Power Rangers: Clash of the Red Rangers: The Movie
Starring: Alex Heartman, Najee De-Tiege, Erika Fong, Hector David Jr., Britney Anne Pritle,
Studio: Lionsgate
Release Date: March 5, 2013
ASIN: B00AQAZZ3Q
Run Time: 45 Minutes
Rating: NOT RATED

Review:

It’s hard to believe that the Power Rangers franchise is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. It is making me feel old as I remember when the original series aired. I watched the occasional episodes of the original series up to the In Space series, but I tuned out because the constant cast changes. I wasn't aware that there was a new series on television, until I reviewed two other DVD titles early this year. Lionsgate recently released Saban's Power Rangers: Clash of the Red Rangers: The Movie onto DVD this month and I was sent a complementary copy in exchange for my honest review.

Clash of Red Rangers originally aired in November 2011 on Nickelodeon as an hour special that teamed up the six Samurai Rangers with the RPM Ranger Red. The plot involves the RPM Ranger Red chasing the robotic villain Professor Cog from the RPM alternate universe into the real world, where the Samurai Rangers are fighting the newest Nighlok called Sharkjaw, who runs away in defeat. Cog finds an entrance to the Netherworld as he wants to use the water to destroy the humans in his own universe. To get the water he agrees to help Xandred's Nighlok army in defeating the Power Rangers.

Grinders attack the Samurai Rangers and the rangers only win because RPM Ranger Red used his nitro blaster to destroy the Grinders. The Samurai Rangers gladly accept their new friend, though Jayden has a few issues with him. Cog returns with several Grinders leading the Yellow, Green, Blue, Pink, and Gold rangers to be zapped to the RPM universe. The Nighlok are building a huge army to invade earth and only the two red rangers are left to stop them, but only if they can work out their differences.

Arkeepers: Episode Two: Angeliks
By: W.J. Madsen
Publisher little m Books
Pub. Date: January 26, 2012
ISBN: 978-0983048718
ASIN: B007AUJEKU
Pages: 206

Review: 

In this exciting second installment in the Arkeepers series, Jake, age 11, and Alexa, age 8, are from a long line of Angelik ancestry and they are also known as the Arkeepers. Their grandmother gave Jake a magnifying glass on his birthday that once belong to his grandmother, who as also a Keeper. The kids, along with their cat Rex, travel through the magnifying glass to other worlds, where Rex can talk to them. Keepers are the ones that investigate mysterious and keep evil from taking over.

After Jake and Alexa saved time in book one, they were warned by Delbert that others will seek their help. Once again, they go through the magnifying glass, where they meet the biggest cow rancher in the cosmos named Big Daddy. What is the great mystery for Inspector Moustachio and Inspector Girl this time? Well it seems that Big Daddy's cows have disappeared and is up to the brother and sister duo to solve the case.

There are not many recent children book releases that have caught my attention, but when I saw the neat cover art to Arkeeper: Episode One: Keepers, I knew I had to read it. The author, along with Review the Book, kindly sent me a free copy in exchange for my honest review.

Jake receives a magnifying glass that belonged to his grandfather for his eleventh birthday from his Grandmother Moustachio, but this isn't a normal magnifying glass. Jake soon realizes that he can see a whole new world on the other side when a mysterious voice speaks to him asking for Inspector Moustachio's help. Being somewhat of an amateur detective, Jake, along with his eight-year-old sister, Alexa, and their cat, Rex, step through the magical magnifying glass and journey to a peculiar new world where Rex can actually speak.

My wife’s love inspired me to write, but that takes a little explaining.

I wrote some as a kid mainly because of my parents. They encouraged me to try it, then cheered along my progress. In high school, I turned in science fiction short stories whenever the assignment scope permitted. In college, I wrote very little fiction. But I would sometimes compose novella-length stories while commuting by bus and subway train. In sort, I was an incidental fiction writer, at best.

But other forces were gathering that would eventually activate a compulsion to write. And they are forces that go back a-ways. As a child I developed an interest in romantic love that was unusual for a boy. And I guess I have a pair of older girl cousins to thank for that. They lived with us at various times, and I noticed that they were never happier than when they were romantically involved. Did I say happy? Better than that. They were near ecstasy whenever they were in love. I looked at them and saw something beautiful. As a result, I looked forward to the distant day that I could share such exquisite feelings with a girl who was just bound to be gorgeous. The only problem with this picture was that my cousins didn’t turn out to be very good at this romance thing. They were in and out of love because they kept getting their hearts broken, or they were breaking up with their beau of the month on a regular basis. Their woes caused me to look around at the relationships adults had, and that’s when I really got alarmed. Most adults had romances that seemed junkyards of how they started out. So humdrum, so bored, plus adults tended to let themselves go to pot, physically, so that they didn’t look the part of a romance partner anymore. Why was that? I didn’t know, but I was determined to have better if I could find a way.

After a full day of rest on Sunday, my official second week of the Revolt fitness workout program from Nichole Huntsman began. Spring is nearly here and I'm already battling allergies, but I didn't let that stop me from working out.

Just like the first week, there are many squats in every circuit (which there are two to three circuits that you repeat twice) and a few lunges. Let's just say my gluts were on fire on Wednesday, which was a much need rest day. There were several exercises that I never tried before, like Thrusters and Russian Twists. The workouts ranges from twenty to thirty minutes, but don't let the time fool you as you will workout your entire body.

Unlike some programs that give you only a basic guideline of what to eat, everything in Revolt is planned out for you. The thought of changing your diet may scare you, but you don't have to starve to death. You just have to make better choices. One of my new habits is eating a full breakfast, like the Power Pancakes. You actually get five meals a day, which is more than what I was eating before.

What or whom inspired you to become a writer? 

I think writers are born, not made. My theory is that, if you watch closely, people will usually tell you who they are supposed to be by age eight or so. At that point I was penning Bobbsey Twins stories that would be called fanfiction today.

What types of books do you read?

I stay up on PNR. I need to know what other people are doing so that I can avoid that. My interest runs in phases. I spent a decade on the classics, another decade on Anne Rice, Stephen King and other paranomal authors. I spent a long time on nonfiction: religious studies, mythology, Viking sagas, early Germanic poetry, etc.

What well-known authors do you admire most? 

Stephen King, Isaac Asimov, Shakespeare, Gloria Steinem

What were your writing habits while writing A Summoner‘s Tale? 

Since I run and contribute to a couple of businesses, manage a band, and play Classic Rock sometimes, I write when there's time.

How did you come up with the plot? 

This book is the third installment in a serial saga. It was the natural progression of events and life patterns established in the first two books. I can't address your question properly without major spoilers.

What is your favorite part in A Summoner‘s Tale? 

The conversation between Istvan Baka and Elora Laiken near the end of the book.

Welcome to the new Book Blogger Hop!

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If you want schedule next week's post, click here to find the next prompt question. To submit a question, fill out this form.

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The Iron Duke 
By. L. Ron Hubbard 
Director: Jim Meskimen
Starring: Michael Yurchak, R.F. Daley, Lori Jablons, Jim Meskimen, Richard Ricco
Studio: Galaxy Press
Pub. Date: January 19, 2009
ISBN: 978-1592121731
Approx. 2 hours

Review:

I know that audiobooks have been around practically my entire life in some form or another, but I have never listened to one until last year when I reviewed several titles from Stories from the Golden Age, which are all by the late L. Ron Hubbard. The majority of the short stories were written during the 1930s and 1940s where there was a boom of magazines on the newsstands. Many of them were cheap looking, made from pulp paper and featured countless adventure tales from well-known writers. Galaxy Press was generous enough to send me a box of audiobooks last month in exchange for my honest review on each one.

My latest audiobook that I listened to this week is titled The Iron Duke (winner of the Earphones Award from AudioFile Magazine) and it originally appeared in the July 1940 issue of Five-Novels Monthly. The plot centers on a weapon smuggler Blacky Lee, who isn't liked by the Nazis and most of Europe due to him selling malfunction weapons. He doesn't have very many friends, beside from his loyal companion Stub Doyle.

I don’t do silence. I can’t. I grew up surrounded by chaos instrumented by three demons by the names of Ryan, Liam, and Trevor, my three younger brothers. These were not, and still aren’t, studious, well behaved darlings who liked nothing better than to sit down with a good book or play with her dolls like their angel big sister. No, these boys had enough energy and testosterone to supply an entire Starbucks and bodybuilding gym with some still left over to attempt to “kill” or “wrestle” their sister and each other. Screams, whining, and loud bangs on the television and walls were staples of my youth. So when I moved out on my own, I soon discovered I needed the noise. There is always a television or radio on, even as I fall asleep. This is true when I’m writing as well. I can write pretty much anywhere (if you have a strong desire to stalk me, see the acknowledgments page of my books to see where I write), but the one thing that helps get my creative juices flowing the most is music. The right song can make or break my scene, even inspiring me on some occasions.

As I’m writing, I find that certain songs really helped pump up the visuals and mood. They helped me get to a place where I needed to get inside my head to convey what was going on in my imagination and translate that to the page. Music just adds so much more to the experience. So I started compiling playlists for the books. Like the book, the soundtrack has a narrative flow in line with the book. You don’t have to like all the songs, I have eclectic taste, but at the very least if you sample them, you’ll get a feel for the book. Since this one, What’s A Witch To Do? is set in the South, and I am a closet country music fan, these selections are some of the best Nashville has to offer. Even if you don’t think you enjoy country music, just try one or two. We may make a country fan of you yet. So here it is:

Isosceles begins with nineteen-year-old Sean McIntyre finding his longtime best friend Trey Goodsby dead in the bathroom either intentionally or accidentally by his own hand. On the back of the toilet, a cell phone display reads, Missed Call From Madeline Edwards. Before determining the immediate circumstances that would bring the three of them to this scene, the pertinent question became where did they meet? I floated a few ideas around, but none of them seemed natural. One concrete thing was it needed to be a place where on the outset they could be equals. Ironically, the answer came to me as the first day of school. When many of us think of our school days, we think of struggling to fit in, to climb our way up the social ladder. Then I posited, that whatever lasting impressions these three had on each other should be seeded in this environment.

On a sunny autumn day, Sean walks into the classroom with a sea of children before him as an ironic homage to a scene in one of my favorite films, “Goodfellas”. There’s a famous tracking shot where the camera follows Ray Liotta’s character Henry Hill taking his girlfriend Karen played by Lorraine Bracco to the Copacabana through the back entrance. You see all the various people doing their thing, and Hill walks through like he belongs, almost like he’s royalty. However though Hill felt all that confidence, I wanted Sean to feel small and insignificant.

After that moment, I knew the next place to go was to introduce Madeline into his world in a surreal way. It had to contrast with the faces of his classmates whom he cannot put a name to, yet I knew it had to keep with the notion of his insecurity. When he sees Madeline in the sunlight and is completely transfixed, it was important to state she has an ethereal glow. This served a dual purpose, not just his attraction, but to establish her as someone whom Sean sees as above him.