Workout Update: Power-90 Master's Series Day 49

 Day 49 was the core cardio workout again. I am not a huge fan of this workout, but thankfully it is just in the recovery week(s). It does remind me of core synergistics from the p90x workout, which I am also not a huge fan of.  I did manage to push through and get a good workout in. 

Workout Update: Power-90 Master's Series Day 48

 Day 48 was the rest day so I did the T25 stretch. Unfortunately, I have still been dealing with a family medical issue, so my schedule for everything has been hectic. So, I did not get a chance to work out until later in the evening, so I picked the shorter stretch workout. It went fine, I was a bit tired, but I got through it.

Workout Update: Power-90 Master's Series Day 47

 Day 47 was the sculpt 5-6 workout again, and using ab-ripper 200 as the warmup. Both ab-ripper and the regular workout went well. I was able to hit max reps on a couple more exercises, and on the tricep dips, I hit a new personal best at 18 reps with legs extended. And, I could tell I am getting a better range of motion on the push-ups. So, overall, a good workout. I have one more week of the Master's Series, then will start in with p90x.

Workout Update: Power-90 Master's Series Day 46

 Day 46 was the cardio 5-6 workout again. As a transition to p90x, I am going to do ab-ripper on the strength training days as a warm-up to the sculpt workout, which is how I plan to use ab-ripper when I do p90x. Overall, this workout was very good. Thankfully, all of the covid booster shot side effects have gone away so I was not feeling chills or super tired like I had been during the last couple of workouts. 

Blu-Ray/Movie Review: Explorers

 

Explorers was a mid-1980s movie starring a very young Ethan Hawke (in his first movie role) and a very young River Phoenix (both were around 13 years old at the time the movie was shot). The premise of the movie is that Hawke's character, Ben, who is huge into space, aliens, and science fiction, dreams of what is essentially a circuit that can create a force sphere that can allow for space flight. Phoenix plays Wolfgang, a science nerd who builds the circuit, and Jason Presson plays Darren, a kid that is kind of a loner but gets caught up in the experiment and helps to build a ship. Of course, they end up going into space and meeting actual aliens, but there is a bit of a twist to that part of the story. 

The supporting cast is made up of many recognizable actors including Meshach Taylor, Dick Miller, James Cromwell, and Amanda Peterson, who was another recognizable child actor for those of us who grew up in the 1980s. Robert Picardo played several roles in the movie. He is, of course, probably best known for his role on Star Trek Voyager, but he is almost unrecognizable in each of the roles, including that of the "main" alien. 

For those who get the Blu-Ray, there are two discs, one with the theatrical version of the movie and one with the home video version of the movie. Surprisingly, the theatrical version is a few minutes longer than the home video release. Each disc has the same bonus features, the main ones being an hour-long making-of feature, deleted scenes (that can be played with or without commentary by the director) interviews with a couple different crew members, and the theatrical trailer. A good amount of material for those who like watching the extras.

Overall, the movie, while certainly dated, is still very enjoyable. It has a pretty timeless theme that helps distract from the fact that it feels like a mid-80s movie. Interestingly, if you watch the making-of feature you will find out that the movie was really incomplete, but had to be finished to meet the summer release deadline. So elements had to be taken out, and the edit that was released to theaters was not what the director, Joe Dante, wanted to release. Even so, the movie was pretty well written and well-acted, even though the main actors were kids, and still very green. For many people, this is probably more of a nostalgia movie they remember from their childhood, but if you have not seen it, it is definitely worth checking out.

DVD Review: Dracula Season One

 

Dracula was a show that aired on NBC (which ultimately led to its downfall) in 2013 and starred Johnathan Rhys Meyers as Dracula. The premise is that Dracula comes to London posing as an American Industrialist named Alexander Grayson to bring wireless electricity to the world. In reality, he is trying to bring down a group called The Order of the Dragon that cursed him with immortality and killed his wife. He is aided by Abraham Van Helsing whose family was also killed by the Order. While in London, Grayson falls in love with a woman named Mina Murry (played by Jessica De. Gouw whom most people will probably recognize from her appearances on the series Arrow), who also looks like his late wife. She is betrothed to Jonathan Harker, who is a journalist that Dracula employs to aid in his scheme to bring down the Order.  

The show only got a limited run of 13 episodes. It was hardly enough time to set everything up and really get people invested in the show. It is one of those shows that would have been a lot better off on the CW network and could have easily had a 5+ season run had it not had to pull major network level ratings. Much like the show Constantine, which was on NBC right around the same time, the dark nature of the show (as well as the sex) probably turned a lot of people off, and hence, the show did not get great ratings and was canceled midway through the first season. 

For those who get the DVD set, there are some extras, including deleted scenes, a couple of making-of and behind-the-scenes features, an animated series that shows some of what led up to what airs in the series, and Van Helsing's lost tapes which shows him conducting experiments on vampires. 

Overall, the show is very good, and most definitely deserved a longer run. The end of the season left a lot on the table (it does seem like the final episode was reworked a bit so the showrunners may have known ahead of time that the show was canceled) and had set the show to go in a potentially different direction. And, for fans of hers, it seems that Katie McGrath's character would have been expanded had the show continued. So, even if you like the show, it will leave you feeling incomplete because not everything is resolved by the end of the season. I do, however, think it is worth watching even if you will feel a bit cheated by not seeing a clear end to the storylines. 

DVD Review: Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead

 

Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead, is a comedy from the early 1990s starring Christina Applegate, who was at the height of her fame on the series Married With Children. The movie has a pretty simple premise, the "mom" played by Concetta Tomei took a trip for the summer, hiring an old battle-ax of a babysitter to take care of her kids while she was gone. The babysitter dies, and the kids having no money have to figure out a way to eat, pay the bills, etc, over the summer. Applegate, who plays the 17-year-old daughter, Sue Ellen, applies for a job as a receptionist using a resume she copied out of a guide on writing resumes and ends up with an Executive Assistant position at an apparel company. And from there, of course, hilarity ensues. 

The movie definitely had the feel of a late 80s early 90's movie. Some of the comedy is pretty dated now, and there are some things, like showing Applegate's underage character smoking, would never fly. The movie did have a strong supporting cast including a young Josh Charles, Danielle Harris (who played the little girl in Halloween 4 and 5), David Duchovney, Joanna Cassidy, and several other recognizable character actors. 

For those who get the DVD, the extras are fairly bare-bones (some previews, the trailer, and cast biographies), but it does have closed captions. Overall, it is a dark comedy that has some good moments, but it is not as good as other "coming of age" comedies that came before it like Fast Times, Porky's, or the like, nor as good as some of the comedies that would follow it in a handful of years like American Pie. It definitely feels dated watching it now, but even with those caveats, it is still a decent comedy and worth checking out.  

Workout Update: Power-90 Master's Series Day 45

 Day 46 was a rest day and happened to be Thanksgiving day here in the US. Nevertheless, I still managed to do the T25 stretch video. I actually felt like this was a bit harder than the past couple of times I have done it. Maybe because I have not felt well the past couple of days. But, I made it through.

Workout Update: Power-90 Master's Series Day 44

 Day 44 was Sculpt 5-6 again. I felt a lot better after the effects of my Covid booster wore off, so I was able to get through the workout okay. It did take a bit longer than normal because I had to take more rest breaks, but I made it through. I also used ab-ripper 200 as a warm-up since I had skipped it the day before. That worked pretty well. 

Workout Update: Power-90 Master's Series Day 43

 Day 43 was cardio intervals. I felt very crappy because of the side effects of my covid booster, so I did just one round of cardio intervals (totally skipped round two) and modified a lot. Also, I did not do ab-ripper and saved that as my warmup for the next workout. 

Workout Update: Power-90 Master's Series Day 42

 Day 42 was the UML workout again. This one was tough to get through. I received my covid booster the day before so I was hit with a slight fever and chills yesterday afternoon. I had debated skipping the workout altogether, but I managed to push through. I did have to modify everything and could not hit all the rep counts for some of the moves, but I pushed play and did it.

Workout Update: Power-90 Master's Series Day 41

 Day 41 was another rest/stretch day. I opted to do x-stretch from p90x, which I really like. It is one of my favorite flexibility workouts because it really hits all of the areas (neck, shoulders, and hamstrings) that I (and most people) tend to be very tight and stiff in. There are definitely a couple of moves I have to modify or skip (mostly shoulder stand into plow and bow). And, unlike yoga-x, it never feels like it is going on too long.

Workout Update: Power-90 Master's Series Day 40

 Day 40 was the sculpt 5-6 workout again. I did not have a ton of energy to do this workout because my mom ended up having to go back into the hospital the day before. But, I still managed to get it in, and it was a nice outlet to take my mind off of things. I was able to max out at 11 reps on a couple more exercises, so those will be bumped up next time.

Workout Update: Power-90 Master's Series Day 39

 Day 39 was the sweat 5-6 workout again (along with ab-ripper 200). Nothing really new to report about the workout. It went about the same as it has. I do think I am getting faster, not as fast as Tracy and Tony (who are the ones who do little to no modification), but I can keep up with Larry (who mostly does the modified/slower versions of the move).  I was able to get through all 200 reps of ab ripper, with a couple of pauses. 

Workout Update: Power-90 Master's Series Day 38

 Day 38 was the optional rest or stretch day, so I opted to do T25 stretch again. I again modified it to focus more on hamstring and groin stretches (basically swapping out the downward dog calf stretches for hurdler stretches and then adding dual straight leg stretches and butterfly stretches. As I have said in the last few posts for the stretching workouts I can tell my flexibility is getting better, but it is still a work in progress.

Blu-Ray Review: Superman the Complete Animated Series

 

Superman, the animated series aired in the mid-1990s. It was created and produced by the same team that created the very popular Batman: The Animated Series, and then expanded out into Batman Beyond and Justice League (after this series aired). It aired for three seasons with a total of 54 episodes and starred Tim Daily as the voice of Superman, Dana Delaney as the voice of Lois Lane, and Clancy Brown as Lex Luthor. It also sported a very strong supporting cast including Malcolm McDowell, Joely Fisher, Lisa Edelstein, and Brad Garrett (among others). And, Kevin Conroy, Mark Hamill, and Arleen Sorkin reprised their roles as Batman, Joker, and Harley Quinn from the Batman series.

The show was, by design, a lot different both in terms of feel and look from the Batman series. The look of the series was inspired both by the Jack Kirby comics and the Max Fleischer animated series from the 1960s. The creators made the choice to have a vulnerable version of Superman that could be hurt, even by things that did not hurt him in other incarnations of the character. This put him on more of a level playing field with the villains. While some episodes referred back to prior episodes and there were some two and even three-part episodes during the run of the series, the episodes were mostly stand-alone so that you did not necessarily have to remember what was going on in a first season episode to get what was going on during a third season episode. Not that it is a big issue when you can watch every episode back to back.

As most hardcore fans are aware, this set was released on DVD years ago. This is the first time it has been on Blu-Ray. The big upgrade you get from the DVD set is that this one does not have the double-sided discs that the DVD set had. In the DVD set, each season had three discs. The first disc for each season was normal, but for some reason discs, 2 and 3 of each season were double-sided, which of course leads to the possibility of discs getting scratched up. Thankfully, this set corrects that. The 54 episodes are spread out over six discs. They did not break the discs up by seasons at all, just had them numbered 1-54. The one downside to the Blu-Ray set is that while most of the bonus material carried over from the DVD set, not all of the commentary tracks were put on the Blu-Ray set. On the DVD and the Blu-Ray, there are commentary tracks for selected episodes. However, there are a few commentary tracks that were included on the DVD set that are not on the Blu-Ray set. So, if you are a fan of the bonus features you may want to hold on to your DVD set. Otherwise, all the making-of and behind-the-scenes features that were included in the DVD set did carry over.

As far as the A/V quality goes, it was cleaned up, but I would not say the transfer was as quality as some older movies have gotten. The WB intro just before the episodes start did not get scaled up so when each episode starts it looks like it will be in standard definition, but from the opening credits on, you can definitely tell the video has been upgraded. 

Overall, the show is very good. It is definitely not just a "kids show" and at times does get very dark (especially toward the end). The series ends on a bit of a cliffhanger. Not so much a cliffhanger in terms of character danger, but would have taken the show in somewhat of a new direction had the series not been canceled. If you are a fan of Superman or specifically this series, it is definitely worth picking up.

Workout Update: Popwer-90 Master's Series Day 37

 Day 37 was the sculpt 5-6 workout again. This was actually one of my best workouts of the master's series workouts. I was able to hit the 11 rep max on four different exercises, one of which already had the weight increase from the last workout because I hit 11 reps last time. I will still be glad to be finished with the Power-90 lifting workouts since, as I have said before, I am not a huge fan of total body workouts. I prefer to split which body parts I am doing resistance workouts on because I personally feel I get a better overall workout. 

Workout Update: Power-90 Master's Series Day 36

 Day 36 was the cardio intervals workout and ab-ripper 200. Cardio intervals is a difficult workout. It could easily be a replacement for one of the other cardio workouts in P90x. It does get a bit easier over the course of time, especially if you do it a couple times a week. The schedule I am following just has it once a week in the second 4-week phase, so it continues to be challenging. Ab ripper 200 went about the same as it has been. I can get through all 200 moves pretty much without stopping or pausing now, but I do have to modify some of the moves. 

Book Review: Siege: T**** Under Fire

 

Siege is the follow up to Michael Wolff's first book about the t**** administration, Fire and Fury, which chronicled the first year of t****'s "presidency". This book is based on interviews with (and has direct quotes from) people in his inner circle (mostly Steve Bannon) about events that occurred during the second year of the administration up to the release of the Mueller Report.

Since Wolff is not a journalist, he does not really feel the need to stick to the journalistic norms of presenting the facts and not interjecting his personal opinion into things. Wolff makes it clear that he thinks t****p is batshit crazy and deeply stupid, and that most of the people around him feel that way too. And, he has no qualms about putting gossip in the book (such as that t***p allegedly said that Nikki Hailey gave him a blowjob) that no mainstream media outlet or traditional journalist would touch with a ten-foot pole.  He does give what he claims are exact quotes from his sources, although most (aside from Bannon) are unnamed. It does seem that Wolff got a lot more information from people than others who wrote books about t***p during its time in office because it is not just a rehash of news stories with a few details filled in that some of the other books out there give you. 

The book is what I would call an intermediate length, about 315 pages, and a fairly quick read. If you are a fast reader and have a lot of time to read it, then you can easily finish it in a day or two. If you are someone, who like me, tends to read for a bit before bed, then it can be finished in about 10-15 days (again depending on how fast you read and/or how much time you devote to reading each night). T***p cult members and Q nutjobs (which are basically a circle on a Venn Diagram) will hate it and call it fake news, but anyone with a brain who saw t***p for what it was, will probably enjoy it immensely.

Workout Update: Power-90 Master's Series Day 35

 Day 35 was the UML (upper-middle-lower) workout again. Overall, I like the workout. It is relatively short and it has some unique moves that you do not see in p90x. Pretty much every move can be modified to your current skill level, and some of them are very challenging, especially some of the "middle"/core exercises.

DVD Review: Cosmos: Possible Worlds

 

"Possible Worlds" is a great end to the Cosmos trilogy of documentaries which started with the original series, hosted by Carl Sagan in 1980, then brought back by Seth McFarlane (the creator of Family Guy) and Sagan's widow, Ann Druyan, and hosted by Niel DeGrasse Tyson. This is a follow-up (really a season two) to the rebooted series "Cosmos: A Spacetime Oddesy" which aired on Fox in 2014. This series aired in 2020, first on The National Geographic Channel, and then on Fox. The release got delayed when Tyson was hit with a bunch of sexual harassment allegations on the heels of the "me too" movement. 

The series kept the same style and tone as the first season, using animations to tell most of the story in the particular episode. Each episode had its own theme/topic, and then various scientists from throughout history would be highlighted or spotlighted in the episodes. The topics were very wide-ranging, from evolution to the Cassini spacecraft that was crashed into Saturn, to climate change. This time, there was not a climate change "specific" episode, it was discussed within the larger topic of human-caused extinction events (or things we have done that have threatened life on Earth). It also touched on the possibility of life on other planets, how humans may one day travel to other solar systems, and the like. 

One thing I like is that in this season, the cosmic calendar was explained a lot better than it was in the first season. I still think in episode 1 they could have done a bit better giving the entire scale. Meaning the entire year is about 14.5 billion years, one month is about 1.2 billion years, 1 week is about 300 million years, 1 day is about 40 million years, 1 hour is about 2 million years, and 1 second is about 440 years. Then repeat that at least once an episode. If you watch every episode and pay attention, the entire scale is given, but not all at one time. I know when season 1 aired people were confused when Tyson would say that something happened on September 15th at 10 PM, or something like that, that he literally meant that an event occurred on September 15th instead of it meaning that it happened about 120 million years ago.

If you want to get the series on DVD, it has only been released internationally. I can only find it as a region 4 (Australia) release. It definitely has not been released in the US, and it does not look like it was released in the UK either. So, if you want the DVD, you will have to hunt for it a bit (I got a copy on eBay for a decent price, and it does look like it is available on Amazon from time to time), and probably pay a bit more because of the fact that it has to be sent from Australia or New Zealand. And, you need a region-free DVD or Blu-Ray player to watch it. There are no extras on the DVD, just the episodes spread across three discs, and there are no captions. 

Overall, the series is very good. While in the very politically charged environment we live in, people will probably see the show as having a political agenda, but it certainly does not. It merely presents scientific facts as we know them today, and makes clear that those facts may change as we learn more. Also, while the science discussed is heavily slanted toward astronomy and physics, it also touches on the other sciences like chemistry, biology, geology, and the like, and explains how they are all interconnected. Plus, there are a couple of very nice tributes/nods to Carl Sagan and his life. It is definitely worth watching even for people with a casual interest in science, and for someone who is a fan of astronomy and/or physics, I would call it a must-watch. 

Workout Update: Power-90 Master's Series Day 34

 Day 34 was sculpt 5-6. This workout went really well. I was able to hit 11 reps on a few moves (so the weight will go up for the next workout) and I generally felt stronger during this one than I have the past couple of times I did the workout. 

Workout Update: Power-90 Master's Series Day 33

 Day 33 was cardio 5-6 and ab-ripper 200. This workout went very well. I am getting to the point where I can get through the workout without modifying any moves (almost). I still do have to go a bit slower than the people in the video, but I am getting better. Ab-ripper 200 is getting easier for me, although it is not easy. I am definitely glad that I stuck with it (even though I generally hate ab routines) so when I do get to p90x in a few weeks, I can keep up better with the ab-ripper x routine.

Workout Update: Power-90 Master's Series Day 32

 Day 32 was the modified T25 stretch workout again. I can tell that my flexibility is continuing to improve, slowly but surely. My balance is still shaky on the moves where you cradle your leg and then do the cross-legged one-legged squat move. Those are really the two hardest moves for me to do. 

Workout Update: Power-90 Master's Series Day 31

 Day 31 was the first sculpt 5-6 workout after the recovery week. It was nice to be back to lifting weights and finding that I had not lost any strength with the week off. I managed to hit either the same rep count as I was hitting the last workout, or go up a couple of reps for some exercises. I still would say that I do not like this workout better than any of the P90X resistance workouts, but, if you are looking for a decent total-body workout, it is a good option.