Product Review: POLAR FT60 Heart Rate Monitor

 

The first generation of the FT60 was a decent to good heart-rate monitor. It has a lot of functions that the less expensive polar monitors do not (at least at the time the first version of this came out), such as a Bluetooth connection, workout tracking capabilities, and the ability to track weight with the polar balance scale. It does require the use of the chest strap which, in the era of Fitbit, Apple Watch, and similar devices that have even more functionality than this, is definitely a drawback. Especially since it can sometimes be a pain to pair with the chest strap. There are a few big drawbacks to it, however.

First, the menus can be a pain to navigate and require pushing the buttons over and over to get to what you want.

Second, the watch strap is very flimsy. I went through three of them in a short period of time. Basically, the unit popped out of the watch strap (which you have to do to charge it). The strap was made of cheap silicon, and eventually at least one of the holes for the buttons would tear, and once one did the one next to it would soon follow, and then you had to replace the strap. Luckily you can find replacement straps for a reasonable price, but the quality control (again at least on the first version) was not great.

Third, the charger was totally proprietary. When you take the unit out of the watch strap, the bottom of it protrudes and that plugs into the charging cable. So, if you misplace the cable you are screwed as you cannot just plug a micro-USB cable into it. There were also times when it would not charge and you had to drain the battery all the way down until it shut itself off in order for it to start charging again.

Lastly, it was a total pain to pair with the Polar App on an Android phone. When I first had the watch I had an Andriod phone and this rarely ever paired with the phone through the app to get the workout information into the app on the first try. Once I switch to an iPhone it paired with the Polar App just fine, but for whatever reason, I constantly had to close the app, unpair the watch from my phone, re-pair the watch with my phone, then open the Polar App again to get it to work.

So, when everything worked the way it was supposed to, I really liked this. But, when things went off the rails, it was a pain. Hopefully, the newer models fixed some of the issues I experienced, but I would definitely avoid getting the first-generation model of this.

Study Guide Review: Advanced Calculus Demystified

 

This is a study aid/supplement for what is for many the hardest class in the calculus sequence, multivariable calculus (usually called Calc III). It is the class that takes all the concepts from the first year of calculus, adds an additional dimension, and makes the problems way more complex. If you end up with a teacher that is not great at explaining the concepts and/or get stuck with a crappy textbook (which was definitely the case for me), you will need to look to study aids to get through that class.

This is a pretty mixed bag as a study guide. It does cover all of the material that you will see in class, including topics that some of the other popular study aids out there do not, like parameterizations. The problem is that it uses a different notation for some of the concepts that make it very hard to follow what it is getting at, and there are mistakes that are not always easy to catch. One thing I do like about it is that I does not really give study tips or that kind of thing. The authors just pretty much assume if you are at the level of taking Calc III, you know how to study and get through class. It just jumps right into discussing multivariable functions and goes from there.

Overall, I would say that it is a book that you can use in conjunction with a textbook to flesh out the material in the book and get some additional example problems. You would not really be able to teach yourself the entirety of a multivariable calculus class, but it will give you a good base to start from. Just know that how the material is presented in the book may differ from how you see it in class.

DVD/TV Series Review: American Dad Volume 6

 

Because of the way the early DVD releases were set, Volume Six of American Dad actually contains the episodes from Season Five. The DVD has all 18 of the season five episodes, which continue the story (or stories) of the week format, while occasionally referring back to events from prior episodes. This is really the season where the focus of the show shifted from mainly being about Stan's CIA job to putting more of a focus on the other characters and having some of the apocalyptic episodes (like one involving the Rapture) that the show has featured in later seasons. The standout episodes from this season for me were "My Morning Straightjacket" in which Stan decides to follow a band across the country and Francine has to channel her inner groupie to get him back, "May the Best Stan Win" in which Stan has to battle a cyborg version of himself for Francine's affection, and "Great Space Roaster" in which the family roats Roger for his birthday, and he decides to kill them all for making fun of him.

For those who get the DVD set, there are commentary tracks on selected episodes that include the writers of the particular episode and usually the director. There are deleted scenes for most of the episodes, a making-of feature for the episode Rapture's Delight, and uncensored audio (although some audio does get bleeped out).

The show continues to be clever and funny. I do think the shift away from Stan's job being the focus of the show did hurt it a bit, but not so much that it was unwatchable. As most people are aware, even though it is animated, it is still very much an adult show and not suitable for young kids. The show makes fun of pretty much anything and everything, and there are a lot of off-color jokes. But, if you like the brand of humor, it is still worth watching.

Workout Update: Chalean Extreme Day 36

Day 36 of CE was Push Circuit 1 again. I am finding that I really like this workout. It is almost all arms, most of the exercises are bicep and tricep moves, although there are some squats in there too since CE does not have a dedicated leg workout. You kind of just do variations of squats and lunges in every resistance workout. I was able to max out (barely) on a few of the exercises, so the weight was definitely pretty accurate this week. Next week when I increase the weight on those moves I am pretty sure I will barely be able to hit 6 reps. I was pretty gassed by the last set of pushups so I had to do some of them on my knees. 

Blu-Ray/Movie Review: Black Swan

 

Black Swan is a psychological thriller by Darren Aronofsky (who is pretty much known for weird, out-there movies), that is centered around the production of Swan Lake by the New York City Ballet. Natalie Portman plays Nina, a dancer in the New York City ballet. She auditions for and gets the lead role. In the process, she gets mentally unstable and slowly goes crazy. The audience really experiences the events from Nina's perspective and it is not really ever made clear what is real and what she was imagining, which makes the film work.

For those who get the Blu-Ray, the movie looks and sounds great in HD. The extras include several short featurettes that include character profiles, production design, costume design, as well as the theatrical trailer. There is also an almost hour-long making-of feature titled Black Swan Metamorphosis, which is split into three parts that have a ton of behind-the-scenes footage, interviews with the cast and crew, and more.

Overall, the movie is wonderful. The writing and acting are both top-notch. Along with Portman, the main cast includes Mila Kunis, Vincent Cassel, Wynona Ryder, and Barbara Hershey, who does a great job as Nina's mother who is overprotective and lives vicariously through her daughter. Portman and Kunis are definitely featured the most, and both do a great job in their roles. Portman is in nearly every scene, if not every scene, and has to play a wide range of emotions through her character. She had proven her acting chops well before this movie, but it really did cement her as being a great actress who can play damn near anything. It is a great movie that is definitely worth watching if you are in the mood for something that is a bit out there.

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: Harley Quinn The Complete First and Second Seasons

 

This is a new, very adult, animated series centered around the character of Harley Quinn, voiced by Kaley Cuoco in her first post-Big Bang Theory role. The basic storyline of season one is that Harley is sick of being used by Joker (voiced wonderfully by Alan Tudyk), breaks up with him, and then tries to get into the Legion of Doom. She has to put together her own crew which includes Poison Ivy (voiced by Lake Bell) who insists she is not a member of the crew, Dr. Psycho (voiced by Tony Hale from Arrested Development), Clayface (voiced by Tudyk), and King Shark (voiced by Ron Funches). The end of the first season is basically a showdown with Joker that sets up a version of the no-man's land storyline where the various villains take over portions of Gotham, and by the end of the second season includes Darkseid and the parademons.

As I said above, the show is very adult. While the original DC animated series showrunners are involved in this show, it is not family-friendly. They drop f-bombs left and right, and there is a ton of animated violence (which is pretty over the top) and sexually suggestive material. There is really only one word that is bleeped, said by Dr. Psycho, but done for comedic effect, not because they had to bleep it. The show has a strong supporting cast including Diedrich Bader as Batman, Giancarlo Esposito as Lex Luthor, Michael Ironside as Darkseid, Wayne Knight as Penguin, Christopher Meloni as Commissioner Gordon, Alfred Molina as Mr. Freeze, Jim Rash as The Riddler, Jason Alexander as Sy Borgman, and J. B. Smoove as Frank the Plant.

For those who get the Blu-Ray set, there are, unfortunately, no extras. Just the twenty-six episodes spread across three discs. There are English captions that you can play if needed, but there are no deleted scenes, commentary tracks, or making-of features. So, it is a pretty basic MOD set.

While I cannot say that this will appeal to everyone, if you are a fan of the character, a fan of the other animated series (like the Animated Batman and Superman series from the 1990s, or the animated Justice League series), and are not easily offended, then this is definitely worth checking out. Cuoco's take on Harley is not a carbon copy of how Arleen Sorkin voiced the character but Tudyk channels Mark Hamill's Joker so much it is hard to tell sometimes that it is not Mark Hamill doing the character. It is a very well-done series, the actors seem to have a great time playing their characters, and it is definitely worth checking out.

DVD Review: Family Guy: It's a Trap!

 

It's a trap is pretty much what you would think it is. Partly an homage to Star Wars, and partly a spoof. Seth McFarlane and Seth Green are huge fans of Star Wars (Green often spoofs Star Wars on his show Robot Chicken), which probably helped get Fox's permission and Lucasfilm's blessing to do spoof Star Wars. It began with the wildly popular Blue Harvest, then the follow-up with Something, Something Dark Side, which spoofed A New Hope and Empire Strikes Back Respectively. This one, as you can tell from the cover, spoofs Return of the Jedi. There is a pretty good joke at the beginning that they are just doing this one to cash in and declare in the opening crawl that Fox made them do this one. Like the other ones, this is basically a longer version of a Family Guy episode, and because it is on DVD, you get uncensored jokes. Some of the jokes are pretty cringe-worthy and fall flat, while others work pretty well. It is a very mixed bag. It also does not help that this spoofs the movie that is pretty much universally considered the weakest of the original movies.

For those who get the DVD, the extras include a commentary track on the movie with Seth MacFarlane, writers David A. Goodman, Cherry Chevapravatdumrong, Shannon Smith, and director Peter Shin. Then there is a "Special Message from Darth Stewie, that is just a random joke as a separate extra, a Star Wars Trivial Pursuit that is basically the writers answering Star Wars questions for a half an hour, and a twenty-minute feature on drawing the characters, a short outtakes clip, an animatic version of the show, and a making the scene feature in which the director explains on the evolution of a couple of different scenes from the animatic version to what ends up in the final product. So, there is a lot of bonus material for those who want to watch it.

Overall, it just seemed like this had to be made because they had spoofed the other two movies, not because anyone involved in the process actually wanted to do this one. That definitely comes through in the final product as it is not nearly as good as the first two, but then again neither was the source material. As I said above, some of the jokes were good and some fell flat, which really made for an inconsistent final product. But, if you are a fan of Family Guy and have the other DVDs, you probably will want this to keep your collection complete.

Blu-Ray/Movie Review: Adventureland

 

Adventureland has a pretty simple plot. A recent college grad named James, played by Jessee Eisenberg, plans to go on a trip to Europe before moving to New York for graduate school. He finds out that his parents are broke and have no way to financially assist him, so he ends up taking a job at a local theme park called Adventureland. There he meets Em, played by Kristen Stewart, whom he falls for, but she happens to be in a relationship with a married man named Mike Connell, played by Ryan Reynolds. Then, the rom-com love triangle story proceeds from there.

While the movie does fall into the category of a romantic comedy, it is not a cookie-cutter story by any means. The relationships are more complicated than falling for each other, splitting up, and getting back together. The backdrop of working in a crappy job that everyone hates makes the story pretty relatable. The story is well-written and very well acted. Stewart, who was also doing the Twilight series at the same time this was made really showed that she had acting chops far beyond what she was able to display in Twilight. And Eisenberg did a good job playing a guy who was a combination of a sensitive "loser" and an arrogant ass. The movie was set in 1987, so the movie has a pretty good 80s "alternative" soundtrack.

For those who get the Blu-Ray, the movie looks good in HD. Even without any big CGI sequences, the cinematography looks very good in HD. The extras include feature commentary that includes the director and Eisenberg. There are a couple of minutes worth of deleted scenes, a seventeen-minute making-of documentary, six minutes worth of fake promos for the amusement park, and a couple of features centered around the supporting characters. A decent amount for people who like watching the bonus material.

Overall, the movie is very good. It is well written and acted. Not only do Eisenberg and Stewart do a great job in the lead roles, but it also has a strong supporting cast including Kristen Wig, Bill Hader, Marin Starr, and Wendie Malick. As I said above, it is not a cookie-cutter romantic comedy and we really are kind of left to guess at the fate of James and Em's relationship at the end of the movie. It is a good movie that is definitely worth checking out.

Workout Update: Chalean Extreme Day 35

Day 35 of CE was recharge and ab-burner. Each of them went pretty much the same as they did on Tuesday.  I do think I have a bit more hamstring flexibility than I did at the beginning of the program because I can definitely get deeper into some of the moves. 

Product Review: ProForm 20 lb. Neoprene Kettlebell

 

This is a pretty standard kettlebell. It is a bit smaller than the CAP kettlebells and it is metal so if you accidentally drop it on a hard surface it will more likely damage your floor than the floor damaging the kettlebell. It is coated (aside from the very top of the handle) with Neoprene, which makes it easier to hold onto. So, if you hands get sweaty. So, if you incorporate kettlebells into your workout, this is a good option.

Blu Ray/Movie Review: 10 Things I Hate About You (10th Anniversary Edition)

 

This is a light adaptation of Shakespeare's play "The Taming of the Shrew". The Shrew in this case being Kat Strattford (played by Julia Stiles). It is partly a coming-of-age comedy and partly a romantic comedy. The basic plot is that Joseph Gordon Levitt's character, Cameron, wants to date Kat's sister Bianca (played by Larisa Oleynik). Their overly protective father (played by Larry Miller) will only allow Bianca to date only when Kat does. Kat has little to no interest in dating, so he thinks the plan is foolproof. Cameron hires the high-school "bad boy" Patrick (played by Heath Ledger in his first major role) to take Kat out, believing he is the only one with the guts to do so, and of course, Patrick and Kat begin to fall for each other until things go off the rails.

The movie sports a strong supporting cast including Andrew Keegan, David Krumholtz, who pretty much steals every scene he is in, Gabrielle Union, Daryl Mitchell, who is great as the English teacher, and Allison Janney as the school guidance counselor/budding romance novelist. While the movie is somewhat predictable, it is pulled off very well. The movie is pretty well-written and very well acted, blending moody teen angst with teen comedy.

For those who get the Blu-Ray, there is a 35-minute tenth-anniversary look back at the movie that combines new and archival material including deleted scenes, vintage interviews, and Ledger's audition footage. There is also a commentary track on the movie with the writers as well as cast members Andrew Keegan, David Krumholtz, Larisa Oleynik, and Susan May Pratt that is definitely worth listening to.

Overall, the movie is very good. Ledger and Stiles both shine in their roles and everyone in the supporting cast had at least one good moment of screen time. It is a fun teen comedy that while predictable holds up well now even twenty years later.

Workout Update: Chalean Extreme Day 34

Day 34 of CE was the Burn it Off workout again. There was really nothing major to report about this workout aside from the fact that I had to, again, really modify this because of my knee being a pain in the ass. But, I was able to do the non-impact version without a problem. 

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: Justified Season One

 

Justified was a series about a US Marshal named Raylan Givens (played by Timothy Olyphant). The show starts with him in Miami confronting a drug dealer whom he had given 24 hours to get out of town. Needless to say, the drug dealer did not listen and the outcome was not good for him. As a result of that, Raylan was reassigned to the Marshal's office in Harlan County Kentucky, where Givens grew up and tried desperately to leave. Upon his return to Harlan County, an old rivalry with a neo-nazi drug-running family led by Walton Goggins begins anew when Raylan gets involved with the wife of one of the Crowder family members played by Joelle Carter and has to deal with his ex-wife played by Natalie Zea.

The show is a balance of a story-of-the-week show and that has a larger serialized story arc that plays out throughout the season. It has a strong supporting cast including Jacob Pitts, Erica Tazel, Jere Burns, and professional Twitter troll/right-wing nutjob Nick Searcy. The show also featured a lot of great guest stars like Alan Ruck and in later seasons Patton Oswald. The season has 13 episodes and packs a lot into them.

For those who get the Blu-Ray set, the show looks and sounds great in the HD format. The cinematography is great and provides a lot of great visuals of rural PA which is doubling for Harlan County. For extras, there are commentary tracks on selected episodes, all of which feature series creator Grahm Yost and either cast members, writers, or producers, then there is a feature on adapting Elmore Leonard's stories (from which the show was based) to TV. Then there are features on Justified's storyline, the characters in the series, a feature on the real Harlan County, and a feature on the history of the US Marshal service. So, a lot of material for people who like watching the bonus features.

Overall, the show is a good mix of action and drama, with some comedic moments along the way. The show is very well-written and acted. While it is an ensemble cast, Raylan is clearly the main character and everything revolves around him. That said, the show does do well developing the other characters and giving all the actors good material to work with. Olyphant does a great job playing a guy that has a ton of swager, bucks authority, and seemingly never lets anything phase him, but also has cracks in that veneer. It is definitely an adult show that has some swearing (the s-word gets dropped a lot) and some sexual content. It was not a carbon copy of anything else that was on TV at the time, so if you are coming to the show late and wondering if it is worth watching, I definitely recommend it.

Product Review: ASICS Men's GEL-160 TR Cross-Training Shoe

 

These are cross-training shoes that are perfect for doing just about any kind of workout, aside from running. They give you good support and are great if you do any kind of higher impact jumping like plyometrics or HIIT workouts. They are also more affordable than a lot of other cross-trainers. So, if you are in the market for a good pair of cross-trainers these are definitely worth the pickup.

Workout Update: Chalean Extreme Day 33

Day 33 was the first Push Circuit 3 workout. Like the others, each move focuses on one body part at a time (in this workout it is either the chest or legs), and six of the nine exercises in the circuit have extreme sets.  I guessed the weight to use correctly for most of the exercises, although I did underestimate a couple of them. The workout lasts 36 minutes including warm-up and cool-down. I think it is the second easiest of the Push Circuit workouts, with Push 1 being the easiest, and Push 2 being the hardest. 

Blu-Ray/Movie Review: The Da Vinci Code (Two-Disc Extended Edition + BD Live)

 

This is the movie adaptation of the wildly popular novel by Dan Brown of the same name. The movie was directed by Ron Howard and starred Tom Hanks as Robert Langdon, a professor at Harvard University who is unknowingly the subject of a police investigation into the murder of the curator of the Lurve in Paris. Audrey Tautou plays Sophie Neveu, the granddaughter of the curator who joins Langdon in following clues that point to the Holy Grail.

There are different editions of the movie. I have the extended edition which has a running time of 174 minutes. The additional scenes do not change the movie significantly, just add additional material here and there, and end up being about half an hour longer than the theatrical edition. I do think the additional footage helps make the movie make a bit more sense than the shorter version does, so in that sense, it works. There are a ton of extras on the Blu-Ray set including an interactive picture-in-picture experience that plays the movie with behind-the-scenes material and interviews with cast and crew members as the film plays. There is also a selective scene commentary with Ron Howard that breaks down specific scenes from the movie. There is also a second disc just with special features that include the making-of documentary from the original DVD release, a book-to-screen feature about adapting the book into a movie, a feature called Da Vinci props, that discussed bringing the descriptions of Da Vinci's inventions into the real world, and featurettes on the sets, recreating the artwork, the visual effects, and the music, as well as promotional trailers for other Sony movies. So, a ton of material for those who like the bonus content. The movie looks and sounds great in HD, with a ton of great visuals from around Europe.

Overall, I think the movie was good as the novel. Which is the case many times when a novel is adapted into a movie. Hanks does a great job as Langdon (aside from having a weird haircut), and Jean Reno as the police inspector is great. Audrey Tautou and Ian Mckellan do a good job in their roles but don't think either of them was necessarily the best casting choice for the roles they played. The book and the movie get a lot of flack as being blasphemous, which I think is unfair. Yes, it has a religious element to it, but it is a fictional story that, while it ties some real historical elements in, it does not claim to be 100 percent historically accurate. Because of that, there will always be a segment of people who will never see the movie or read the book. But, if you can accept that it is a fictional thriller/mystery, and is not pretending to be anything more than that, it is an enjoyable movie that is worth seeing.

Blu-Ray/Movie Review: The A-Team

 

The A-Team is another reboot of a 1980s TV series about an elite military group. In the series, the team helped regular people in need. In the movie, the team is still in the military, taking on the hardest and craziest missions until they are set up for theft and murder. They are all court-martialed and thrown in jail. Of course, they manage to break out and then embark on an effort to clear their name.

The movie stars Liam Neeson as Hannibal Smith, the leader of the team, Bradley Cooper as "Face", Sharlto Copley as mad Murdock, and Quinton "Rampage" Jackson as B.A. Baracus (the role played by Mr. T. in the show). It also stars Jessica Biel as Defense Criminal Investigative Service Capt. Charissa Sosa who is trying to track down the team after they escape, and Patrick Wilson as Lynch, a shady CIA officer.

For those who get the Blu-Ray, the movie looks and sounds great in HD. There are two versions of the movie, the theatrical cut and an extended version that adds a little over ten minutes to the run time. The extras include a director's commentary, deleted scenes, a gag reel, a montage set to the TV show theme, a half-hour long making-of documentary, a twenty-minute long character chronicles feature, a feature on the visual effects, and the theatrical trailer. A good amount of material for those who like going through the bonus features.

Overall, the movie is a fun, action-packed summer blockbuster. It does not try to be more than it is, and it does not take itself too seriously. There is a lot of over-the-top action and lots of explosions, but it works for the tone the movie was going for. It blends in the comedic elements well, especially into the over-the-top stunts that are not even remotely possible in real life. The actors all do a good job in their roles and definitely seem to be having fun with their characters. The end of the movie does set up the possibility of a sequel, but given that we are now a decade removed, chances are that will never materialize. So, if you are in the mood for an action movie that has some funny moments, this is a good choice.

Workout Update Chalean Extreme Day 32

Day 32 of CE was Burn Intervals. Since I am now in the Push Phase, I upped the weights I was using during the workout to 5lbs, which matches what Chalene, Janelle, and Skip (despite his bullshit claim of using 7.5 lbs) used.  I think it actually works well to use 3 lbs (or, even 2 lbs) during this workout in the Burn Phase then increase the weight in the Push phase. Using 5 lbs during the workout was actually not much harder than the 3 lbs, but I think had I started with 5 lbs the first time I did the workout in week 1, it would have been damn near impossible to finish the overhead triceps extensions and the shoulder presses. So, I definitely recommend that strategy.

Book Review: Introduction to Kinesiology: Studying Physical Activity, Third Edition

 

This is a book that the vast majority of people would get because it is assigned for a class. It is a pretty straightforward textbook that is easy to read and not bogged down with a lot of technical detail. While it does discuss some biomechanics and the more science-based aspects of Kinesiology, it also delves into the importance of staying physically active, the history of physical activity, the philosophy and sociology of physical activity, and various career options. It is probably not something that a lot of people would read just for pleasure or because they want to become more healthy, although there is some helpful material in the book if you are interested in that. Overall, if it is assigned for a class it is better than a lot of textbooks out there, but can be a bit dry in some parts.

DVD/TV Series Review: Community Season One

 

Community is a sitcom that ran from 2009 to 2015. It starred Joel McHale as Jeff Winger, a lawyer who was disbarred for obtaining a fraudulent law degree. He is forced to (for some reason) go back to community college to get an undergrad degree so he can restore his law degree. Of course, anyone with any knowledge of the legal profession knows that everything about that is totally preposterous, but in a goofy comedy, it works fine. Winger wants to get through school with the least amount of resistance possible, tries to find the easiest classes to take, and forms a study group with an interesting mix of students. The rest of the main cast included Allison Brie as Annie, a recent high-school graduate who was the classic over-achiever who popped Adderall, Danny Pudi as Abed, an aspiring film student who sees everything through a pop-culture movie or tv show lens, Gillian Jacobs as Britta, a mid-30s cynic trying to figure out what to do with her life, Donald Glover as Troy, an ex high-school football star who personifies the "dumb jock" persona, Yvette Nicole Brown as a middle-aged housewife going to school to put her life back together after a divorce, and Chevy Chase who plays Pierce, a rich, old racist who keeps enrolling in school for something to do. The recurring season one cast included Ken Jeong as Senor Chang, the Spanish teacher who could barely speak Spanish, Jim Rash as the very politically correct Dean of the school (who would become series regulars in subsequent seasons), and John Oliver and John Michael Higgins and professors at the school.

In the first season, the focus of the show was on character development and the school storylines, basically the weird mix of people you get at community college. The show hit home for me as I was, at the time, a lawyer going back to undergrad to get an engineering degree, and I started out by taking classes at a local community college, and there was definitely a weird mix of personalities around campus. The show is basically a story-of-the-week show that has some kind of theme either involving something in the lives of one or more of the characters, or something going on at the school. Toward the end of the season, we get the first of what would become a signature for the series, the paintball episode in which the winner of a school-wide game of paintball gets priority registration the next semester. Of course, the game gets totally out of hand, and the paintball episodes get crazier and crazier as the show went on.

For those who get the DVD set, the extras include audio commentary on every episode with series creator Dan Harmon and various members of the cast. There are also a couple of short mockumentary features, including cast evaluations in which Harmon evaluates the performance of each cast member. There are a few mini-episodes, deleted and alternate scenes, a season highlight reel, and an extended cut of the episode "Communication Studies". A lot of material for those who like watching the extras.

Overall, the show is very good. It is very well-written and well-acted, even if the main cast was made up of mostly unknown actors (aside from Chase; who if rumors about his on-set behavior are to be believed, thought he was better than everyone and treated everyone else like shit) and the guy who hosted "The Soup". While the main premise of the show is totally preposterous, the fact that much of the show was very tongue-in-cheek and did not take itself too seriously, it worked. While it did include some elements common to pretty much every sitcom, it was not a carbon copy of anything and had no problem making fun of pretty much any topic. So, if you have not seen the show and are trying to figure out if you should give it a chance, it is well worth watching.

Blu Ray/Movie Review: Kick Ass

 

Kick-Ass is a great movie, but it is definitely not for everyone. It is an action-comedy that is part homage and part spoof of the comic book superhero movies. It is very adult and most assuredly not family-friendly. It is basically a movie that involves a bunch of absolutely normal people dressing up in costumes and fighting crime (and finding out that doing so is not all that easy, and very painful). It stars Aaron Taylor Johnson as a nerdy teenager named Dave Lizewski who basically buys a costume online, dubs himself the name Kick-Ass, and goes out to fight crime (with very underwhelming results at first). As a result of being majorly hurt he develops a nerve problem that results in his not feeling pain, and with metal implants that actually allow him to kick ass, and then his heroic antics go much better.

The movie boasts a strong cast, including Nicholas Cage and a very young Chole Grace Moretz as "Big Daddy" and "Hit Girl" respectively, which are most definitely a takeoff on Batman and Robin. Moretz's character is the main reason that the movie is not for kids as pretty much every word out of her mouth is a swear word. You could tell she was having a ball being able to use the kind of language she was not allowed to in "real life" at the time. The rest of the case included Christopher Mintz-Plasse who is best known for his role as McLovin in the movie Superbad, Lyndsy Fonseca, Evan Peters, and Mark Strong, who basically plays a mob boss. The movie is over the top violent (mostly with tongue firmly planted in cheek) and does have some sexual situations, but no outright nudity.

For those who get the Blu-Ray, the movie looks and sounds great in the HD format. The extras include a commentary track with the director and a BonusView mode that combines the director commentary track with clips of interviews with members of the cast and crew and behind-the-scenes footage. There is also a making-of documentary that clocks in at just under two hours, but it is split into four parts so you don't have to watch the entire thing in one sitting. Then there is a twenty-minute feature on the comic book the movie was adapted from, a photo gallery, and trailers for the movie, including the Red Band trailer.

The movie is definitely not for everyone. As I said it is very violent and certainly having a twelve-year-old spouting profanity and killing people left and right will turn a lot of people off to the movie. So, if you are one of those, it is best not to even consider this. If, however, you are generally a fan of superhero/comic book movies and also like spoof movies (which this sort of is, although not in the "scary movie" franchise) and do not take it too seriously, this is a fun movie.

Workout Update: Chalean Extreme Day 31

Day 31 of CE was my first go-around with Push Circuit 2. This workout is mostly focused on shoulders but does have a few lower-body exercises as well. As was the case with Push Circuit 1, there are no compound moves, so you are either just doing a shoulder exercise or just a lower-body exercise, but not both at the same time. Again, the goal is to choose a weight so you can only do 6-8 reps. I would say I underestimated the weight I should use for most of the exercises, so I will be increasing the amount of weight for almost all of the nine exercises in the circuit. Also, like the Push Circuit 1 workout, the last six exercises in the circuit have extreme sets after the regular set in which you do the same move ultra-slow. 

Overall, the workout is very good. It is tough and my shoulders were on fire by the end of it. It is still relatively short, just 36 minutes including the warm-up and the cool down. There are modifications both using bands and just lighter weights as has been the case for all of the other resistance workouts, so it can easily be tailored to your fitness level.

Book Review: No Better Time: The Brief, Remarkable Life of Danny Lewin, the Genius Who Transformed the Internet

 

No Better Time is a biography, written by Molly Knight Raskin, of a math/tech genius named Danny Lewin who, as a graduate student at MIT, developed a computer algorithm that kept websites experiencing a high amount of traffic from crashing. He, along with one of his professors at MIT created a company called Akamai Technologies that made a ton of money in the "Dotcom" bubble of the mid-1990s and barely managed to survive the bust that occurred at the end of the 1990s and early 2000s. The company's technology helped transform the internet from its early dial-up modem days to what it is today.

Even if that was all he was known for Lewin's story would be impressive, but he was also unique in that he was born and grew up for a time in America, then moved to Isreal in the mid-1980s (against his will) and managed to flourish not only in school but becoming a member of the elite military unit (Isreal's version of special forces) that is usually reserved for people who were born and raised in Isreal. He also had the misfortune to have booked a trip from Boston to Los Angeles on September 11, 2001, onboard American Airlines flight 11 which, of course, was the first plane hijacked and the first to fly into the World Trade Center. It would also turn out that he was most certainly the first passenger killed on any of the airplanes but was very likely the first person overall to be killed on 9/11 as he tried to intervene to stop the hijacking.

The book does a good job of portraying the good and the bad of Lewin's personality and work ethic. It does not paint a completely rosy picture as it details how he was prone to outbursts of anger, was a workaholic who often put work above family, and had a management style that definitely chaffed some of the people he worked with. On the other hand, he never asked anyone to do something he was not willing to do himself, and his force of personality got the company contracts with entities like Yahoo, Apple, CNN, and more, when most of the time the people he was making pitches to had no idea what he was talking about.

The book is mostly focused on Lewin's life. Only one chapter at the very end of the book discusses the events of his death. In that chapter the author does not speculate as to what happened on the plane, just giving general details that resulted from the investigation which was based on what the flight attendants on flight 11 who managed to reach people on the ground were reporting. What is known is that Danny was seated across the aisle from two of the terrorists on the plane (including the pilot hijacker) and directly in front of the 5th hijacker sitting in business class. He likely knew immediately what was happening because he understood Arabic and because of his anti-terrorism training. It is not known exactly how the hijacking played out and if Danny was stabbed simply because of where he was sitting (on United 93, the passenger seated in front of the hijacker who was farthest back in first-class was stabbed basically as a warning to the other passengers) or if he actually started to fight the hijackers in front of him. There are some reports online that he managed to tackle one of the hijackers but all the author says is that it is likely that Lewin tried to thwart the hijacking and had his throat slashed by the hijacker who was sitting behind him. He was certainly the person most equipped to stop the hijacking but he would have been in a three, four, or five-on-one situation with one of the hijackers directly behind him. The fact that Danny could not stop the hijacking makes Mark Whalberg's insinuation that if he had been on the plane (he was originally booked on Flight 11 until he changed his travel plans) things would have turned out differently. Once the hijackers got on the plane, Danny was probably the only person who could have stopped them.

The book is definitely more interesting the better you understand computers. The author admits that it is hard to understand and describe exactly what Lewin figured out and what Akamai as a company does. She does a fairly good job of putting a very complex subject into layman's terms and not focusing on the overly technical aspects. As I said above, this is not a detailed look at all into the 9/11 attacks, so if that is what you are after, this is not the book for you. Chances are, had he lived, Lewin may have been up there in the pantheon of tech giants like Steve Jobs or Bill Gates because what he did for the internet was certainly worthy of that company. For years, the only way most people (aside from those who met him or knew him personally) would have ever heard of him was by reading the 9/11 Commission report. Otherwise, the only reference to him for years was a line in the National Geographic Inside 9/11 documentary in which an unnamed passenger is mentioned as trying to intervene in the hijacking but is stabbed. While the book can be a bit dry and will not appeal to everyone, I think it is an interesting read and if you are a fan of biographies this is worth checking out.

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: Dexter - New Blood

 

+++Warning, this contains spoilers from Season 8 of the original series but does not contain any major giveaways from New Blood.+++

As most are likely aware, Dexter is a tv series about a "good" serial killer that ran from 2006 to 2013. It ended with Dexter having gotten away with everything, faking his death, and moving to Oregon. That ending left pretty much everyone, including Michael C. Hall, with a bad taste in their mouth. Because of that, this series was thought up by the original series creator, Clyde Phillips, who was no longer a part of the show in season 8, to retcon that ending.

New Blood sees Dexter living a normal life in a fictional town called Iron Lake in upstate New York. He works at a fish and game shop, is dating the chief of police (played by Julia Jones), and is living the typical small-town life. We find out that he has abstained from killing for ten years, and seemingly has everything he ever wanted. Of course, things do not remain rosy as his dark passenger rears its ugly head again, and Harrison (played by Jack Alcott) manages to track Dexter down seeking answers.

This series has a mostly new cast that includes Jones and Alcott, and also includes the great Clancy Brown, Jamie Chung, Johnny Sequoyah, and Alano Miller. There is a handful of returning characters from the original series, most notably Jennifer Carpenter. I will not spoil her role, but it is not hard to figure out in what capacity she is brought back.

I do think the series gets a bad rap for how it ended (there are some absolute crazy one-star reviews on Amazon from right-wing nutjobs and Q dipshits that should be totally ignored), but most of the negative reviews revolve around the last few minutes of the final episode. Although I do think some variation on how it ended is the way the show should have ended, I do think that it could have been done better. I personally would have liked to see a bit more of a tie-in with the original series and have the original cast members included in the climax of the series, even if it meant making one more episode.

For those who get the Blu-Ray set, the show looks and sounds great in HD. There is some really great cinematography that shows off the filming locations very well. The extras include short featurettes on reviving the show on discs one and two (each just 2-3 minutes long) and then on the fourth disc there is a making-of documentary that runs about 30 minutes. A good amount of material, especially since many series, if they are lucky enough to get a DVD release much less a Blu-Ray release have almost no bonus features.

Overall, the series is very good. The ending is controversial, but I do think it is better upon second viewing than it was the first time I watched it, and I get why they made the choices they did. The writing, on the whole, was much better than what we got in Season 8, and the acting by all was superb. Hall and Carpenter fell back into their roles seemingly with ease, Clancy Brown was great, and Jamie Chung pretty much stole every scene she was in (all but one). I certainly cannot say that everyone will like this season, but I think most fans of the show's original run will find this season to be more satisfying than what season eight provided.

DVD/TV Series Review: Blade The Complete Series

 

This was a TV series adaptation of Blade, one of the lesser-known Marvel comics that was first adapted for the big screen in the trilogy of movies that starred Wesley Snipes. The series was created by Geoff Johns and David S. Goyer who have been involved in a lot of the comic book adaptations (both movie and tv series adaptions) over the years. The series starred Jill Wagner as Krista, an Iraq war veteran who returns to the US to find that her brother has been killed under mysterious circumstances. She discovers that he was a familiar (lackey) for a group of vampires led by Marcus Van Sciver (played by Neil Jackson) and crosses paths with Blade (played by rapper Kirk Jones).

The series ended up being canceled after its initial run of 13 episodes expired. Unlike the movies that got progressively worse as they went on, the series actually got better. It took a few episodes to get its footing, and right as it was hitting its stride and developing what was going to be a very interesting story, it was canceled. So, if you do watch it and like it, it is going to leave you feeling unsatisfied because it ends on a pretty big unresolved cliffhanger.

For those who get the DVD set, the extras include commentary tracks on the pilot episode as well as an hour-long making of documentary. I good amount of material for a series that was canceled after one season. Overall, the series was good, but not great. As I said, it was just finding its footing when it was canceled, and having an unresolved cliffhanger always sucks. The writing was good and the acting was good to very good. Jones was definitely a green actor, but I think he did a decent job in the role and definitely could handle the physical aspects. Wagner was great as Krista in what was her first "main" role in a TV series, and Jackson was great as Marcus Van Sciver. The series was very violent and did have some sexual content. And, the DVD has unedited episodes so you get a lot more of both than what was broadcast. While I cannot say that either fans of the comics or the movies will automatically like this version, I do think that it is worth watching even though the story will never be completed.