. We've accidentally dropped the pneumatic guns 3 feet onto the concrete and broken the cast housing. In this case, plastic is better.



But having built dozens of houses with them, I can honestly say they are a tool worth the money. So for all you weekend warriors, with a sizeable project to accomplish, the Paslode Impulse will hold its own.



Look at it this way. A coworker and I framed up a 30 x 40 garage with a 10 foot ceiling, 1 access door, 2 garage doors, and 3 windows in a weekend using two of these nail guns. That includes trusses, wall and roof sheathing, house wrap, and the windows installed. I bet you can't do THAT in a weekend with a hammer and nails. - Paslode - Nailer - Framing Nailer - Cordless Nailer'


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Inkjet Printer Ink - canon pixma ink, ink


Get the XL cartridges, not the regular PG-210s. According to Canon you get almost 2x more pages, for < 40% more money.



What does that mean? I emptied out my regular 210 cartridge within 1 month of rather light usage on my new Canon MP240 printer. The XL cartridge now in it is < 1/2 full but going on 6 weeks.



Soon 3rd parties will be selling replacements, but I got some OEM Canon carts for $9@ from sellers here on Amazon. You don't have to pay full price. Canon PG-210XL Cartridge (Black) in Retail Packaging

These cartridges both black and color start signalling low ink levels when you have used less than half. That means you can get good quality copying and printing for much longer.

NET take out the cartridges, gently shake em up then re-install. You will still get the low ink lights but I've made more than 100 copies after those lights appear. Seems to be a ploy to encourage waste of ink and therefore more sales for the cartridges.

The 210XL has 66% more ink than the regular 210 cartridge. (15ml vs 9ml) And it isn't much more expensive, so save yourself some long term money and buy the XL.



And while you can go with a generic, certain consumer magazines have shown that generic cartridges and refill kits end up costing you more and giving you less quality than the manufacturer ink.

I got a bundled Canon MX340 with my recent purchase of a Mac Book Pro. The printer was set up in my home network such that anyone could print from their PC/Mac/Laptop. I needed to print a PDF file with over 250 pages and thus decided to buy a spare ink cart as I expected the one that came with the printer to run out (old Epson printer did about 150 pages on average). As expected the low ink warning came on at about page 12/13 (I assumed that others on the network had been using the ink for a fair bit). Replaced with a brand new 210 cart and resumed the printing. I got a rude shock when the low ink warning came back on after about 30 pages of print. Thinking it was an error or sensor malfunction, I decided to ignore it and continued printing. After the 38th page it was completely dry. The shocking thing was, I even set the printer to print on "fast", and color intensity on "-50" (as grey/light as possible to reduce ink ussage). I can't even begin to imagine what would have happened if I printed it on "Normal" or "High Quality".



This is a heads up to students, home offices and basically anyone who needs to print a fair bit, these guys run out fast. VERY FAST.

This product is a HOAX. I bought it along with the printer recently because my HP was guzzling ink. The XL cartridge only printed 30 or so pages (of 12 pt text) before being empty. The 'beginner' cartridge that came with the printer printed 5x that. What a joke. This product is more than defective. It's outright dishonest, what's the term... highway robbery??



I wouldn't waste my money if I were you. BTW, the printer's pretty sweet so far (that is if I can find a way to feed it reasonably)!

I don't do nearly as much printing as I did when I first got my printer, but this cartridge has lasted for more than half the semester now. I print weekly for numerous assignments so this cartridge has done wonders.

everything was as promised. worked perfectly with the printer i had and it was way cheaper than the stores' asking price and it has more ink than the regular 210. ill buy here again when it runs out. nice.

Didn't really count how many pages I could print with one cartridge, but it seemed like a lot. (I'm a college student so I print very frequently.) Quality is not compromised even when I set the print quality at "fast" (and the printer consequently uses less ink). - Canon Pixma Ink - Canon - Ink - Pg-210xl'


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Office Electronics - pencil sharpeners, home office


Before I buy anything, I do a lot of research on it. A lot. So this Stanley sharpener came to my attention. I needed for my 7th grade classroom and if I were ever going to invent something and check it for durability, I'd put it in a 7th grade classroom for about a month. If it can last that long, you can bet it'll last just about forever.

I've had several manual sharpeners in my classroom, you know, the type you screw to the wall. They don't hold up. One was torn from its stem, the base still screwed to the wall. Another had its handle bent so much that when you went to sharpen a pencil, you'd have to crank it in an oval instead of a circle.

I didn't really want to spend too much for a sharpener, since my classes have a "reputation" for how they treat prior sharpeners. But the Stanley LOOKED heavy-duty enough. And Stanley tools are pretty rugged, right? Besides, the only other choice that seemed like it might hold up was an Xacto one, but that was over $100! I am a school teacher, after all.

So I bought this Stanley Bostich EPS12HC SuperPro 6. What sold me was that it could could take all pencil sizes and it boasted of a motor so rugged, that it actually had a FAN to cool it down! It had suction cups for feet to keep young 7th grade bodies that throw their weight against their pencils from pushing it off the table. It looked as if it could sharpen colored pencils too, something that always jammed other electric sharpeners. The only drawback I could see was it didn't really have an auto-stop feature, you had to "feel" it as being sharpened as you were sharpening your writing instrument. Oh well. Let's take a risk.



This machine is the new Class Pet. It does everything it promises and more. The kids LOVE IT. I LOVE IT. It's fast and the blades are sharp. Why, because the container is see-through, the kids actually empty it when it gets full of pencil shavings too. They've gotten over grinding pencils down to stubbs.

The only drawback is that it sometimes sharpens a pencil's wood along with the graphite, so that you either have to peel it away with a fingernail, or put it back in and twist the pencil. No big deal either way.



I would DEFINITELY recommend this machine for you. It doesn't matter if you're not a teacher - I'd get one for my home even. Worth every red cent!



UPDATE - 1 year later.

OK, so as I mentioned above, if you ever want to check the durability of nearly anything, put it in a 7th grade classroom for a year. Here's the result of having the Stanley Bostich EPS12HC used by seventh graders for 9 months.

At first, it was a wonderful machine: it sharpened pencils to a pin-point, it could handle colored pencils (something that would cause other sharpeners to bog down). But then Monica jammed her stub of a pencil into the sharpener and it got stuck. I had to use a paperclip to slide what was left of her pencil out from between the sharpening gears, after taking out the shavings bin and getting to the gears from underneath. But it was never quite the same after that. Maybe the blades grew dull; I don't know. What happens now though, is that when it sharpens pencils, it sharpens the WOOD around the point, bringing the lead AND the wood together to a sharpened spear. If you don't have fingernails to chip away the wood to get to the lead, forget using the pencil.

Also, it seems to have given up trying to get colored pencils sharp. I'm not sure why this fine-looking machine is going the way of all pencil sharpeners in my classroom. I'll see if maybe its the blades that need replacing (after only ONE YEAR?!), but that seems unlikely. Stay tuned!



Well, this is, I'm sorry to write, the final review on this pencil sharpener. It's given up the ghost and I've given up on it. So much so that I actually went out and bought a similar version made by X-acto. And I did not buy it from Amazon for the simple reason that, for less than $10, I could buy a one year, if-it-breaks-bring-it-in-and-get-a-new-one warranty. How can a 7th grade teacher beat that?! So, sorry, Stanley Bostich EPS12HC SuperPro 6, our relationship is now over.... Stanley Bostitch EPS12HC SuperPro 6 Commercial Pencil Sharpener, 7.5"h x 9"d x 5"w, gray, 1 Unit

I bought this for my classroom, after spending $20 on a new sharpener just about every month. (It still amazes me how often students have to sharpen their pencils) This sharpener is INCREDIBLE and indestructable. It's so quiet and very fast. I do a 10 pack of pencils in about 1 minute. It definitely seems like it's going to last many years...not months. I like the auto shut off feature because you can hear when their pencil is done. The dial to select a different size also comes in handy with some of the fancy pencils or thick pencils. Would HIGHLY recommend this sharpener! Worth every single penny

This is a very heavy duty pencil sharpener. My children have burned out several inexpensive sharpeners, so I wanted to find a very heavy duty sharpener. I bought this and it wonderful. It has its own fan to cool the engine. This means that when my son sharpens all of his colored pencils, the engine happily complies. No funny smells or "sick engine" sounds.



I bought it on sale for about $80 and have been using it heavily for almost 6 months. Since the cheaper sharpeners run about $30 and we have burned out 3 in 3 years, I am looking at it as an investment.

excellent sharpener. bought for my dad who has arthritis in his hands and he can use easily. It is a drag to empty as the plastic reservoir for shavings does not slide in and out without A LOT of effort.

I purchased this for our homeschool classroom after getting blisters from sharpening colored pencils by hand. We had used a battery powered one but it never worked well and completely stopped working after just a few months.



The good:

- it's fast, really fast

- it handles pencils of all sizes, including the huge 'my first' pencils and tri-writes

- it's powerful enough to sharpen dozens of pencils without stopping to let it cool down

- it handles colored pencils with ease and doesn't clog

- the shavings bin is large and lasts us through a solid month without emptying and doesn't slide out if bumped or tipped

- it's super sturdy, it's fallen on the floor many times and is still going strong; I can see it lasting through a decade or more of frequent use



The not so good:

- it's fast and doesn't turn off on it's own when the pencil is sharpened and is so powerful that it can eat through an entire pencil in 10 seconds if you're not careful

- it's too powerful for me to feel comfortable allowing young children to use it, I leave it unplugged for safety the same way I unplug the paper shredder after each use, an annoyance so I only use it when I have several pencils that need sharpening at once

- it sharpens far up on the pencil, no neat little point but a full inch of exposed wood with a super sharp point; doesn't bother me with colored pencils but I often sharpen writing pencils by hand so they'll last longer

- sharpens well when used very quickly, maybe 1/2 a second to 1 second but makes the pencil uneven if left in for more than a second

- it's really big and bulky with enough weight that it can't be left on top of a bookshelf because the cord can be pulled on and it could hit a child on the head, needs to be on a low shelf if used in a home or classroom with toddlers or preschoolers (which means it must be unplugged in case they stick their fingers in)

- must be plugged in and has a short cord which limits where it can be put, unlike battery powered sharpeners that can be put anywhere - School Supplies - Pencil Sharpeners - Electric Pencil Sharpener - Home Office'


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Bards And Minstrels - branagh, as you like it


This movie is beautiful! That's right. That's my whole review.

There are stylised Komonos and rich 1890-ish Western costumes. A pallette of amazing reds, maroons and rose colors set against a magical green forest with ancient towering trees and exotic oriental marshes.

The romantic comedy element is all about being in love; being giddy with all consuming love. The Shakespearean words are edited short and crisp and are delivered naturalistically and effortlessly by the likes of Kevin Kline and Brian Blessed. Of the leads, David Oyelowo stands out as a very masculine and handsome leading man and Bryce Dallas Howard (an American) more that holds her own with the mostly British cast.

Perhaps due to Branagh's pruning of the text, I also found listening to, and understanding As You Like It just as effortless as the actor's delivery. I'm not an English teacher nor an Elizabethean scholar and this movie spoke to me, taking me on a wonderful escape. (NOTE: Make sure to watch all the way through the credits!)

It is obvious that Kenneth Branagh puts his whole soul into his movies. Thank you Kenneth! As You Like It

"As You Like It" is one of my favorite plays. Grounded in the tradition of Greco-Roman pastoral, the play asks the following question, via Jaques: If man, who is trying to escape the intrigues of court, escapes to the green cabinet of nature, will he not consequently bring the intrigues of court with him, and therefore ruin nature? Shakespeare answers this question, which seems very timely in our warming world of globalization, in the affirmative.



This film, which is peerlessly acted, gains nothing by its Japanese setting, which, admittedly scrumptious to behold, is merely distracting. I fully expected a mincing Gilbert & Sullivan chorus to break into "If you want to know who we are, we are gentlemen of Japan, on every vase and jar, on every screen and fan." I have no objection to updating, nor to removing the setting to another location--or as Shakespeare would say, to another part of the forest. Such a removal was successful in Trevor Nunn's "Twelfth Night," which was set in a Cornish "Illyria." It was also done with delightful tongue-in-cheek in the 1960s' "Midsummer Night's Dream," which focused on a stately British home, labeled "Athens." Furthermore, I even suspended my disbelief when Brannagh set "Much Ado about Nothing" in Tuscany (partly because I love Italy). In none of these cases, did the change of setting disrupt the illusion. By placing "As You Like It"--most of which takes place in the fantastical "Forest of Arden" (to which the characters refer repeatedly)--in the historical context of a violent nineteenth-century Japan, Brannagh disrupts the magic as irrevocably as if he had placed the first scenes in the 1930s' Leni Riefenstall-inspired glamor of the Third Reich and then had everyone escape to the Forest of Bavaria, still calling it the Forest of Arden.



Because Brannagh has already burst the bubble of Shakespeare's magic, his final metatheatrical conceit, of having Rosalind deliver the epilogue (full of gender-bending innuendo, since the part was originally played by a boy playing a girl playing a boy) among the actors dressing-room caravans, falls flat. I also think that Brannagh's moving scenes around, his making cuts (Touchstone, one of Shakespeare's greatest clowns, got lost somewhere in the forest), spoiled the rhythm of the play which takes on an incantatory magic in the "And I for Phebe, And I for Ganymeade, And I for Rosalind, And I for no woman" scene between the pastoral Silvius and Phebe, and the lovers Orlando and Ganymede/Rosalind.



I am also cross with Kenneth Brannagh for recycling the ending which was delightful and far more effective in "Much Ado" ("Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no more!"), complete with the actors dancing in circles--all viewed from above among cascading rose-petals (Perhaps they were cherry blossoms this time.).



On the plus side, English subtitles were available, and, as I said, the acting is excellent and Rosalind is more than lovely to look at, as are the costumes.



Although I am generally a great fan of Kenneth Brannagh, I do wish he had left the Forest of Arden in its magical land of nowhere.

Incredibly, this seems to be the first version of Shakespeare's masterpiece of comic wit, As You Like It, in 70 years - since Laurence Olivier's disappointingly dry and frilly 1937 production! If for no other reason, true fans of the Bard will be grateful to Kenneth Branagh for this latest effort, although many of his decisions as director left me scratching my head.



As for mixing the Forest of Arden with the world of Shogun, I was basically neutral. Let Branagh have his artistic license with that one, although I admit it did make the scene where Orlando is attacked by a lion somewhat surreal. (Which may be why it happens off stage in the play.) And sure, the cinematography and landscape are stunning, but what really disappointed me was the way Branagh and the cast chose to play the key roles. As You Like It contains three of Shakespeare's most brilliant major characters: Touchstone the Fool, Jaques the melancholy cynic, and the incomparable Rosalind.



Touchstone trails in brilliance only behind Feste from Twelfth Night, and Lear's Fool from that great tragedy, but sadly, many of his best lines are either cut out of this version, or delivered by Alfred Molina in such a way that he just seems morose. He partially rescues the role with his facial expressions and physical slapstick, but Touchstone can be much more than the rude court goof that he is here. Kevin Kline does fairly well with Jaques, but inexplicably, one of the greatest minor speeches in all Shakespeare ("All the world's a stage...") is delivered in a distant, wide-angle shot with virtually no emotion, so you can't even tell Kline is speaking the lines until the very last words. It seems like they're being read off camera. Last but not least, Rosalind. If you agree with Harold Bloom, Rosalind is one of Shakespeare's three most brilliant minds, in the upper pantheon with Hamlet and Falstaff. She can spar with anyone, and bends the entire cast of As You Like It to her will. While Bryce Dallas Howard admittedly has a big job to do, she just keeps failing to nail the part. Unquestionably lovely and captivating in some scenes, she never quite reaches that saucy, fiery spark that puts Rosalind so far beyond other Shakespearean heroines. It doesn't help that Branagh barely attempts to maintain the cross-dressing fiction of the plot, having Howard play the role with her hair down for half of the movie, and even bathing nude in a stream in one (invented) scene. As a viewer I had no complaints, but you have to go to great lengths to suspend disbelief enough to imagine that Orlando still thinks Ganymede is a boy.



All in all, a charming production and long, long overdue. Three stars just for bringing it to the screen, and another for trying to be creative, but in all his zeal to experiment with the setting, the dialogue, the casting, and the production of this film, Branagh seems to have forgotten that you really better be careful if you're going to try to be more clever than the Bard. - Branagh - Kevin Kline - Kenneth Branagh - As You Like It'


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Blank Cards - blank cards, greeting cards


I bought this product because I liked the reviews and I like the price. The cards went through the printer fine, but I was disappointed by the quality of the finished product. I print cards using photos that my wife and I have taken. We have used Avery's 1/2 fold matt finish stock in the past, but we were looking to save a little money and bought this card stock. We printed two cards, one on Printworks and one on Avery's 1/2 fold matt finish paper, using the same program, same picture, and the same printer. The difference was very evident. The Printworks was flat, lacked the contrast,the vibrant color,and the color accuracy of the Avery card. If you are looking for cardstock to make photo cards out of I would recommend trying Avery or Hallmark instead of this product. Printworks Greeting Cards 1/2 Fold with Envelopes, 20 Count (00474)

These things are like very thick sheets of paper with matching envelopes. You can either run them through your printer or glue 4 by 6 photos on the front. They are way cheaper than buying cards at the store and they bring a lot of happiness to the receiver. People also appreciate such things when they are hand made.



Make someone happy today... - Greeting Cards - Blank Cards'


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