DVD/TV Series Review: The Flash (1990) Complete Series

 

This was, as of 1990, the latest attempt to produce a comic book superhero show on network TV, which had happened over the years, with varying degrees of success (e.g., the George Reeve's Superman series in the 1950s, the Incredible Hulk and Wonder Woman series in the 1970s, and Superboy in the 1980s). This one aired on CBS and was totally an attempt to capitalize on the popularity of the 1989 Batman movie. In fact, the soundtrack for the series was very similar to the score used in the Batman movie, even sounding nearly identical at times.

This starred John Wesley Shipp as Barry Allen, who is a forensic scientist working for the Central City police, is struck by lightning and doused in chemicals in his lab giving him super speed. He is joined by Research scientist Dr. Tina McGee (played by Amanda Pays) who works at S.T.A.R. Labs and helps Barry fight crime while trying to understand how his powers are developing. Unlike the current version of The Flash running on the CW, this one is a procedural case/villain of the week show and does not have the larger story arcs from the comics like Barry's dad being in jail for the murder of his wife, or elements like that. It also never clearly defines the relationship between Barry and Tina. In one episode they would clearly have a relationship as just colleagues and in the next, they would be made out as potential love interests, and it would swing back and forth. The was also no real "big bad" in the series, although Mark Hamill was being built up as one playing The Trickster.

The DVD set is very bare-bones. It does have captions, but there are not really any extras or bonus material, just the episodes themselves. I do believe that the series is available on some streaming services, so if you only buy physical discs when there are a lot of extras available, you may want to go that route.

Overall, the series was good and really better than it gets credit for. It was definitely still finding its footing at the time it was canceled, and CBS pretty quickly juggled what days it was aired on, and given the smaller fan base that the comic book shows tend to have, and it kind of just ended with a whimper. Of course, the series was brought into the Arrowverse (which I argue could also be called the Smallvilleverse) during the Crisis on Infinite Earth's storyline. John Wesley Shipp did play different characters on the Arroverse's version of The Flash, including playing other Universe's versions of The Flash, but it was in Crisis in which we saw him as the 1990 version of the character. So, while the series did not get a proper ending (since it was canceled after the 22 episodes had aired) the character does get a conclusion in the Arrowverse. It is definitely worth watching.

Product Review: National Computation Pad, 5 x 5 Quad Ruling and Unruled, 8.5" x 11", Engineering Paper 200 Sheets

 

I purchased this because my Statics teacher required the use of Engineering paper for our homework, and liked it so much that I used it for all of my other Engineering classes, whether the professors said we had to use it or not. It is very durable and not flimsy like other engineering papers are (I did make the mistake of trying another brand before switching back to this), and it does not have a ton of bleed-through if you use the opposite side of it to write on, which if you do remote learning is an issue when scanning your homework. The only negative I experienced with this is that the cardboard backing falls off almost immediately. That was not a huge deal for me and did not affect my use of it, but it is worth noting that will probably happen. Overall, however, it was very good and I recommend it.

4K-UHD/Movie Review: Iron Man 2

 

Iron Man 2 is, if you are watching the movies in chronological order, the fourth movie in the timeline after Captain America: The First Avenger, Captain Marvel, and the first Iron Man. In release order, it was the third movie released after the original Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk. The movie is set six months down the line from Tony Stark's "I am Iron Man" revelation. We find out early in the movie that the palladium that he is using to power the arc reactor in his chest is killing him, so part of the movie is about Tony trying to find a solution to that, and the other part of the movie involves the main bad guy, Ivan Vanko, played by Mickey Rourke, whose father worked with Tony's father Howard Stark to develop the arc reactor and was fired from Stark Industries without getting credit. Vanko tries to get revenge against Tony and becomes the villain Whiplash in the process.

The big casting change in the movie was replacing Terrance Howard with Don Cheadle playing Rhody, and the addition of Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow (who is introduced as Natalie, an assistant at Stark Industries). The movie also brings back Gweneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts, Jon Favreau, both as the director and playing Happy Hogan, and brings in Sam Rockwell as Justin Hammer, a second-rate weapons developer who is trying to fill the void left by Stark Industries no longer developing weapons for the military. It also expands the roles of Coulson and Nick Fury from the small role for Coulson and the post-credits cameo for Fury in the first movie.

The 4k Transfer on the movie is good, but not extraordinary. It is an upgrade from the original Blu-Ray and better than the transfer that the first Iron Man film got in its 4k-UHD release, but it is not as good a transfer as other movies have gotten, which is disappointing given that the movie was shot on digital and while it is about 12 years old now, is not ancient. The extras include a commentary track on the movie by Favreau and a SHIELD data vault that can play the movie with pop-ups that will provide additional information on some of the scenes. The video clips can be watched separately as well. Then there is an interactive picture and text gallery that gives bios on characters from Iron Man and Hulk and SHEILD reports on the events from the three movies. Then there are previs and animatics that can be played in a picture-in-picture mode during the movie. NOTE that not all of the extras from the original Blu-ray release are included on this. It does not have the making-of documentary or deleted scenes. So, you will want to keep your original Blu-Ray release if you got that one if you want all of the extras.

The commentary track is one of the better DVD commentaries that touches on not only the process of making the movie but the giving hints about the larger MCU story (as much as he could divulge anyway). He also made what, at the time, was a prophetic statement about the fact that streaming would overtake DVD and that only collectors would get movies on physical discs (which is basically where things are at now).

Overall, the movie is very good. It is not as good as the original, but a worthy follow-up. Robert Downey Jr. continues to nail the role of Tony Stark, playing him with the right amount of narcissism and evolving hero. Rockwell does a great job, and Gary Shandling has an awesome extended cameo role. The movie also sets up the next movie in the sequence (especially in the post-credits scene) expanding the ever-evolving MCU.

Workout Update: Power-90/Chalean Extreme Hybrid: Day 13

Day 13 was the sculpt 1-2 workout again. I definitely saw significant progress in this one. First of all, I was finally able to start getting deeper into the push-ups when using push-up stands, which I prefer because doing them on my hands is tough on my wrist, especially my left one which I broke badly when I was a kid. Second, I was able to hit the ten rep max on many, but not all, of the exercises, which will mean an increase in weight next time. So, I felt really good about the workout and really felt I was pushing myself more. I broke a nice sweat during the workout which I almost never do during lifting workouts. 

CD/Music Review: Pink - The Truth About Love

 

Pink rose to fame about the same time as Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera, but she was always very different from either of them (or any of the other young female pop stars of the time) and always set herself apart from them. Even early on, Pink's version of pop was much different from others and it has expanded and evolved as she has gotten older. She still does some of the hip-hop-infused or at least inspired stuff that she did early on, but expands into very personal ballads and songs that are definitely based on her relationships. 

This album has a little bit of everything in terms of sound, ranging from "Try", which is closer to a ballad, to more upbeat numbers like "Here Comes the Weekend." In my opinion, the three best tracks on the album are Blow Me (One Last Kiss), Try, and Just Give Me a Reason, which are the second, third, and fourth tracks on the album respectively. Even though those are my favorite songs on the album there is really not a bad track among the bunch. Like most of her albums, this is not something that you would want young kids listening to because she does swear and sing about sex, unashamedly. So, if you are a fan of Pink, this one is definitely worth listening to.

DVD/TV Series Review: The Client List

 

The TV series on Lifetime, like the movies, can vary in quality quite a bit. This one, adapted from a movie of the same name, is one of the better ones. It stars Jennifer Love Hewitt as a single parent named Riley Parks, whose husband left her and her two children, leaving her in a precarious financial position and in danger of losing her house. Riley is hired at a local massage parlor called "The Rub" as a massage therapist which she discovers, quickly, is a front for a quasi-prostitution ring, in which the staff can make extra money by providing a happy ending for the clients. While Riley is reluctant at first, she decides to partake and ends up making money hand over fist, much to the dismay of those in her personal life, which she fights to keep separate from her day job.

Essentially, the show has two parallel story arcs. One of those is that of Riley's personal life that she is trying to put back together after being abandoned by her husband, which includes developing complicated feelings for her brother-in-law, Evan, played by Colin Egglesfield, who also has feelings for her, and the other being her life at the massage parlor. The show is not as seedy as you would think, given the line of work Riley is in. Yes, JLH is shown in a lot of cleavage-baring outfits and there is a lot of sexual suggestion, but, what is actually shown is pretty tame even when compared to what is shown on some other basic cable shows (and like a Disney movie compared to what you see on shows like Game of Thrones). The show has a strong supporting cast including Cybill Shepherd who plays Riley's mother, Rebecca Field as Lacy, Riley's best friend, Greg Grunberg as Lacy's husband, Loretta Devine as the owner of The Rub, and Alicia Lagano as Selena Ramos, a masseuse at the parlor who recommended the masseuse job to Riley, but becomes jealous of Riley after she starts working at The Rub.

JLH and Cybill Shepard also starred in the Client List TV movie, but the names of their characters were different and the story in the movie was slightly different from the story in the series. The series was an adaptation of the TV movie, which itself was based on a true story, but the series was not a continuation of the TV movie.

The extras on the DVD set are meager. Just some outtakes and deleted scenes. No other behind-the-scenes features or commentary tracks. So, if you are one who only gets physical discs when there are a lot of extras, this does not have a lot to offer. But, I have not seen the show streaming on any of the major services (I am not sure if it is on any of the free streaming services or has been added to the major services lately), so that may play a role in whether you decide to pick this up. Overall, it is a good series that has themes beyond just the sex-work aspect of the show and is worth watching.

DVD/TV Series Review: FBI: Most Wanted Season 1

 

This is one of the latest shows in the huge Wolf production machine that includes Law & Order and its various spin-offs and the One-Chicago series (Chicago Fire. PD. and Med). This one was spun off from FBI after just one season. It actually introduced some of the characters in a backdoor pilot episode in Season one of FBI and has a two-episode crossover with its parent show about halfway through the season.

The series stars Julian McMahon (who appeared on Charmed, Nip/Tuck, and the original Fantastic Four movies) as agent Jess LeCroix, as the head of a team that tracks down people who end up on the FBI's most-wanted list. The team includes Kellan Lutz (best known for his role in the Twilight movies), Keisha Castle-Hughes (who is recognizable for a small role in Star Wars Episode III and a larger role in Game of Thrones), Nathaniel Arcand as Clinton Skye, who is an FBI special agent and Jess' brother-in-law, and Roxy Sternberg (who was on the short-lived series Emerald City and the limited event series Mars).

Like the parent show, this is a case-of-the-week show in which some crime occurs before the main titles, and then the team is brought in to track down the fugitive. Unlike the parent show, we get more of a glimpse into the personal lives of the characters, especially Jess' family life. We find out he was married to a Native American service member who was killed in Afghanistan, leaving him a widowed single father. YaYa Gosselin plays his pre-teen daughter Tali. Jess is the character whose personal life we see the most, but we do get at least a glimpse into every character's personal life, which is something that the parent show has really not given us much of (with a couple of exceptions). The series has a good blend of action, drama, and suspense, and characters from the parent series do appear a few times throughout the season.

If you want the physical DVDs you have to purchase an imported set. For some reason, the series was not released on DVD in the US, so you have to get a region 2 set, which also means you need a region 2 or a region-free DVD or Blu-Ray player to watch them. You may also have to adjust the audio settings to hear the English language track. My set defaults to playing in German, so I have to switch it over to English audio for each disc. There are no extras, just the episodes themselves. So, you really have to prefer physical discs to streaming to want to pick this up.

Overall, the show is very good. It is well-written and acted, and has a good mix of stories. The bad guys range from white supremacist domestic terrorists to a grieving Native American father who goes on a killing spree trying to track down his kidnapped daughter. So, if you are a fan of procedural crime shows, this is definitely a good one to check out.

Workout Update: Power-90/Chalean Extreme Hybrid: Day 12

Day 12 was sweat 1-2 and abs. Each of them went well again. I was even able to do some regular cross hops, although most were the jump skip kind. I was able to hit all 100 reps on ab-ripper without pausing or stopping. So, the workout went very well.  

Workout Update: Power-90/Chalean Extreme Hybrid: Day 11

Day 11 was the sculpt 1-2 workout again. Most of the weights I used were the same as in Tuesday's workout, and I only hit the ten rep max on one of the exercises. So, most of the weights will remain the same for Saturday's workout. I did the same number of reps on the push-up moves and got to about the same depth in them, so there is definitely room for improvement there. 

Book Review: Inferno

 

This is the fourth in what is, as of this writing, five novels by Dan Brown centered around the character of Robert Langdon, who is a symbolism professor at Harvard University. In this novel, he wakes up a hospital in Florence, Italy with a head wound and no memory of the last few days. He is told that his memory loss is likely temporary, but before he can figure out what has happened to him he, and his doctor, Sienna Brooks, have to evade an assassin who is targeting Langdon. The attempt to retrace his steps and discovers a plot by Bertrand Zobrist, a transhumanist genius scientist who is obsessed with Dante's Inferno, who intends to release a virus to solve the world's overpopulation issue. 

The novel is a good story that blends action and dramatic moments. It definitely has some of the same elements that the prior novels (and the movie adaptations of those) have had. Langdon has to race around trying to solve various puzzles and riddles, this time based on clues tied to Dante's Inferno. There are twists in the story, much like in the other novels. Some are kind of eye-rolling inducing and others I think work pretty well. I do like the fact that the story is centered around the issue of overpopulation, which is a real thing. Overall, I would say that this is not as good as The Da Vinci Code, or even quite as good as Angels & Demons, but it is still very good. So, if you are a fan of his other novels, this is worth the read. 

DVD/TV Series Review: Covert Affairs: Season 3

 

+++Warning, this will contain spoilers from season two and minor spoilers from season three, but no major season three giveaways.+++

Season three of Covert Affairs picks up down the line from the events ending season two. Annie and Danielle are still at odds over Annie's reveal that she is actually a CIA agent. Anne Dudek's role on the show was changed from being a series regular to recurring this season, so she was not around as much, although the writers did a fairly good job tying up Annie and Danielle's story arc. There is another major turnover in the cast that occurs very early in the season that causes a shakeup at the agency, with both Annie and Auggie taking on new duties. 24 alumn Sarah Clarke was added to the cast in a recurring role and Richard Coyle was added in a recurring role as Simon Fischer, a British businessman to whom Annie is assigned, who may also be a Russian spy. Oded Fehr makes several appearances in his recurring role as Mossad agent Eyal Lavin, including having a large role in the season finale. The episodes are again mostly procedural, case-of-the-week episodes, but there are some serial arcs that run throughout the season. Those mostly involve Henry Wilcox. The season ends on a quasi-cliffhanger and sets up what is likely to be a large fourth-season storyline.

The DVD extras are pretty sparse. There are deleted scenes for most of the episodes and then a short called "Sight Unseen" which is a prequel story to the series that shows how Auggie lost his sight. What is there is good, but may not entice everyone to shell out for the physical discs. Overall, the season was good. Yes, it does take a lot of suspension of disbelief and it, like Alias, is likely not all that much like actual CIA work. Of course, things are embellished for dramatic effect, but you have to know that going into it. The acting is very good, and the show does a fairly decent job balancing the ensemble cast. Generally, I would say if you liked the first couple of seasons you will probably like this one. If you did not, this season is not likely to change your mind.

Blu-Ray/Movie Review: Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters

 

This movie, as the title suggests, is a take on the Brother's Grimm fairy tale of Hanel and Gretel. After escaping the witch, the two grew up to become witch hunters (really any kind of demon) exacting revenge on any witches they come across. The movie stars Jeremy Renner and Gemma Atherton as the brother and sister duo who take out the bad guys with shotguns and crossbows (while still being set in rustic woodland villages). The movie does not take itself too seriously and really does not expect the viewers to do so either. It is definitely a gory shoot-em-up action movie that has a lot of over-the-top violence. There is not much sexual content aside from one scene in which you kind of get a glimpse of part of Gemma Arterton's breast. It is a mix of action, horror, and comedy. The movie has a strong supporting cast made of up of both known and relatively unknown actors including Famke Janssen as Muriel, an evil grand witch who rules over a coven of dark witches, Peter Stormare as Sheriff Berringer, Thomas Mann, Derek Mears, and Pihla Viitala.

The movie looks and sounds great on Blu-Ray. The extras are somewhat sparse, however. These include a 15-minute making-of documentary, a 10-minute feature on how the witch story was adapted from the fairy tale to the movie, and a 5-minute feature on Edward the troll.

Overall, the movie is good if you take it for what it is. If you are expecting an award winner, you will be sorely disappointed. If you are expecting an action movie that mixes in some humor and knows the whole premise of the movie is absurd, you will probably enjoy it. It is very violent and gory (especially in the unrated version) and there is a lot of swearing, so if that turns you off to a movie, then do not even bother. If however, you are looking for a fun action movie with great visuals and a lot of good special effects, this is a good one to check out.

Study Aid Review: The Engineering Circuit Analysis Tutor: Volume 2

 

This is the second volume of the Circuit Analysis tutor set created by Jason. It covers the node voltage and mesh current methods of solving circuits, both with independent and dependent sources, which are two of the major circuit analysis techniques that are covered in a Circuits I class. This material comes after the introduction of Kirchhoff's laws as they are extensions of the voltage and current laws. In my class, this material was included on the second exam, but where it falls in your class will depend on your teacher and how he or she spaces things out in the class. Between the two, the first and second volumes of the series cover about half, give or take, of the material you will learn in Circuits I. Again, this just deals with circuits that have direct current sources and does not include alternating current sources. In my class, about 90 percent of what we covered was circuits with DC sources and then we got an introduction to circuits with AC sources at the end of the semester.

I have purchased and reviewed many of Jason's other DVD sets. As I have said with regard to those, whether this will help you really depends on your learning style. If you are a visual learner who learns well by watching problems worked out, this will absolutely help you. Jason explains every step of the problem in detail, both as he is going through it and then recapping everything after it is done. On the other hand, if you need more interaction and the ability to ask questions, then this is not going to be as helpful to you. It is not flashy and is a simulated college lecture, but that said, it is material you absolutely need to learn if you are taking circuits, and Jason teaches it very well.

Book Review: Star Wars - The High Republic: The Fallen Star

 

As most people reading this review are likely aware by now, the High Republic series of stories pit the Jedi and the Republic as a whole, not against the Sith, but against a group of pirates called The Nihil. The Nihil have been responsible not only for the hyperspace disasters, but the attack on the Republic fair, and a series of skirmishes that ended either with a draw or the Jedi barely winning. This book tells the story of a subversive attack on The Starlight Beacon, the space station that is essentially run by the Jedi and has been a focus of a lot of the High Republic stories up to this point. The Nihil manages to send a team to the station to sabotage it and release something (it is not clear even at the end of the book exactly what) that can severely hamper the Jedi's connection to the force and put them all in danger.

I will not go into great detail about what happens in the book, but I will say that The Nihil scores a decisive victory. In the end, Manchin Ro declares himself to all to be the real Eye of the Nihil and sends a message to the Republic that they are not at all done. One thing that the story does suffer a bit from is having a ton of characters and shifting the story from one point of view to another. It is not impossible to follow, but there are times when the POV switches multiple times per chapter, and it would be a lot easier to read if each chapter focused on one or two characters and then shifted to other characters in the next chapter. That is my only real criticism, otherwise, the story was very good, the pacing went well, and the book holds the readers in suspense all the way to the end. The book is 345 pages long, including a short Epilogue, which is about as long as most of the adult novels (and some of the young adult novels) clock in at. I am a fairly fast reader and was able to get through it in about 10 days reading for an hour or so before bed. If you are one of those who, like me, read all of the canon novels, you will probably have pre-ordered this and read it right away. If you are one of those who gets some, but not all, of the novels, I do think this one is worth picking up.

Workout Update: Power-90/Chalean Extreme Hybrid: Day 10

Day 10 of CE was the sweat 1-2 workout and ab-ripper 100. Both of them went very well. I again was able to get through the entire cardio workout without stopping or pausing and did all 100 reps of ab-ripper without pausing. Again I was able to do less modified versions of the cross-hops and actually did the kicks and punches faster than they were doing them in the workout. 

Blu-Ray/Movie Review: Zero Dark Thirty

 

Zero Dark Thirty is a dramatization of the hunt for, and the subsequent raid to kill Osama Bin Laden, the leader of Al-Quaeda, and the money behind the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The movie stars Jessica Chastain as Maya, a young CIA analyst working for the unit that was tasked with Hunting down Bin Laden. The character is based on a real person but is kind of an amalgamation of all of the women who worked in that unit. Maya is singularly focused on tracking down a lead regarding the courier whose name was given up by a tortured detainee, and after following many dead ends, ends up panning out. The movie is directed by Kathryn Bigelow who also directed The Hurt Locker. The movie gets an undeserved bad rap as glamorizing torture. I never got the impression that the movie was glamorizing it in any way. I looked at it as acknowledging that the government did torture detainees and not skirting around or whitewashing that fact. Whether the actual information that resulted in the courier's name being given up came about as a result or torture or was dramatized for the movie does not, in my opinion, take away from the quality.

For those who get the Blu-Ray, the movie looks and sounds great in HD. There are not a ton of extras, but what was included is good. These include a making-of documentary, a featurette on the building of a duplicate of bin Laden's stronghold, a piece about training the actors playing SEALs, and a featurette with Jessica Chastain discussing her character.

Overall, the movie is well-written and very well-acted. Chastain is a tour de force in this movie, bringing intensity and passion to every scene. She definitely earned and deserved her academy award nomination. The movie is not a straight-up documentary and does dramatize some events and material, but includes a lot of real events in the story (such as the bombing at the base that killed several military personnel and CIA officers) and gave a detailed account of how the actual raid went down. It is definitely worth checking out.

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: Fringe: Season 2

 

+++Warning, this will contain spoilers from season 1, but no major season two giveaways.+++

Season two begins with Olivia being ejected from the parallel universe. We do not see the follow-up to her meeting with William Bell that ended season 1, immediately, and when she comes out of the parallel universe she is initially in a coma, and then when she wakes up discovers she has no memory. The first part of the season involves Olivia trying to get her memory back, continuing the case-of-the-week format solving the Fringe element cases, and going back to the larger parallel universe story arc. The shapeshifters take on a much larger role this season, and we begin to see the parallel universe versions of the main characters, learning much more about Peter's background in the process. The season ends on yet another massive cliffhanger with the fates of the team members totally up in the air.

For those who get the Blu-Ray set, the series continues to look and sound great in the HD format. There are a ton of special effects used in the show, all of which look seamless in HD. For extras, there are commentary tracks on select episodes that include both cast and production members, there are several short analyzing the scene and deleted scene features for many episodes. There is an unaired season one episode, a half-hour-long making-of featurette, and a gag reel. All in all, a lot of bonus material if you like watching them.

Overall, the season is very good. The storylines advance well with the series doing a good job balancing the procedural story-of-the-week cases and interweaving the serial storyline as well. It unravels the larger story arc in relatively small doses at first, then really picks up as the season comes to an end. The writing and acting are all top-notch, especially John Noble, who does a lot with the character of Walter. So, if you are a fan of the sci-fi genre, and you liked or loved season one, this is definitely worth watching.

Product Review: Organic India Psyllium Husk Pre & Probiotic Fiber

 

If you are like many people, hitting your daily recommended level of fiber can be hard to do with just food alone. This is a good way to get a boost of fiber (4g) without having to eat high-fiber food. So far, I have not noticed any fiber cramping or bloating either, which I has definitely happened to me when eating a lot of fiber from fruits or veggies. This also has the benefit of getting you probiotics which are good for overall gut health. It tastes pretty good, but you definitely do not want to let it sit too long in water otherwise it will congeal. I mix it in a Blendjet 2 blender and just chug it, and that works well.

Blu-Ray/Movie Review: Silver Linings Playbook

 

Silver Linings Playbook is a combination of a romantic comedy and a drama. It stars Bradley Cooper as Pat Solitano, a bipolar man who has spent eight months in a psychiatric hospital after beating up the man with whom his wife was having an affair. He moves back in with his parents (played wonderfully by Robert De Niro and Jacki Weaver) and makes it his mission (against the advice of everyone) to win his wife back. Pat is invited to dinner by his best friend Ronnie, played by John Ortiz, and meets Ronnie's widowed sister-in-law with mental issues of her own, Tiffany, played by Jennifer Lawrence. Tiffany agrees to help Pat win his ex-wife back on the condition that he enter a dance competition with her as her partner. From there, the typical will-they, won't-they get-together storyline plays out.

The Blu-Ray extras are okay, but not extensive. There are deleted scenes, a relatively short making-of-featurette, a Q&A session featuring the director and some of the cast members after a screening of the movie, and a couple of featurettes on the dance numbers.

Overall, the movie is very good. Cooper does a great job alternating between depressed and manic, basically acting like he is on speed. He has great chemistry with Lawrence (who is a large source of the film's humor, although De Niro and Copper have some very funny moments too) as well as with De Niro. De Niro himself is great as Pat's football-obsessed father who is trying to help his son but really does not know how to do so. The biggest scene-stealer of the movie is Chris Tucker (of Rush Hour fame). He is only in a handful of scenes as Danny, another patient at the hospital who is embroiled in a fight with the hospital about whether they can keep him committed. He keeps managing to get out only to be hauled back by the cops. It's a small role that is not integral to the rest of the movie, but funny nonetheless. Personally, I like that the comedy in the movie is a bit darker than it is in most romantic comedies. It is a movie that is very well-written and acted and is definitely worth checking out.

Product Review: Redcon1 MRE (7.15 lbs, Blueberry Cobbler)

 

This is a meal replacement powder as opposed to just a protein supplement. The serving size is four scoops, and there are approximately 50 servings per tub. Personally, I use two scoops at a time and then add in another scoop of regular protein powder to keep the carb count low. Plus, I like mixing a chocolate protein powder in with it to get a mix of chocolate and blueberry flavor, which I personally really like. If you take an entire serving, you get 530 calories, 47g of protein, 75 g of carbs (with 8g of fiber), and 4 g of fat. As I said, I take 2 scoops at a time then add in some protein powder to keep the carb count down while still getting a good amount of protein, and generally use it as a replacement for dinner/post-workout.

It blends fairly well, although I did have a little bit of residue at the bottom of the cup after I blended it (I blend it in a Vitamix blender as opposed to using a shaker cup). So, the last bit in the cup was a bit chalky, but not horrible. It tastes very good, at least when adding chocolate protein powder to it. It is definitely a good option for a meal replacement.

Blu-Ray/Movie Review: Skyfall

 

This is, of course, the third Bond movie with Daniel Craig starring in the titular role. It is unique in a couple of ways. First, the opening sequence diverges a lot from the opening sequences of many of the prior Bond movies where Bond manages to successfully capture or kill someone, or execute some mission that he is on, usually separate from the main story. I have not seen every Bond movie, but the ones I have seen have all opened like that. Second, this movie, unlike Quantum of Solace, is not tied into the storyline from Casino Royale. Of course, anyone who has seen the rest of the Bond films knows that there is a return to that story arc after this movie. The story in this movie revolves as much around M (played brilliantly by Judi Dench) than it does Bond, and Javier Bardem is awesome as the main villain Raoul Silva, in a much different role than his other iconic villain character from No Country for Old Men.

For those who get the Blu-Ray, the A/V quality is awesome, and the cinematography really pops in the HD. format. The extras include two separate commentary tracks on the film, one with the director Sam Mendes, and the other with the producers of the movie. Then there is an hour-long making-of documentary that is split into several parts that can be watched individually or all at once. Then there is a short feature on the world premiere of the movie, the theatrical trailer, and trailers for other movies. So, a lot of good material if you like watching the extras.

Overall, the movie is very good. Daniel Craig has really solidified his role as Bond and by this point all the griping and complaining about him as the lead had pretty much stopped. The movie balances the action scenes with the dramatic scenes very well, and the acting is spectacular. I have not seen all of the Bond movies, but of the ones that I have, it is definitely one of my favorites and well worth watching.

Workout Update: Power-90/Chalean Extreme Hybrid: Day 9

Day 9 was the sculpt 1-2 workout again. This was pretty much the same as Friday's workout in terms of the amount of weight I could use and the number of push-ups I could get through on my toes. The exercises for which the weight was increased from last time were definitely tougher, and on those, I maxed out at just eight reps. 

Product Review: Maxell 190041 Disc Scratch And Repair Kit

 

If you have a CD or DVD that has a minor scratch, one that will cause the disc to skip or pixelate, but not stop completely, this will work to get rid of the scratch and cause the skip to stop. If the scratch is deep enough to cause the disc to freeze entirely, then this is not likely to correct it. I tried it on a disc with a minor scratch and it worked well. On a disc with a deeper scratch, even going through the process a few times, it did not get rid of it.

Blu-Ray/Movie Review: Django Unchained

 

Django Unchained is a movie you will know within the first few minutes whether you will love or hate. It is set shortly before the Civil War. Christoph Waltz plays Dr. King Schultz, a former doctor turned bounty hunter seeking to buy a slave named Django (played by Jamie Foxx) to get his help in tracking three outlaw brothers who were overseers at a plantation on which Django was enslaved. In return, Schultz offers Django his freedom and agrees to help him find his wife Hildi, played by Kerry Washington who was sold away from Django as punishment. The movie is definitely inspired by the Spaghetti Westerns of the past infused with Quentin Tarantino's over-the-top brand of violence and humor. It has a strong supporting cast including Samuel L. Jackson and Leonardo DiCaprio whom both shine in their roles, as do Waltz, Foxx, and Washington.

For those who get the Blu-Ray, the movie looks and sounds great in the HD format. There is a little over half an hour worth of making-of featurettes and the trailers. Unfortunately, there is no commentary track on the movie, which would have been nice to have. But, what was included was great.

Overall, the movie is wonderful. It is well-written and very well-acted. Yes, it does include the n-word a lot, shows slaves being beaten, and everything. But, keep in mind, that the is set in the south during the 1800s and does not at all sugarcoat what life, and the people were like. It is not telling a "Gone WIth the Wind" type love story between members of the ruling class, the perspective from which the story is told is much different, and includes all the gory details. If that makes you uncomfortable, that may be a good thing. Certainly, Quentin Tarantino's movies are not for everyone, and this is no exception. But, if you are generally a fan of his work, this is definitely worth watching.

4k-UHD/Movie Review: Iron Man

 

While, by 2008, there had been other superhero movies like Spiderman and the original Fantastic Four movies made and relatively successful, this is the first movie in what would become a 20+ movie and counting franchise of movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe that has dominated not only the superhero movie genre but really the movie landscape as a whole for more than a decade.

The movie is the origin story of Tony Stark (played by Robert Downey Jr.) and his superhero alter-ego, Iron Man. Stark is an ultra-rich, ultra-smart, and sometimes too smooth for his own good, tech genius. He is the head of Stark Industries which is basically a weapons developer that makes weapons for the military and anyone who is the highest bidder. After a demonstration of his newest missile technology for the military in a fictitious middle-eastern country, the convoy he is in is attacked and he is taken, prisoner and forced to make a missile for a group of terrorists. Instead of making them a missile, he develops the first Iron Man suit, breaks out, and upon being rescued, he determines to take the company in a new direction and develop a better suit that he can use to fight bad guys.

The movie has a great supporting cast including Gweneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts, Tony's assistant and potential love interest, Terrance Howard as James Rhodes, Tony's friend and military liaison, Jon Favreau whom both directed the movie and played Happy Hogan, Tony's driver, Jeff Bridges as Obadiah Stane, a partner in Stark Industries, Leslie Bibb as reported Christine Everhart, Paul Bettany as the voice of Jarvis, Tony's artificially intelligent assistant, and Clark Gregg, as Phil Coulson.

For those who get the 4k Disc, the movie looks very good in the UHD format, but it does not get as good a video upgrade as some of the other movies have. It is probably not something you would likely notice unless you are a big-time A/V wonk, but it is not a giant video upgrade over the Blu-Ray disc. The audio upgrade to Dolby Atmos is wonderful and the movie sounds great even if you have a modest sound system. For extras, they are somewhat sparse. There is a Hall of Armor interactive gallery with details about the different versions of the Iron Man suits in the movie, about 23 minutes of deleted and extended scenes, and a six different featurettes under the title "The Invincible Iron Man" that can be played all together at one time, that is essentially an hour-long documentary on the history of the character in the comics. It is important to note, that when the movie was originally released on Blu-Ray, it was released in various retailer exclusives that had different bonus content. None of that exclusive content was brought over to this one, so if you have a retailer exclusive Blu-Ray then you will want to keep that one as well (if the extras are important to you).

Overall, the movie is great. Had the movie not worked, there probably never would have been an MCU, and at the time, casting Robert Downey Jr. as essentially in the lead role of not only this movie but the leader of many of the movies that would come after that was a huge risk given his history of drug abuse.. You can tell that he took the role (and the movie) very seriously, and was perfectly cast for the role of Tony Stark. But really, all of the actors did a wonderful job in their roles, whether large or small. I highly recommend the movie if you are a fan of action and/or superhero movies. Whether it is worth the double-dip to upgrade from the Blu-Ray (assuming you purchased the Blu-Ray when it was first released on disc) is hard to say. If you have a great home-theater setup (or plan to build one) then it probably is. If not, the regular Blu-Ray is probably fine.