Saturday, August 3, 2013

DVD Review - Breaking Bad: The Fifth Season



Breaking Bad: The Fifth Season
Starring: Bryan Cranston, Anna Gunn, Aaron Paul, Dean Norris, Betsy Brandt
Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Release Date: June 4, 2013
ASIN: B0060MYKYY
Retail: $55.99
Running Time: 375 minutes
Rating: Not Rated

Review: 

AMC's hit series Breaking Bad is coming to a close with the premiere of the final season on Sunday, August 11, 2013, which some people consider it as the second half of season five, while others are referring it as season six. I'm calling it the final season and I can't wait to watch it next Sunday as it has been nearly a year since the shocking cliffhanger. I've been a big fan ever since episode one of the series; I even got parents hooked into watching it. To prepare myself for the final eight episodes, I watched The Fifth Season on DVD this week.

The episodes on the three-disc set are:

Episode 1: Live Free or Die picks up shortly after Walter (Walt) White made his deadly move on his boss and meth dealer, Gus Fring, and he tries to destroy all the evidence pointing back to him, but the DEA (which his brother-in-law Hank is an agent) has already collected Gus's laptop. In a state of panic, Jesse Pinkman comes up with a plan to wipe the memory clean from the laptop, even though it is being stored in the DEA's evidence locker.

Episode 2: Madrigal - To make up the money his wife (Skyler) lost, Walt desperately wants to restart the meth-making business. With Jesse agreeing to assist him once again, they try to convince Gus's former cleaner, Mike Ehrmantraut, to join their new venture.

Episode 3: Hazard Pay - With Mike becoming a third partner, Walt and Jesse seek out their lawyer's, Saul Goodman, help in finding a new location for their business. Everything is in place and going fine, until Walt learns of some extra costs.

Friday, August 2, 2013

Book Blogger Hop: August 2nd - 8th

Welcome to the new Book Blogger Hop!


Grab the Button!

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

What to do:

1. Post on your blog answering this question:

This week's question submitted by Elizabeth.)



How do you turn down a review request?


2. Enter the link to your post in the linky list below (enter your Blog Name and the direct link to your post answering this week’s question. Failure to do so will result in removal of your link).


3. Visit other blogs in the list and comment on their posts. Try to spend some time on the blogs reading other posts and possible become a new follower.  The purpose of the hop is to give bloggers a chance to follow other blogs, learn about new books, befriend other bloggers, and receive new followers to your own blog.

My Answer:
Typically, I would offer the author a book spotlight, a guest post, or an interview, if I'm not interested in reviewing their book. Lately, due to my lack of blogging time, I refer a fellow blogger about the review request.

Linky List:

Review - Happy, Happy, Happy: My Life and Legacy as the Duck Commander

Happy, Happy, Happy: My Life and Legacy as the Duck Commander
By Phil Robertson with Mark Schlabach
Publisher: Howard Books
Pub. Date: May 7, 2013
ISBN: 978-1476726090
Retail: $24.99
Pages: 240

Review:

Reality shows have been controlling the television screens for years; most of them are pointless, forgettable, and quickly disappear from the airwaves, but A&E's Duck Dynasty has avoided all the typical clichés and has become a hit series, spawning t-shirts, calendars, Hallmark cards, notebooks, band-aids, bobble heads, and books.

Phil Robertson, the founder of Duck Commander, has written an inspirational autobiography covering his childhood, high school, marriage, college, and the recent success of Duck Dynasty. He grew up poor, but was taught how to hunt and fish at an early age by his father; living off the land by hunting, fishing, and growing vegetables. During his teen years, he excelled at sports, eventually receiving a football scholarship at Louisiana Tech. He married the love of his life, Miss Kay Carroway, at the age of 16. After receiving a Bachelor Degree and Master Degree in Education, Phil went on to teach as his family started to grow.

Phil went on a rocky path of drinking, which almost ended his marriage, but he found the Lord at the age 28 and he was able to change his life for the better. Now with four children (Alan, Jase, Willie, and Jep), Phil left teaching to become a commercial fisherman. Eventually, he would take the biggest gamble of his life by going into the duck call business. Phil, with the help of his loving family and friends, made the duck calls by hand, which he would sale to local businesses. What started out as a small business in a little shack on the family property, has now become a multi-million dollar company.

Monday, July 29, 2013

What Do You See in the Mirror?

Soft Light

In Season 2, Episode 23 of The X-Files, Agent Scully and her former student act as a doubled pair. Both are styled very similarly, and it is obvious from the beginning that this young character was created as a foil to the older FBI agent. Both are very similar in personality, and both share nearly identical skepticism to the fantastic circumstances in which they find themselves. The differences are minor, and these differences cause the younger character’s subversion and demise.

Doubling

The doubling between Scully and her former student is meant to mirror the doubling of the Scientist and his shadow. From the beginning of the episode, I was absolutely sure that because of the similarities between the two women, one would not survive the episode. I had seen later episodes, so I knew that Scully would survive and that it would be the younger that would die.

Monday Morning Madness #24: Recovering From a Lazy Sunday


For once I’m actually writing this post in the actual morning. You might have noticed my weekly post was missing last Monday. Well, I do have an excuse as I went to bed around four o'clock in the morning on the 22nd. The Syfy channel was playing a Buffy the Vampire Slayer marathon over that weekend and I got hooked into the madness around 10 PM after I had finished watching True Blood and Falling Skies.

I was bullied all through my high school years and I found solitude by watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its spin-off Angel. I guess you could have called me a  Slayerette or a Scoobie as I had Buffy posters plastered on bedroom walls, I recorded every episode onto VHS tapes (I had a few of the VHS sets too), and I collected and read every tie-in novel, that is until my local Walmart quit carrying them. I eventually grew out of my Buffy/Angel phase. I still have the tie-in books in a closet. I was given both series on DVD a few years ago for Christmas, but I have never attempted to watch them to this day. Though after watching the marathon on Syfy, I may have to drag the DVDs out and watch them.

Review - The Companion Guide to Family Tree Maker 2012

The Companion Guide to Family Tree Maker 2012
By Tana L. Pedersen
Publisher: Ancestry Publishing
Pub. Date: 2011
ISBN: 978-1593313388
Retail: $24.99
Pages: 320
Buy Link: The Ancestry Store

Review:

Genealogy has become more popular thanks to the reality series Who Do You Think You Are?, which started it's fourth season on TLC last Tuesday featuring celebrities such as Kelly Clarkson, Jim Parsons, and Christina Applegate. Many people around the world have been researching their family heritage way before the series started. Thanks to modern technology you now have the ability to keep track of all your family findings by using the computer software called Family Tree Maker, a program that first came out in 1989; way before home computers were in the average household. FTM has had dozens of upgrades over the years and including several different owners. The most popular genealogy site in the word is ancestry.com, who happens to be the current owner, released the FTM 2012 in September 2011.

I was in my early twenties when I got interested in genealogy, mostly thanks to my mother who was already researching our family history. My genealogy days came to a stop several years back when I hit several brick walls, since then my mother has taken over the family research. I bought my mother the FTM 2012 software last year, which the software turned out to be a major improvement compared to the old versions as you can sync directly with ancestry.com. The 2012 version is now on my computer as well and I have now started to get back into genealogy.

There is a basic guide with the program, but there are so many changes in the program it takes awhile to figure out what is what. Luckily, there is the Companion Guide to Family Tree Maker 2012 written by Tana L. Pedersen to help us new and old FTM users understand all the cool new tools and features. If you are a new user, the first few chapters will go over all the basics on how to setup the program with your family's information.

Friday, July 26, 2013

Book Blogger Hop: July 26th - August 1st

Welcome to the new Book Blogger Hop!


Grab the Button!

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

What to do:

1. Post on your blog answering this question:

This week's question submitted by Elizabeth.)



How do you organize your books to be read?


2. Enter the link to your post in the linky list below (enter your Blog Name and the direct link to your post answering this week’s question. Failure to do so will result in removal of your link).


3. Visit other blogs in the list and comment on their posts. Try to spend some time on the blogs reading other posts and possible become a new follower.  The purpose of the hop is to give bloggers a chance to follow other blogs, learn about new books, befriend other bloggers, and receive new followers to your own blog.

My Answer:
Any TBR books on Kindle go into a review folder. TBR review paperbacks go into a pile on an endtable or on my desk.

Linky List: