Software Review: Microsoft Windows 8 - Upgrade

 

I got this back when I had a laptop running on Windows 7 that would not, despite multiple attempts, finish the upgrade to Windows 10. So, I got this thinking that I could at least get Windows 8 on that machine. It installs easily (if you have ever done a Windows OS upgrade you pretty much know what to expect). You definitely will want to make sure that any files you want to keep are backed up, but it did not delete anything critical on my computer as it was going through the process. And, of course, almost immediately after I installed this, the Windows 10 upgrade kicked in.

The look and feel of Windows 8 is a lot different than Windows 7 and any version older than that. It seems like 8 was the beta test version of Windows 10 because as far as the outward-facing stuff like the start menu and how you navigate to things, 8 is not that much different than 10. So, if you have an older version of Windows (hopefully on a machine that is not connected to the internet often because you are probably missing hundreds of security updates), this is a good way to get the OS upgraded.

DVD/TV Series Review: 24: Live Another Day

 

Live Another Day is a limited event series/miniseries set four years after Season 8 of 24, in which Jack goes on the run to avoid the Russians for the attempted assassination of the Russian President. It is set in London, where Jack is hiding out and has been keeping tabs on President Heller after discovering a threat to his life, and on Chloe, who has joined a hacker collective. The show has only 12 episodes as opposed to the 24 it had during a good portion of its original run. Therefore, the real-time aspect of the show is mostly abandoned. The first part of the season involves the threat against Heller and heavily involved Michelle Fairley (from Game of Thrones). The second part of the season involves a plot by Cheng Zhi (again played by Tzi Ma) to bring the US and China to the brink of war. There are some cast members from the original run of the show that appear, even if only briefly, including the aforementioned Ma, Kim Raver, William Devane, and Mary Lynn Rajskub. The new cast members include Yvonne Strahovski (from Chuck and later Dexter and The Handmaid's Tale), Tate Donovan (from The OC), and Benjamin Bratt. It also includes John Boyega in one of his first roles on American TV, and a year before he appeared in The Force Awakens.

For those who get the DVD set, there are some, but not a ton, of extras. Those include a short film that serves as kind of an Epilogue to the story, deleted and extended scenes, a featurette about shooting on location in London, and a couple of other making-of featurettes. None of them are very long (mostly five minutes or less) and do not go into a ton of depth. But they are there if you want to watch them.

Overall, the series was okay but a bit pointless. It was not as good as the first couple of seasons of the show's original run. As was the case in later seasons of the main show, this one tries to get a bit too cute with the twists and turns and shocking events, and the writers kind of write themselves into a corner. They achieve the "24-hour" format by basically doing a time jump in the final episode when most everything is resolved. In ways, it ends in just as frustrating a fashion, if not moreso, than season 8 ended. I do think it is worth watching if you watched the original run of the show. Just temper your expectations because it may not be as good as you hope.

CD/Album/Music Review: Adele: 25

 

25 is the third album by Adele, released in 2015 (after 2008's 19 and 2011's 21). The smash hit from the album was Hello, which rivaled her hit Rolling in the Deep from 21. This was much less of a "breakup" album than 21 was, with the songs being more about moving on with life as we age. I think she got progressively better over the course of the three albums. On this one, all of the songs are very good, even though not all of them ended up being huge hits. But it is definitely not an album with one or two good songs, and the rest is unlistenable, as is the case with some artists. She has proven that she is far more than a one-hit-wonder and keeps improving over time. And, of course, she can actually sing and does not have to rely on production tricks to make her sound better, as a lot of today's pop artists have to. So, if you were a fan of her first two albums and/or music that falls more into the adult contemporary category, then this is definitely worth listening to.

Workout Update: Insanity Max 30/Chalean Extreme/Body Beast/P90X Hybrid Day 26

Day 26 was the last Friday Fight Round one workout for this round and the last month-one Max 30 workout of this round. I managed to make it to 14:35 seconds this time, but I still cannot get all the way through the triceps dips sequence that comes just before the 15-minute break. Monday will start month two of the Max-30 workouts and for the strength workouts in month two, I will switch to the Body Beast back and biceps workout.

Product Review: Seagate Expansion Portable 1TB External Hard Drive HDD – USB 3.0

 

I got this to store my school materials from my engineering degree, which includes a ton of video lectures that are in MP4 format and take up a lot of space. This is a drive that is purely plug-n-play, has a lot of space, and is powered by the computer you plug it into (via a USB connection). So, you do not have to deal with another power supply. It is definitely worth the pickup.

Supplement Review: Nature’s Bounty Vitamin D, Immune Support, 2000 IU, Softgels

 

This is a good Vitamin D supplement if you have naturally low Vitamin D levels and/or do not get outside a lot. They are very easy to swallow and do not have any aftertaste. I use other supplements that have some Vitamin D in them, so I use the 2000 IU version as opposed to the 3000 or 5000 IU soft gels.

Supplement Review: Universal Nutrition Bcaa Pro

 

This is a supplement that you can use as a pre-workout and/or a post-workout supplement to give you BCAAs which can be helpful for recovery from intense workouts (especially resistance workouts). If you are using a different pre-workout or post-workout supplement or make a protein shake post-workout this may be unnecessary, depending on what the ingredients in the other supplements you use are. But, if you do not take anything else with BCAAs in it, this is a good supplement that is easy to swallow and does not have a noticeable aftertaste once you swallow it.

Workout Update: Insanity Max 30/Chalean Extreme/Body Beast/P90X Hybrid Day 25

 Day 25 was the last Tabata Strength workout for this round. It is definitely the hardest workout for me to get through from the first month of Max 30, and the one I like the least. By far. I again maxed out at the 11:15 mark, during the diamond push-up holds. 

Streaming Movie Review: Blonde

 

Blonde is a Netflix movie based on the novel of the same name by Joyce Carol Oates that tells a fictionalized story of the life of Marilyn Monroe. In the movie, Monroe is played by Ana De Armas, of Knives Out and No Time to Die fame. She does a great job in the role, and the faults of the movie are really not on her, it was on the source material and the screenplay by writer/director Andrew Dominik. 

The movie starts out with Norma Jeane (the book and the movie adds an e to her middle name) as a child, living with her mentally unstable mother and pining for a secretive father (whom her mother hints is a big-time star), which is a theme throughout the movie. It mostly skips her time in an orphanage and in foster care, which covers the first third of the book, and jumps to her first audition in which she is raped by a studio executive. Then it basically spans her adult life as she becomes more famous and more mentally ill as she bounces from one relationship to another trying to make up for the love of her missing father (who writes her letters throughout the movie hinting that he will see her in person soon). 

Like the book, the movie really focuses on the darkest aspects of Marilyn Monroe's life. Certainly, given the fact that she died at the age of 36, most likely due to a drug overdose (the movie does hint at the possibility that she may have been murdered, which has been mostly debunked, but really films it both ways) her life was not all sunshine and roses. But, it also totally ignored things like her fighting for better roles and starting her own production company, helping Ella Fitzgerald's career, and the like. The movie is really about her going crazy and almost becoming a split personality, Norma Jeane and the fake entity, Marilyn, whom she hated. In real life it is known that she made comments about "giving" people Marilyn, suggesting that Marilyn was a performance she put on, but the movie makes Marilyn something that she has to summon. 

There is a lot of sex and nudity in the movie, mostly topless shots by De Armas, but a couple of butt shots and a blink and you'll miss it frontal shot that is pretty obscured. It does show her in a "throuple" relationship with Charlie Chaplin Junior and Eddie Robinson and shows her marriages to Joe Dimaggio (just called The Ex-Athlete) and Arthur Miller (called The Playwright). At the end of the movie, it gets into her fling with JFK, and has the scene that very likely earned the NC-17 rating, a simulated blowjob that basically just has her head bobbing up and down over her hand. 

Overall, De Armas does a great job channeling the look and the sound of Monroe. Given that she has a thick Cuban accent, the fact that she successfully pulled off Monroe's pretty distinctive voice was impressive. I did see a review where someone complained that De Armas' real accent came through a couple of times, but I honestly never noticed that. I think you basically have to take the movie with a grain of salt. While some of the things portrayed in the movie did happen, a lot did not or were at least partially made up to fill in details and sensationalize things. I think the movie overstates her level of mental illness and made her out to be as mentally ill as her mother was, which by all accounts she was not. It is worth watching as long as you understand that it is not a historically accurate docu-drama.

Supplement Review: Universal Nutrition ZMA Pro Supplement - Zinc, Magnesium, Vitamin B6 - Nighttime Recovery Aid

 

This is a zinc supplement that helps with rest and recovery. I did find that it helped make me sleepy, but I did not notice that it helped keep me asleep through the night. I toss and turn a lot during the night and usually wake up at least a couple of times. I noticed that I tossed and turned and woke up just as much during the night while I was taking this as I did when I was not. I think it is worth trying to see how it works for you, but if it does not do anything other than make you sleepy, then you may want to just skip it and go with something else.

Book Review: History in One Act: A Novel of 9/11

 

History in One Act is a novelization of the lead-up to the 9/11 terrorist attacks. It blends the actual events with fictional narratives that the author (who has also written a non-fiction book on the events of the day itself) makes up. I would describe it as a book version of what Oliver Stone did with the movie JFK. It can sometimes be difficult to figure out what is fiction and what is non-fiction, although the author does a pretty good job stating up front what is fictional and the things he discusses that are factual (even when it is blended with fictional elements) are cited in endnotes. Basically, what he does is take the notion that the US government, had it not made a bunch of mistakes during both the Clinton and Bush administrations, could have prevented the attacks and turns it into a fictional story in which a super-secret faction of the CIA was actually working with KSM, the mastermind of the plot, and allowed him to pull it off. While that would provide fodder for the conspiracy peddlers out there, the author does admit that part of the book is fictional and admits it in the prologue and epilogue.

Another thing the author does is use fictional material to fill in the blanks on things that were uncovered during the investigation of the attacks but could not be fully explained. For example, when KSM was interrogated, he said he was surprised that the south tower of the WTC was hit and that the original plan was to hit the north tower, the white house, the Pentagon, and the capital. So, the author makes up a reason for why the terrorists decided to hit both towers. He also mixes in things that are known, like the fact that a couple of the hijackers who ended up being muscle hijackers were originally supposed to be pilots but were not smart enough to make it through pilot training into the story.

As I said above, it can be hard to separate the fiction from the non-fiction, but overall, it does give a high-level overview of things that did happen and details things that could have happened. There are a ton of endnotes that would have been much better as footnotes because, much of the time, they add a ton of detail. Flipping from the page you are reading to the endnotes and back can be a pain. And if you read the endnotes after finishing the main portion of the book, they can be hard to follow. Overall, it is a good book. It is very long (over 700 pages if you read all the endnotes), so it may take a while to get through, depending on how quickly you read. Ultimately, you have to take some of what is in the book with a grain of salt and understand that the purpose was not to write a non-fiction account of everything that happened in the lead-up to 9/11.

Blu-Ray/Movie Review: Inside Out

 

Inside Out is a great Pixar movie. Probably not as good as Toy Story, but definitely as good as some of the others that came after Toy Story. It is about a girl named Riley (voiced by Kaitlyn Dias) who is forced to move halfway across the country because of her father's new job. Her emotions, Joy (Amy Poehler), Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Fear (Bill Hader), Disgust (Mindy Kaling), and Anger (Lewis Black) control her actions, and her experiences become memories, stored as colored orbs, which are sent into long-term memory each night. The aspects of the five most important "core memories" within her personality incorporate the form of five floating islands. Joy acts as the leader, and she and the rest of the emotions try to limit Sadness's influence. On her first day of school, a sad core memory is created, which Joy tries to dispose of and inadvertently sucks Joy, Sadness, and the core memories out of Headquarters, leaving Anger, Fear, and Disgust to take control of Riley. Hence, on the outside, she becomes a moody teenager. Most of the movie takes place inside Riley's head as Joy and Sadness try to get the core memories back to Headquarters.

The story is one of those that can appeal to kids and adults alike. It will probably have the biggest emotional impact for adults who have children and experience their changing emotions as they grow up, but even if you are an adult without kids, it will definitely have something that reminds you of your childhood and teenage/young adult years. The acting is phenomenal with Poehler great as the lead, and all of the supporting characters doing a wonderful job in their roles. Lewis Black can melt down with the best of them, and having Anger fly off the handle provided some of the funniest moments, along with disgust hating everything. And, Richard Kind as Bing Bong steals pretty much every scene he is in.

For those who get the blu-ray, the A/V quality is great, and there are a lot of extras. Those include a commentary track on the movie, and several making-of and behind-the-scenes featurettes that range in length from just under five minutes to just under twenty minutes. Then there are three different trailers. So, a lot of good material if you like watching the extras.

Overall, the movie is very good. It goes from being a fun, funny kid's movie to a tear-jerker, sometimes within a single scene. It has a good message and is something people of all ages can enjoy for a long time. It is one of those timeless movies that will be just as good twenty or thirty years from now as it was when it was released. Definitely worth the pick-up.

Workout Update: Insanity Max 30/Chalean Extreme/Body Beast/P90X Hybrid Day 24

Day 24 was the last Sweat Intervals workout from Max 30 in my modified round, and I was able to make it through without stopping. This is the second workout this week that I made it all the way to the end without taking an unscheduled break. I have no illusions of that happening either tomorrow or Friday, or that I would get through it without maxing out if I was not modifying. But, it is a nice measure of progress. 

Workout Review: Beachbody Insanity Sanity Check DVD Workout: an Introduction to Insanity

 

This was released shortly after the first Insanity program was put out as a way for people to see if they were ready for the full program. For those who do not know, Insanity is a cardio-intensive, calisthenics-based interval workout that kind of flips the way intervals are done. Instead of doing short bursts of intense cardio, then longer stretches of less intense cardio and/or rest, this has you doing Intense cardio for long stretches and then resting for about 30-45 seconds and starting back up. So, it is not a program for beginners, but even if you are in decent shape, it can be hard to tell if you can really hang for a regular Insanity workout, which lasts about 40 minutes.

This is basically a truncated version of an Insanity workout. It is short, just 25 minutes in all, and has a lot more breaks than the regular workouts do. All of the moves are moves that you will see in the regular workouts at some point. The idea is, once you can get through this workout without stopping (other than at the scheduled breaks) you are good to go for the regular workouts. It can also be used for a "recovery week" between the first and second phases of Insanity (basically between month one and month two). Keep in mind, the first Insanity program did not have any modified moves (unlike the later Insanity Max 30 program). So, none of the moves in this workout are modified. Although, if you have done Max-30 you can easily figure out how to modify them. But, the premise is that you will do the workout without modifying anything, which is why everyone in the cast is in great shape, and even they get gassed. The workout is available on the Beachbody on Demand app for those who are considering that instead of the DVDs. But, either way, you get it, it is definitely worth using if you are not sure if you are ready to do the regular Insanity workouts.

Product Review: Bowflex Max Trainer M5 Cardio Machine

 

The M5 trainer is a cross between a stair stepper and an elliptical. I cannot say how easy it is to assemble because I paid to have it assembled, but it did take the person who assembled it about an hour. Of course, he assembles them all of the time, so it would take one or two people longer to get it put together. There are a ton of small parts and there are spots in the instructions that they are not entirely clear. Once it is together it does give you a good cardio workout, and it has a fairly small footprint. It worked well for me for a few years, basically until the warranty expired, then one of the pedal connections broke at a weld joint, so there was no fixing it. And, since it was outside the warranty period, there was really nothing I could do that would not end up costing a bunch of money. I used it once a day (sometimes twice a day) pretty consistently, but I was the only person using it, and did not abuse it at all. So, it just broke because of normal wear and tear. Thankfully, I did not fall off of it when it broke, but if you have one that breaks the same way, that could definitely happen. And, if you are using it in a basement with a concrete floor, that could definitely be bad. Bowflex definitely has a reputation for equipment that breaks. I have had a set of their adjustable dumbells for over a decade and have never had a problem with those, but this one definitely did not hold up. Therefore, I would not recommend this.

DVD/TV Series Review: Hart of Dixie: Season 4

 

+++Warning, this contains minor spoilers from the prior season, but no major spoilers from the final season+++

Season four of Hart of Dixie is a shorter season (just ten episodes to accommodate Rachel Bilson's real-life pregnancy so the show could wrap before she gave birth) that ties up the various storylines. The show continues to be very much a primetime soap opera and the focus is on the ever-shifting relationships. Early in the season Lavon and George are forced to work together as volunteer firefighters despite their feelings for Lemon, and Lavon having chased after Lemon to try to get to her before she left on the cruise. Zoe and Wade are doing the will-they-wont-they get together dance. There is also a love square between Lemon, George, Annabeth, and Lavon, as well as Brick having to sort out his love life. So, there is a lot to pack into the ten episodes.

The DVD set is just a made-on-demand set that has the episodes only. There are no extras, which on one hand is not a surprise since Bilson would not have been available to participate in anything that was put together after the show wrapped, but disappointing given that it was the final season of the show. So really, unless you really have a preference for physical discs over streaming, the only reason to get the DVD set is to keep a collection complete, which probably means you prefer the physical discs to streaming.

Overall, the final season is good but definitely rushed. Even so, the storylines are tied up well, and the show uses a flash-forward to give fans an idea of how the main characters turn out. The "fish out of water" plot that was the focus of season 1 was pretty much scrapped as Zoe had committed to staying in Bluebell, so really the only mystery is what characters would end up together. The acting was good even if the writing could get a bit sappy at times (which pretty much is the case with all prime-time dramas that lean toward the soap opera end of the spectrum).

Workout Update: Insanity Max 30/Chalean Extreme/Body Beast/P90X Hybrid Day 23

Day 23 was the Tabata Strength workout from Max 30 again. I still cannot get very far into this one before I max out (just over 11 minutes). I was actually under my max-out time from last Thursday by about 20 seconds or so.  It is definitely the hardest of the month-one workouts for me. But I got it over with, and now on with the rest of my day.

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: Hannibal - Season 3

 

+++Warning, this contains spoilers from the prior season, but no major giveaways from season three+++

Hannibal is the critically acclaimed show by Bryan Fuller, who has created many shows (like Wonderfalls and Pushing Daises) that had a lot of critical acclaim and devoted cult followings but never got great ratings. Hannibal falls into that category and ultimately was canceled before it was able to get a proper resolution. Season three picks up months after the events that ended season two in which Lecter was revealed as the Chesapeake Ripper and attacked Jack, Will, and Alana and left them all for dead. We find out the fates of each one of them (and Abagail Hobbs, who was revealed to be alive), but not immediately in the first episode. The first half of the season was adapted from the Hannibal and Hannibal Rising storylines with Hannibal and Bedelia Du Maurier living in Europe under assumed identities. The second half of the season adapts the Red Dragon storyline and brings in Richard Armitage (from the Hobbit movies) as Francis Dolarhyde and Rutina Wesley (from True Blood) as Reba McClane. The season, and thus the series, ends on a pretty big cliffhanger and an epilogue that hints at the outcome of the cliffhanger.

The A/V quality of the blu-ray is, like with the prior season releases, very good. There are also a ton of extras included in the set. There are ten commentary tracks, so most of the episodes, which include various members of the cast and showrunners providing commentary. Then there are deleted scenes, a gag reel, and the series of postmortem segments with cast member Scott Thompson (that run about an hour combined). Then there are a series of making-of featurettes, the shortest of which runs just under 17-minutes, and the longest that runs over two hours devoted to reimagining the Red Dragon storyline. So, if you like bonus material, this gives you a lot.

Overall, the series is very good. Of course, it is very gory and violent. There is not much in the way of sex, but the gore is over-the-top. The acting is top-notch all around. The writers definitely took a chance ending the show on a cliffhanger without a true resolution, and the show ended up being canceled after most of the filming wrapped so we never do get a true resolution of the story. That said, it is still a great series that is worth watching even if not everything gets wrapped up in a nice bow.

Product Review: Levolor 13288 Heavy Duty Curtain Rod, 84-to-120-Inch Width, White

 

These are definitely not fancy or flashy looking. They are just the standard, white, slip-together curtain rods. They are very sturdy and can expand to fit wider windows. So, if you are looking for something that will work to hang curtains but is not going to look like a magazine-quality accessory, these will get the job done.

Supplement Review: Animal Flex – All-in-one Complete Joint Supplement - Turmeric Root Curcumin - Glucosamine Chondroitin - MSM - Hyaluronic Acid - Repair and Restore

 

It did not do anything more for me than any other Glucosamine and Chondroitin supplement, and it requires taking a lot more pills at one time (eight versus two for pretty much every other similar supplement). When you could get it for just over twenty dollars it was a good deal, but now that the price has been increased, unless it really does wonders for you, there are a lot less expensive options out there.

Workout Update: Insanity Max 30/Chalean Extreme/Body Beast/P90X Hybrid Day 22

Day 22 was Cardio Challenge again, and I actually made it all the way through without stopping (of course doing the modified version). I definitely had to push myself to make it to the 25-minute break, but once I got through that I made it through the last round of three moves without pausing. I am not sure that I could do that if I was not modifying it, but we will see how that goes after the first round is done. But, I definitely feel like I am making progress.

Product Review: Catit Jumbo Hooded Cat Litter Pan

 

This is a large covered litter box. It is very good if you have a large cat, but even fine for smaller cats as it gives them room to move around in the box. The filter on the top does not do anything to help control odor and is definitely not worth replacing. The fact that it is covered helps keep the odor under control, but you can also use an air freshener if need be and it will work better than the filter does.

Product Review: Good Old Values M 10 Washing Machine Lint Traps Aluminum Mesh With Clamps

 

These are the lint traps for washing machines that have a hose draining into a laundry sink. They definitely work to trap lint and keep the drain from getting clogged up. The only negative is that the zip ties that come with them are pretty flimsy and the heads of the zip ties are pretty small, so it can be hard to loosen them when you need to take the trap off the hose and put a new one on. Other than that, however, they are a much better deal to get 10 traps than getting a pack of two at a grocery store.

Product Review: Household Essentials 79120-1 Cedar Fresh 2 Pack Lint Rollers |

 

They are definitely more expensive than they used to be, which knocks them down a star for me. But, they pick up lint and pet hair very well and the roller sheets are big so you do not have to use a ton of them. And, you get 4 replacement heads, so you get six roller heads in all. So, if they are something you use only once in a while, then even at a higher price, they are still a pretty good deal. If you go through a lot of lint rollers, they will not be as good a deal as they used to be, but they are very high-quality and get the job done.

Workout Update: Insanity Max 30/Chalean Extreme/Body Beast/P90X Hybrid Day 21

Day 21 was the recharge stretching/yoga workout from CE. My flexibility level remained about the same from last week but did not backslide at all as it did a couple of weeks before that. 

Blu-Ray/Movie Review: Indecent Proposal

 

Indecent Proposal is a 1993 drama starring Demi Moore, Woody Harrelson, and Robert Redford. Moore and Harrelson were probably at the height of their respective careers, Moore coming off her 80s "brat pack" popularity and Harrelson from his run on Cheers. Redford was definitely on the other side of the height of his career but still had the leading man gravitas.

Moore and Harrelson play David and Diana Murphy, a young couple in financial trouble because of the recession. Of course, they decide the best way to remedy this is to use the last of their savings to go to Vegas to win the money. Per the Vegas stereotype, they win big initially, and instead of learning when to stop, they lose all their money. Enter Redford, a billionaire named John Gage who spots Diana looking at dresses. He offers the couple a million dollars to have sex with Diana. That is really all the setup that is needed. The story is pretty predictable, but it plays out well.

For those who get the blu-ray, the A/V quality is good, but the movie did not get an extensive restoration by any means. Even so, it was shot very well initially, and that definitely comes through. The only extra is a commentary track on the movie by the director, Adrian Lyne. It is an okay commentary, but not anything spectacular.

Overall, the movie is good but not great. It is a pretty standard love triangle story, and it was somewhat famous for being one of the first (if not the first) movies in which Demi Moore (who to this day is in phenomenal shape) did any nudity. It amounted to a quick topless shot at the beginning of the movie (but they were spectacular), and then she was in lingerie in a couple of scenes. The acting is very good and probably saved what was pretty mediocre writing in parts of the movie. It is not what I would call a must-see movie, but it is worth checking out. I am not sure if the movie is available on any of the streaming services for free or not, so if you want it, the disc is probably the best way to get it, even if there are not a ton of extras.

Product Review: uxcell 100 Pcs 10K Ohm 3% Temperature Measurement NTC Thermistors

 

I needed a couple of Thermistors for one of my electrical engineering labs. Although I would have liked a package with far fewer than 100, they worked for what I needed them to do, and the price for a pack of 100 is good.

Blu-Ray/Movie Review: The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies (Extended Edition)

 

The Battle of the Five Armies is the third film in the Hobbit trilogy of movies that really has little to do with the story in the book (which was told almost completely in the first two movies). This movie pits Humans, Dwarves, Elves, Orcs, and Wolves against each other, all of whom are trying to claim the Arkenstone. Plus, you have Smaug destroying everything in sight. It picks up directly after the events of the second movie with Smaug attacking Laketown. Gandalf is still imprisoned by Sauron as Galadriel (played by the returning Cate Blanchett) and Elrond (played by the returning Hugo Weaving) attempt to free him. Basically, the movie is a series of long battle sequences, with the final battle being the longest. The extended edition of the movie clocks in at 164 minutes, adding about 20 minutes to the theatrical version. While there are some slight pauses between the action sequences, almost all of the additional material is added to the different battles and is a bit more gory/violent than what was allowed in the theatrical version.

For those who get the blu-ray, the A/V quality is top-notch, as good or better than the Lord of the Rings movies. Most of the CGI is seamless with the practical effects, and it sounds great, especially if you have a good sound system. As with the extended edition of the other movies, there are a ton of extras. Those include a commentary track on the movie by Peter Jackson and his co-writer Philippa Boyens. Then there is part three of the Home to Middle-Earth segments, about filming in New Zealand. The crown jewel of the bonus content are the appendices (parts 11 and 12). Each of them has over four hours (each) of making-of and behind-the-scenes material that goes through pretty much the entire process of making the movie.

Overall, this is good, but like the other extended editions is really only for hardcore fans (or people who really like watching the bonus content). If you are a casual fan of the movies and you don't care about the blu-ray extras you are going to be paying a lot more for something that is not really going to interest you all that much. It is a good capstone to Peter Jackson's series of movies, and while I am one who thinks that the story of the Hobbit could have easily been told in two shorter movies, this is still worth watching.

Workout Update: Insanity Max 30/Chalean Extreme/Body Beast/P90X Hybrid Day 20

Today was the third go-around with the P90X back and biceps workout. I was able to hit 10 reps on a couple of the exercises, but I was maxing out on most of them at 8 or 9 reps. And, for the exercises that had 16 reps, I was barely finishing with the selected weight, so those will stay the same. I was able to do more reps on all of the band moves, except for the corn cobs (I am with Bobby, I hate them). So, overall, it was a good workout.

Study Aid Review: Schaum's Outline of Electromagnetics, 4th Edition

 

As pretty much anyone who has a science or engineering degree knows, Schaum's can outlines range from very helpful to barely useful. This is definitely one of the helpful ones. It is going to be the most useful to people getting an electrical engineering degree who have to take a class on electromagnetics (also sometimes called electromagnetic fields) and/or transmission lines (sometimes called distributed networks). The main textbooks used for those classes can be very hard to understand and this definitely helps with that. It distills the theory into easily digestible and understandable parts and gives you a lot of examples. I used this in conjunction with another study guide that just had example problems and it definitely helped me get through distributed networks, especially since my teacher for that class did not explain things well at all.

Product Review: Omron HEM-432C Manual Inflation Blood Pressure Monitor

 

This is an easier way to take your blood pressure, and you can use it on yourself, without help. Unlike the old-fashioned method that requires the use of the stethoscope. It is not, however, as easy to use as the wrist cuff types that are totally automatic. It is very accurate and will get you a very similar reading to what you would get having your blood pressure taken at a doctor's office.

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: Penny Dreadful: Season 2

 

+++Warning, this contains minor spoilers from season one, but no major season two spoilers++++

The second season of Penny Dreadful is in part a continuation of the first season's storylines and in part a reset for the show, introducing new storylines. Again the characters get individual story arcs that then intertwine throughout the season. Ethan's story arc is the aftermath of the inn massacre that we see him wake up from. What happened is not exactly hard to figure out, but he finds himself pursued by a Scotland Yard police inspector. Vanessa's story arc involves a coven of witches led by Evelyn Poole, the professional spiritualist introduced as Madame Kali in season one. We also get more of Vanessa's backstory and find out how she got her powers, mainly through a flashback episode in the third episode of the season. Frankenstein is still being threatened by the creature, which introduces a story arc involving a character played by Billie Piper that bleeds over into Dorian Gray's story.

For those who get the Blu-Ray, the A/V quality is again outstanding. There are some extras, but they are not very extensive. First, there are a series of video production blogs that run for 2-3 minutes, then there is a feature about the fans of the show, a feature about the history of the occult, and character profiles. Unfortunately, there is no extensive behind-the-scenes documentary or any commentary tracks.

Overall, the show continues to be very good. It is well written and very well acted. Eva Green is again strong in the lead role and shows her acting range as she can go from being a proper Victorian-era woman in one scene and stark raving mad in another. And the costume and makeup department does a wonderful job making her look like a supermodel when Vanessa is normal to someone that looks like she lives in an alley in a box when Vanessa is out of her mind. Timothy Dalton does a great job as Sir Malcolm, dealing with his failings as a father while also trying to help Vanessa avoid a similar fate to Mina's. The show is very dark (as you would expect) and has a lot of violence and sex. So, if that turns you off then you definitely want to skip this. It deals not only with supernatural themes of witchcraft, werewolves, vampires, and the like, but also incorporates religion and religious themes into the storylines. So, it is not a show that will appeal to everyone, and it is definitely not family-friendly. But, if you are a fan of 19th-century horror stories, this is definitely worth checking out.

Workout Update: Insanity Max 30/Chalean Extreme/Body Beast/P90X Hybrid Day 19

Day 19 was the Friday Fight round 1 workout again. I actually was not able to get as far in this time as I did last week. I only got just over 11 minutes before I maxed out as opposed to the 14 minutes I made last time. But, I think I was able to push a bit harder this week than last, so there is a bit of a tradeoff.  

Textbook Review: Elements of Electromagnetics 6th Edition

 

This was my required textbook for Electric and Magnetic fields and Distributed Networks in my electrical engineering undergrad program. This is okay (but not great) at explaining the theory but it is light on useful examples. So, if you have to use this book, I would get one of the supplement guides that are out there to pair with it to flesh out the theory a bit more in spots where the book is weaker in explaining things and to have example problems that can help you get through your homework. My teacher in EM fields was pretty good at explaining the material and used her own homework and quiz problems so I did not have to use the book very much. I am still, to this day, not exactly sure what my teacher in Distributed Networks was doing, but he did use problems from the book for homework and exams, so I used the book more in that class along with supplements, to figure out the material.

Product Review: Tomcat Kill and Contain Mouse Trap, 2-Pack

 

I had a mouse problem in my townhouse a few years ago. I used these to catch a total of four mice within a couple of days. I used butter and peanut butter as the bait, putting a little dollop of each on in the door on the back of the trap, then put them alongside the refrigerator and stove. It is very easy to tell when the trap is activated and I have never had a problem with a mouse escaping from the trap. These are much safer than the old-fashioned traps because it is nearly impossible to accidentally trigger it as you are setting it, and you never have to see the mouse once it is trapped (although you can look to make sure one is in there if you want). I definitely recommend these.

Product Review: EPSON T252 DURABrite Ultra Ink Standard Capacity Color Combo Pack (T252520-S) for select Epson WorkForce Printers

 

The print quality from these cartridges is good, but they run out of ink fast. Much faster than off-brand cartridges. Given that they are definitely a lot more expensive than the off-brand cartridges, they should last at least as long as those, if not much longer.

Book Review: Aftermath: Star Wars: Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens

 

Aftermath is the first of a trilogy of novels that are set after Return of the Jedi as the Rebels attempt to mop up what is left of the Empire. I honestly do not mind the story. Things that tend to upset some of the fans, such as having openly LGBT characters, do not matter to me one way or the other. What hurts the trilogy, especially the first book, is the lack of inclusion of the legacy characters. Leia and Han make a brief appearance in the book, but Luke is mentioned in passing, and really, the only character from the original trilogy that has a large role at all is Wedge Antilles, who was a pivotal but totally ancillary character in the original trilogy.

The book starts out on the outer rim planet Akiva, on which Wedge stumbles upon a meeting of remaining Imperial bigwigs. He is captured by Admiral Rae Sloane, who was introduced in the first canon novel released after the Disney takeover of Lucasfilm, A New Dawn. The main characters on the rebel side in this book are Norra Wexley, her teenage son Temmin "Snap" Wexley (who was played by Greg Grumberg in the sequel trilogy), Temmin's rebuilt B1 battle droid Mister Bones, a Zabrak bounty hunter Jas Emari, and an Imperial turncoat named Sinjir Rath Velus. The ragtag crew also discovers the Imperial gathering, finds out that Wedge is captured, and attempts to free him.

Overall, the story is fine. There are a lot of good action sequences, but they get broken up by Interlude chapters, which discuss things that are going on, like other planets, and introduce new characters (for example, the character Cobb Vanth, who would appear in live-action in The Mandalorian series). Personally, I think the first stories set after Return of the Jedi should have leaned on Luke, Leia, and/or Han and introduced new characters alongside the legacy characters. I also would have cut down on the interludes throughout the book, doing just one or two, maybe as a prologue and an epilogue. That would have allowed the main story to flow better. I certainly cannot say that everyone will like the book. Reactions to it seem to be all over the place. I am fairly lukewarm to it. I do not think it is the best of the canon novels by any stretch, but it is not as bad as some make it out to be.

Book Review: Star Wars: The Old Republic - Annihilation #StarWars

 

Annihilation is a Legends novel set in the Old Republic by veteran Star Wars author Drew Karpyshyn, who also wrote the great Darth Bane Trilogy and the Old Republic novel Revan. As almost all of the Old Republic novels have, this one includes a lot of Sith infighting and jockeying for power. In this novel, the Sith Emperor is missing and presumed dead. Darth Karrid, who is commander of the fearsome Imperial battle cruiser Ascendant Spear, tries to take control and bring Sith domination to the galaxy. The story's protagonist, Theron Shan, who is the son of a Jedi Master but not a force-user himself, heads a mission to destroy the Ascendant Spear in a joint operation between the Republic Military, the Republic's Strategic Information Service, and the Jedi Order.

The hardcover version of the book is about 330 pages long. While no characters from the Skywalker saga are in the book, the story needs only a little character development. It is easy to follow, and thus the book reads quickly. The book tells a good one-off story that does not require reading any of the other novels to follow. It has a good blend of action and intrigue. I personally like the old Sith stories when there were a bunch of Sith all trying to take control and sabotage each other. There is definitely a lot of that in this book. I would not say that the story in this book is as good as the Darth Bane trilogy. Unlike the Bane story, this one is not likely to ever be folded into the canon material, but even so, it is still worth reading.

Workout Update: Insanity Max 30/Chalean Extreme/Body Beast/P90X Hybrid Day 18

Day 18 was the second Tabata Strength workout of the week. It was still very challenging, although I was able to make it a little longer (about 20 additional seconds) than I did on Tuesday. Having only one break after the warmup is very tough, but it is doable.  

Book Review: Star Wars: Knight Errant

 

Knight Errant is set later in the Old Republic before Darth Bane basically destroyed the Sith and instituted the rule of two. This story is set around the Sith-Republic/Jedi war. The protagonist, Kerra Holt a Padawan on a mission with her master and other Jedi in Sith Space. When the members of the group she is with are killed, she goes on a mission to take out as many Sith as she can find, first getting between Lord Daiman and his brother Lord Odion on the planet Gazzari. She helps a group of people escape Gazzari and ends up on another planet ruled over by another pair of Sith siblings. The novel is basically about Kerra going up against various Sith Lords trying to get the group of refugees out of Sith space and into the safety of the Republic.

Overall, the book is good but not memorable. It is one of those that I think is fine to read once but not one I would go back to multiple times. Chances are it is not a story that would ever be brought into the canon via a TV show or movie, which I think is ultimately fine. It is good as a one-off story, but not really anything more than that.

Study Aid Review: 2008+ Solved Problems in Electromagnetics

 

I used this to help with homework problems for my electric and magnetic fields and distributed networks (transmission lines) classes when I was working on my electrical engineering undergrad degree. This is really just a problems repository. It is not a guide that you are going to use to understand the theory. That you would need to get from your teacher, your textbook, or a different guide that distills the information in the textbook down to just the essentials. This just has worked out problems in it and will cover all the essential material/topics from an EM and/or transmission lines class. The way I would use it is if I got stuck on a homework problem, I would look in the section of the guide on the topic and find the closest problem to what I was trying to solve that I could. Most of the time I could find something really close that would allow me to solve whatever I was stuck on. That is, in my opinion, the best way to use this. If however, you are expecting to learn the material from scratch just with this guide, you will probably be disappointed.

Book Review: Star Wars: The Old Republic: Fatal Alliance

 

Fatal Alliance is a Star Wars Legends Novel set in the Old Republic era, which was introduced in a video game, then expanded in a series of novels, of which this is the first. The story involves a starship called the Cinzia that was intercepted by a smuggler named Jet Nebula. Nebula was intent on capturing the cargo contained in the Cinzia, but the ship self-destructed. The ship was carrying something valuable (we do not find out what until late in the book), and it is now in the hands of the Hutts, who intend to auction it off to the highest bidder; either from the Republic or Empire. Once the Jedi and the Sith figure out what it is, they have to team up to prevent the destruction of the galaxy.

The story is told on multiple worlds including Coruscant, the Sith homeworld Dromund Kaas, Nal Hutta, and even Tatooine. Of course, the story is set thousands of years before the events of A New Hope, so not even Yoda is around at this point in the story, but even so, the characters in the book are very well developed, and you do not really miss the absence of the more recognizable characters from the Skywalker Saga. The story is a good mix of action and intrigue, including a lot of backbiting among the Sith that was really their hallmark before the "rule of two" was instituted. Of course, the book is no longer a part of the Star Wars canon now that Disney owns Lucasfilm, but there is always the possibility that some part of the story may end up as canon if Disney decides to revive the Old Republic era. So, if you are one of those who reads some, but not all, of the Star Wars novels, this is a good one to check out.

DVD/Movie Collection Review: Porky's the Ultimate Collection

 

As anyone who grew up in the 1980s knows, Porky's was on the raunchier end of the coming-of-age comedies. The original movie, written and directed by Bob Clark and released in 1981 was set in FL in the 1950s and told the story of a bunch of teenagers (played by a bunch of twenty-somethings who barely pass as teenagers) from the fictional Angel Beach High School who want to have sex. They figure the best way to do that is to go to the local hicksville strip club called Porky's, run by a guy, as you would guess is named Porky (played by Chuck Mitchell). They also manage to peep into the girl's shower at school (in that classic hole-in-the-wall scene and the extremely funny aftermath). The final act of the movie turns into an action-revenge story as the kids take down Porky's after one of them gets beat up. The other almost iconic scene in the movie was the one with Kim Catrall (in one of her early movie roles) that involves a lot of howling.

The second and third movies, Porky's II (The Next Day) and Porky's Revenge never did live up to the first movie. Clark bowed out of the franchise after the second movie, and by the third movie, none of the actors could pass for teenagers in their senior year of high school. Both the first movie and the second movie dealt with the racist south. The second movie especially lampoons the KKK and the racist southern preachers with the story set around the fact that a Native American transfer student was cast as Romeo - alongside a Caucasian Juliet in the high school play, and the protagonists taking down the racists. The third movie, released in 1985 was about Porky blackmailing the Angel Beach basketball team as revenge for the kids destroying his club in the first movie.

As far as the DVDs go, the set has all three movies on separate discs. The first movie has the most extras, with the commentary track by Bob Clark being the most extensive, and then a 13-minute making-of documentary. Then, each disc has the trailer and some tv spots for the respective movies. Definitely not as much as some box set releases get, but given that none of the movies were a critical success, that is not all that surprising.

Overall, the first movie is good and the other two fall in quality. There is a lot of nudity in each movie, including full-frontal nudity from both men and women, which was highly controversial back then. The themes of racism and antisemitism in the first two movies would be much more of a big deal now, and chances are the movies could not get made the same way today as they did back then. Porky's Revenge is more of a straight-up comedy (and is also the worst of the three). None of the movies were as good as other coming-of-age-teen comedies or dramedies of the era like Fast Times at Ridgemont High and Sixteen Candles, but it was definitely a precursor to the more raunchy teen comedies like American Pie that would come out years later. For most people, the movies will be a nostalgic blast from the past, and for that, this is a good set.

Workout Update: Insanity Max 30/Chalean Extreme/Body Beast/P90X Hybrid Day 17

Day 17 was the Sweat Intervals workout again. I made it to just over 27 minutes before I maxed out, but I give that a bit of an asterisk because I did have to pause the workout to take a call. But, I did the entire workout, even though I did not sleep that well at all last night.

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: The Following: Season 3

 

+++Warning, this contains minor spoilers from season two, but no major season three spoilers+++

Season three of The Following begins one year after the events that ended season two and now sees Joe Carroll back in jail and Ryan once again trying to move on with his life. When Mark Gray resurfaces and forces Agent Clarke to confess about the FBI's misconduct in the killing of Lilly. Michael Ealy appears a few episodes in as a new threat, Theo Noble whom Ryan has to try and take down, and Annet Mahendru appears toward the end of the season as the leader of a shadowy group. This season also sees the Joe Carroll storyline finally wrapped up as the show begins to transition to a new story arc.

The reason the season feels unsatisfying is that the writers were clearly setting up the storyline for the fourth season when the show was abruptly canceled (after everything had been filmed) so it never got a proper ending. It does not really end on a massive cliffhanger, thankfully, but what would turn out to be the final story arc is never resolved.

For those who get the blu-ray set, the A/V quality is very good as it was with the Season 1 and 2 releases, and there are a handful of extras. Those include deleted scenes for most of the episodes, a few behind-the-scenes featurettes, and a Funny AND Die spoof of the show. There is also a gag reel and a portion of the 2014 Comic-Con panel.

Overall, the season is good even if a bit unsatisfying. There is not as much of the Carroll-Hardy back-and-forth from the prior seasons, but when James Purefoy does appear, he is great. There is not as much gore this season as there was in the prior seasons, but it is still a pretty violent and bloody show. So, it is not exactly family-friendly. But, if you are a fan of psychological thrillers and crime dramas, this is a good blend of each genre. You definitely want to watch the show all the way through and not jump right into season three, otherwise you will miss way too much backstory.