Workout Update: P90X Day 60

Day 60 was the Shoulders and Arms workout (and ab-ripper for the warm-up). Overall, the workout went well. On the moves that were not included in the Chest, Shoulders, and Triceps or Back and Biceps workouts in phase 2, I could definitely tell that I had not done them in a few weeks. Thankfully, I am not too sore today (I think because of the post-workout supplement and getting a good night's sleep). I am glad that I switched things around and did x-stretch on Wednesday because there is no way I could have done this workout without risking hurting myself because of how sore my back was the day after I moved my mom to her new place. So, it is a good reminder that you do not always have to stick to a rigid schedule. Do what feels right that day. 

Supplement Review: Osteo Bi-Flex

 

I have issues with my knees, and this definitely makes them feel better when I am using it on a regular basis. It is a much better value on the subscribe and save subscription than getting them at one of the warehouse clubs, and they are much easier to swallow than some of the generic options with a similar formula as some of those are "horse-sized" and are not easy to get down if you are a person that has an issue swallowing pills.

Workout Update: P90X Day 59

Day 59 was supposed to be shoulders and arms, but I was so sore, including my back, that I opted to do x-stretch instead so I could recover from Monday and Tuesday, getting my mom moved into her new place. It worked wonders as I felt better after the stretching workout, and feel a lot better today. So, tonight will be the shoulders and arms workout.

Workout Update: P90X Day 58

Day 58 was tough. In the morning involved moving my mom into her new assisted living facility, then I was unpacking her for a couple of hours. So, I was very sore by the time I got home and did a very modified version of the plyometrics workout. I barely did any jumping at all and did not go all out. Between the workout and moving, I did get 15000 steps in yesterday, which is (I think) the second most I have ever done in one day. I think tonight I am going to do the x-stretch workout because my back is very sore and I do not want to make it worse by lifting weights. 

Workout Update: P90X Day 57

Day 57 was the first day of phase three, which was a return to the Chest and Back workout. It went pretty well, and I was able to do the pull-down moves with the 100 lb weight and hit at least ten reps on each of the exercises. I also did ab-ripper as the warmup and hit 22 reps on all the moves. I also got a lot of extra exercise in moving boxes to my mom's new place. So, it was a long day, but I got the workout in. 

DVD/Movie Review: Havoc

 

Havoc was the movie that really broke Anne Hathaway out of the Disney mode. In it, she plays a rich Los Angeles high-school girl who hangs out with a bunch of kids who pretend to be a part of the hip-hop gangsta culture. When she ends up going to a party in East LA to hang out with actual gang members, she discovers that the life she thought it was and reality are two very different things. Part of the plot involves one of Allison's classmates making a documentary about the wannabe gangsta lifestyle of her and her friends. While I do not think it was all that integral to the plot, it did not distract from it.

Overall, I would say the movie is good but somewhat predictable and formulaic. It did show that Hathaway had real acting chops as she went from playing the wannabe gangsta chick to a "normal" acting rich suburban teenager to a very vulnerable kid when she was called out for the act she put on, with ease. And, of course, it was the first time she appeared topless on-screen diverging greatly from her Princess Diaries role. The movie also touts a strong supporting cast including Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Freddy Rodriguez, Bijou Phillips, and Channing Tatum.

For those who get the DVD, there are no extras included. It is closed captioned, but that is it. I am not sure if the movie streams on any of the popular streaming platforms, so this may still be one that you want to pick up on disc even with the lack of extras. While it is not Hathaway's best movie, it is definitely worth checking out, especially if you are a fan of hers.  

Book Review: Journey to Star Wars: The Last Jedi - Leia Princess of Alderaan

 

This is one of the young-adult novels put out after Disney's takeover of Lucasfilm. So, it is included in the Star Wars canon, but like the other young-adult novels it is ancillary to the main storyline. It details Leia's life on Alderaan as she was a young teenager (between the events of the Obi-Wan Kenobi series and A New Hope), including her Day of Demand, which was essentially a trial that allowed her to claim the right to the throne of Alderaan (and details the first clue that she was force sensitive), her time in the imperial senate, and the "mercy missions" that Darth Vader refers to in A New Hope. It also details how she got involved in the rebellion, details how she met Amilyn Holdo (Laura Dern's character from The Last Jedi), and even an encounter with Tarkin on Alderaan. We also get some insight into her relationship with Bail Organa and her adoptive mother Breha.

While it is a young-adult novel, the story is very well-written and very enjoyable for adults. It gives the backstory to the character that was never fleshed out in the movies, and the author does a good job of portraying Leia as different from the person she is when she is first introduced in A New Hope but hints at how she would grow into that person. If you are a person that only gets some, but not all, of the novels, this is definitely one that is a good pickup.

Workout Update: P90X Day 56

Day 56 was going to be back-to-back yoga days, but I opted to do x-stretch instead. It went well even though I was pretty tired by the time I was able to do it because of packing up my mom's stuff to move her into assisted living. So, I have been super busy the past few days and got in "extra" workouts by having to move a bunch of stuff around.  

Workout Update: P90X Day 55

 Day 55 was yoga-x again. Because I also have a very busy weekend, and I hate the second half of the workout, I again did the first 53 minutes or so and called it a day. I am definitely getting better at the first half of the workout, although it is still very challenging.

Workout Update: P90X Day 54

 Day 54 was the second day of core synergistics. Nothing more to say about it. I am still not a huge fan of it, and I struggle with most of the moves, but I pushed through and got it done. 

Workout Update: P90X Day 53

Day 53 was the middle of the recovery week, which meant x-stretch. This is actually the second x-stretch of the week since I did the workout normally scheduled for Sunday on Monday. Weirdly, I was not as flexible this time as I have been the past couple of times I did this one. Especially in my hamstrings.  But, I made it through and felt better after I was done. 

Book Review: Fantastic Beasts and the Crimes of Grindelwald

 

This is the second of what will be at least a trilogy of books/movies in the Fantastic Beasts prequel to Harry Potter. It is set in the late 1920s. Grindelwald, having been captured at the end of the first book, escapes in the process of being transferred for trial. Then the story jumps ahead in time a few months, and the rest of the story plays out.

The title is a little misleading as the story is as much about Leta Lestrange and Creedence as it is about Grindelwald. In fact, Grindelwald is in the movie very sporadically, and mostly toward the end. The story also picks up on the Newt-Tina and Queenie-Jacob relationships, and, as you would expect, throws a wrench into things. We also get the first real introduction to young Dumbledore, played in the movie by Jude Law. He, like Grindelwald, is not in the book a ton but is being set up for a larger role in the next book/movie.

Like Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, this is not a novelization, but a screenplay. So, it basically tracks the movie word-for-word. Nothing more gets fleshed out in the book, but unlike the Harry Potter novels, nothing from the book is missing from the movie. Also, it is fairly short, about 275 pages, and because the book has a lot of illustrations throughout, the pages are not full of text, so it is a much quicker read than a traditional novel. 

Overall, if you liked the first book/movie then you will probably like this one. While I still prefer the Harry Potter series to Fantastic Beasts, this is still a good story within that world and is definitely setting up the Dumbledore backstory we were all hoping for in the last few Harry Potter novels.

Workout Update: P90X Day 52

Day 52 was the Kenpo-x workout. It, like yoga, is the only "regular" workout that appears in the recovery week (and stretch if you do it as an optional Sunday workout). It was a bit harder to get motivated to do the workout because I was kind of tired, but once I got started, it went well.  

Workout Update: P90x Day 51

Day 51 was a return to core synergistics. It is, along with yoga-x, my least favorite workout in the P90X series. I hate the majority of the moves and am always tempted to just swap it out with cardio-x. But, I made it through the workout. It went about the same as the last time I did it. Some of the push-up moves I do on my knees, and others I can do some on my toes, some on my knees. The only moves that I cannot do very well at all are the Dreya rolls and bow-to-boat.  The others, I can at least struggle through the modified versions. 

Workout Update: P90X Day 50

 Day 50 was the start of the second recovery week. I did the x-stretch workout to save a bit of time. I plan to do both Yoga workouts back to back on Saturday and Sunday. So, I have basically done three straight days of stretching/yoga, which has helped my flexibility. Tonight is the core synergistics workout again. I am not really looking forward to it, but will get it done.

DVD/TV Series Review: ER - The Complete Series

 

At the time ER debuted it was the "It" show, meaning it was the show that, the day after it aired, people would talk about at work or school and even on talk radio. It instantly became the hot show of the season and a ratings giant for NBC. It told the story of a Chicago hospital, just known as County, and told the story of the doctors, nurses, and staff who worked there. It started out somewhat being told through the experience of a third-year medical student named John Carter (played by Noah Wyle) as he began the "hands-on" portion of his medical school training. The show had a true ensemble cast made up mostly of (at the time) lesser-known character actors. The most recognizable member of the cast at the time the show debuted was Anthony Edwards (who had been in Top Gun and had just come off a stint on Northern Exposure). Of course, cast members like Noah Wyle, George Clooney, and Juliana Margulies would go on to have huge careers after their run on ER, as would actors like Ving Rhames, and William H. Macy, while other actors like Laura Innes, Paul McCraine, and Eriq La Salle would transition from actors to directors after their time on the show.

The show can really be seen as two series. The first eight seasons and the final seven seasons. By season 15 there was an entirely different cast as new cast members were brought in to replace those who left. A few members of the supporting cast (mainly those who played nurses) did stick around for the entire series run, but pretty much all of the actors who played the doctors had turned over by the time the series ended. The show focused on all sorts of issues over the course of its run including drugs, AIDS, abortion, crime, racism, mental illness, and more. Sometimes there were cases of the week that took up most of the hour, other times it was just chaotic turnover in the ER with a show involving multiple storylines. The show took a lot of risks, including airing a live episode, killing off main characters, and generally putting characters through the wringer. An argument can be made that it did start to get stale by the end of its run, but overall it was a very well-written and well-acted show. And, the final season did manage to bring back some of the original characters to give those of us who watched at the beginning a boost of nostalgia. It also boasted a ton of guest stars who would become A or B list actors, including Mariska Hargitay, Ewan McGregor, Ron Eldard, Kristin Davis, Stana Katic, Kirsten Dunst, Lucy Liu, Thandie Newton, and Kat Dennings, to name just a few. And, some of the guest stars were already well-known, such as Rosemary Clooney, and Michael Ironside, Ron Rifkin, and Alan Alda.

There are a few different versions of the complete series set, but they all seem to just repackage the individual season releases. So, you get all of the bonus material that was originally released with the individual season sets. The bonus features varied from season to season, tailing off toward the end of the series as TV series on physical media were just starting to get cut back in favor of just streaming them. But, there were commentary tracks on some episodes, cast interviews, blooper reels, and the like, over the years. The series has not been released on Blu-Ray, and it would be a surprise if it ever gets one. Some older shows are getting Blu-Ray releases so it is not totally outside the realm of possibility that ER will get one someday, but it is unlikely. It is on multiple streaming services including Hulu and Peacock, so really, the decision of whether to shell out for this will depend on if you want to watch the DVD extras. It is definitely one of the best medical dramas that have ever been made and still holds up nearly thirty years after it originally aired and thirteen years after it ended

Workout Update: P90X Day 49

Day 49 was yoga-x. Again, because I did x-stretch the day before, I did just the first 55 minutes of this, up to the point where they end the moving asanas and the balance poses. Thankfully, I am getting to the point where the first portion of the workout does not seem as long, nor is it as hard to get through. So, I am improving. This upcoming week is the second recovery week, so I will have to do yoga two times this week. 

TV Series Review: Ringer

 

Ringer was the post-Buffy return to a starring role in a TV series for Sarah Michelle Gellar. It was a very uneven series that started out strong, got very silly in the middle, and ended strong, but bittersweet because it was canceled before it could really have any big payoff. Gellar plays twin sisters, one named Bridget who is a drug addict and stripper in Wyoming. The other is named Siobhan, a wealthy New York socialite married to a wall street investor named Andrew Martin (played by Ioan Gruffudd). Bridget, who is on the run from a mobster who she is supposed to testify against and believing her sister committed suicide, decides to take over her life. 

The show starts off very strong but gets very silly as the writers seemed to be going for a "Sixth Sense" like "twist" ending in every episode. Some of the twists were okay, but some were just dumb and after a while probably got to be too much for a lot of viewers, and the ratings pretty much tanked. The series was canceled after the first season, but likely sometime after the season finale was finished because it clearly was set up for a second season that never materialized. As a result, fans of the show were left with a very incomplete, and disappointing ending.

The show had a strong cast that included Mike Colter, pre-Luke Cage when he was still relatively unknown, Kristopher Polaha, who played Henry Butler, a friend of the Martin family, Nestor Campbell as FBI agent Victor Machado who was trying to take down the mobster Bodaway Macawi (played by Zahn McClarnon), and Zoey Deutch (who is the spitting image of her mother Lea Thompson). There were also very recognizable recurring cast members including Jonathan Banks, Sean Patrick Thomas, Madchen Amik, and Jamie Murray.

Like I said, the show started out very strong and does get pretty silly about halfway through the season. It takes a lot of suspension of disbelief to get through it, even moreso when the twists start getting totally ridiculous. Even people who really like the show will probably do some eye-rolling at some of it. Just know, that if you do watch it, it ends pretty abruptly with a shift in the storyline that never gets a chance to play out. It is not available on DVD. It has streamed on Amazon Prime and I think the Vudu streaming service, but as of now, it appears to be only available on the CW app (although they remove it from the app from time to time, so if you want to watch it make sure you do so when you see it available, otherwise it may be months before you get a chance to again).  

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.