Showing posts with label Reviews. Show all posts

I've long been a fan of Police Drama. I like the mystery (that comes with shows like Columbo) and the police procedures. Understanding that shows like Hunter make us root for the officer who pushes the envelope in order to make the case. Any more, the newer police shows have the tendency to concentrate more on the officer (and his/her life) than the case--turning many of them into prime time soap opera a la NYPD Blue rather than the police procedural, or they concentrate on spinning off the name of another show (Law & Order, et.al.) with little or no connection to the original.


Because I like to read things like the 87th Precinct series, I like my TV Police shows to be well-written. Because I enjoy a well presented stage production, I enjoy the actors in these shows to know their craft. Setting aside my preference for Walker, Texas Ranger (writing and acting both fall short, but there are tons of great fight scenes thanks to Chuck Norris), I don't enjoy too many of the crime shows available for consumption these days. Friday evenings has become the exception, and I just finished watching two of the best examples:

• CSI: NY -- while it is a name-copy series, and they have had some of the character-driven, soap opera-esque story lines, I have found them to be consistently well-written, and with a lead character played by veteran actor Gary Sinese you can't go wrong when you can settle in for an episode.
• Blue Bloods -- I must admit that when it started a couple of seasons ago, I had my doubts. A family full of NY Police officers, headed by the commish himself? Bound to turn into dumpster diving into the tawdry lives of each separate character. Attempts at this very thing have been few and short-lived, because the family consistently focuses on the case. Another concern I had was Donnie Wahlberg in one of the chief roles, and I've been pleasantly surprised. The writers of this series have held to their guns with the character of the characters, the genuine faith of an Irish Catholic family of cops in New York (how's that for stereotyping?), and the commitment to family of the family. Plus you get to see them approach crime from a variety of viewpoints. 

I'm often skeptical at the "updating" of some of my favorites from the past. And there are some inconsistencies from what I remember in my childhood viewing. At the same time, some of the questions are being answered that were left unasked when Jack Lord led the Five-O team.

Check out the review of my first two novellas over at Coffeespoons.

I was intrigued recently by a commercial blitz. It started with the Superbowl ads for Pepsi Max. You know the campaign—targeting real men with this “healthy” version of Pepsi-Cola. The big ad on Superbowl Sunday had men encountering outrageously harsh pain with the age-old statement “I’m all right!” (or some variation thereof). It says a lot about a man’s machismo if he can be hit in the head with a bowling ball and respond with “I’m okay”. My son understands this concept and, whenever he trips and falls, re-echos, “I’m okay! I meant to do that.” He’s been doing that since he was three.

So these ads – I especially like the one which claims that the can houses a nuclear reactor (or some such) and upon crushing it the guy says, “Hey, I just crushed a nuclear reactor.” [For those who have seen the ad more than once, don’t fill the comment section up with corrections to my memory, that’s not the point. I'm posting it here to avoid confusion.]

Now I’ve periodically tried diet sodas. They’re supposed to be better for you and all that. And any time that I have encountered the word “diet” in the title of something that’s not really all that good for me to begin with, I get suspicious. I’ve heard the mantra of the diet soda cult – “You can’t tell the difference!” (repeat four or five hundred times).

And now for the truth: Some of the drinks sold in the category known as “diet soda” do indeed taste worse than others. I recall a swig of Tab from years ago. That seared a memory that will forever be with me. I recall the days of Sugar Free Dr Pepper, and a taste test of Pepsi One (supposedly not a diet drink, but it had the same effect on me as Diet Pepsi, Diet Coke, and Diet Dr Pepper). The bottom line is that if a drink substitutes anything for the sugar or syrup that’s supposed to sweeten it; if the manufacturer tries to sell it with a “sugar free” tag-line – or even a “low sugar” tag line – the product will leave a taste in your mouth.

“You get used to it,” some of my friends argue – but if I have to get used to it, why would I want to drink it? As it is, I don’t drink that much soda anyway. I hear the same arguments about the use of certain artificial sweeteners, and “natural” sweeteners (you can’t tell the difference). But I have discovered that if it ain’t sugar, I can taste the difference. In fact, one popular sugar substitute today is made by changing the refining process for sugar (so it’s made out of sugar). I’m told that you can’t tell the difference when it is used – either by itself or mixed with sugar on the halvsies. But that’s a lie – you can tell the difference!

And so the point: The claim is that Pepsi Max is the kind of diet drink that real men can drink without fear of it being a sissy diet drink. So I had to try this new concoction. Who knows, maybe technology has found a way to make a low sugar drink drinkable. But alas, it has not happened. My advice to you, if you are not of the diet drink cult, and continue to taste the sugar substitute long after the drink is gone, don’t bother tasting this one. Great ad campaigns aside, Pepsi Max is just another in the long line of trying to get us to de-sugar our sugary drinks, and it tastes bad, too.

Here’s to you, Dr Pepper – and if anyone can find a bottle that’s sweetened properly with Imperial Pure Cane, send me some and I’ll be eternally grateful.

Christmas 2007. My Blushing Bride knows that I like to play Monopoly®, but she can’t really stand the game. So what does she do? She finds this interesting item called “Make Your Own Opoly”. It’s loosely (really loosely) based on the classic game, but provides for the owner software and game pieces to build a game custom tailored to their life.

It took a year, but the result I got was Benj-Opoly. Players can travel around a board and “buy” significant places or memories from my life. Once bought, you can charge rent when opponents land on that particular square. There are spaces for my birthplace, my school years, colleges, significant employment events, and references to my love for reading and writing.

There are a few drawbacks in the design of the game itself—such as “play the lottery” squares, which don’t square with my life, and the “Chance” and “Community Chest” squares have been re-dubbed “Good News”/“Bad News” with a little leeway for personalization, but not enough. I’m working on making necessary adjustments to these as well. Enjoy the pictures. And have a great day.

I struggled to put a category on this album offered by the family praise group iPrayz. This collection features the voices of three members of the group. Husband and wife Eric and Jennifer Hagen and Amy Propst (whose husband Perry has worked as the groups worship painter and technical director) almost deliver a sound that is country with hints of bluegrass, but not really either of those. I was introduced to the group at a recent meeting hosted by our church. Live they show just as much enthusiasm for the music and the message as you hear on the CD.

Featured on this album is a mix of excellent new worship songs penned by Amy and Eric and sometimes coupled with some of the great old hymns of the faith. The title cut is a fine example of the voicing and the message of the group. Their arrangement of Fanny J. Crosby's old standard "Blessed Assurance" is top-notch.

You can order this from iPrayz's website or from Amazon.com. You won't be disappointed.

I rate this album with 4 out of 5 discs.

I will admit that I haven't read this

Nor have I seen this

But the last two evenings my Blushing Bride and I have enjoyed this newer (mini series) version of Crichton's thriller. We decided to watch part 1 yesterday and were hooked. Benjamin Bratt puts in a stellar performance as Jeremy Stone (leader of the Wildfire team) that carries the mediocrity of the other members of the Wildfire team (Ricky Shroder still has his best work in Silver Spoons) as well as the lackluster presidential portrayal.

The writing keeps you on the edge of your seat even if the acting doesn't. Go ahead waste four hours with this one. You'll enjoy it.

Last night, the Blushing Bride and I sat down to enjoy this gem birthed out of British Comedy. I've always liked Bean, his nine year old trapped in a thirty-year-old body antics are consistently endearing. In my opinion, Bean is by far Rowan Atkinson's best character (although he did put in a sleeper of a performance in The Rat Race).

Mr. Bean's Holiday is good but not spectacular. The Bean character tends to get slow after about twenty minutes, so an hour and a half can drag at times. So on to the highlights--

Mr. Bean wins the raffle of a holiday trip to Cannes. Along the way he stumbles into an expensive (but grotesque) meal, a taxi ride to the opposite end of Paris, but with the help of his trusty compass walks across the city (in a straight line--through traffic), and all in his happily oblivious state.

Bean meets and befriends a young Russian boy, whose father is in Cannes to help judge the film festival, and an aspiring actress who doesn't understand how short her career is . . . until she meets Bean. And all Mr. Bean wants to do is get to the beach (losing his money and his passport along the way).

Especially entertaining to me was getting to hear the little boy speak in slow clear Russian -- I was kind of homesick for the former Soviet Union. The plot was okay, but slow-moving. There was plenty of entertainment for about twenty minutes of Bean-esque fun. Die-hard fans of Atkinson or Mr. Bean will want to get a copy of this, others will want to take a pass.

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