The Hundred-Foot Journey
Director: Lasse Hallström
Starring: Helen Mirren, Om Puri, Manish Dayal, Charlotte Le Bon
Studio: Touchstone Entertainment / DreamWorks Pictures
Release Date: December 2, 2014
Retail: $36.99
ASIN: B00MI56U6S
Running Time: 122 minutes
Rating: PG
Buy Link: Amazon

Review:

Arriving on Blu-ray on Tuesday December 2, 2014 is feel-good movie The Hundred-Foot Journey. The film is directed by  Lasse Hallström and stars Helen Mirren, Om Puri, Manish Dayal and Charlotte Le Bon. Extras include The Hundred-Foot Journey with Steven Spielberg & Oprah Winfrey; The Recipe, The Ingredients, The Journey; On Set With Oprah Winfrey and Coconut Chicken.

Based on the 2010 novel of the same name by Richard C. Morais, the film centers on the Kadam family, whom leaves their home in Mumbai and eventually ends up in Saint-Antonia-Noble-Val, France. Papa Kadam (played by Om Puri) finds the perfect building for them to restart their family Indian restaurant, which happens to be directly across the road (a hundred feet) from the French restaurant named "Le Saule Pleureur" that is owned by Madame Mallory (played by Helen Mirren).

Competing against a high-end French restaurant is going to a major challenge for the Kadam family, but Papa has confidence in his head chef, his second-oldest son, Hassan (Manish Dayal). Madame Mallory is determined to get rid of them one way or another; first reporting them to the building inspectors and later trying to sabotage their restaurant.

Salsa Dance Mastery System
Studio: salsacrazy.com
Release Date: September 15, 2006
Retail: $147
ASIN: B000ICLS88
Running Time: 600 minutes
Rating: Not Rated
Buy Link: Amazon

Review:

I have no clue how to dance. I use to avoid dancing at all costs, because I feared that I would embarrass myself with my two left feet. Exercising has been a bit of a problem for me because of an injury, so I've been avoiding any high intensity workout. I have been looking for a new exercise that is isn't too demanding, so I finally decided to look into a dancing workout. Luckily for me, I got a chance to try the Salsa Dance Mastery System from salsacrazy.com.

The Salsa Dance Mastery System contains five discs (Beginners Vols. 1, 2, 3 & Intermediate Vols. 4 & 5). Of course with it being an introduction set, you have to learn the basic moves, step-by-step. The set retails at $147, but it currently priced at $67 on Amazon.

There are two instructors (male and female) throughout the Salsa Dance Mastery System. The first disc basically explains the basic steps in salsa dancing. It is a little boring, but you need to go through it, so you can master your steps and then you can go on to the next disc.

I can't function properly without my morning cup of coffee, so you can imagine that I have tired almost every brand of coffee imaginable. Though I am a coffee freak, I'm not going to pay over a hundred collars for a Keurig coffee machine, but instead I own a cheap Bella Coffee Maker, which I have enjoyed using for over a year now.

Many coffee brands are bringing out the single serve coffee cups (or otherwise known as K-cups) that are intended to be used with the Keurig machines. I keep seeing these K-cups in stores and I have always wanted to try one, but I didn't want to buy a new high-priced coffee brewer.

Luckily for me, I was sent a complementary 40 single serve Brooklyn Bean Roastery Variety Pack to review. Since I am a coffee nut, I was more than excited about trying this out. You might be wondering how I was going to brew these coffees without a Keurig. Well, that is simple, my current coffee maker has a reusable coffee filter, so I just pour in about a cup of water into the machine, poke a hole in the K-cups and pour the coffee grounds into the reusable filter. It works perfect this way, though I do recommend putting in a another cup of water as it was a bit too strong for my liking.

Please take note that if you do own a Keurig, these cups are not compatible with the Keurig 2.0 Brewers!

The 40 coffee cups in this variety pack are:

The Wind Rises
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Voice Cast: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, John Krasinski, Emily Blunt, Martin Short, Stanley Tucci, Mandy Patinkin, William B. Macy
Studio: Walt Disney Home Entertainment
Release Date: November 18, 2014
Retail: $36.99
ASIN: B00MHT49KO
Running Time: 127 minutes
Rating: PG-13
Buy Link: Amazon


Review:



The Winds Rises tells the story of Jiro Horikoshi (voiced by Joseph Gordon-Levitt), who as a young boy dreamed of being a pilot, but his poor eyesight kept from it. Despite this setback, he still loves all aviation. He is determined to become an aircraft designer and follows the footsteps of his mentor,  Giovanni Battista Caproni (voiced by Stanley Tucci). He goes on to attend Tokyo Imperial University to study engineering, where he befriends future designer, Kiro Honjo (voiced by John Krasinski)

As far back as I can remember, I have always been a night owl. This has never really bothered me, as I do my best writing and blogging late at night, but after I finish my work there is nothing else to do. Yes, I could watch television, but there isn't much on after midnight except for repeats of reality shows. Therefore I try to go to sleep, but it isn't an easy feat and I normally have to listen to some music to help me doze off to beddy bye.

I'm a little bit behind on the current technology, so I don't own a MP3 Player or and iPod, instead I listen to music on my portable CD player at night. The problem is that I can't exactly lay down and listen to music because of my bulky stereo headphones. I have tried the smaller earphones, but they are uncomfortable too.

Luckily for me there is a new headphones that are meant to be worn when you are in bed. Is is called the Bedphones Sleep Headphones and it retails at $54.95. It is $5 higher if you want an incline microphone with remote, but it can be purchased on Amazon.com for $39.95. At 1/4 inch thick, these Sleep Headphones are the thinnest headphones in the world. They are designed to lie flat, so this way they won't disturb your sleep while wearing them. It comes with a neat black case and a sleep mask.

Adventure Time: Finn The Human
Voice Cast: Jeremy Shada, John DiMaggio, Hynden Walch, Niki Yang, Tom Kenny, Olivia Olson, Dee Bradley Baker, Pendleton Ward, Polly Lou Livingston, Jessica DiCicco, Maria Bamford
Studio: Warner Bros. Home Entertainment
Release Date: November 25, 2014
Retail: $24.98
ASIN: B00MEXP5OW
Running Time: 176 minutes
Rating: TV-PG
Buy Link:  Amazon

Review:

Arriving on DVD on Tuesday November 25, 2014 is Adventure Time: Finn The Human, featuring 16 exciting episodes from the popular Cartoon Network series and a sweet exclusive backpack, similar to the one Finn carries around in the series.

The creative world of Adventure Time was created by Pendleton Ward, who was inspired by video games and the fantasy role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons. The series is set in the post-apocalyptic Land of Ooo, where the heroes, Finn the human and his adoptive brother, Jake the dog, get into some sort of trouble in almost every episode. 



The episodes on the single-disc set are:




Though Adventure Time is targeted at kids, the series has managed to win the hearts of adults with its snappy humor and Futurama-style humor, which ironically has John DiMaggio (he voiced Bender on Futurama) voicing Jake. Highlights from this DVD release includes the three-part episode - The Lich, Finn The Human and Jake The Dog. Overall, all the episodes on the Adventure Time: Finn The Human DVD are fun to watch and it would make a great stocking stuffer this Christmas for any fan, young or old. 



*Disclaimer - I received a complimentary copy in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

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  This week's question is submitted by Elizabeth!

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Start out by focusing on posting original content and reviews to your blog. It will take a while to gather a few loyal blog followers, so please be patient. Before you request to review a title from a major publisher, please make sure that you have at least a Google Rank of 1. Wait at least six months to a year before joining any sort of reviewer program.