Sony Reader Review

Sony Reader lets you carry a library

Monday, January 14, 2008

BY EVELYN SHIH

During the holidays, I had a new weapon for staving off the boredom that accompanies family gatherings, and it fit neatly in a tan leather case the size of a grade-school chapter book.

Actually, it was 18 books, from the classic "Wuthering Heights" to the recent novel by Mohsin Hamid, "The Reluctant Fundamentalist." It was a minilibrary, which normally would have filled both of the tote bags I used as my overnight baggage and been quite a bit heavier. But I didn't go for a bricks-in-a-bag option.

I went for the 9-ounce Sony Reader, an e-book device that fit so snugly in my purse I hardly knew it was there. In 2006, before "Kindle" meant anything outside of a fireplace, Sony had launched its first Reader for electronic books. Although modest by the standards of general electronics sales, it boosted the e-book industry.

Last year, the Amazon Kindle was the new contender, pounding its gloves together, readying for the prizefight. But Sony was out with a new model, and what a slim, pretty young thing! I let my eyes do the choosing.

I installed the software with no problems and purchased books through Sony's eBook Library application via a USB cable, very much like an iPod syncing to iTunes. Because I didn't purchase the optional AC adapter, the USB was also my method of charging the device's lithium battery. A full charge gives you approximately 7,500 "page turns," according to Sony.

The first thing I noticed as I cracked open "Wuthering Heights" was that I got constant comments from friends and family. "What's that?" they asked.

"It's an electronic book," I'd say with a slightly patronizing tone. It's not often that I obtain a new gadget so early in its life that I actually get to explain its raison d'être. "You put a lot of books in it, and then you can read them anywhere."

Then, inevitably, they'd ask to "see." I'd demonstrate the buttons: toggles at the bottom left and the middle of the right side for flipping pages; the all-powerful menu button that could lead you from the page you're reading back to the Reader's main navigation page; the useful bookmark button; and the magnification button, which can set the font at three sizes.

"Oh," they'd say. "Is that all?"

Unfortunately, yes. That is all. In this age of multi-tasking machines - and people - the Reader does one thing, even if it does it well: It lets you carry books you want to read in a small package. The internal memory can hold up to 160 volumes, a limit I have yet to test; e-books cost anywhere from $1.99 to $20 through the Sony eBook Store. Sony boasts that there are more than 20,000 selections available, but it doesn't carry magazines or other periodicals.

The Reader, I realized, is a bit of a one-trick pony.

True, you can listen to music, especially if you add memory cards to the two slots at the top of the machine. But the Reader isn't primarily an MP3 player, and the number of songs is limited by the size of your memory cards.

You also can load photos, but -they will show only in black and white. The E-Ink screen technology, used in both the Sony Reader and the Amazon Kindle - because it simulates the visual effect of ink on paper --serves up only a monochromatic display. This is why graphic novels and other visually-based books are rarely turned into e-books.

That said, I did spend hours with my Reader. Whether I was by the fireplace, filling time on the train or falling asleep to the lullaby of prose, I was turning page by six-inch page. I covered ground and saved my favorite pages, although I bemoaned the fact that I couldn't draw my usual doodles on the margins.

I was satisfied with the reading experience. But was I as satisfied with the $299 cost of the Reader? Maybe. I'll need a few more vacations to make good on the investment. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go fill that extra space on my bookshelf with color photos of my friends and family.

E-mail: shih@northjersey.com

Copyright © North Jersey Media Group

Howie Jones--Staying "New"

Howard Jones revels in the challenge of an acoustic tour

Friday, January 11, 2008

BY EVELYN SHIH

WHAT: Howard Jones with Robin Boult.
WHEN: 7 p.m. Saturday.
WHERE: Florence Gould Hall, 55 E. 59th St., Manhattan; 212-355-6160 or ticketmaster.com.
HOW MUCH: $29.50.
WHERE TO HEAR: howardjones.com.

Howard Jones wants to serenade you up close and personal. This year will be the third time the British pop phenom of the '80s comes stateside for a January-February acoustic tour, hitting a circuit of small venues across the country.

"It suits the acoustic show," Jones explained. "It's very intimate."

In his performances, Jones -- who made his first big hit in 1983 with "New Song"-- goes back to his roots as a pianist and singer-songwriter. It's a relatively new turn in the career of a man who began by playing the synthesizer and who still does dance music.

"I like the challenge of pulling it off," said Jones. Stripping down to just a piano, guitar and his voice is "scary. But the frightening aspect of it keeps me feeling alive, like 'I've got to get this done.' " This Saturday, he'll be thrill-seeking at Florence Gould Hall in Manhattan.

Fans have stayed with him through the years as his performance style has changed, Jones added. "I realize that people stand in line because they like my songs," he said. "It doesn't have to be presented the same way I did them in the '80s."

Keeping his music fresh has been a continuous project. He recently collaborated with Dutch trance DJ Ferry Corsten, released his second piano solo album and even rewritten his hit song "Things Can Only Get Better" in the language of the computer game Sims 2, Simlish.

"Oh, that," said Jones with a laugh. "The guy who runs the whole [music] department at Electronic Arts [Steve Schnur] is a friend of mine from all the way in the '80s. I wouldn't have done it for anyone else, I think." But he did have a second consideration: his son, Jasper, is a Sims fan. "Wouldn't it be great if my song were in his game?"

Jones has a habit of writing songs for his friends and loved ones, which turned into the first and second volumes of "Piano Solos (For Friends & Loved Ones)."

"It comes down to giving someone a great present for a birthday or a wedding," he said. "I'd done three or four of them, and people really liked them, so I kept writing them." Fans were surprised by the instrumental turn that he took, but Jones has been a strong musician since the early days; he was Rolling Stone magazine's keyboard player of the year in 1986.

Now that he's working on a third volume of musical gifts, though, it's become something of a duty. "It's started to get to the point where it's like, 'Wait a minute, I haven't gotten one of these in a while,' " he said.

Sometimes, you can't hurry inspiration. His piece for his daughter Mica's 16th birthday wasn't complete until she was almost 17, but "it was worth it," Jones said. "I think it's one of the best pieces I've written."

E-mail: shih@northjersey.com

Copyright © North Jersey Media Group

Art Moving Through Time

Park Ridge painter focuses on life's precious moments

Friday, January 11, 2008

BY EVELYN SHIH

WHAT: "As Time Goes By: An Exhibition of New Artwork by Susan Frank."
WHEN: Artist reception 2 to 6 p.m. Sunday. Viewing hours 1 to 6 p.m. Thursday and Sunday, 1 to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday, through Jan. 27.
WHERE: Piermont Fine Arts Gallery, 218 Ash St., Piermont, N.Y.; 845-398-1907 or piermontfinearts.com.
HOW MUCH: Free.

When Park Ridge artist Susan J. Frank lost her father three years ago, she wasn't sure how to process it at first.

Eventually, she figured it out: Her sadness had to do with the fact that she continued to experience time, while her father did not.

"I realized that what was missing was the next moment," she said. "From one moment to the next: That's the essence of being alive."

She decided to turn her epiphany into art, because "I like who I am when I'm painting," she said. The results are the pieces in her new exhibit, "As Time Goes By." In long horizontal paintings, Frank portrays a scene she experiences in several vertical segments of time. Each segment represents what the eye sees at a different moment.

"If you were going on a walk and you were to look around you, you would see things sequentially, with things popping in and out of your vision," she explained. "... To me, life has a tempo."

In the past, Frank has been known locally for her interpretations of tales out of Judaism. It was her way of working through her mother's sadness during her childhood.

"My mother is a Holocaust survivor, and that's been a big part of my life," Frank explained. "I grew up with a mother who outwardly was very full of life and satisfied and happy, but I as her daughter knew that there was a tremendous sadness. As a young child, I really couldn't understand it."

One breakthrough piece for her was "I Dream My Mother's Dreams," a self-portrait in which she explores her mother's dreamscape. After working on that painting, she was able to move on emotionally and artistically, said Frank.

Nowadays, Frank works three days a week at Morristown Memorial Hospital and spends the rest of her time in her studio painting. Even when she goes on a trip with her family, she constantly is working on her art.

"My husband and I have a deal," she said, laughing. "When we go away, we go to someplace that's visually captivating. I always bring my paints, and he supports me.

"Sometimes he'll even carry the easel," she said.

Copyright © North Jersey Media Group

Faux is the Way to Go

Vegan fashion that's popular and affordable
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
EVELYN SHIH

Ten years ago, Kim Berndt of Edgewater decided to donate a pair of leather shoes. The seemingly unremarkable act was actually part of a significant lifestyle change. About a year later, she wore no leather on any part of her body. Neither did she touch silk, wool or down.

[left, staff photo of Kim Berndt by photographer Carmine Galasso]

Berndt is a vegan, and that doesn’t just mean she doesn’t eat meat. It means that in every facet of her life, whether she’s using soap, applying makeup or lazing on her couch, she uses no animal products.

“Vegans are like vegetarians who walk the walk,” said Allison Holoday of West Milford, vegan outreach director for the New Jersey Animal Rights Alliance (NJARA). “Instead of just being an eating habit, it goes into your lifestyle.”

You may be skeptical: That lifestyle sounds like a lot of hemp and hippie clothes. But according to Berndt, that was so 10 years ago.

Back then, “in terms of fashion, you were kind of trading in your sense of style for your morals,” she said. She had to buy some clunky shoes online from the United Kingdom and some “retro” clothing at the beginning of her transition.

But now “there’s some really fashionable stuff out there.” Not only are vegan fashions booming in Internet retail, but a walk through the mall will yield a wardrobe young and hip enough to satisfy the style quotient for conscientious fashionistas.

So far, so good

Finding fashion hasn’t been a problem so far for Ramapo College junior Julie MacDonald, who has been living vegan for only six months. A recent post-holiday shopping spree yielded two pieces from Bebe, a faux-shearling winter coat and a bright satin trench.

She’s discovered other cruelty-free accouterments at familiar mall stores such as Esprit, The Limited, H&M, Mandee and Forever 21.

“I find that it’s rather easy when you’re on a budget,” she said.

Nevertheless, shopping now involves reading a lot of fine print, MacDonald added. “It’s like when you go food shopping and you’re constantly looking at labels for non-vegan ingredients,” she said.

Certain stores, especially those targeted to the budget-conscious shopper, can be counted on to have no real animal products. Payless Shoe Source, for example, is a reliable source of man-made material shoes. Target, too, is a place to find non-leather footwear. When it comes to economizing, mass market manufacturers and vegans agree: Faux is the way to go. Synthetic materials from leather substitute “vegetan” to down substitutes Gore-Tex and Micro-fil have flooded the market.

But that’s not to say that vegan clothing is low-quality. As with fur, “real” animal products such as leather, down, silk and wool have traditionally been understood as luxury items or signs of quality clothing. Vegan clothing today has evolved to its own standard of quality.

For long-lasting shoes, Berndt’s favorite store is MooShoes in downtown Manhattan. An all-vegan boutique, it carries brands such as the U.K.-based Vegetarian Shoes and European Novacas (“no cows” in Spanish).

“I have a pair of boots from Vegetarian Shoes,” said Berndt. “They’re dress boots, but they’re so strong I kicked the ice off my porch the other day, and it didn’t hurt them at all.”

Vegan designers such as Canadian handbag creators Matt & Nat make original pieces specifically for vegan consumers. Niche needs have fueled the creation of faux-leather bomber jackets.

Icon and vocal vegan

But if you’re looking to make a fashion statement, look no further than icon and vocal vegan Stella McCartney. McCartney’s lines make no use of animal products and bring legitimacy to the vegan lifestyle.

“People feel like there’s almost a stigma” attached to veganism, said MacDonald. “Like when I make food and I tell people it’s vegan, they say, ‘Oh, that must be gross’ or ‘That must be weird.’

“But Stella McCartney is very well respected, and she’s a vegan,” she said.

Drawn to McCartney’s reputation, Berndt sought out outerwear she designed for Adidas and purchased a warm, fashionable winter coat. She calls it one of her best purchases last year.

It’s a myth, she adds, that there are no warm vegan coats.

“I think that’s a huge misconception,” she said. “Every year, there’s more and more new technology coming out … there are faux-down coats that are even warmer than wearing real animal products.”

E-mail: shih@northjersey.com

Reasons to go Vegan!

Reasons not to wear animal products
Tuesday, January 8, 2008

OK, so you understand why fur could be offensive. But down and wool? New Jersey Animal Rights Alliance spokeswoman Allison Holoday explains why you might want to rethink wearing animal products.

* Leather: Contrary to popular belief, leather is not a byproduct of the meat industry, says Holoday. Instead, it's a lucrative industry all on its own, one that pollutes the environment with toxic tanning chemicals.

* Wool: Most of the wool used in clothing comes from New Zealand, where sheep farming practices are often cruel. Despite a four-season climate in that country, New Zealand farmers shear their sheep twice a year, so that many of them freeze during the winter. Many also engage in "mulsing," in which part of a sheep's buttocks is sliced off to rid it of a fly infestation.

* Down: Poultry raised for down are commonly raised in battery cages, where there is no room to turn around or even stand. The down, which comes from the breast area of each bird, is harvested with no administration of anesthesia while the animal is still alive.

* Silk: Silkworm pupae are boiled alive inside their cocoons in order to harvest the silk unbroken. According to NJARA, it takes 1,500 pupae to make 100 grams of silk yarn.

Soup Weather Means Soup Recipes!

NEW LEAF

Vegetarian recipes from recently released cookbooks:

"New England Soup Factory Cookbook," by Marjorie Druker and Clara Silverstein (Thomas Nelson, 2007)

You might be tempted to assume, from the title of this collection, that it will be stuffed to the gills with seafood bisques and chowders. But don't turn your nose up at it yet: The authors take great care to include a chunky vegetable-only selection. Marjorie Druker, the soup mistress, exercises her creativity with a whole range of soups, including those inspired by specific dishes. The recipe below was inspired by Greek spanakopita. There are also mouth-watering versions of eggplant Parmesan and vegetarian chili to keep you warm on cold winter nights. Time to spice up the soup pot!

— Evelyn Shih

* Spinach, feta cheese and toasted pine nut soup

3 tablespoons butter

4 whole cloves garlic, peeled

1 large Spanish onion, peeled and diced

3 ribs celery, diced

4 large Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks

6 cups vegetable stock

1 cup white wine

½ teaspoon ground nutmeg

2 pounds fresh spinach leaves

2 cups light cream

1 cup crumbled feta cheese (save ¼ cup for garnish)

¼ cup pine nuts toasted (save a few for garnish)

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

In a stockpot, melt the butter over medium-high heat. Add the garlic, onion and celery. Sauté for 5 minutes. Add the potatoes and sauté for an additional 5 minutes. Add the stock and wine. Bring to a boil.

Reduce heat to medium and simmer until the potatoes are tender, 30 to 35 minutes. Add the nutmeg and spinach. Stir until the spinach wilts into the soup. Remove from the heat.

Purée the soup in the pot using a hand blender, or in batches with a regular blender, until smooth. Stir in the cream, cheese, pine nuts, salt and pepper. Return the pot to the stove and simmer an additional 5 minutes. Garnish each serving with crumbled feta cheese and a few toasted pine nuts.

Servings: 10.

That's Mrs. Hamrah to You.

Shopping: Hamrah's in Cresskill

Monday, January 7, 2008

BY EVELYN SHIH

Hamrah's in Cresskill is a family-owned business, but don't go in looking for Mr. Hamrah. And don't look for his sons, either.

[Left, a vintage photo of Hamrah's from 1967]

Instead, ask for Lilli or Joyce Hamrah, the co-owners who helped their mother, Mary, start the clothing boutique in 1957. Back then, for a woman -- and a widow, to boot -- to start a business was nothing less than "shocking," Lilli says.

"You can't imagine how women were second-class citizens," Joyce adds. The Hamrahs lost their original location on Union Avenue when their first landlord decided he "wasn't comfortable selling the property to a woman in charge." Even the mortgage that the Hamrahs needed to build their new store from scratch in 1967 was hard to get.

"We were told, 'You're quite a big risk because you're Mrs. Hamrah and three daughters of marriageable age, not 'Mr. Hamrah and Sons,' " Lilli says. Mary, now in her 80s, is still involved in the store, although eldest daughter Suzanne has already retired to Florida.

Luckily, the Hamrah women persevered. They grew from a 1,200-square-foot store bursting at the seams to a roomy standalone building on Piermont Road. From an all-purpose clothing store that tailored children's and women's clothing, the store has evolved into a high-end designer boutique carrying labels such as Lanvin, Elie Tahari and Vera Wang. In 2007, it was one of two stores in New Jersey to be named a "Style Leader" by Harper's Bazaar.

It takes a lot to make success look this easy. The Hamrahs do all their own buying, whether that means rubbing shoulders with the American design elite or traveling to Europe to make specific orders.

"Whatever we buy, we own," Lilli says. "So we're careful what we buy."

Unlike department stores that also carry designer items, Hamrah's doesn't have a locked relationship with national manufacturers. That means they can't send unsold items back to the manufacturer, but they have extra freedom to choose designs that they know will appeal to their specific customers in North Jersey.

On the high end, the store carries conversation pieces like the black Redux Charles Chang-Lima evening coat for $1,800 and the Lanvin tent dress for $1,795.

But it also has a great sales section. On a recent visit, a $399 Nanette Lepore black tailored jacket with blue stripes was a bargain at $59.99. Items from Donna Karan, Lanvin and Max Mara were also marked down.

Hamrah's also carries midrange items, including a gold knit dress from Elie Tahari for $348, a Lorena Gandolfini woven mohair bag for $399, the Etro line of casual cruise wear, accessories such as $110 jet earrings and a resin necklace for $145.

But the real reason to go to Hamrah's, the owners say, is for the personalized service. "We grew up giving service and doing merchandising," Lilli says. "When we have events, our customers always come to tell us stories about merchandise that they've bought from us over the years. ... The fact that they remember -- that's the biggest compliment."

E-mail: shih@northjersey.com