Archive for July, 2013

Side Socket (Swiveling Power Outlet) – A Marketing Review

Sometimes you just need an extra two or three inches . . . . of space on your floor or counter.

That’s about as much space that you lose when you have cords plugged directly into wall outlets.  Because of those pesky power cords you have to keep your couch and other furniture pulled away from the walls.  Trying to ram the back of the couch against the wall outlets and just saying the hell with it only leads to trouble with bent and broken power cords and a potential fire hazard.

Of course one could always plan their furniture around the wall’s power outlets or learn how to properly use power strips, but that’s not the point here.  This is the future, and if you want to have your furniture against the power outlets while cords are plugged in to them, then, by golly, you should be able to do just that.  The same goes for other locations such as a kitchen counter or a work bench in the garage.

Side Socket website — www.SideSocket.com

What’s this?  The Side Socket?  You mean that I can have a wall outlet that swivels so that power cords aren’t sticking out into the room, saving myself those extra two inches of space?

Side Socket TV commercial

Let’s review the Side Socket’s advertisement and try to see just what they’re selling us.

Side Socket TV commercial – Just . . . barely . . . not . . . enough . . . intelligence . . .

The Side Socket’s TV commercial begins with a lady reaching behind some furniture in an attempt to plug in a power cord.  She’s having a hard time accessing the power outlet as it’s quite a stretch reaching behind the furniture.  If only there was a way to make reaching behind the furniture a little bit easier.  Or better yet, maybe just using a power strip would be best.  Companies do make power strips with 90° power cables, allowing you to plug it into the wall between tight spaces.

Nah.  A solution like that would be too easy.  We’re really looking for a solution that still requires us to reach the wall’s power outlet even when it’s out of reach behind large or bulky furniture. Read more…

Book Review – John Douglas & Mark Olshaker’s “Mind Hunter: Inside the FBI’s Elite Serial Crime Unit”

It’s said that the truth is stranger than fiction.

It’s also stated that the horrors of reality will always exceed the deepest and most chilling images that Hollywood could ever create.  That statement couldn’t be more true than in John Douglas and Mark Olshaker’s horrifyingly true book, Mind Hunter: Inside the FBI’s Elite Serial Crime Unit.

Inside Mind Hunter you’ll learn just how sick and twisted some people can become as they torture and murder innocent victims.  Not only will you learn about some of the most horrific murders in the late 1970s and early 1980s, but you’ll also take a trip into the mind of the killers as the FBI’s Behavioral Science Unit learns how to profile the killers with precision and accuracy.

Mind Hunter takes readers through a brief trip in the career of FBI Special Agent John Douglas, from his childhood through his prestigious career in the FBI’s Behavioral Science Unit (BSU) at Quantico, Virginia.  It’s at the BSU though where Douglas works his magic and fine tune his skills, turning a gray area of police investigation into a critical tool.

The art of criminal profiling takes a close look at the physical evidence at a crime scene and then attempts to create an accurate description of the suspect, from his age to his education level to his occupation to any disability to the person’s vehicle.  It’s a gray area of investigation because it involves common behavioral statistics and composes a sketch of a suspect.  Unbelievers call it guesswork until they see it in action and the “guesswork” can accurately pick out the correct criminal out of a stack of suspects.

Throughout Mind Hunter you learn how pathetic most of the serial criminals really are in real life.  Many of these people are weaklings or people trying to compensate for something whether it’s a disability or impairment, an inability to speak or perform in bed with women, or simply a matter of jealousy.  When you study a crime scene and any additional evidence, you can accurately predict the attacker’s mental problem.

We’re not talking about mercenaries, assassins, Mafia hitmen, or any other professional or contract killer.  This is about seemingly ordinary people who decide to strike back against a person or group of people, all because that attacker, that killer, decided that things weren’t going well for him. Read more…

Movie Review – Fantastic Four (2005)

The first half of the 2000s had a five year segment with some incredibly popular superhero films by Marvel Studios.

From the first two X-Men films to the Spider-Man franchise to other Marvel Comics films such as Daredevil and The Punisher, the film company was impressing the audiences and seemed to be hitting the high notes.  The next major Marvel film was 2005′s Fantastic Four, a big-budget action / science-fiction film that pitted the elite team of superheroes against Doctor Doom.

Fantastic Four is another superhero origin story that shows the creation of the team of people with incredible powers.  We see the five of them on board a space station when something goes wrong and they’re all exposed to cosmic radiation.  They return to Earth to discover that they’ve all slowly mutated and become extraordinary people, though not everybody is pleased with this new version.  Dr. Victor von Doom becomes the infamous Doctor Doom, and he wages war against the Fantastic Four.

Directed by Tim Story, Fantastic Four was written by Michael France and Mark Frost, and the film’s music was by John Ottman.  The film stars Ioan Gruffudd as Dr. Reed Richards / Mr. Fantastic, Jessica Alba as Sue Storm / Invisible Woman, Chris Evans (who would later portray Captain America in Marvel’s Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)) as Johnny Storm / The Human Torch, and Michael Chiklis as Ben Grimm / The Thing.  Julian McMahon has the honor of playing the film’s villain, Victor von Doom / Doctor Doom.

Fantastic Four (2005) – (c) 20th Century Fox

Fantastic Four begins with Dr. Reed Richards (Ioan Gruffudd) and Ben Grimm (Michael Chiklis) having a meeting with Dr. Victor von Doom (Julian McMahon) at von Doom’s headquarters.  Reed has been working on some research and he’s convinced that life on Earth evolved after the planet was hit by a high-energy cosmic storm.  A similar cosmic storm is once again approaching the Earth, and Reed would like to use von Doom’s orbiting space station as a research platform to conduct some experiments and analyze the cosmic event.

Victor von Doom is a business man and the CEO of Von Doom Industries.  He won’t agree to let Reed use his space station unless von Doom receives a significantly large percentage of the financial returns from the experiments.  Reed agrees to von Doom’s terms.  Going along on the space mission is Susan “Sue” Storm (Jessica Alba), von Doom’s top genetics research.  She also happens to be Reed’s ex-girlfriend.

After the meeting we meet Johnny Storm (Chris Evans), Susan’s sister.  Johnny is a former hotshot NASA pilot who formerly served under Ben Grimm.  He’s also a womanizer and a bit of a daredevil.  Johnny loves standing in the spotlight and receiving attention and glory.  It turns out that Susan has appointed her brother as the pilot for this upcoming mission, a move that greatly disturbs Ben Grimm.  This really isn’t an issue in the film though as we see virtually nothing of the upcoming space flight. Read more…

Welcome to Walmart

Oh, Walmart, how you never fail to impress me in the lowest of ways.

I commonly have the lowest of expectations when entering the store, and on many visits those incredibly low expectations are met or exceeded by either the workers, the conditions in the store, or my fellow shoppers.

The Walmart experience begins with the parking lot, a place where danger and stupidity lurks in every corner.  Whether its the crazed soccer mom too busy talking on her phone while zipping into a parking spot; the handicap fakers, those who claim to need the specially reserved parking spots yet they have no problem walking quickly in to, out of, or though the massive superstore; or, my favorite, those arrogant jackasses who will park their car right in front of the door and spend ten minutes waiting for their passenger to take care of whatever they need.

It’s even more arrogant when there are open parking spaces like twenty feet away.  Those jerks will still sit there on the curb with their engine running and waiting for their companion to return.  The response from those cretin is always the same:  “It’s okay because so-and-so just ran into the store to grab or return something.  They’ll be back in just a minute.”  Of course it’s never a fast process.  This is Walmart.  Speed is not a concern to many of the workers.

Normally those signs at Walmart alert us to price DROPS.

Walking into a Walmart used to be accompanied by a friendly greeter.  In the old days the greeter would actually provide you with a shopping cart and make you feel somewhat welcome in the store.  These days, if there’s a greeter at all, that person is normally some overweight cow sitting off to the side on a powered wheelchair and glaring at people as they enter and leave the store.  That is, if they’re not to busy having a snack, chatting with other workers, or doing useless crap on their phone.

Unfortunately, many of us are Walmart shoppers because we cannot afford to shop at real stores.  Remember that not everything is a deal simply because it’s at Walmart, but if you do your research and know how to shop, then you can definitely save money at Walmart.  Hit other stores when they’re having sales and you’ll be a super shopper.

Sales and clearance items at Walmart are always a crap shoot.  First of all, you never know how an item is really going to ring up at the cash register.  A sign may claim that an item or set of items is on sale, but you need to pay close attention to see if it really rings up that way during the checkout process.  Catching incorrect prices at the checkout register is somewhat of a regular occurrence. Read more…

Movie Review – Bloodsport (1988)

Some people fight for honor.  Some do it to prove something about themselves.  Others do it for glory.

The stakes for fighting are even higher when it involves a secret, full-contact tournament that puts the world’s best fighters against each other once every five years.  That tournament is called the Kumite.

Today we’re taking a look at one of my all-time favorite films, Bloodsport.

Released in February of 1988, Bloodsport tells the legendary tale of Frank Dux, the first American to win in the Kumite.  We have a flashback to his intense training and then follow along the three brutal days of combat at the Kumite, a secret, full-contact tournament held in Hong Kong.  It’s not all fun and games as Frank Dux witnesses his friend fall to the hands of a brutal fighter, and he has to constantly elude two government agents who want to return Dux back to America.

Directed by Newt Arnold and with music by Paul Hertzog, Bloodsport stars Jean-Claude Van Damme in the starring role of Frank Dux.  This was the film that launched Van Damme’s career as a martial arts action star.

Supporting him in this film are Donald Gibb as Ray Jackson, another American fighter, Bolo Yeung as Chong Li, a brutal South Korean fighter who was champion at the previous Kumite, Roy Chiao as Senzo Tanaka, Frank Dux’s mentor and sensai, and Norman Burton and Forest Whitaker as Helmer and Rawlins, two Army Criminal Investigation Division officers who try to stop Frank Dux and return him to America.

Bloodsport (1988) – (c) The Cannon Group

Bloodsport begins with a segment of shots showing a team of people in Hong Kong cleaning and preparing the area for what will be the Kumite, a full-contact martial arts tournament that pits the best fighters in the world against each other.  Mixed into the shots of the arena’s preparation we see a variety of fighters continue their training and final preparations before leaving for the Kumite.  Amongst them are a South Korean master fighter named Chong Li (Bolo Yeung) and an American tough guy named Ray Jackson (Donald Gibb).

At the ending of the opening segment we’re introduced to Captain Frank Dux (Jean-Claude Van Damme) of the U.S. Army.  He’s performing spinning kicks and working out at the base’s gym when a lieutenant informs him that the base commander needs to speak with him.  Apparently word is out on the base that Frank Dux intends on spending a few days in Hong Kong to compete in the Kumite.  Unfortunately, the U.S. Army does not want to have one of its officers be badly injured or possibly killed in the tournament. Read more…

Monopoly at McDonalds – Horrible Odds or Bad Luck?

Down here in Georgia, the Monopoly game is back at McDonalds.

Over the years we’ve had decent luck winning free items of food.  We’ve never won any of the real prizes, but we’d normally win free food items such as a sandwich, drink, or an ice cream cone.  It’s small stuff that keeps you amused and returning to play again.

But last year and this year we’ve noticed a drastic change.  In addition to not winning any of the real prizes, now we aren’t even winning the small stuff.  Last year we struck out for winning any of the instant winner food items, and this year that pattern is continuing.

Last week my girlfriend and I visited our local McDonalds for a quick bite to eat.  Part of our meal included a Big Mac combo including a large order of fries.  Instead of the large drink we asked for medium cups.  The price is the same (all drinks are $1) but the medium cups have the game pieces, not the large ones.  The difference in cup sizes really didn’t matter a whole lot as we ate our meal there and refilled our cups a couple of times.

As you can see in the photo there was NOT A SINGLE WINNER OUT OF TEN MONOPOLY GAME PIECES!  Nothing.  Not a single instant prize out of the ten game pieces.  The game advertises a 1 in 4 chance in winning.  Yeah, right.  We didn’t hit jack squat out of TEN tries.

Either I have the worst luck in the world or this game is rigged.  Either way we’re extremely dissatisfied with the trend in this game and will not be returning to McDonalds again any time soon.  We’ve been burned too many times by failure in Monopoly that it’s no longer worth our time or hard earned money.

Squeezy Freezy (Slushy Drink Maker) – A Marketing Review

The summer heat is raging and the kids are whining.

Just the other day we reached 95° F and nearly 100% humidity.  The kids need some sort of cool relief besides sitting inside of an air-conditioned house and playing video games on a large screen high-definition television set.  Perhaps something different to entertain them as well.  Those video games tend to get rather boring after playing them all day long.

Slushes are great summertime treats, but it’s hard to make them.  Not only do you have to combine a drink AND some ice into a blender, but you also need to know how to use the blender correctly.  As anybody with a kitchen is aware, it’s nearly impossible to hold a lid onto a blender while pressing the correct operating buttons.  Just last week I heard of somebody losing two fingers in a bloody massacre that was labeled in the newspaper as a “blender malfunction.”

Yikes!

But what if there was an easier way to make slushes?  What if kids could make their own slushie drink without complicated machinery involving spinning blades?

Squeezy Freezy website — www.GetSqueezyFreezy.com

What’s this?  The Squeezy Freezy?  Am I to understand that making a slush no longer requires a blender, a Master’s degree in culinary arts, or even adult supervision?

Squeezy Freezy TV commercial — NOTE: The price at the end of the commercial is incorrect.

Let’s take a closer look at the Squeezy Freezy advertisement and see how it’s being sold to the general public.

Squeezy Freezy TV commercial – Can’t you tell how much we love the Squeezy Freezy?

As we can see, the Squeezy Freezy television commercial jumps right into the heart of the matter by having a bunch of kids showing us their love affair with Squeezy Freezy.  Whether they’re thrilled to be making a slush drink with the product, to be enjoying said slush drink, or because they’re in a TV commercial, for whatever reason, these children are happy.

Are your kids this happy right now?  Or are your little minions miserable because they’re NOT making and enjoying slush drinks? Read more…

Using An Oven And Grill To Cook Fall-Off-The-Bone Ribs

Along with barbecued chicken, one of my favorite meals is a nice and juicy slab of ribs.  I’m talking about ribs that are so juicy and tender that the meat is literally falling off the bone.  Now that is one hell of a meal!

The only problems are that A) Ordering ribs in the restaurant is expensive; B) Many times I’m disappointed with the quality of the ribs in restaurants, and C) Properly cooking ribs at home has been a challenge until now.

My experience with cooking ribs has actually been extremely low.  I was so inexperienced and my previous version from years ago was so bad that I practically swore off cooking ribs.  Rib dinners in restaurants were reserved for very special occasions.

Recently my girlfriend found a slab of ribs on sale at the store, and she convinced me to give cooking them another shot.  I reluctantly agreed, but this time it was going to be different.  This time I was going to heavily research the techniques and find a way to cook the ribs correctly.

Here’s how we cooked one of the best rib dinners I’ve ever enjoyed.  This technique used a dry rub, cooking the ribs in the oven and then finishing them on the grill.

The night before cooking the ribs we removed the membrane on the back of the ribs.  After that the slab of ribs was divided in half, with each half being rinsed and dried.  At that point it was time to add the dry rub.

One of the hardest things was selecting a dry rub to add to the ribs.  What we ended up doing was getting two small packets of flavoring and using one flavor per section of ribs.  In this case one section of ribs was coated in Tennessee Smokehouse BBQ rub while the other section used the Memphis Pit BBQ rub.  The Tennessee rub had some spice and heat while the Memphis rub was sweeter.  Once the ribs were rubbed with flavor they were wrapped in plastic wrap and placed in the refrigerator.

Here are the two sections of ribs after about eighteen hours in the fridge.  We removed them about half an hour before placing them in the oven.

We’re not just going to stick the ribs into the oven and leaving them exposed to the dry heat.  Instead, our technique was to place the ribs over a pan with moisture and then wrap the ribs in aluminium foil, keeping the moisture contained right there with the ribs. Read more…

How To Build A Fly Trap With A 2-Liter Plastic Bottle

One of my favorite summer activities is grilling outdoors.

To me, the stress of everyday life melts away as I’m cooking chicken, burgers, bratwursts, pork chops and steaks while drinking some ice cold beer.  Whether it’s cooking with propane or charcoal (we have two grills), I can relax while standing next to a hot grill in the heat of the day.

Recently our small patio area has been swarming with flies.  We’ve had a hot and wet summer this year, and between the climate and my neighbors leaving crap behind their house, this year the flies have been a growing problem.  I nearly reached the breaking point when about a hundred of those damn insects began swarming me, my grill, and my cooking utensils last week.

That’s it.  It’s time to start catching those little punks and eliminating their incredibly annoying presence on my patio.

An incredibly cheap and very effective fly trap can be constructed out of an empty 2-liter bottle of soda.  As you can see, I built my homemade fly trap out of a bottle of cherry Coca-Cola.  You’ll want to rinse the bottle so your fingers and equipment won’t get sticky when building the trap.

Remove the label and unscrew the cap.  After you enter your Coke rewards points onto the Coca-Cola website, punch a large hole in the bottle’s cap.  Make sure the hole is about the size of a pea.  It must be large enough for the flies to easily crawl through.  After that use some scissors and make a horizontal cut around the circumference of the plastic bottle.  The objective is to remove the top 25-30% of the bottle. Read more…

Book Review – Clive Cussler’s “Dragon”

Dragon, the tenth book in Clive Cussler’s main series of novels, takes readers into a dark organization in Japan that aims to blackmail the world through nuclear terrorism.

The story of Dragon begins on August 6, 1945, as a nuclear-armed B-29 Superfortress nicknamed Dennings’ Demons takes off from an airbase on Shemya Island, Alaska, and heads towards Japan.  Their primary target was the industrial section in the city of Osaka.

An engine problem developed in one of the four engines that powered the bomber, and the aircraft had to fly at a lower altitude.  As Dennings’ Demons approached the coast of Japan and begin climbing to its bombing altitude, the bomber was jumped and shot down by a Japanese Zero fighter aircraft.  The nuclear bomber crashed into the Pacific Ocean, and later that day a B-29 named Enola Gay made history as it dropped the first nuclear bomb to be used in combat.  World War II ended on August 15, six days after a second city, Nagasaki, was attacked with an atomic bomb.

Fast forward to October of 1993.

The Narvik, a Norwegian passenger-cargo ship, is cruising southeast of Japan in the Pacific Ocean and discovers a derelict Japanese car carrier ship.  The Japanese ship, the Divine Star, is listing and slightly damaged after surviving a typhoon.  It’s going to sink if nothing is done to correct the water pouring into the ship.  The crew of the Narvik want to board the Divine Star and try to prevent it from sinking.  If they can do so then the payout for salvaging such a ship, especially one like that packed with brand new cars, would be tremendous.

A salvage crew boards the Divine Star, and they’re puzzled why the interior of the ship is in such good condition.  It’s as if the crew suddenly ran from their posts and abandoned the ship.  Pieces of the mystery materialize as crew members examine the cars and begin to get tremendously sick.  The sickness is overpowering and men begin to fall.  As one security guard is dying, he pulls out his pistol and begins shooting randomly at the cars, taking out his anger with a few gunshots.  One of those bullets strikes home and the Divine Star is obliterated in a nuclear explosion.  The explosion also wipes out the Narvik, sending the Norwegian ship plunging to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean.

Several miles away is the Invincible, a British oceanographic research vessel.  The Invincible recently launched an underwater exploration vehicle nicknamed Old Gert onto a mission to the sea floor.  On board the Old Gert are Craig Plunkett, the vehicle’s chief engineer and pilot, Dr. Raul Salazar, a marine geologist, and Stacy Fox, an underwater photographer.  The three of them become trapped on the ocean floor as the nuclear explosion heavily damages the Invincible and quickly sends it into the depths of the Pacific Ocean.

Recognizing the dire problem, the crew of the Old Gert try to jettison their weights and float back to the surface.  That fails as part of the vessel was filled with water and the rest of it was not buoyant enough to float back to the surface.  The crew is doomed and it’s just a matter of time before they suffocate from a lack of breathable air. Read more…

Movie Review – The Last of the Mohicans (1992)

From 1754 through 1763, a bloody conflict known as the French and Indian War ravaged North America from Maryland to the northern reaches of Canada including Montreal, Quebec and Nova Scotia.

This was a war between the British colonies with those of French origin, and many Native American forces siding with the French.  In a way, not only was this the first major conflict between European forces in North America, but this was also a stepping stone for the American Revolutionary War that would begin roughly thirteen years later.

The Last of the Mohicans is an adventure / war / romance film that takes place during the French and Indian War.  Set in upstate New York along the Hudson River, the film tells the tale of Hawkeye, an American who was adopted by a tribe of Mohican Indians, and his quest to escort a general’s daughters to his fort.  Along the way he falls in love, and when the daughters are captured by the Huron Indians, it’s up to Hawkeye and his fellow Mohicans to rescue them before it’s too late.

Directed by Michael Mann and given a killer soundtrack by Trevor Jones and Randy Edelman, The Last of the Mohicans stars Daniel Day-Lewis in the title role of Hawkeye, an American by birth and raised by a small tribe of Mohican Indians.  Supporting him is Madeleine Stowe as Cora Munro, Jodhi May as Cora’s younger sister Alice, and Steven Waddington as Major Duncan Heyward.  Russell Means and Eric Schweig play the Mohicans Chingachgook and Uncas, while Wes Studi plays the menacing role of Magua, a Huron Indian.

The Last of the Mohicans (1992) – (c) 20th Century Fox

The Last of the Mohicans takes place in 1757, three years into the bloody war.  By this point in time England and France had formally declared war upon the other, and fighting is also taking place outside of North America.  The film begins with Nathaniel “Long Rifle” Hawkeye (Daniel Day-Lewis), Chingachgook (Russell Means) and Uncas (Eric Schweig) tracking a deer and ultimately shooting and killing it.  They pause and show respect to the fallen animal before heading to the Cameron residence on the outskirts of the forest.  While at the house they hear from Jack Winthrop (Edward Blatchford) that the British army is recruiting local militia to fight against French forces moving south into New York.

The next day more settlers gather at the cabin as a British lieutenant (Jared Harris) tries his hand at recruiting the local people to fight for England.  He needs the men to join the forces at Fort William Henry and fight against the French.  The militia feels the need to join England and support King George II, but they’re hesitant to leave their homes undefended to possible Indian attacks. Read more…

Movie Review – Gettysburg (1993)

Michael Shaara’s award-winning novel The Killer Angels brought the famous Battle of Gettysburg from the American Civil War (a.k.a. War Between the States) into a new perspective.

Nineteen years after the first publishing of The Killer Angels the world was presented with an epic scale film adaptation of the novel.  Released in 1993, the film was simply called Gettysburg.

Directed by Ronald F. Maxwell, produced by Turner Pictures, and given an outstanding music score by Randy Edelman, Gettysburg stars Tom Berenger as Confederate General James Longstreet, Jeff Daniels as USA Colonel Joshua Chamberlain, and Martin Sheen as CSA General Robert E. Lee.  Supporting them are Sam Elliott as USA General John Buford, Stephen Lang as CSA General George Pickett, Kevin Conway as USA Sgt. Buster Kilrain, C. Thomas Howell as USA Lt. Thomas Chamberlain, and Richard Jordan as CSA General Lewis Armistead.

Fans of the Civil War prequel Gods and Generals will notice that most of the actors play the same role in both films even though ten years separates the two movies.  Apart from different actors playing the roles of Generals Lee and Longstreet, the biggest difference is that Stephen Lang plays two separate roles, both of them major characters.  In Gods and Generals Lang stars in the role of CSA General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, and in Gettysburg he has a smaller but still important role in that of CSA General George Pickett.

Gettysburg begins in late June of 1863 after the Confederate victory at the Battle of Chancellorsville.  General Robert E. Lee has taken the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia north through Maryland and into southern Pennsylvania.  By taking his army north he hopes to accomplish two tasks: show the Yankees that their towns can also be threatened by the war and having their citizens put pressure on their politicians about ending the bloody war, and by drawing the Army of the Potomac out into the open so it can be destroyed, thus leaving Washington unguarded and ripe for attack.

Remember that by this point in time CSA General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, General Lee’s right hand man and arguably one of the greatest generals in the Confederacy, has been killed.  He was accidentally wounded by friendly fire at the Battle of Chancellorsville and died a few days later.  A couple of months prior to that General Lee suffered from a minor heart attack.  These are heavy factors in the mind of General Lee, and at this point in time he wants this bloody war to end.  He’ll take a few risks and attempt to destroy the Army of the Potomac if he’s presented with an opportunity.

Gettysburg (1993) – (c) New Line Cinema

On June 29, 1863, Henry Thomas Harrison (Cooper Huckabee), an actor who became a spy for the Confederacy, makes a startling discovery.  He finds Union cavalry in northern Maryland, roughly twenty miles away from the Army of Northern Virginia.  Where there’s cavalry, infantry will follow.  Alarmed by the northern speed of the Army of the Potomac, Harrison races north and finds the Confederate encampment.

Harrison presents this information to CSA General James Longstreet (Tom Berenger), who then takes Harrison to meet with CSA General Robert E. Lee (Martin Sheen).  As crazy as the information about the Federalists sounds, Lee cannot afford to not take the spy’s report as false.  Lee orders his army to turn south and meet the approaching Union army.  It’ll be a confrontation at a Pennsylvanian town called Gettysburg.

Meanwhile, in the Army of the Potomac, Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain (Jeff Daniels) is now in command of the 20th Maine Infantry.  His younger brother, Thomas Chamberlain (C. Thomas Howell), has been promoted to the rank of lieutenant and he’s one of the regiment’s officers.  During the battles, Joshua frequently has his brother positioned some distance away from him so that a stray cannon shot won’t kill both of them and give their mother real bad news.

One morning Sgt. Buster Kilrain (Kevin Conway) wakes Colonel Chamberlain with news that they’re about to receive a whole company of mutineers, 120 men, from the disbanded 2nd Maine.  The men signed a three-year agreement to fight with the 2nd Maine.  When the 2nd Maine was disbanded and the rest of the men who signed a two-year agreement were sent home, the 120 men who mistakenly signed a longer contract decided to rebel and no longer fight.  Company commanders decided to send the mutineers to the 20th Maine for Col. Chamberlain to handle. Read more…

June 2013 Exercise Results

In the beginning of June I wrote an article detailing my exercise plans.

Since that article’s publishing we have donated our old treadmill to a charitable organization, and I purchased and assembled my new exercise bike.  My new bike is the Exerpeutic Space Saver Magnetic Upright Exercise Bike with Heart Pulse Sensors (yeah, that’s really the name of the exercise bike).

The exercise bike was fairly easy to assemble, it’s easy to fold it for better storage, and it’s pretty fun to ride.  Best of all, the exercise bike is extremely quiet!  Now I don’t have to crank the volume on my television set when exercising, unlike when I was using that loud and clunky treadmill.

The easiness of folding and storing the exercise bike makes it significantly faster to move the bike out of the way to clear floor space for my other exercise machine, my Total Bodyworks 5000 machine.  Right now both of my machines are folded and standing upright next to each other.  Both of those machines are great space savers for those of us without a dedicated exercise room.

I’ve been using the exercise bike for a month now, and for the most part it’s a fantastic cardio exercise machine.  Considering that it was only $124 plus tax, it’s hard to beat that price for an exercise bike.

There are just two minor issues that I’ve encountered with this particular exercise bike.  First of all, even with the seat in its lowest setting, you have to be fairly tall just to climb onto the bike.  I’m 6’0″ and can easily hop on and off the bike, but those people a few inches shorter may have some problems, especially if they have flexibility problems with their legs.  But the seat is very comfortable and it’s easy to reach and use the pedals.

The other minor issue with the bike is with the display screen.  Personally, I don’t like it that the information keeps rotating without the options of skipping or staying on certain pieces of information.  For example, when I’m sprinting I want to know just how fast I can pedal the exercise bike.  The screen keeps changing between one of like six pieces of information, so unless you peak when the speedometer is being displayed for a few seconds, then you’ll have to guess as to how fast you actually peddled.  The same is true if you’re keeping track of the time or waiting for milestones like a certain number of burned calories.

Granted, those are just two minor issues with an otherwise fantastic indoor exercise bike.  This is a great cardio workout machine and I’m glad I made the purchase a month ago.

June of 2013 exercise totals:

My exercise bike was assembled on June seventh, and my normal bike ride lasts for 45 minutes.  If time is a problem then it’ll be a shorter session lasting between 20 and 30 minutes.

Exercise bike totals (cardio) – 13 sessions:

– 533 minutes

– 99.7 miles

– 5005 calories burned

Total Bodyworks 5000 totals (strength):

– 12 sessions; ~ 20 minutes each

Movie Review – Fantasia (1940)

It’s been called a film ahead of its time.

It’s a masterful collection of classical music and fantastic animation sequences.

It’s Fantasia, a full-length feature film released by Walt Disney back in 1940.  Using eight animated sequences, Fantasia visually takes viewers into the world of classical music.  You hear some of your favorite classical pieces of music and see them presented in imaginative methods, telling a story while entertaining and relaxing you.

Hosted and narrated by Deems Taylor, Fantasia includes musical pieces from Johann Sebastian Bach, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Paul Dukas, Igor Stravinsky, Ludwig van Beethoven, Amilcare Ponchielle, Modest Mussorgsky, and Franz Schubert.  You may only be familiar with a couple of those composers now, but by the end of Fantasia you might be fans of them all.  All of the pieces of music recorded for Fantasia were composed by the famed English conductor Leopold Stokowski, and seven of the eight segments were performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra.

Sit back and relax when viewing Fantasia.  Turn down the lights, lie back in your favorite chair, and sip a nice glass of wine.  As you’ll see, Fantasia is a completely different style of the other animated films produced by Walt Disney.

Fantasia (1940) – (c) Walt Disney Productions

Fantasia begins as if you’re attending an orchestra concert.  The curtains open, the musicians arrive and begin tuning their instruments, and our gust host, Deems Taylor, walks on stage and greets us.

“Toccata And Fugue In D Minor” by Johann Sebastian Bach

Fantasia (1940) – (c) Walt Disney Productions

Our first animated musical segment is German composer Johann Sebastian Bach‘s “Toccata And Fugue In D Minor.”  This segment begins with live-action shots of Leopold Stokowski and the Philadelphia Orchestra.  The orchestra begins playing and we see various colors in the background.  The animation slowly takes over the screen and soon we’re seeing abstract colors and animations in synchronization with the classical music.  As the music grows louder and more intense, so do the fantastic animations moving around on the screen. Read more…

Book Review – Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child’s “Still Life with Crows”

Small Town, America can be a frightening place if you look at it certain ways, especially if it’s located in the Great Plains.

When you consider the remoteness of some towns, the hundreds of square miles of corn fields, and a place where neighbors sometimes know a little bit too much about their fellow neighbors, and there you go.  A perfect small town for one person can be a complete nightmare for another.  Especially when a madman begins murdering random people and butchering their remains, leaving them in puzzling scenarios.

The murdering madman in a small town in Kansas is the basic plot for Still Life with Crows, the fourth book written by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child to feature their common protagonist, FBI Special Agent Pedergast.  This is a horror story set in the heart of the country and features a murderer so bizarre that he does not fit the profile of serial killers.  His behavior is unpredictable at best, brutally terrifying at worst.

Still Life with Crows begins with a bizarre murder victim discovered out in a corn field in the town of Medicine Creek, Kansas.  Sheriff Dent Hanzen uses the circling turkey vultures to help locate the corpse.  Hanzen is hoping that the corpse is technically outside of his town’s district, leaving the crime scene to the Kansas State Patrol, but he’s not so fortunate.  Besides, he’s annoyed when watching the troopers screw up evidence, miss clues, and leave enough room for technicalities for the worst of lawyers to keep the criminal out of prison.  Sheriff Hanzen may be lazy, especially in the heat of the summer, but he also hates letting criminals go free.

Perhaps even more bizarre than the murder is the sudden arrival of FBI Special Agent Pendergast.  He was informed of the murder through his contacts in the police and FBI networks, and the special agent arrives on scene to conduct an investigation even though he’s well outside of his home district of New Orleans, Louisiana.  The technicality is that FBI Special Agent Pendergast simply claims that he’s “on vacation” and the murder investigation is one of his hobbies.  He never states why he has so much interest in this particular murder victim.

The murder victim, Sheila Swagg, is found lying naked in a clearing.  Her neck is broken, her limbs are positioned in a strange posture, and several dead crows are impaled into the ground surrounding Miss Swagg.  It turns out that the crows were killed with a set of arrows that once belonged to the Cheyenne Indians from the 1800s.  The arrows are in mint condition and worth a considerable amount of money to the right collector.  Why they were used in such a ritual is a mystery in itself.

So far the only clue to the killer’s identity is a set of bare feet footprints that leads through the corn field and right to a small creek.  Despite that, Pendergast speculates that the killer is somebody who lives within the city limits of Medicine Creek.  This is a small town, and if anybody walks, rides or drives into the town, then somebody would have seen the outsider.  None of the residents have reported any strangers in town, except for FBI Special Agent Pendergast, so the killer is hiding amongst the dwindling population in the small town. Read more…

Movie Review – Gods and Generals (2003)

As we approach the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg in the American Civil War, let’s take a step back and look at the earlier parts of that critical period of American history.

Based on Jeff Shaara’s bestselling novel Gods and Generals, the film documents the early stages of the American Civil War and primarily focuses on life and times of General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson.  Gods and Generals takes viewers from just prior to the outbreak of war to the Battles of First Manassas (Bull Run), Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville.  The film ends in June of 1863 as General Lee takes his army north into Pennsylvania and the Army of Northern Virginia’s fateful encounter at the Battle of Gettysburg.

Directed by Ronald F. Maxwell, produced by Ted Turner, and given a musical score by John Frizzell, Gods and Generals is a prequel to Gettysburg, an epic film from 1993 detailing the historic three-day battle and turning point of the American Civil War.  Gods and Generals stars Stephen Lang as General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson (CSA), Jeff Daniels as Lt. Col. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain (USA), and Robert Duvall as General Robert E. Lee (CSA).

Supporting them are Kevin Conway as Sgt. Buster Kilrain, C. Thomas Howell as Sgt. Thomas Chamberlain, Bruce Boxleitner as General James Longstreet, Mira Sorvino as Fanny Chamberlain, and Kali Rocha as Anna Jackson.  Gods and Generals has a running time of a whopping 219 minutes.

Gods and Generals (2003) – (c) Warner Bros. Pictures

Gods and Generals begins in April of 1861 in Washington City (a.k.a. Washington D.C.).  Colonel Robert E. Lee (Robert Duvall) is given the opportunity to command the Union Army, complete with the ranking of major general, and fight against the rebellion growing in the south.  Col. Lee will not fight against his home state of Virginia, so he resigns from the Unites States Army.  He then returns home to Virginia. Read more…