Food Review: Nut Harvest Sea Salted Whole Cashews

 

This is a 16-pack of whole, salted Cashews. There are about 2.5 servings per package, and if you eat the entire package you are consuming about 350 calories. They are salted enough to give them some kick, but not so much that it seems like you are dumping salt onto your tongue. So, if you are looking for a source of healthy fat, this is a good option. Just be aware, if you are strictly following a Keto or other low-carb nutrition plan, these do have more carbs and less fiber than nuts such as almonds or pistachios. 

Blu-Ray/Movie Review: Personal Shopper

 

Personal Shopper is a smaller-budget independent film from 2016 starring Kristen Stewart, whose best movies seem to be the smaller movies that she does between the large Hollywood blockbusters. In this one, she stars as Maureen, an American living in Paris who works as a personal shopper for a French supermodel. Maureen is also a medium who is waiting for a message from the afterlife from her deceased twin brother. She also has the same genetic heart condition that killed her brother and gets sicker over the course of the movie. The movie is in part a supernatural psychological thriller and in part a crime story. The two storylines interweave with each other throughout the course of the movie and work better at different points than others. And, the movie features one of the few topless scenes that Stewart has done in her career. 

The A/V quality of the blu-ray is very good. The movie is not laden with special effects, but the location shots around Europe look very good, especially if you are watching on a large screen. The extras include the movie trailer, an almost 20-minute interview with the director, Oliver Assayas, and a 46-minute question and answer session from the Cannes Film Festival. 

Overall, the movie is good, but not great. Stewart definitely plays a different type of character than she has played in her more well-known roles in big-budget movies. Given that she seems to play more understated characters better than she does more charismatic characters, this role definitely suits her. I would not classify it as a must-watch, but if you are a fan of Stewart or indie movies in general, it is a good one to check out. 

Workout Update: Lift 4/Beginner Pilates Doubles Day 8

Day 8 marks the beginning of week two. For the Beginner Pilates workout that means doing Pilates Flow 1. It is a total-body workout that builds on the concepts that were learned in the fundamentals workouts, but with a bit less modifying than those two had. There are definitely some challenging moves in the workout, and I did have to pause a couple of times. I still cannot do the double leg side leg lifts very well (a move in which you lay on your side and lift both legs off the ground without using your arms to help push you up). I did get my legs a little higher when I was laying on my left side today than I did last week, but when I lay on my right side I can barely get my legs off the ground. The reason I love (and hate) Pilates is that it definitely focuses on my weak spots when it comes to flexibility and core strength. I generally think that Pilates is tougher for guys because we tend to be tighter in our hips, low back, and hamstrings, sometimes regardless of overall core strength. There are some moves that I feel like I can barely move my body a centimeter when Lisa is completely folded forward with her head touching her knees. Of course, she has been doing Pilates for years and is in phenomenal shape whereas I have dabbled in Pilates off and on for years, and most certainly am not in phenomenal shape. But, I do what I can and just focus on getting better each workout.

The Lift-4 workout is another chest and triceps workout, but this week you do another two quad circuits (4 exercises, two chest exercises, and two triceps exercises, doing 10 reps of each exercise back-to-back with no rest). You do three rounds of each quad set, with 30 seconds between each round. After you do the two quad sets you do a blowout set, that is three rounds of wide push-ups followed immediately by triceps push-ups. After you finish those, the workout ends with two core-focused exercises. So, while there is no HITT cardio in this workout, your heart rate does get up there, and even lifting light weights, you get tired. It is still a guessing game for the weights for me. This week I mostly had to use lighter weights than last week for some of the same moves because the quad set is harder than doing two exercises back-to-back. The most I used was 20 lbs for the chest presses, and it was a struggle by the third round. 

DVD/TV Series Review: Bull: Season 1

 

Bull is a legal drama that premiered in 2016 starring Michael Weatherly (of NCIS and Dark Angel). Weatherly stars as Dr. Jason Bull, a psychologist who owns a trial analysis company (called Trial Analysis Corp, or TAC) that acts as a jury consultant company and also provides defense counsel to both wealthy defendants and pro-bono clients. The premise of the show is that Bull can select the best jurors to get a verdict for their client, conducts mock trials to figure out how potential jurors will react to the case, and once a jury is seated, uses mirror jurors (people with similar traits to the real jurors) who watch the trial to see how the real jurors are reacting. The show is loosely based on the early career of Dr. Phil (who is a producer on the show) when he did jury consulting work.

The show is basically a case-of-the-week procedural drama, with any serial arcs mostly focused on the personal lives, or lack thereof, of the main characters. The rest of the main cast includes Freddy Rodriguez as Benny Colon, the in-house lawyer for TAC, Geneva Carr as Marissa Morgan, Bull's second-in-command, who is also a psychologist and basically runs the team from TAC while the trial is going on, Christopher Jackson as Chunk Palmer, a fashion stylist who works with the clients to prepare them for court, Jamie Lee Kirchner as Danny James, TAC's lead investigator and a former NYPD detective, and as Cable, TAC's computer expert. The main recurring characters in season 1 are Yara Martinez who plays Isabella Colon, who is Benny's sister and Bull's ex-wife, Jill Flint who plays Diana Lindsay, an adversary and love interest for Bull, and Eliza Dushku, who had a very controversial behind-the-scenes experience on the show.

For those who get the DVD set, there are a handful of extras including a gag reel, deleted and extended scenes, the CBS launch promos that aired before the show premiered, and a behind-the-scenes featurette on season 1. Not a ton of bonus features, but they are there if you want to watch them.

The show is very good and very entertaining. They actually manage to get quite a bit of the law correct, but as in all legal dramas, the courtroom scenes are highly dramatized, and much more entertaining than what happens in real life. Also, the time frame is very compressed, with each case being resolved in a matter of weeks from the time the crime is committed. The big controversy of the season involved Dushku, who asserted that Michael Weatherly sexually harassed her on the set, which ultimately resulted in her leaving the show after her three-episode arc and not being brought back for the second season, which was originally the plan. Weatherly acknowledged he made comments to her that he intended as jokes, but was not aware she was offended until much later, after which he apologized. Whatever the situation was, Dushku's character was a great addition to the show and the fact that her arc abruptly ended when she was clearly being set up for a larger role sucks. That may color whether you want to watch the show, but as far as what was on-screen, it is a good drama that is definitely not a carbon copy of any other legal drama. 

DVD/TV Series Review: Hawaii Five-0: Season 7

 

+++Warning, this contains minor season 6 spoilers, but no major season 7 giveaways+++

The 25-episode seventh season of Hawaii Five-0 aired during the 2016/2017 season. It ended up being a very transitional season for the show, probably moreso than anyone expected.  The season picks up shortly after the events that ended season 6, with Steve and Danny both still in the hospital recovering from the transplant operation. While they are recovering, a vigilante killer starts terrorizing the island, which means that they end up rushing back to work to deal with the situation. The season premiere episode also finds a clever way to incorporate Jack Lord, who played McGarrett in the original series, using CGI technology to have the two Steves talk to each other. From there, the show follows a similar format to the prior seasons, blending procedural case-of-the-week episodes with longer story arcs here and there. One of the longer serial arcs included guest stars Claire Forlani as an ex-FBI profiler and Elisabeth Rohm (from Law and Order and Angel) as a police psychologist in a storyline that involves a serial killer. This season also sees the return of Michelle Borth as Catherine and Christine Lahti as Steve's mother, Doris in episode 150. Other notable episodes include one that is clearly inspired by the movie Die Hard in which Grace's school dance is attacked by terrorists and Danny and Lou have to save the day, a Jerry-centric episode involving a new JFK assassination conspiracy, and a Max-centric episode that would be Masi Oka's last appearance as a series regular. The season ends with a storyline involving a sex-trafficking ring that Kono vows to take down.

The DVD set is a six-disc set with the 25 episodes spread across the 6 discs. The extras are similar to those of the past couple of seasons. They mostly include deleted scenes on select episodes, but there is a short behind-the-scenes featurette on the show's 150th episode. And, of course, the show is now only available on DVD as it was no longer released on blu-ray after the fourth season.

The show continues to be good but is definitely getting a bit old. Alex O'Loughlin had made no secret of the fact by this point that was not sure how much longer his body could hold up playing the role of Steve, and of course, this is the season in which Grace Park's and Daniel Dae Kim's frustrations over their salary came to a head. Even with all of that, the writers did a good job coming up with compelling stories to tell, and the show continued to have a great guest and recurring cast, including Rosalind Chao, Melanie Griffith, Sarah Carter, Lilli Simmons, Chris Vance, Missy Peregrym, and Jimmy Buffett. If you have liked the show up to this point you will probably like this season. If it has not done much for you before this, this season is not likely to change your mind.

4k-UHD/Movie Review: Spiderman Homecoming

 

Homecoming is the newest incarnation of Spiderman in the Marvel universe. Of course, the first live-action version of the character was played by Toby McGuire back in 2002 and arguably jumpstarted the superhero movie genre which had been on life support since Batman and Robin flopped in 1999. This version of Peter Parker/Spiderman, played by Tom Holland, was actually introduced during Captain America Civil War, fighting on the Iron Man side. This movie is mostly set after the events of Civil War, with Peter Parker going back to life as a high-school student, still being mentored by Stark (mostly from afar), and being watched over by Happy Hogan (played again by Jon Favreau). The movie also has ties to the first Avengers movie with the Chitauri technology playing a large role in the plot of the movie. Peter becomes more concerned with fighting crime than he is with school, which does not always work out well for him. The movie also sees the return of Michael Keaton to the superhero genre, this time in a much different role. The rest of the cast is very strong and includes Zendeya, Jacob Batalon, Donald Glover, and Marissa Tomei, as Aunt May.

For those who get the 4k-UHD set, there are two discs, the UHD disc, and a regular blu-ray disc. The A/V quality of the UHD disc is great, and the movie looks and sounds wonderful in the format. The UHD disc has one extra, the Spidey Study Guide, that allows the movie to be played with pop-ups that have trivia and facts about the movie. The rest of the extras are on the regular blu-ray disc. Those include a short gag reel, about 16 minutes of deleted and extended scenes, eight different making-of and behind-the-scenes featurettes that run about 45 minutes, give or take, all totaled, a photo gallery, the movie trailer, and trailers for other Sony titles.

Overall, the movie is very good. It has a nice blend of action and humor and is a bit more light-hearted than some of the other MCU movies. Of course, Sony actually owns the rights to the Spiderman character (because of some licensing deal made years ago) and they allow the character to appear in the MCU. Holland does a great job as the lead, and you can buy him as a teenager even though he was in his early 20s when the movie was made. Robert Downey Jr. is always entertaining as Tony Stark (especially when he was hitting on Aunt May), and both Batalon (playing Peter's best friend, Ned) and Zendaya (playing Michelle/MJ) were great in the younger roles. For me, however, Keaton really stole the show and seemed to really be enjoying his return to the superhero genre. It is a great movie that is definitely worth checking out.

Workout Update: Lift 4/Beginner Pilates Doubles Day 7

Day 7 was a total rest day for Beginner Pilates. It is an optional rest day for Lift-4, but I again did the flexibility and then the foam roller routines. Nothing really new to report about either of those two, as my flexibility (or lack thereof), was exactly the same as it was yesterday.  

DVD/TV Series Review: The Good Place: Season 1

 

The Good Place is a comedy about the afterlife created by Micahel Schur (who was one of the writers/producers of The Office; and also played Dwight's cousin Mose), that skillfully manages to avoid religion (save for a line in the first episode) despite being about the concepts of Heaven and Hell.

The series stars Kristen Bell as Elanor Shellstrop, a woman in her 30s who lived a trainwreck of a life and was killed in a grocery store parking lot. She has managed to go to "The Good Place" despite being a truly awful person. There she is welcomed by Ted Danson's character, Michael, who is the architect of the neighborhood in The Good Place where Elanor will be living for eternity, along with other residents. Basically, Michael is an immortal being that has the equivalent of a 9-to-5 job, getting his first chance to design a neighborhood. Elanor quickly figures out that another woman with the same name was supposed to be in The Good Place, and she was not. She enlists the help of another new resident of the neighborhood, Chidi, played by William Jackson Harper, who was a philosophy professor in life, to help her become a better person. The neighborhood starts falling apart through a series of ever-increasing disasters as Elanor tries to hide who she is, and change her ways. The rest of the main cast includes Jameela Jamil, who plays Tahani, a wealthy English philanthropist who is totally self-absorbed, Manny Jacinto, who plays Jianyu, a monk who has taken a vow of silence, and D'Arcy Carden, who plays Janet, a programmed guide (think Siri or Alexa) that can take physical form and provide the residents anything they desire.

In the DVD set, the 13 episodes are spread across two discs. The extras include commentary tracks on four episodes with Schur and various members of the cast. There are extended editions of the pilot and the season finale, a gag reel that is hosted by Adam Scott in-character, as Trevor, a featurette on the special effects, and the table read of Episode 12. So, a good amount of material if you like watching the extras.

Overall, the show is very good. As I said above, it really avoids religion of any kind, aside from a line that says each religion gets something right. Kristen Bell is hilarious as Elanor and Jameela Jamil, who is in her first major acting role, does a great job with her character as well. The main cast are all wonderful and the show also has a strong supporting cast, including the aforementioned Adam Scott, Tiya Sircar, Marc Evan Jackson, and more. The show is definitely not appropriate for young kids as it does have a lot of sex jokes, drinking, and disguised swearing (fuck becomes fork, and shit becomes shirt) because there is no swearing in "The Good Place". So, if you are looking for a good, but more adult sitcom, this one is definitely worth watching.

DVD/TV Series Review: Designated Survivor: Season 1

 

Designated Survivor was a show about a HUD Secretary named Tom Kirkman, played by Kiefer Sutherland, Kirkman is named the Designated Survivor (the one cabinet member that does not attend the State of the Union) and becomes President when a terrorist attack wipes out the entire government (almost) on an attack on the Capitol during the State of the Union address. 

The first season of the show intertwines two storylines. The first was trying to figure out who was behind the attack on the Capitol. The second storyline involved Kirkman figuring out how to be President, and trying to rebuild the government, as well as trying to run the country with the majority of the government gone. The two storylines largely remained parallel to each other, only intersecting at certain times. Maggie Q, arguably the second lead of the series, plays FBI agent Hannah Wells, who was the lead agent trying to figure out the conspiracy. The White House Staff included Adan Canto (playing the Chief of Staff Aaron Shore), Italia Ricci (playing Advisor Emily Rhodes), LaMonica Garret, (who played lead Secret Service Agent Mike Ritter), and Kal Penn (who played Press Secretary Seth Wright). Penn was also a consultant on the show and provided knowledge of his time working in the White House.  The rest of the cast was rounded out by character actors including Natascha McElhone as the first lady, McKenna Grace and Tanner Buchanan as Kirkman's son and daughter, Malik Yoba as FBI Deputy Director Jason Atwood, Reed Diamond as the FBI's version of the head of Internal Affairs, and Virginia Madsen as Congresswoman Virginal Hookstraten, who was the Republican Designated Survivor.

For those who get the DVD set, the 21 episodes are spread across five discs. There are only a handful of extras including the entire first speech Kirkman makes after being sworn in, a set tour hosted by LaMonica Garret, and a making-of featurette that features interviews with the cast and the showrunners.

Overall, the first season is very good, and in some ways was very prophetic in the storyline about the conspiracy to overthrow the government. Fortunately, the dipshits that tried it in real life were not as good at it as those in the series. My only real complaint about the first season is that they revealed too much too soon. Much of the conspiracy storyline is revealed by the end of the season, and I think that could have been saved a bit for season two. Otherwise, though, Sutherland does a great job as the series lead. This is really his first major role since his time as Jack Bauer ended, and it is always hard to see (and hear) him without thinking of Jack Bauer. But, he does a good job not playing the part of Kirkman as Jack Bauer as President. So, if you like political dramas with some action and suspense mixed in, this is definitely worth watching.

Workout Update: Lift 4/Beginner Pilates Doubles Day 6

For Day 6 in Beginner Pilates, the workout is the Abs and Core workout. This one is short, just over 23 minutes, and focuses on just ab/core exercises. Although a couple of the moves in the workout also work hamstring flexibility and the lower back (which is a part of the core anyway). The moves are challenging, but doable. I did have to skip a couple of reps in some of the moves a couple of times, but for the most part, I could get through everything.

Day 6 in Lift-4 is another recovery day so I again did the flexibility workout and then the Roll and Recover workout. I do wish that they would have made each of those workouts a little longer...maybe 15 minutes each so that they could incorporate a few more moves and stretch a couple of other body parts. But otherwise, I think those are both good workouts.

Workout Update: Lift 4/Beginner Pilates Doubles Day 5

 Day 5 for Beginner Pilates was the Fundamentals 2 workout. This was supposed to be the workout on Thursday, but I accidentally mixed them up, so I just did this one today and moved on. Shockingly, I am seeing tiny gains in my flexibility even after the first week. On the modified roll-up, when I stretch forward I can get a little (and I stress a little) a bit farther with my reach. Even when I was a kid, and was much more flexible than I am as an adult, I could never do that seated stretch worth a damn. When we had to do that fitness test in school and had to sit with our feet against the box and move the slider at the top, I could barely reach the slider, much less move it. 

The Lift 4 workout was legs, which was a 50/50 lifting and cardio workout. For this one, there are three blocks of two different leg exercises. You do 10 reps of each exercise and then rest, and then repeat for three rounds. Then, after you get through the three blocks of leg exercises you do cardio. There are three cardio exercises you cycle through, high knee jog for 1-minute, a move where you keep your knees two inches off the floor and hop side-to-side for 45 seconds, and then squat jacks for 30 seconds. You do three rounds of the cardio, and then you alternate two different core exercises (a version of a crunch and plank leg lifts). So, it is another brutal workout that will have you gassed by the end of it. 

Product Review: Filtrete 16x25x1 Air Filter, MPR 1200, Allergen Defense Odor Reduction, 2-Pack

 

These filters are good if you have a newer, higher-efficiency furnace. If your furnace is older (manufactured and/or installed around the year 2000), especially a lower-end model, then chances are it will not provide enough airflow through these to make them worth using. But, once you do have a newer furnace, these are a good option. They are a bit more expensive than the very cheap filters, but they also trap a lot more.

Book Review: Star Wars: From a Certain Point of View (A New Hope)

 

From a Certain Point of View is a collection of short stories set during A New Hope, but told from the perspective of characters that were ancillary and/or in the background of the various scenes. For example, the first story is told from the point of view of Raymus Antillies who was the officer on board Princess Leia's ship whom Darth Vader kills after he comes aboard looking for the Death Star plans. There is also a story from the point of view of the droid with the bad motivator that allows R2 to be purchased by Owen and a story from the point of view of one of the Jawas. We also get a story from the point of view of the stormtroopers who got mind-tricked by Obi-Wan, and a couple of stories set inside the cantina. There are also stories that include Qui-Gon (appearing as a force ghost to Obi-Wan) and Palpatine after Vader informs him of Obi-Wan's death.

The book is very entertaining. Some of the stories are better than others, but I would not say that there are any bad stories among the bunch. Of course, none of the stories change the plot of A New Hope but do flesh out the story a bit. It will appeal to most Star Wars fans, but will probably appeal the most to the people in their 40s and 50s who grew up on the original trilogy. The book is almost 500 pages long, and the stories vary in length. On the whole, it is a fairly easy read, although some of the stories are easier to get through than others. I definitely recommend it. 

Product Review: Dickies Men's Dri-tech Moisture Control Crew Socks Multipack

 

I live in the northern part of the country where it can get very cold in the winter, even inside the house. These socks are great for keeping your feet warm, without making them sweat. They are good for just lounging around the house, or you can even work out in them comfortably. Definitely a good pickup.

Blu-Ray/Movie Review: Gifted

 

Gifted is a great movie starring Chris Evans (in a role that is the polar opposite of his Marvel action roles) and McKenna Grace, in one of her first major movie roles. Evans stars as Frank Adler, a single guy working on a boat and is the guardian of his seven-year-old niece, Mary (played by Grace), whose mother Diane, who was a math prodigy committed suicide when Mary was six months old. Mary, like her mother, is a math genius who relates more to adults (her best friend is her neighbor played by Octavia Spencer) than she does to kids her own age. Frank wants to put her in public school and give her as normal a life as possible, while his mother, played by Lindsay Duncan, wants to put Mary in a school for gifted kids. The movie is basically an emotional drama that deals with the custody fight between Frank and his mother, Mary trying to cope with being a seven-year-old who is as smart as many 30-year-olds but is still emotionally a kid, and all of them trying to figure out how to have normal relationships with each other and other people. 

The A/V quality of the blu-ray transfer is good, but not outstanding. Of course, there are no big-budget special effects so for all but the die-hard video wonks, the A/V quality is likely going to be perfectly fine. The disc is pretty light on bonus features. The most extensive is a 13-minute HBO first look, and then 8 minutes of deleted scenes. Then there are a series of short promotional featurettes and the trailer. The total running time of the extras is a little over a half hour. While there are not a lot of extras, what is included is good.

Overall, the movie is very good. Grace is most definitely the stand-out, easily able to go from being an immature kid to someone who is more mature than a lot of adults with ease. Evans also does a very good job in a movie that is outside the genre for which he is known, as does Jenny Slate who plays one of Mary's teachers and a love interest for Frank. Grace and Evans have great chemistry together, and Octavia Spencer does a very good job in her relatively small role. It is definitely a movie worth watching if you are looking for a good drama.

Workout Update: Lift 4/Beginner Pilates Doubles Day 4

Day 4 was supposed to be Fundamentals 2 again in Beginner Pilates, but I kind of accidentally and then on purpose did the Hips, Buns, and Thighs workout instead. Meaning, at first I thought that was today's scheduled workout, was glad to see it was 27 minutes long because I had a work call get scheduled last minute, and by the time I realized I was not doing the correct workout, I was not going to switch. I will say that this is much harder than either of the Fundamentals workouts and there were a couple of times when I had to pause and skip a rep. 

The Lift-4 workout was shoulders, which is an interval workout. There are three rounds. In each round you do two shoulder exercises (ten reps each, without rest in between) then you do a 30-second HITT cardio exercise. After the cardio move, you get a 30-second rest and then repeat everything two more times and then move to the next round. In the first round, you do shoulder presses and upright rows for the lifting moves, and then the cardio move is a quick jump-step kind of thing. In round two you do front raises and lateral raises for the lifting moves and burpees for the cardio move. In the third round, you do wide front raises and what Joel calls shoulder flys in which you start with your arms bent at 90 degrees out in front of you so your hands are at forehead level and your elbows are basically touching, then you open your arms so that your hands move to either side of your head and your elbows stay high at the same height as your armpits. Then, the cardio move is plyometric lunges. 

Once you get through the three rounds, you do two core exercises, back-to-back for three rounds. The first is that you lay on your back and kick your feet in a scissor motion (kind of like the Pfeiffer scissors from P90x, but your feet stay about six inches off the ground as opposed to kicking your legs and feet up high and you kick your feet fast), and the second is a sit-up variation. It is another tough workout that will have you gassed by the end of it. 

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: Emerald City: Season 1

 

Emerald City is a trippy and sometimes very odd reimaging of the Land of Oz based on the novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz, starring Judy Garland. In this adaptation, set in the modern day (as of 2017 anyway), Dorothy is a nurse in Kansas played by Jessica Alba lookalike Adria Arjona, who still gets transported to Oz via a tornado (although the circumstances are much different than in the movie), and still kills the Wicked Witch of the East (who is conveniently named East). But in this adaptation, East's death sets off a war between witches and the Wizard (played by Vincent D'Onofrio) which Dorothy into which Dorothy is thrown in the middle. Oliver Jackson-Cohen plays Lucas, a strange man with no memory (who is clearly an analog for The Scarecrow from the movie) who accompanies Dorothy through Oz.

The show looks and sounds great on blu-ray. There are, of course, a ton of special effects that make for really good visuals. The extras include a handful of short deleted scenes and a five-part making-of-documentary that runs about 45 minutes, give or take, in total. So, not a ton of extras, but what was included is good.

Chances are a lot of people who watch this will either love the show or hate it. It definitely tells a much different story than what was told in the movie. There is also a lot of violence and some sexual content. While there is no real nudity or explicit sex, it does push the boundaries of what could be shown on regular network tv, including a covered handjob. So, needless to say, this is not going to appeal to everyone and is not something that is appropriate for younger kids. I personally liked the fact that it included more characters than the movie did, and incorporated some of the neighboring kingdoms around Oz into the story. I think Arjona did a good job playing the series lead, but the entire cast including Joely Richardson, Stefanie Martini, and Isabel Lucas, did a good job in their roles. The show was canceled after just ten episodes and the writers were clearly setting up a second season, so if you do watch the show and like it, it may be a bit unfulfilling. 

Book Review: Disloyal: A Memoir

 

Disloyal is a must-read behind-the-curtain look at the orange genital wart and his company as seen through the eyes of his attorney/thug/executive vice president (which was really just a paper title), Michael Cohen. Cohen details how he ended up in the dipshit's orbit, discusses what he did in the company (or "for the boss"), and provides an insider's view of the things he saw and did. Most importantly, does not pretend to know things he was not privy to. Cohen does not portray himself as a hero in any way, shape, or form, which lends credibility to the claims he makes. 

The book talks about Cohen's early life in NY, his role as a hanger-on to anyone with power, criminal status or not, the life he had carved out for himself before he was pulled into the orbit of t***p, what he did for t***p, and how everything fell apart for him when the hammer of the DOJ came down on him, and how he was essentially left out to dry. Some of the interesting things from the book is how working for t***p, even before it was widely known what scum he actually was, drove a wedge between Cohen and his family. Cohen does a bit of a mea-culpa in the book saying he did things for t***p that he knows is wrong, and that he knew was wrong as he did them, but he was so enamored with proximity to power that he did not care, and totally ignored the fact that it was taking a toll on his family life, especially during the presidential campaign. 

Cohen describes his role as not just a fixer, cleaning up t***p's messes like hiding the fact that he fucked Stormy Daniels and had an ongoing affair with former Playmate, Karen McDougal, but he also played a much larger role in t***p's run for President than is widely known. While you do have to take what Cohen says with a bit of a grain of salt, because there was not ever much of a paper trail in t***pworld, he does admit that he did not know everything he was speculated to know and clearly states what he was and more importantly was not privy to and provides receipts in the form of email chains, including emails that were printed out that t***p clearly wrote notes on in sharpie, which lends credence to his allegations.

While Cohen does explain why he ultimately decided to cooperate with the DOJ and plead guilty to the crimes he was indicted for, (which according to Cohen was supposed to be three counts when he was offered the deal and then was bumped up to eight counts the day he was to plead), which was to save his wife from being charged with tax fraud as well, he never explains why he went all-in and called out t***p for being a racist, a xenophobe, and all of the things that he has said about him since he testified publically before Congress.

As I said above, you do have to take what Cohen says with a bit of a grain of salt, as he clearly has reason to be bitter with t***p. Cohen does admit that he was not a good guy in the story, which is clear when he admits to being more pissed off about t***p stiffing him on his year-end bonus after he covered up the Stormy Daniels story by paying her off with his own money than he was when t***p would say racist shit. He admits that he was working to get a t***p tower in Moscow built during the presidential run, but denies that he was ever meeting with the Russians to help them interfere in the 2016 election. He admits that everyone, including t***p, expected to lose the election and he 100% believes it was Comey's interference more than anything Russia was able to do that swung what was always going to be a close election t***p's way. He also fully admitted to being a member of t***p's cult long before the legions of MAGATs jumped on board, and provides a very prophetic warning that t***p would never willingly give up power if he lost the 2020 election, which, of course, we know was absolutely true. 

The book is 368 pages with an appendix that has images of various documents that runs another 60 pages, give or take. It can easily be read in a week or so, depending on how fast you read and how much time you have to read.

Workout Update: Lift 4/Beginner Pilates Doubles Day 3

Day 3 was a total flexibility day. For Beginner Pilates it was back to the Fundamentals 1 workout and for Lift-4 it was a recovery day, so that means you can rest or do one or both of the recovery workouts. I decided to do both recovery workouts, first doing Lift-4 stretch and then doing the roll and recovery (which is the foam roller routine). While I cannot say that I noticed a marked change in my flexibility, but I can feel, especially after the foam roller routine, that my hamstrings and hips are a bit less tight. I still have way too much gut (along with the tight back, hamstrings, and hips) to make any of the forward-folding moves easy, and many times I cannot get my hands much past my knees. But, I have a feeling, with all the flexibility work that this doubles routine will have, that I will see improvement week-to-week. 

DVD/TV Series Review: Hunted

 

Hunted is a 2012 series starring Australian Actress Melissa George, who is probably best known (at least in the US) for her role in the series Alias from 2003-2004. The series is short, with just eight episodes on two discs. 

In the series, George plays Samantha (Sam) Hunter, who is a spy for a private espionage firm named Byzantium. While on a mission in Tangiers she is attacked and shot. Believing that she was set up by someone in Byzantium, she goes off the radar for a year she returns to the agency determined to figure out who set her up. She is also tasked with a new mission to go undercover as the nanny/tutor of the son of a former high-level criminal who is bidding on a Dam in Pakistan. 

For those who get the DVD set, it is just a MOD set with the episodes only. There are no extras or bonus material. The show has a good mix of action and suspense, with some twists and turns along the way. Because it got canceled pretty early into its run, not everything gets wrapped up in a nice bow by the end. Although, it does not end on a major cliffhanger either. There is brief nudity in the first episode, but after that, there is not a ton of sexual content (especially for a series that ran on Cinemax). George does a good job as the series lead and the show has a good supporting cast including Adam Raymer and Stephen Dillane. 

The series is good but was really never given a chance to find its footing. So the fact that it ends with a lot of open and unresolved questions may prevent some people from really enjoying it. There were rumors in the years after the show was canceled about a season two or a movie to at the very least bring back the character of Sam, but those never came to fruition. So just be aware, if you watch this, that the series just kind of ends without much of a payoff. 

DVD/TV Series Review: American Dad!: Volume 11

 

Volume 11 of American Dad! continues the crazy episode selection for the DVD releases. As most are likely aware, as has been the case with the Family Guy DVD releases, early on, instead of just releasing Season 1, Season 2,...etc., they released volumes that had episodes from different seasons. It does not help that after the show started airing on Hulu, they tweaked what episodes were a part of particular seasons. What is clear is that this set has the last three episodes that aired on FOX (some places list those as the final three episodes of Season 9, others call them Season 11) and then the first 15 episodes that aired on TBS after the show was moved from FOX to TBS (which in some places are listed as Season 10 episodes and in other places listed as Season 12 episodes). At any rate, this set has 18 total episodes.

As for the episodes themselves, they are pretty much as they have been the past few seasons, self-contained plots within the episodes with occasional callbacks to things that occurred in prior episodes. Different episodes tend to focus on different characters, although pretty much every episode at this point involves Roger and one of his personas. There is less of a focus on Stan's job at the CIA, which is what I liked about the first few seasons, and focuses on the more silly, crazy things that happen in the show (like Jeff being abducted by aliens and the evil Kris Kringle episodes).

The DVD set just has the episodes themselves. There are no extras like commentary tracks, interviews with the cast or writers, or things like that which were included in earlier season releases. You do, however, get uncensored episodes which include uncensored jokes and swearing that gets bleeped out on the broadcast and streaming versions of the show. If you do not care about the uncensored episodes, however, you will not get anything more by getting the discs versus just streaming the show.

Ultimately, you probably know by now if you like the show or not. It has been on the air long enough that some people might be getting tired of it or may fall in the category of they just don't like it as much as they did in the beginning. While I definitely liked the first couple of seasons more than I do the later seasons, I still find the show, on the whole, to be funny and entertaining. It is definitely not a cartoon that is suitable for young kids as it has a lot of raunchy jokes that definitely push the bounds of what the writers could get away with. 

Workout Update: Lift 4/Beginner Pilates Doubles Day 2

For the morning workout on day 2 of the doubles workouts, I did Pilates Fundamentals 2. It is much like the first workout in which you do a series of moves that will lead up to doing "regular" versions of the moves in a more flowing sequence down the line. In this workout, Lisa Hubbard again modifies all of the moves and shows unmodified versions for people who do not have tight backs, hamstrings, and/or hips (which is definitely not me).  I would not say that I noticed any marked increase in my flexibility from day 1 to day 2, but I would not expect that to be the case anyway.

Then, for the PM workout, I did Lift 4's back and bicep workout. This workout is a circuit workout that consists of two blocks of four exercises that alternate between a back exercise and a bicep exercise. There are three rounds of each block, and you do not rest at all between exercises, but you do get 30 seconds to rest between the rounds. 

The first block consists of wide back rows, open arm bicep curls (if you have done P90x you will recognize those), standard back rows, and hammer curls. The second block consists of dumbbell pullovers, top-only bicep curls (you start with the weights by your shoulders and lower them halfway), back flys, and bottom-only bicep curls (start with the weights low and raise them halfway). 

After you do those rounds you alternate between a move that is a cross between the cobra from yoga and the supermans from P90x and then do as many bicep curls as you can for 30 seconds. You do three rounds of those and then finish the workout by alternating two core exercises for three rounds. The first core exercise is a sit-up in which you bring your elbow as close to the opposite knee as you can, and then you do planks for 30 seconds. 

While this workout has no HITT cardio in it, the workout is very hard and you get tired very easily. I would suggest picking lighter weights to use than you think you need because, with no rest between the exercise sets, the weights get really heavy, really fast. And, your heart rate does get up there so you do not really miss the cardio. There is again a modifier in the workout that you can follow if you need to. One observation about this workout is that you really need a selection of free weights. A set of selectable dumbbells like the Bowflex SelectTechs would not really work for this workout because you really do not have time to re-rack the dumbbells and select the new weight before they move on to the next exercise. Just something to keep in mind if you want to do this program.

4k-UHD/Movie Review: Baywatch

 

Baywatch is a 2017 movie that partly pays homage to and partly spoofs the long-running 1990s TV show of the same name. The movie stars Dwyane Johnson (a.k.a. The Rock) as Mitch Buchannon, the leader of a team of lifeguards in Emerald Bay that includes veterans Stephanie Holden (played by Ilfenesh Hadera) and C.J. Parker (played by Kelly Rohrbach, taking over the role played by Pamela Anderson in the show). The team holds tryouts for three open positions, that ultimately are filled with characters played by Alexandra Daddario, John Bass (who is pretty much the comic relief of the movie), and Zach Efron, who plays a former Olympic swimmer named Matt Brody, and is the butt of Mitch's constant jokes.

The plot of the movie involves the team having to solve a murder that involves a wider criminal plot. The other cast members include Priyanka Chopra, Rob Huebel, Hannibal Buress, and Oscar Nunez, and does have cameo appearances by Pamela Anderson and David Hasselhoff. You can watch the rated/theatrical version or the unrated/extended edition (which does not really add much to the story, just has a few more jokes.

For those who get the 4k set, there are two discs, a UHD disc, which just includes the movie, and a regular blu-ray disc with the movie and the bonus material. The A/V quality of the UHD disc is outstanding. Both the picture and sound are great, especially if you have a large screen and a decent sound system. There are a handful of extras which include a 21-minute feature on the various characters, a 10-minute feature on a look at the show's legacy and how the movie tried to pay homage to that, a 10-minute feature on the stunts, and then about 10 minutes of deleted and extended scenes.

The movie is basically an action-comedy, with the comedy being on the more raunchy side. So, it is definitely not a movie that will appeal to everyone. It has a bunch of ridiculously good-looking people in it, which is really the main attraction. It is definitely not an award-winner by any stretch of the imagination. But, if you take it for what it is, and do not expect it to be more than what it is, it is enjoyable. 

Product Review: UHMER Silicone Spoon Rest for Kitchen

 

This is a great kitchen accessory that allows you to put spatulas, whisks, or any other type of cooking utensil that you might set on your counter (and hence get it dirty) while cooking. There are four slots in which you can put longer-handled items like spatulas in, and then there is enough room on the larger side that you can set a regular fork or spoon. Then, after you are done cooking you can rinse this off, wash it with soap and water, or put it in the dishwasher. It is made of silicon so it is heat-resistant and easy to clean. If you are one who hates constantly wiping down counters, especially when food or sauces have dried and started to stick, I definitely recommend this.

DVD/TV Series Review: Chicago Med: Season 2

 

The second season of Chicago Med follows the same format as season 1. It is mostly a case-of-the-week procedural show in which one or two big cases come through the emergency department, with smaller cases interspersed throughout the episodes to give all the characters some screen time. There are also storylines that play out throughout the course of the season, mostly involving the personal or professional lives of the characters, which is when the show can get a bit soap operaish. Some of the character dynamics shift in season two with Reece (Rachel DiPillo) joining Dr. Charles (Oliver Platt) in psychiatry as a resident, Dr. Choi (Brian Tee) is now the chief emergency resident, which results in some tension with Dr. Halstead (Nick Gehlfuss), and Dr. Rhodes (Colin Donnel) gets a new boss with whom he immediately clashes with. Dr. Rhodes also starts seeing Dr. Charles' daughter, Robyn, played by Mekia Cox, which causes all sorts of issues throughout the season. 

The DVD set just has the 23 episodes spread across six discs. There are no extras or special features at all. Also, there is no big crossover this season with the other One-Chicago shows, but characters from both Chicago PD and Chicago Fire do appear in smaller cameo or guest-starring roles throughout the season.

The show continues to be strong in its second season. Like ER (which to me, is the standard by which all medical dramas should be compared), it mostly focuses on the medical cases, but as I said above, it can get a bit soap operaish. The writing and acting are both strong and the writers do a good job of giving the large ensemble cast material to work with. The season ends on a very large cliffhanger that will undoubtedly reverberate going into season three. So, if you liked season 1, then it is definitely worth sticking with the show in season two.