Book Review: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

 

This is the seventh and final book in the original Harry Potter series of novels. It, of course, has the final confrontation between Harry and Voldemort. The story picks up shortly after the events of the Half-Blood Prince novel, with Harry just about to turn 17 and come of age in the wizarding world. He has a longer, more protracted "goodbye" with the Dursleys than we saw in the movie, and from there the book and the movies mostly track each other pretty well. As almost everyone knows, this book was split into two movies so as to cut as little of the story as possible. That said, there are still things that are removed in the movies (in large part because some characters had larger roles in the books than they did in the prior movies, so their role in the movies got reduced a bit), and there are things that happened differently in the movie than in the book, including the showdown between Harry and Voldemort. 

Overall, I would say that I like the book more than the movie, just because some of the details that were included in the book made things make a bit more sense than they did in the movies. I also think Snape's big moment was a bit better in the book than it ended up being in the movie (although that was good too). I did like the movie version of the final battle more than the book's version of it, however. I think the movie made that more dramatic than the book did. As you can imagine, this is the darkest book in the series given that most of the people reading it would have aged with the characters in the book (at least when it was originally released), so there are a lot of characters that are injured or killed, and the language is a bit more adult than in the earlier books, especially the first two. It ties up the story well and sets up the backstory for Fantastic Beasts and the story of a young Dumbledore. It is definitely worth the read, although, for those who have young kids, I would not read this one to them until they are older. Stick to the first two novels and then read the other books to them as they get older and can handle the darker content. As has been the case for all of the novels, they are written well enough that adults can easily enjoy them, whether you read the books as a kid and are now an adult, or were an adult when the books were originally published and became a fan through the movies. 

Workout Update: Power-90 Master's Series Day 20

 Day 20 was the plyo-legs workout again. Overall, I really like the workout. I would even say that it is a bit more challenging than the p90x plyometrics workout because each move is one-minute long as opposed to 30 seconds, and some of them are very difficult to do for an entire minute. Really the only thing that this one does not have in it that the p90x workout does is the high-impact jumping moves like the jump knee tucks. And, because you can modify each move, you can make it as easy or as hard as you need to.

Workout Update: Power-90 Master's Series Day 19

 Day 19 was the sculpt 5-6 workout again. I was able to hit the 11 rep max on a few more exercises, so the weight on those will be increased next time. I definitely find the push-up moves in this workout a lot more challenging than those that were in the 1-2 and 3-4 workouts. This one ends up being a bit longer workout (about 45-50 minutes), but not quite as long as most of the p90x workouts. 

Workout Update: Power-90 Master's Series Day 18

 Day 18 was the T25 stretch workout again. I had planned on doing x-stretch, but I again got a late start to the day and my workout was pushed back, so I opted for the shorter one. Overall, it went well and I can tell I am slowly becoming more flexible. 

Workout Update: Power-90 Master's Series Day 17

 Day 17 was cardio intervals again. It is definitely tough to get through both rounds of it, and I still cannot do the intense version of every move, even in the first round. But, my stamina is getting better so I am progressing. There are a few moves in the workout that I am not a big fan of, but, on the whole, I like the workout. Ab ripper 200 was about the same as it has been. I can get through all 200 moves, but definitely have to pause a couple of times and I still cannot get my legs to straighten out on the move where you stick your legs straight up and try to touch your toes. 

Blu-Ray Review: Carl Sagan's Cosmos: Ultimate Edition

 

This is the Blu-Ray set of the original Cosmos series, also called Cosmos: A Personal Journey, that was hosted by Carl Sagan, and written by Sagan and his wife Ann Druyan at the end of the 1970s and aired on public television in 1980. It has 13 approximately hour-long episodes that touch on all aspects of science. Of course, Astronomy was the heavy focus, but Sagan delved into topics like Chemistry, Biology, and Evolution, along with some Neuroscience. He was able to make each topic understandable and relatable without making it seem like he was dumbing anything down. There are clips in one of the episodes where he is talking to a group of elementary school students and it was amazing to see him make the concepts understandable for them while talking to them as they were peers and not little kids. 

A big focus of the series was the concept of whether humans would end up wiping themselves out, mostly by nuclear war. The series was made at the time when the United States and the Soviet Union had tons of nuclear missiles aimed at each other, ready to launch at a moment's notice, and Sagan was very fearful of what the fallout (literally and figuratively) would do to the planet and the things living on it. Interestingly, while climate change was not a focus of the series, there was an episode on Venus, talking about the effects of greenhouse gasses on its atmosphere in which Sagan touches on the worrying amount of greenhouse gas being put in Earth's atmosphere via the use of fossil fuels. So, for those who, because they listen to idiot politicians trying to score points and taking money from companies whose profit margins would be hurt if active measures to combat climate change are taken on a wide scale, think that the concept of climate change is some kind of liberal agenda that has sprung up in the last fifteen to twenty years, this proves it was a something (even if it did not have a catchy name at the time) that scientists were worried about long before the current political climate. Some of the episodes also get a "science update" made in approximately 1990 where Sagan updates the episode with things that have been learned or discovered in the 10 years since the show originally aired. It is interesting to see how much we have learned since 1980. For example, back in 1980, they did not know what caused the dinosaurs to go extinct. I was very young in 1980 (had not started school yet), but I always remember being taught in school that the dinosaurs were wiped out by something hitting the Earth, so it must have been a few years later that scientists worked out that a massive meteor or comet struck Earth about 65,000,000 years ago. 

For those who have seen the updated series hosted by Neil Degrass Tyson, when you watch this, you will see that they used a similar format to this one, with some differences. For example, in the newer series when they discussed historical figures, many times they used animation, whereas in the original series, they hired actors to play the parts of whatever famous scientist they were talking about. And, of course, the Ship of the Imagination got a serious CGI upgrade in the more recent series. The A/V quality of the Blu-Ray is good, but not outstanding. While they did remaster the audio and video from the original tapes, you can still tell that it was not an extremely high-end remaster like some older movies have received. But, it does look a lot better on Blu-Ray than some of the YouTube versions of the show which were just a straight transfer from the VHS tape.

Overall, it is a wonderful series that should be required viewing in any elementary school science class. As I said above, Sagan makes every topic, even relativity, understandable, and even when discussing issues that pit science against religion, presents the scientific view without disparaging or mocking religious beliefs. While even the science updates are a bit dated now, some 30 years after they were filmed, most of what is taught in the show is as relevant and accurate today as it was back 40-plus years ago. 

Workout Update: Power-90 Master's Series Day 16

 Day 16 was the sculpt 5-6 workout again. I definitely like it a bit better than the 1-2 and 3-4 workouts in the base Power-90 set, but I still prefer the p90x approach in which each resistance workout targets 1-2 muscle groups instead of being a total-body workout. I was able to hit 11 reps on a couple of the exercises, so those will have the weight increased next time. Overall, it was a good, fast-moving workout.

Book Review: Star Wars: Light of the Jedi (The High Republic)

 

Light of the Jedi is one of the newest canon novels in the Star Wars series. It is set during the era known as "The High Republic", basically when the Republic is at its height before Palpatine starts setting in motion the events that would result in his power grab. So, basically the time before the events of The Phantom Menace. The book is set about 230 years before A New Hope, so about 200 years before The Phantom Menace. The beginning of the book involves a series of hyperspace disasters when pieces of shrapnel traveling at light speed start hitting ships and moons in the outer rim. The Jedi are called in to stop the accidents (called Emergences) and come up against a group of pirates called the Nihil, who are holding systems hostage telling the leaders they can prevent the Emergences for a fee. 

The book has some strengths and weaknesses. The biggest strength is a deviation from the Jedi vs. Sith storylines. The Nihil present a formable foe for the Jedi without being Force-users. The biggest weakness is the lack of recognizable characters. Yoda is mentioned but does not make an appearance in the book. And, the book kind of just jumps into the action without doing a ton of character development for the new characters. There is some character development as the story goes along, but I think the book could have done more to set up who the new characters are. Another strength is that the book does not tie up everything in a neat bow at the end. It leaves the fate of one of the characters in danger and uncertain, and the book clearly sets up what will be a series of novels. 

Overall, the book is good, but not great. I definitely think the subsequent novels could be better than this one depending on what direction the story is taken. Hopefully, Yoda, who is really the only character from the Phantom Menace onward who is alive at this point, will be incorporated into the subsequent novels, beyond just a name drop that he got in this book. He does not necessarily need to be the main character, but I think his inclusion in the books would help tie this era to the movies and animated tv series eras. 

Workout Update: Power-90 Master's Series Day 15

 Day 15 was cardio 5-6 and ab ripper 200. Both workouts went well. I was able to get through each one without taking extra breaks and again did all 200 reps of ab ripper. As I said in a prior post, I generally like this workout more than the ones in the base Power-90 program. Although that could be because the 1-2 and 3-4 workouts each had the same moves, so it was nice to get more variety in this workout. 

Workout Update: Power-90 Master's Series Day 14

 Day 14 was a rest day from the regular workouts. I had planned on doing x-stretch from p90x, however, I had to get some work done for my day job, and could not work out until about 9pm so I just swapped it with the T25 stretch workout. So, my plan is this week to do the x-stretch workout twice, once on Thursday evening and once on Saturday. Otherwise, nothing new to report. 

Workout Update: Power-90 Master's Series Day 13

 Day 13 was the plyo-legs workout and ab ripper. No big change from the first time I did the workout, but I felt like I could get a bit deeper on some of the squat-based moves (and there are a lot of them). I was getting tired near the end, but I managed to get through it, and all 200 moves in the ab-ripper workout. 

4kUHD Blu-Ray/Movie Review: Close Encounters of the Third Kind 40th Anniversary Edition

 

Close Encounters of the Third Kind is the "other" late 1970s movie directed by Steven Spielberg, the other, of course being Jaws. This movie was actually Spielberg's passion project that he wanted to make before Jaws, but he was able to get Jaws financed first, which then allowed him to make this movie. Close Encounters is a movie about aliens, essentially dramatizing all the alien abduction and alien encounters that people alleged to have had back in the days before we were all walking around with cameras. And, it partly plays off distrust of the government after Watergate by involving a government cover-up. The movie is basically told from a couple different perspectives. That of government agents who are discovering strange occurrences throughout the world (like finding planes that had been missing since the 1940s mysteriously reappearing) and then those of normal people who have encounters with the alien ships. 

 

The film stars Richard Dreyfuss as Roy Neary, an electrical worker who has one of the encounters with the ships while he is out trying to deal with power outages caused by the alien ships. He then becomes obsessed with trying to find the aliens, leading him to try to get to Devil's Tower in Wyoming. The rest of the cast includes Bob Balaban (who also starred in 2010 a few years later), Teri Garr, Melinda Dillon, and Cary Guffey.  Dillon plays Guffey's mother who also has an encounter with the aliens and joins up with Roy to get to Devil's Tower. 

 

For those who get the 4k UHD set, there are actually three discs. The UHD disc has three different versions of the movie, the theatrical cut, an enhanced version that upgrades the special effects and makes some minor edits that Spielberg would have liked to do had he not been under a time crunch to finish the movie. Then there is a director's cut, which is basically a different version of the enhanced version taking out a scene that the studio wanted to add when they agreed to make the enhanced version that Spielberg did not think should be included. Each of the cuts are around the same length and tells the same story. Neither the enhanced cut or the director's cut alters the story in any significant way. The UHD disc also allows you to play the other editions in a "View From Above" mode that provides details about the differences between the theatrical version of the movie and the version you are currently watching.

 

Then, there are two regular Blu-Ray discs. One that has the movies and one that has the extras. There are well over two hours’ worth of extras, some of which were made sometime around 2016-2017 for the 40th anniversary of the movie, and others that were the original behind-the-scenes material shot around the time the movie was released. There are also deleted scenes, storyboard comparisons, a stills gallery, and the theatrical trailer. So, if you like going through extras, the physical discs are a good pickup. The A/V quality of the UHD disc is good, but I would not say I was blown away by the restoration. It does look a lot better than the standard definition footage shown in the extras, but the UHD format does, especially in the theatrical edition, highlight the limitations of 1977 special effects. 

 

Overall, the movie is good to very good. It is definitely a bit dated, and parts of it do not hold up all that well. You can definitely tell it was made in the late 1970s and has the look and feel of that period. Interestingly, in some of the newer bonus material, Spielberg said that he would not make the movie the same way today as he did back then, because of how his perspective changed as he got older. That said, it is definitely worth checking out.  

DVD Review: Bull Season 5

 

The 5th season of Bull is the post-covid-lockdown season, so it is shorter (just 16 episodes) and incorporated the pandemic into its storytelling (mostly the use of masks and social distancing in nearly every scene). The first episode, entitled Corona, was a totally covid-centric episode that saw the characters break the fourth wall at the very end to welcome the fans back. After that, the show continued on with its case-of-the-week format with the pandemic always looming in the background. 

For those who get the DVD, it is just a MOD set. It does not have captions in any language and the only extras are deleted scenes for some, but not all, episodes. The length of the deleted scenes for a given episode range from about 35 seconds to over 6 minutes. Overall, the show does a good job with the ensemble cast, giving all of the main characters one centric episode, and then having actual story arcs for others. The focus is still on Bull and this season his relationship with Izzy. Benny had the second-largest arc of the season as he mulls a run for district attorney. Chunk and Miranda are also more involved in the cases this year with Chunk acting as lead attorney in several cases, which would never be the case in real life for someone with his experience level. 

Overall, the show has evolved a lot since season one. The days of focusing a ton on jury selection and the mirror jury are over. The show presumes that the audience understands that (although people just jumping into the show this season may not get the full idea). The show deals with a lot of real-world issues, including BLM, the "Me Too" movement (which is a bit ironic given the allegations Eliza Dushku made against Michael Weatherly), and the like. I think the show continues to be strong, and I can mostly watch it even as a lawyer without getting too nit-picky. They get a lot of the court stuff right, and some they totally dramatize (like the length of time from the incident or crime until the trial). Hilariously, in one episode they ask someone why he does not have any bruises as if a trial would actually take place a week or so after the incident that prompted it. But, if you can overlook that, and things like the lawyers testifying when they question witnesses, it can be an enjoyable show even for those of us who know what they are taking creative license with. While I cannot say that everyone who was a fan of the first couple of seasons will automatically like this season, I think the show is still good and worth checking out. 

Power-90 Master's Series Day 12

 Day 12 was the sculpt 5-6 workout again. I did it a bit later in the evening than usual, but managed to get it done, and did hit 11 reps on one of the resistance exercises. But all of the rest will keep the same weight when I do the workout again on Tuesday. I am looking forward to starting on P90X again where the resistance workouts are focused on one or two muscle groups. I think the total body workouts are okay, but they never tend to really give any one particular muscle group a really good workout. 

Blu-Ray review: Young Sheldon Season 4

 

The fourth season of Young Sheldon is the first season of the show post-covid lockdown. The first episode is really the third season finale which was not complete by the time production shut down in season three. Then, the rest of the season is really focused on Sheldon's first semester in college. Because the show is set in the early 1990s, they could not directly reference the pandemic (aside from in the cards at the very end of the credits), but they did find a clever way of doing remote learning 1990s style and made a joke about how it would become the wave of the future. While Sheldon is naturally, the focus of the series, the show does a good job giving all of the characters (even some of the supporting characters like Billy and Brenda) substantial story arcs this year. The entire cast does a great job and Iain Armitage, Zoe Perry, Lance Barber, Montana Jordan, Raegan Revord, and Annie Potts all had standout moments during the season. The show also featured many of the same recurring and guest stars including Wallace Shawn and McKenna Grace.

For those who get the Blu-Ray, the episodes are divided between two discs, and on the second disc, there is a short feature of the cast having zoom calls with each other during the lockdown. So, not a ton of extras by any means. Overall, the show is very good, with a great cast and good writing. For those who are new to this show and Big Bang Theory, you definitely want to watch BBT first, because Jim Parsons (adult Sheldon) narrates this show and does provide updates to Sheldon's life after BBT which will spoil some of what happens in BBT. But, if you have liked the prior seasons of the show, then this one is definitely worth watching.

Workout Update: Power 90 Master's Series Day 11

 Day 11 of the Master's Series according to the calendar I am following was a rest day. So, instead of doing nothing, I did the modified version of the T25 stretch workout. That is a good, short, non-impact set of moves, that is challenging, but not hard. And there are no really advanced moves in the workout. I like to swap out a couple of the moves to replace them with more hamstring-focused moves, but that is just my preference, not something that anyone would have to do. 

Workout Update: Power-90 Master's Series Day 10

 Day 10 was my second attempt at the cardio interval workout. That is the one where you do two rounds of the same 11 moves. Each move is a minute long, and every 20 seconds you increase the intensity of the move. This is definitely a more advanced workout, but you can modify it to suit your ability level. For example, on the plank-walk, plank-run, chaturanga-run combination, in the first round I just do the first two rounds and then walk or run the last 20 seconds, but never do the chaturanga-run. While Tony advises maybe skipping the second round the first few times you do the workout, I do the second round, but take breaks and for some of the moves just stick with the level-one version. After the workout, I did ab-ripper 200, and that went pretty much as it has. So, overall, a good workout.

DVD Review: Chicago Med Season 6

 

Season six was a shortened season (just 16 episodes) due to the covid-lockdown and the fact that all of the shows started production later in the year than they normally did. As you can imagine, the covid pandemic is front and center in the overall series arc this season. The first episode was especially covid-centric (we even find out that Doctor Charles contracted covid during the hiatus), but it was always in the background throughout the entire season. The show mostly stayed out of the political debate but did make references to people thinking it was a hoax, and references to misinformation and the like. The first few episodes also tied up the storyline with Dr. Charle's ex-wife and younger daughter Anna that was not able to be resolved at the end of last season, and then went on to the current season's storylines.

There is more cast turnover this season, with the addition of Steven Webber as Dr. Archer, who has a past with Dr. Choi coming into the ED. Also, as most people likely know, two original characters left the show at the end of the season. The show basically found a way to write out one of the characters and kind of left the fate of the other character in limbo as a part of the cliffhanger in the season finale. I will not spoil which characters/actors it was, but I will say I think that each deserved a bit better sendoff than the finale gave them. Although, I know one of the actors came back in the Season Seven premiere to have their story arc resolved (akin to how the Connor and Ava storyline extended from the Season Four finale into the Season Five premiere). 

Overall, the show remains good, although I would say not as good as in the first couple of seasons. It has definitely gotten a bit more soap-opera-ish over time and has doctors making very questionable decisions that probably (hopefully) are not made in real life. Oliver Platt continues to be the stand out in my opinion, although Brian Tee did a great job with his character's increased role this season. There are no extras on the DVD at all. There was no big "One Chicago" crossover this year (although characters from Fire and PD did make cameo appearances as happens every season), so the usual crossover episodes from the other shows that appear as DVD extras were not there. So, really, the only reason to get this DVD set is if you really prefer physical discs to streaming or if you want to keep an existing collection complete. 

Workout Update: Power-90 Master's Series Day 9

 Day 9 was the sculpt 5-6 workout. I was able to hit 11 reps on a couple of the exercises so I will be increasing those the next workout. I do like the fact that it is a full-body workout, but there are a couple of exercises in it that I am not a big fan of. I think it could have better leg exercises, but the chest, back, and arm exercises are good. My goal during these workouts and when I do p90x is that I will try to stay in the 8-10 range for all the resistance exercises. 

Workout Update: Power-90 Master's Series Day 8

 Day 8 was the sweat 5-6 workout again. Overall, I like the setup of the workout and the fact that it has some different moves in it. It would have been nice if they would have added the ab-ripper moves at the end, or done like an ab-ripper 300 workout, but I have all of the moves in that workout memorized, so I do not have to watch it to actually do the workout. I was again able to do all 200 reps but did need to pause a couple of times.

Workout Update: Power-90 Master's Series Day 7

 Day 7 was another rest/stretch day. I did the vast majority of the x-stretch workout from p90x. I really like that workout because it has a brief yoga warm-up, then goes into other things. I like that it has a total body focus from the head and neck, forearms, back, and legs. Even though it is just under an hour, it flows pretty well and does not feel like it is too long, the way that yoga-x can feel. 

DVD Review: Chicago PD Season 8

 

The 8th season was the first season of the show post-covid lockdown. So, the season had to finish up the storyline that was ending season seven, involving Kevin and the shooting involving the racist cop, and the fallout from that. Of course, while the show was off the air, the George Floyd killing and all of the protests that resulted from it occurred, so the show made that, and the whole BLM movement a focus of the show (at least early on). Once they were a few episodes in and the storyline involving Kevin was resolved, that started to be pushed more into the background, but was still a theme throughout the rest of the season. The good thing is that the show presented the issue from both the protestor's perspective and the police's perspective so it was not force-feeding any particular viewpoint. 

This season only had 16 episodes because they started shooting later in the year than normal, and there was no big "One Chicago" crossover with the other shows, although characters from Fire and Med did appear in a couple of episodes as has usually been the case. The show follows the same kind of format that it has from the beginning, mixing the "case of the week" stories with larger arcs. The show continues to do great character development with all of the characters. A big focus this season was Upton continuing to spiral toward becoming the next Voight, and Voight trying to prevent that. There is no life or death cliffhanger ending this season, but the season ends with more sketchy conduct that will have repercussions going into next season.

The DVD set does not have any extras this season. It is just a MOD set that has captions. In the past handful of seasons, the only extras on the DVDs have been the crossover episodes from the other shows, but since there was no crossover this year, this just has the 16 episodes and nothing else. So, the only reason to get this over streaming it is if you have an existing collection you want to maintain or you just prefer the physical discs to streaming. 

Overall, the show continues to be very good. The writing and acting are great. Most of the characters (aside from Platt) got at least one centric episode during the season. There was more cast turnover this year as the character of Rojas was not brought back and was not really replaced with a new team member. I do think it helps the show to have a slightly smaller ensemble cast, however, and there was no significant drop-off because of it. 

Workout Update: Power-90 Master's Series Day 6

 Day 6 of the Master's series workout is Plyo-Legs. If you have done P90x it will not surprise you that this workout is basically a combination of the Plyometrics workout and the Legs and Back workout. You will see some of the exact same moves and variations on some of the moves in those workouts. It is definitely challenging, although not quite as high-impact as the p90x plyo workout since it does not have jump knee tucks and the guitar jumps (whatever those were called). Most of the moves last a minute and Tony does show or have one of the two people doing the workout with him show modified versions of the moves. So, even though there is not a dedicated modifier (they kind of switch up who is modifying) and no modifier track you can watch that mostly focuses on the modifier, you can easily see the modified versions of the various moves. After that I did ab-ripper 200, and was able to get through all 200 reps (although I still have to pause during some of the moves). 

DVD Review: Chicago Fire Season 9

 

Season Nine of Chicago Fire was the first post-covid lockdown season. So, it is a shortened season (just 16 episodes) because they started filming later in the year, and was a bit uneven because they had to tie up some of the storylines from the last season (most notably Stella taking the Leuitenant exam) then transition to the new season's storylines. There was really no tidy send-off for Foster beyond what we saw at the end of Season Eight when she decided to re-enroll in school. We do find out that she is working in a covid ward, but that is it. Of course, that means we get new paramedic(s) on 61. So yes, there is more cast turnover this year. The show also is playing up the "will they, won't they" between Brett and Casey, teasing them getting together and throwing obstacles in the way. There is no big "One Chicago" crossover this year with all of the shows, probably because of wanting to limit covid exposure between the various cast and crews of each show, but there were instances where characters from PD and Med made short cameos in an episode or two. 

Overall, the storylines this season were good, but as I said, a bit uneven. The show did not make the pandemic a focus (like Chicago Med does), but it is something that looms in the background. I did think the showrunners could not make up their mind with whom to cast as the new paramedic, which hurt the show a bit. I will not spoil anything for those who have not seen it, but I think the show could have handled that storyline and the characters better. Of course, there is a cliffhanger that leaves the fates of some of the cast members in a life-threatening situation as they fade to black, but this year it is not the entire cast in danger. The DVD set is just a MOD set, with no extras (but it does have English closed-captions), so unless you want the physical discs because you are maintaining a collection or just prefer discs to streaming, you do not get anything additional over streaming the episodes.

Workout Update: Power-90 Master's Series Day 5

 Day 5 was the sculpt 5-6 workout again. The workouts last week and over the weekend have been kind of all over the place because I have been dealing with a family medical issue and having a family member hospitalized. But, I have still managed to get my workouts in, even if they were not as good as I would have liked (which is a category that this workout definitely fell into). I am going to be maxing out at 10 reps so I will bump the weights up when I get to 11 reps, so the goal will be to lift heavier. Overall, the workout was fine, but I was a bit distracted and rushed during it, so I was not going all out by any means. Hopefully, things in my personal life will calm down this week and lead to better workouts.