CD Review: Liz Phair

 

This was Liz Phair's 2003 crossover from a pure indie artist into pop, and while she did get some crap at the time for being a sellout, the album is very good. Of course, the most popular song on the album is "Why Can't I" which made it into the Top 40 of the Billboard 100, but it also features the very great Extraordinary, and the dirtiest track on the album H.W.C.

Overall, I cannot say that people who really loved Phair's albums up to the time this one was released will like this one, but it was definitely different from a lot of the pop music that was being put out in the early 2000s, especially by female musicians.

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: Battlestar Galactica (2004): The Complete Series [Blu-ray]

 

As most are likely aware, this is a reboot/remake of the 1980s series of the same name that involves a war between machines called Cylons and humans. Many of the Cylons are made to appear human, and some even think they are human. Battlestar is one of the ships that is traveling through the universe both fighting the Cylons and trying to find a new home for humans after a group of planets known as the twelve colonies are wiped out in a Cylon attack.

The series starred a number of actors who were both well known, or at least recognizable, at the time (including Edward James Olmos and Michael Hogan) and those who would become famous because of the series including Tricia Helfer, Grace Park, and Katee Sackhoff. The writing and acting were very good throughout the series, although some of the plot elements did get a bit silly at times. For the most part, however, the show was very strong. It did have a pretty controversial ending that people seem to either really like or totally hate.

For those who get the collector's set, it comes in a box that would take up a ton of shelf space and a Cylon action figure. But, the individual seasons are packaged in smaller boxes that fit on the perimeter of the large box, so you can remove those and put them on a shelf and save a lot of room. Each season has a lot of extras including commentary tracks on select episodes, making-of featurettes, cast interviews, and more. So, if you are a fan of going through bonus material, you get a lot.

Overall, if you are a fan of sci-fi shows, you will most likely like this. It does have adult language and a lot of sex, along with as much nudity that can be gotten away with on basic cable. So, if those things turn you off, then you probably want to skip this. In fact, the series starts out with Tricia Helfer stripping down and having sex in the first scene, which pretty much sets the tone for the sex content for most of the rest of the series. That said, sex does not dominate the series or the storylines, but it is prevalent. Those provisos aside, if you are a fan of the genre, this is definitely worth checking out.

Workout Update: Chalean Extreme Day 3

Day 3 was Burn Circuit 2. It is another workout that combines a lower-body exercise with an upper-body exercise. This time, the upper body exercises are biceps, triceps, and back. So you are doing curls, kickbacks, and rows. Again, the lifting technique is slow, 4-5 counts up, and 4-5 counts down, so you are not using momentum to lift and lower the weights. And then, when you get to the breakdown sets, you do eight counts up and eight counts down. So, I find myself using lighter weights than I did in the P90x workouts for most of the moves. Even so, I was really fatigued at the end of each set. Definitely a good workout.

Product Review: Mucinex Fast-Max Day Time Cold & Flu and Night Time Cold & Flu Medicine

 

Back in 2019, shorty before Covid broke out, I got a nasty upper-respiratory-tract infection that caused me to cough up phlegm constantly and blow my nose every few minutes. This worked the best of anything I tried to make both of those symptoms subside for at least a couple of hours. I would take two doses of the daytime version (four hours apart) to help me get through my workday and then the nighttime version before bed to help me stay asleep once I fell asleep. I highly doubt I had covid because I did not have a dry cough, my oxygen levels never got dangerously low, and I never spiked a fever. But, for a run-of-the-mill cold or flu or something akin to bronchitis, this will probably be helpful for you.

Workout Review: Chalean Extreme Day 2

Day 2 of Chalean Extreme is a built-in rest day.  Instead of resting entirely, I decided to do the Recharge workout, which is basically a 20-minute yoga routine. It is, quite honestly, the kind of routine that should have been included in the Power-90 base workout to get people introduced to yoga more than the 4 minutes that is at the beginning of the Power-90 cardio workouts. It is a very basic routine that introduces moves like Warrior 2, Right Angle, Triangle, Pyramid, and Piegon, without it being overly long and too advanced. And, like in the other CE workouts, there are multiple modifications shown so that you can see ways to do the moves that can be tailored to your flexibility level. I was definitely a bit sore from yesterday's workout, so this was really nice to do on day 2, so I could get a workout in and not feel like I was slacking, but still allowed my muscles to recover.