Book Review: The Memory Book

 

This is a relatively small book but has a lot of helpful information and tricks to improve memory, including memorizing lists of things, remembering the name of someone you just met, and other helpful real-world things that people tend to forget easily. Some of the tips are gimmicky, but not in a stupid way like some of the things that were hawked on infomercials back in the late 90s. While it is a fairly quick read, it is something that you have to use often to develop the skills within it. So, if you are looking to improve your memory without spending hundreds of dollars on supplements that may or may not work, this is definitely a good option for you.

Book Review: Star Wars - Poe Dameron: Freefall

 

Freefall tells the story of the early years of Poe Dameron as he was growing up and learning to be a pilot on his homeworld, Yavin 4.  Which was, of course, the moon where the rebels had their base in Episode IV. It is set sometime after Return of the Jedi, but the book does not really make clear how long after.  It basically plays on the storyline from The Rise Of Skywalker when Poe revealed he used to be a spice runner. The book details how he met Zorri Bliss (the character played by Kerri Russel in The Rise of Skywalker), and got mixed up with the spice runners. The book also details some of Zorri's background, and we find out the source of the tension between the two of them when her character was introduced in the movie. 

While this is a young-adult novel, it is long enough and written well enough that an adult can enjoy it too. The author does a good job staying true to the character that we see in the movies but also writing the character in such a way that he is not exactly as developed as he would be years later when he is introduced in The Force Awakens. It is not a difficult read, having a pretty simple story and only a handful of new characters, so it is pretty easy to follow. So, if you are a person who reads quickly it will probably take you a few days, give or take, depending on how much time you have to devote to reading, to get through it. It took me seven days to finish reading it for about half an hour before bed each night, then a couple of hours on a Saturday morning to finish it. 

Overall, it is a good story that provides some depth to the character of Poe, giving insight into who he was as a young adult. It also set up the possibility of other novels featuring Poe and/or Zorri in the future as there is still a lot of time between when this novel ends and when we meet the characters in the movies. If you collect all the canon novels then you will probably get this one automatically, but if you pick and choose which books to read, this one is definitely worth your time.

Movie/DVD Review: American Beauty (1999 release)

American Beauty is a wonderful movie about the dark side of suburbia, and that all that seems well on the outside is not always great on the inside, and what seems creepy on the outside, just really, sometimes, is. It stars Kevin Spacy as Lester Burnham, a middle-aged guy in a failing marriage who goes through a mid-life crisis after being laid off from his job (after managing to extort a great severance package), including buying a convertible, starting work at a fast food place, and trying to nail his high school daughter's best friend, a seemingly slutty cheerleader played by Mena Suvari. 

The writing and acting are both top-notch. It has a great ensemble cast with a mix of notable actors and newcomers including Annette Benning as Lester's wife Carolyn, Thora Birch playing Lester's daughter Jane, Wes Bently as Ricky the weird neighbor kid who videotapes almost everything and sells pot, Ricky's abusive and homophobic father played by Chris Cooper, and out of it mother played by Allison Janney. All of the cast members give great performances and the movie definitely deserved its best picture win.

The movie has been re-released on DVD and blu-ray over the years, but for those who get the 1999 original release on DVD, the extras include a commentary track on the movie by the director Sam Mendes and writer Alan Ball, a 22 minute behind the scenes featurette, storyboard sequences, cast and crew biographies and the theatrical trailer. Plus, there is some DVD-ROM content if you play it on a computer.

Overall, the movie is great. Of course, these days, there is the catch-22 of supporting Spacey who has numerous allegations of sexual misconduct against him and has basically been blackballed from Hollywood. Of course, he is still likely getting royalties from any sales of the movie, so any purchase does put money in his pocket, but it also supports the other people who made the movie what it was. Even though Spacey was clearly the star of the movie and the fact that he may be an asshole in real life, he was a great actor and his performance certainly did not entirely carry the movie. If you are looking for a great drama (and are one of the few who have not seen the movie yet, some 20 years later) it is definitely worth checking out.

Movie/DVD Review: Boogie Nights (1998 release)

 

Boogie Nights is a movie by Paul Thomas Anderson loosely based on the life of the late porn actor John Holmes who was huge (in more ways than one) back in the 1970s and early 1980s. The movie is fictional, but exposes both the glamourous and dark side of the porn industry, especially back then. It also is notable for having an all-star cast including Mark Wahlberg and Heather Grahm, whose movie careers basically took off after this movie, as well as Julianne Moore, William H. Macy, John C. Reily, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Don Cheadle, Alfred Molina, and real-life porn actress Nina Hartley. And, of course, the movie was notable for resurrecting the aging Burt Reynolds career. 

Wahlberg stars as Dirk Diggler, a guy who gets into porn basically because of having a huge dick which is mentioned many times during the movie but, because this was still a mainstream movie, is not shown until the very end when Wahlberg sports a prosthetic. He skyrockets to fame in the porn industry, but as many porn actors and actresses have done, got into drugs and alcohol, which detailed his career and almost takes his life. So, the movie is really about his rise to fame, downfall, and toward the end of the movie becomes a comeback story. 

The movie is extremely well written and acted. Of course, because it is about the porn industry, there is a lot of nudity, mainly from Moore and Graham, who famously, as Rollergirl, was fully nude (aside from a pair of skates) in Dirk's audition. Nina Hartley is also nude a lot as the wife of one of the crew members and has sex with everyone but him. There is also an element of the struggle of adult performers to leave the business and try to lead normal lives once they age out or don't want to do it anymore. 

For those who get the DVD, the extras include deleted scenes (about 23 minutes worth), a commentary track on the film from Paul Thomas Anderson, a music video, cast biographies as well as fictional biographies for the characters in the movie. The movie has been released a couple of different times on DVD and has a blu-ray release with more extras than what are on this one, but even so, this is a decent amount for those who like watching the bonus material.

Overall, the movie is very good. It was nominated for a bunch of awards, and the nominations were well deserved. Of course, you have to be comfortable with the subject matter, a lot of nudity, as well as violence and swearing. So if that turns you off to a movie, then this is not for you. But, if you are looking for a well acted drama and don't mind some dark subject matter, this is worth checking out.

Movie/Blu-Ray Review: Revenge of the Ninja

 

This is the second movie in the well-known (at least if you were into martial arts in the 1980s) trilogy of ninja movies released by the Cannon Group/Golan Globus productions that starred real-life ninjutsu practitioner Sho Kosugi. It was a trilogy in name only as none of the movies were interconnected, and Kosugi played different characters in each.

In this one, he plays a Japanese immigrant to America. At the beginning of the movie, his family (save for his mother and newborn son) are killed by a ninja hit squad. He movies to the US opening a gallery that imports Japanese dolls, with the help of an American partner, who turns out to be an evil mask-wearing ninja.

This is definitely an 80s B-movie and has that feel, including the racist stereotypes (basically the over-the-top Italian mobsters and the hatchet-wielding Indian), the hot damsel in distress, and some nudity. What passed for the local gang hanging out in the park was downright hilarious though. They looked more like the Village People than a threatening gang. 

The movie has been around long enough that it has been released on VHS, DVD, and blu-ray (in 2015). The blu-ray version had some extras including a commentary track with the director and stunt coordinator, the trailer, an intro by the director, and a stills gallery.

Overall, the movie is enjoyable if you take it for what it is. A B-level, totally unrealistic action movie. It does have some very good action/fight sequences. Kosugi was a very accomplished martial artist. Arthur Roberts, who played the evil ninja, not so much. But during the action scenes, he was mostly replaced by a stunt performer, which worked since he wore a mask (in addition to the ninja mask). If you do not expect award-winning acting or writing and want to watch a decent, but now out of date, action film, this is a good choice.

Movie/Blu-Ray Review: Ninja III: The Domination

 

Ninja III is the third in the trilogy of ninja movies put out in the 1980s by the Cannon Group/ Golan Globus production company starring real-life ninjutsu practitioner Sho Kosugi. Interestingly enough, this was the same production group that would try, and astonishingly fail to produce Superman IV a few years after this was made  The "ninja trilogy" is only called a trilogy because there were three movies, Enter The Ninja, Revenge of the Ninja, and Ninja III, but they are not a trilogy in the way people typically think of. The plotlines are not connected in any way, and Kosugi plays different characters in each one. 

Ninja III starts out with a major action sequence in which an evil ninja assassinates some high-ranking and seemingly well-protected individual on a golf course. The ninja ends up being chased by and shot multiple times by an entire police force. As he escapes he transfers his essence to a telephone company worker, played by Lucinda Dickey, and she then proceeds to take revenge on all of the cops. Kosugi enters the picture about a third of the way into the movie as the good ninja trying to stop her. 

Chances are if you were a kid in the 1980s and were in any way into martial arts you loved this movie and watched it anytime it was on TV.  It used to be a Saturday or Sunday afternoon staple on the local stations that played old TV shows in syndication, but I have not seen it on TV in years. So, if you are a fan of the movie this is really the only way to see it anymore. 

There have been many different versions of the movie after the years on physical media. I am old enough to have owned it on VHS, then picked up the 2013 blu-ray version. That one has a few special features including the trailer and a commentary track from the director and the stunt coordinator. It is a good listen if you like listening to commentary tracks and gives a lot of insight into how the movie was made with all practical stunts, and how the director used the movie Poltergeist as an inspiration. There is also a 2018 collectors edition on blu-ray that has a much-upgraded video transfer and interviews with main cast members Lucinda Dickey and Jordan Bennet. 

You definitely have to suspend your disbelief when watching the movie and accept that it is not an award winner. It is definitely a B-Level movie, and is, as many 1980s B movies are, very cheesy. It does not really try to be more than it is, and at right around an hour and a half, is not too long.  But, as an action movie, it holds up fairly well, as long as you accept it for what it is.

Book Review: Darth Maul (Star Wars Episode I Journal # 3)

 

This is one of a set of kid's books that were released around the time of the Phantom Menace movie that fleshed out the storylines of the characters. There was one from Anakin's point of view, one from Padme's point of view, and one from Maul's point of view. This actually details Maul's journey from shortly before the events of the movie up to the point he goes off to duel Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon. It is a very quick read, and while it is a kid's book, definitely enjoyable for an adult. And, while it is now considered a "Legends" book, there is really nothing in it that conflicts with the canon material. Given that Maul was one of the best parts of the movie (if not the best part), and he got such little screen time, this does a good job of fleshing out the character and detailing what he was thinking as everything was going on.

Product Review: Tae-Bo workout

 

Tae-Bo was a hot new home workout phenomenon back in the early 2000s. I am not sure that it ever reached P90x levels of popularity, but it was definitely the hot informercial-based workout of its time. It is old enough that it was actually released on VHS and DVD. 

The workouts are a combination of martial arts (taekwondo) and boxing, hence the name. There are four workouts. A basics/instructional workout Tae-Bo: Instructional, that lays out the movements you need to successfully complete a workout.The Tae-Bo: Basics workout is a 27-minute workout (5 minutes of warm-up, 18 minutes of Tae-Bo, and 4 minutes of cool-down). 

Once you can get through the basics workout, then you can move on to Tae-Bo Advanced. The advanced workout is a 57-minute workout that also, In addition to the short warm-up, the cool-down, and the 30 minutes of Tae-Bo, also includes 18 minutes of ab work.

Finally, for when you are short on time, there is a compacted 8-minute workout that ends up being 14 minutes long when you include warm-up and cool-down. Even though it is short, it is just as intense as the other workouts. 

Overall, I would say this is a good workout to pair with something else. It is pretty much just cardio and abs, so if you like lifting weights it is not going to be a complete workout program. Blanks does have an uplifting attitude and does the entire workout all-out showing he can clearly do his own workout. I do think if you are going to do at-home workouts it is good to have a good mix of options to keep yourself from getting bored and keep your body from adapting. It is definitely a good option to add to your workout mix. 

Site update and progress

 Hello,

It has been a while since I have posted regularly. As you can see I started adding product reviews (mostly things I have purchased from Amazon) but I will continue the health and fitness updates that this blog started as. From 2012 to now my life has been crazy in good and bad ways. I went back to school to get another undergrad degree, while I was still working full time. I was doing online school way before Covid-19 made it a thing. The degree allowed me to get a great new job, which I thought would free up some of my time since I would not be working and doing school at the same time, but then I became a caregiver to a parent with multiple health issues (and also kind of adopted my mom's dog in the process). And, of course, started working from home during covid when that broke out, and last summer lived through a renovation of my townhouse that was supposed to last 4-5weeks and ended up lasting 4+ months. During that time I basically was living in one room of my townhouse, which was made even worse because I could not go anywhere. During all that I became very sedentary, was eating like crap, and got very out of shape.

So, now I am in the process of working my way back into shape. I am eating better and working out again. I did a VERY modified version of Insanity Max 30 and starting next week, and going back to the OG of OG workouts, Power 90. Not P90, but the original Power 90 workouts that were released in the early 2000s before P90x. They were the workouts that were the lead-in to the original P90x program. So, I plan on doing 90 days of the base program, doing a muscle endurance version (light weights for 12-15 reps), then 8 weeks of the "Masters Series workouts" which were a transition between base workouts and P90X, then I am going to do P90X and P90X plus (hopefully back-to-back). I am hoping that can get me where I want to be fitness-wise because got as out of shape as I have ever been. Part of me wants to just start lifting heavy again, but I tried that last fall and ended up with tendonitis in my elbow, so I am going to gradually build my strength up during the Power 90 workouts so I can lift heavy when I get to P90x. Thankfully, as part of my townhouse renovation, I was able to finish my basement and have a pretty good second living room/workout area down there.

On a side note, I am no longer doing Beachbody coaching. Not because I do not believe in the workouts or products, but doing sales of any kind does not fit my personality and I was never any good at it. But, if anyone has questions, you can email me, or comment (if you subscribe to the blog) and I will do my best to answer you. Otherwise, enjoy, and I will post updates on my progress along with the product reviews.

Movie/DVD Review: The Sixth Sense

The Sixth Sense was the second movie by M. Night Shyamalan but was really his breakout hit, mainly because he was able to cast Bruce Willis in a role that was 180 degrees from the character he played in the Die Hard franchise. It stars the aforementioned Willis as a child psychologist named Malcolm Crowe who starts counseling a young boy named Cole (played by Haley Joel Osment) who is acting out both at home and school, much to the distress of his mother (played by Toni Collette). Cole eventually confides a secret to Malcolm, and Malcolm tries to figure out how to help Cole, while also trying to get ahold of his personal life with his estranged wife (played by Olivia Williams).

As I said above the movie was a complete reversal from the action roles that Willis was most well-known for, and really showed off his acting range. At that point, he was entering the "aging action star" phase of his career, so this role was a good way for him to branch out. Osment shined in his first major acting role and brought a gravitas to the screen despite being so young. He had to pull off being scared, angry, worried, and happy, and make it all believable. Of course, as most know by now there is a twist ending that Shyamalan has made a staple of pretty much every movie he has done subsequent to this one. While I think some of them have gone overboard, this one was done perfectly and set up in a subtle enough way that it could be surprising to many people but still seem obvious. 

For those who get the original DVD release, the extras include several featurettes on the cast, the music, and the storyboarding process. It also has deleted scenes, a conversation with the director, and the trailer. A decent amount for those who like the bonus material but not hours of material.

Overall, the movie is well written and wonderfully acted. It was a totally original story at the time it was released, and it still holds up 20 years on as a great movie, even if most people know the ending now. If you have not seen it, try to stay spoiler-free and enjoy. If you have seen it, it is definitely worth revisiting from time to time.

Movie/VHS Review: Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace

By now, The Phantom Menace has been around long enough that anyone who is a fan of Star Wars knows if they love it, hate it, or are lukewarm to it. It was when it was released, the first new Star Wars movie released in 16 years, Star Wars fans were not entirely sure after Return of the Jedi if there was ever going to be another Star Wars film, and George Lucas was always kind of wishy-washy about whether he was going to make more movies. When the trailer was released fans went apeshit, but when the actual movie was released, reactions were mixed, to say the least.

As most know, Episode I tells Anakin Skywalker's origin story as well as details how Palpatine (who at this point in the story is a senator from the planet of Naboo) rose to power. Lucas made the controversial decision to show Anakin as a nine-year-old and casting an unknown child actor (Jake Lloyd) in the role. The rest of the cast was fleshed out with more well-known (e.g., Natalie Portman as Queen Amidala/Padme), and very well-known (e.g., Liam Neeson, Ewan McGregor, Terrance Stamp, Samuel L. Jackson) actors. A fun fact, a young Kiera Knightly played one of Padme's handmaidens in the movie (a role she barely remembers). Of course, Anakin and Padme would eventually marry and have Luke and Leia. Portman was still very young (16 years old) when the movie was filmed, but she was more accomplished than Lloyd at that point in her career.

The movie does suffer from a lot of things that Lucas has always been criticized for. Namely, his inability to write good dialogue, being more concerned with action scenes than anything else, and coming up with characters geared too much to kids. Yes, Jar Jar was an irritating character, yes, the dialogue can be schlocky,  and yes, the movie suffers from being so special effect driven that it looks very little like the original movies despite being set thirty years before the original movies. Basically, the entire movie was filmed in front of giant blue or green screens and sometimes actors in the same scene were not even in the same place when the scenes were filmed (which reportedly pissed Terrance Stamp off a lot because he only did the movie because he wanted to work with Natalie Portman). Lucas counters these criticisms with the fact that the original movies never looked the way he wanted them to because the special effects technology was limited when they were made, and especially for A New Hope, his budget was limited. And, that the original movies were kids movies, which is why he included the Gungans and Jar Jar in particular.

The best part of the movie for me was Darth Maul (played by Ray Park), and the lightsaber duel at the end of the movie. And of course, John Williams' awesome score. The visual effects were awesome, and we got to see a lot more of the Star Wars universe than we saw in the original trilogy movies. And, for those of us who grew up with the original movies, there is a nice touch of nostalgia with characters like Jabba The Hutt, C-3P0, R2D2, Yoda, and The Emperor.

The movie is old enough that it was originally released on VHS, and this set, if you can get ahold of one, also included a behind-the-scenes documentary, a 48-page collector's book excerpted from The Art of Star Wars Episode I - The Phantom Menace, and a 35mm filmstrip mounted in plastic. Given that the movie has been re-released on DVD, Blu-Ray, and 4K Blu Ray, and streams on Disney +, there is really no reason to get this set unless you really want the collectible stuff. 

I always thought the movie got a bad rep. I saw it in the theater about 20 times back in 1999, mainly to see the lightsaber duel at the end on the big screen as many times as I could. It is definitely not as good as The Empire Strikes Back, or even Rogue One, and I do think some of the criticisms are valid. But, it is clearly setting up the larger story that Lucas wanted to tell in the prequels and thus could not tell every part of the story that people really wanted to see. Realistically, given how much anticipation there was for the movie's release, it was never going to satisfy everyone (given that none of the movies released since TPM has accomplished that, it is not surprising), but it definitely has its place in the overall story arc.

Music/CD/Album Review: Johnny Mathis - Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas is a great holiday album. It was first released in 1959 with a mix of the very old, traditional Christmas songs (like O Holy Night, The First Noel, and Silent Night) as well as songs that are now old classics (like Winter Wonderland, The Christmas Song, White Christmas, and Silver Bells), but were still relatively new at the time, and were made famous during the "crooner" era which Mathis was definitely a part of. The last couple of songs (depending on what edition of the album you get) are not really classic songs but good nevertheless.

All of the classic, well-known songs on the album have very traditional arrangements (which I definitely like) and showcase Mathis' great voice. It is a great album to listen to on its own or to use as a part of a Christmas song playlist. If you are a fan of Christmas music, especially traditional songs, it is definitely one of the must-have albums. 

Movie/DVD Review: Dick (1999 Release)

Dick is a late 1990s movie starring Kirsten Dunst and Michelle Willams, that spoofed the Watergate controversy that brought down Richard Nixon. The basic concept is that, while on a high-school field trip to the White House Betsy (played by Dunst) and Arlene (played by Williams) accidentally see papers being shredded. Thinking that they know something more than they really do, Nixon (played wonderfully by Dan Heyada) offers them a job as official dog walkers for Checkers, the Nixon's dog in the White House. Of course, this totally backfires on him as when the girls see him being mean to the dog, they almost inadvertently take him down by feeding information to Woodward (played by Will Farrell) and Bernstein (played by Bruce McCulloch).

As I said above, the movie is a spoof of real-life events, with a lot of stuff made up for the movie. It basically plays like a long SNL skit, never trying to be historically accurate or taking itself too seriously. It is a very tongue-in-cheek movie that makes fun of pretty much everyone involved in Watergate, including the "good guys". Because of that it really does not come across as politically biased, although if made today, it more than likely would spark rage on the political right. 

For those who have not upgraded to Blu-Ray and look to get the original DVD release, the extras include a commentary track on the movie with the director and writer, deleted scenes, a gag reel, a making-of featurette, the theatrical trailer, and an isolated music soundtrack. I good amount of material for those who like watching the bonus features.

Overall, the movie is very good, and as I said above, does not take itself too seriously. The acting and writing are great, and it features a great 1970s soundtrack. I am not sure if it is streaming on any of the major streaming services, but if you like the movie or generally like comedies that spoof current or historical events, and prefer physical discs to streaming, then this is a good pickup.

VHS Review: Madonna - Justify My Love

 

Back in the day when MTV and VH1 actually played music videos, this one was so controversial only an edited version of it would ever be played, and when it was played it was in the overnight block between midnight and 6:00 AM. It launched during what was arguably Madonna's most sexually controversial phase in which she released the Erotica album, published the Sex book, and was nude in the movie Body of Evidence. Of course, by today's standards, aside from a quick boob flash, the video is not nearly as big a deal as it was when it was released. Honestly, back then the fact that Madonna was making out with another woman was probably more controversial than the boob flash that lasted a couple of seconds. The controversy over the video actually masked the fact that the song is very good. It is not her best song by any means, but still much better than it gets credit for.

In the time of YouTube when you can find pretty much any music video ever made, there is no reason to get this on VHS anymore (even if you are one of the handful of people out there with a working VHS player). But, back in the day, this was pretty much the only way to see the video.

CD/Music/Album Review: Kenny G. Faith - A Holiday Album

Faith was the second, and now one of many Christmas/Holiday albums recorded by Kenny G. There are 12 songs in all on the album with a mix of classic traditional songs like The First Noel and Ave Maria, and classic songs like The Christmas Song, Let it Snow, Sleigh Ride, Oh Christmas Tree, and the like. The album also includes a Chanukah song called Eternal Light. Probably the highlight of the album is the Millennium Mix of Alud Lang Syne, in which audio clips from throughout history up through the major events of 1999 are played throughout the song. 

Whether you like this album really depends on, A) whether you like Christmas music and B) whether you can handle instrumentals with no vocals. Of course, Kenny G. is well known for playing Jazz on a tenor saxophone, however, the arrangements of the songs are very traditional. If you love Christmas songs, especially traditional arrangements (as opposed to what some pop acts/singers who put out Christmas albums do with the songs), then this is definitely worth listening to.

Movie/DVD Review: American Pie (1999 Release)

American Pie is the iconic coming-of-age comedy that premiered in 1999, and spawned three sequels that actually aired in theaters and a handful of (mostly bad) direct-to-DVD spinoffs in which pretty much only Eugene Levy (Jim's Dad) and Chris Own (Sherman) made regular appearances. The basic plot is that a group of teenage boys who are in their senior year of high school make a pact to have sex before prom. Of course, you have to buy that a guy who looks like Chris Klien could not have had sex before he was a senior in high school, but hey, it is a movie. 

It is a comedy in a similar vein to 80s coming-of-age comedies like Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Sixteen Candles, Private School, Porky's, and the like. It is more of a raunchy comedy than Fast Times and Sixteen Candles were, but does not have as much nudity as Porky's did.  I would call it a mix of those types of movies. And, for those of us who were not in high school in the 1980s, it is a bit more relatable than some of the older movies. Basically, anyone who was in, or graduated high school from the mid-1990s to the early 2000s will easily be able to relate to the humor. 

The movie pretty much launched the careers of Jason Biggs, Eddie Kaye Thomas, Tara Reid, Shannon Elizabeth, Sean William Scott, Chris Klien, Mena Suvari, and Natasha Lyonne. Alyson Hannigan was already known for having been on Buffy The Vampire Slayer for a couple of years, and pretty much stole every scene she was in. As most will likely remember, she had the iconic line about what she did at band camp toward the end of the movie.  And, of course, there is the Shannon Elizabeth Jason Biggs webcam scene which, while it probably would not be included in a movie today, is hilarious. The movie also helped revive the careers of Eugene Levy and Jennifer Coolidge. Some of the younger stars would go on to have varying levels of success and a varying amount of turmoil in their personal lives. 

For those who have not upgraded to blu-ray but still prefer DVD to streaming, the original DVD release included a bunch of extras including featurettes on the locations, the music, and the cast and crew. There are also production notes, a feature on the classic quotes from the movie, outtakes/gag reel, the theatrical trailer, a commentary track with the director, producer, writer, and several cast members, and a bunch of DVD-ROM features if you play it in a computer CD-ROM drive. 

Overall, while the movie is probably as outdated for today's teenagers as the 1980s movies were at the time this came out, it still holds up fairly well 20+ years down the line. Face it, there are definitely things that will always be common to being a teenager that will easily cross generations. The movie is mostly tongue-in-cheek, although there are a few dramatic growing-up moments in it. But, if you accept it for what it is, it is a great comedy and definitely worth a look.

CD/Album/Music Review: Faith Hill - Breathe

 

Faith Hill's Breathe, released in 1999 was the album that crossed her over from Country to Pop music. I would say that she was more a hybrid than a total crossover act because the album did very much keep her country sound, but the big hits from the album, Breathe, and The Way You Love Me, were solidly in the category of adult-contemporary pop. Even for people like myself that are not that into country music, the country-sounding songs on the album are not extremely "twangy" like some country acts are, and thus people who get the album because of the song Breathe can enjoy the rest of them. Of course, in the days of streaming music (which was in its infancy when the album came out) can pick and choose which songs to buy without having to purchase the entire album. And, if you pay for an unlimited streaming service such as Amazon Music or one of the others, you can add whatever songs you like and leave off the ones you don't.

Overall, the album is very good. There are 13 songs in total, and is a good mix of her country sound and pop. Hill has a great voice, and while not every song on the album was a hit on the pop chart (I am not sure which songs charted on the country chart) all of the songs were very good, and better than a lot of what was on the pop chart in the late 90s/early 2000s and light years better than most of the pop music of today.

CD/Album/Music Review: Celine Dion - All The Way...A Decade of Song

All The Way...A Decade of Song was released in 1999 and is a mix of Celine Dion's greatest hits and new (at the time) material that she released for the album. It has 15 songs in total. The material released for the album included duets with Frank Sinatra and R-Kelly (which happened before the allegations of sexual abuse in his personal life came to light). The greatest hits material included songs like the theme from Titanic (My Heart Will Go On), which was probably her biggest hit, Beauty and the Beast, The Power of Love, and It's All Coming Back To Me Now) are included. While it does not include every hit she had up to that point in her career, but it has all the major ones.

Chances are if you were a fan of pop music in the late 1980s and throughout the 1990s, and especially if you liked ballads, you were probably a fan of Celine Dion. She was right up there with Mariah Carey as the women who were to the 90s what Madonna and Whitney Huston were to pop music in the 80s (even though both of them were still going pretty strong by the time Celine and Mariah hit it big. While Celine's career has pretty well tailed off by now, if you want a nice mix of her music, this is definitely a good choice.

Movie/DVD Review: Halloween (1999 Limited Edition)

This is one of the first DVD releases (if not the first) of the iconic 1978 low-budget horror film starring Jamie Lee Curtis and Donald Pleasance. It tells the story of a boy named Michael Myers who, on Halloween night in 1968 kills his sister. He is committed to a mental institution where he is under the care of Dr. Sam Loomis (played by Pleasance), ends up breaking out a decade later only to return to his hometown of Haddonfield Illinois to go on a killing spree. 

Halloween was more of a thriller than a horror movie. Although it falls in the horror genre, it relies far more on jump scares than it does gore. There is actually very little blood in the movie, and the goriest shot is probably when Myers attacks the boyfriend of one of the teenagers and hangs him to a wall with a butcher knife. Even in that scene, there is not really any blood. So, it is not a horror movie in the "slasher porn" genre that just tries to be as gory as possible. 

Even though it was a low-budget, independent movie, it was well-written and acted. Pleasance really carried the movie as the very intense Loomis who was hell-bent on stopping Myers and was the only one who saw him as the threat he really was. Curtis was still very green as an actress (this was one of her first acting roles, if not the first, and certainly her first major role), but still did a good job playing Laurie Strode, the goody-two-shoes babysitter. While the dialogue (especially that written for the teenagers) is now out of date and cheesy, the movie, overall, holds up now over 40-years later.

The DVD set includes both the theatrical version of the movie as well as a version that added in scenes (and introduced the controversial Michael-Laurie connection) that were added for the TV version of the movie to make up for the material (like the nude scenes) that had to be edited out. But, on the DVD they were just added to the theatrical version of the movie to make a longer cut. The extras include a behind-the-scenes featurette and a great commentary track with director John Carpenter, screenwriter Debra Hill, and Jamie Lee Curtis.

Halloween is a bit of a cult classic movie, that has a large devoted following, but still probably does not appeal to the masses. To the extent that any horror movie does that, Halloween is probably the one that does. It was a far more successful movie than anyone, including Carpenter, ever thought it would be, and of course, became a pretty huge movie franchise spawning many sequels of varying quality (over Carpenter's objection). Chances are, most people already know if they love or hate the movie, but if you have not upgraded to blu-ray and do not want to shell out for the Halloween collection (which has every movie up to the Bloomhouse reboot of the franchise), this is a great edition to get. 

Movie/DVD Review: The Matrix (1999 release)

The Matrix if the movie that re-defined the action-adventure-sci-fi action genre of movies, and especially the computer-generated special effects of that genre. The movie has been around long enough that most people know the plot, humans created artificial intelligent machines that eventually became autonomous and went to war with humans. The humans eventually lost and were used as batteries to power the machines, living inside a computer simulation called The Matrix. Some humans were able to escape The Matrix (yet still plug into it and as a result have superhuman abilities inside the computer) and lead a resistance fight against the machines. 

The movie starred Keanu Reeves in his first big post "Bill and Ted" role, Laurence Fishburne, and Carrie Anne Moss, in the lead roles, with a supporting cast made up of mostly lesser-known character actors and actresses.  Some, like Hugo Weaving, who are very well-known now, and others who did not do much notably after The Matrix. At the time the movie was made, the most recognizable supporting cast member was probably Joe Pantoliano.  Back in 1999 a lot of people had very low expectations for the movie, based mainly on the "whoa" moment from the trailer thinking Reeves would totally blow the role. But, Reeves did a lot better than expected job with the role of Neo/Mr. Anderson than a lot of people expected, and Fishburne nailed his role as Morpheus.

The original DVD release did have some making-of and behind-the-scenes material, along with some deleted scenes, and a couple of different commentary tracks. And, the DVD could also be put into a computer CD-ROM drive and get some other bonus features. But, the extras are nowhere near as extensive as those that would be included on subsequent releases, especially on the Ultimate Matrix Collection Blu-Ray set or the 4K Blu-Ray releases. But, if you are one of those who never upgraded from DVD, and like going through extras, there is still quite a bit there for you.

Overall, it is an iconic movie with groundbreaking special effects that would influence CGI effects in movies and tv shows for at least a decade after its release. It is well written and acted, and even to this day can be one of those conversation starter movies. And, it holds up pretty well even 20+ years later. 

Streaming Review: The Man in the High Castle Season 4

Season four of The Man in the High Castle, was overall, aside from the series finale, very good. And, even much of the series finale was good, but it ended very weirdly and felt much more like a season finale that was setting up a fifth season that would take the show in a new direction. And, it left many of the major character arcs totally open-ended. I am not sure if the showrunners knew before they filmed the season that the fourth season would be the last for the show. If they did, then they ended it horribly. If they did not, then you do have to give the show somewhat of a pass for feeling incomplete. 

As was the case with the other seasons, this season had multiple story arcs going at the same time. In the Pacific states, yet another resistance faction, this one called the Black Communist Revolution (BCR) went up against the Pons. And, of course, the Nazis were still scheming to take over everything, but there were definitely splits in the ranks. In my opinion, the best story arc was that of Helen Smith and the kids and a mix of being awakened and close-minded.  There was again, a lot of cast turnover, with some major characters being written out of the show (or just forgotten) and a handful of new characters (including Rachel Nichols and Frances Turner). 

Overall, even with the less than stellar series finale, the season was very good, with a lot of action and plot twists thrown in. The ending of the series definitely did not tie up everything in a nice little bow. A lot was left to the audience's imagination. That can, at times, be a good thing, but I think more of the main characters deserved a better sendoff than they ultimately got. Still, it is definitely worth watching.

Movie/VHS Review: Bikini Summer 2

 

Bikini Summer 2 was a "Skinemax" special from the early to mid-1990s. Basically, a Playboy-style movie that had a loose, and very stupid plot, that was basically there between scenes of B-movie models nude or in softcore simulated sex scenes. The big casting coup was Jessica Hahn who was cashing in on her 15 minutes of fame from her affair with televangelist Jim Bakker, and the Playboy shoot that she had around the same time this came out. Ironically, Hahn was never nude in the movie at all, just sat around in lingerie, bikinis, and one dominatrix outfit. Avalon Anders had most of the noteworthy nude scenes in the movie. It does have one of the great lines in b-movie history when the sleazy rich guy is banging his hot Latina maid..."Senior, senior, is it in yet senior?"

Overall, the movie is pretty much what you would expect. Stupid, with bad acting, but a lot of good-looking people. For those of us who were teenagers in the mid-1990s and remember it from late-night cable if you really want it, it is available on DVD, but it is out of print, so you will spend way more than it is worth. I bought it on VHS back in 1999, watched it a couple of times, and now have it in a box with my last few remaining VHS tapes likely never to be watched again. 

Book Review: Melania and Me: The Rise and Fall of My Friendship With the First Lady

Melania and Me, written by Stephanie Winston Wolkoff is an interesting look behind the curtain of the lead-up to, and the first couple of years of, the 2017-2021 presidential administration from the perspective of someone who was a senior advisor/special advisor/friend of the former first lady. Wolkoff details how she met and became friends with the former first lady (she met her when she was working in the fashion industry, helping to plan and organize events like the Met Gala), and how that transitioned to working on the inauguration planning and trying to set up the staff for the first lady once the former president was in the White House. 

The book details a lot of the infighting and backbiting between the West Wing of the White House and the East Wing (i.e., the president's staff vs the first lady's staff; aka Ivanka vs. Melania), and how the former was doing everything the undermine the latter (at least from Wolkoff's point of view). The book definitely gives the impression that Ivanka and Melania have a chilly (at best) relationship, or outright hate each other. The book goes on to detail how, as the finances of the inauguration came to light, Wolkoff was thrown under the bus for the overcharges and missing money and was painted as a friend of Melania who got 26 million dollars for planning a handful of events. The Author's version is that she only made $400k (roughly) and put out so much of her own money between the inauguration, her time in the White House, and attorney fees for various things, that she ended up a million dollars in the hole.  

The author is a bit of a contradiction. She admits up front that she was apolitical and never voted in her life before the 2016 election, and felt it was better not to vote because she could not tell you the difference between the economic policies of Obama and Romney, yet voted for t***p solely because she was friends with his wife, and despite the fact that she disagreed with most of his policies. Wolkoff spends about 2/3 of the book fangirling over Melania then ends up saying she wishes she never met her. It is clear that she felt more and more betrayed by Melania over the course of time and, even though she thought she was different because she had a real friendship with Melania when it came down to it, she was expendable just like all the other people she had seen thrown under the bus and cast to the side by the trump family. The book does not talk much about the former president, although Wolkoff does take some shots at the things he said, paints Ivanka as a spoiled princess, and intimates that Jared was basically worthless and nobody knew why he had any responsibility in the administration. 

Overall, the book is a somewhat interesting and fairly quick read. If you are a fast reader you can get through it in a few days (or less), but it is not what I would call a page-turner that most people would read in one sitting. It portrays pretty much everyone in that White House as very petty (including the author herself) and most of the group out for themselves. The author is definitely more sympathetic than some of the other people detailed in the book, and it does seem that she was trying to make Melania look as good as possible as the first lady (despite Ivanka and Melania herself who had a "why should I give a shit about anything" attitude about damn near everything), and even put her health in jeopardy by overworking herself for Melania's benefit. Even so, it is hard to feel extremely sorry for her because she had certainly seen enough before she was thrown under the bus to know what was likely coming her way, which, in the long run, makes it different from a lot of the other tell-all books out there about trump. 

TV Show Review: The Man in the High Castle Season 3

Season three of The Man in the High Castle in part, ties up the storylines from season two (mainly Joe and his Father being arrested, as well as the aftermath of the bombing of the Kempetai headquarters). Then it launches into what is the crux of this season's story arcs. That involves finding out more information about the "travelers", those who are able to move between dimensions like Trade Minister Tagomi, and that the Nazis know about the multiverse and are trying to find a way to get into the other dimensions in mass in order to take over the other worlds. Of course, the resistance members, led by Juliana, try to stop them. The show also introduces a new character Wyatt Price (played by Jason O'Mara), who is somewhat of a fixer/dealer/guy to go to when you need something in the neutral zone.

The look and feel of the show are pretty similar to prior seasons. The season does take some of the characters in different directions. Some people will probably like that, and some not so much. As has been the case with past seasons, there is a lot of violence and some sexual content. So, if that turns you off to a show then it is not worth watching it. Also, Amazon has not released it on DVD or Blu-Ray, and probably never will, so the only way to watch it is on Amazon, either with a Prime membership or paying for the seasons or paying per episode. It continues to be very well-acted, and pretty well written, even though I would say that the writing is more uneven this season than in the first couple of seasons. Even so, the season is pretty well-paced and packs a lot into the ten episodes. 

Book Review: Body For Life

Body For Life (BFL) was for many, including me, their introduction to fitness and nutrition. It was, in its time, as popular as P90X or any of the other Beachbody workouts have been, and for the most part, it holds up. It was written by Bill Phillips who, at the time, owned a supplement company called EAS and put out Muscle Media magazine. Phillips had been a competitive bodybuilder back in the 1980s and in the mid-late 90s set up a competition with parameters similar to the BFL plan, in Muscle Media Magazine for real people to do a body transformation with his Lamborghini as the prize to the winner. That competition was chronicled in a film called Body of Work and ultimately became the basis for this book and the Body for Life challenge that was, in the early to mid-2000s, as red hot as anything in fitness has ever been. 

The book is basically split into three parts. A background/motivational section that tries to get you into the right mindset for undergoing a transformation like this. A workout section that explains the workouts and gives example exercises, and a nutrition section that details the nutrition plan and has some sample recipes. Throughout the book, there are testimonials by people who have transformed themselves going through a version of Body For Life (mainly by the people who were chronicled in the Body of Work video). Even though those people did not have as regimented a plan as the book sets out, the plan laid out in Muscle Media was similar to what ended up in the book. 

For the workouts, you lift weights three days a week (alternating upper body and lower body), then do cardio three days a week, and have one rest day. For the resistance exercises, you choose two exercises per body part. For example, bench press (BP) and chest flys (CF) for a chest exercise. For one of the exercises, you do a circuit of 12, 10, 8, 6, and 12 reps, with one minute in between each set of the circuit. You increase the weight for each circuit through the 6 rep circuit, then you drop the weight down to do the 12 reps, then you do 12 reps of the second exercise, with no rest with a weight heavy enough that you fail at the 12th rep. Then you rest for 2 minutes and go on to the next body part like shoulders, biceps, etc. So, the chest circuits will look something like this:

BP 12 reps 20lbs

1-minute rest

BP 10 reps 25lbs

1-minute rest

BP 8 reps 30lbs

1-minute rest

BP 6 reps 35lb

1-minute rest

BP 12 reps 20lbs

CF 12 reps 15 lbs

3-minute rest

Next circuit

The BFL workout program is one that can be done at home with a good selection of free weights and some kind of cardio equipment.  But, even though you can do it at home, it is a bit limited as a purely at-home workout, especially when doing the lower body workouts, because it requires you to lift weights to failure. And, it is hard to find two different hamstring exercises and two different quad exercises that will be easy to do to failure with dumbells. This is especially the case since the program wants you to rotate exercises every four weeks so your body does not plateau. So, it is much easier to do the leg day in a gym, unless you have a pretty good home gym setup with a leg press machine and/or a leg extension machine, which can get quite expensive. You can probably use resistance bands for the upper body workout, but it would be very hard to do the lower body workout with bands. And, as you progress and get fitter and stronger, you will need heavier and heavier weights, which again will be pretty expensive over the course of time. So, even though you can do the workouts at home, it is definitely easier to do them in a gym. That said, there are a lot of example exercises in the workout section of the book that demonstrates free-weight exercises that can be used in the program, so if you have a good home gym setup, or have the money to put one together it is possible to do it 100% from home. And, if you get creative, you can do the cardio simply by walking/running up and down steps or something like that. But, it helps to have a treadmill, elliptical, or the like. 

The upper body workout lasts about 45-46 minutes and the lower body workout lasts about 42 assuming you rest between sets for the recommended period of time.  The cardio portion of the program has you doing 20 minutes of progressive cardio. Similar to the resistance workouts, you start out at a low intensity like a slow walk, then you start doing a bit more intense and ratchet the intensity up each minute until you go all out, then back the intensity down. So it looks something like this:

Minutes 1-2 intensity level 1 (walk)

Min 3 intensity level 5

Min 4 intensity level 6

Min 5 intensity level 7

Min 6 intensity level 8

Min 7 intensity level 9 

Min 8 intensity level 5

....................................

...................................

Min 19 intensity level 10 (sprint)

Min 20 intensity level 1 (walk)

So basically, in minute 19 you go all out for as long as you possibly can (hopefully the whole minute) then you go back to a walking intensity level. Of course, what is a level 1 vs level 10 intensity will vary person-to-person, and for some people, the equivalent of a brisk walk will be a level 10, where for another person that will be their level 5. But, as with the resistance workouts, the idea is that people will progress over time because their intensity level 10 will change as they become more fit. 

The nutrition plan is fairly simple. It has you eat a portion of protein (about the size of your palm), a portion of carbs (about the size of your fist), and a veggie for three meals, use a meal replacement shake (the book promotes a nutrition shake called Myoplex which was put out by EAS back in the day) for three meals. Although EAS and the BFL challenge, in general, went the way of the dodo bird (I think mainly when P90x and Beachbody really took off), there are definitely a lot of meal replacement shakes and protein powders out there if you want to go that route. Although,  the book stresses that you can eat six solid-food meals a day and get great results. Basically, you just need to eat six times a day, consuming a balance of protein and carbs, and a reasonable amount of fat. Then, one day a week it allows for a cheat/free day in which you can eat anything you want. 

The nutrition plan is a bit cookie-cutter. For the people it works well for, it works great. But, for people who cannot get to an adequate caloric deficit with the palm-fist method, are carb sensitive, or for whom the palm-fist method does not result in enough calories per day, it may make you healthier, but probably will not get you ripped or make you look like a fitness model (if that is the look you are going for). It is also a low-fat emphasis plan and does not really differentiate between good fats (like nuts) and bad. So, in that way it was kind of akin to the old food pyramid except it emphasized eating a lot more protein (just very lean protein like grilled chicken breast, and the like). 

Overall, I would say it is a good program to try, especially if you are a beginner at working out and following a strict nutrition plan. But, keep in mind, that you may not end up looking like the people photographed in the book even if you follow it to a tee. If that is the case, and what you want, you will probably have to tweak your nutrition plan in order to get to that point. The book does give a lot of very good inspiration and provides a good starting point for some people who want to get in shape and start weight training, but really do not know how to start and don't want to use a personal trainer. For other people, it can be a plan that they can follow for life.