Workout Update: P90X Day 43

 Day 43 was the Chest, Shoulders, and Triceps workout, and ab-ripper. Overall, it went well. I was able to increase the amount of weight on a couple of moves and did better on some of the push-up moves. I still had to do some of them on my knees but was able to do a couple of them on my toes. While it is not my favorite workout of the P90X resistance workouts, I do like the flow and the fact that it is one of the shorter ones. 

Blu-Ray/Movie Review: A Dangerous Method

 

A Dangerous Method is about the relationship between Carl Jung (played by Michael Fassbender), Sigmund Freud (played by Viggo Mortenson), and Sabina Spielrein (played by Kiera Knightly) and the birth of psychoanalysis. The "method" is the talking cure that Freud developed and Jung put into practice. One of the people Jung used the method on was Spielrein, who went from being his patient suffering from "hysteria", to his mistress, and then a colleague after Jung encouraged her to go to medical school after which she also became a psychiatrist and became a psychoanalyst. 

Many people may watch the movie just because of the joke about a particular scene made on an episode of Family Guy (and yes, that scene is quite something), but the movie is really quite good outside of that. Knightly really shines in her role as Spielrein, playing someone that goes from crazy and playing in the mud to being a doctor herself, but always seemingly on the edge of slipping back into hysteria. The movie also does a great job detailing the complicated relationship between Jung and Freud from their initial meeting to their eventual falling out. The movie spans a nine-year period of time in the 1900s that ends just before World War I begins. 

For those who get the Blu-Ray, the extras are fairly light. There is a commentary track on the film with the Director, David Cronenberg, which provides a lot of detail about the story and some about the filming process. Then there are a couple of short behind-the-scenes features. What was included was good, but not extensive. Although, I would not expect more bonus material from a lower-budget independent movie.

Overall, the movie is well-written and very well-acted. It is very much a period piece and tries to be an accurate historical drama. In fact, much of the script was put together based on the extensive correspondence between the real people that have been preserved over the years. So, if you are a fan of historical dramas, especially ones that are not massive blockbusters, this is definitely worth checking out. 

Workout Update: P90X Day 42

 Day 42 was yoga-x. Because of a time crunch, I had to cut it off after 50 minutes (basically up to the point where they do crane). I was also pretty tired during the workout, but I managed to make it through. Although, I did have to go into child's pose a few more times than I normally do. Otherwise, not too much to say about this one. It went about the same as it has the past couple of weeks. 

Workout Update: P90X Day 41

 Day 41 was x-stretch again. Not really any new progress to update with this workout. It went about the same as it has the last few times. No new flexibility gains that I noticed.

DVD Review: Family Guy Season 16

Family Guy has been around long enough that anyone reading a review of it by now is aware of what it is. It follows the same story-of-the-week (sometimes with or without a side story) procedural format. While they do make callbacks to old jokes and references to past episodes, you really do not have to watch from week to week to follow what is going on (for the most part). There are some two or even three-part episodes from time to time, including this season. But, for the most part, the episodes are stand-alone. 

The show continues to be irreverent, making jokes about anything and everything, including the show itself. It is definitely adult humor, especially on the DVDs as the episodes are uncensored and they do drop in swearing that does not get put on the broadcast versions of the episodes. For me, the standout episodes of the season are the season finale in which Peter has a conversation with God. The Putin episode (mainly for the well-inserted Access Holywood Tape joke), the episode in which Brian enters himself into a dog show, and the body-switching episode. 

For those who are looking at the DVD set. As you are probably aware, the quality of the extras on the DVD releases has gone down as the years have gone by. For this set, you just get deleted scenes and an animatic of one of the episodes that is longer than the regular episode and have a commentary track on it with a couple of the writers. They are okay but not nearly as extensive as what the older DVD releases got. But, of course, as physical media has been slowly dying, especially when it comes to TV series, the fact that any DVD release happens is lucky.

Overall, the season is good. I still think the series was at its best in its first couple of years before it was canceled by FOX, but it managed to find a formula that works and has kept it on the air for years since it was brought back. As for whether it is worth getting the DVD set, it boils down to whether you want the uncensored episodes, as I have heard, the streaming version of the show is the same as the broadcast version.