Book Review: Star Wars: The High Republic: The Rising Storm

 

This is the second "main storyline" canon novel (basically meaning "adult" novel) set in the high-republic era of the Star Wars universe. As most know, since Disney took over, everything that is put out is considered canon, but the young adult and junior novels are ancillary to the main story that is told in the movies, tv-series, and adult novels. It takes place about a couple of hundred years before the events of the prequel and original trilogies. In this era, the enemy of the Jedi is not the Sith, but a group of pirates called the Nihil.  In this novel, the setting is a Republic fair on the planet Valo, put on by Chancellor Lina Soh, despite warnings of an attack. Most of the book involves the various Jedi trying to stave off the Nihil attack and keep the people safe. Within that is revealed in-fighting between members of the Nihil, whom each wants to take control of the group.

I think a lot of what has bogged down the two main novels is that it has a ton of characters, none of which is the focus. Unlike the prequel movies and novelizations which focused on about 4-5 Jedi and kept the rest in the background, the novels feel like an ensemble cast of characters that we don't really know and do not get much development. So, keeping straight who everyone is can be challenging, and getting invested in all of them is hard. And, I think it has been a mistake to exclude Yoda from the novels (aside from name-dropping him a couple of times). He is probably the most powerful Jedi at the height of his powers yet has been on the sidelines now for two major disasters in the Light of the Jedi novel and this one. 

Overall, the book is good, but not great. The author does a good job with the story and keeping the chapters relatively short. It does kind of jump back and forth between characters who get separated during the attack, so the storylines kind of shift all over the place. It can be hard, especially if you take a break from reading it for a day or so, to remember what was going on with the group that is discussed in the current chapter because they may not have been mentioned for three or four chapters. But, the fact that the chapters are short (about 10 pages at most, and some are about 2 pages) helps with that. It is definitely a "middle" novel that is setting up a larger battle/confrontation to come. It has a lot of action, and some suspense and drama. It is a fairly quick read (depending on how fast you read and how much time you devote to reading), despite being about 430 pages. If you are a fairly quick reader, and read a little every day, you can definitely get through this in a couple of weeks or less.

Blu-Ray/TV Show Review: Chuck Seasons 1 - 5 (Spoiler Free)

 

Chuck was a series that ran from 2007 to 2012. The basic premise was that a guy named Chuck (played by Zachary Levi) who works at a fictional equivalent of the Geek Squad (called the Nerd Herd) in a fictional version of Best Buy (called Buy More) had a supercomputer called the Intersect (basically a database with all the CIA and NSA secrets) beamed into his brain by his old college roommate who happens to be a CIA agent. He ends up with a CIA handler named Sarah (played by Yvonne Strahovski) and an NSA handler named John Casey. The theme of the show is basically a case of the week procedural in which Chuck has to use the information in his head to stop some evil plot.

The show was always on the brink of cancelation but had a massive fan campaign that managed to keep it on the air for five seasons. It did not air for five full seasons in large part due to the writer's strike that ended one of the seasons early and then having just a partial final season. So, it ended up with 91 total episodes. It was part action/adventure series, part love story (with the typical will-they won't-they get together between Chuck and Sarah), and part comedy. There are a lot of nerdy pop-culture references throughout the series including nods to Star Wars, Back to the Future, and Die Hard. It had a great supporting cast made up of mostly unknown character actors and managed to land a lot of great guest stars.

The show definitely lives up to the hype that its die-hard fans give it. Unfortunately, the year it premiered the Bionic Woman reboot series got all of NBC's promotional budget and Chuck was hardly mentioned at all. For a lot of people, the allure to the show was the commercial that featured Yvonne Strahovski in lingerie (which she was in a lot during the series), but it was really a well-written and well-acted show that should have gotten a bit longer run than it did. As far as I can tell, the complete series blu-ray set has the same extras that the individual season releases did, which, because the show was around before physical media really started to get scaled back, got a pretty good amount of extras. So, if you are looking for a unique comedy that is not a cookie-cutter sitcom, this is a good choice and holds up well even after fifteen years.

Workout Update: P90X Day 48

 Day 48 was x-stretch. Nothing major to report about this one aside from the fact that I could get a bit deeper in the hamstring stretches. Otherwise, it went pretty much the same. I still have to lose my gut significantly before I will be able to get better range of motion with some of the moves. 

Workout Update: P90X Day 47

 Day 47 was ab-ripper along with Legs and Back. Really, the only thing notable about this workout, is that I was finally able to increase the band resistance for the pull-down moves to 105 lbs. I still have 50 more pounds of resistance bands left to add. So, I definitely am going to need another modified round of P90x before I start doing actual pull-ups. But, I was getting anywhere from 8-13 reps with the bands. I am definitely not going to increase the resistance for the first workout of phase 3, but will re-evaluate after that workout.

Blu Ray/TV Series Review: Fringe: The Complete Series

 

Fringe was a very unique series that ran from 2008 to 2013. It was part police procedural and part supernatural thriller that involved a division of the FBI headed by Lance Reddick's character Phillip Broyles that investigated a series of strange phenomena that would come to be called "The Pattern". Anna Torv played FBI agent Olivia Dunham who investigated Pattern incidents with the help of a scientist who had been in a mental hospital for years named Walter Bishop (played by John Noble) who had studied similar incidents before he went crazy, and his son Peter (played by Joshua Jackson of Dawson's Creek fame) who was basically Walter's babysitter after he was checked out of the hospital. Of course, there was much more to the plot as the series unfolded with a lot of twists and turns. Some worked, some did not.

Fringe was a series that started out great and then kind of went off the rails a bit, almost like the series Lost. I would not say that the series was ever bad (although there were a couple of plot elements that were suddenly dropped and never returned to), I think the series did try a bit too hard to be unexpected and edgy and tried to shoehorn in plot twists where they were not needed. The acting was always great, especially on the part of Noble, and there was a very strong supporting cast throughout the series. This included Leanord Nimoy on what was his final major role in a TV series. He played a recurring character named William Bell who had a tangled past with Walter Bishop.

Overall, I would say if you are into series that have supernatural elements like time travel, multiple dimensions, etc., you will probably like this series. Especially the first couple of seasons. There are a couple of versions of the complete series on Blu-Ray, but from what I can tell all of the features and extras are the same as those that were included in the individual season releases. So, if you have the individual seasons there is no need to double-dip to get additional bonus features.

Workout Update: P90X Day 46

Yesterday was day 46, which was the Kenpo-x workout. I managed to keep up with the people in the video for the entire workout and did not have to take any unscheduled breaks. So, overall, a really good workout. 

Workout Update: P90X Day 45

 Day 45, aside from being the halfway point for the first round of P90x was the Back and Biceps workout (along with ab-ripper as the warm-up). I was able to max out on reps on a bunch of exercises so the weight on those will increase either the next time I do this workout or in the shoulders and arms workout. As for ab-ripper, I still cannot hit all 25 reps on each move, but I am getting closer. This was also the first workout with 100 lbs of band resistance on the pull-down moves, and I was able to get 10-12 reps on everything but the corn cobs. So, I will probably add the 5lb band for when I do the legs and back workout tomorrow. 

Book Review: Cloak of Deception

 

Cloak of Deception is one of the novels that is relegated to Legends status since the LucasFilm buyout by Disney. It is set just before the events of The Phantom Menace. For those who hated all the political maneuvering and subplots of The Phantom Menace, this book has quite a bit of that. Set around that is a plot to assassinate Chancellor Valorum, with the strings being pulled by Palpatine. At this point, Palpatine is just a "lowly" Senator from Naboo and is getting ready for the eventual power grab that will enable him to eventually become Emperor.

Even though the novel is no longer canon, it ties into other storylines that are, including The Phantom Menace movie and the book Tarkin by the same author which is considered canon. This book also established Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon's relationship and fleshed it out a bit. Of course, this aspect of the book has basically been replaced by the canon novel Master and Apprentice which is also set prior to The Phantom Menace. 

Overall, the book tells a good story. While some of the political subtexts that bogged down The Phantom Menace movie is in the book, it does not slow down the plot of the book. The book manages to weave in the action sequences between the slower parts that made it work. That is always one advantage of a book over a movie and it worked well here. And, as I said, parts of the book are kind of grandfathered into the canon based on the novels Darth Pleguis and Tarkin by the same author that made up a loose trilogy of novels about the events that lead up to and shortly after the formation of the Empire. It is definitely a good read for those who are fans of Star Wars novels.

Workout Update: P90X Day 44

 Day 44 was the plyometrics workout. Like was the case last time, I felt that I was getting better at some of the moves, while others I still had to modify. And, I had to take a couple of unscheduled rest breaks to catch my breath. But, I am getting closer to being able to do every move for the full 30 seconds or minute. 

Blu Ray/TV Show Review: Northern Exposure Complete Series (Region 2)

 

Northern Exposure was a breakout hit that ran from 1990 to 1995. It starred Rob Morrow as Joel Fleischman, a doctor from New York who was forced to move to a small remote town in Alaska called Cicely to work as repayment of his student loan for the state of Alaska underwriting his medical school education. It is basically a fish-out-of-water story as Dr. Fleischman adjusts to life in a small town full of quirky people. 

The show ran for a total of six seasons (with seasons one and two being extremely short, a total of fifteen episodes between them) and then full seasons from season three onward. Morrow had a widely publicized contract dispute with the powers that be that saw his role reduced over the course of the series until he was written out of the show entirely partway through the final season, after which the show just fizzled out and was canceled. The supporting cast included Janine Turner, as Maggie O'Connel, Fleischman's on and off again love interest, Barry Corbin as Maurice Minnefiled, an ex-astronaut who basically owns the entire town of Cicely, John Cullum as Holling Vincoeur, the owner of the local bar, Cynthia Geary as Holling's much younger wife Shelly, John Corbett as Chris Stevens, the DJ at the local radio station, Darren E. Burrows, as Ed, one of the local teenagers who is an aspiring moviemaker, Peg Phillips as Ruth-Ann, the owner of the local convenience store, and Elane Miles as Marilyn, Dr. Fleischman's office assistant. 

As many are aware, the show was released on DVD in the US back in the mid-2000s. The big controversy about those releases was that, from season three on, Universal did not pay for the rights to some of the original music, and replaced many of the songs, which, a lot of times were tied in to the storylines of the episodes, with canned instrumental music that was akin to Musak played in elevators. Many die-hard fans of the series hated those releases because of that. This set finally delivers the episodes with all of the original music. As someone who owned the DVD releases, I can confirm that songs that were definitely missing from the DVDs were put back in for this set.

For extras, some, but not all, of the material that was included on the US DVD releases are included here. It is missing some of the bonus features, but most of the extras like the deleted scenes and gag reels are included in this set. I believe the DVDs had some commentary tracks that were missing from this. One big drawback is that this set is not closed-captioned at all. Also, there is a weird audio issue in that when you are on the menu screen on each disc the theme song plays extremely loud, then when you go into the episodes the volume is very low. So, you have to turn up the volume to hear the dialog in the episodes, and if you go back to the menu screen before turning the volume down, you are blasted out of the room.

Otherwise, the A/V transfer is pretty good. The video quality of the Blu-Rays is, on the whole, better than the DVDs. However, some of the early episodes did not get as good a video transfer as later episodes. Soi, it is an upgrade, but not what I would call a reference-quality or extremely high-quality video transfer.

Overall, if you can get this set at a reasonable price (about $100 in US dollars) I would say it is well worth it. Because it is an import, the price can fluctuate, and if it goes out of print (or has done so), then it will be very overpriced. Also, note that it is a Region 2 set, meaning it will not play on Blu-Ray players sold in the US. I found it would not even play on my region-free player which plays other Region 2 discs just fine. So, you may have to invest in a Region 2 player (you can get one from Amazon UK for a decent price) and a power adapter to watch this. But, for fans of the series, it is the best way to see the show as it is unlikely there will every be a comparable release in the US.  

Workout Update: P90X Day 43

 Day 43 was the Chest, Shoulders, and Triceps workout, and ab-ripper. Overall, it went well. I was able to increase the amount of weight on a couple of moves and did better on some of the push-up moves. I still had to do some of them on my knees but was able to do a couple of them on my toes. While it is not my favorite workout of the P90X resistance workouts, I do like the flow and the fact that it is one of the shorter ones. 

Blu-Ray/Movie Review: A Dangerous Method

 

A Dangerous Method is about the relationship between Carl Jung (played by Michael Fassbender), Sigmund Freud (played by Viggo Mortenson), and Sabina Spielrein (played by Kiera Knightly) and the birth of psychoanalysis. The "method" is the talking cure that Freud developed and Jung put into practice. One of the people Jung used the method on was Spielrein, who went from being his patient suffering from "hysteria", to his mistress, and then a colleague after Jung encouraged her to go to medical school after which she also became a psychiatrist and became a psychoanalyst. 

Many people may watch the movie just because of the joke about a particular scene made on an episode of Family Guy (and yes, that scene is quite something), but the movie is really quite good outside of that. Knightly really shines in her role as Spielrein, playing someone that goes from crazy and playing in the mud to being a doctor herself, but always seemingly on the edge of slipping back into hysteria. The movie also does a great job detailing the complicated relationship between Jung and Freud from their initial meeting to their eventual falling out. The movie spans a nine-year period of time in the 1900s that ends just before World War I begins. 

For those who get the Blu-Ray, the extras are fairly light. There is a commentary track on the film with the Director, David Cronenberg, which provides a lot of detail about the story and some about the filming process. Then there are a couple of short behind-the-scenes features. What was included was good, but not extensive. Although, I would not expect more bonus material from a lower-budget independent movie.

Overall, the movie is well-written and very well-acted. It is very much a period piece and tries to be an accurate historical drama. In fact, much of the script was put together based on the extensive correspondence between the real people that have been preserved over the years. So, if you are a fan of historical dramas, especially ones that are not massive blockbusters, this is definitely worth checking out. 

Workout Update: P90X Day 42

 Day 42 was yoga-x. Because of a time crunch, I had to cut it off after 50 minutes (basically up to the point where they do crane). I was also pretty tired during the workout, but I managed to make it through. Although, I did have to go into child's pose a few more times than I normally do. Otherwise, not too much to say about this one. It went about the same as it has the past couple of weeks. 

Workout Update: P90X Day 41

 Day 41 was x-stretch again. Not really any new progress to update with this workout. It went about the same as it has the last few times. No new flexibility gains that I noticed.

DVD Review: Family Guy Season 16

Family Guy has been around long enough that anyone reading a review of it by now is aware of what it is. It follows the same story-of-the-week (sometimes with or without a side story) procedural format. While they do make callbacks to old jokes and references to past episodes, you really do not have to watch from week to week to follow what is going on (for the most part). There are some two or even three-part episodes from time to time, including this season. But, for the most part, the episodes are stand-alone. 

The show continues to be irreverent, making jokes about anything and everything, including the show itself. It is definitely adult humor, especially on the DVDs as the episodes are uncensored and they do drop in swearing that does not get put on the broadcast versions of the episodes. For me, the standout episodes of the season are the season finale in which Peter has a conversation with God. The Putin episode (mainly for the well-inserted Access Holywood Tape joke), the episode in which Brian enters himself into a dog show, and the body-switching episode. 

For those who are looking at the DVD set. As you are probably aware, the quality of the extras on the DVD releases has gone down as the years have gone by. For this set, you just get deleted scenes and an animatic of one of the episodes that is longer than the regular episode and have a commentary track on it with a couple of the writers. They are okay but not nearly as extensive as what the older DVD releases got. But, of course, as physical media has been slowly dying, especially when it comes to TV series, the fact that any DVD release happens is lucky.

Overall, the season is good. I still think the series was at its best in its first couple of years before it was canceled by FOX, but it managed to find a formula that works and has kept it on the air for years since it was brought back. As for whether it is worth getting the DVD set, it boils down to whether you want the uncensored episodes, as I have heard, the streaming version of the show is the same as the broadcast version. 

Workout Update: P90X Day 40

 Day 40 was the legs and back workout and ab-ripper for the warm-up. I was again dealing with a family-medical issue yesterday, so I had to workout much later in the evening than usual, but I was able to get it done. And, I was able to do at least 12 reps on all of the pull-up moves with the 95lbs of band resistance. So, I will be increasing that to 100 for next week's workouts, which is the last week of Phase Two.

Product Review: CCINEE 30PCS Artificial Tulip Flowers

These are fake tulips. They actually look very realistic, and it is not until you are up close to them where you can touch them that you can really tell they are fake. I did not have any problem with any of the flowers arriving broken, and you get enough to put in a couple of mid-sized vases. The only thing you do not get from these is a real flower smell. But otherwise, they look nice as a centerpiece on a table or on a shelf.

Workout Update: Day 39

 Day 39 was Kenpo-x. Nothing much to update about the workout. I was able to keep up with the people in the video for all of the moves, although I am definitely still working on getting my form back when it comes to the kicks.  Hopefully, that will get better by the time I am at the end of phase three toward the end of the first round of P90X.

Product Review: Polar Aurora 4'x10'x2 Thick Folding Mat

 

It is a good mat for higher impact activities like plyometrics, martial arts, and probably even some gymnastics moves. For yoga, it is good for some types of moves (like frog, camel, etc.) and not great for others (mostly balance moves because you can sink down into it a bit which can throw your balance off). Basically, any yoga move in which it is helpful to pad your knees or shoulders is wonderful. Any moves that require you to be on one leg for an extended period of time, it may cause you to lose your balance too much. For people who do the Team Beachbody workouts, it is great for most of the workouts in P90X, all of the Insanity workouts, and any of the other workouts that require you to jump around.

The only drawback I have noticed is that the seams will start to split open after a while. Nothing so bad that a strip of duct tape does not cure it, but given that it is not an inexpensive mat that could be a deal-breaker.

Workout Update: P90X Day 38

 Day 38 was the back and biceps (with ab-ripper as the warm-up). Overall, the workout went well. I was able to hit 10-12 reps on all of the pull-up moves (using bands) on everything except the corn cob pull-ups. I only got 5 of those, and that was as much because of limited space as it was the amount of band resistance (95 lbs still) that I was using. So, I am going to do one more workout with the 95lbs (legs and back tomorrow) and then up the band resistance for pull-ups to 100lbs. 

Workout Update: P90X Day 37

 Day 37 was Plyo-x.  I found that I am getting to the point where I am able to keep up with the people in the video a lot more consistently. Some moves I still have to modify, even more than the modifier, Pam, does. However, for many moves, I can jump (not just the toes barely off the ground type jumps) for the entire 30 seconds. So, it is definitely a work in progress, but heading in the right direction.

Workout Update: P90X Day 36

 Day 36 was the chest, shoulders, and triceps workout, with ab-ripper as the warm-up. I still do not like 90% of this workout. But, the one thing I do like is that it is one of the shorter resistance workouts. That is always nice, especially when adding ab-ripper to it, which adds an additional 16 minutes to whatever workout you are doing that day. I must say that this round of P90X is going by pretty quickly. I have just one more week in the "regular" part of phase two, then will be at the next recovery week. 

Workout Update: P90X Day 35

 Day 35 was a shortened version of Yoga x. I basically did it up through the balance moves and then stopped when they transitioned to the stretches. I did this for a couple of reasons, the main one being I was feeling a bit queasy as I go toward the end of the moving asanas, and it was getting a bit late in the evening. It is still a very tough workout, mainly because it is so long and has some very advanced moves, especially when you consider there was no meaningful yoga workout in Power-90, but I am getting better at it. 

Workout Update: P90X Day 34

Day 34 was legs and back along with ab-ripper x as the warm-up. I was finally able to hit 10-12 reps on the pull-ups using 95lbs. So hopefully, next week I can bump it up to 100 lbs. I want to be able to do 10-12 reps on all pull-up moves before I start doing bodyweight pull-ups. This will probably be in a second round of P90x where I will transition from using the bands to doing "regular" pull-ups. 

Workout Update: P90X Day 33

 Day 33 was x-stretch. I again had to mix up the workouts this past week because my schedule was thrown off. So, I changed up so the Saturday workout switched to Friday, so I was not doing resistance and abs two days in a row. Overall, the workout was fine. Nothing new to report about it.