Workout Update: 645 Cardio/Chalean Extreme Day 1

I decided to go back to one of my older workouts as my "main" workout for the next few months: Chalean Extreme. Today was day 1, so I did 645 cardio in the morning and Burn Circuit 1 from CE in the evening. The cardio workout was fine. I selected more intense/higher-impact exercises since CE does not have a HIIT component on Day 1. The Burn Circuit 1 workout was challenging but doable. I had to drop the weight I used on one of the exercises because I forgot it required lifting weights to my shoulders for 10-12 reps. Other than that, my initial weight selection was good. 

Blu-Ray/Movie Review: Embrace of the Vampire (1995)

 

Embrace of the Vampire was a mid-1990s schlocky B-level movie starring Alyssa Milano, Martin Kemp, Charlotte Lewis, and Jennifer Tilly. Its main claim to fame was Alyssa Milano taking on one of the roles that broke her out of the good-girl child star mold she had been in since her days on Whose The Boss and in the movie Commando. This is one of the first, if not the first, roles where Milano, who was in her early twenties at the time, went topless. She was also drinking, smoking, and making out with Charlotte Lewis. The actual storyline is nothing to write home about, Milano's character Charlotte, who is a freshman in college, is being stalked by a vampire (played by Martin Kemp) who is trying to seduce her so he can avoid eternal sleep (the vampire version of dying apparently). It is a pretty stupid plot, and the writing (and, as a result, the acting) was not all that great. But, it is one of those movies that you get knowing what it is, and you watch it to see Milano (especially if you are old enough to have had a crush on her during the 1980s) playing a bad girl role, which she does an awesome job at. She is really the best part of the movie.

For those who get the blu-ray, it is not the best transfer. I do not own the DVD version of the movies, but other reviewers have said that the blu-ray is not any big step up in quality. And there are no extras, just the movie itself. So, if you have the DVD, there is really no reason to upgrade. If you are looking for a B-level thriller and/or want to see Milano in what was probably her sexiest role, then this is worth it. Otherwise, you are not missing much if you skip this one.

DVD/Movie Review: Sin City

 

Sin City is a movie from 2005 that is an adaptation of a very dark and violent graphic novel by Frank Miller. It was mostly directed by Robert Rodriguez, but a portion was also directed by Quentin Tarantino and a portion by Frank Miller. It stars Mickey Rourke, Bruce Willis, Jessica Alba, Rosario Dawson, Clive Owen, Alexis Bledel, Jamie King, Benicio del Toro, Elija Wood, Carla Gugino, Nick Stahl, Josh Hartnett, Powers Boothe, Devon Aoki, and Brittany Murphy. It tells essentially three separate stories that overlap and intersect occasionally with each other. It starts out with Bruce Willis, one of the city's honest cops saving a young girl (who later in the movie grows up and is played by Jessica Alba) who has been kidnapped by the son (Stahl) of a corrupt senator (Boothe), then shifts to the story of a brute played by Micky Rourke who is on a revenge mission against the killer of his "true love," a hooker played by Jamie King. Then, there is a story about the boyfriend (Owen) of a bartender ( Murphy) who is being harassed by a corrupt cop (del Toro) taking out said cop.

The original DVD release was very bare-bones. The only extra is a short behind-the-scenes featurette. The movie, like the graphic novel, is very violent, with beatings, dismemberings, and everything in between, but manages not to show a lot of blood by showing the blood basically as bright white against the black and white that the movie is (mostly) filmed in. There is also some nudity, mostly from Carla Gugino and Jamie King, but also have characters in various states of undress or skimpy outfits (including Alba, Rosario Dawson, and Devon Aoki), and a lot of swearing. Basically, this is something you are going to watch if you are in the mood for an action movie and you do not mind very violent action movies. It is definitely not in the vein of the superhero comic book adaptations that Marvel and DC have put out since this was released. It is much more in the vein of Kill Bill and Watchman. Chances are, if you like those, you will like this. But, if you hate movies like those, you probably are not going to be into this one either.

Workout Update: 645 Cardio/MBF Day 20

For day 20 I did 645 cardio in the morning and the final power ignite workout of MBF in the evening. I had zero energy for the evening workout, so I was half-assing it through a lot of the workout. The push-up block is still the bane of my existence since I still despise push-ups. But, I did what I could and did get two workouts in so I did not feel as bad about not going all out in the second one.

Workout Update: 645 Cardio/MBF Day 19

Day 19 was 645 cardio in the morning and MBF's full-body burn workout in the evening. Full body burn was another challenging workout, even using light weight. The weights I used in this one ranged from 8 lbs to 12 lbs. After doing two rounds of MBF I think the best approach for increasing weight throughout the program is doing week 1 with an absurdly light weight, like 5 lbs, or every exercise. Then, in week two, bump up to 10 lbs and in week three, jump to 12 or 15 lbs. Because you get no breaks once the workout starts, it is damn near impossible to use 25+ lb weights because you do a lot of reps, and many times, the exercises are paired so that one exercise requires a much smaller weight than the other if you had time between sets to switch out your weights. But, because you go from one exercise to the next with no rest, you have to cater to the exercise that requires a smaller amount of weight.

Workout Update: 645 Cardio/MBF Day 18

Day 18 was the last core circuit workout of MBF, and, of course, I did 645 cardio in the morning. In the AMRAP block of the MBF workout, I was able to complete almost three more rounds than I did last week, so I felt good about that. 

Workout Update: 645 Cardio/MBF Day 17

Day 17 was 645 cardio and upper body burn in MBF. The upper body burn workout was very challenging. The workouts definitely did not get any easier for me in this round.  I stuck with using 10-12 lbs for the entire workout, and that was plenty.

DVD/TV Series Review: The Astronaut Wives Club

 

The Astronaut Wives Club is a 10-episode miniseries that tells the story of the early days of the United States space program, mainly through the eyes/experiences of the wives of the Mercury Seven astronauts. The Female leads include Yvonne Strahovski, Odette Annable, JoAnna Garcia, Dominique McElligott, Erin Cummings, Zoe Boyle, and Asure Parsons. The series also starred Aaron McCusker, Joel Johnstone, Wilson Bethel, Bret Harrison, Desmond Harrington, and Luke Kirby. The story spans from the beginning of the space program in the 1950s through to the Apollo missions in the 1960s, with the last major mission dramatized in the show being the Apollo 13 mission. It also detailed major events that occurred during that time period including the Cuban Missile Crisis, both Kennedy Assassinations, and the Civil Rights movement. Much of the focus of the show was on the need for the wives to keep up appearances of having perfect lives, all while dealing with the stress of their husbands blasting off into space and having numerous affairs while they were on the ground.

For those who get the DVD set, it is a pretty standard MOD release. It does have English captions, but there are no extras or special features of any kind. Just the 10 episodes spread across two discs, with 5 episodes on each disc. Overall, the series is well-written and very well-acted. For anyone still around who was alive during that time period and old enough to remember what was going on in the space race, it provides a lot of background material for what really went on (although it does not try to be a straight-up documentary). But, even for those who were not born until the tail end of the space race in the 1970s or in the 1980s but are still interested in the topic, even though we did not live through it, it is still a very enjoyable series. Definitely worth checking out.

Book Review: Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge: Traveler's Guide to Batuu

 

This really serves as a dual-function book. First, and probably most importantly (at least for Disney), it serves as a guidebook for its Galaxy's Edge theme parks at Disneyland and Disneyworld, which use the planet Batuu as their setting. Second, it gives some context to some of the newer canon novels set in Batuu.

The hardcover version of the book is just under 150 pages and can easily be read in a few hours. It mostly talks about people and attractions that you can see in the theme park and dribbles in a bit of Star Wars history here and there as well. It does not read like a novel at all and does not really even need to be read cover-to-cover. My one real issue with the book is that the print can get fairly small, and some of the pages are colored, and the print can blend in with the page color, making it very hard to read for people with bad eyesight and/or who are colorblind. Aside from that, it is not something that I would call a must-read by any means, but if you are a hardcore Star Wars fan, especially one who plans on visiting one of the parks, it is something you can easily get through in a day or so.

Workout Update: 645 Cardio/MBF Day 16

 Day 16 was 645 cardio in the morning and core circuit in the evening. During the core circuit workout I was able to do the same amount of rounds in the AMRAP portion as I did last week, but could not make it to six full rounds. My energy level was not great during the workout, though, but I did get through it.

Workout Update: 645 Cardio/MBF Day 15

Day 15 was the start of the final week of MBF. I did the 645 cardio workout in the morning, and the lower-body burn MBF workout in the evening. I again kept the weights I was using light. In block two I did try bumping the amount of weight up a bit, but did have to drop it back down after the first set of each exercise. So, it is still very hard using lighter weights.

Workout Update: 645 Cardio/MBF Day 14

Day 14 was the dynamic recovery workout in MBF and the cardio workout from 645. This week I did the two of them back-to-back. I did the 645 workout first, immediately followed by the MBF workout. The MBF workout definitely challenges my range of motion, especially toward the end. It absolutely helps to use the 645 workout as a warmup.  

Book Review: Astrophysics for People in a Hurry

 

Astrophysics for People in a Hurry is a book from 2017 written by Neil deGrasse Tyson. The book explains some of the "big" concepts in astrophysics and astronomy without the mathematical detail and equations that you would find in a textbook. If you have some background in any of the sciences, but specifically astronomy and physics, the book will be easier to understand. It is basically a book on theoretical astrophysics, explaining the theory behind things like the big bang, dark matter, and dark energy without the math. Tyson also explains how we have been detecting planets around other stars, and why any technologically advanced alien civilization would have a hard time finding Earth and determining that a technologically advanced civilization exists on it if they are using the same methods of planet detection we are. 

The book is relatively short, around 200 pages, at least if you compare it to any college-level textbook. I found it to be a pretty quick and easy read, but to be fair, I have dozens of books on astronomy that I have been reading since I was a pre-teen, and I have a degree in electrical engineering, so the subject matter did not bog me down or go over my head. The book is rigorous enough that it may be hard to follow if you do not have at least a familiarity with astronomy. I do not think you need that level of education and experience with the subject in order to understand and enjoy the book, but it will definitely be an easier read for some people and harder for others.

Blu-Ray/Movie Review: Colette

 

Colette is a 2018 drama starring Keira Knightley, Dominic West, Elanor Tomlinson, Ray Panthaki, Denise Gough, and Fiona Shaw. The movie is based on the real-life of a bisexual French writer, Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette, focusing on her life in the early 1900s. Colette, played by Keira Knightley, wrote a series of popular stories as a ghostwriter for her husband, Henry Gauthier-Villars (played by Dominic West), who had stories penned by a factory of writers, all published under his name, Willy. 

The Blu-Ray's A/V quality is very good. The bonus features are limited and include deleted scenes, a making-of featurette, and a stills gallery. It really tells a very early women's liberation story as Colette fought for recognition of her work (and later for the right and authorship credit) which were popular books that told the story of her life. The acting and writing are great. While Knightly and West are clearly the leads and do most of the heavy lifting in terms of carrying the movie, the entire cast, including the supporting actors, do a great job. It tells a story of women's rights, with a bit of sexual revolution, ostracism based on both gender and sexuality, as well as how infidelity was looked at during that era.
 If you are a fan of period pieces and/or biopics, it is definitely worth checking out.

Workout Update: 645 Cardio/MBF Day 13

 On day 13, I did the power ignite workout from MBF but did not do 645 cardio. This one again has the three EMOM rounds, the first two being five minutes long and the third being ten minutes. In the ten-minute block, we do plank jacks as the cardio exercise and weighted chops as the resistance exercise. The second block with the push-ups is still the hardest block for me to get through.

Workout Update: 645 Cardio/MBF Day 12

 Day 12 was 645 cardio in the morning and Full Body Burn from MBF in the evening. The full-body burn workout was a challenge, even using light weights. This is definitely not a workout that most people are going to be able to do using 25 lb-plus weights. 10-20 lbs is plenty for the vast majority of the exercises, and I even use 5 or 8 lbs for some exercises.

Workout Update: 645 Cardio/MBF Day 11

Day 11 was 645 cardio in the morning and MBF's core circuit in the evening. I could do the same amount of rounds (6.5) in the four-minute AMRAP portion as I did in week 1, but I could not get the 7 rounds that I did in week 2 the first time I did MBF. 

DVD/Movie Review: The Sixth Sense

 

The Sixth Sense is a 1999 thriller directed by M. Night Shyamalan and starring Bruce Willis, Toni Collette, and Haley Joel Osment in the main roles and Olivia Williams in the main supporting role. Donnie Wahlberg has a brief but pivotal appearance at the beginning of the movie, and Mischa Barton (who would later go on to star in the hit series The OC) has a small role toward the end of the movie. It was actually Shyamalan's and was a very surprising hit and ended up being his breakout hit. It also saw a shift in Willis' career from action hero to taking on more dramatic roles. In it, Willis stars as a child psychologist named Malcolm Crowe, who is attempting to help a young, troubled boy named Cole (played by Haley Joel Osment). He is the only child of a single mother (played by Toni Collette ), who is trying to figure out how to help her son. I will not go into too much detail for the handful of people who may not have seen it by now, but if you are aware of Shyamalan's other movies, there are twists in this one that you may or may not see coming. In fact, it was probably this movie that led him to get overzealous with the plot twists in his subsequent movies, which got more and more silly over the course of time (at least for a while).

The DVD extras include deleted scenes, behind-the-scenes featurettes, as well as trailers and TV spots. A good amount of material. The picture quality of the DVD (at least the initial release) is okay, but not great, even when upscaled playing on a 4k TV with a 4K blu-ray. But, given the initial run of the DVD is now over twenty-years-old, that is not surprising. Overall, the movie is excellent. It is a blend of a drama and jump-scare thriller (not really a horror movie per-se). It is well written and very well acted, all the actors, especially Osment being so young, doing a wonderful job in their roles. It is definitely the best of Shyamalan's movies that I have seen (I have not seen some of the more recent movies like Split and Glass yet), and it is definitely worth checking out.

DVD/Movie Review: Mischief

 

Mischief is a coming-of-age teen comedy from 1985 directed by Mel Damski and starring Kelly Preston, Chris Nash, Doug McKeon, Jamie Gertz, Catherine Mary Stuart, and Terry O'Quinn. It is one of the many teen comedies from the 1980s, such as Fast Times, Porky's, Private School, etc., and had similar themes to those movies. It is set in 1950s small-town Ohio. Doug McKeon plays Jonathan, the local nerdy kid, and virgin trying to get with the hot girl,  Marilyn, played by Kelly Preston. Chris Nash plays Gene, the rebelling teen who moves to the town, clashes with almost every authority figure, and befriends Jonathan.  

The DVD has long been out of print, so you will have to pay more to get it unless you really luck out. There are no extras, just the movie itself, which starts playing as the disc loads. It would be nice if it were re-released with a commentary track or something like that, but given that it was not the most popular movie of the genre, that is unlikely. While I would not say the movie is as good as Fast Times, or the original Porky's, it is probably as good as any of the Porky's sequels. Most likely, it will be a nostalgic blast from the past for people who grew up in the 1980s and remember seeing it on cable. It is a decent movie, but it is not a great movie by any means. It is a pretty formulaic coming-of-age story, but it does have a pretty good 1950s soundtrack. And, of course, the movie also has the very famous Kelly Preston full-frontal nude scene. It is probably a movie that could not be made today (at least not in the same way), given some of the themes. Although the awkward teen courting and sex is certainly something that is timeless regardless of the era. So, it is not a must-see, but it is worth watching, especially if you watched it when you were young.

Book Review: Star Wars: Temptation of the Force

 

Temptation of the Force is a canon Star Wars novel by Tessa Gratton, published in 2024. It is set during Phase III of the High Republic, after the Starlight Beacon's destruction and the Occlusion Zone's creation by the Nihil with their Stormwall. There are several threads to the story that all intertwine. One involves two Jedi in love, Avar Kriss and Elzar Mann, who are reunited after Avar's escape from the Occlusion Zone. The second is an incursion by several Jedi into the Occlusion Zone to try and liberate Naboo from the Nihil while trying to avoid The Nameless/Levelers, the creatures with the power to kill any force-sensitive being. The third is a new threat from something called The Blight, which has the power to kill everything in the galaxy except for the most dangerous being (at the time, anyway), Marchion Ro. 

The hardcover version of the book is 425 pages and reads fairly quickly. Some of the story is a bit sappy, but overall it is a good blend of action and suspense. Yoda is included in the storyline, but the book does not fill the plot hole that was left after the Phase II novels. Namely, that the Levelers were used against the Jedi by the Path of the Open Hand 150 years prior, Yoda knew about them, and the current Jedi still seem to know little to nothing about them. Although, in this book that does start to change somewhat. My other sticking point with this book is that the character of Vernestra is more like her character in The Acolyte TV series (which is set years later when she is older) and less like she was in the books that introduced her when she was more willing to skirt or bend rules.  Even though we know that the Jedi and the Republic will eventually defeat the Nihil, this book does not foreshadow how that will happen. Ultimately, while I would not say this is one of the must-read canon novels if you are invested in the High Republic storyline of the Jedi against the Nihil, it does advance that a lot and is worth reading.

Book Review: Star Wars: Alphabet Squadron

 

Alphabet Squadron is a canon Star Wars novel written by Alexander Freed and published in 2019. It is the start of a new (at least) trilogy of novels about a fighter squadron of the New Republic. This novel is set just after Return of the Jedi. It includes a mish-mash of different characters, some of whom are Imperial defectors, who are sent on missions to see if they can work together as a unit. There is a lot of character development, but the main issue I had was that I did not find myself all that invested in the characters. While characters like Luke, Leia, and The Emperor are referenced a lot, there is really only one recognizable character in the book, Hera Syndulla, who is only recognizable to those who have read all the novels or have seen the Rebels TV series, which, at the time the book was written, was the only appearance she had made in canon. Of course, the character has been included in the live-action Ahsoka series since that time.

The hardcover version of the book is just over 400 pages long. I found it read slower for me than many Star Wars novels, mostly because there were so many new, unfamiliar characters.  It would have helped a lot to have a character like Wedge as the leader or at least a trainer of the squadron and have the character actually interact with Leia instead of just name-dropping her. That said, there are some good parts to it like the ex-Imperials coming to grips with the fact that they lost the war and some of them asking themselves if they were ever on the right side. Hopefully, now that much of the setup is out of the way, the subsequent novels will be stronger entries in the canon, but this is definitely not one that I would call a must-read.

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: Justice League: Season 1

 

The animated Justice League series aired for two seasons on the cartoon network from 2001 to 2004. The 26-episode first season aired during the 2001/2002 TV season. The series is, in part, a follow-up series to the animated Batman and Superman series (it was done by the same showrunners as those shows) from the 1990s. Some of the actors, like Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill, reprise their roles, but others (like Tim Daily) do not. The season is basically a bunch of mini-movie stories broken into two and sometimes three episodes. Some of them are focused on one or two characters in the Justice League (Flash, Martian Manhunter, Wonder Woman, Batman, Superman, Hawkgirl, and Green Lantern). Not every character appears in every episode, which makes the "big" team-up episodes feel even bigger. The three episodes that end the season have an Earth-X kind of feel, involving a scenario where the Nazis win WWII and the heroes have to find a way to undo it.

The Blu-Ray set is a four-disc set. All 26 of the first season episodes are included. There is no main menu, and the episodes start playing as soon as the disc loads. There is a disc menu that you can access if you want to. Thankfully, you have the option to start where you left off, so if you stop before you get through all the episodes on the disc you do not have to try and find your place again. The extras consist of commentary tracks on select episodes and then a few making-of featurettes with the showrunners explaining how the series came about.

Overall, I would say the series is not quite as good as either the original Batman and Superman animated series, but it is close. I do think it misses having some of the ancillary Batman and Superman characters missing, but given that there are so many main characters in the show it is hard to add other characters (other than villains) in. If you are a fan of the other animated series it is definitely worth checking out.

DVD/TV Series Review: Superman: The Complete Animated Series

 

This is the complete series of the Animated Superman series, which played on the Kids WB in the late 1990s. Specifically, it aired for three seasons from 1996 to 2000. It was in part a spin-off from Batman the Animated series, which was developed by the same showrunners. It also served to reintroduce the newer version (which is essentially season 3) of Batman the Animated series with a few episodes where Batman crossed over into Metropolis and one where Superman went to Gotham City. It also served as a prequel to the animated Justice League series. The series starred Tim Daly, Dana Delany, Clancy Brown, Michael Ironside, Mike Farell, Lisa Edelstein, Shelly Fabares, and Joely Fisher.

The DVD set is a three-volume set with the 54 episodes spread across six discs (two discs per season).  There are 7 discs in all that include the three volumes of the show, and then one disc with a feature on the Darkseid character and more trailers. Aside from the extras on the 7th disc, the other extras are spread throughout the first six discs. Those extras are primarily in the form of commentary tracks on select episodes with the showrunners, but there are a few more general making-of features, as well as trailers for some of the other animated series. The only drawback is the fact that each disc 2 in the three volumes are double-sided discs with episodes on each side. They are very easy to get scratched up (thankfully, none of mine were) because they can fall off the notches, keeping the discs in place.

The series is brighter (both in terms of story and animation style) than the animated Batman series. Although there are some episodes where the series went as dark or darker than the Batman series ever did. Those were mostly the episodes involving Darkseid. The showrunners made the choice to make Superman vulnerable to more than just Kryptonite. I think it turned some people off, but I do think made for some more interesting stories, especially when he was going against a villain who was not superpowered. The show is something that younger kids can watch and enjoy. There are also some more adult jokes that would go over the heads of most kids, so it is a series that adults can enjoy as well. If you are a fan of the Superman story, it is worth watching.

Blu-Ray/Movie Review: Point of No Return

 

Point of No Return is an action-thriller from 1993 directed by John Badham and starring Bridget Fonda, Gabriel Bryne, Dermot Mulroney, Anne Bancroft, Miguel Ferrer, and Harvey Keitel. This is one of a few different adaptations of the French film La Femme Nikita. The most notable, at least in the US, was the series that aired on The CW called Nikita and starred Maggie Q. There was also a TV series called La Femme Nikita, which aired on the USA network years ago. This is the only American film adaptation of that story. It stars Bridget Fonda as Maggie Hayward, a teenage delinquent who kills a security guard during a robbery and is sentenced to death. Her death is faked by a government agency, and she is given the choice to be trained as an assassin or killed. Needless to say, she chooses the former, and the remainder of the film deals with her training and then assimilation into "real" life as she tries to balance having a normal life with being called for assassination missions.

The Blu-Ray's A/V transfer is okay, but it definitely did not get a high-quality restoration. It definitely looks like it is a 1993 movie and not brought up to par with even the late 90s/early 2000s AV quality. There are no bonus features to speak of, just the theatrical trailer. Overall, it is a decent movie that you can totally have on in the background and get the story.  Even with a loaded cast, the film is definitely not as good as it could have been. The writing was okay to decent, but not stellar, and while I would not say that any of the actors seemed to be phoning their performances in, they have all done better work. It is not a movie that you need to pay rapt attention to in order to follow along. Fonda did a good job in the leading role, and I think, had she chosen to do so, she could have really used the role to propel herself into a more extensive career. I would not call it a must-see movie, but it is a good choice if you are looking for an action movie to kill a couple of hours.

Study Aid Review: The Engineering Circuit Analysis Tutor: Volume 4

 

This is the fourth volume of the circuit analysis tutor that Jason put out. It continues the material from the first semester of circuits (usually called Circuits I or just Circuits analysis). It covers the material that comes in the second half of the class after you get through circuit analysis techniques, in which resistors and sources are the only circuit elements. This set introduces circuits in which capacitors and inductors are included. It does not go into the details of the transient and steady-state, those topics are covered in later volumes. This covers the topics of voltage, current, and power in inductors and capacitors, and then inductors and capacitors in series and parallel, and how to draw an equivalent circuit by reducing the parallel and series combinations. Again, this just deals with circuits that have direct current sources and does not cover circuits with alternating current sources.

I find Jason's material very helpful, and my learning style meshes well with his teaching style. He does not cover 100% of the material on every single topic, but he does cover the main topics and the main points of each topic, which is great for exam prep. But it is definitely NOT a replacement for going to class. So, if you learn by seeing examples worked out, this is a good study aid.