passwords

Best of Password
$29.98
I've always been a fan of word games, so when this DVD set came out I snatched it up. What a cavalcade of stars. Garry Moore, Carol Burnett, Joan Crawford, Eddie Albert, Lucille Ball, Sammy Davis, Peter Lawford, Jack Benny, and the list goes on. Password was a simple game that almost anyone could play, and this collection proves it. Host Allen Ludden, with his trademark glasses and gestures. I'm sure he's smiling from up above. The list of celebs should be enough for anyone to want to grab this piece of TV nostalgia, if you can find it. My set is fine and doesn't have any audio sync problems, like some other reviewers noted.

Passwords
$20.00
This very slender volume is advertised as a book of "open sesames" to the paradoxical thought of Jean Baudrillard, the King of Philosophical Hocus Pocus.

Each of the book's 16 short chapters is devoted to a key term or phrase in Baudrillard's work over the years: Seduction, The Perfect Crime, Impossible Exchange, etc. These topics are then defined in the way that Baudrillard has used them to build his philosophical vision.

The idea is that these simplified key-points will help clarify what is generally considered to be an exceptionally ambiguous, slippery, if not downright solipsistic, line of philosophical thought. Baudrillard is a kind of black magician of logic (some would say "charlatan")--he often seems to negate the very concepts he begins by proposing. This is not unintentional. He believes thought should be a kind of provisional play--it is the nature of things to be ever changeable, always in the process of becoming their opposite. It's very difficult to nail down such a chimerical use of language long enough to be sure you understand. What you think you understand keeps changing form and eludes comprehension even as you think it.

And so, as a curative to confusion, Baudrillard somewhat coyly offers this a-b-c version of his life's work. By its very nature, the treatment is rather superficial, but for the most part I think it gets the job done. For the complete Baudrillard neophyte, there's a good chance that "Passwords" will be just a confusing muddle; after all, it's difficult to clarify what you haven't even enough knowledge to misunderstand. But having already some familiarity with Baudrillard's texts as well as some commentaries on his work, I found this "outline" to be helpful in locating and reading the major signposts on what is generally a simulated road to a virtual nowhere.

In the end--which, by the way, according to Baudrillard, doesn't exist--I think the major question is whether or not the book is worth the cover price: $20. Probably not. You can get yourself a large latte and a cinnamon scone and read the whole book in a Barnes & Noble caf��� during a rainy afternoon. Then you can buy one of Baudrillard's "real" books to take home with you.

One way or another, though, if you enjoy Baudrillard's take on things I'd recommend reading *Passages.* It's like a magazine article or a 60-minute television show about his philosophy--tasty and easily digestible.

Quick Picks Password Travel Game
$9.99
This is not really a game for children as it is far too difficult with the words given. For adults, however, it is great fun.

Roboform Password Manager & Form Filler
$29.99
These guys have simply nailed the password problem. Everything about this tool "just works". I've had no problems with it (IE8 and Firefox 3.5 on Vista). Easily worth the small investment.