Product Review: TiVo AG0100 Wireless G USB Network Adapter for TiVo Series 2 and Series 3 DVRs

 

The earliest Tivo boxes did not have built-in Wi-Fi. This was a plug-and-play adapter that connected to the box via a USB port. It was super easy to install and allowed your Tivo to connect wirelessly to your internet, which was much more convenient than using an Ethernet cable. So, if you have one of the old Tivo boxes, this is definitely worth picking up.

Blu Ray/Movie Review: Batman Begins

 

As many are probably aware, the live-action Batman franchise was effectively killed off by the horrible 1997 film Batman and Robin. Christopher Nolan, who at this point was probably best known for the movie Memento, decided to revive the franchise by grounding it in "reality". Basically making Gotham city look real, doing so by filming much of the movie in Chicago, and using more realistic gadgets. The end result was a huge success that eventually led to the three movies of the "Nolan Trilogy".

Batman Begins does just what you would think. Tells the origin story of Batman. We see the murder of Bruce's parents in the beginning, then it time jumps to when Bruce is a young adult. He ends up training with Raj al-Ghul and returning to Gotham with a mission to clean up the city. The movie stars Christian Bale, Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, Liam Neeson, Katie Holmes, Gary Oldman, and Cillian Murphy. Then, there are many recognizable actors such as Ken Wanatabe, Tom Wilkinson, Rutger Hauer, and Jack Gleeson. The movie was very well-written and acted. It did not try to copy any of the movies (or the TV show) that came before it, which was, in my opinion, the key to its success.

For those who get the Blu-Ray, the movie looks and sounds great in the HD format. For extras, there are several making-of featurettes, an in-movie experience that has a picture-in-picture display as the movie plays that has interviews and commentary by the cast and crew. There is additional footage, a spoof of the movie done for the MTV movie awards, a stills gallery, and the trailer. So, a ton of extras for those who like to watch them.

Overall, the movie is great. Definitely darker (and 1000 times better) than the Joel Schumacher entries, and much different than Tim Burton's versions. So, if you are a fan of Batman or even superhero movies in general, this is definitely worth watching, and if you love the extras that come with the physical discs, worth the pickup.

DVD Review: Alien Quadrilogy

 

This is the set of original Alien films starring Sigourney Weaver, the one that started it all, directed by Ridley Scott, the very good follow-up Aliens, and then the two that kind of delved into the "hot garbage" category, Alien 3, and Alien Ressurection. All of the movies got an upgraded version of the movie and a TON of extras per movie. The best of which, in my opinion, was for the first movie. Those included the Director's Cut with an introduction by Ridley Scott, and a deleted footage marker, so you can see what was not in the theatrical version of the movie, a new commentary track that included Ridley Scott, many of the actors, and one of the producers and the editor. And then you get a bunch of making-of features, storyboards, stills, the original draft of the script, a creature design featurette, and more.

Aliens received a similar treatment with a special edition of the movie being included, along with the theatrical version. The special edition had an intro by James Cameron and a commentary track that included Cameron and many of the cast and crew members. Then it got a ton of behind the scenes and making-of features, a large production gallery of photos, visual effects features, and more.

Alien 3 also got a special edition, but the director, David Fincher, refused to participate in the re-release, so he was not involved in anything. Hence, the commentary track just included a few of the crew members and a couple of cast members. There were still a ton of making-of and behind-the-scenes material, stills galleries, deleted scenes, and the like for this one.

Alien Ressurection also received the same kind of release, with a special edition and a theatrical edition, a new commentary track on the special edition with the director, some cast members, and some crew members, and then a ton of behind-the-scenes material.

So, each movie has two discs devoted to them, then the final ninth disc just has more special features those include documentaries, laser disc archives (the extras included on the laserdisc releases of the films), original trailers and TV spots, and even more stills, for each of the various movies.

Overall, this set is wonderful. I have heard that some of the transfers to the Blu-Ray version of this, Alien Legacy, were kind of so-so. Because of that, I have never upgraded, because I love the DVD set that much. If there is ever a 4kUHD release of this set, I may bite the bullet and upgrade, but until then I definitely recommend this to anyone who is a hard-core fan of the Alien franchise and loves DVD extras.

Workout Update: Chalean Extreme Day 12

Day 12 of CE was Burn Circuit 3. The upper body exercises in this one are mostly shoulders again, but working the front and sides of the shoulder as opposed to the back, which is the focus in Burn Circuit 1. It does not have any chest work at all, aside from three push-ups as one of the "extreme" sets toward the end of the workout. The leg exercises are mostly squats and lunges combined with calf raises (basically raising up onto your toes after you do the squat or lunge). So, the moves are all pretty challenging, but the workout is short (only 32 minutes including the warm-up and the cool-down) so it goes by quickly. I definitely have gotten stronger even over the course of two weeks, because I was able to hit the 12 rep max for nearly every shoulder exercises this workout, which means the weight will be increasing next time.

Product Review: Illuminator Self Powered 4-in-1 FM Radio / Alarm / 3 White focused LED flashlight / Mobile phone charger Crank Powered

 

If you need something when the power goes out, or when (god forbid) if you go camping and do not have another power source readily available, this can give you a flashlight for a few minutes, can be used as a radio, and can give you a very brief mobile phone charge. But, it in no way will give you 30 minutes of flashlight power for one minute of hand cranking. You get more like 10 minutes. So, it is not totally worthless, but with the advent of portable solar chargers that you can put out in the sun and then plug into your phone to give it power, and can then use your phone as a flashlight, to get the radio, etc., this is really just outdated, especially for how it actually performs vs what the marketing says it is capable of.