DVD Review: Halloween: 25 Years of Terror

 

This is basically a documentary that discussed the first 25 years of the Halloween franchise, which at that point had gone up through Halloween Resurrection, the worst of all of the Halloween movies. It was narrated by PJ Soles, who played Linda in the original movie. She definitely had a good time looking back on the history of the franchise, and yes, threw in a couple of "totally"[ies] for old time sake. It contains a lot of archival footage as well as interviews that were new at the time. There were a couple of very glaring omissions when it came to "new" interviews. Those being Jamie Lee Curtis and John Carpenter. Both were shown in archival footage, but neither contributed anything new. It is unclear if they were approached for the project and turned it down (which would be understandable, since I think Curtis had a bad taste in her mouth over how Laurie's storyline was handled after H20, and John Carpenter really did not want anything to do with the Halloween franchise after he made Halloween II), or if they were never approached at all.

You really do have to be a fan of the franchise, and like DVD extras/bonus material to find this interesting. If you don't really like going through extras on DVDs or Blu-Rays, AND, you are not a fan of the Halloween franchise, this will have absolutely nothing that will appeal to you. For others, you do get some good information about how the various films were made, including the cluster that was Halloween 6 (The Curse of Michael Myers) and get behind-the-scenes footage from the various movies that had not been included anywhere else.

Book Review: Star Wars: The Rise and Fall of Darth Vader

 

This was a novel put out before the Disney-Lucasfilm collaboration so, it was relegated to Legends status. It is a novel that really retells Anakin/Vader's life through his own eyes, so much of what is told (things that were seen in the movies) are still a part of the official canon. However, some of the inner monologue material and things presented from a slightly different perspective are not. Much of that has been replaced by the Vader comic series that chronicles his life after the battle of Mustafar and being put in the suit.

As others have mentioned, the book does rehash a lot of the "old" or already known material. But, that is not to say that there is nothing new in the book. We get a lot of what Anakin or Vader was actually thinking during the events, which were not always things that were in the movies. So, it is disingenuous to say that there is nothing new in it. That said, it is not going to be a book that will appeal to everyone. While I would not necessarily put it in the category of a must-read, for die-hard fans I do think it is worth checking out.

Workout Update: Chalean Extreme Day 4

Day 4 was the Burn Intervals workout. It is both a cardio endurance workout and a muscle endurance workout. Basically, you alternate between doing cardio moves (for about 1-2 minutes) and then doing a very high rep strength move (or set of moves) using a very light weight that targets a particular body part. The cardio moves are things like burpees, jumping jacks, boxing moves, etc., and the strength moves are bicep curls, shoulder presses, shoulder flys, triceps extension, etc. There is even a bit of ab work at the end. The workout is 47 minutes, including warm-up and cool-down, but goes pretty quickly. The one drawback is that the most annoying cast member in Chalean Extreme is in the video, Skip, the guy in the back who never shuts up. Plus, he totally lies about how much weight he is using, which anyone who owns a set of Bowflex SelectTech dumbells can see. At one point, Chalene's sister Janelle shoots him a pretty hilarious look. But, he is offset by my total CE crush, Toni, who looks like a fitness model despite having (at that time) seven kids. I think she is actually up to nine or ten kids now. 

Overall, the workout is very good. It can be modified somewhat, but even modified it will give you a good workout. I am not doing the ab workout that is usually done after this workout. I am saving it for after the Burn it Off cardio workout on Saturday. 

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. 

Product Review: Classic iPod 120 GB

 

I am from the generation that grew up on cassette tapes and walkmans, then transitioned to the MP3 phase. Most of the music that is in my CD collection is available to stream through Amazon music, but there are a few things that I have on CD that are not. I managed to put my entire CD collection on here (I had somewhere in the neighborhood of 300 CDs before I stopped buying them) before iTunes stopped the ripping from CD capability. You can still use this version of the iPod on iTunes, but you have to rip CDs using a different service and then transfer the MP3 files over to it. So, getting music onto the older iPods like this is not as easy as it used to be, but is still doable. The pros of this model are that you will be able to get at least a good chunk of your CD collection on it (depending on how many CDs/MP3 files you have and if you get the model that has 160GB or more or storage space) and it has pretty good sound. And, assuming your vehicle still has an AUX port, you can plug it into that and play all your music in your car.

Some of the cons are, i) it does not have Bluetooth, so you will need corded headphones, ii) it is fragile, so you definitely want to find a case for it because if you drop it on a hard surface, it can easily break, iii) it has no internet connectivity, so to get music onto it you will need to plug it into a computer.

So, if you are in your late 30s and up, and still have CDs, but don't want to lug the CDs around anymore (assuming your car still has a CD player in it) and don't want to fill up your phone's storage space with MP3 files, this is a good option. If, however, you do not have a CD collection or you do not have a bunch of MP3 files on your computer that you want to be able to take with you, this is really not necessary.

Workout Update: Chalean Extreme Day 1

Day 1 of Chalean Extreme was the burn circuit 1 video. During this circuit, you select weight so that you can make it to at least 10 reps and at most 12 reps. Once you can easily reach 12 reps, then you increase the amount of weight.  Every single exercise, with the exception of push-ups, are compound moves that combine an upper-body or core-focused exercise, like shoulder flys, shoulder presses, bicep curls, side bends, etc., with a lower-body exercise or an ab exercise like squats, lunges, leg-lowers, or the like. You target the weight to what the primary move in the exercise is, for example, when it is shoulder flys you select a lower weight, and if it is squats you select a larger weight. The big thing that Chalene Johnson, the trainer for the videos harshes on is to go slowly through the reps so that you do not use momentum to complete reps and are really focusing on the muscles. Because of that, you may have to use less weight for some exercises in this program than you did for similar exercises in a program in which you were lifting the weights more quickly. For example, in this workout, I was using 17.5 lbs for bicep curls whereas in P90x I could do 10 reps with 22.5 lbs. On some moves, Chalene does a breakdown set in which after you do the 10-12 reps for the regular compound move, then you will do three ultra-slow reps for the primary move (or a different move that targets the same muscle group as the primary move), to really fatigue the muscle. Ultra-slow means about 8 counts up and 8 counts down. 

Overall, the workout went well. I definitely picked lighter weights for this workout. Some I was dead on with my guess and for others, the weight was a bit light so I will be increasing it for the next workout. One thing I do like about this program is that there are multiple modifiers. One modifier uses bands, and another uses very light free-weights and does modified versions of some of the moves. So, it can really be tailored to your fitness level and level of strength. 

DVD Review: The Dukes of Hazzard Complete Series

 

Chances are, if you grew up in the 1980s (especially if you were a boy during the 1980s) you watched the Dukes of Hazard. The show ran from 1979 to 1985. To the extent it had much of a plot, it revolved around the Duke family (Bo, played by John Schnieder, Luke, played by Tom Wopat, Uncle Jesse, played by Denver Pyle, and among many a kid's first crushes, Daisy, played by Catherine Bach), who were moonshine runners down in Hazzard County Georgia. They were constantly being chased by the corrupt, but inept Sherrif, Rosco (played by James Best), and his inept deputies. The county was essentially run by the even more corrupt Boss Hogg, played by Sorrell Booke.

The show basically recycled the same plot over and over again, and then toward the end started getting even more silly than it already was (including episodes involving hilariously fake-looking aliens). And, we will not even talk about the Coy and Vance season. Of course, the big attraction was the car, "The General Lee", and the jumps. Of course, nowadays there is a huge backlash over the fact that the car was named after the traitor confederate general and had the confederate flag painted on the top. Even though the show was never overtly racist, and the car was used in more of the "southern pride" context than a racist context (although for some in the south the two are a circle on a Venn diagram), the show was not exactly the most racially inclusive thing either. The handful of black people who ever appeared on the show were usually bad guys, including the Sherriff of the neighboring county who would also torment the Dukes any time they crossed county lines.

It looks like there are a couple of different sets floating around out there. I have the one that just sold the individually packed seasons together. Because they were released when the physical DVDs were still pretty popular, each season had a lot of extras, most of which were produced in the "present-day" for the DVD releases. Those included a lot of interviews with the surviving cast members, but there was also some behind-the-scenes footage from when the show was originally aired that was included too.

Overall, the set is pretty good. The DVD releases were much better than what most shows get today. You do have to contend with the dreaded double-sided DVDs for some of the seasons. In my set, seasons 1-3 have the double-sided discs and then seasons 4-7 have the regular single-sided discs. So, you definitely want to watch them right away to see if you have any scratched discs. The show was never going to win any acting or writing awards, but it generally had a good theme of family and community, and even the "bad" guys had some redeeming qualities to them. It is a show that would certainly not be made today, at least not in the same way that it was back then, but even so, I think it is stupid that it has been pulled from syndication and is almost never on television anymore (and that is coming from someone who is half black and lives in Minnesota). For those of us who grew up watching it during its original run and/or when it was played heavily in syndication, it will be a fun blast from the past. It is certainly not as good watching it as an adult as I thought it was when I watched it as a kid, but it has a nostalgic feel and the car chases are still pretty cool.

Workout Update: P90X Days 90 and 91

Day 90 was x-stretch. It was the last full day of the program, although on day 91 I did do a truncated version of Yoga and the Chalean Extreme fit test. Overall, I would say that I made okay progress with this first round, but not as good as I could have. That is mostly because my nutrition has been pretty crappy at times. I have been able to stay kind of status quo weight and bodyfat-wise because I have been doing intermittent fasting. Basically, I stop eating by 4:00 PM and then don't eat again until 8:00 AM the next day. Even when eating crappy food, that has kept me from gaining weight but I have also not lost a significant amount of weight since phase two. So, my goal for Chalean Extreme will be to eat cleaner than I have been, and instead of doing a full cheat day, do two cheat meals on Sundays. My birthday is this week so that plan may not totally work out until next week, but that is the goal. Tomorrow starts Day 1 of Chalean Extreme, which I am looking forward to.

Product Review: Logitech Quickcam

 

This is an older camera, so the image quality is not as good as many (if not most) of the newer ones. It does work with Windows 10 if you download the updated driver from Logitech's website. It does not have the greatest software, but it does work with Zoom and Teams just fine.

Workout Update: P90X Day 89

 Day 89 was the first and of course, the only time I did Cardio-X this entire round. Basically, it is a combination of the yoga workout, the plyometrics workout, the Kenpo workout, and the core synergistics workout. It takes what I think are the best parts of each workout (Dreya Rolls aside) and puts them into one workout. So, it is actually good to use as a supplemental workout because it will make at least portions of those other workouts easier. For example, in yoga, you do the sun salutations to warm up, then you do the asana sequence up through reverse warrior. Then, you go into Kenpo and do some of the kicking and punching sequences from the regular workout, then you go into plyo, doing 30-second sequences of some of the moves then add in wacky jacks, which, if you have done power-90 you will recognize. That is the only move that is really new to P90x. Finally, you finish with some of the moves from the core synergistics workout. All in all, the entire workout is about 47 minutes long, including the warm-up and the cool-down. So, I definitely think I will work it into the rotation more when I do the second round of P90X after I do Chalean Extreme. 

DVD Review: Math Video Tutor- Fractions Thru Algebra

 

I originally purchased this when I decided to go back to school to pursue what would become an electrical engineering degree. Because I had been out of math for so long, I basically had to start from square one, and since I was not a great math student my first time through school, I was looking for supplements to help teach myself the material before I took the class. While searching Amazon, I stumbled on this and was very glad I did.

The first thing to know is that this is just a guy in front of a whiteboard working out problems. Actually, this video is just his hand in front of a whiteboard. In later DVDs, the production quality goes way up. It is not, however, a traditional college or high school lecture. The instructor gives the basics of what you need to know to solve the problems, and then does a ton of example problems. Basically distills the stuff in the "explanatory" material in textbooks that come before the problem sets to their core essence, then just does a ton of examples, working everything out step-by-step and explaining the process along the way. So, if you are a visual learner, this is, in my opinion, one of the best resources out there. One caveat, however, is, if you are taking a class, especially a college-level class, this is NOT a substitute for actually going to class. If you are taking a pre-algebra course, this will give you the basics that you need to know and cover the main topics, but it does not cover everything that you will be exposed to in class. So use it for what it is, a supplement to class, not a replacement for class.

Book Review: Algebra for Dummies Education Bundle

 

This is a bundle of the Algebra for dummies book and workbook. It discusses all of the major concepts you would be required to know in an intermediate algebra class and most of what you would be exposed to in a college algebra class. Like the other "for dummies" books, it gives you a lot of tips for solving problems, things to watch out for that can trip you up, and things that your regular textbook will rarely give you. The workbook matches the layout of the "regular" book, but it is lighter on the explanatory material and heavy on the example problems. Whereas the regular book is heavy on the explanatory material and lighter on problems for you to work out.

I got this years ago when I started going back to school to get what ultimately became an electrical engineering degree. Because I had been out of math for so long, I had to basically start over at intermediate algebra and got this as a study guide to teach myself the material before taking the class. While I still had to work hard in both intermediate and college algebra, this helped make sense of the material in the book, which was especially helpful in intermediate algebra since I was in a section that was basically a "teach yourself" the material without a lecture attached to it. Until I really got good at reading the textbooks (which basically became easy once I got to physics), it helped to have the concepts distilled down. Having taken the entire calculus sequence plus numerous physics and engineering classes, I can tell you that strong algebra skills are essential as you get further along. Being good at algebra will not guarantee that higher-level classes will be a breeze, but it will ensure that you do not needlessly lose points because even in calculus, a lot of times what takes the most time is doing algebraic simplification, and it presents the most opportunity to make mistakes. So, depending on your style of learning, this is a good supplement if you cannot understand what your textbook is saying. And, for those who are just trying to learn math without taking a class, this will give you a good handle on the material.

Book Review: Calculus for Dummies Education Bundle

 

This bundle contains the Calculus for Dummies book and corresponding workbook. The book itself mostly has explanatory material, written much more concisely than what you get from the textbooks, and has a lot of good tips for solving problems. There are some example problems and problems meant for people to work out, but most of the problems are in the workbook. That is light on explanatory material (just repeats the basics) but has quite a few problems from the various concepts.

This covers derivatives and their applications like related rates and optimization, and integration and its applications. For some schools that is pretty much all of calc 1 and most of calc II. For other schools, it would be the entire calc I curriculum. It really just depends on how the classes at your school split up the material. It does not cover multivariable calculus, linear algebra, or differential equations, which in some schools are generally covered in calculus 3 and calculus 4. It is not as big as a textbook (obviously) so there is some material that your teacher may cover that is not in this guide, but it does cover all of the "main" concepts you will be exposed to in class. So, if you are someone who learns by reading, but the textbook does not do it for you, you should definitely give this a try.

Book Review: Physics Workbook for Dummies

 

This is the companion book to Physics for Dummies, by the same author. Hence, it follows the same chapter format and layout of that book. This is mostly just a book with problems to practice. There is some explanatory material, but that is kept to a minimum. Like the Physics for Dummies book, this is geared more toward high-school-level (or algebra-based) physics classes. That is not to say it will not help if you are taking calculus-based physics, because it will. The equations and most of the concepts are exactly the same in calculus-based physics as in algebra-based physics classes. However, just know that if you are taking calculus-based physics, some of the problems you will be exposed to are much more difficult than what this will throw at you. But, as a primer to learn physics concepts and get practice working on problems, this is a very good option.

Workout Update: P90X Day 88

Day 88 was x-stretch. Overall, it went well. I was again able to do the low-squats for the entire 35 seconds or however long that ends up being. I was also able to get a little bit lower/deeper into the various hamstring stretches. I will have this workout one more time on Sunday, and I plan on doing it just before I do the Chalean Extreme fit test.

Book Review: Physics for Dummies

 

This is a book that introduces the concepts that you will learn in a first-semester physics class, like the laws of motion, gravitation, conservation of energy, and the like. It does have some examples, and some problems that you can work out on your own, but it is mostly the kind of explanatory material that you get in the chapter reading. But, it distills all of the concepts so that they are generally more understandable than what you get from a textbook (and some teachers). It is definitely geared more toward high school physics or what in college is referred to as algebra-based physics. As most people who have taken calculus-based physics already know, calculus is mainly used to derive the equations, but you still mainly use algebra to solve the problems. So, what most teachers do is, in algebra-based physics classes they assign the "easier" versions of the problems and in calculus-based physics classes, they assign the harder problems. So, the kind of examples and the problems in this are definitely the easier versions, but it is a good primer even if you are going to be taking calculus-based physics because it will introduce you to the concepts, give you some experience with solving physics problems, and put you in a good position once you start class. And, for those who get this just because they want to learn something about physics, or refresh their knowledge of the subject, it is good for that too.

Product Review: Honeywell Home RTH221B1021 RTH221B Programmable Thermostat

 

This is fairly easy to install. The instructions are easy to follow and as long as you are not totally colorblind, you should not have problems with connecting any of the wires. Why I give this such a low rating is that it had to be replaced in less than a year. Basically, it worked fine until it did not, and neither of the others that have been installed since then (the basic digital one that Xcel replaced this one with or the new programmable one I installed to replace that one) has failed so whatever broke in this one was not due to faulty wiring.

Workout Update: P90X Day 87

Day 87 was the last Kenpo-X workout in this round. It went very well and I think it was the best of the Kenpo workouts in the entire round. I was able to easily keep up with (and sometimes even go faster than) the people in the video. I have just a few more workouts, and then I will be doing the Chalean Extreme fit test on Sunday.

Workout Update: P90X Day 86

Day 86 was the last core synergistics workout. I decided I am going to do the cardio workout in place of the second core workout this week. I am still not a fan of this workout, but I think that is mostly because it is probably the hardest one for me to do. But, I can tell it has gotten a bit easier from the first time I did it to now. But, I have a long way to go before I can even get close to keeping up with the people in the video. 

Workout Update: P90X Day 85

Day 85 was another yoga session. Again, I cut this one short, mainly because of timing during the day when I could do the workout. Thankfully, I only have one more yoga session this round of P90x.  I am going to try to get through more of the workout more consistently when I do the next round, probably after I am done with Chalean Extreme. 

Product Review: Atlantic Oskar Media Cabinet

 

This is basically a particle board shelf that can hold quite a few CDs or DVDs, so in that way, it is good for those of us who still have a pretty extensive physical media collection. But, it is definitely a "get what you pay for" item. It is not very sturdy (although once you have it full of CDs or DVDs it won't tip over without some effort). One plus is that you can stagger the height of the shelves if you need to in order to accommodate taller items. But, I will not really hold any oversized box sets, so if you have a lot of those, that is something to be aware of.