Workout Update: 654 Cardio/Lift 4 Hybrid: Day 20

On Day 20, I did the 645 cardio routine, followed by the foam rolling routine from Lift 4. The foam rolling continues to help get the knots out of my quads and hamstrings. I am not back to where I was when I was foam rolling every day, but I am getting closer.

4K-UHD/Movie Review: The Bourne Identity

 

The Bourne Identity is a 2002 action thriller directed by Doug Liman and adapted from Robert Ludlum's novel of the same name. It stars Matt Damon, Franka Potente, Brian Cox, Chris Cooper, Gabriel Mann, Julia Stiles, Clive Owen and Adewale Akinnouoye-Agbaje. Sharp-eyed viewers will also recognize Walton Goggins (from the excellent series Justified) in a minor role. The movie starts with Damon's character being pulled out of the ocean by the crew of a fishing vessel. He has been shot in the back and has no memory of who he is or where he comes from, and the only clue to his past is a small laser projector embedded in his hip with the name and address of a bank in Switzerland on it. He discovers that his name is Jason Bourne, and throughout the movie, he realizes that he speaks multiple languages and is highly skilled in fighting and counterintelligence. Potente is a woman he meets at the American consulate in Zurich who agrees to help get him to Paris in exchange for $20,000. The two are then pursued by local authorities and shadowy assassins with the same skills as Bourne. Bourne ultimately discovers that he is part of a CIA black ops program called Treadstone, which is run by Cooper's character, Alexander Conklin, who works for the deputy director of the CIA, Ward Abbott, who is played by Cox. 

The 4K set is a two-disc set containing a UHD disc and a regular Blu-Ray disc. The UHD disc's A/V quality is good. The audio is outstanding, but the video transfer is not as good as it should have been. The only bonus feature on the UHD disc is the director's commentary track. The other bonus material, which includes an alternate opening and ending, deleted and extended scenes, and about two hours of behind-the-scenes material, is on the regular Blu-Ray disc. The movie itself is a good blend of action and drama with a couple of humorous moments mixed in. Damon does a good job in the lead role, and although he is not extremely physically imposing, he does an excellent job in the action sequences. It is well-written and very well-acted, and while you do have to suspend your disbelief to accept that Bourne could survive everything he goes through in the movie, it is entertaining. If you are a fan of action thrillers or the spy genre, the movie is absolutely worth seeing. The A/V quality of the UHD disc is not a major step up from the regular Blu-Ray, so if you already own it on Blu-Ray, you may want to stick with that version, especially if you are a big A/V wonk.

DVD/TV Series Review: The Good Fight: Season 2

 

The 13-episode second season of The Good Fight aired in the spring of 2018. The show continues to do an excellent job of standing on its own without leaning on the success of The Good Wife. That said, there are still nods to the parent show. Many of the supporting actors and actresses from The Good Wife appear this season, such as Mike Colter, Wallace Shawn, Maimie Gummer, and Margo Martindale. The show does keep its own storylines and does not recycle old ones from the parent series. The biggest non-Good Wife guest star this season is Alan Alda, who plays a smarmy lawyer from an opposing firm. Similar to the role Michael J. Fox played, but a very different type of character.

The Season starts with the funeral of Carl Reddick, who died offscreen between seasons one and two. His daughter, played by Audra McDonald, joined the firm after she was fired from the US Attorney's office after sending out an anti-t***p tweet. The writers wrapped up the Rindell storyline early in the season, which was needed because the story had played out. The rest of the season focuses on Diane going through a mid-life crisis, Chicago lawyers being bumped off, Luca and Colin's relationship, and being anti-the-orange-genital-wart. The show pulls no punches in its political bent and hatred of t***p, at least by the showrunners. So, if you love t***p and are one of his idiot cult members, you will absolutely hate this season (and probably the show in general).

The DVD set is a four-disc set. For those who get the discs, they are a bare-bones, almost a made-on-demand set. It does have a handful of extras, deleted scenes for some episodes, and a gag reel. There are no commentary tracks or behind-the-scenes material. Pretty par for the course when it comes to what is being released on DVD for TV seasons these days.

This is definitely not a show that will appeal to everyone. It is highly and unashamedly political. And, because it airs on the streaming platform, it does show nudity and has a lot of swearing, including the f-word. Kind of hilariously, the gag reel bleeps out all the swear words the actors say when they mess up, but the show is full of swearing. So if that kind of stuff will turn you off to a show, then you should skip this. However, if you liked season one, the writing and acting are on par or better.

Workout Update: 654 Cardio/Lift 4 Hybrid: Day 19

Day 19 was 645 cardio in the morning (or early afternoon in this case) and Lift 4 legs in the evening. I did both workouts a bit later than usual, but got them done. The leg routine was absolutely challenging with the increased weight, but I was able to do all the reps in each set with the increased weight (although my front-loaded squats were shallower with 25 lbs than they were with 20 lbs, so I was at the limit on those).  

Workout Update: 654 Cardio/Lift 4 Hybrid: Day 18

Day 18 was the 645 cardio routine in the morning and the shoulders workout in Lift 4. This week's shoulder workout was an interval workout, so it was one of the quicker workouts, which was nice.  I was able to increase the amount of weight on the various exercises, which kind of surprised me, given that shoulders have been my weak point for the past few rounds of workouts. 

DVD/TV Series Review: Grounded for Life Season 5

 

Grounded For Life was a very underrated sitcom that aired from the early to mid-2000s. However, it ended up being a very uneven series due to a cancellation from FOX, switching to the WB network (and nights that it aired), and a good amount of cast turnover. The final season was really a partial season given to the series to give it a sendoff as opposed to an outright cancelation. The 13-episode 5th season aired during the 2004/2005 TV season. The actor who played Henry (Jake Burbage) left the show after the fourth season, and no explanation for his absence was ever given. There were only a couple of throwaway references to him in the final two episodes of the season. Walt (played by Richard Riehle), who had become a minor recurring character (which really hurt the show, in my opinion), only appeared in the series finale.

The show ended with a "life will go on" feel for the characters. The writers tied some things up by the end of the series but left a lot open for the characters, leaving the audience to imagine how life would work out for them. That was a fine way to end a series like this. Even though the series did not feel the same as in past seasons, it tried to hit on similar themes of family and growing up that had carried throughout the prior seasons. Overall, the show ended up with a 91-episode run, slightly under a "normal" five-season run for a series, which usually results in at least 100 episodes. While it was the right time to end the series, I would have liked the full original cast to have more of a presence, at least in the final couple of episodes.

The DVD set is a two-disc set. Of all the DVD releases for the series, this one is the most bare-bones. It just includes the episodes. It has no extras, and the episodes do not have captions. The DVDs do go out of print from time to time and can be harder to find at a reasonable price. If you can find the set at a fair price and have the other seasons, it is worth adding to your collection. If not, it is available to stream and I believe is included if you have Amazon Prime.

Workout Update: 654 Cardio/Lift 4 Hybrid: Day 17

On day 17, I did the 645 cardio workout in the evening. I had to work out a bit later than I anticipated, so I just did the cardio workout and did not do either of the Lift 4 recovery workouts. 

Workout Update: 654 Cardio/Lift 4 Hybrid: Day 16

Day 16 was the back and biceps workout in Lift 4 and, of course, the 645 cardio routine in the morning. The Lift 4 workout was a circuit workout. Even though it had no cardio, it was tough. I did try to increase the amount of weight I was using for the exercises, but on some of them, I had to reduce the weight after the first set, especially in the second block.  

Blu-Ray/TV Movie Review: Prison Break The Final Break

 

+++Warning, This will contain spoilers from the fourth season of the show as well as a minor spoiler for the fifth season/event series that aired in 2017. ++++

The Final Break is an hour-and-a-half-long TV movie that aired a few weeks after the series finale of Prison Break (on May 27, 2009), showing the events that occurred during the time that passed in the time jump in the series finale where it was revealed that Michael was dead. The basic story is that Sara is arrested for the murder of Michael's mother and thrown into a women's prison in Miami. The General sets up a hit on Sara, and Michael finds out and springs a plan to break her out. Most of the major characters that appeared in the fourth season (Sucre, Malone, Lincoln, and T-bag) also appear in this. Jodi Lynn O'Keef also reprises her role as Gretchen and gets a better sendoff than she got during the "main" episodes of the fourth season. Lori Petty plays the main antagonist for Sara in the women's prison. There is not really any setup for the storyline that would play out in the event series where it is revealed that Michael faked his death, aside from the fact that his death is never shown on screen.

The Blu-Ray is fairly bare-bones. The A/V quality is akin to the series releases; the only extra is about four minutes of deleted scenes. There is no making-of feature, no commentary track, etc. That knocks it down a star for me, but overall, it gives a decent but somewhat unnecessary alternate ending to the original series run. Personally, I think the fourth season's ending was a fine ending without any further explanation, regardless of whether the event series was ever made.

Workout Update: 654 Cardio/Lift 4 Hybrid: Day 15

Day 15 was the beginning of week 3 in Lift 4, which meant doing chest and triceps and increasing the amount of weight for each of the exercises. I was able to use increased weights on every exercise through the three sets except for the skull crushers. I did the first set with 20 lbs and the last set with 15 lbs. For the second set, I did about five reps with 20 lbs and the other five with 15 lbs. During the cardio portion (this was a 50-50 workout), I modified the 180 squat jumps and the jump lunges, but I did not modify the soccer runs. And, of course, I did the 645 cardio routine in the morning. So, ultimately it was a good, but tough, workout day.

DVD/TV Series Review: The Good Fight Season 1

 

The 10-episode first season of The Good Fight aired in the winter and spring of 2017. The show was spun off from the long-running CBS show The Good Wife. It was created by the showrunners of The Good Wife and stars Christine Baranski, Justin Bartha, Rose Leslie, Sarah Steele, Delroy Lindo, Audra McDonald, Nyamibi Nyambi, Gary Cole, Erica Tazel, Michael Boatman, and Cush Jumbo. Even though the show is a spin-off, you do not need to have seen a second of The Good Wife to be able to follow 99% of this show. That is mainly because there was nothing in the final season of The Good Wife done to set up the events that kick off this show, aside from introducing the character of Lucca Quinn (played by Jumbo).

The Good Fight picks up a little more than a year after the series finale of The Good Wife. The opening scene is Diane (Baranski) reacting to the inauguration of t***p, and then planning her retirement in France. Of course, she signed the paperwork to give up her partnership with the law firm (which now has eight named partners because of mergers with two other firms), much to the delight of David Lee. She is then caught up in a Madoff-like financial scheme allegedly run by the parents (and uncle) of her god-daughter and newly hired associate of the firm (who was never mentioned on The Good Wife), Maia, played by Game of Thrones alum Rose Leslie. When Diane tries to revoke her retirement and resume her role as a named partner in the firm, she is essentially forced out and ends up with a rival, mostly black-owned firm, Reddick, Boseman, and Kolstad. That is all the setup the show gives or that the audience needs to know before the show gets going.

There are a few main themes that run throughout the season, Diane trying to catch on at the new firm and being a fish out of water, Maia trying to navigate being a new lawyer and dealing with the scandal involving her family, and, of course, the various cases of the week. We do not really get much of an idea of what happened to the main characters from The Good Wife. We learn through Lucca and Marissa Gold (the latter of which comes in as Diane's assistant) that Alicia has left Chicago, but we do not learn of her "post slap" fate beyond that. The only plot point from The Good Wife that carries over to this show is Diane and Kurt's relationship after the final trial of the other show.

The series does an excellent job of introducing the new characters into the universe the prior show set up. The great (mostly) character actor Delroy Lindo and Justified alum Erica Tazel play the new partners opposite Diane. Justin Bartha (probably known best from the National Treasure movies) plays an AUSA and love interest for Lucca. Those who were fans of The Good Wife will recognize many guest stars, including Christine Lahti, Matthew Perry, and Jason Biggs (among others). Michael Boatman also reprises his role as Julius Cain, who has left Lockhart, Agos, and Lee and become a partner at Reddick-Boseman.

As with the parent show, this one delves not only into politics (and if you are a t***p supporter, you will probably not like the political bent) and current (or recently current) events. It is well written and acted, and like The Good Wife, it gets a lot (although not all) of the legal stuff correct. Any lawyer will appreciate the scene where Maia is refreshing the screen while waiting for her bar exam results to come in, which many would-be lawyers have done. It does take many of the same creative liberties with the courtroom scenes that The Good Wife did to make things more dramatic than would occur in real life.

The DVD set is a three-disc set. It is a very bare-bones release. It is almost a MOD release, but it does have some extras (deleted scenes for most episodes and a gag reel) and captions (which kind of hilariously were clearly done knowing most sets would likely be sold in the UK because they spell words like honor as honour, and use mum for mom, as would be done in the UK). However, given that most shows do not get a DVD release in the US these days, it is nice to get anything from those who prefer physical media. I think the showrunners made a good decision to keep the season shorter, 10 episodes, as opposed to the 22-24 per season that The Good Wife got. It enables them to get in and out of the main storylines and leaves the viewers wanting more. Because it airs on the streaming platform and not over the air, the episodes are a bit longer (usually between 45 and 55 minutes), and they get away with swearing (there are many f-bombs dropped). While I cannot say that everyone who was a fan of The Good Wife will like this one, I generally think if you enjoyed that show, you will like it. That said, the show really goes out of its way to stand on its own, and while it does pay homage to the parent show it, wisely, does not try to be a carbon copy of The Good Wife.

Workout Update: 654 Cardio/Lift 4 Hybrid: Day 14

On Day 14, I did the 645 cardio routine, followed by the Lift 4 Roll and Recover routine. It again felt good to do the foam rolling routine because I still have a ton of knots in my legs.  

Workout Update: 654 Cardio/Lift 4 Hybrid: Day 13

 On Day 13, I just did the 645 cardio routine in the late afternoon. I did not do either of the Lift 4 recovery routines, but I plan to do at least one of them tomorrow.

DVD/TV Series Review: Grounded For Life Season 4

 

The 28-episode fourth season of Grounded For Life aired during the 2003/2004 TV season. It ended up being the longest in the series run. This is because there were six episodes filmed during season three that were held over as the show moved from FOX to the WB network after FOX canceled it. While the show continued to be very funny, I think the downgrading of Richard Riehle's character to recurring (he only appeared in a few episodes this season) hurt the show. That said, since the show had a large ensemble cast, coming up with enough material to give all the characters enough of a story arc was hard, so I can see why they did it. However, having his character as a part of the dynamic regularly was missed.

For the most part, the show continued with the same feel as it had. Mostly, story-of-the-week episodes that did not carry over to subsequent episodes. They did not rely on flashbacks as much as in prior seasons to tell the stories. The show still incorporated them into most of the episodes; they just did not use as many as they did in the prior seasons. The show continued to use the themes of family and growing up, both for the kids and the adults of the show. Although the characters of Henry and Jimmy took a backseat to Lilly's storylines as far as the kid's characters went.

The DVD set is a four-disc set. The extras were the same as the season-three set. Commentary tracks on select episodes and previews for other DVD sets released around the same time. There are no other behind-the-scenes materials. Chances are, the only people likely to get these DVDs are people who were fans of the show when it was on the air. The sets are going out of print and getting much harder to find as time goes by, which is why some are $50+. This one is the most expensive of the individual season sets, so if you can find it for a reasonable price, pounce on it because they may get more expensive as time goes by. And, given that TV series being released on physical discs are going the way of the dodo bird, the chances of it ever getting another DVD printing is slim to none.

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: Prison Break Season 4

 

+++Warning, this contains season 3 spoilers, but no major giveaways from the final season +++

The 22-episode fourth season (and original final season) of Prison Break aired during the 2008/2009 TV season.  The fourth season packs a lot into the 22 episodes, starting with two episodes that essentially finish the season three storyline, which was cut short due to the 2007 writer's strike. We find out what happened to the Sona prison and where the various characters end up after the escape (which involves a bit of a time jump). It is not spoiling anything to say that the reveal that Sarah was not killed (Sara Wayne Callies resolved her contract dispute and returned to the show), and from there, the rest of the season involves the group trying to take down the company, mainly surrounding a McGuffin plot point called Scylla. There are some returning characters from prior seasons, as well as new characters, notably a Compay hitman played by Cress Williams, who would go on to play very different characters on Hart of Dixie and Black Lightning, and if you saw those shows before this one, his performance as a bad guy is even more impressive, and Michael Rappaport, who plays a Homeland Security agent with a deal for the team.

The show has a lot of twists and turns, as it did in prior seasons, but I think some of them were things that would have been revealed last season if season three actually had a full season run and was not cut off at 13 episodes. So, it just feels like the season jumps around a lot. There are a lot of reveals, and as you should have come to expect from the show by now, not everyone makes it out unscathed. One thing I think the show did a great job of is not giving a happily-ever-after ending to all the characters.

The Blu-Ray set is a six-disc set. It should be noted that the Blu-Ray release contains the original 22 episodes that aired but does not contain the two unaired episodes (which are available separately under the title The Final Break), which aired as a TV movie and bridges a time-jump gap that occurs in the series finale. The extras include commentary tracks on select episodes, mainly from the writers of the particular episodes. However, some cast members appear on a couple of the commentary tracks. Then, the final disc has a little over a half hour's worth of behind-the-scenes material (broken up into three featurettes).

Overall, I think the season ended the series in a good way. Of course, it did not end up being the end of the series, as a limited event series aired in 2017 and gave the show a much better ending. But that was not a given thing when the fourth season was shot. The acting and writing were still top-notch, and the show still managed to do a lot of character development, even with the established cast. Because of the show's serialized nature, you need to have seen the prior seasons before watching this to really get what is going on. If you liked the prior seasons, then you will most likely enjoy this one.

Workout Update: 654 Cardio/Lift 4 Hybrid: Day 12

On Day 12, I did the 645 cardio routine in the morning, followed by the Legs routine from Lift 4 (a HIIT routine without any lifting) in the evening. I was very sore and tired in the evening workout, so I swapped speed skaters for triple bear and squat jumps for catcher jumps. Even with those modifications, the workout was still challenging, and I tried not to modify any exercises until I absolutely had to. 

Book Review: The Woman in Me

 

The Woman in Me is a 2023 memoir by Britney Spears. In the book, Spears provides broad details of her life growing up in a small town in Louisiana, her entry into showbusiness (appearing on Star Search and The Mickey Mouse Club), and her rocket to fame in the late 1990s and early 2000s as a pop star. She discusses her difficult home environment, the image of her that was portrayed by her team versus her reality, and how she did not always like the picture of her life that was put out (e.g., that she was a tea-tottling virgin when, in fact, she had been drinking, smoking, and having sex since she was in her early teens). She also discusses some of the more well-publicized incidents in her life (such as her Vegas marriage, shaving her head, etc.), her relationships with Justin Timberlake and Kevin Federline, and her life under the conservatorship.

The hardcover version of the book is relatively short, at around 275 pages. It is a fairly easy read, so if you are a fast reader, you can finish it in a day or two. The book does not do an extremely deep dive into all facets of her life, but Spears discusses the high and low points and does not sugarcoat her feelings toward her family and her life experiences. She comes off far less crazy than she sometimes seems on social media and hints that a lot of what she does online is more of an artistic act and a way of expressing her feelings than it is "real." Ultimately, it is an okay memoir. It is not the best or most well-written memoir I have ever read, but it is very honest. It is an interesting read and worth reading, even if you are not a huge fan of her music.

Workout Update: 654 Cardio/Lift 4 Hybrid: Day 11

Day 11 was 645 cardio in the morning and the shoulders workout in Lift 4 in the evening. This week, shoulders is an interval workout, so you do two weighted exercises followed by a 30-second HIIT exercise in each block. Again, the resistance exercises were still very challenging even though I was still using the same amount of weight that I had ended the last round on. It will be interesting to see how next week goes when I increase the amount of weight for all the resistance exercises. 

Workout Update: 654 Cardio/Lift 4 Hybrid: Day 10

On Day 10, I did the 645 cardio routine, immediately followed by the Lift 4 "roll and recover" routine. I still had a lot a knots in my quads and hamstrings and it felt good to roll them out.  I did not do the Lift 4 stretch, but I do not find that one as helpful as the foam rolling.

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: Iron Fist Season 1

 

Iron Fist is another series in Marvel's NY-based series that originally aired on Netflix. The 13-episode first season was released in the spring of 2017. Like the other Netflix MCU series (Daredevil, Jessica Jones, and Luke Cage), this is adjacent to, but not directly intertwined with, the MCU movies. It is directly tied to the plot of Daredevil season 2 and leads directly into the plot of The Defenders, the 8-episode team-up of Jessica Jones, Daredevil, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist. The series stars Finn Jones, Jessica Henwick, Tom Pelphrey, Jessica Stroup, and David Wenham.

The series tells the origin story of Danny Rand (Jones), the son of a billionaire corporate mogul. The family is involved in a plane crash when Danny is 10, and all of them are presumed dead. Danny mysteriously reappears 15 years later as a super-powered martial artist determined to take down The Hand, the shadowy organization involved in Daredevil. The ties to the other shows are the characters of Claire (played by Rosario Dawson) and Jeri, the lawyer from Jessica Jones (played by Carrie Ann Moss). The story alternates between Danny's reintegration into society and trying to uncover what The Hand is doing in NY. I will not divulge anything else so as not to spoil it, but it packs a lot of story into the 13 episodes.

The show got a lot of bad reviews that, in my opinion, are underserved. The acting is very good, and Finn Jones does a good job with the character Danny Rand. The show is definitely not perfect. One part of the story that I did find a bit ham-fisted was the whole arc with Harold Meachum, but overall I think I think the story of Danny trying to get his life back, reconnect with his childhood friends (played by Jessica Stroup and Tom Pelphrey), as well as trying to take down The Hand was great. The rest of the supporting cast, including Jessica Henwick and David Wenham, did well in their roles. While liking it is, of course, subjective, and for me, it was not as good as Daredevil or Jessica Jones, it was not as bad as many critics made it out to be. I definitely think it is worth taking a chance on.

It does seem there are a couple versions of the Blu-ray set floating around. I have the region-free version with no extras, just the episodes. You can stream it, for now, on Netflix, but given that Netflix canceled it, and all the other Marvel shows, along with losing the rights to the Disney content which will eventually be removed, that may not last. So even if you usually only get the physical discs when there are a lot of extras, this may be worth picking up anyway.

Workout Update: 654 Cardio/Lift 4 Hybrid: Day 9

Day 9 was back and biceps in Lift 4, which was the 50/50 workout and 645 cardio in the morning. The back and biceps workout was challenging and my arms were very sore and tired by the end of it. The cardio portion went okay. I did the modified versions of each exercise, but I can tell my stamina is getting better.

DVD/TV Series Review: Grounded For Life Season 3

 

The 11-episode third season of Grounded For Life aired during the 2002/2003 TV season. It ended up being a bit of a mess for the series, primarily because Fox ended up canceling it, and it was then picked up by the WB network. So, some episodes aired on FOX, and others aired months later on the WB. A couple of the episodes filmed during the third season never aired on either network (but are included in this DVD set's bonus features), yet other episodes were held for the fourth season. Needless to say, it was a bit hard to follow as the show aired, but having things in the correct order on DVD makes it better.

The season starts out with life changes for the family, as the result of Claudia's pregnancy test at the end of the second season is revealed. I will not reveal everything that happens, but some things about the show stayed the same, but others changed quite a bit, brought on by the kids growing up and Richard Riehle being downgraded from a series regular to a recurring role, which, in my opinion, did hurt the show a lot. In the shows that aired on TV, he was only in one episode this season, but he did appear in the two bonus, unaired episodes. The show continued to deal with themes about growing up, both for the kids and the adults, in a humorous way, including relationships, peer pressure, sex, etc.

The DVD set is a two-disc set. The bonus material includes the two unaired episodes and commentary tracks by cast members and showrunners on a few select episodes. There are no other behind-the-scenes material or cast interviews as there are for the sets for the first and second seasons. As is the case for the other seasons, the DVDs are basically out of print and getting harder to find at a reasonable price, so if you are a fan of the show and see the sets at a good price, they are worth the pickup, even though the DVD sets are fairly bare-bones.

Book Review: Children of Dune (Dune #18)

 

Children of Dune, published in 1976, is the 18th overall book in the Dune series of novels (when read chronologically) and the third in the original trilogy of novels written by Frank Herbert. So, it is the third book if you read them in publication order. The events in the book are set nine years after Dune Messiah. Paul has gone off into the desert and is presumed dead. Alia is ruling Dune but is becoming more erratic, having established an autocratic government, and Paul's children, Leto and Ghanima, who both have the preborn traits of Alia and some of Paul's abilities, discover that terraforming Dune will kill all the sandworms and destroy the source of the spice. Jessica and Gurney Halleck return to Arrakis, and a power struggle ensues between Alia and Jessica. To further complicate things on Arrakis, a mysterious blind preacher who holds sway over some of the Fremen begins railing against Alia's government. 

The hardcover deluxe edition of the book is moderately long at 475 pages. Even though it is shorter than the first novel, it is more challenging to read. There are several plotlines that all go in different directions and have twists. The crux of the story is about the fall of Alia and the ascension of Leto II to the throne, but the story is not exactly streamlined in getting to the conclusion. It very much feels like the middle part of a story, and since Frank Herbert wrote three additional novels, that is very much what it is. Ultimately, if you have read the prequel novels by Frank's son, Brian and Kevin J. Anderson, and the two original novels by Frank Herbert, this has the weakest story and is the most challenging to finish. That said, it is worth reading to see how the saga plays out. 

Workout Update: 654 Cardio/Lift 4 Hybrid: Day 8

Day 8 was the start of week 2. I did 645 cardio in the morning and the chest and triceps workout from Lift 4 (which was a circuit workout this week) in the evening. The circuit workout for chest and triceps is much harder than the 50/50 workout in week 1. You get no rest between exercises and only 30 seconds between sets. So you do 40 reps in each set with minimal rest. Then, the burnout round is three sets of wide and triceps push-ups, performing each move for 30 seconds. I could not go for the entire 30 seconds on either of them in any of the sets. 

DVD/TV Series Review: The League: The Complete Series

 

The League was an adult sitcom that aired on FX from 2009 to 2015. It was centered around a group of friends who played in a fantasy football league. In a very large sense, it was almost one of those sitcoms about nothing in particular, just events that occurred in the characters' lives. But the focus was always on the weekly matchups in the league and a lot of smack-talking. It starred Katie Aselton, Mark Duplass, Stephen Rannazzisi, Paul Scheer, Nick Kroll, and Jon Lajoie in the main roles. It featured several recognizable actors in guest and recurring roles, including Jason Mantzoukas, Nadine Velazquez, Seth Rogan, Janina Gavankar, Leslie Bibb, Brie Larson, Brooklyn Decker, Jeff Goldblum, Adam Brody, Zach Woods, and Keegan-Michael Key. It also featured cameos by several NFL stars and announcers throughout its run.  The show ran for seven seasons, with the first three being the best and the final season the weakest. The cast really seemed to have great chemistry (whether real or fake) and worked well together. Nick Kroll was, in my opinion, the star of the series as Ruxin, the acerbic corporate lawyer. But all of the cast members did a great job and really had great moments throughout the series.

For those who get this DVD set, it is just a different packaging of the individual season releases. It is a huge keep case with 14 discs (two discs per season, with the episodes split across the two discs) with round plastic holders with a tab in the middle that the center of the disc is placed over. In the early seasons, if you use the play-all mode, it only plays the broadcast versions of the episodes. If you go into the episodes menu, you get the option to play the broadcast version or the extended/uncensored versions, which usually had more swearing but also, at times, nudity. The extras were pretty consistent throughout the series. Deleted scenes, gag reels, alternate jokes reels, and musical numbers (sometimes the same that aired in the shows and sometimes ones just included as DVD extras).

As I said above, the show is not for everyone. But, if you like the more adult humor that the cable series can get away with, it is definitely a show worth checking out even though it did hang on for a season or two too long.