DVD/TV Series Review: House, M.D.: Season 3

 

+++Warning, this contains spoilers from the prior season, but no major season three spoilers+++

Season three of House picks up some time down the line after House was shot at the end of season two. We see that the Ketamine treatment he requested worked, and he is pain-free and even able to jog. He is in a better, albeit not a good mood, and he is still acerbic and acts like a jerk to nearly everyone. One of the main serial arcs of the season, which while not a carbon copy of the season one storyline, but definitely derivative of it, involves House ticking off the wrong person who can make his life (and the lives of everyone around him) miserable. When that arc gets resolved, about 1/3 of the way into the season, the show pretty much sticks with the case-of-the-week format until about 3/4 of the way into the season, in which one member of the team decides to leave, and the season ends on a pretty big cliffhanger with the future of the entire team up in the air.

For those who get the DVD set, the extras include a gag reel, a commentary track on the episode "Half-Wit" and an "angry valley girl" alternate scene in which Jennifer Morrison and Lisa Edelstein swear at each other (bleeped out of course) the entire time, and a couple of behind-the-scenes featurettes. A decent amount, but not a ton.

Overall, the season is very good, even with the one storyline that kind of mirrors the first season's storyline. There is a good slate of guest stars including Leighton Meester (who has a pretty hilarious role for a couple of episodes), Charles S. Dutton, David Morse, Marc Blucas (from Buffy), Lyndsy Fonseca (from the Kick-Ass movies and Agent Carter series), Patrick Fugit, Meagan Good, Joel Grey, Clare Kramer, John Larroquette (from Night Court), Sheryl Lee (from Twin Peaks), Dave Matthews (of the Dave Matthews Band), Joel David Moore, Piper Perabo, Tyson Ritter (of the band All American Rejects), and Kurtwood Smith (from That 70s Show). The writers do a good job juggling the ensemble cast. The focus is always, of course, on House, but this season Wilson, Cuddy, and Foreman get the most substantial character arcs (we even get to meet Wilson's ex), while Cameron and Chase are a bit more on the sidelines (somewhat). The acting is great (as always) and the cases are interesting. So, if you like the first couple of seasons, this one is definitely worth watching.

Book Review: From the Inside Out: Harrowing Escapes from the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center

 

From the Inside Out is a collection of stories of people, including the author, who were at the World Trade Center on 9/11 and survived the events of the day. Many of the stories are from people who have not had their stories told in other books or documentaries about 9/11. The book is relatively short, just over 150 pages, and tells each person's story basically from the time they got up that day, to when they finally got home.

Some interesting takeaways I had were that, while many people inside the tower did not have any idea what happened, there were definitely some who knew (or highly suspected) what did, and those who were engineers were definitely afraid that the buildings might fall based on what they were seeing inside the building. One of the people whose story is included in the book was probably one of the few people who were not killed who actually saw American 11 coming toward the building. In fact, the plane was initially at his eye level before it climbed a bit just before crashing. He ended up being below the impact zone and was able to get out of the building, but he was close enough to see the silhouettes of people in the plane before it hit. One of the saddest stories is that of a Port Authority Officer who worked with a K9 unit to detect bombs. He thought that he had missed a bomb that went off and ended up in the only portion of the stairwell in the north tower that survived the collapse. His K9 partner, however, was in a kennel in the basement of the south tower when it collapsed. The dog was given full honors when his remains were discovered months later. Probably the hardest thing to read was the accounts of the survivors seeing people falling and jumping from the building and describing just how bloody it was around the towers.

Those of us who lived through that day will always remember it, but this book really hammers home the fact that none of us who were watching on TV from the safety of an office or living room knew what it was really like in the middle of everything. Interestingly, however, more than one of the people whose story is told in the book did not realize how bad what they survived was until they got home and watched the news footage. I definitely put this book in the category of a must-read.

Workout Update: Insanity Max 30/Chalean Extreme/Body Beast/P90X Hybrid Day 48

Day 48 was the recharge workout again. I did it a day early because it got toward the end of the day and I was not feeling a weight workout. So, I plan to do the body beast back and biceps workout tomorrow morning. Recharge went well, and I was actually able to get a little bit deeper into a couple of the stretches.  

Book Review: The Divider: t***p in the White House, 2017-2021

 

The Divider is a book about the orange genital wart's administration, that basically chronicles events from beginning to end before it was elected to after it was finally "gone". Pretty much all of the main topics in the book had been widely reported, but the authors include new details some of which, chances are, even if you are a regular consumer of reputable news sources (basically anything that is not FOX, Newsmax, or OANN), will still probably be new. 

The authors of the book are a husband and wife team of journalists, which would not be a thing except for the MAGAt butthurt crybabies using it as a reason to say the book they have never read (and a lot probably cannot read) is full of lies. It is not the first book that they have co-written, and of course, it is only the topic of the book that even remotely makes that a thing. Unlike some of the other books by currently active journalists that tend to stick to a strict retelling of the facts without editorializing, the authors make their opinions of the former guy abundantly clear. They do not explicitly call him batshit crazy like Michael Wolff does, but they certainly make it clear that they think he is a pathological liar (which he is) and should never have any kind of power again (which he shouldn't). But, they back up their factual contentions by citing to hundreds of sources. There are a ton of endnotes that mostly just point to where they gathered information from. Some of the notes also flesh out material in the text, but mostly they just cite a source and move on. The source material they cite includes earlier books written about the prior administration, news and magazine articles, TV interviews, court, and/or congressional testimony, and a lot of original interviews that the authors conducted when researching the book, including with the chief crybaby itself.

One thing that really stood out is just how much almost everyone who worked in the administration early on hated t***p and thought he was stupid, crazy, and dangerous. Yet, of course, many of them never said anything when it still would have mattered. 

Realistically, whether you are likely to like (or even read) the book will depend on your politics and/or opinion of the former guy. The book is fairly long (about 650 pages) and pretty dense. It is not a book that can be read in detail in a day or less. So, I would be very wary of any early reviews. The last handful of chapters that discusses the post-election events probably has the newest not-previously-reported material, which is also some of the most overall revealing material. It is definitely worth reading.

Workout Update: Insanity Max 30/Chalean Extreme/Body Beast/P90X Hybrid Day 47

Day 47 was Friday Fight Round 2, and it was the second workout this week that I managed to get through without taking any unscheduled breaks. I am under no illusions that I could do that if I was not modifying the exercises, as even the people in the video who are in a lot better shape than I, were maxing out throughout the workout.  But, I can tell that my cardio fitness is getting better, but it will definitely be put to the test in a couple of weeks when I restart the program doing as many unmodified moves as I can for each exercise and then finishing with modified moves. 

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: Blindspot Season 1

 

Blindspot was a combination serial and procedural drama from 2015 starring Jamie Alexander (best known for her role as Lady Sif in the MCU) and Sullivan Stapleton (best known for the series Strike Back). The show opens with a mysterious bag in the middle of Times Square that suddenly stops moving. A naked, heavily tattooed woman (Alexander) emerges from the bag with no memory of who she is but has the name of FBI agent Kurt Weller (Stapleton) tattooed on her back. She is dubbed "Jane Doe" and brought to the NY FBI field office where it is discovered that the tattoos contain a clue leading them to a terrorist, and subsequently discover that other tattoos contain clues to active plots, old cases, etc. The series then launches into a blend of a case-of-the-week procedural in which the team tries to solve a new tattoo and several serial arcs. One of the serial arcs involves Jane's memories slowly coming back through flashbacks and the other involves a childhood friend of Weller's who went missing as a kid.

The show has a very strong supporting cast including Rob Brown as Edgar Reade, an FBI special agent and member of Weller's team, Audrey Esparza as Natasha "Tasha" Zapata, an FBI special agent and member of Weller's team, who used to be an NYPD officer, Ashley Johnson as Patterson, an FBI special agent and head of the FBI Forensic Science Unit, Ukweli Roach as Robert Borden, an FBI psychiatrist who helps Jane to retrieve and understand her memories, and Marianne Jean-Baptiste as Bethany Mayfair, assistant director in charge of the FBI's New York Field Office.

For those who get the blu-ray set, the A/V quality is very good, and what special effects there are, look great in HD. The extras include featurettes on the tattoo clues, several deleted scenes, a portion of the Comic-Con panel, a gag reel, a commentary track on the pilot episode with the series creator Martin Gero and the director Mark Pellingham, and then there are several making-of featurettes that range in length from a few minutes to just under ten. So, if you like watching the bonus material, there is a good amount there for you.

Overall, the season is very good. It has a good blend of action, suspense, and drama, with some humor mixed in. The humor is mostly dry humor from the overly stuffy (with the exception of Patterson) FBI agents, and the non-dry humor comes in large part from the character of Rich Dotcom, played by Ennis Esmer, who is in just one episode in season one but would become more involved in subsequent seasons. It is definitely a show that you have to watch from the beginning to know what is going on because, even though some of the main storylines of particular episodes are self-contained one-off storylines, there is always a secondary storyline about one of the larger serial arcs that will make little sense if you just jump into it. But, if you are a fan of crime dramas that have a lot of action, then this is definitely a good one to check out.

Book Review: Star Wars: Catalyst - A Rogue One Novel

 

Catalyst is a prequel of sorts to Rogue One. It does not directly lead into Rogue One, meaning the book does not stop directly at the point where the movie picks up. Instead, it tells the story of the beginnings of the project that would become the Death Star and introduces the characters of Galen Erso and Orson Krennic. The book establishes that the project started during the Clone Wars, based on the design of the Separatist weapon that was shown in Episode II. Most of the people working on the project had no idea of its true purpose, and when Galen figured it out, he ended up defecting.

This is definitely not an action-packed novel. It is much more of a political suspense story, basically revealing how Galen found out his research was going to be weaponized and how he escaped from the Empire. Of course, Palpatine is mentioned, but he is not really in the book, nor is Vader. The main Imperial figure is Tarkin, who has a large role in the plot. Of course, Jyn is in the book, but as a little kid, so she is not the character that we get in Rouge One at all.

Some people get all of the canon novels and some people seem to pick and choose which ones to get and/or read. I would say that if you are one who really prefers the more action-oriented books, this may not interest you very much. If, however, you do not mind the less action-oriented novels that have a political back-biting bent, then you will probably like the book. Ultimately, I think this is a very good ancillary story, but not necessarily a must-read story.

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: DC's Legends of Tomorrow: Season 1

 

Legends of Tomorrow is, along with the Flash, another show spun off from Arrow. It received a backdoor pilot in the Flash-Arrow crossover (in season 2 of The Flash and season 4 of Arrow). The pilot picks up with the Vandal Savage storyline, in which a "Time Master" named Rip Hunter (played by Arthur Darvill) recruits Sarah Lance (Caity Lotz), Ray Palmer (Brandon Routh), Martin Stein (Victor Garber), Jefferson Jackson (Franz Drameh) Captain Cold/Leonard Snart (Wentworth Miller), and Mick Rory/Heatwave (Dominic Purcell) to help him stop Savage's rise to power in the hopes of saving his family whom Savage kills in the future.

The first season storyline involves the group, along with Hawkman and Hawkgirl traveling through time on a ship called The Waverider, trying to take Savage out before he can rise to power. This sees the characters in the recent past (the 1970s), the more distant past (the 1950s), back in the 1800s, and in the future. Of course, things do not always go as planned, and there are several twists along the way. The season ends on a couple of pretty big cliffhangers that have consequences going into the second season.

For those who get the blu-ray set, the A/V quality is on par with the other Arrowverse shows and looks as good as you would expect a show from 2015 shot on digital to look. The extras include a portion 2015 Comic-Con panel where host Geoff Johns talks with the cast about the show which runs about 20 minutes, a short gag reel, a nine-minute tour of the Waverider set, a look behind the scenes at the episode "The Magnificent Eight", and a look at how they created the different time periods.

Overall, the show is good. It is definitely more of a serial story than a procedural one, so you have to watch it from the beginning to really know what is going on. There are definitely plot points that don't make a whole lot of sense, and the show can get a bit cute with the twists. The ragtag band of misfits theme works well, and the show does a good job juggling the large ensemble cast that really does not have a traditional series lead. It is a good blend of action, dry humor, and drama. Even when the writing is uneven, it is very well-acted and a good addition to the slate of Arrowverse shows, which at the time this aired included Arrow, Flash, and more tangentially, Supergirl. While some Arrowverse characters make appearances in the first season, the show does not lean on existing shows and does tell its own story. I do think that having a smaller run of episodes (16 as opposed to the 22-24 that the other shows get) did help the series because it got in and out of the season one storyline without getting too stale.

Blu-Ray/Movie Review: Resident Evil: Retribution

 

Retribution is the fifth installment of the Milla Jovovich-led Resident Evil franchise. By now, anyone interested in watching them knows what you will get. A ton of action, dialogue that is sometimes okay and sometimes bad, and lots of zombies. This picks up during the end battle of Afterlife. We see that Alice (the nearly ageless Jovovich) by the Umbrella Corporation, stripped of her powers, and held in an underground facility. At the same time, a clone of Alice is living in the suburbs (really Raccoon city) with a husband and daughter. While we do not see the fates of the Redfields (Ali Larter and Wentworth Miller's characters) from Afterlife, Sienna Guillory's Jill Valentine who was teased at the very end of Afterlife has a large role in this movie, and Michelle Rodriguez comes back to the series.

For those who get the Blu-Ray, the A/V quality is top-notch again, and there are a bunch of extras. Those include an interactive database on Project Alice, two different commentary tracks on the movie, one with Paul W.S. Anderson and Jovovich (who is always great on commentary), and one by Anderson and one of the producers. Then there are deleted scenes, outtakes, several making-of featurettes, and a short featurette about a fan who got to be turned into a zombie on set.

Overall, the movie is good, if you take it for what it is. The action is great, and Jovovich who does as many of her own stunts as she can is great in the lead role. You can tell from the commentary track that she takes the role seriously, but does not take herself too seriously and does not pretend the movies are more than what they are. While you can watch this movie on its own, it makes a lot more sense if you have seen the prior movies since the stories in each movie are at least a bit intertwined. So, if you are looking for a good action movie (and like dystopian future plots and a bunch of hot cast members), and you enjoyed the other installments in the series, this is definitely worth watching. If, however, you did not like the other movies, this one is probably not going to change your mind about the franchise.

Blu-Ray/Movie Set Review: Riddick: The Complete Collection

 

This set contains all of the Riddick movies (Pitch Black, The Chronicles of Riddick, and Riddick) that starred Vin Diesel in his other, less well-known franchise, as well as the short animated film, The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury, that bridges the time between Pitch Black and The Chronicles of Riddick. The first movie involves a space freighter carrying both cargo and passengers (including a dangerous criminal on his way to a high-security prison, Diesel's Riddick), encounters difficulty en route, and crashes on a deserted, seemingly lifeless planet with three suns. It then turns into a horror movie as the suns set and the true nature of the plant is revealed. The second movie has some ties to the first movie but is a very different story pitting Riddick against a race of planet invaders called Necromongers. The third movie, is a bit derivative of the first, seeing Riddick stranded on an Alien planet, this time hunted by mercenaries when he activates a beacon on an abandoned ship. Then he has to deal with the mercs and the planet's original inhabitants.

Each of the movies looks very good in HD, with, as you would expect, the A/V quality getting better with each movie. There are extras for each of the movies, including commentary tracks on all three movies, deleted scenes for every movie, featurettes on the effects, making of documentaries for each movie, an extended edition of Riddick, and more. So, if you like watching bonus material, there is a lot there for you.

Overall, the movies are a good blend of action and, with the first and third, horror/suspense. The acting is okay to good. Diesel is what he is, but each movie has a good supporting cast that makes up for his shortcomings. Between the three movies, they include Cole Hauser, Keith David, Alexa Davalos, Karl Urban, Tandie Newton, Judi Dench, Colm Feore, Katee Sackhoff, Keri Hilson, and Dave Bautista. As long as you do not go into them expecting academy-award-winning material, they are enjoyable. The dialogue can get clunky and/or downright dumb sometimes, but the action sequences generally make up for those moments. So, if you like action movies these are good ones to check out.

Product Review: DIRECTV 10 Pin To Component Receiver H25 Genie

 

This is a cable that allows a DIRECTV Genie mini box to be connected to a TV that has a component cable connection or S-Video connection. It provides good picture quality and is long enough that the Genie box does not need to be extremely close to the TV hookups. It does not give you the same kind of A/V quality as a high-quality HDMI cable, but it gets the job done.

Supplement Review: Natrol 5-HTP Time Release Tablets

 

I, thankfully, have never had anxiety so I cannot say how well this does or does not help with that. I was taking it more for help relaxing at the end of the day in hopes that it would help me sleep better. Unfortunately, I did not notice any increase in sleep quality, getting to sleep easier, or the like. The tablets are easy to swallow, and you do get a full 30-day supply in the bottle (1 tablet = one serving taken once daily), so it is not one of those supplements that tell you it has 30 servings in the bottle but also tells you to take more than one serving per day. As one reviewer noted, it does interact with other prescription and over-the-counter drugs, so you definitely want to check out the list of things that you should not take this with before you start taking it, especially if you are on prescription meds which you cannot just stop taking.

Workout Update: Insanity Max 30/Chalean Extreme/Body Beast/P90X Hybrid Day 46

Day 46 was the Max Out Strength workout again. I was able to make it a few seconds more than the last workout but unfortunately did not make it to the 14-minute mark as I wanted to. The push-up sequence in the middle is the bane of my existence (at least during this workout).

Workout Update: Insanity Max 30/Chalean Extreme/Body Beast/P90X Hybrid Day 45

 Day 45 was the Max Out Sweat workout again. I was able to get much farther into the workout (over 23 minutes) than I did the first couple of times. I am hoping that next week I can finish the entire thing without stopping (aside from the built-in rest breaks).

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: Supergirl: Season 1

 

The first season of Supergirl served as an origin story for Kara Danvers (Kara Zor El) played by Glee's Melissa Benoist. Kara's backstory was told in the first few minutes of the series premiere, and then during the opening credits for pretty much every episode thereafter. She was a pre-teen on Krypton when she was sent on a separate ship to Earth, with the expectation that she would protect Kal-EL, who would, of course, grow up to become Superman. Her ship was blown off course and got stuck in the Phantom Zone, and by the time she reached Earth (still as a pre-teen), Kal had grown up and was living as Clark Kent and Superman. Kara was sent to live with the Danvers family in National City, which includes her sister Alex (played by Chyler Leigh) and mother Eliza (played by Helen Slater, who played the first live-action version of Supergirl in the 1980s), and a missing father who worked for the same government organization that Alex new works for Department of Extranormal Operations (DEO), under the leadership of Hank Henshaw (played by Homeland's David Harewood) that tracks alien activity on Earth.

Adult Kara works at Catco worldwide media which is run by Cat Grant (played by Calista Flockhart in a much different version of the character as was portrayed on Lois and Clark) as a lacky/flunky/assistant for the overbearing Grant. She is joined by Jimmy Olson (played by Mechad Brooks) who in this version knows the identity of Superman and that Kara has powers, and Winslow "Winn" Schott (played by Jeremy Jordan). In the first episode, an event that somewhat plays homage to the original Superman movie as well as a scene in Superman Returns) occurs, which requires Kara to reveal the presence of another Kryptonian on Earth, but she is able to maintain her secret identity as Kara Danvers. From there, the show becomes a "freak-of-the-week" procedural, much like the show Smallville, with Kara having to track down wayward aliens who had escaped from the Phantom Zone. Intertwined with the procedural stories was a larger arc that involved the character Maxwell Lord, played by Twilight's Peter Facinelli who was a Lex Luthor-type foil to Supergirl.

For those who get the Blu-Ray set, the A/V quality is very good, which is not surprising given that the show was shot on digital and had a big enough effects budget that the CGI looked nearly movie-quality. The extras include 15 minutes of deleted scenes, a 15-minute portion of the Comic-Con panel, a featurette on one of the characters that kind of acts as a spoiler as the identity of the character is not revealed right away, a 10-minute featurette on the look of Krypton on the show, and a short gag reel. Not a ton of extras, but what was included is good.

Overall, the show is very good. Benoist does a great job as the series lead portraying Kara/Supergirl as idealistic even if somewhat naive. The first season of the show did have a bit of a different feel in season one than it would have for the rest of its run because it aired on CBS and was shot in Hollywood as opposed to the other Arrowverse shows that aired on The CW and shot in Canada. The show was confirmed to be in the Arrowverse, on a different Earth, when Grant Gustin (from The Flash) made a guest appearance partway through the season. The first season had a good run of guest stars, that included stars from both Smallville and Lois and Clark. Some of the guest stars included Laura Benanti, Jenna Dewan, Brit Morgan, Italia Ricci, Laura Vandervoort (who played Supergirl on Smallville), Emma Caulfield (from Buffy), and more. Benoist's husband (at the time), Blake Jenner, also appeared in a guest starring role, which is a bit creepy to watch now given what has come out about their relationship since then. The season ends on a pretty big cliffhanger that sets up the season two storyline (which was not a guarantee the series was going to get at the time the season finale aired) while leaving some story arcs unresolved. If you are a fan of the other Superhero shows, especially The Flash, then you will probably like Supergirl, as it has a fairly similar tone to The Flash. The writing is mostly good but can get a bit soap-opera-like at times. It is definitely worth watching.

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: Arrow: Season 4

 

+++Warning, this contains spoilers from season three, but no major season four spoilers+++

There is a lot going on in season four of Arrow. In the present, Thea is feeling the effects of the Lazarus pit, becoming more and more aggressive, yet is also feeling guilty about killing Sara and tries to get Malcolm Merlyn to revive her. Also in the present, Oliver has taken the mantle of The Green Arrow, vowing to protect the city, yet try to work more within the bounds of the law. The new big bad of the season is revealed to be Damien Darhk, the leader of a group called H.I.V.E., terrorizing the city as Darhk tries to take down Oliver. Team Arrow has expanded with Diggle and Laurel joining Oliver in the field, while Felicity operates as Overwatch. In the flashbacks, we see more of Oliver's time on the island, now working, against his will, for A.R.G.U.S. and Amanda Waller. The character of Constantine is officially brought into the Arrowverse with the appearance of Matt Ryan, who was fresh from his canceled show on NBC. This season also gives us crossover episodes withThe Flash, which also sever as a backdoor pilot for the newest Arrowverse series Legends of Tomorrow. The Flash episode of the crossover is included on this set, so you do not have to get (or switch over to) the Flash DVD or Blu-Ray set to watch it.

For those who get the Blu-Ray set, the show looks and sounds great in HD, as it has in the prior seasons. Of course, the show makes a lot of use of CGI effects and does a great job (especially for a TV show) of making them look seamless with the practical effects. The extras are not as extensive as in the prior season releases, however. Those include deleted scenes across the four discs, two featurettes focused on characters (Hawkman, Hawkgirl, and Vandal Savage) from "Legends of Tomorrow", and a featurette on Damien Dahrk. Then there is also a short gag reel and footage from a Comic-Con panel. Even though there are not as many extras as we got in prior seasons, what was included is good.

Overall, the season is good. It builds the Oliver vs. Darhk to a crescendo with a final battle. Darhk's past is a bit of a mystery at the beginning of the season and more details get revealed throughout the course of the season. There is more cast juggling, some of which is a bit of a misdirection, with some characters being introduced that will take a larger role in subsequent seasons and others that were shifted over to Legends of Tomorrow. In general, the DC tv universe has been a lot more cohesive and well-run than the DC movie universe, and the Arrowverse is really telling a bunch of different intertwined stories with Arrow as the lead show. The show is a very good blend of action and drama, and Stephen Amell continues to grow into the main character, doing a great job as the series lead. So, if you were a fan of the first few seasons of the show, this one is definitely worth watching.

Workout Update: Insanity Max 30/Chalean Extreme/Body Beast/P90X Hybrid Day 44

Day 44 was the max-out power workout again. I was able to get a little farther into it, just over 15 minutes as opposed to just over 13 minutes the last time. I am still maxing out during the push-up portion, and I have a feeling that will be the case for a while. 

Textbook Review: Radio Astronomy

 

This is a textbook for an advanced physics or engineering class. I picked it up to help me with a project for my radar engineering class that I did on Radio Astronomy. It assumes that you have been through the calculus sequence and taken some physics. I did not really work on any of the problems in the book, so I cannot really say how well the theory in the explanatory text guides you in doing those. But, assuming you have taken enough classes to understand the material, the book does explain the theory quite well, and understandably. It is not something that an astronomy hobbyist who has not taken calculus and physics is likely to get a ton of use out of, however.

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: Pushing Daisies: The Complete First and Second Seasons

 

Pushing Daisies was a series created by Bryan Fuller, who has a track record of developing shows that are critical successes with small but rabid fanbases (like Wonderfalls before this and Hannibal after this). The series stars Lee Pace as Ned "the piemaker" who owns a bakery called the pie hole. He has the ability to bring a dead thing back to life by touching it, with a couple of caveats. First, if he touches the dead thing a second time, it stays dead forever. If he does not touch the thing a second time within a minute, then something of similar "life value" in the vicinity will die to maintain a balance. So, if he lets a person live, another person within the vicinity will die in that person's stead. These caveats are important in a couple of respects. First, Ned works with a private investigator named Emmerson Cod (played by Chi McBride) who uses Ned's ability to solve mysterious murders by bringing the victims back to life long enough to ask them about their deaths. Second, in the first episode, Ned makes the choice to let his murdered Ned's childhood sweetheart, Charlotte (Chuck) Charles, played by Anna Friel live. This, of course, has major consequences that last throughout the series, one major consequence being that Ned and Chuck cannot touch each other as they inevitably fall in love. Also, Chuck's aunts, played wonderfully by Ellen Greene and Swoosie Kurtz, are traumatized by believing their niece to be dead.

This set just has the individual seasons packed together in one set. It is not a special complete series that was packaged separately. As for extras, the first season box claims there is a featurette titled Pie Time that features interviews with the cast and crew, but that is not actually on any of the discs in my set, which indicates it may be an imported set. The season 2 set does have a handful of featurettes including an interview with Bryan Fuller, a featurette on the music of the series, a feature on the production of the episodes, and one of the visual effects. Good for what is there, but not a ton of material. The A/V quality is good, but the show was made at a time in which the CGI special effects could still look kind of fakey and corny, and that definitely does come through in HD for some of the scenes.

Overall, the show is great. It is well-written and very well-acted. Kristin Chenoweth who plays Olive Snook, a waitress at the pie shop who is in love with Ned steals pretty much every scene she is in, and the series has a great set of recurring and guest stars including Stephen Root, Joel Mchale, Raúl Esparza, George Hamilton, Rachel Harris, Paul Reubens, Orlando Jones, and Ivana Miličević (among others). The second season was mostly finished before the official cancelation came through, so the series finale was tweaked a bit to give the show an ending that kind of tied things up. But, there was more than one storyline that was set up to play out in season three that just got abandoned because of the show's cancellation. So, if you have not seen the show before and really get into it, it will definitely feel incomplete, even though the second season does not end on a major cliffhanger because not everything gets tied up by the end. That said, it is still a great show, so if you like procedural crime shows that are a mix of drama and dark comedy, this is definitely a good one to check out.

Product Review: LONIN Sponge Holder Over Faucet Kitchen Sink Caddy Organizer

 

This is a basket that can be installed on a pull-down faucet that can hold sponges and/or scrubbers to keep them out of the sink (or a bin that can attach to the inside of the sink) and prevent them from getting soggy and/or trapped under dishes. Many times the bins will have small holes, but will not be small enough to allow a sponge sitting in it to really dry out. This is very easy to install, just screw off the end piece, put the basket around the faucet and then screw the end piece back on. The basket will move if you rotate the faucet from side to side, so you position the basket based on how far you rotate the faucet. As long as you wring out the sponge, it is not really a big deal to have the basket over the counter as you will only get a couple of drips which you can wipe up with a paper towel. This is definitely worth the price and I highly recommend it.

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: Gotham: Season 2

 

+++Warning, this contains spoilers from season one, but no major season two giveaways+++

The second season of Gotham picks up shortly after the events that ended season one. Oswald has taken over Fish's empire after killing her, Jim has been fired from the GCPD and is now working with Oswald while trying to get reinstated, and several of the villains from season one are locked up in Arkham, including Barbara Keane and Jerome Valeska (whom the series is still playing coy about whether he is The Joker). Two new antagonists are introduced this season, including James Frain who plays Theo Galavan a billionaire industrialist who is secretly the heir apparent of the Order of St. Dumas, and his sister Tabitha (played by Jessica Lucas from the short-lived series Life as we Know It). Michael Chiklis (from The Shield) plays a no-nonsense captain, Nathaniel Barnes, who is brought in to clean up the GCPD.

The series mostly consists of several serial story arcs that go throughout the season and overlap at various points. There are also stories-of-the-week which are one-off stories that are used as filler material for the serial arcs. The big serial arc this season involves Arkham asylum and shady work being done by Hugo Strange, played by BD Wong, which is not revealed until the very end of the season. The season ends not so much on a cliffhanger, but with a big reveal that is sure to be one of the big story arcs in season three.

For those who get the blu-ray set, the A/V quality is great once again. A big part of the show is the look of the city, and the cinematography is wonderful making the city look gritty and run down during the day and dark and imposing at night. The extras include several short clips from throughout the season which are used to introduce a plot line or character, then there is a 16-minute portion of the show's 2015 Comic-Con panel, a 25-minute featurette that discusses the look of Gotham, a 20-minute featurette devoted to the character of Alfred, and a featurette on the character of Victor Fries, who is another villain given an origin story this season. So, not a ton of bonus material, but what is included is good.

Overall, the season continues to be strong. The large ensemble cast is balanced well, and while Gordon is the main character in the series, the writers do a good job of giving all the main characters compelling storylines. This is especially important because David Mazouz is still quite young, and a long way from being physically imposing so he really cannot get involved in action sequences that are too intense. He is still honing the skill that will eventually allow him to become Batman (and there is a nice clue in the season about how he gets the general idea for Batman) but he is definitely not there yet. Cameron Monaghan does a great job again as Jerome and definitely leaves you wanting more of the character. Of course, he was splitting his time between Gotham and the series Shameless so he was only in a handful of episodes, but he stole pretty much every scene he was in. Ultimately, if you liked season one, and are okay with the fact that this is not a show about Batman, you will probably like season two.

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: The Flash: Season 2

 

+++Warning, this contains spoilers from season 1, but no major season two spoilers+++

Season two of The Flash picks up down the line from the events of season one, in which Eobard Thawne was defeated due to Eddie's sacrifice. The team has essentially split with Cisco working for the police department, Caitlyn working at Mercury labs, Iris mourning Eddie's death, and Barry trying to singlehandedly take down the various evil metahumans. The big bad is set up early in the season, revealing that Zoom, an evil speedster on a different Earth, Earth-2 is sending metahumans to Earth-1 to take out Barry. Barry is joined by Earth 2's version of The Flash, Jay Garrick, played by Teddy Sears (from the series Masters of Sex) to help Barry take down Zoom. Zoom's identity is kept secret until later in the season, but when he does make his first couple of appearances, he is voiced by Tony Todd.

The season also expands the Arrowverse. First, there is the annual crossover with the parent series Arrow, which set up the cast and storyline of the first season of Legends of Tomorrow and served as a backdoor pilot for that series. Second, later in the season, Barry crosses over to Supergirl, which was in its first season and airing on CBS. That established that Supergirl was on yet another Earth, fully entrenching the multiverse concept which would be key, especially for later crossover episodes. Of course, the show has a ton of twists and turns, and given the multiverse and time travel aspects of the show characters who are dead do not always stay that way. The multiverse also gave a way for the show to keep Tom Cavanaugh (who of course played Eobard Thawne impersonating Harrison Wells as Earth-2's Well, called Harry, comes to Earth-1 to help the team take down Zoom.

For those who get the blu-ray set, the show again looks and sounds great in HD, with the special effects looking nearly seamless. Because the Flash's speed requires using animation, you can tell the difference between when it is Grant Gustin in the suit versus an animated version of the character, but even that blends in pretty well. The extras include deleted scenes, several short behind-the-scenes featurettes, a gag reel, and a half-hour-long panel discussion with the showrunners and cast from the 2015 Paley Fest.

Overall, the season is very good. It is well-written and very well-acted. The season ends on a pretty massive cliffhanger that will definitely have an impact on season three. It is more light-hearted than Arrow, overall, although it does have some dark moments of its own. It also includes a lot of good guest stars including Peyton List, Mark Hamill (reprising his role as Trickster), Aaron Douglas (from the remade Battlestar series), and more. Of course, characters from Arrow appear on the show, and Amanda Pays reprises her role as Tina McGee, a version of the character she played in the 1990 Flash series. So, if you liked or loved season 1, you will probably feel the same way about season two. Since the Arrowverse is now starting to tell intertwined stories within the case or metahuman-of-the-week procedural format, you almost have to watch all of the shows to understand everything that is going on in the others.

DVD/TV Series Review: Psych Season 8

 

Season 8 of Psych was a shorter season (just ten episodes) which were given to the series to wrap everything up. Unfortunately, it seemed like the writers wanted to jam everything they could into the season, at the expense of some of the things that made the show great to begin with, namely, the relationship of the characters. Chief Vick and Juliette were absent for most of the season, just making what amounted to cameo appearances. The writers really just went with every novelty episode that they still wanted to do, like a remake episode, in which the episode "Cloudy... With a Chance of Murder" from the first season is remade (with different twists) using the same cast members. We also get to see Gus geek out over Harry Potter, and a Nightmare on Elm Street homage episode. The DVD set also includes "Psych the musical" which is the musical episode that aired between the seventh and eighth seasons of the show. The DVD set again includes a lot of extras for those who like to watch them. There are deleted scenes, several commentary tracks, montages, a gag reel, and a making-of/farewell featurette.

Overall, the season is good, but not as good as it was in prior seasons. As I said above, it seemed like the writers were just wanting to jam a bunch of stuff into the show before the end, but did not focus as much as writing a fitting end to the series. Of course, the show would be resurrected via now three TV and/or streaming movies, so it is not totally the end of the show. The show did have another great slate of guest stars (as well as bringing back some of the recurring characters). The guest stars this season included Dana Ashbrook, Katharine Isabelle, Carlos Jacott, Ed Lover, Ralph Macchio, Lindsay Sloane, Janet Varney, Alan Ruck, Ray Wise, Tom Arnold, The Bella Twins, Corbin Bleu, Yvette Nicole Brown, Dean Cameron, Bruce Campbell, Olivia d'Abo, Loretta Devine, Sutton Foster, Vincent Gale, Kali Hawk, Vinnie Jones, Val Kilmer, Floriana Lima, Peggy Lipton, Deon Richmond, Peter Stormare, Vincent Ventresca, Vincent M. Ward, Celia Weston, William Zabka, and Billy Zane. Yes, Kilmer and Zane finally made appearances after being referenced multiple times over the course of the series. So, even though it is not as good as it was, it is still worth watching to see how the series ended.

Workout Update: Insanity Max 30/Chalean Extreme/Body Beast/P90X Hybrid Day 43

Day 43 was the start of week seven, which means doing Max Out Cardio. I made it all the way to the end, of course modifying, which is much easier than the unmodified moves for many of the exercises, without taking any breaks. My goal, since last week I maxed out at just over 19 minutes was to make it to the 23-minute mark, but I was able to push through to the rest break and then got through the last six minutes (barely) without stopping. So, a good workout to get the day started. 

Workout Update: Insanity Max 30/Chalean Extreme/Body Beast/P90X Hybrid Day 42

Day 42 was the Recharge stretching workout from CE. My flexibility level is the same as it has been for the past few weeks. No big improvement, but no backsliding either. So, overall, it went fine.