Book Review: Star Wars: Guardians of the Whills

 

This is a junior novel set around the characters of Chirrut Imwe and Baze Malbus, the characters introduced in the movie Rouge One. This book is basically a prequel to Rogue One, exploring Chirrut and Baze's backstory, showing their actions on Jedha before the events of Rouge One, including interactions that they had with Saw Gerrera. This is basically a short story detailing a mission against the Empire. It does not lead directly into the events of the movie, but the end of the book sets the stage for their role in the movie.

The book is relatively short (about 240 pages) and is a relatively easy read. While it is a junior novel it is entertaining enough for adults. So, if you liked the characters from the movie, it is worth reading.

4k-UHD/Movie Review: Resident Evil: The Final Chapter

 

This is the final entry in the six-movie action-horror zombie apocalypse film franchise adapted from the Resident Evil video games, starring Milla Jovovich, which spanned 14 years from 2002 to 2016. This one was directed by Paul W.S. Anderson, Jovovich's husband who has produced and/or directed pretty much every movie in the franchise. 

This movie is set a few weeks after the events of Retribution and sees Shawn Roberts, Ian Glen, and Ali Larter return to reprise their various characters. Alice (Jovovich) is told by the Red Queen (played by her daughter Ever) that she must return to Racoon City to release an airborne Anti-Virus that will kill everyone infected with the T-Virus (so all the zombies). She learns the origins of the T-Virus and what it was originally intended to do and tries to take out the rest of the Umbrella Corporation.  The big addition to the cast in this movie is Ruby Rose, who plays one of the characters who joins in the attack on The Hive in Racoon City.

The 4k set is a two-disc set with one UHD disc, which just contains the movie and one regular blu-ray which has all of the extras. The extras include an option to play the movie in "Retaliation Mode" which basically has cutaways to Anderson and Jovovich providing commentary on specific scenes, then there are three featurettes, one on the stunts in the movie, one on the female characters, and one on The Hive. Then there are trailers for other movies. What was included is good, but there is not an extensive amount of behind-the-scenes material. Jovovich is always good on commentary tracks and she is again entertaining in the Retribution Mode clips. 

By now, anyone interested in this knows what the movies are and what they are not. They are very good action/suspense/horror movies, and they definitely stay in that lane. Jovovich does a great job playing the lead, and she definitely walks a fine line between taking the role seriously without taking herself or the story too seriously. So, if you liked the other movies then this one is worth watching. If you have not been a fan of the other movies, then this one will probably not do much for you.

Workout Update: Insanity Max 30/Chalean Extreme/Body Beast/P90X Hybrid Day Round 2 Day 40

For Day 40 I switched it up a bit and did the Kenpo-X workout from P90x. I did that for a couple of reasons, first I attended a birthday party the night before and did not exactly eat a great dinner, so I wanted to get a bit of a better workout in than just stretching. Second, I wanted to see how doing a couple of months of Max 30 impacted the p90x cardio workouts. And, as I kind of suspected would be the case, even though I am still struggling in the Max-30 workouts, I would almost say that Kenpo-X was easy. I barely got winded at all and was able to keep up with, and in some cases go faster than those in the video. So, it is a good measure of my progress. 

Workout Update: Insanity Max 30/Chalean Extreme/Body Beast/P90X Hybrid Day Round 2 Day 39

Day 39 was Friday Fight Round 2 again. This workout was interesting because, as has been the case for the past couple of workouts, I definitely feel that my stamina is increasing, even though I still have to take a lot of breaks and Max Out at pretty much the same point in the workout. But, I can tell that my ability to do the tuck jump and burpee moves is getting a lot better (which also makes me tired faster). So, I feel like I am making progress, even though the Max Out times do not really reflect that.

Workout Update: Insanity Max 30/Chalean Extreme/Body Beast/P90X Hybrid Day Round 2 Day 38

Day 38 was the Max Out Power workout again. It was still very hard, but I found myself being able to do more during the workout, even though I maxed out at pretty much the same point as I did last week. 

Blu-Ray/Movie Review: Get Out

 

Get Out is a 2017 suspense-thriller with a little bit of horror movie mixed in that was written and directed by Jordan Peele (in his directorial debut). It stars Daniel Kaluuya as Chris Washington, a photographer from New York who is in an interracial relationship with Allison William's character, Rose Armitage. Rose convinces Chris to travel to upstate NY to meet her parents, played by Bradley Whitford and Catherine Kenner. While surrounded by many wealthy white people, Chris notices the strange behavior of the handful of black people in town, which becomes more and more bizarre. Chris suspects something strange is going on and enlists the help of his best friend, Rod, played by Lil Rel Howery, to figure out the possible conspiracy.

The A/V quality of the blu-ray is very good. Although there is not a ton of CGI in the movie, what is there looks seamless with the practical sets, and the cinematography looks wonderful. The bonus features include a very good commentary track on the movie by Peele, who offers a lot of insight into the process of making the movie. Then there are 23 minutes of deleted and extended scenes, an alternate ending, a nine-minute making-of featurette, and a four-minute Q&A session with Peele. 

Overall, the movie is very good and very original. It definitely borrows from some horror movie themes, but it is not derivative of anything else that has been made lately. Basically, it is a horror movie in which racism and oppression are the monster. Of course, there will be some nut-jobs out there (basically the MAGATs of the world and their snowflake ilk) that will claim the movie is saying that all white people are bad, which is not at all the case, and some will automatically hate it because of the thought of a white woman dating a black man. The movie is basically a metaphor for the very real history of race relations throughout the course of history, and for the passive-aggressive racism that exists to this day. It is well-written and very well-acted and is definitely worth checking out.

4k-UHD/Movie Review: Passengers (2016)

 

Passengers is a 2016 movie starring Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence (not to be confused with the 2008 film of the same name starring Anne Hathaway). This movie is partly a sci-fi space drama, partly an action movie, partly a romantic drama, and partly an ethical thought experiment. Pratt stars as Jim Preston, a mechanical engineer aboard a spaceship called the Avalon, traveling from Earth to a new, habitable planet 60 light-years away from Earth. Technology has advanced to the point where the trip only takes 120 years, so the passengers aboard the ship are put in a state of suspended animation for most of the trip with different passengers being awakened in stages when the ship is within a couple of years of its destination. During the voyage, the ship is struck by a wayward asteroid, which damages the ship and causes Preston to be awakened 90 years too early. For the first portion of the movie, it is just Pratt and Michael Sheen (who plays the ship's computer/butler, Arthur). Then, over the course of the movie, Jennifer Lawrence's character, Aurora Lane is awakened, as is Laurence Fishburne's character, Gus, who is the ship's deck officer. The movie transitions from a lost at-sea castaway kind of movie, to a romance movie, to a disaster movie all within the span of nearly four hours. 

For those who get the 4K blu-ray set, there are three discs. The 4k-UHD disc just has the movie, a 3D-Blu-Ray disc that again just has the movie, and a regular blu-ray disc that has the movie and all of the extras. The extras include four different making-of featurettes that range in length from four minutes to just over eleven minutes. Then there are about ten minutes of deleted scenes, a series of fake commercials promoting travel on The Avalon, a gag reel, and trailers for other movies. So, a decent amount is there for people who like watching the extras. The A/V quality of the UHD disc is wonderful, and the movie has a ton of great CGI visuals.

Ultimately, the movie is long but does not really feel as long as it is. It is paced very well, and while the story is definitely a bit predictable in parts, it is entertaining. Given that Pratt has to carry the first portion of the movie on his own, with only a handful of scenes with Michael Sheen playing opposite him, he does a very good job portraying a guy who slowly starts to go crazy. Jennifer Lawrence does a good job with her character once she "comes to life" and the action portion of the movie is good as well. It is definitely worth the time to watch. 

Book Review: Star Wars: Heir to the Empire - The 20th Anniversary Edition

 

Heir to the Empire was the book that, in the early 1990s, started what would become known as the Star Wars Expanded Universe, and what is now known as the Legends Universe. For those who do not know the history, in the late 1980s, Lucasfilm was trying to decide how to keep the Star Wars brand alive and thriving given that the original trilogy ended in 1983 after Return of the Jedi and George Lucas had not totally committed to doing the prequel trilogy. The end result was a decision to keep the stories and characters alive through novels, of which this one, written by Timothy Zahn, is the first.

The book is set five years after Return of the Jedi with The New Republic in somewhat of a stalemate with the remnants of The Empire. The Empire has regrouped under the command of Grand Admiral Thrawn, a mysterious Alien commander of the Empire's new flagship who has second-to-none strategic and analytical capabilities and studies the artwork of his adversaries to predict their actions. Leia and Han are married, Leia is pregnant with twins (which is, of course, a major change from the new canon material), and Luke is still trying to piece together the history of the Jedi in hopes to restore the Jedi order. Thrawn launches a plan to take down The New Republic, which involves attempts to capture Luke and Leia and sabotage the rest of the New Republic Leadership. Along with Thrawn, this book introduces the character of Mara Jade, who would become a critical character in subsequent books, and Talon Karrde, a smuggler with a very "New Hope" Han Solo vibe.  

This book was originally published in 1991, and this version, with annotations from the author and editor, was published in 2011 and then reprinted in hardcover after the Disney takeover of Lucasfilm. There is a pretty extensive forward in which the history of how the books came to be is laid out, and the directives from Lucas about what stories could and could not be told. For example, none of the legacy characters could be killed and none of the books could touch on Anakin's pre-Vader life. The annotations give a lot of good insight into how the story was put together and evolved over the writing of the book. Some elements from the book, like the cloning aspects have been incorporated into the new canon material, and as many probably know by now, Thrawn was brought into the canon by a series of new books by the same author and an appearance in the animated series Rebels.  At the end of the book, there is a short story titled "Crisis of Faith" which is a Thrawn-centric story that does not involve any of the legacy characters.

This, and the subsequent novels, Dark Force Rising, and The Last Command, were the stories that many of us hoped would be a sequel trilogy. But, the reality is, if Lucas ever was going to make more movies, it was going to be the prequels telling Anakin's story (which the forward of this book makes clear), and by the time those movies were made, the original cast members would have aged out of being able to make this story into a movie. Plus, the chances of Harrison Ford returning for a new trilogy of movies when he wanted Han killed off in Empire and Jedi were slim to none. It would be nice if the other two novels in the trilogy would get the same special editions released. Unfortunately, however, Zahn has said that at this point, Del Rey books has not shown any interest in releasing special editions of those books.  If you are a fan of Star Wars, this is a must-read as it is one of the best stories told in the Star Wars Universe, Canon, or Legends.

DVD/TV Series Review: Bones: Season 1

 

Bones was a procedural crime drama that aired on FOX starting in 2005. It starred David Boreanaz  (best known for his role as Angel on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its spinoff series Angel) as FBI Special Agent Seely Booth, and Emily Deschanel, as Dr. Temperance Brennan, a forensic anthropologist at the Jeffersonian Institute in Washington D.C. who works with Booth to solve murders. The rest of the main cast is made up of the staff members of the Jeffersonian, whom Booth refers to as "the squints". They include Michaela Conlin, as forensic artist Angela Montenegro, Eric Millegan as Zack Addy, Dr. Brennan's grad student lab assistant, T.J. Thyne, the lab's entomologist, and Jonathan Adams, the director of the Jeffersonian.

The show is, for the most part, a case-of-the-week procedural that involves a death either occurring or being discovered in the cold open, and then Booth and Brennan investigate the case (usually with the capture of the murderer) by the end of the hour. There are some serial arcs included as well. In season one, the main serial arc was the disappearance of Brennan's parents when she was young, and clues appear throughout the season that leads to a bit of a cliffhanger in the season finale. The show is very character-based and the first season does a lot to develop the various characters. They do go a bit overboard on the character of Brennan, making too much of the fact that she does not follow pop culture and does not understand any (almost) pop culture references. The writers do a great job with Booth and Brennan's opposite personalities and give the large ensemble cast a lot to work with. Boreanaz actually gets to show off more of his comedic acting chops, which he only got to do a couple of times playing Angel. So, he is far less serious and brooding than he had to be playing Angel.

For those who get the DVD set, the original release of season one was on the dreaded dual-sided discs, so the episodes were spread over four discs instead of the usual six. There is a commentary track by the series creator Hart Hanson on the pilot episode, and a commentary track by Boreanaz and Deschanel on the episode "Two Bodies in the Lab". Then there are a series of featurettes including one on forensic anthropologist and author Kathy Reichs, on whom the character of Brennan is loosely based, a featurette on the team of squints, a featurette on the medical jargon used in the show, and character profiles.

Overall, the first season is a good start to the series, although it did take a while for the series to find its footing. Thankfully, FOX did give the show some slack and let it evolve, and by the end of the season, it had developed a tone and style that would pretty much carry throughout the rest of its run. It could get a bit gory at times with very real-looking corpses in various stages of decay which could creep and/or gross some people out. Given that it aired on Fox, however, they could not go overboard with violence, sex, or nudity, although there is some sexual banter and implied nudity that never reveals anything. So, if you like crime procedurals and have not yet seen it, this is a good series to check out. 

Blu-Ray/Movie Review: Firestarter

 

Firestarter was the other movie made in 1984 starring a young Drew Barrymore (Irreconcilable Differences, being the other one) who was two-years removed from her breakout role in E.T. and just being her third movie as a child star. This movie was adapted from one of Stephen King's novels. While King is known for the Horror genre, I would classify this movie more as a thriller than a horror movie. The basic plot involves a young girl named Charlie (played by Barrymore) whose parents participated in what they thought was a drug trial when they were in college. The drug they were given gave Charlie's mother, Vicky (played by Heather Locklear) the ability to read minds, and her father, Andy (played by David Keith) the ability to control people's actions. And Charlie developed the ability to start fires with her mind. They are pursued by a shadowy government agency called the Department of Scientific Intelligence (or "The Shop"), led by Martin Sheen's character Captain Hollister. The department wants to capture Charlie so that they can study and weaponize her power. The other central character in the movie is John Rainbird, played by George C. Scott, who is a member of The Shop that pretends to befriend Charlie and encourages her to use her powers. 

For those who get the blu-ray, the A/V quality is okay, but it is not an extremely high-quality transfer. Given the age of the movie, I think that the transfer looks good and it is probably better that the look of the movie was not messed with too much. For extras, there is a commentary track on the movie by the director, Mark Lester, a 52-minute making-of documentary that includes new interviews with some of the minor cast members and members of the crew, along with some archival footage. Then there is a 17-minute featurette on the music of the movie, and a stills gallery. It would have been nice if they could have got Barrymore and Sheen to participate in the new interviews or be included on the commentary track (George C. Scott had already passed away by the time the new material was shot), but the material is still good if you like watching the extras.

Overall, the movie is good, but I don't think it is the best movie adaptation of King's work. Barrymore definitely carries the movie, which is something given that she was just 8 or 9 when it was filmed. Certainly, in the action scenes, she just has to stare intensely and cry, but in the scenes that required her to act, she does a really good job and had great chemistry with George C. Scott. They did make a curious choice of having Scott portray a Native American character as opposed to rewriting the part, but that is really just a minor point. So, while it is not as good as movies like The Shining, Christine, or It that were adapted from King's novels, it is still worth watching and holds up well even after almost 40 years.

Product Review: Samsung Replacement Battery EB-BG360CBU 2000mAh For Galaxy Core Prime G360

 

This is a replacement battery for the Samsung Galaxy Core Prime smartphone. It is the exact battery that comes with the phone and is very easy to replace. I found it to hold a charge as well as the original battery and lasted as long. So, if you are one who still has that phone, this is a good value.

Workout Update: Insanity Max 30/Chalean Extreme/Body Beast/P90X Hybrid Day Round 2 Day 37

Day 37 was the Max Out Sweat workout. It pretty much went the same as it did last week, but I was able to get slightly farther into the workout before maxing out. The 45 seconds on ten-second rest can be helpful, but it can also be very hard depending on what moves you have to do for 45 seconds. I generally like the workout overall, but it is one that I am always totally gassed by the end of it.

4k-UHD/Movie Review: Fifty Shades Darker

 

Fifty Shades Darker is the 2017 follow-up to the 2015 movie Fifty Shades of Grey, based on the series of novels by E.L. James. The movie again stars Dakota Johnson as Anastacia/Ana Steele and Jamie Dornan as Christian Grey, a billionaire entrepreneur with a penchant for BDSM relationships. In the first movie, the two have a torrid love affair that goes bad because of his inability to open up and have a normal relationship. This movie is essentially about his attempt to win her back and the two trying to make a relationship work, with a lot of obstacles being thrown in the way of their relationship.

For those who get the 4k Disc, the movie looks and sounds very good in the UHD format. There is definitely a video quality upgrade from the blu-ray disc (which is also included in the two-disc set). The UHD disc just has the movie itself and the blu-ray has the extras, which are pretty meager. The extras include a couple of short deleted scenes, a teaser for the final movie, and then a handful of making-of featurettes that vary in length from about 3 minutes to just under 9 minutes. Nothing special, but they are there if you want to watch them.

I have not read the books (which were mostly a hit with women), but from the reviews (and based on interviews with Dakota Johnson talking about them) they were pretty bad. And, as a result, the script definitely has some cringe-worth dialogue. The issues from the first movie definitely carry over to this one, a big one being that the chemistry between Dornan and Johnson was still not great in this movie, and overall, I just had a hard time buying them as the kind of couple they were portraying. On the plus side, if you think Johnson is hot and want to see her tits on an almost two-hour loop, this movie will give you that. There are some good additions to the cast for this movie including Bella Heathcote, Kim Bassinger, Marcia Gay Harden, Eric Johnson, and Rita Ora. I  think the expanded cast helps to break up Christian and Ana's storyline so that the chemistry issues between Johnson and Dornan are not as obvious. Ultimately, if you liked the first movie you will probably like this one, as long as you manage your expectations. It definitely has the feel of the second chapter of a trilogy, putting the characters in peril and, as kind of cliche, having an overall darker (pun intended) theme. If you think of it as Twilight without the vampires and a lot more sex, that will give you an idea of what you are getting into if you watch it.   

Product Review: Samsung Electronics UBD-K8500 3D Wi-Fi 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Player (2016 Model)

 

This is a blu-ray player that can play 4k ultra-high-definition discs, as well as regular blu-rays and DVDs. It is region 1 locked, meaning it will only play discs from the US and Canada, and any region-free discs, but discs from other countries like the UK will not play on it. When paired with a TV capable of providing a 4k output, you get great picture and sound. There are, however, a couple of cons. First, the remote control is very small, and hence the buttons on it are extremely hard to use, especially if you are watching in a dark room. If you have another Samsung remote, however, that one should work with this player without any additional setup. Second, discs do freeze from time to time, even when the firmware has been updated. When a disc freezes, the only workaround is unplugging the player and plugging it back in. Sometimes the disc will start from where you left off, but most of the time it boots to the menu screen again and you have to find where you left off. I should also note that one time when I played a disc, the player made a weird humming noise, that lasted about two minutes into the playback of the movie, but that only happened when playing that one disc, so it has not been a recurring issue.

Overall, the player is good, especially for one of the more affordable players. You definitely want to keep the firmware up to date and get a good HDMI cable (the player does not come with a cable) to get the most out of the A/V quality.

DVD/Movie Review: The Breed

 

The Breed is 2006 a B-movie starring Michelle Rodriguez (from the Fast and Furious movie franchise), Taryn Manning (from Orange is the New Black), Hill Harper (from shows like Limitless and The Good Doctor), Oliver Husdon (Kate's brother, and Goldie Hawn's less famous child), and Eric Lively. It is a movie that is best described as a knockoff of Alfred Hitchcock's classic The Birds, but it is nowhere near as good as that. The basic plot is that a group of friends plan to vacation on a deserted island owned by the family of brothers Matt (Lively) and John (Hudson). Of course, the island is not totally deserted as the group encounters a pack of wild dogs that starts attacking them, and in the process discover a larger plot.

For those who get the DVD, the only extras are a making-of-documentary that runs about 25 minutes and some trailers for other movies. The documentary is okay, but nothing special. 

Overall, the movie is good but not great. It does have some jump-scare moments, but I would not quite call it a horror classic, despite the fact that it was produced by Wes Craven, who directed classics in the horror genre like A Nightmare on Elm Street and Scream. The plot twist is a little silly and needed. It is definitely not as good as The Birds or Jaws (two movies that obviously heavily influenced the plot), but as a low-budget indie horror/thriller, it is worth a look, but is probably not a movie that most people would give a lot of repeat viewings.

Workout Update: Insanity Max 30/Chalean Extreme/Body Beast/P90X Hybrid Day Round 2 Day 36

Day 36 was the Max Out Power workout again. I was able to max out about a minute later than I did last week, but the workout is still very, very tough. I am to the point where I can get through the entire warm-up sequence in pretty much every workout without having to switch to modified moves. Although, again, my unmodified moves are most definitely slower than those of the people in the video. 

Book Review: American Psychosis

 

You might think American Psychosis is just another book detailing the actions of the former (2017-2021) administration. It is not. That administration is discussed at the beginning of the book and then again in the last handful of chapters. What the book really provides is a must-read historical breakdown of the Republican party from the time of Lincoln to the present day.

The book basically chronicles how the Republican and Democratic parties shifted after the Civil War, during the reconstruction era through to the Jim Crow and Civil Rights era, and the internal strife of the party with the (at the time) more powerful moderates having to keep the right-wing nut jobs like Joseph McCarthy and Barry Goldwater in check. However, through the formation of the John Birch Society, the Heritage Foundation, and the Federalist Society, the nutjobs slowly gained more and more power in the party and eventually led to the takeover of the party by t***p, who was not afraid to spout the racist, xenophobic, and homophobic nonsense that the wingnuts were espousing for years. The author, David Corn, describes how Dwight Eisenhower had to essentially put up with McCarthy because he was afraid of losing his base (sound familiar), and Nixon fully embraced the "southern strategy" which basically is how the GOP keeps a hold of the bible-belt states, and how Ronald Regan (who was actually one of the worst Presidents in history if you were poor and/or a minority) was more than willing to play footsie with the racists in the party while keeping his inclusive persona. Corn's argument is that t***p did not change the GOP, but was a product of what was a long time coming because of the likes of those mentioned along with people like Pat Buchanan, Newt Gingrich, Sarah Palin, and their ilk.

The one thing I personally would have liked Corn to devote more time to was how, after the Civil War up through the 1960s, some prominent Dixiecrats (southern democrats, many of whom were ex-confederates who were somehow allowed into the government after the Civil War) switched from the Democratic party to the Republican party, and really started the wingnut portion of the GOP caucus. He talks around the subject but does not really go into a lot of detail about how that shaped what we have now.

Overall, the book is a very good history lesson that chronicles how the modern-day GOP arrived at the place it is. Corn backs up his assertions by citing multiple sources and/or providing examples (e.g., interviews, records of speeches, etc.) of the events he writes about. If you are at all interested in history or politics, this is a must-read.

Book Review: Patent It Yourself

 

The process to get a patent in the US is very long and very expensive if you use a patent attorney or a patent agent. And, the process of writing a patent is complicated and it really takes years of practice to get comfortable with it and good at it. But, for anyone who does want to try writing their own patent, this is probably the best guide out there. At least the best I have come across. I have seen others that are, frankly, not worth the paper they are written on, but this is head and shoulders in quality above those.

This is a comprehensive guide that explains the patenting process, breaks down the different parts of a patent, describes the various ways to write patent claims (which is the most important part of the patent), and actually has the text of a sample patent so you can see how one should be laid out. And, it explains some of the basics of patent law, which you will need to understand during the prosecution of the patent (the back-and-forth with the patent and trademark office that occurs after the patent is filed) that will be helpful after the patent is written. Ultimately, it goes through all of the basics that you will need to know when it comes to how to write the patent. It has some discussion about patent drawings, but that is not comprehensive. Nolo has a patent drawings guide that can be used as a supplement to this guide that will give you details about how to deal with patent drawings.

I used this guide as I was finishing my engineering degree to learn the basics of patent law before I took the more comprehensive patent bar prep course. This will not get you the skill equivalent to a patent agent or attorney with years of experience, but it will give you the understanding you need to either try to write your own patent or figure out that you want no part in trying to do it yourself. I would not blame anyone for making either decision, but even if you do decide you do not want to write one yourself, this will help you when working with a patent attorney or a patent agent because the better you understand the process, the better communication you will have and ultimately, the more money it will save you.

Workout Update: Insanity Max 30/Chalean Extreme/Body Beast/P90X Hybrid Day Round 2 Day 35

Day 35 was Max Out cardio again. It was a mixed bag of sorts because on one hand I could go faster and do a lot more unmodified moves at the beginning of the workout, but I also got tired faster and maxed out earlier than I did last week.  I did try not to modify as much as I could, but that meant I was taking more breaks than I did when I was doing the workout completely modified in the last round. So, I am making progress, but again not necessarily as quickly as I would like to.

4kUHD Review: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

 

Fantastic Beasts is the prequel series to the Harry Potter movies and books. If you read the original Harry Potter Books you may remember that Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them was the title of one of Harry's schoolbooks and was written by the protagonist of this series of films, Newt Scamander (played by Eddie Redmayne). The story in Fantastic Beasts is set in the mid-1920s. Newt is in New York traveling with a case of magical creatures. When one of the creatures gets out, he ends up chasing it around town and in the process, his case is swapped with that of a muggle (called a no-maj in the US) named Jacob Kowalski (played by Dan Folger). Katherine Waterston plays Tina Goldstein, an Auror at the US's version of the Ministry of Magic called the Magical Congress of the United States. Tina sees part of Newt's interaction with Jacob and arrests him for breaking magical law, and as Newt, Jacob, Tina, and her sister Queenie (played by Alison Sudol) attempt to recapture the magical beasts, they are arrested because it is believed that Newt has killed a senator in a conspiracy with the dark wizard Gellert Grindewald. 

This set has two discs, a 4k UHD disc that has just the movie itself, and then the extras are included in the regular blu-ray disc. The A/V quality of the UHD disc is fantastic, and as the Harry Potter movies have always been, it is at the forefront of the most up-to-date CGI and special effects such that it is very hard to tell what is CGI and what is practical, even when you know a character is totally CGI. The extras on the regular blu-ray disc include a 15-minute making-of documentary discussing the story and creating the spinoff. Then there are a series of shorter featurettes grouped into categories called "characters", "creatures", and "design". Between the three categories, there are 18 different featurettes that range in length from around 2 minutes to just over 7 minutes. Then there are about 15 minutes of deleted scenes. 

Overall, the movie is good but much different than the Harry Potter movies. Of course, the character of Grindewald was mentioned as having a past with Dumbledore (who does not appear in this movie but is mentioned) in the Harry Potter series and will have a larger role going forward. But, this is set around adult main characters, so by definition, it is a lot different than the Potter movies. The story is well-written and it is very well-acted by not only the main cast but the supporting cast which includes Colin Farell, Ron Pearlman, and Samantha Morton. Ezra Miller also has a major role in the movie, but it is not certain how that will change given all the trouble he has been getting into in his personal life. Ultimately, I think whether you will like this movie or not is going to depend on how much you can accept that you are not seeing a Harry Potter sequel or a direct Harry Potter prequel, but a series that is also set in the Harry Potter Universe. If you can accept the latter, then you will probably like this. If not, then you probably will not.

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: DC's Legends of Tomorrow: The Complete Second Season

 

+++Warning, this contains spoilers from the first season, but no major season two spoilers+++

The second season of Legends picks up with the team dealing with the time aberrations that they released because of their actions during season one, especially toward the end of the season. And, they are still reeling from the loss of Snart after he sacrificed himself in the season one finale. The first episode of the season is basically a crossover with Arrow and introduces a new main character, Nate Heywood, played by Nick Zano, who is a historian trying to find the Waverider. The season premiere also introduces the Arrowverse's version of the Justice Society of America and introduces the character of Amaya Jiwe, played by Maisie Richardson-Sellers, who also becomes a series regular. In addition to the time aberrations storyline, the other main story arc of the season involves a team-up among former Flash and Arrow "Big Bads" Damien Darhk (played by Neil McDonough), Malcolm Merlyn (played by John Barrowman), and Reverse Flash (played by Matt Letscher). The team basically has to visit different time periods, to usually hilarious effect, and correct something that went wrong and/or thwart the plans of Darhk, Merlyn, and Thawne. Just before the halfway point of the season is Legends' installment of the big Arrowverse crossover event, Invasion, which includes characters from Supergirl, Flash, and Arrow. The season then ends on yet another cliffhanger with time being messed up and setting up the season three storylines.

For those who get the Blu-Ray set, it is pretty similar to the sets of all of the other Arrowverse shows in terms of A/V quality and extras. The extras include the crossover episodes of Flash and Arrow so you can watch the entire crossover event without getting discs from the other shows, then you get some deleted scenes (about 11 minutes between them all), a 6-minute gag reel, a 10-minute featurette on the Invasion crossover (that is the same as what is on the Flash, Arrow, and Supergirl sets if you have those), and an approximately 30-minute portion of the show's 2016 Comic-Con panel.

Overall, the show is good but different. It is much more quirky than the other Arrowverse shows, which they can play up a lot because of the time travel aspect. The cast seems to have good chemistry with each other, and while losing Wentworth Miller as a series regular did change the dynamic of the series a bit, I think the new additions to the cast fit in well. So, if you are a fan of the other Arrowverse shows, this is definitely worth watching as well, even though the storylines and to some extent the tone of the show are quite different from the first season.

Workout Update: Insanity Max 30/Chalean Extreme/Body Beast/P90X Hybrid Day Round 2 Day 34

Day 34 was the Back and Biceps workout from P90x again. For the most part, I was hitting 8 reps for weight resistance exercises, and doing anywhere from 4-10 pull-down reps with 150 lbs of band resistance. I was able to hit 10 reps for the reverse-grip bent-over rows so I will be able to bump that up to 30 lbs of resistance next week. I have three more weeks of the Max 30 workouts and I will do the P90x back and biceps workout for the next three weeks and then figure out my next workout or workouts. 

Product Review: InstallerParts 3 ft USB 2.0 High Speed Cable

 

This is a standard high-speed USB cable. It works as advertised and comes in three-feet or ten-feet lengths. It works as advertised and is a good value. I definitely recommend this if you need a USB 2.0 cable.

Supplement Review: 100% Natural Greens Powder, Over 10 Hard to Get Superfoods, Greens Supplement Powder

 

This is a greens powder that contains extracts from a bunch of different "superfoods" like Goji and Acai, and also has probiotics and fiber for good gut health. This blends well if you use a blender or shaker bottle. While it does have a bit of an aftertaste, it is not as overpowering as some greens powders are, and it does not taste like you are drinking ground-up grass. So, if you are looking for a greens powder, this is a good option.

Product Review: Statik 360 Magnetic Charging Cable - 3 in 1 Smart Rotating Charger with Micro-USB and USB-C

 

This is a great charging system. It includes three different connection pieces that plug into (and can permanently stay in) your device. The connection pieces include a micro-USB piece, a lightning piece, and a USB-C piece. Then, the cable has a magnetic end that magnetically connects to the connection piece in the device. The best feature, for me anyway, is that the end of the cable rotates and swivels. This allows you to hold your device in any position without the cable being pulled out, and if you were to pull too hard on or drop the device, the cable just separates, and the part that is plugged into the device does not break off from the cable or bend, which basically destroys regular cables. This is definitely worth the price.