W.L. Swarts Reviews The Universe

Fringe Season Three Works Up Well To The End Of The World In A Great Season Of Television!

2012-03-05T17:47:00.000-05:00

The Good: Engaging stories, Decent character work, Good acting, Decent DVD bonus features, Good special effects.
The Bad: Some disappointing moments/repetition
The Basics: Fringe works its way up to being truly great television in its third season, finally living up to the J.J. Abrams legacy!

I have been a latecomer to Fringe. The truth is, I was not at all grabbed by the first season (reviewed here!) and while the second season (reviewed here!) showed real improvement, it was not quite enough to sell me on the show. All of that changed with the third season, which I just finished watching. I did a marathon viewing of the third season last weekend and the truth is, I was largely impressed by the season. It also pretty much cemented my dislike for the first season of the show as the vast number of callbacks and references in the third season reference the second season. It is almost like the first season did not truly happen (or that there were only about five worthwhile episodes in it).

That said, the third season of Fringe stands apart as an engaging, intelligent season of television with all the character and decent acting moments that had been lacking from the prior seasons of the show. This is THE season to watch, though it is aided by seeing the second season. Fringe is highly serialized and that is especially true of the third season. Just because Fringe is serialized, though, does not mean it is linear and in the third season, Fringe explains some of the outstanding mysteries from the prior seasons while advancing the story of two universes moving ever closer to all-out war with one another.

Picking up where the prior season left off, Olivia Dunham from the alternate universe has crossed over to our universe to replace her. Having infiltrated the Fringe Science Division, she gains the confidence of Peter Bishop and sets him, Walter and the rest of the team on the path to discovering a massive machine which Peter alone seems uniquely able to operate. In the alternate universe, Walter Bishop experiments upon our universe’s Olivia. Implanting his universe’s Olivia’s memories into her, Olivia rejoins the Fringe Division team over there and investigates issues on their side. Walternate, as the alternate universe Walter Bishop comes to be known by the Fringe team on our side, wants to understand how Olivia is able to cross between universes, a prospect that makes the alternate universe Broyles uneasy.

But keeping up the double lives is hardly an easy task and our universe’s Olivia soon starts seeing Peter Bishop who intimates that she is out of place and must get back to our universe before she is killed. When Peter uncovers the switch, faux-livia (as the alternate universe Olivia is known on our side) makes a daring escape. That escape, however, is only the start of even more cataclysmic events as faux-livia finds herself pregnant and Olivia struggles with the events she missed during her absence.

What makes Fringe so worthwhile in its third season is not just the engaging plots. Many of the prior episodes of Fringe had interesting plots (whether they were rehashes of The X-Files or not!). In the third season of Fringe, though, the characters truly come alive and the acting actually becomes something worth writing about. With almost every main cast member performing two roles, Fringe takes on a real life of its own whereby the characters and actors all have something to do and have real moments of growth, change and development.

To better understand why the third season of Fringe is so compelling, it helps to know who the characters are. In the third season, the principle characters are:

Walter Bishop – plagued by his actions twenty-five years prior, Walter sees that abducting Peter from the alternate universe has massive consequences. Dealing with the loss of William Bell, Walter slowly gets strong enough to get to the point where he might be able to let Peter go should the circumstances warrant it. Working on growing back a portion of his brain that he and William Bell removed many years before, Walter is terrified of what the mysterious machine may be,

Olivia Dunham – Trapped in the alternate universe, she is brainwashed to believe she is faux-livia. Joining her old partner, she resumes her role on the other side’s Fringe Division until Walternate begins experimenting upon her. Manifesting her ability to cross over between universes, she hallucinates Peter, who helps her to instinctively know who she is. When she helps track a serial kidnapper, she gains an unlikely ally who helps her to return home. Unfortunately, once back in our universe with her memories restored, she finds herself emotionally adrift, knowing that Peter and faux-livia had an intimate relationship while she was gone,

Astrid – The heart of the Fringe Science Team on our side, she assists Walter and is highly compassionate,

Nina – Absent much of the first half of the season, she deals with the loss of William Bell by running Massive Dynamic (which Walter now owns) as best she is able to. She takes on the task of learning about the First People and the author of a mysterious series of books that has intimate details about the machines,

Broyles – He sees the real threats represented by the alternate universe and works hard to protect the greatest number of people,

Peter Bishop – Back from the alternate universe, he dives right into a relationship with Olivia, ignorant to the fact that she is faux-livia. Very protective of her, he tries to convince her his love for her is real and not based upon feelings for faux-livia. When it becomes clear that the machine is specifically tailored to him, he begins to fear that he is the instrument of universal Armageddon, a prospect he desperately wants to avoid,

Broyles (alternate) – Working closely with Walternate as his right hand man, he fights to protect his universe, more often than not with the stopgap amber. Aware of how faux-livia is being used, he starts to question Walternate’s plans when faux-livia helps his family,

Astrid (alternate) – The mind of Fringe Division. She is a taciturn tactician who helps Broyles and faux-livia on missions by quoting statistics and giving the alternate universe Fringe Division the best possible tools for success on their missions,

Faux-livia – Cold and dangerous, she softens while around Peter on our side. As his hopefulness rubs off on her, she works to get the Fringe Division hunting the pieces of an ancient machine which will allow Walternate to destroy the universe. When she is extracted, she finds that she is pregnant with Peter’s baby, which puts her in more danger than before,

and Walternate – the alternate universe Walter Bishop coldly and methodically prepares for war with our side. As he manipulates circumstances to get the machine built in both universes, he struggles to get Peter to return to his universe on his own volition. When faux-livia gets pregnant with his grandson, he devises a monstrous scheme to end our universe even faster.

In the third season, those characters have worthwhile and interesting adventures to protect their own universe. Fringe becomes a political thriller with a science fiction twist and it works out wonderfully for that. A big reason it is so engaging in this season is the acting. The third season of Fringe has some truly powerful performances. Lance Reddick gets the chance to stretch his acting wings as Broyles on both sides of the universal divide. When our Broyles trips on LSD for the first time, Reddick illustrates a comedic talent he had not revealed to viewers before! Similarly, with more to do in the alternate universe, Jasika Nicole makes Astrid more than just a whispy-voiced scientist/health care worker. Joshua Jackson continues to gain screen presence as Peter Bishop and he uses that very well.

John Noble, similarly, is wonderful as Walter Bishop and Walternate. As Walternate, he has a more consistence presence where he is intellectual, in charge and smart. He also has a surprisingly human side that is revealed in the third season of Fringe and when Noble as Walternate declares that he will not experiment on children, the delivery is chilling and powerful. As Walter Bishop, Noble slowly progresses the character past the simple craziness that defined his early performances. Instead, in this season, Walter is hurt emotionally, adrift without William Bell in his life. The real crime of the season is that the final exchanges between the characters occur during an animated LSD-trip sequence, robbing Noble of the chance to perform with his amazing physical posture and expressive eyes for one of the big character moments of the season.

The big winner of the season on the acting front – and I never thought that I would say this! – is Anna Torv. Far from the stiff, listless actress that characterized her seasons one and two performances, in the third season, Torv creates two distinctive characters with Olivia and faux-livia. Making both versions more emotive makes both characters more interesting and Torv lands it, especially with playing Olivia hurt by Peter’s relationship with faux-livia upon her return. The real genius performance from Torv, though, comes from a multi-episode arc where William Bell’s consciousness is implanted in Olivia. During that time, Torv takes on the voice patterns and physical posture of Leonard Nimoy and the result is as disturbing as it is uncanny! Torv proves her worth as an actress in this season of Fringe!

On DVD and Blu-Ray, Fringe The Complete Third Season is loaded with bonus features from deleted and extended scenes to featurettes that both illustrate the making of the show and how various elements are tied together. This can be a real useful asset for those coming in just for this season. And the third season of Fringe is highly worthwhile, not just to watch, but to own. Hopefully, this will not be like the second season of Millennium (reviewed here!) and not have set the bar too high to return well!

For other works J.J. Abrams is associated with, please be sure to visit my reviews of:
Star Trek: Machinations Of Doomsday
Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol
Super 8
Star Trek
Cloverfield
Lost
Mission: Impossible III

8.5/10

For other television reviews, please be sure to visit my Television Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2012 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Biotene Fresh Mint Dry Mouth Fluoride Toothpaste May Not Leave The Mouth Feeling Fresh, But It Does What It Promises!

2012-03-05T06:18:00.000-05:00

The Good: Seriously eliminates dry mouth and bad breath
The Bad: Does not leave one’s mouth feeling as fresh as it actually is.
The Basics: Biotene Fresh Mint Dry Mouth Fluoride Toothpaste does what it promises, but no more.

It has been so long since I wrote a review of an oral care product that I found myself wondering if I could still do justice to one! So, because I was in the mood today to write a brief review, I thought it would be fun to review my current toothpaste. That is Biotene Fresh Mint Dry Mouth Fluoride Toothpaste and it is a toothpaste that is hard to recommend, despite the fact that it does exactly what it promises.

Biotene Fresh Mint Dry Mouth Fluoride Toothpaste is a toothpaste designed to eliminate oral irritations that are caused by dry mouth. You know that feeling when you first wake up where your mouth tastes dry or like there is a film over your tongue? There usually is a build-up of sulfur or other chemicals on your tongue that causes that dry taste and/or coloring on your tongue. Biotene Fresh Mint Dry Mouth Fluoride Toothpaste is specifically designed to cut through that film and restore your mouth to a state of health whereby you can actually taste things you consume better and no longer suffer from the recurring feeling of dry mouth.

Biotene Fresh Mint Dry Mouth Fluoride Toothpaste is a smooth white paste found inside a very standard toothpaste tube. Access is simple; unscrew the plastic cap on the toothpaste tube. This allows you access to the white paste and simply squeezing the tube allows you to dispense it. It is a fairly thick toothpaste without any grit. I recommend putting enough toothpaste on your toothbrush to cover all of the bristles.

Brushing with Biotene Fresh Mint Dry Mouth Fluoride Toothpaste is a surreal experience. First, the toothpaste does not foam up or lather, the way every other toothpaste I have ever used does. For that reason, I recommend no skimping on it when you are putting it on your brush. Second, the pearlescent white toothpaste does not taste minty at all. Instead, it tastes like a slightly chalky vanilla frosting with an aftertaste of mint. For the third odd aspect, Biotene Fresh Mint Dry Mouth Fluoride Toothpaste does not leave one’s breath smelling minty fresh. In fact, Biotene Fresh Mint Dry Mouth Fluoride Toothpaste does one leave one’s mouth feeling fresh at all.

Despite what appear to be complaints about Biotene Fresh Mint Dry Mouth Fluoride Toothpaste, I have to say that this toothpaste was refreshing in that it did exactly what it claimed to. Each time I have used Biotene Fresh Mint Dry Mouth Fluoride Toothpaste, my mouth has come away fresh, clean and without bad breath. However, unlike most toothpastes, Biotene Fresh Mint Dry Mouth Fluoride Toothpaste does not leave one’s breath smelling like mint (or cinnamon or anything else artificial from the toothpaste). Instead, Biotene Fresh Mint Dry Mouth Fluoride Toothpaste eradicates all of the causes of bad breath without adding any new scents.

Biotene Fresh Mint Dry Mouth Fluoride Toothpaste is a no-frills toothpaste, but it leaves my mouth feeling fresh for several hours and even if my breath does not smell temporarily minty, it does not smell bad for hours. This, at the very least, makes this unexciting toothpaste exceptionally effective and worth buying.

For other toothpaste or oral care reviews, please be sure to check out:
Crest Cool Mint Paste
Kiss My Face Aloe Triple Action Toothpaste
Listerine Total Care Fresh Mint mouthwash

6.5/10

For other health and beauty product reviews, please visit my index page on the subject by clicking here!

© 2012 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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The Unlikely Perfection Of "Rocks And Shoals"

2012-03-05T06:09:00.000-05:00

The Good: Plot, Character, Acting, Effects, Concepts
The Bad: None; this is a perfect episode!
The Basics: One of the neglected great episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, “Rocks And Shoals” finds Sisko and his crew stranded on a planet with murderous Jem’Hadar soldiers!

When compiling lists of the best, perfect, episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, there are several episodes one expects to see. When comparing lists, though, I have found that I am the only person I know who thinks “Rocks And Shoals” is Top 10 material. I’m fine with that; I am also the only person I know who puts “Requiem For Methuselah” (reviewed here!) in the Top Ten Best Star Trek episodes! “Rocks And Shoals” may well get neglected by viewers because it is the second part of a six-part story arc. It has the feel of being a bottle episode in a serialized show, but I think its intensity, character and – especially – performances warrant it for consideration as one of the best episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine of all time.

“Rocks And Shoals” follows on the heels of “A Time To Stand” (Reviewed Here!!) and finds the Federation and Klingons embroiled in a war against the Dominion, which now includes the Cardassians. “Rocks And Shoals” explores the difficulties Kira has with acclimating to Dominion control over Deep Space Nine against the backdrop of a pretty brutal struggle against the Jem’Hadar for Sisko and his crew. Like “To The Death” (reviewed here!), “Rocks And Shoals” goes a long way toward fleshing out the racial character of the Jem’Hadar and the sometimes awkward hierarchy of the Dominion is revealed as well. “Rocks And Shoals” stands apart as a violent, intense and well-assembled Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode.

Limping through space in their heavily-damaged, stolen Jem’Hadar attack ship, Captain Sisko and his crew are in dire straits. The situation goes from bad to worse when Jem’Hadar ships arrive to attack the fighter and the ship escapes into a nebula and the gravity well of a planet. Unable to escape, the ship crashlands in a lake and the crew abandons the ship, with Dax heavily wounded as a result. Garak and Nog are promptly captured by Jem’Hadar soldiers while Sisko, Bashir, O’Brien, Dax and the other survivors regroup in caves. Unfortunately, the crew is stranded without the ability to contact the Federation, lacking the tools needed to keep Dax alive for much longer.

Aboard Terok Nor, Kira is numb. When Vedek Yassim comes to the station, Kira actually tries to talk her fellow Bajoran out of staging a protest against the Dominion. As Kira’s numbness wears off, she makes an important choice. And on the barren rock, Sisko and his crew discover they are not alone. There is a squadron of Jem’Hadar soldiers, led by a duplicitous, wounded Vorta. When Sisko agrees to trade himself and Dr. Bashir for Nog and Garak, Sisko encounters the leader of the stranded Jem’Hadar and comes to be sympathetic to their plight.

With all my viewings of “Rocks And Shoals” (Id estimate at least twenty so far!), I have only found a single flaw in the episode. The Jem’Hadar ship that the Federation personnel crashed is stocked with Ketracel White. Sure, it has sunk to the bottom of the ocean. However, the ship has Ketracel White (from “A Time To Stand”). At no point in “Rocks And Shoals” is this referenced, though. Sisko has a huge humanitarian debate over the idea that Keevan (the Vorta) will send the Jem’Hadar into a trap whereby Sisko and his people will kill them, but he won’t give the Jem’Hadar the chance to dive down into the wreckage to try to get the Ketracel White they need to live themselves? It’s win-win for Sisko. If they succeed, they helped the Jem’Hadar and they have an olive branch for peace. If they fail, the Jem’Hadar drown to death and die. Sisko and his people have the moral high ground either way!

C’est la vie. It is not enough of a niggling problem to rob the episode of perfection in my book.

Everything else about “Rocks And Shoals” is absolutely perfect. First, on the character front, “Rocks And Shoals” is a knockout. Kira’s story is an obvious arc whereby the somewhat complacent Kira is given the wake-up call she needs in order to stop working alongside the Dominion without rebelling. The arc is a welcome one and it gives Nana Visitor a chance to truly act, showing off a strong physical sensibility for her performance as well as making her character vital and interesting once more.

On the character front, Sisko also has an exceptionally good episode. Robbed of the benefit of Dax’s presence in a fight, he is somewhat diminished and his tactics are forced to run toward compromise instead of conflict. Sisko illustrates a pragmatic balance between humanism and survival and that works well. That he uses his past experiences to guide him is very cool and the references to “To The Death” are welcome ones.

Also on the character front, the relationship between Garak and Nog is wonderful. That Nog simply has not forgotten about the events of “Empok Nor” (reviewed here!) is brilliant and when Garak gives him his highest compliment (“There is hope for you”) it is hard not to smile. Even the guest characters of Keevan and Remata’Klan are memorable and memorably performed (by Christopher Shea and Phil Morris, respectively).

The acting is homogenously brilliant. In fact, the way Sarah MacDonnell delivered her final line of the episode made me absolutely certain that Lt. Neeley would be a breakout character. She put so much substance and subtext into the line it was unfathomable that her character never appeared again!

Far more than a simple “moral dilemma” episode, “Rocks And Shoals” superlatively illustrates the realities of war and does so in a way that is surprisingly entertaining. It is well worth the time and attention of anyone who loves great television.

For other works with Phil Morris, be sure to check out my reviews of:
“Miri”
Star Trek III: The Search For Spock
“Looking For Par’Mach In All The Wrong Places”

[Knowing that VHS is essentially a dead medium, it's worth looking into Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - The Complete Sixth Season on DVD, which is also a better economical choice than buying the VHS. Read my review of the penultimate season by clicking here!
Thanks!]

10/10

For other Star Trek reviews, please be sure to visit my Star Trek Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2012 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Abysmal Star Wars Gaming Set: "Jedi Knights" Is An Utter Waste Of Time!

2012-03-05T06:05:00.000-05:00

The Good: Can be found cheap enough
The Bad: No rulebook, Not clear to play, Computer-generated images, Not at all collectible.
The Basics: Arguably the worst Star Wars product - and worst product period - ever produced by Decipher, "Jedi Knights" is a lame game!

Have you ever encountered a game that you've taken on the challenge of reviewing only to wonder "what's the point?" I mean, some things are just so poorly made that it's hard to muster up the energy to bother with reviewing them. That's where I am with my consideration of Star Wars "Jedi Knights," arguably the lamest gaming set to ever be created by Decipher, Inc.

The thing is, Decipher had an amazing game with Star Wars Customizable Card Game. It was popular, it survived the release of The Phantom Menace and fans and collectors found great value in it. With the release of The Phantom Menace (reviewed here!), Decipher released "Young Jedi," a new game mechanic to allow players to play with more Jedi knights and all sorts of fun that way. It was more of a kid's game, but it tied in with the movie well and there was a purpose; it prevented Decipher from having to do a complete overhaul on the game because of the sudden prevalence of Jedi in the Star Wars universe. Why then they ever created "Jedi Knights" is a complete and utter mystery.

Basics/Set Composition

"Jedi Knights" is the first in a limited gaming mechanic by the same name. "Jedi Knights" included 154 gaming cards unique to this set, all of which feature computer generated artwork images of characters and situations from the original Star Wars trilogy (reviewed here!). As a result, there are computer-generated images that look like airbrushed images of Grand Moff Tarkin, Boba Fett, Leia, Emperor Palpatine and Luke Skywalker. Cards came in packs of nine cards, with thirty-six packs per box.

In addition to looking terribly ugly, there is nothing exceptional or unique here; many of the cards actually have the same titles as earlier cards from the vastly superior "Star Wars CCG." That said, the cards are broken down more or less evenly between Light and Dark Side cards and the set is comprised of 40 Common, 40 Uncommon, 50 Rare and 24 Fixed cards that are only available in the starter decks.

The cards are broken down as: 17 Alliance Character (cards featuring heroes to play with as agents of the Light Side, like Luke or Han Solo), 18 Independent Character (cards featuring neutral character for either side to play with, like Momaw Nadon or Greedo), 23 Empire Character (cards featuring villains like Darth Vader or Grand Moff Tarkin), 36 Event (cards featuring temporary conditions, like Local Trouble or realizing That's No Moon), 15 Starship (cards featuring means of transport, like Gold Five or the Millennium Falcon), 3 Theme (cards featuring longer-term conditions in the game, like The Force Is Strong In That One or You Like Me Because I'm A Scoundrel), 22 Weapon (cards featuring means of harming other character cards, like Han Solo's Blaster or Boba Fett's Blaster Rifle), 10 Force (cards depicting actions of the force, more mechanical to the game than interesting), and 8 Location cards (which form the playing field for the game).

Playability

This is a terrible game when it comes to game mechanics. First off, there is no rulebook in the booster boxes, so one needs to pick up starter decks just to get the rules. This is a customizable card game that involves a payment system; that's where the Force cards come in. After drawing Force, you spend it on bringing characters, weapons, ships into play and playing them against your opponent; the goal of the game is not entirely clear, save to kill your opponent's characters and not get shot yourself (in the game or in real life, I suppose).

The thing is, the game alternates between utterly incomprehensible and so simplistic as to not be fun at all. The best CCGs are games with strategy that have some element of cunning to playing them. This is much more a game of luck and a poor one at that.

Rule Changes

As this is the first set, there are no rule changes. Rules are laid out in a thirty page rulebook not found in this pack.

Highlights

This is such a tough sell as it is. First, in a rather irksome twist, many of the rares have a left and right version which are used when put in a pair of special glasses (not included) to provide the lame artwork in three-d. This is another desperate attempt to sell a lame looking, poor card and it failed completely. Thus, in addition to more cards to collect and devices needed to get the most out of them, the artwork is so poor that it's hard to say any cards are better than the others. Moreover, as far as playability goes, there's no highlight because the game is so random in how it is played.

I'm going with 46R - Boba Fett, Relentless Hunter. At least it looks cool.

Collectibility

This set was vastly overproduced in relation to its demand. As a result, these cards are ridiculously easy to find. Gimmicks like the left and right card versions for the stereoscopic viewers actually devalued the rares more than enhanced their value. As well, Decipher attempted a lame trick where they slapped a "First Day Of Printing" sticker on random packs. This did not increase the value of the packs or the cards inside.

In other words, the poor game mechanic, lame images and overproduction of "Jedi Knights" made it virtually worthless.

Overview

There are plenty of great trading card games out there. This is not one of them. If you're looking for things to get signed at conventions, these cards - featuring poor CG-renditions of characters - represent the lowest possible form of card to get signed. There is nothing to recommend spending any money, time or attention on this product.

For other gaming card reviews, please be sure to check out my takes on:
Star Wars CCG White Border Premiere
Star Wars Young Jedi The Menace Of Darth Maul
The Lord Of The Rings Trading Card Game The Fellowship Of The Ring
Star Trek: The Next Generation CCG White Border Premiere

0/10

For other card reviews, please be sure to visit my Card Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2012, 2008 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Whaler: Sophie B.'s Pop-Rock Experiment

2012-03-05T06:01:00.000-05:00

The Good: Amazing lyrics, A wonderful voice, Great imagery. A lot of passion!
The Bad: A certain lack of continuity, wild experimentation.
The Basics: If you're tired of all that is out there, here emerges a bold new voice and sound. Whaler contains a perfect song, a definite buy!

When Sophie B. Hawkins released Whaler in 1994, an impassioned push of its first single (and first track) "Right Beside You" failed to duplicate the success of Sophie's debut single "Damn, I Wish I Was Your Lover" off Tongues And Tails. Just as Sophie's follow-up singles to her Top 5 hit failed to chart well ("California Here I Come" and "Mysteries We Understand" were released as singles in the United States and both did far better in Europe than in the States), "Right Beside You" simply could not find an audience. Just before the public was about to term her a "one hit wonder" and shelve her, "As I Lay Me Down" erupted onto the airwaves as something powerful and different in 1995.

Lucky us.

Whaler proves that the single success Sophie had with "Damn" (and all of the other positive songs on her debut album) was not a fluke. Sophie B. Hawkins has talent, lyrically and vocally and Whaler is an excellent collection of both. The album contains a diverse sound from the synthed up "Right Beside You" to the island sound of "Swing From Limb to Limb (My Home Is In Your Jungle)" to the straightforward rock of "I Need Nothing Else." The cohesive element is a generally high caliber of lyrics.

Sophie B. Hawkins is an effective poet and all of her songs are well-written. Whaler has no cover songs, so this is truly 100% Sophie, save that on "The Ballad of Sleeping Beauty" (which was released as a single "Only Love" after the success of "As I Lay Me Down") has edited lyrics. The opening to the song, "You messed with my head / You messed with the dead / Now I'm gonna mess with you" are edited from her original word, which was not "messed." Only the UK single for another song has the original demo version and it's vastly superior with her original phrasing.

The divisive element on Whaler is clearly the range of experimentation in sound on the album. Indeed, anyone who would predict that an album that began with a song such as "Right Beside You" would end with the smoky jazz sound of "Mr. Tugboat Hello" would be a pretty impressive gambler. The point is, this album does not have song after song sounding alike and the range it takes is more fractured than Tongues And Tails and less obviously, boldly experimental than "Timbre." Whereas Timbre successfully mixes its eclectic range of sounds, Whaler fails to do it as cohesively. Moreover, Whaler takes few lyrical risks the way Timbre does. While Sophie sings with beautiful imagery about lovemaking on tracks like "I Need Nothing Else," there is nothing as graphic or disturbing on Whaler as "The Darkest Childe" from Timbre.

The easy redemption of this album is in its second track. "Did We Not Choose Each Other" is a perfect song, the kind you could listen to the rest of your life without ever getting sick of it. It's an amazing song on every level and worth the album price alone. With brilliant double entendre, Sophie sings about love and croons, "Did we not choose each other? / Are we just heroes for a day? Can we not judge each other? I'd rather wipe your tears away . . ." The magic here is that on different days, at different times, the line "Can we not judge each other" resonates differently, from "are we able to not judge one another" to "can we go without judging one another." That's clever and the song itself is perfectly constructed musically to keep the poetic lyrics flowing magically.

Perhaps the best example of how Whaler falters is in the track "Don't Don't Tell Me No." While lyrically exceptional, the refrain (which is the title) quickly becomes grating. It is as if on Whaler, Sophie has trouble doing everything right, which is fine because perfection is so incredibly rare. When the lyrics are hot, the sound doesn't match, when one track follows something that is so vastly different from it so as to disturb the sensibilities, the listener is set off.

Still, it's a far better album, single by single and as an album, than most anything on the radio today.

Whaler illustrates a maturity and development from Tongues And Tails but while musically interesting is too fractured to be considered a truly great album. The strongest track, by far, is "Did We Not Choose Each Other" and the weakest link is "Swing From Limb To Limb."

For other works by Sophie B. Hawkins, please check out my reviews of:
Tongues And Tails
"I Want You" (single)
"Right Beside You" (single)
The Cream Will Rise (documentary)
Timbre
Wilderness
Live! Bad Kitty Board Mix

7.5/10

For other music reviews, please be sure to visit my Music Review Index Page for an organized listing of all my music reviews!

© 2012, 2007 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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A Close Second, Slim-Fast 3-2-1 Plan Peanut Butter Crunch Time Snack Bars Satisfy!

2012-03-05T05:54:00.000-05:00

The Good: Very healthy, Tastes amazingly good.
The Bad: Very expensive.
The Basics: Slim-Fast 3-2-1 has another real winner with their Peanut Butter Crunch Time snack bars which deliver a lot of chocolate taste to health-conscious consumers!

Slim-Fast continues to surprise me. After knocking my socks off with their 3-2-1 Chocolate Mint bars (reviewed here!) and being utterly unimpressed by their 3-2-1 Chocolatey Vanilla Blitz snack bars (reviewed here!), which failed to live up to their promises, I was feeling remarkably neutral when my wife brought home the Slim-Fast 3-2-1 Peanut Butter Crunch Time Snack Bars. Slim-Fast managed to go 2-1 with this product, as I am once again on the bandwagon praising the healthy snack.

In fact, it is worth noting that my biggest gripe about Slim-Fast 3-2-1 Peanut Butter Crunch Time Snack Bars has to do with their expense. These bars are comparatively ridiculously small. At $4.99 for only six bars, I could never justify the expense of these if they were not on sale. My wife and I got these buy one, get one free and even then they seemed pricy. Sure, these are wonderful, but they are small and expensive.

Basics

Slim-Fast is the company that merchandises its specialized diet plan for those who are trying to lose weight by eating healthier, but more controlled portions. The 3-2-1 plan is a new program that encourages participants to have three snacks (like the 100 calorie Snack Bar), two Slim-Fast shakes or meal bars, and then have a balanced meal of about five hundred calories. The Slim-Fast 3-2-1 Plan Peanut Butter Crunch Time snack bars are part of that program, but may be enjoyed just the same outside the program.

The Peanut Butter Crunch Time come in a .81 oz. chocolate bar (reminiscent of a Heath bar) that is foil-wrapped. Each bar represents a single serving and Slim-Fast 3-2-1 Plan Peanut Butter Crunch Time bars are 3 1/2” long by 1” wide by 3/8” deep. They look like a flatter chocolate bar. These snack bars come in packs of six and locally, we have found them for $4.99, though they do seem to go on sale frequently and have coupons fairly regularly as well. At full price, these are thoroughly underwhelming in appearance and the box even makes them look bigger than they are!

Ease Of Preparation

Eating Slim-Fast 3-2-1 Plan Peanut Butter Crunch Time snack bars is not a real challenge. After removing the wrapper, simply pull out the bar and stick it in your mouth. There is no particularly complicated equation to eating this healthy candy bar. This is an entirely ready-to-eat food!

Taste

Opening the wrapper on the first Slim-Fast 3-2-1 Plan Peanut Butter Crunch Time Bar, one is instantly overwhelmed with the scent of chocolate and peanut butter. This snack bar smells like a slightly less salty version of a Butterfinger bar and it perked me up the moment I opened the wrapper!

On the tongue, the hopes and dreams of every dieter is realized through this chocolate! Yes, there are chocolate bars you can eat while working to get healthy! Flaky and buttery, the peanut butter flavor comes out as the thin milk chocolate layer melts delightfully away. The flavor is reminiscent of toffee as the chocolate disintegrates and the nutty flavor of peanut butter gives way to a sweet, buttery taste. This is delightful and the taste, more than the portion, made me want more.

Nutrition

Slim-Fast 3-2-1 Plan Peanut Butter Crunch Time Snack Bars are intended as a supplemental food, not a full meal. These .81 oz. bars represent a single serving and they have a boatload of nutrients in them. Made primarily of sugar, corn syrup and dry roasted peanuts, the ingredient list does becomes a list of vitamins near the end. This is not an all-natural food product and these snack bars were produced on equipment that forces them to add a disclaimer about milk, soy, wheat, eggs, sesame, almonds, cashews, coconut, walnut, pecans, and peanuts.

Slim-Fast 3-2-1 Plan's Peanut Butter Crunch Time have only 100 calories, 30 of which are from fat. A bar represents 10% of one's RDA of saturated fat, though they are cholesterol free. As well, they are nicely low in sodium, having only 70 mg per serving. They also have a gram of protein and ten percent of ten different vitamins and minerals! This is a surprisingly healthy snack!

Storage/Cleanup

Slim-Fast 3-2-1 Plan Peanut Butter Crunch Time are good regardless of when they are eaten or how they are stored. Unopened, they have a decent shelf life around six months. We purchased a box on the first day of February (2012) and they have an expiration date of June 2012. If they melt, they will stain, so consult your fabric guide if that happens. Otherwise, cleanup is simply throwing the foil wrapper away when you are done with the snack bar.

Overall

Slim-Fast 3-2-1 Plan Peanut Butter Crunch Time Snack Bars are exceptionally good, and good for you, but Slim-Fast makes you pay a premium for that goodness!

For other reviews of healthy foods, please check out:
Quaker Chewy S’mores Granola bars
Peeled Organic Apple-2-The-Core
Atkins Advantage Peanut Butter Bars

8/10

For other food and drink reviews, please visit my index page on the subject! That is available by clicking here!

© 2012 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.

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Perfection In The Resistance Of Tyranny: How Babylon 5 Created A Perfect Third Season!

2012-03-04T13:22:00.000-05:00

The Good: Excellent use of cast, Great character development, Well-conceived plots, Special effects, Themes
The Bad: Nothing serious, one or two end plot reversals, "King Arthur"
The Basics: The pressures of a totalitarian government and a universe descending into horrific war are set against the backdrop of an isolated space station over the 22 well-crafted episodes that make up Babylon 5 Season Three.

There are some television shows that slip under the radar because they are classified as "genre" or "experimental" and they do not get the audience they deserve when they are on the air. There are television shows that are created at a time when it is safe to produce their subversive messages and then become a rallying cry for those who watch them when times turn darker. Babylon 5 premiered when Star Trek: The Next Generation was at its peak and was beaten to air by Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. It was seen by many as a fledgling television show trying to squeeze into a market dominated by Star Trek. Many fans of Star Trek refused to watch Babylon 5 and many people who dislike science fiction never opened up to this show either.

Those people are wrong and they need to give Babylon 5 a chance.

Season 3 of Babylon 5, "Point Of No Return," is a perfect season of television and in its DVD presentation, it quickly becomes something to watch over and over again. For those unfamiliar with Babylon 5, entering here in the third season is like picking up a novel at its turning point. It can be done, but it won't be fully appreciated.

Season 3 finds space station Babylon 5 adapting to the serious changes going on in the universe around it. As the Centauri/Narn conflict settles into a difficult occupation, the mysterious Shadows begin to re-emerge from the darkness, threatening everything. While Captain Sheridan and Ambassador Delenn try to bring together the forces needed to stop the Shadows, the treachery of Earth President Clark is revealed, forcing Earth into martial law and Babylon 5 into independence.

First of all, one of the bonus features on the Babylon 5 Season 3 disc is mislabled. On the first disc, there is a featurette called "Season 3 Introduction." If you have never seen the third season of Babylon 5, don't watch this! It is not an introduction (i.e. setting up the story based on the events and highlights of the previous two seasons), it is a review of season three. Thus, most every important plot point or character point is explored in the "Introduction," ruining any and all sense of surprise for the impressive way these events unfold.

"Point Of No Return," the season title, not just the episode within the season by the same name, is a perfect season of television. The problems with it are mostly in the timing. If one has not seen the previous two seasons, it is difficult to understand the magnitude of all of the events in this season. So, for instance, the revelations in "Messages From Earth" that confirm the President Santiago assassination that has long been suspected by Babylon 5 crewmembers, carry less magnitude when one does not see how the show has been building to it.

But the real appreciation for the show might be revealed now, in these dark times where the United States Federal government has become monolithic and repressive. Watching episodes like "Point Of No Return" and "Severed Dreams" remind the viewer of the power an individual might have to change the course of tyranny and resist evil. This is a show with a powerful message about making difficult choices to try to do what is right as opposed to doing what is easy or popular. "Point of No Return" illustrates that freedom is an idea that must be fought for responsibly and that overbearing governments must be resisted if the human spirit is to endure.

Like all great serialized shows, the stories turn on incredible characters, not simply on plots that are incredibly intricate. Here is how the third season finds the principle characters:

Lyta Alexander - Now Kosh's assistant, Lyta turns up with more and more frequency, trying to help Sheridan build alliances against the Shadows,

Marcus Cole - The Rangers take on an impressive role with the witty, quirky Marcus joining the station and quickly bonding with those aboard. He is intense and powerful, but filled with a humor that is uncharacteristic of Rangers,

Kosh - Now revealed (in the second season finale), the Vorlon Ambassador does what he can to aid Sheridan in planning to do war against the Shadows. Kosh's aid comes with a huge price, which will change everything,

Lennier - His bond with Delenn grows and is strained as he watches how close his mentor and Sheridan are becoming, yet his love for her never wavers,

Zack Allen - The resident security guard and member of Nightwatch finds himself in a tug of war over where his allegiances lie when Nightwatch begins to pressure him more and more to use tactics he is uncomfortable with,

Vir Cotto - In an attempt to do some good, Vir orchestrates a plan by which he is able to save many Narn lives. When Londo wants him out of the way, Vir finds himself becoming a special emissary to the Minbari,

Garibaldi - The security chief finds himself at odds with members of his staff who have joined Nightwatch and his work to keep the station secure and running efficiently lead him to discover a great deal about himself,

G'Kar - His homeworld decimated, G'Kar learns who is responsible for his people's enslavement and while imprisoned, he reaches a stage of enlightenment that allows him to understand his place in the universe and the importance of his role in fighting the Shadows,

Dr. Franklin - The doctor finds himself using stims (stimulants) more and more as the Shadows strike more and more targets, leaving people in need of a medic. Franklin's drug addiction forces him on a path of self-discovery that leaves him very much alone,

Ivanova - Takes on more and more responsibility as she aids Captain Sheridan in assembling allies against the forces of the Shadows. She finds purpose and range in bringing together those who have been apart for their common good,

Delenn - Is challenged by the growing schism on Minbar between the Religious caste and the Warrior caste. As she and Sheridan grow closer together, she finds herself more isolated from her people and in a dangerous position as a leader against the Shadows. She becomes an enabler to Sheridan, allowing him to do his most important work,

Londo - The Centauri Ambassador decides that it is time to end his dark alliance with the Shadows and free his people. He is dismayed to discover, however, that when he severs ties with the Shadows, Lord Refa and Morden conspire to continue the work he began, placing Centauri Prime in the hands of a new Emperor and at the mercy of the Shadows,

Captain Sheridan - Following his life being saved by Kosh, Sheridan realizes that the Shadow menace is upon the universe with little time to prepare. With the aid of a new Ranger ship called the White Star, Sheridan works tirelessly to bring together the various alien races to fight against the evil Shadows. As he works against the Shadows, he finds himself in the middle of prophecy, falling in love with Delenn and at odds with the oppressive forces of the Earth Government. When the government of Earth starts bombing civilian targets, Sheridan is forced to choose between following the demands of duty and doing what is right and standing up against oppression.

This is a complex story with incredibly rich, well-defined characters. "Point Of No Return" illustrates beautifully how complex issues become when fighting against regimes that are repressive, degrading and wrong. There is much to be learned from this show about recognizing tyranny and how to fight it.

A large part of the success of this season of Babylon 5 is in the character development, but the characters would be diminished were it not for the fine actors portraying them. As in previous seasons, Claudia Christian and Mira Furlan give amazing performances as Commander Ivanova and Ambassador Delenn, respectively. As well, Peter Jurasik continues his impressive portrayals of Londo Mollari. As well, Stephen Furst is given more to do and shines as Vir, bringing new vitality and charisma to the previously laughable Vir.

But in this season of growth and change, there are three actors who stand out like beacons in the night. Richard Biggs blows away everything he has done before on the show by portraying Dr. Franklin with depth and issues that he has not been able to until now. Even more impressive, Biggs delivers the greatest performances of angst and realism while working alone or acting against himself. Very impressive.

Easily on par or exceeding Biggs is the acting of Andreas Katsulas. Katsulas works the season like a pro, portraying G'Kar as a man who has lost so much that he has nothing else to lose until he has an epiphany of his true place in the universe. Katsulas takes G'Kar from being an adversary (first season) to pitiable (second season) to being well-defined and grand in the most tragic ways in this third season. It is Katsulas that reminds us of the power of the individual through his incredible ability to emote using the full range of his facial expressions and eye motions, not an easy task considering he is in heavy prosthetic make-up and wearing contact lenses. But he succeeds and he makes the character into far more than it has been.

The show hinges - quite often - on the performances of Bruce Boxleitner as Captain Sheridan. Boxleitner is a master at presenting the complex issues and emotions of Sheridan with the emotional weight that is appropriate. Sheridan is out changing the world and Boxleitner presents his decisions with a degree of finesse and gravity that make the journey of the character seem quite real and appropriate.

Who would like Babylon 5 Season 3? Anyone who enjoys a great story of political machinations, freedom fighting and/or great science fiction. "Point Of No Return" is an opera, a middle act that is remarkably accessible, even for those who have never seen the show before, where the limits of human endurance and the drive for human freedom are pushed with wonderful consequences and results.

For other worthwhile third seasons of genre shows, be sure to check out my reviews of:
The X-Files - Season 3
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - The Complete Third Season
Angel - Season Three

10/10

For other television reviews, please visit my Television Review Index Page for an organized listing of all the shows I have reviewed!

© 2012, 2005 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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My Final Review From My Last Big NYC Trip: The American Museum Of Natural History!

2012-03-04T13:16:00.000-05:00

The Good: Affordable, Amazing displays, Educational
The Bad: Parking options can be annoying
The Basics: Affordable, educational and overwhelming, the American Museum Of Natural History is a cultural treasure for anyone in the United States.

For those who have ever wondered about the value of traveling to New York City, consider how many travel guides have been written about that city; they might well outstrip London, Cairo and Paris in the travel guide section of your local bookseller. And considering that my last trip to New York City was at the end of February/the beginning of March of this year and I am just now completing my reviews of places my wife and I went while there, this is certainly a testament to the sheer volume of activities New York City represents for the average tourist. Our final stop before departing New York City for Grand Rapids, Michigan was the American Museum Of Natural History.

The American Museum Of Natural History is a full day's worth of education and enlightenment in New York City and a real treat to experience over and over again at different times of life. In fact, outside the annoyances of getting around New York City and finding parking, the American Museum Of Natural History is a perfect museum! It is also worth noting from the outset that housed in a wing of the same building is the Hayden Planetarium. This can enhance anyone's trip to the Museum, for those who might be more interested in geology and astronomy, as opposed to the biology of Earth's many lifeforms.

Location

The American Museum Of Natural History is a mammoth museum in New York City which is over four stories of fossils, animal recreations and displays of humans of various timeperiods and cultures. These occupy a building at Central Park West at 79th Street in New York City. This is midtown Manhattan essentially in the middle of the island. Given all of the one-way streets in this section of Manhattan, I highly recommend getting directions off something like MapQuest to insure you get from where you are to the American Museum Of Natural History.

Ease Of Local Transport/Parking

As the name of the street suggests, the American Museum Of Natural History is adjacent to Central Park and while Central Park West is a long street, one might have to circle the block several times in order to find a place to park. We visited the American Museum Of Natural History in the middle of winter and at two in the afternoon, we were actually able to find on-street parking within a block of the Museum. Feeding the meter gave us only two hours within the Museum, but we were able to move the car up a few positions after our first two hours expired.

Actually, when we first arrived at the Museum, we had figured there would be no parking nearby, so we parked about three blocks away. Again, given that it was midwinter, we found metered parking for over an hour. We lucked out and I suspect most people will feel compelled to either get to the museum ridiculously early, travel and park in packs or shell out for the Museum parking which is never going to be cheap. The one advantage of parking in the Museum parking garage is not having to worry about one's vehicle and the meter expiring. There is something of a buzzkill over having to break up one's experience at the American Museum Of Natural History to go out and feed the meters.

Activity/Purpose

Here, too, books have been written by others on all that there is to do at the American Museum Of Natural History, but this is a very traditional museum experience focused on the development of life on Earth as well as the rise of human civilizations. Dedicated to Theodore Roosevelt, the American Museum Of Natural History experience begins on the ground level with a lobby that features the reconstructed skeleton of a giant dinosaur, flanked by two smaller ones. This immediately excited my partner, who was quite dismayed to realize that there were no velociraptors on display. Still, the presence of fossilized remains that are hundreds of thousands of years old standing strong in the lobby is incredible in and of itself. To see that, one need only walk into the museum, so even those just passing by ought to stop in for that!

The American Museum Of Natural History is a public resource and as a result, entrance into the museum is based upon a donation. While there are minimum recommended donations, this is a museum that was built in the populist tradition and anyone, regardless of economic status ought to come learn here and experience the Museum. This is a very traditional museum experience, though, in that visitors walk through the Museum reading, observing and coming to understand the principles being displayed. Most of the displays do not talk to the visitors and this museum is low on infotainment; principles on display are based on science and reason, not flash or ideology. While there are guides and walking tours, most visitors will find it valuable to walk through the museum at their own pace.

The first floor is dominated by models of various forms of life. Adjacent to the lobby, one walks through a mock-up of a rainforest, filled with replicas of birds and small jungle mammals. Near that is the room that drew our attention the longest; the Milstein Hall Of Ocean Life. The Hall Of Ocean Life is a massive chamber that actually goes down a floor that is packed with displays of every type of undersea life found in the ocean. In addition to a simple wall display with various fish and crustaceans displayed to give visitors an idea of size, scale and diversity, there are "tanks" on the main floor. There are no real, live fish or undersea creatures here, but each display is organized like a fish tank filled with display pieces of various creatures or segments of reefs, designed to give visitors an idea of just how diverse and impressive the undersea world actually is. One can see scale replicas of octopi, sailfish, sharks and whales. This is truly an incredible hall and there are movies played at regular intervals about undersea life. The Hall Of Ocean Life is a place one may spend hours just experiencing a very different world than ours on this same planet! We spent most of our visit here and on the top floor.

The second floor had limited appeal for us, as we were there mostly for the animal life displays and the fossils. However, anyone interested in the evolution of humanity and the various advances in culture and technology by different peoples throughout history will find this floor fascinating. It is dominated by environmental displays of New York State (which, given that we live near the Adirondacks was easy for us to pass by!), cases of Native American Indian cultures and artifacts and a few rock displays. This floor is dominated by wax and plastic replicas of different lifeforms and people. In the Northwest Coast Indians hall, there are wax mannequins of various tribes of Indians alongside actual artifacts taken from those natives. The mannequins are incredibly well made and detailed with lifelike details.

This floor also has the bottom level of the mammal room. The North American Mammal room features glass-protected displays - dioramas, if you will - of various animals unique to North America and the detailing on these is incredible. Each display describes the animals perfectly as well as their habitats. Each display has a map defining all of the creatures and plants within each diorama! This is a great way for visual learners to get all sorts of information on animals.

The third floor has the upper level of the Hall Of African Mammals, which is essentially a continuation of what was on the lower level of the same room. There is a similar room on this level with reptiles and amphibians and that is pretty incredible - and creepy for those not into reptiles! There is also a hall of birds and more primitive peoples on display in wax. We had little interest in the artifacts and maquettes from the pacific people, so we skipped much of this floor.

The top floor - that the public has access to - is of great interest to those who are interested in dinosaurs. The American Museum Of Natural History has one of the world's most extensive collection of dinosaur fossils in the world. The fourth floor is organized in a loop wherein one walks through halls of dinosaurs and extinct mammals in their remnant forms (these are not maquettes or models, only reconstructed skeletons. There are dinosaurs from various eras and species groups - Saurischian, Ornithischian - as well as skeletons of extinct mammals and the first vertebrates on the planet. Here, evolution is illustrated through fossilized records and the changes in the animal life are fascinating to see.

Dining

The American Museum Of Natural History has several places to eat, most of which were drastically overpriced cafes.

Shopping

The American Museum Of Natural History contains several a gift shops which sells educational souvenirs as well as the usual tourist swag, like t-shirts, stickers, magnets and the like. The gift shops also have books and biology and cultural resources as well. So, for example, on the fourth floor there is the Dinostore with resources specifically for dinosaur enthusiasts. The American Museum Of Natural History is not exactly a shopping destination within New York City, but it does have plenty of souvenirs and educational materials available for sale.

Overall

Given how much there is to do at the American Museum Of Natural History, it is a perfect museum and a must-visit location within New York City.

For other places in New York City to visit, please check out my reviews of:
Castle Clinton
Times Square
Lincoln Center For The Performing Arts

9/10

For other travel reviews, please be sure to visit my Travel Review Index Page for an organized listing of all the travel reviews I have written!

© 2012, 2009 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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A Huge Disappointment, The Longer The Informant! Drags On, The Worse It Becomes.

2012-03-04T13:06:00.000-05:00

The Good: Moments of humor, Moments of concept
The Bad: Plot gets murky, Characters are universally unlikable, Acting is frequently bad, Pacing!
The Basics: Despite a good and entertaining start, The Informant! drags and becomes less funny and less interesting as it goes on.

[This was originally written in 2009, explaining the opening! Enjoy!]

Usually when I participate in a film screening, I come right home and eagerly write my review of the film I've just seen. I love being in-the-know early and sharing the scoop so that others may plan their weekends and the like. So it ought to say something that it has taken me until now to get up the enthusiasm to pen my review of The Informant! when I went to a screening on Tuesday night. Wow am I wishing I had not wasted the gas and time on that trip! The only thing worse than a bad film sometimes is having to drive a hundred miles to see it.

For those who have seen the previews for The Informant! they do exactly what preview trailers are intended to do; they sell the film and try to get people in to see the movie. Unfortunately, in the case of The Informant! one is likely to be left feeling like they have been swindled as it is made to look funnier by the trailer than the movie actually is. In fact, The Informant! is initially engaging, but it quickly belabors itself and falls into a long, humorless rut that becomes slower and much more difficult to watch. While the film is actually fairly short, my partner and I thought it dragged so much that she thought it was a three hour film, while I said it felt like a five hour endeavor.

In 1992 at the Decatur, Illinois Archer Daniels Midland corporate headquarters, Mark Whitacre is trying to solve a problem with a parasite inhibiting lysine production. The agriculture giant ADM is losing seven million dollars a month as the lysine problem stretches on and Whitacre gets a call from a Japanese scientist implying he has a way to solve the problem . . . for the right price. This act of extortion against ADM puts Whitacre in touch with the FBI and opens an investigation into the corporate practices at ADM. Whitacre reveals to the FBI that ADM is involved in a worldwide price-fixing conspiracy on corn production and the FBI begins to build a case against ADM based upon tapes that Whitacre makes for them.

But as the investigation reaches the level where litigation begins, the FBI and the Justice Department begin to have serious issues with Whitacre's credibility. Before a raid on ADM, Whitacre lets some key people in the company know the raid is coming and he even harbors the belief that if the executives of ADM are taken down, he will be made new CEO. Amid his delusions, Whitacre struggles to provide the FBI with facts and keep his family together.

The problem is that The Informant! is both slow and devolves from a caper on exposing corporate crime into a character study in delusion much the way A Beautiful Mind (reviewed here!) changes from a spy story into a mental illness tale. The analogy is not inapt and while Matt Damon is instantly engaging and funny as Mark Whitacre, the character becomes subsequently less interesting as the film progresses and the viewer witnesses his compulsion toward lying. Whitacre becomes difficult to empathize with and what is charming at the beginning becomes more annoying as the film goes on.

From the outset of The Informant! the viewer is treated to life inside the head of Mark Whitacre via voice-over. As various characters talk to Whitacre, he loses interest and begins thinking about indoor pools and travel and other things that are very much not in the moment. He blanks out at key moments when FBI Special Agent Brian Shepard is speaking to him and when his lawyer is asking him questions. And while they initially bring a smile to the viewer because of the non sequitors, the longer the film goes on, the more they distract from the flow of the movie. As well, they seem more out of place when the movie shifts from trying to amuse as a somewhat quirky corporate story to the character study of a man bogged down in a legal battle because of his actions. In other words, once the movie is not trying to be funny any longer, the voice-overs become an annoyance that tries to get back the attention of the viewer.

Outside Mark Whitacre, The Informant! is populated by characters that are entirely zeroes. All of the government agents are monolithic and lack any sense of quirk or character to make them interesting. In fact, there are few scenes with only the FBI agents or members of the ADM legal team and those scenes mainly fill in important plot points. Annoyingly, scenes that use some of the best potential talents are few and far between. So, for example, almost every scene that includes actor Tony Hale is in the preview trailer. In fact, it takes so long for Hale to enter the film, I had almost stopped expecting him to.

Particularly problematic is the use of Scott Bakula as Shepard. Bakula, who has proven he can act with charisma in films like American Beauty (reviewed here!) is particularly stiff as Shepard. Virtually all of his lines are performed with a dry delivery that make it difficult to watch him when he is onscreen opposite Damon's Whitacre he acts as a black hole into which all interest in the movie is sucked and destroyed. I understand that playing an FBI agent might not be the most exciting roll, but Bakula plays it as if it is the death sentence to his illustrious career.

Matt Damon does fine as Mark Whitacre, but he is saddled with playing a character whose journey takes him from fascinating to disappointingly droll in almost record time. Damon milks the role for all it is worth, but at times he reverts to familiar deliveries as he tries to make Whitacre funny. In fact, at one point in the film - despite the presence of the big bushy mustache - Damon channels his character from Dogma (reviewed here!) and delivers the line as Loki. Damon's performance stops being a decent foil for Bakula's lethargic impersonations of an FBI agent and director Stephen Soderbergh fails to get the best out of him.

As the peripheral characters fail to pan out and the movie treads into territory where the corporate crime investigations become peripheral to the character issues surrounding the unlikable Mark Whitacre, the film becomes progressively more boring. Sometimes, that's all there is to call it. The Informant! has a good start, but it gets boring and fast.

For other works with Patton Oswalt, please be sure to check out my reviews of:
Blade: Trinity
Zoolander
Magnolia

4/10

For other films reviews, please be sure to check out my Movie Review Index Page for an organized listing of all of my movie reviews!

© 2012, 2009 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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LM Animal Farms Classic Pet Rabbit Food Is An Average Staple Food For Pet Rabbits.

2012-03-04T12:58:00.000-05:00

The Good: Nutritious for rabbits, Relatively inexpensive, My rabbit eats it, Packaging keeps it fresh
The Bad: Not at all the most exciting food/never Daisy’s first choice.
The Basics: LM Animal Farms Classic Pet Rabbit Food is a decent staple food for rabbits, but not a food that is going to excite your beloved bunny!

It takes a lot to love Daisy. Daisy, for those who are not regular readers, is the black dwarf rabbit my wife and I bought two Octobers ago to replace our beloved rabbit Rowe, who was with us for way too short a time. Unfortunately, Daisy was pregnant when we bought her (unbeknownst to her or the pet shop from which we bought her). Following giving birth to a stillborn two Christmases ago, Daisy became irritable, handshy and an all-around pain in the ass. Still, I try to get her treats and good rabbit food. When I am feeling cheap or unloved by Daisy, I get her LM Animal Farms Classic Pet Rabbit Food.

There is nothing wrong with LM Animal Farms Classic Pet Rabbit Food; it’s just comparatively inexpensive and wholly bland. LM Animal Farms Classic Pet Rabbit Food is just a dry pellet food and Daisy eats it, but it is never her first choice.

LM Animal Farms Classic Pet Rabbit Food are a very simple pet food, devoid of any flash or flavors. The five pound bag runs us about five dollars locally and the food itself are gray pellets that look like compressed meal. The pellets are roughly cylindrical and are 1/8” in diameter. They are, at longest, half an inch long and many of them are broken to be quite a bit smaller. LM Animal Farms Classic Pet Rabbit Food easily passes the muster of our rabbit's taste test. By that, I mean that our finicky Daisy eats them. She also eats the Purina Rabbit Chow we purchased in bulk when we have that, but she is never enthusiastic about either.

Nutritionally, the LM Animal Farms Classic Pet Rabbit Food gives Daisy very basic nutrients. The pellet food is made primarily of wheat middlings, soybean hulls, and dehydrated alfalfa meal. The food has a guaranteed analysis which includes at least 13% crude protein and 3% crude fat, but no more than 22% crude fiber and 12% moisture. Daisy's size and shape have not changed significantly since we started feeding her this food.

It is exceptionally important that rabbits who are fed LM Animal Farms Classic Pet Rabbit Food Pet Rabbit food have constant access to clean, clear water as this is a dry food. It is also worth noting that LM Animal Farms Classic Pet Rabbit Food is noted to possibly contain peanut dust, so those humans with a peanut allergy may have to consider their own health when feeding this food to their rabbit.

Rather nicely, LM Animal Farms Classic Pet Rabbit Food Pet Rabbit food does not require any special care or handling. This rabbit food is dispensed from the five pound bag into a dish for the rabbit with no preparation steps necessary. The bag is resealable, but I am at a loss as to how one would know when this is not fresh!

LM Animal Farms Classic Pet Rabbit Food may be boring, but it keeps Daisy alive and that’s an essential element of any pet food. This is an excellent staple, but nothing more.

For other rabbit foods and treats, please be sure to check out my reviews of:
KT Bermuda Grass
Vita-Vittles Rabbit Food
Kaytee Fiesta Gourmet Food For Rabbits

5/10

For other pet supply reviews, please check out my index page!

© 2012 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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"A Time To Stand" Finds The Federation In An Uncomfortable Position!

2012-03-04T12:34:00.000-05:00

The Good: Character, Acting, Special effects, Plot
The Bad: Minutiae, A few niggling character aspects
The Basics: Three months into the Dominion War, the Federation is losing badly and “A Time To Stand” marks their most significant attempt to turn the tide!

If you have been reading my many reviews of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine right along – or my reviews in general, I suppose – it ought to be quite clear that I am a huge fan of serialized television. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine remains a real thrill for me because as the show developed, the story became more focused, more intense and designed to serve the characters than a plot-of-the-week. So, at the point that “A Time To Stand” comes up, the story is in its later chapters and characters have complicated relationships and secrets. It is impossible to discuss some aspects of episodes like “A Time To Stand” without revealing some of those secrets – most notably the secret I refused to make explicit in my review of “Doctor Bashir, I Presume” – because they are deeply integrated with this episode.

It also pleases me to mention that starting with this review of “A Time To Stand,” you are reading fresh, new Star Trek reviews! Through the end of the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode reviews, the episode reviews are new and represent (I hope) a higher caliber of writing and analysis than many of my earlier ones. The reason for this is simple. I used to write for a website that I have since left. That site only had the episodes up through “A Call To Arms” (reviewed here!) available to review. Now on my own and unrestricted by their sales-based model, I can gladly write about the rest of the series! I hope you enjoy the analysis.

With the idea of higher, more regulated standards in mind, it is worth noting that ”A Time To Stand” is one of my favorite episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, but it is not a perfect one. The tricky thing about “A Time To Stand’s” lack of perfection is this, as I sit contemplating it, I know it is not a perfect episode, but I find it ridiculously difficult to explain why. I know when I first saw the episode in college, the source of my disappointment was obvious. I read a review before seeing the episode where the reviewer mentioned how part of the reason the episode is so unsettling is that Dr. Bashir, who is usually ebullient and enthusiastic, appears so run-down that he does not smile the entire episode. I remember being pissed when I saw the episode and Bashir smiles several times. So, to get to it, “A Time To Stand” is a wonderful season premiere, but it is not a perfect episode.

The Defiant is part of a small fleet of damaged ships limping through space. Three months into the Dominion War and the Federation and Klingon forces are decimated, in a state of constant retreat according to O’Brien. While Bashir patches up Garak, he calculates their odds of defeating the Dominion, much to Garak’s annoyance. When word comes in that another Federation squadron has been pretty much wiped out, things look even more grim and the Defiant heads to a nearby Starbase for repairs and reassignment.

Where things do not appear nearly as difficult is on Terok Nor. While Weyoun harasses Dukat to get the Wormhole reopened, Dukat is clearly enjoying being in command of the station again. While Kira serves the Dominion forces as Bajoran liaison, she is upset by the situation and wants to act. She sees her opportunity when Weyoun expresses curiosity about how Odo is doing. Kira uses Odo to try to get the Bajoran security forces reinstated aboard the station. And at Admiral Ross’s starbase, Sisko and the Defiant crew are given a new assignment. Using a stolen Jem’Hadar attack ship, the Defiant crew will enter Dominion space to destroy a Ketracel white facility!

One of the real hallmarks of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine has to be how well the show fits together. At the outset of the fifth season, there was an intense episode called “The Ship” (reviewed here!) where Sisko and his team hold the line the wreckage of a crashed Jem’Hadar ship. As my wife and I are finishing watching Star Trek: The Next Generation together, we have gotten into a somewhat amusing refrain which is, “And they never mentioned it again!” So many great ideas are brought up in Star Trek: The Next Generation that are never revisited. By the time “A Time To Stand” comes up in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine callbacks to prior episodes are to be expected. So, when the Jem’Hadar attack ship is revealed to Sisko, seasoned viewers of the show will appreciate where the vessel came from. “A Time To Stand” references “The Ship” in a single line without truly revealing the weight of that episode. Thus, the writers reward fans for sticking with the series as opposed to slowing down so everyone can catch up.

As well, “A Time To Stand” succeeds because there is a realistic amount of time granted to the premise and all of the characters are given something to do. So, for example, the StarFleet team trains aboard the Jem’Hadar ship for over a week trying to figure out all of the systems and get comfortable with them. This affords the opportunity for some wonderful comedy for Nog and Aron Eisenberg’s deliveries are wonderful. Similarly, when Sisko has a conversation with his father about Jake remaining on Deep Space Nine, the potentially oppressive episode garners a real smile from viewers. Despite a wonderful opening sequence where Garak delivers some amusing dialogue with Bashir, the fact that Garak assumes some responsibility on the undercover mission is a sign of development – and desperation for the StarFleet heroes!

On the character front, “A Time To Stand” certainly delivers. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine has often presented characters who are edgier, troubled or conflicted. They are complex individuals and they do not always do the right thing, but they usually have a damn good reason for going against what is expected of them. In “A Time To Stand,” they are universally demoralized. Sisko looks exhausted, Bashir looks like he has not bathed in months and Dax and Worf are so on edge that when the Defiant and Rotarrn meet, their reunion is preoccupied with staving off an argument as opposed to genuinely embracing one another. On the station, Kira’s fearful declaration that it appears the Federation may be losing the war reverberates through the episode.

The least-affected character is Quark and his perspective allows writers Ira Steven Behr and Han Beimler to make an uncommon observation. The new occupation is comparatively not that bad and while Quark’s opinion may not be popular, it is hard to disprove and it is very much in Quark’s character to say! Armin Shimerman delivers the lines with a no-nonsense delivery that is amusing and perfectly in character. “A Time To Stand” has great supporting performances and it is an episode where Jeffrey Combs is allowed to establish a real rapport with Rene Auberjonois as Weyoun essentially prioritizes his allegiance to Odo over his relationship with Dukat. Marc Alaimo is wonderful, as always, as Dukat and Dukat’s smarmy attraction to Kira builds in a way that will (fortunately) lead to (unfortunately very creepy and) very real consequences later in the season.

“A Time To Stand” is a true ensemble piece and it paints the Deep Space Nine corner of the Star Trek universe as a complex and dangerous place. It is, therefore, no surprise at all that the episode is merely the first part in a longer arc. And with the way “A Time To Stand” goes out with a bang, there is a lot to encourage viewers to come back for the next episode!

[Knowing that VHS is essentially a dead medium, it's worth looking into Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - The Complete Sixth Season on DVD, which is also a better economical choice than buying the VHS. Read my review of the penultimate season by clicking here!
Thanks!]

9/10

For other Star Trek reviews, please be sure to visit my Star Trek Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2012 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Fleshing Out The Villains Of The DC Universe With A Lot Of Flesh, The Justice Poison Ivy Figure Is Very Fleshy!

2012-03-03T12:49:00.000-05:00

The Good: Great sculpt, Amazing coloring detail.
The Bad: Poor balance when off stand
The Basics: The Justice Poison Ivy action figure leaves few places to hide joints, so is mainly brought down by poor balance.

As someone who has just started to collect some of the action figures from the DC comic book universe, it is worth being up front and admitting that I have a very clear preference for the figures made from DC Direct. Usually, the coloring and sculpts are superior to those from Mattel’s DC Universe toy line, which definitely has an advantage when it comes to figure articulation. But because DC action figures are for display and décor purposes, I am not so finicky on the articulation on them. It is, however, why balance is so important to me. I’ve been discovering that the DC Direct figure lines have a lot of recasts of the main heroes, but few of the villains. So, despite the fact that I was less impressed with the Justice Cheetah figure (reviewed here!) that I picked up late last year, when a complete set of the Series 3 Justice action figures came up at auction for a comparative steal of a price, I could not resist encouraging my wife to pick it up so she’d have many great gifts for the future. The first one she gifted to me, for Valentine’s Day (what a sweetie!) is Poison Ivy.

For those unfamiliar with Poison Ivy, in Justice (reviewed here!), she is characterized as an ecological extremist who wants to let plants run wild and overtake the world of Man. Teamed with Lex Luthor, Black Manta and Priscilla Rich (Cheetah), she is part of the public face of “villains” who reform to try to save humanity.

It is Poison Ivy naked save the ivy growing around her body, that is the subject of the Justice Poison Ivy action figure.

Basics

The Poison Ivy figure is exceptionally well-detailed and is a very cool sculpt. The artwork of Alex Ross translates nicely into the Poison Ivy figure as this Poison Ivy has depth and sculpted detailing for every little leaf and vine! The enchanting environmentalist stands 7" tall to the top of the figure's head. Her skin is very visible with vines of green ivy wrapping around her strategically. Poison Ivy is from DC Direct.

This toy is a truly great sculpt; for a character that has only had two-dimensional references, Poison Ivy looks good in all three dimensions. DC Direct did not make the character insanely busty; in fact she is one of the less endowed superhero figures I have ever seen, which makes some sense given how thin she is. DC Direct cast Poison Ivy in hard plastic, but then added soft plastic accents to the vines. As a result, there are four vines – two on her right leg, one on her right shoulder and one descending from her hair – that are made of soft plastic and are more flexible than the others! This helps her appear more three-dimensional and is a good touch. The figure is so detailed in the sculpt that the figure has fingernails and toenails that are visible!

This Poison Ivy figure has great coloring details as well. Poison Ivy's eyes are a haunting green that matches well the leaves and ivy around her body. As for that, Poison Ivy’s costume is not monotonal; each leaf has a vein, depth and shading! DC Direct offset the green of Poison Ivy’s vines with shocking red hair that looks awesome. DC Direct also got the coloring right on Poison Ivy’s skin tones, which is saying something because Poison Ivy is very pale and looks almost undead, but she is not just the precisely same shade of pink all over!

Accessories

Poison Ivy, dangerous ecoterrorist who only uses her feminine wiles that she is, comes with only her stand. The stand is a black and silver square that looks like a piece of flooring. It is 6" by 4.5” and 1/2” tall and it has a pair of peg holes spaced 2” apart. The pegs come with the figure and plug into the base and then into the hole in Poison Ivy’s right heel. Why there are two holes/pegs for a figure with only one foot hole I do not know. She is perfectly stable on her base.

Playability

The DC Direct figures were designed more for display than play. Unfortunately, Poison Ivy is a bit of a wash on the play front and the display front for anywhere but her stand. She has less articulation than most figures, but I like it in this case; she looks better than a near-naked woman who looks segmented from the various joints. What is worse is that her balance is absolutely terrible off her stand! Because of her sculpt with the legs close together, but with one foot raised as if taking a step, there is only one way to get Poison Ivy to stand flatfooted. Standing that way, on her own, Poison Ivy is almost impossible to keep standing. On her stand with her foot plugged into the base, she is perfectly stable.

Poison Ivy comes with only nine points of articulation, most of which are simple swivel joints. Poison Ivy has joints at the knees, groin socket, shoulders, elbows and head. The elbows and knees are both hinge joints, but the rest are swivel joints, save the head joint. The head is on a ball and socket joint, but because the hair is so spread out behind her, there is almost no movement from the head joint allowed. She can nod about twenty degrees and turn her head side to side about ten. This is not the most robustly articulated figure DC Direct has ever made, but on its stand, she still looks pretty incredible!

Collectibility

Poison Ivy is part of the DC Direct Justice Series 3 line which was fairly uncommon, largely because it was mostly distributed through comic book shops. Poison Ivy was one of only two villains in the series and she might have been bought up at the time, but has not retained her value at all. Originally available in the $15 - $20 range, she is easily found in the $13 range now. This surprised me because in a toy line that contained yet another Green Lantern figure and a figure of Plastic Man, the fact that Poison Ivy (near naked woman!) would be the pegwarmer is absolutely astonishing to me. I’d hold my breath on this becoming a good investment figure, despite the fact that Wonder Woman and the Joker are the two figures in this set that seemingly everyone wants.

Overview

Poison Ivy looks great, though she has limited poseability and balance options. Still, the Justice Poison Ivy remains the best Poison Ivy to hit the market yet, which should thrill Batman, Justice and Alex Ross fans enough to be worth the buy!

For other DC Universe action figures, please check out my reviews of:
Blackest Night Blue Lantern The Flash
Justice League Classic Icons Wonder Woman
Kingdom Come The Spectre and Norm McCay

8.5/10

For other toy reviews, please check out my index page!

© 2012 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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The Intimate Ella Is Largely “The Indistinct Ella” On This Disappointing C.D.

2012-03-03T12:40:00.000-05:00

The Good: Voice, A few lyrics
The Bad: SHORT, Musically and vocally monotonous
The Basics: While Ella Fitzgerald might be a master of tone and note control, The Intimate Ella presents only that, making for an unfortunate, monolithic listening experience.

As February races toward a close and I consider my Artist Of The Month, Ella Fitzgerald, I find myself overcome with mixed feelings. I know that whenever I hear Fitzgerald on PBS, I will actually have some appreciation for her talents. Moreover, I know I made some good recommendations on her recordings because I have listened to so many of her performances the past few weeks I have a pretty strong concept of which recordings were some of her best and which were just cheap compilations.

Unfortunately, The Intimate Ella is such a slow, dull musical outing that it falls closer to the latter than the former. However, this is not a compilation album; this is the c.d. version of the near-impossible to find soundtrack "Let No Man Write My Epitaph" (according to the liner notes). But given the preponderance of great collections out on the market and the diversity of Fitzgerald albums that exists, The Intimate Ella is just too monotonous and boring to recommend. Yes, this is the narcoleptic Ella and between being track after track the same, soft piano tracks without any variety, the album is much more likely to put the listener to sleep than engage them (it nearly killed my mother and I on a recent trip when I was driving at night!). And while this has some predictably amazing vocals by Ella Fitzgerald, the album is dull and sleepy and there are actually moments Fitzgerald sounds bored with it herself.

With only thirteen songs utilizing 42:32 minutes of space, The Intimate Ella is hardly a powerhouse using the capacity of the compact disc medium. Instead, this is a collection of songs that lack scope and the c.d. lacks it as well, making it even more tiresome upon replaying. As always, Ella Fitzgerald appears as the vocalist on the album, performing songs that were written by others. She is accompanied on this album by a lone pianist and she did not play her own piano, despite the way the piano and her voice play off one another perfectly. Her long-time producer, Norman Granz, produced the album, so Fitzgerald has very little creative control over what appears on this recording.

What the album does have more than many of Fitzgerald's albums is a wide array of writers. As a soundtrack, this album was packed with songs by talented writers and very few appear as writers for more than one track. The problem, though, is that they are all writing for the same gestalt and the result is that Fitzgerald is not given a great deal to work with to show off her talents. Moreover, the whole "one woman in the spotlight before a lone piano" sound wears out quickly and this becomes a collection of songs that sound more tired than audacious, presented in a tiring form.

For The Intimate Ella the uniformity of the tracks is a severe liability. This is a melancholy album and while one might consider something like this for accompanying a candlelit dinner, this music is more likely to put the diners in a haze and put them to sleep rather than get them feeling sensual.

This I blame those constructing the album for. Ella Fitzgerald has an amazing voice and on The Intimate Ella, she is presented as a professional, consistent soprano. In fact, it is only on the final track, "Reach For Tomorrow" that Fitzgerald exhibits real range. She goes low, she ends high, but she goes through her entire three-octave range on the song, making it instantly worthwhile. While the album begins with her singing lower on "Black Coffee," she stays low and sultry through most of it. The other songs, she is simply high and perfect-pitched. But because all of the songs are slow and melodic, this becomes quite boring to listen to, even for lovers of vocal jazz.

One aspect of Fitzgerald's vocals I have not addressed before that is worth noting - because it is displayed in a superlative fashion on The Intimate Ella - is Fitzgerald's vocal control. She is amazing at holding notes and on every song on this album, he holds notes with perfect pitch that most performers cannot hold even for a moment. The thing is, Fitzgerald is melodic and can string together long phrases where she is drawing out notes in a harmonic and hypnotic way and this album displays that incredible talent on every track.

This, unfortunately, is one of the drawbacks of the album as well. While the sound of songs like "Angel Eyes" is instantly impressive where Fitzgerald presents long, held notes, when the album quickly becomes an album where every song on it is doing only that, the listener tunes out; it becomes an unfortunate white noise. There are no quick bits on the album, not even one journey up or down the scales and the contemplative, slow quality to it makes it sound more mundane - especially upon repetition of the album - than extraordinary.

As well, because all of the notes are high and slow, some of the lyrics are rendered less articulate or clear than the ought to be. It took three listens before I actually heard the title line "I Cried For You" in that song because of how the song was presented! There are few songs on this album where the the lines are clear and Fitzgerald actually enunciates. Instead, most of the album flows together as an indistinct auditory sludge that sounds wonderful, but means little.

This is unfortunate, because some of the poetry is actually quite worthwhile, if not extraordinary! Having heard a few renditions of many of the songs, I have certainly heard more articulate versions of "I Can't Give You Anything But Love, Baby," but I've not heard any that have such raw soul as on The Intimate Ella. I can only imagine how much more powerful the song would actually be if one could understand her when she sang "I can't give you anything but love, baby. / That's the only thing I've plenty of, baby. / Dream a while. Scheme a while. / We're sure to find, / Happiness, and I guess / All those things you've always pined for" ("I Can't Give You Anything But Love, Baby"). I fail to understand why anyone would want such articulate lines obscured.

Of course, on this album that vocalization sometimes works perfectly to create the intended mood. The lines "When you're sad / It makes me feel the same as you... / Come to me my melancholy baby / Cuddle up and don't be blue / All your fears are foolish fancy, maybe / You know, dear, that I'm in love with you . . ." ("My Melancholy Baby") truly reach their full expressiveness with her slow, sad presentation of them. Fitzgerald might be presenting the words of artists who write for her, but she does it quite well for most of the album. Again, one wonders why those making the soundtrack wanted her to drag the lines out in such a way that they are often almost indecipherable.

And some of the lyrics are not particularly extraordinary. "September Song" is fairly repetitive and its uncomplicated rhymes of "Oh, it's a long, long time from May to December /
But the days grow short when you reach September / When the autumn weather turns the leaves to flame / One hasn't got time for the waiting game / Oh, the days dwindle down to a precious few / September, November / And these few precious days I'll spend with you / These precious days I'll spend with you" make the listener tire from it fairly quickly.

As a result, The Intimate Ella comes across as one of her less sophisticated albums, despite possessing the trademark voice and the clear ability that makes her a master at her craft.

The best track is "I Can't Give You Anything But Love, Baby," the rest of the album pretty much flows indistinctly together.

For other works by Ella Fitzgerald, please be sure to visit my reviews of:
Ella And Louis
Ella At Duke's Place
Ella Fitzgerald With The Tommy Flanagan Trio
Shine
Ella And Louis Again
That Old Black Magic
Starlit Hour
Love And Kisses
Day Dream: Best Of The Duke Ellington Songbook
Oh, Lady, Be Good! The Best Of The Gershwin Songbook
Pure Ella
Flying Home

3.5/10

For other music reviews, please be sure to check out my Music Review Index Page for an organized listing of all of my music reviews!

© 2012, 2009 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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One Of The Best Dried Fruit Experiences Ever! Peeled Organic’s Banan-A-Peel Impresses!

2012-03-03T12:29:00.000-05:00

The Good: Very nutritious, Decent shelf life for an organic product, Very flavorful
The Bad: They cost more than other dehydrated bananas
The Basics: The Peeled Organics Banan-A-Peel fruit snacks make up for their expense by providing a flavor that is incredible.

As I work to improve my health, I have discovered that fruits and vegetables are important to my heart health. I know, that probably sounds stupid, but with my current diet, I am rewarded for actually having dietary fiber and one of the few things that helps me get up to my daily allowance of it is fruit. Lately, that has been taking the form of Peeled Organic dried fruit, like Banan-A-Peel, which might well be one of the best dehydrated fruits in the Peeled Organic line!

Tasting amazingly like banana and allowing one to ever forget about the existence of crunchy, disturbing banana chips, Banan-A-Peel is a delicious organic fruit worth stocking up on!

Basics

Peeled Organic is a relatively new fruit snack company that is doing good work for both the environment and personal health. Using no preservatives, Peeled Organic strives to present the healthiest possible dried fruit to customers and, as the name suggests, does so using organic farming methods.

Banan-A-Peel is almost just what the name suggests; a bag of dehydrated organic banana slices! The dehydrated fruit chunks are supple, not hard. These will immediately make one forget about dried banana chips. They are not covered in a coating of sugar, not hard and actually taste like real bananas! The Banan-A-Peel fruit snacks comes in a 1.40 oz. stiff plastic bag that is not resealable.

Ease Of Preparation

Banan-A-Peel fruit packs are simple to use. Simply open the bag and remove the fruit from it! There is no trick to eating Banan-A-Peel; they are a snack that is ready to go from the bag to the mouth.

Taste

Opening the bag of Banan-A-Peel fruit snacks, is a delightful olfactory experience. With the bago opened, the banana aroma wafts out and captivates the nose. I began salivating when I smelled these and I was surprised because I am not the world’s biggest banana fan or anything!

It’s a good thing I started salivating! The soft, slightly brown fruit chips came alive on the tongue, but they started very dry with their initial flavor. The Banan-A-Peel slices are banana without the excessive water, so the mostly-dehydrated pieces of fruit are sweet and rich in flavor, as opposed to dry and somewhat tasteless. With the dryness of the dehydrated fruit fast fading, the Banan-A-Peel fruit snacks take on one of the sweetest tastes I have ever enjoyed and it actually made me wonder how I had never really contemplated the flavor of bananas before!

These fruit snacks are sweet and delightful and leave no aftertaste in the mouth.

Nutrition

Banan-A-Peel organic dried fruits are an all-natural snack, with no preservatives or added sugar. Given that the ingredient is organic bananas, there is nothing hiding in them that will surprise consumers. These have a shelf life of about nine months, so they are not bad for stocking up on if you eat a lot of fruit. The package we got on the last day of January (2012) expires on October 5, 2012 (or it would have had I not devoured the contents of the bag in a single sitting!).

Each 40 gram serving of Banan-A-Peel has 150 calories, none of which come from fat. There are two grams of dietary fiber and 25% of your RDA of Vitamin C. Outside that, there are no significant nutrients in a serving, though there is 2% of one’s RDA of Vitamin A and Iron. They are gluten free and were packaged in a facility that processes nuts, dairy, wheat and soy, so those with applicable allergies ought to keep that in mind.

Storage/Clean-up

Kept in their bag, Banan-A-Peel will remain fresh for almost a year and as long as the bag is sealed, one suspects they will last that long anyway. Because I only got enough to review, I am not worried about keeping these fresh! They come in, they go right back out!

Cleanup is simple as well. Banan-A-Peel dried fruits are a dry food and thus leave no mess behind. Simply toss out the plastic bag and cleanup is done! I would, naturally, be happier if there was a way to recycle these plastic bags.

Overall

Banan-A-Peel is a fruit snack that is easily one of the very best fruit snacks I have ever had. It is likely to thrill anyone who loves bananas, but loathes the sticky, messy peels!

For other Peeled Organic fruit snack reviews, check out my reviews of:
Cherry-Go-Round
Apple-2-The-Core
Pine-4-Pineapple

8.5/10

For other food and drink reviews, please click here to visit my index page!

© 2012 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Scarlett Johansson Wows Me (For Only The Second Time) With The Perfect Score!

2012-03-03T12:18:00.000-05:00

The Good: Interesting plot, Funny, Well-acted, DVD bonus features
The Bad: Light on character
The Basics: Funny and surprisingly not entirely predictable, The Perfect Score uses a young(er) Scarlett Johansson well as a disaffected girl who helps steal the S.A.T. answers!

Say what you will, but sometimes surprisingly good movies come out of unlikely sources. Every now and then, I find myself surprised by the quality of a movie that seems like it would underwhelm me. MTV, for example, does not have a great track record of making films that are anything more than fluffy entertainment for teens. While they might have a niche market with stoners and Gen X and Y folks who have short attention spans, MTV Films has yet to create an enduring piece that will survive in the annals of great films.

Still, they have made a surprisingly solid film with The Perfect Score. Despite the obvious double-entendre in the title, The Perfect Score - a film about high school Seniors stealing the S.A.T. answers from the manufacturer - is wonderfully unpredictable in many ways. Sure, there are some obvious reversals and romantic subplots, but the real surprise is that a film starring Chris Evans - arguably the low point of The Fantastic Four movies on the acting front - could be as good as this ends up being. As well, for those who know of my general boredom and loathing of the works of Scarlett Johansson, The Perfect Score garnered a groan from me the moment I realized the hot chick in it was being played by Johansson, but this ends up as the second work she stars in that I would actually enthusiastically recommend.

Kyle has a dream of being an architect and as he nears graduation from high school, he realizes that despite his talents in all of the right areas, he might not make it to Cornell's architect school because of his poor performance on the pre-S.A.T.s. Kyle and his love-struck sidekick, Matty, (who is dating a woman attending the University of Maryland and needs to get in there to continue his relationship) become convinced that the only way they'll get into their respective colleges is by stealing the answers to the S.A.T.s and acing the exam. As luck would have it, they live near the center where the tests are made and the daughter of a high-level executive at the company is a discontent classmate of theirs. Kyle and Matty enlist Francesca, who is skeptical about the plan but seems content to go along with it anyway. The group is joined by the class stoner, Roy, who overhears Kyle and Matty talking about the job while getting high in the bathroom.

After a dry run that finds Kyle accidentally shredding the answer key, the class salutatorian and the high school's most promising jock join the team and a better plan for stealing the plans is devised. The sextet breaks into the company after hours and the caper puts them all in jeopardy of losing everything . . . or acing the exam that will determine their futures!

The Perfect Score is fun and it succeeds best when it is not talking down to its audience. Unfortunately, the target audience does appear to be the stoner crowd and young people in general. This compels the writers to have the class salutatorian, Anna, define herself as "the second one" as opposed to "salutatorian" when Francesca berates her for being valedictorian. We can handle a higher level of diction and it undermines Anna's character - who is an overachiever under a lot of pressure from her parents to perform - that she does not speak with a better vocabulary.

Conversely, no one is quite as convincing in their character as Darius Miles as Desmond Rhodes. Miles plays the basketball player looking to get into college on an athletic scholarship, but has coasted for years and is looking at the S.A.T.s as a potentially devastating blow to his potential career. Miles wanders through the film like a zombie and when he speaks, his lines are seldom intelligible, perfectly portraying a jock who has coasted as Desmond.

Impressive, though, are the talents of the rest of the cast, though one has to feel bad for Erika Christensen, who plays Anna Ross. Just as in Traffic, Christensen is used as a poor man's Julia Stiles, so much so that I was shocked when the closing credits rolled and the actress was Christensen instead of Stiles. Director Brian Robbins uses her exactly as any other director would use Stiles and to her credit, she fills the niche perfectly. Anna is, in many ways, an archetype as opposed to an actual character - the highly-pressured girl whose family has her future charted out for her - but she adds nervous ticks like lip bites and blank stares that work for her and her character.

The humor in The Perfect Score is almost entirely delivered by Leonardo Nam as Roy, who narrates the film. This is not exactly the type of movie that demands a narrator, but Roy sets the plot up well. In addition, he is a pretty skeezy stoner and as a result, he is able to deliver the most absurd moments - like attempting to seduce an executive with the lamest moves possible - quite well. Most of the comedy is made up of uncomfortable awkward moments and blank stares being interrupted by the delivery of absurd lines. There is a little physical humor in the movie, most of which is presented by Nam. He manages it well and he's funny as he runs along trying to keep his baggy pants on.

Equally convincing are Chris Evans and Scarlett Johansson as Kyle and Francesca. Evans adeptly plays along the cliches of teenagers feeling like their entire future is about to be decided out of their control and he plays Kyle with a wonderful self-absorbed quality that makes his character seem very much like the teenager he is supposed to be. But it is Scarlett Johansson who performs above and beyond. Having watched a lot of Johansson's works, The Perfect Score offers her the chance to present one of her most expressive performances of her career. Ironically, given the chance to play more open roles, Johansson seems to shine when she is playing repressed outsiders. Here, though, she has a muted performance that is filled with a dry with that perfectly compliments her character's outrageous outfits.

What makes The Perfect Score worth going back for are the bonus features on the DVD as well as the fact that the movie is far less predictable than one might have initially guessed. On DVD, the movie has deleted scenes, a commentary track and featurettes that explore the development of the film. The movie is fun and funny and it has a surprising amount of depth for a movie built on cliches.

That, of course, makes it original and originality deserves praise. And attention.

For other works with Chris Evans, be sure to visit my reviews of:
Captain America: The First Avenger
Push
Fantastic Four: Rise Of The Silver Surfer
Fantastic Four
Not Another Teen Movie

8/10

For other film reviews, please be sure to visit my Movie Review Index Page for an organized list of all the movies I have reviewed!

© 2012, 2009 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Arguably The Worst Casino In Las Vegas, The Eureka Is A Dismal Spot For Locals!

2012-03-03T12:06:00.000-05:00

The Good: Well, we won money there. . .
The Bad: Atmosphere, “Atmosphere,” Staff, Game selection, Everything!
The Basics: Hands down the worst casino in Las Vegas, Nevada and the worst casino I have ever been in.

Last year when I went to Las Vegas, I had what I thought would be the most unpleasant experience I could have at a casino at the Hard Rock Café Casino. That was the only place I went where the patrons were drinking themselves to the point of throwing up on the floors (literally, very gross) and there was nothing I could find redeeming about it. However, this year, when my partner and I went to Las Vegas, we discovered a new bottom of the barrel in the Eureka Casino. The Eureka Casino, despite what its name might imply, is not a thrilling place to gamble. Instead, it is unclean, the workers are unhelpful and my partner and I got ahead quickly and got out.

Despite winning at the casino, we both swore to one another we would never return and we look forward to making good on that promise the rest of our lives. If you've never been, fortunately you may avoid the Eureka without feeling like you are missing out on any essential Las Vegas experience!

Eureka Casino: came in with $5.00, left with $20.00. Fast.

Location

The Eureka is a tiny casino located at 595 Sahara Ave in Las Vegas, Nevada. This is the section of Las Vegas off the Strip. In fact, Sahara Avenue is perpendicular to the top of the Strip near the Stratosphere and Sahara casinos. Unfortunately, this is in a more urban part of the city where urban decay is very much the state of things. The Eureka Casino is situated between abandoned storefronts and brick buildings covered in graffiti. My partner and I arrived on a Saturday night and felt queasy about leaving our car in the parking lot out back.

The Eureka Casino is right off Sahara Avenue and looks like a little restaurant with about seventy-five parking spots in the back.

Size/Atmosphere/"Atmosphere"

The Eureka Casino is a tiny casino in Las Vegas, guarded at the front and back by a single security guard each who looks bored. My partner is fairly young-looking and while she was checked out, she was not carded getting into the Eureka. The Eureka is decorated like a hotel lobby and feels like an abandoned bus station. There are only about five hundred video slot machines in the building on a single level. The place looks like a family restaurant from the outside and the backside of Jabba's Palace on the inside. The entire gaming floor is in one room and it feels cramped.

The ceilings are low and this was the smokiest casino I have ever been in. We stayed for less than half an hour and by the time we walked out, not only were my clothes saturated with a noxious tobacco smell (and my shorts were sticky in back . . . gross!) but my throat was dry and raw from the concentration of cigarette smoke. My partner is an ex-smoker and when we left, she made the comment that it is places like the Eureka that are likely to keep her from ever going back.

As for the "atmosphere" of the Eureka, there is none. I don't recall seeing any servers (there was a bar within the casino). The cage workers were wearing sweatshirts and smoking, the casino had no hook, no gimmick. In fact, more than any other place we went, the people playing the slot machines looked zombified and miserable. No one appeared to be having a good time. Instead, this seemed like a gambler's graveyard and a home of lost souls and a place oxygen goes to die.

Gaming Options/Player's Club

I have a very simple gambling philosophy: I sit down at a slot machine with $5.00. I work it up to $10 or down to zero. I know my limits: I can afford to lose $5.00. So, when I am above that, I'll usually work it up or whittle it down to the next even $5.00. I had a tough time even bothering with my philosophy at the Eureka, because I wanted to get out of it so quickly. I gave my $5.00 to my partner and she sat down at "I Dream Of Jeannie" and turned it into $20 and we left as soon as we could.

The Eureka is plagued by old machines. While the bulk of them were penny slots, few were distinctive and none were new. This casino had the older model of "I Dream Of Jeannie," "Wheel Of Fortune" and games like Stinkin' Rich, Crystal Enchantment (a personal favorite that was not paying out for me that night!) and Texas Tea. There were only two or three of each machine and the room was organized in a buckshot approach with the outer walls lined with video slot machines and then islands of machines haphazardly strewn throughout the casino.

For those who might be into games of chance and card games instead of the fun and controlled reinforcement of video slot machines, you're out of luck at the Eureka. The Eureka Casino is video slot machines only.

There is a player's club at the Eureka, but we were not able to join it. Seriously. My partner and I went to the cage to sign up and were told that unless we were a local and would be back within a month, there was no reason to sign up. They wouldn't even let us sign up for the novelty of it. The Eureka, apparently, offers incentives only to locals or those who will return to this dive within a month.

Entertainment Options

The Eureka Casino has no room for any entertainment, though there are televisions above the bar.

Dining Options

We went to the Eureka Casino after eating our nightly buffet, but considering how everything in the casino seemed to be coated with a sticky film (I used hand sanitizer for several minutes after returning to the car!) we weren't about to eat or drink anything here. There was a bar island in the casino and we were told there were dining options, but we did not see anyone eating. Several people were drinking, though we did not.

Shopping Options

The Eureka has no shopping options.

Overall

Small, dismal, smoky and sticky, the Eureka Casino was the most unpleasant place I went in Las Vegas and one of the few places on Earth I would never want to return to again. Avoid it as if your health depends upon it!

For other casino reviews, please check out my takes on:
Mystic Lake Casino
Mount Airy Casino
Palace Station Casino

1/10

For other destinations to visit, be sure to check out my Travel Review Index Page for an organized listing of all the places I have reviewed!

© 2012, 2009 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.

Second Season Of A Great Show Maintains Perfection With NYPD Blue Season Two!

2012-03-02T18:52:00.000-05:00

The Good: Excellent acting, Great character development, Decent extras, Generally good plots
The Bad: Plots begin to take on formulaic spin in this season
The Basics: With excellent acting and great characters, the second season of NYPD Blue continues a tradition of outstanding achievement and lasting greatness.

Sophomore seasons for a television show are difficult, especially if the first season of the show was fabulous, groundbreaking, and/or started something of a phenomenon. Thus, the pressure on NYPD Blue (outside whatever behind the scenes difficulties leaked into the media) was pretty tremendous going into its second year. The boxed set DVD collection of NYPD Blue for the second season is a real treat as it illustrates the rare achievement of a show that started out with a bang continuing to fly high.

The second season of NYPD Blue finds the 15th Precinct immediately under siege. With the trial of Janice Licalsi in full swing, Detective John Kelly finds himself under investigation by Internal Affairs. Pressured about his role in concealing evidence, Kelly is forced to resign, despite the efforts of Sipowicz and Fancy. Sipowicz is paired up with a new detective, Bobby Simone, who works to become Andy's friend. As they adjust to being around one another through several cases, Medavoy and Martinez pair up (professionally) while Medavoy and Donna Abandando continue their on-again, off-again relationship.

NYPD Blue prides itself on being a character-driven show and the second season continues the trend of putting the characters up front as the most important aspect. More important than the cases these detectives solve is who the detectives are and how they go about solving the crimes. In the second season, this is how the characters evolve:

Licalsi - Her trial is resolved quickly and Licalsi goes on her merry way, without the merry,

Lesniak - A new, young female detective who catches Martinez's eye arrives as a real professional who is attempting to keep her work and personal lives very much separate,

Diane Russell - Arriving near the end of the season, she is introduced as a smart detective who also has a serious drinking problem,

John Kelly - Suffers the consequences of standing by the woman he loves,

Donna Abandando - Finds that her love for Medavoy is not enough to change the nervous man and she initiates a painful breakup with him,

Martinez - Grows as a detective, now without Kelly. Paired with Medavoy, he starts to become his own man and tries to show that to Lesniak,

Medavoy - His paranoia over having such a good thing as a relationship with Donna surfaces, causing him to spy and lose everything. Outside that, he finds himself going a great deal of good in the City and growing even more as a detective,

Sylvia Costas - Still an ADA, she gets even closer to Andy to the point that when he proposes to her, she finds herself headed toward the aisle, even as she is forced to deal with difficult incidences from her own past,

Fancy - Gets the son he's always wanted and finds himself having to defend both his squad and his brother as he illustrates how competent he is at being the boos of the 15th Squad,

Bobby Simone - Arrives as a widower who has ties to the media which force him to re-evaluate his life. Partnering with Sipowicz compels him to be levelheaded and methodical, but he has his own issues and when Diane arrives, he finds his life even more complicated,

Andy Sipowicz - Still arguably in the shadows of another cop (now Simone), Sipowicz keeps sober with the help of a sponsor, deals with another big loss in his life, and gets both a new partner and a solid love interest when he and Sylvia move in together and decide to take the big plunge.

As with the first season, NYPD Blue finds the second season immersed in murky territory with an impressive number of moral questions being asked and a rather practical approach to the world as it works. NYPD Blue is possibly the show wherein the good guys win the least amount of times. That is to say that while often the 15th Squad finds the correct perpetrator, justice is not always served. For example, after two episodes wherein Simone attempts to catch a serial killer, his suspect is murdered while going to trial. Similarly, as Andy gets entrenched on the road to sobriety, his sponsor's mentally ill son comes back into his sponsor's life.

NYPD Blue continues its tradition of being daring television. Even beyond the language and nudity, the second season of the show pushes the boundaries of what may be talked about and shown on television. For example, in "Double Abandando," one of the most disgusting killer of the entire series is revealed to be a man who knowingly infects women with H.I.V. The episode raises the social conscious about a serious problem and reflects on the lack of consequences in such a case. It's a real eye opener.

And then, of course, there is the nudity and language. The nudity does not seem so gratuitous as it may have in the first season, save in Bobby Simone's first episode, "Simone Says," where writer David Milch admits he lobbied for nudity (in the form of the police investigating a photographer's studio while many people are posing naked) because he knew that the show would be drawing a lot of viewers anyway. The nudity and language do not seem so extreme now, either because of how this show changed television so a lot of this is not shocking today or because I have grown up. Still, it is definitely not kid's fare.

In addition to very realistic, complicated characters, the second season of NYPD Blue captivates using intriguing storylines that are not usually predictable. Some of the interesting cases the 15th Squad must investigate include a homicidal, lecherous chiropractor, a gypsy scam artist, a young man whose approach to meeting women is to send them death threats, a case that depends on the testimony of a woman who wants Simone to love her, and many, many murders. Add to that a side adventure where Sipowicz conceals that a detective died in a prostitute's bed and you have an interesting season!

Part of the reason this series is so engaging and has endured as long as it has it in the quality of the acting. NYPD Blue has a phenomenal cast and many argue that the ensemble that begins with this second season is the strongest (I tend to argue third season and the current one, which is season eleven). These are all professionals and they truly hone their craft here in the second season.

Among the supporting cast of people like Gail O'Grady (Donna) and Nicholas Turturro (Martinez), two actors stand above the rest. Gordon Clapp continues to progress Medavoy into a likable, decent man with a very human range of flaws. Clapp humanizes much of the show making it easy to connect to the bigger, sometimes frightening world that NYPD Blue portrays by playing Medavoy as an emotive man who is competent, but fearful. Clapp's ability to stutter and his use of body language sell the audience on one of the most intriguing characters in the series.

The other standout of the secondary cast is Sharon Lawrence as Sylvia Costas. Lawrence does a phenomenal job of selling the audience on the unlikely pairing of Costas and Sipowicz. Lawrence uses her ability to have her eyes emote a loving expression, her body language to play cool and confident and her voice to be almost parental to add depth to a character who began the series as someone Sipowicz could yell profanities at. Lawrence infuses the relationship with real chemistry and is utterly convincing as the Assistant District Attorney.

Dennis Franz continues to impress as Sipowicz. Perhaps Franz is the luckiest; the expectations on him are not to simply show up and look good, so the show tends to emphasize his character and as a result, he gets a lot of great material. In this season of the show, Franz continues to expand his ability to act by presenting Sipowicz as both a curmudgeon and a guy who has a heart. What Franz does so well is to present dialog that most actors would find reprehensible or complicated with an ease that convinces us it is all his character. That is quality acting.

And in the second season, Jimmy Smits exploded into the series as an acting force to be reckoned with. More than simply the good looking man that many might assume he was cast for, Smits backs up the looks with soothing tones that easily connote a caring man. Smits plays Simone as an intriguing combination of clever and forceful, striking a balance that Sipowicz does not have. Smits seems to take great joy in opening up a place for wry humor in the series, using his eyes to laugh when it might not otherwise be appropriate. As well, Smits can turn on the best of intensity when he plays Simone in interrogation scenes, making his performances possibly the most rounded of the characters this season.

Essential for anyone who loves great drama, those who are not fond of police shows should not be intimidated by NYPD Blue. The second season continues the trend of using a cop show to push the borders of what a family drama can be by mixing crime solving with family-style drama (with the squad essentially dealing with similar problems that a family has behind the scenes and separate from the crime solving).

Fans of NYPD Blue will enjoy the extras this boxed set has. Several episodes have commentary and though David Milch is somewhat of a washout giving commentary (he sits and repeats Sipowicz's lines and adds little else), the rest of the people are pretty interesting. The behind the scenes interviews are both confusing and interesting. On the subject of David Caruso's departure, the information seems to contradict what was said in the first season bonuses (i.e. that Steven Bochco pre-emptively fired Caruso in anticipation of him not wanting to come back due to movie roles, which changes now with Caruso being difficult and wanting to leave on these discs). But the endearing moments are seeing people like Sharon Lawrence and Gail O'Grady talk about the show. Though both actresses eventually left the show, they talk about NYPD Blue as a great experience and in glowing terms. Lawrence, especially, has a particular love of the show that she illustrates by speaking in quite an educated fashion on all sorts of episodes, including scenes she was not even in. It's refreshing to see celebrities excited by the show that made them stars as opposed to trying to distance themselves from it.

This DVD set does not have deleted scenes and it is doubtful that any exist; perhaps one of the most intriguing things about watching these episodes is seeing how much longer the running time of the episodes was then than it is now. Maybe one of the signs of the greatness of this show should come from the Nielsen's; season two was so good that they had to start cutting out programming time to make way for more advertising. A real classic and an essential addition to anyone's DVD collection.

For other works with Jimmy Smits, be sure to check out my reviews of:
The West Wing - Season Seven
The West Wing - Season Six
Revenge Of The Sith
Attack Of The Clones

10/10

For other television reviews, please visit my Television Review Index Page for an organized listing of all of my television reviews!

© 2012, 2007, 2004 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Very Sisko, Very Average, "The Legends Of Captain Benjamin Sisko" Is Only Good For Fans.

2012-03-02T18:26:00.000-05:00

The Good: Good photography/card quality, Limited edition nature
The Bad: A number of promotional images, Bias toward early years
The Basics: A good set, the Legends Of Benjamin Sisko card set is strangely mediocre for a tribute to such a wonderful character.

For those who do not know and love Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, you're missing out on something extraordinary. Arguably the best of the Star Trek franchise, it is the most gritty, violent and adult of the Star Trek television series' and as a result, it has a resonance with fans that keep them considering and revisiting the series even years afterward. Because it was more geared toward adults - especially in the way actions had consequences for major characters - it was also vastly undermerchandised. Fortunately, with Rittenhouse Archives “Legends Of Star Trek“ series of trading cards, even Star Trek: Deep Space Nine is getting its due and the "Legends Of Benjamin Sisko" is the entry from the neglected series into the card collection.

The first 2009 release in "The Legends Of Star Trek" focused on the captains of the Star Trek franchise and "The Legends Of Sisko" set was released alongside sets for Janeway and Archer. Just as Star Trek: Deep Space Nine was often neglected and ill-considered, Benjamin Sisko is actually the only lead character of a Star Trek series to not be a captain when the show began. Fortunately, this card series focused more on Sisko after he became a captain, but also wisely included a few shots from early in the series when he was only a Commander. Unfortunately, this set is very average in the way it presents its subject and becomes essential pretty much only for those who were already predisposed toward it.

Basics/Set Composition

"The Legends Of Star Trek" set is a series of cards produced by Rittenhouse Archives and released on average twice a year over the last five years. The "Legends Of Sisko" set is the sixteenth in the ever-expanding series that is released in nine card, limited edition increments. There are no bonus cards in this set, they come as complete sets of nine cards sealed in a cellophane package. There are three things that make these sets truly special: cardstock, an individual limited edition number, and the images on the cards. The cardstock is a 20pt. (thicker than usual) cardstock with the standard UV resistant coating that all quality trading cards come with these days. To illustrate the truly limited nature of the “Legends Of Star Trek“ cards, every set is strictly limited to 1701 sets and the L9 card (visible at the back of the cellophane pack) is foil stamped with an individual number for the specific "Legends Of" set. So, for example, my personal set is number 0440/1701! This is where it helps to have a dealer that you are loyal to; dealers were able to order all of the same limited edition collector's numbers each time, so every time I get an order in, they are the same limited edition numbers and I - and my customers - are assembling sets with matching numbers, which will presumably hold the value of the overall series better in the long run.

Finally, the “Legends Of Star Trek“ series is characterized by wonderful, uncommon images that are (usually) not the typical shots that have been on 8x10s, t-shirts and collector's plates before. Instead, these cards capitalize on big rare images, vivid color contrast and cards that are uncluttered by pesky text! These cards are for the fans who know the accomplishments of their heroes! No need to write about them, the images speak for themselves!

Common Cards

The "Legends Of Sisko" set is a nine-card “Legends Of Star Trek“ set that features eighteen images of Benjamin Sisko from his second season publicity shot to one of the final publicity photos of Benjamin Sisko from the seventh season of the series. But for a character who was so dynamic and had several different uniforms and hairstyles, there are remarkably few truly original images in this set.

Unlike many of the prior releases of “Legends Of Star Trek“ the "Legends Of Sisko" set is dramatically unimaginative. The early releases tried to use more screen captures and images that were uncommon, the "Legends Of Sisko" uses more publicity images and images that have been done on other trading cards many times before. Five of the images on the fronts of the cards are clearly recognizable to fans of the series as being simple publicity shots. The backs of these cards use similarly unimaginative shots as well. The result is a collection of Sisko shots, primarily of Sisko looking at the camera as opposed to candid images.

Undermining the concept of the “Legends Of Star Trek“ series with bland publicity shots of Sisko for the "Legends Of Sisko" set is the insult before the injury. All of the fronts of the cards have images of Sisko looking forward at virtually the same angle, all but two in his uniform. Only near the end of the set and on the backs are there images of Sisko as Benny - the 1950s author from "Far Beyond The Stars" - and images of Sisko in the classic Star Trek outfit from "Trials And Tribble-ations" (reviewed here!).

Noticeably absent from this set are images of Sisko in his space sailor's outfit from "Explorers" or his alternate universe persona from "Crossover." Similarly absent are any images from his wedding to Kassidy Yates or even a shot of him with his son! The lone shot of Sisko in a baseball uniform is from the pilot, as opposed to the seventh season "Take Me Out To The Holosuite." Come to think of it, the one in the baseball uniform in this set is Sisko in a StarFleet uniform . . . with a baseball cap on! Sisko, arguably the most militaristic captain of the bunch is pictured without firearms (the back of L3 features a picture from "The Way Of The Warrior" with the phaser cropped out!) and because earlier “Legends Of Star Trek“ sets from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine have featured characters in their "Our Man Bashir" personas, the lack of a Doctor Noah card is disappointing. Equally disappointing is the lack of a shot of Sisko as a Klingon from "Apocalypse Rising." Also absent is a final Sisko shot, a seventh season shot from Sisko's final moments and given how his character actually has a sense of closure to it (at least in the television series), this is truly disappointing.

That said, shots like Sisko in all of his various uniforms chronicle the Captain well. The inclusion of a "Trials And Tribble-ations" Sisko image is also wonderful. As well, the backs of the cards do have more of the candid sense to them. The quality is a little granier on some (like #1), but at least Sisko's face is emotive on many of those images.

Overall

But there's just enough to satisfy fans of Avery Brooks in his seminal role of Benjamin Sisko. There are wonderful shots of Sisko looking authoritative and commanding. Fans of the series will appreciate that and given the rarity of these cards, any collectors that give up on the “Legends Of Star Trek“ set with the "Legends Of Sisko" release will likely find that there were Avery Brooks fans all too ready to snatch up the remaining sets.

The nine-card sets tend to sell for $17 - $20 but the cardstock quality - which truly is a professional grade - and the limited edition nature of the set makes it worth it. One suspects in the future, the “Legends Of Star Trek“ sets will be sold in the secondary market almost exclusively as entire series collections, so fans who simply have a favorite character will want to snatch up the releases when they first come out, even if the set is uncharacteristically composed of publicity stills!

For fans of Avery Brooks, this is the "Legends" set for you! This is a great set for getting signed at Star Trek conventions!

This set culls images from:
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine,
most recognizably "The Way Of The Warrior"

For other Legends Of Star Trek cards from, please be sure to read my reviews of:
Legends Of Captain Kirk
Legends Of Spock
Legends Of Dr. Leonard McCoy
Legends Of Sulu, Scotty And Uhura
Legends Of Chekov, Chapel and Rand
Legends Of Captain Jean-Luc Picard
Legends Of Data
Legends Of Riker
Legends Of Counselor Deanna Troi
Legends Of Lieutenant Worf
Legends Of Doctor Beverly Crusher
Legends Of Geordi, Yar and Wesley Crusher

5/10

For other card reviews, please visit my index page on the subject by clicking here!

© 2012, 2009 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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The Dominion War Is Chronicled In Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Season Six!

2012-03-02T06:48:00.002-05:00

The Good: Plot, Character, Acting, Special effects, Themes
The Bad: None, this is a perfect season!
The Basics: Undeniably a dramatic force to be reckoned with, the sixth season of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine achieves perfection and establishes the series as a true original and classic.

If you are not into Star Trek: Deep Space Nine by now, don't bother starting with this boxed set. If you do, you'll only get about ten percent of what is actually going on in the show. Indeed, though the show is heavily serialized, it does very few recaps, working on the assumption that you saw the episode that preceded the one you're watching now. The sixth season of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine is a reward for all of those people who stuck with the series through its rockier early seasons. And what a reward it is!

Opening months after the fifth season finale, the sixth season finds the Federation and Klingons losing the war against the Dominion. Kira, Odo, Jake and Quark live under Dominion-occupied Deep Space Nine while Sisko works to try to take back the station. And after a few episodes, he actually succeeds, but it's a big, bloody season and the retaking of Deep Space Nine is only the beginning. The season continues with the spiraling effect of the war consuming everything until the season finale when it finally consumes one of the main crew permanently.

This is a war story.

This is a big, ballsy, bloody war story. If you liked Return Of The King (reviewed here!), imagine watching an incredibly long movie where you liked the characters even more than the denizens of Middle Earth and that the battles they fought did not go so well. There is no army of the undead in Deep Space Nine to step in and aid Sisko in smiting the Dominion. There are Prophets and they come into play, but they exact a penance, something that does not happen in the Lord of the Rings. In short, the sixth season of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine is an epic war that pits good against evil in such a way that makes it almost impossible for good to win. As the season progresses, it becomes about the compromises the forces of good make in their ideals to attempt to win. It's quite telling watching Bashir work with a man who protects the Civil Rights of the Federation by using means that thoroughly undermine them ("Inquisition"), Sisko blackmail, lie and cheat to try to get allies ("In The Pale Moonlight") and Kira ally herself with a collaborator ("Wrongs Darker Than Death Or Night").

The sixth season of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine rides on the characters, as always. Here is how the sixth season finds them evolving:

Garak - Works closely with the Federation, even aiding Sisko in getting the Romulans to join the war ("In The Pale Moonlight"),

Rom - Prepares to make the ultimate sacrifice to insure that the Dominion does not bring down the wormhole ("Behind Enemy Lines") and then to rescue his mother ("The Magnificent Ferengi"),

Nog - Is promoted to Ensign and continues to exemplify what it is to be a StarFleet officer,

Gul Dukat - Makes policy for the Dominion during the Occupation and with the loss of Deep Space Nine, he loses everything ("Sacrifice Of Angels"),

Quark - Schemes to protect the Ferengi Alliance from falling apart ("Profit And Lace") after taking the biggest risks of his life in rescuing his mother ("The Magnificent Ferengi"),

O'Brien - Is reunited with his family and commits utterly to keeping them safe from now on ("Time's Orphan"),

Jake Sisko - Becomes a full reporter for the Federation, working to expose the truths of the Dominion occupation,

Dax - Marries Worf ("You Are Cordially Invited. . .") and learns that that complicates her life immeasurably ("Change Of Heart"),

Odo - Goes over to the dark side ("Behind Enemy Lines"), until his love for Kira is finally realized ("His Way"),

Bashir - Suffers greatly under the burdens of war and seeks out kindred genetically enhanced people ("Statistical Probabilities") and finally becomes the spy he always fantasized about being ("Inquisition"),

Worf - Marries Dax and works to try to end the war against the Dominion using force, a choice that will cost him ("Tears Of The Prophets"),

Kira - Becomes a terrorist once again to free her people from Dominion rule ("Favor The Bold") and in the shadows of that, learns a family secret that leaves her shaken ("Wrongs Darker Than Death Or Night") until Odo makes his move ("His Way"),

and Sisko - Finally reveals the full potential of being a religious figure with a relationship to the Prophets ("Sacrifice Of Angels"), a move that changes the face of the war. As he sacrifices everything to win the war ("In The Pale Moonlight"), a heavy price is exacted for his powers that leaves him broken ("Tears Of The Prophets").

If you are a fan of science fiction, it does not get better than this. If you're a fan of great drama, this will be compelling as well. If you remember how horrible you felt for the heroes in The Empire Strikes Back, when it seemed they had lost everything, then you are ready to get a new standard to play by. The sixth season of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine pushes the characters to the brink of destruction, giving them very few victories and souring the few they do achieve.

Why would you want to watch this, then? It sounds wholly depressing. Well, it's bound to make you feel better about yourself. After all, seeing how bad the situation is for the crew of Deep Space Nine makes the current political climate of the U.S. seem almost tolerable. But in the longer term, the sixth season of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine reveals to the viewer how much we can root for an underdog, how much we can push for success against all odds. In "Statistical Probabilities" and "A Time To Stand" we actually hear the odds of the Federation winning the war and they are pathetically slim. The nice thing is, like all great drama, the series does not abandon that idea. Things don't just suddenly go well for the crew. This is an ugly war and it is easy to get immersed in it in this boxed set and yearn to see how it turns out.

The war is broken down into stories, though it is a rather encompassing event throughout the entire season. The range of episodes runs from absolute horrifying war story ("Rocks And Shoals") to romantic comedy ("His Way") to farce ("Profit And Lace") to political intrigue ("In The Pale Moonlight"). There are family sagas ("Time's Orphan") and interstellar battles ("Sacrifice Of Angels") and a brilliant episode that reminds us of the importance of communicating our love to our loved ones ("The Sound Of Her Voice"). In short, while there is a war that dominates the storyline, there is something for everyone in this season and it's refreshing to see such a mature, adult series.

Part of what accomplishes that mood is the caliber of actors. The actors here are adults acting with adult determination, securities and ethics. There aren't easy ways out in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and that is assured through the stern facade of Avery Brooks, the grim determination Colm Meany puts into O'Brien, the sadness Rene Auberjonois infuses into Odo. Alexander Siddig does an amazing job, from the very first episode of the season ("A Time To Stand") in establishing how the war has affected his character. Siddig plays Bashir as a man beaten down of months of watching bloodshed, exactly what one would expect of a doctor during wartime.

The sixth season of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine is a rare perfect season of television and while it may be essential to see the prior five seasons, the investment (in time, emotion and money) more than pays off in the sixth season. This boxed set with excite and stimulate you and leave you wanting to rush out for the seventh - and final - season of this great epic.

For a better idea of just what this boxed set contains, please be sure to visit my reviews of the episodes from this season. They are:
A Time To Stand
Rocks And Shoals
Sons And Daughters
Behind The Lines
Favor The Bold
Sacrifice Of Angels
You Are Cordially Invited . . .
Resurrection
Statistical Probabilities
The Magnificent Ferengi
Waltz
Who Mourns For Morn?
Far Beyond The Stars
One Little Ship
Honor Among Thieves
Change Of Heart
Wrongs Darker Than Death Or Night
Inquisition
In The Pale Moonlight
His Way
The Reckoning
Valiant
Profit And Lace
Time’s Orphan
The Sound Of Her Voice
Tears Of The Prophets

10/10

For other Star Trek reviews, please be sure to visit my index page on the subject for an organized listing of all those reviews!

© 2012, 2004 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Fading, Poorly Balanced And Somewhat Ridiculous, No One Is Buying The Power Of The Force Han Solo In Carbonite Figure For The Han!

2012-03-02T06:35:00.000-05:00

The Good: Great accessory!
The Bad: Limited poseability, Balance issues, Yellowing plastic on the figure, Awkward figure sculpt
The Basics: The only reason to put any money or effort into the Han Solo In Carbonite figure is for the Carbonite block!

As I finally finish packing away another whole box of Star Wars figures (I was actually quite excited about that!), I have made my way to the last Power Of The Force figure from the one box! That figure used to be one that impressed me and that I enjoyed quite a bit, but not seems remarkable simple and silly. It is the Han Solo In Carbonite action figure and the only reason to bother with it is the actual Carbonite block accessory.

For those unfamiliar with Han Solo when he was encased in Carbonite, it was basically the climax of The Empire Strikes Back (reviewed here!),so why are you even looking at Star Wars figures if you haven’t seen The Empire Strikes Back all the way through?! Anyway, at the start of Return Of The Jedi (reviewed here!), Han Solo is trapped in hibernation in a frozen block and he needs to be rescued. The Carbonite block is a pretty iconic prop from the Trilogy and this figure represents Han Solo after he was released.

The 4" Han Solo In Carbonite figure comes from the period in Kenner’s toy development when figures were made to look like an unrealistic action hero ideal, as opposed to how Han Solo actually looked. Conversely, the Carbonite block is one of the best toy renditions ever made!

Basics

Han Solo In Carbonite, in his Power Of The Force sculpting, features Han Solo in his white shirt and brown pants, looking much like he did in his final moments on Bespin and then in Jabba’s palace. This Han Solo stands 3 13/16” tall to the top of his feathered-hair on his head. The facial sculpt is not the worst rendition of Han Solo ever and it actually looks mostly like a young Harrison Ford. The hair is somewhat raised and looks parted, as opposed to monolithic, like a helmet. However, there the sculpt completely falls apart for accuracy. This version of Han Solo has broad shoulders and chest definition that Harrison Ford did not have when the movie was shot and certainly does not have now! That’s not an insult; some people look like a bodybuilder and some look less freakish. Harrison Ford as Han Solo looked less freakish, but this figure does not capture that. Instead, this makes Han Solo look like a weightlifter.

As for the coloring, herein lays many of the problems with the figure. The arms and chest of the Han Sol figure do not match. As this figure has aged, the white on the sleeves and the white plastic that makes up his shirt have discolored in different ways and that makes this Han Solo look somewhat ridiculous now. There is no depth or shading to the figure, save on the pants which have the yellow racing stripe up the side, as is appropriate. This version of Han Solo features white eyes with tiny brown irises and white pupils.

Accessories

Han Solo In Carbonite comes with two accessories: the Carbonite Block and his blaster. The blaster is a 1 1/4” monotonal black plastic handgun that has two barrels at the end, making it look pretty wicked! It is, however, grossly disproportionate compared to the size of the figure and looks a little ridiculous in his hands, though it fits in either and it monotonal the way the rest of the figure is.

The real reason people wanted this figure was for the Carbonite block accessory! The 4 1/2“ tall by 2 1/2” wide by 5/8” deep hollow plastic block is not deep enough to hold Han Solo, but it looks like the right size and scale for the Carbonite block (except, perhaps, in depth) for even the current lines of Star Warsfigures! The gunmetal gray block looks just like the one in Return Of The Jedi in both coloring and sculpt. On the sides are the control panels and the controls themselves are represented by tiny stickers which look all right.

Playability

The four inch toy line was designed for play and Han Solo in Carbonite is pretty poor in that regard. First, he is cast in a pretty heroic stance with his legs spread very wide. As a result, even flatfooted, he does not stand up for very long. With any real arm posing for the figure, he tips. This is a very unbalanced figure. The only way to truly keep this Han Solo figure standing is to use the pegs on vehicles and playsets and plug them into the holes in the figure’s feet.

This Han Solo comes with only six points of articulation, all of which are simple swivel joints. He has joints at the groin socket, shoulders, waist and neck. The elbows do not extend, so all arm posing is straight-armed. The articulation matters very little, though, as this Han Solo figure usually ends up face-down anyway!

Collectibility

The Han Solo In Carbonite figure is part of the Power Of The Force four-inch series, a series of Star Wars action figures that was tragically overproduced. This figure appeared on at least three cardbacks and none of them have appreciated in value. Given the discovery that the actual figure discolors, I imagine this will remain a terrible investment figure.

Overview

Han Solo In Carbonite is a pretty cool concept for a figure, but Kenner did not do it as well as it ought to have in the Power Of The Force line. Fortunately, there are better ones on the market now!

For other Han Solo figures, please check out my reviews of:
2009 Han Solo As A Stormtrooper
SL22 Saga Legends Hoth Han Solo
Saga Collection Han Solo
Original Trilogy Collection Hoth Han Solo
Power Of The Jedi Bespin Capture Han Solo
Power Of The Force Deluxe Han Solo with Smuggler Flight Pack
Power Of The Force Hoth Han Solo

3/10

For other toy reviews, please visit my Toy Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2012 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.

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Few Artists Can Fake Being A One Man Band, But James Taylor Does It Fine.

2012-03-02T06:29:00.000-05:00

The Good: Good voice, A few interesting re-interpretations of songs, Good mix, Adequate instrumentals.
The Bad: Nothing terribly extraordinary, DVD is "meh," "live" conceits.
The Basics: A decent mix of classic and contemporary James Talyor songs, One Man Band offers some good intepretations of the singer-songwriter's works.

After weeks of listening to little else save the works of James Taylor, it - admittedly - takes quite a bit to get me excited about listening to a new to me James Taylor album. Taylor is a decent singer-songwriter, but his voice gets monotonous after two albums back to back (this is album number ten for me from his library!) and his lack of genuine musical diversity becomes tiresome pretty quickly, especially with his albums of collected works, which tend to be biased toward the earliest parts of his career.

On One Man Band, though, James Taylor manages to present a live concert album that is decent enough to recommend. Unlike Live, on One Man Band, James Taylor presents a decent mix of classic James Taylor songs and his newer works off some of his latest albums. There were even two songs I had not yet heard (or that had not registered with me if I had). Then again, "Chili Dog" is hardly a memorable enough song to bother mentioning.

With nineteen tracks taking up a full 77:53, One Man Band is a decent blend of songs written and performed by James Taylor over his thirty-five year career. The songs on this album are mostly ones he wrote himself, save such obvious exceptions as "You've Got A Friend" and "Shower The People." He provides the primary acoustic guitar on each track as well as the vocals on all of the songs. As well, James Taylor takes a co-producing credit and that level of creative involvement makes this concert c.d. and DVD clearly his production and vision.

Perhaps the nicest thing about One Man Band that separates this album from his "greatest hits" and "best of" compilations is on this album he truly does mix the old with the new. Sure, there are classic hits like "Something In The Way She Moves" (which opens the album), "Carolina On My Mind," and "Fire And Rain," but they are interspersed with new tracks, like "Mean Old Man," "Line 'Em Up," and "Copperline." The album has no real theme other than "This is James Taylor!" But even in that, Taylor manages to surprise and do a few different things.

First, many of the songs are not simply literal interpretations of the prior studio tracks. "Slap Leather" is presented through a megaphone and sounds completely mechanical, lending a whole different interpretation to the song. "Copperline" is presented with an entirely different sense of syncopation and rhythm, which makes for a different sound and feel to the song. After hearing the same live version of "Steamroller" over and over again on other albums, it is refreshing to hear a different version on this album. Taylor actually sounds playful on this live take of "Mean Old Man" and it's nice to hear him having fun if for no other reason than he is presenting something other than bland and mellow.

Largely, the lyrics are the same as he always sings, but it is worth noting that James Taylor - for all of my problems with his smooth, monotonous vocals - has a genuine ability to write. He has some impressive story-songs, like "My Traveling Star." Lyrically, this is an intriguing musical poem with lines like "My daddy used to ride the rails / So they say, so they say / Soft as smoke and as tough as nails / Boxcar jones, old walking man / Coming back home was like going to jail / The sheets and the blankets and babies and all / No he never did come back home / Never that I recall" ("My Traveling Star"). It is rare for an artist to be able to populate songs with actual characters and give them little arcs, but Taylor does it (and well) with this song, like many of them on One Man Band.

Taylor also has a powerful ability to sing about universal emotions, as he does on "Secret O' Life." On that song, he muses on the nature of living and aging, something we all inevitably do. Taylor captures it well when he sings, "The secret of love is in opening up your heart / It's okay to feel afraid / But don't let that stand in your way / 'Cause anyone knows that love is the only road / And since we're only here for a while / Might as well show some style / Give us a smile" ("Secret O' Life"). Despite the rather inane rhyme scheme, Taylor makes a decent musical point and he presents it well.

But not all of the songs are winners. "School Song" is utterly unmemorable - even after eleven listens to this disc. Similarly, one wonders what Taylor was thinking with "Chili Dog" with its inane lines, such as "Make my bed out of wonder bread / Spread some mustard upon my head / I don't want no onions or sauerkraut, mamma / Hold on to the bun baby, work it on out. / I'm a chili dog / I guess you guessed by now / Sure nuf (sic) I'm a chili dog, baby (you and me) / Delicious!" With the massive catalogue of James Taylor tracks in existence it is astonishing to think that he could not come up with a song better than that to pad out this album.

Not that it truly needs any padding. James Taylor enthusiasts will no doubt be psyched by this presentation as it includes James Taylor introducing several of the songs with interesting anecdotes about them.

Instrumentally, One Man Band does not truly live up to its title. Taylor plays the guitar, but he is often accompanied with drums, piano, and some background vocals. Interestingly, he continued to make stylistic choices that allowed him to reinterpret several of the songs through how he used his accompaniment. For example, "Shower The People" has a more stark sound as this version is not overwhelmed with background vocalists. Similarly, "Line 'Em Up" has a different timbre as a result of its backing vocals, at least compared to the album version I heard before this one.

But for those looking for a radical re-interpretation of James Taylor, One Man Band is not it. Despite differences on some songs, many of the songs are the man and his guitar and they sound, well, like the easy listening light rock that they are. One of the nicest aspects of the album is the typical "live" sounds are kept to a minimum!

The DVD is a literal transcription of the concert, so it has only the nineteen tracks from the c.d. version of the event with the same introductions as appear on the audio disc. There are no additional tracks or commentaries. There are, however, four "outtakes." In that section, Taylor stumbles through a take of "Carolina On My Mind," fumbles "Fire And Rain" before talking about a terrible experience he had with the song on the BBC and has make-up applied mid-set. As well, he offers an explanation to "Steamroller" which is actually quite interesting.

Fans of James Taylor will want to include this in their collection and those who are not big fans, this offers a decent enough mix to be a reasonable staple in a collection for one who wants vast diversity. If you need a James Taylor c.d. in your collection, you can do a lot worse than this one and the DVD can be a nice way to kill a couple of hours on a cold, long night.

For other James Taylor albums, please be sure to visit my reviews of:
James Taylor And The Original Flying Machine
Sweet Baby James
Mud Slide Slim And The Blue Horizon
Greatest Hits
New Moon Shine
James Taylor Live
Hourglass
Greatest Hits 2
Appalachian Journey (with Yo-Yo Ma)
October Road
The Best Of James Taylor

7/10

For other album and single reviews, please be sure to check out my Music Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2012, 2008 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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The Lorax Is The Logical Successor To FernGully!

2012-03-01T13:42:00.001-05:00

The Good: Great message, Decent 3-D Effects, Moments of character, Voice acting
The Bad: Very predictable plot, Some moments toned down for children
The Basics: In an artificial, manufactured future, a boy goes on a quest to bring back trees in order to impress a girl in The Lorax!

It occurs to me as I contemplate the latest cinematic endeavor based upon the works of Dr. Seuss, The Lorax, that I had only seen one other recent Dr. Seuss adaptation. I was one of the few critics not overly impressed by Dr. Seuss’s How The Grinch Stole Christmas (reviewed here!) and I did not even bother checking out Dr. Seuss’s The Cat In The Hat with Mike Meyers as a result. So, I was either overdue for some cinematic Dr. Seuss or I was just intrigued enough by the promotions for The Lorax to risk disappointment when I went to the screening.

Fortunately, The Lorax is a lot of fun. More than just being fun, The Lorax has a strong, smart environmental message tailored toward educating and alarming the younger and recently disaffected generations. Perhaps the last time such an overt effort has been made to wake young people up to pending environmental catastrophes was FernGully: The Last Rainforest (reviewed here!). The Lorax succeeds at educating without ever feeling like it is browbeating, probably because the film is so consistently entertaining. As usual in circumstances like these, it has been decades since I read the book The Lorax, so this is a very pure review of the film, without any comparison to the children’s book that spawned it.

In Thneedville, everything is artificial, manufactured to serve the needs of Mr. O’Hare’s business interests. There, the twelve year-old Ted is growing up with a huge crush on Audrey. When Audrey tells Ted that all she truly wants is to see a real, live – not artificial – tree, Ted leaps at the opportunity to win over her heart. This takes Ted, with the help of his Grandma Norma, on a quest outside the walls of Thneedville. Beyond the city, the world is pretty much a stripped, deserted wasteland. Out beyond the boundaries, Ted finds the hermit Once-ler.

The Once-ler tells Ted his story, the story of how he began the deforesting of the world and his encounter with the Lorax. The Lorax, a small creature that advises strongly against cutting down any trees, and the Once-ler get into a conflict. The Lorax wants desperately to save the forests and the creatures living there, while the Once-ler is caught up in producing his Thneed, a device with 100 uses. Eager to win the heart of Audrey, Ted implores the Once-ler to help him find a tree!

The Lorax is much less about the title character and much more about the Once-ler and Ted, though the Lorax is the highlight of the film. The story is very simple and because one goes into the movie knowing a fair amount about the message, it is very hard to complain about the fact that it pretty much goes exactly where one might expect it to. That said, there are far worse things than when a story about saving the world actually pounds that message home and illustrates the potential consequences of failing to protect the environment. The Lorax promotes that message well and delivers a few snappy, fun songs with it to boot.

The Lorax also works well on the character front. Ted and the Once-ler are characterized as foils, just as the Once-ler and the Lorax are opposites. Ted has a wonderful childhood crush on Audrey and the depth of his affection leads him on a quest that helps him love the world (the environment). In stark contrast, the Once-ler is motivated mostly by greed, a self-love. Ignorant to the consequences, the Once-ler is enamored with his own cleverness in creating the Thneed, and he allows his ambition to get the better of him. The dichotomy may be obvious, but it is potent; Ted’s love is positive and flows from him, the Once-ler’s love is concerned more with self-gratification than anything else. And there are worse reasons to want to save the environment than love or romance!

So, the appearance of the Lorax challenges the Once-ler’s sense of ambition and, despite the logic of the argument, fails to sway the Once-ler. The Once-ler is caught in the moment, unable to deal with hypothetical futures. He needs something concrete and the Lorax comes spouting possibilities (albeit high probabilities). In that way, writers Ken Daurio and Cinco Paul (and Dr. Seuss) also make a potent argument for the usefulness of the bearer of bad news. The Lorax is absolutely right in many of his warnings, but he does not present his argument in a way that the Once-ler can actually hear his point. That introduces the intriguing idea that, had the Lorax (and environmentalists in the real world) simply changed their message to suit the recipient, all of the destruction might have been prevented.

The Lorax is presented in beautiful 3-D much the way Despicable Me (reviewed here!) was. The characters are cute and stylized with big eyes and flawless skin. The fur on the Lorax is beautifully rendered on the big screen making the spectacle a surprisingly high selling point for such a substantial film.

As an animated movie, The Lorax features a voice cast, in this case one of the best I have seen and heard in a while. The Lorax might contain the only performance by Rob Riggle (Mr. O’Hare in the film) that I could stand! Zac Efron, Taylor Swift and Betty White dominate the voice talents of the Ted-portion of the movie. Taylor Swift actually impressed me with how her voice is lower in The Lorax than it is on many of her recordings. The Once-ler and Lorax are vocally created by Ed Helms and Danny DeVito, two people who seem exceptionally comfortable in the realm of voiceover work. All of the vocal talents perform well.

This weekend, for a change, audiences have a very clear-cut decision to make when going to the theaters. There is the comparatively highbrow, socially-conscious, solidly entertaining film (The Lorax) and the disappointingly raucous, vacuous, vomit-inducing flick depicting terrible people behaving badly (Project X). I, for one, hope viewers make the smart decision and help Dr. Seuss’s The Lorax bury the other film. If it does, perhaps a bleak, artificial world like the one depicted in The Lorax shall not come to pass.

For other films currently in theaters, please check out my reviews of:
21 Jump Street
The Secret World Of Arietty
Ghost Rider: Spirit Of Vengeance
Safe House
The Vow
Chronicle
Star Wars: The Phantom Menace 3-D

7/10

For other movie reviews, please visit my Movie Review Index Page for an organized list of the hundreds of movies I have reviewed!

© 2012 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.

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Bolthouse Farms Antioxidant Rich Berry Boost Drink Fruit Smoothie Is Healthy, Tasty, But Strangely Indistinct.

2012-03-01T07:11:00.000-05:00

The Good: Good taste, Very nutritious
The Bad: Expensive, Does not taste distinctly like anything.
The Basics: Bolthouse Farms Antioxidant Rich Berry Boost Fruit Smoothie is a good, but not exceptional, addition to the Bolthouse drink line.

By now, it ought to be clear that I am a fan of Bolthouse Farms healthy beverages. In fact, the only thing that robs Bolthouse Farms drinks of generally higher ratings by me is the expense of the drink. At an average price of $2.99 for a 15.2 fluid ounce bottle, it is a little tough to swallow. Sure, one gets vastly more nutrition from these drinks than from cartons of juice, but for around the same price as a 64 fl. oz. carton, to get only 15.2 fluid ounces – less than two full servings – is a real disappointment.

That said, Antioxidant Rich Berry Boost Fruit Smoothie is good, but not extraordinary. This is one of the more objectively average drinks in the brand’s assortment.

Basics

Bolthouse Farms is a health drink brand, which is like an energy drink except that is designed for more of a full-health solution (as opposed to being a liquid vitamin supplement) and they tend to taste better. This is a fruit beverage that is enhanced with nutrients. Bolthouse Farms Antioxidant Rich Berry Boost comes in a 15.2 fl. oz. plastic bottle that is smooth and very portable. The #1 recyclable bottle is filled with the opaque purple liquid, which looks much like a bunch of fruit was just blended together, that is Antioxidant Rich Berry Boost. Bolthouse Farms juice products is one of the leading manufacturer of healthy prepared beverages, both of fruit juices and dairy beverages.

The 15.2 fl. oz. bottle is intended to give consumers just under two servings, which seems pretty ridiculous to me. For some strange reason, Bolthouse Farms cheaps out on a full 16 fl. oz. bottle, which would be two servings.

Ease Of Preparation

Bolthouse Farms Antioxidant Rich Berry Boost is a liquid in the 15.2 fl. oz. bottle and is a ready-to-drink beverage. So, preparation is as easy as opening a plastic bottle. Berry Boost has a plastic cap that easily twists off and can be put back on in order to reseal it. It is important to note that this is supposed to be refrigerated, so quality of the beverage may degrade if it is left out at room temperature before or after the bottle is open. This has a pretty standard security seal ring around the lower half of the cap and informs the consumer as to whether the product has been opened by cracking off when the top is twisted.

Taste

Bolthouse Farms Antioxidant Rich Berry Boost smells fruity, with the scent dominated by blueberries and strawberries. This adequately prepares the consumer for the flavor of the beverage and anyone who likes fruit is likely to be salivating by the time they finish smelling this!

As for the taste, here Bolthouse Farms makes something both delightful and somewhat odd. The initial flavor of the fruit smoothie is a burst of sweetness. The Berry Boost is distinctly berry-flavored in its taste after that and for every subsequent sip of the drink. The flavor changes with almost every sip from blueberry and raspberry to raspberry and strawberry to blackberry and blueberry . . . the flavor is a solid mash-up of berries and it is good, but it is not at all distinct as a result. In other words, this is like a healthy fruit punch; it is flavored like fruit and tastes good in that regard, but it is somewhat indistinct and does not embody any single (or even a pair of) fruit flavor(s).

The aftertaste from the Antioxidant Rich Berry Boost fruit smoothie is slightly sour, but it is not unpleasant.

Nutrition

As a healthy fruit beverage, Bolthouse Farms Antioxidant Rich Berry Boost Fruit Smoothie is designed to fill in some of the nutritional gaps one might have in their diet, while tasting pretty awesome to boot! Nutritionally, Bolthouse Farms Antioxidant Rich Berry Boost is a great option for those who are dieting or are trying to improve their health. Antioxidant Rich Berry Boost is primarily composed of apple puree from concentrate, apple juice from concentrate, and blackberry puree. It contains nothing bad, but does have additional vitamins pumped into it. It is gluten free and does not appear to contain any meat or dairy products in it, so it IS Vegan compliant! As well, there are no preservatives, artificial flavors or colors or genetically modified ingredients!

This drink is also exceptionally healthy for you. One serving of Antioxidant Rich Berry Boost has 1 g fat and 130 calories, 10 of which come from the fat. While there are 21 grams of sugars, the beverage has no cholesterol nor protein! Rather nicely, there are only 20 mg (1% RDA) of sodium in each serving. A single serving is a sufficient source of Vitamin A, Vitamin E, Vitamin B6, Potassium, and Vitamin B12. It has more than your daily needs for Vitamin C.

Storage/Clean-up

Bolthouse Farms Antioxidant Rich Berry Boost comes in a plastic bottle and it keeps for only a few months. The bottle I bought the in mid-February had an expiration date of April 5, 2012. This beverage must be refrigerated!

This drink is a fruit product and bright purple. If this gets on clothes, it will certainly stain them. Consult a care guide for your clothes, though I suspect light clothes would need bleach to get this out. Still, the drink wipes off surfaces easily with a cloth, assuming they are impermeable.

Overall

Bolthouse Farms Antioxidant Rich Berry Boost tastes good, but is what it is. This drink is a pretty indistinct mix of several berries that tastes like a bunch of fruit blended up together. It is okay, but not extraordinary in any way.

For other Bolthouse beverages, please check out my reviews of:
Perfectly Protein Chocolate
Protein Plus Vanilla Chai
Protein Plus Chocolate Mocha

5/10

For other food reviews, please visit my index page for a complete listing by clicking here!

© 2012 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Wes Anderson Starts Pretty Big With Bottle Rocket, A Little Film That Could...

2012-03-01T07:00:00.000-05:00

The Good: Decent acting, Interesting characters
The Bad: A little slow, Not much happens
The Basics: Wes Anderson spends two-thirds of a film trying to avoid telling a crime caper and manages a decent love story instead.

Watching some of his newer works, it might be fairly easy for one to fear that writer and director Wes Anderson is a one-trick pony. After revealing the full extent of his genius with The Royal Tenenbaums, he essentially remade the same movie twice with his subsequent films. So, I was pleasantly surprised when I went back and watched Rushmore, which he did prior to The Royal Tenenbaums. Because I enjoyed that, I decided to go back to his beginning and watch Bottle Rocket. It's fun sometimes to see how writer/directors get their start and Bottle Rocket is no exception.

Bottle Rocket establishes Anderson's known conceits: in each of his movies (it seems) there is a running scene with the camera tracking the runner, a strong use of soundtrack and a number of moments that are quiet and somewhat awkward. I like those latter moments in Anderson's films; they often happen to me so I see their inclusion in his movies as added realism. His movies tend to need to breathe some and that works well. It works well in Bottle Rocket especially, because not so much happens in this movie.

Anthony Adams is rescued from a mental health institution where he has voluntarily checked himself in by Dignan, an idiot who has a plan for the rest of their lives that involves a crime spree. Dignan, Anthony and Bob rob Anthony's house in order to have enough money to stay on the run until they are able to hook up with Mr. Henry, a supposedly notorious crime boss that Dignan used to work for. After robbing a book store, the trio descends upon a motel to lay low for a while.

While Bob is called back home to help get his brother out of a legal jam involving pot being grown in the backyard, Anthony falls in love with the beautiful housekeeper Inez. Determined to stay with her, but bothered by Dignan, they eventually set out to find Mr. Henry and begin their planned life of crime . . . with unexpected results.

Bottle Rocket is a very slow movie and it is inappropriately billed as a crime caper. Instead of being a crime caper, it is pretty much a group of people waiting to become criminals and the one whom the audience empathizes with most (Anthony) falls in love instead. Far more time is spent in Bottle Rocket with getting Anthony to Inez and then him trying to communicate with her and fall in love with her than with any of the Dignan plots. Instead, the film is something of a farce on the expectations of what a crime movie will be.

This puts director Wes Anderson in something of a bind because the script he and co-writer Owen Wilson wrote ends up being a movie that is not much of anything. It is a period of transition for Anthony and Dignan and it is entertaining for those patient enough to go along with it, but not so much for those who might be looking for something meaningful. It is a pretty standard Wes Anderson dramedy, though, effectively mixing quirky characters with a dramatic situation that results in a film that is both funny and dramatic.

The aspect of Bottle Rocket that is a tough sell is certainly in the plot. This is not a movie where much happens, but as a debut film goes, it quickly becomes a decent exercise in style to illustrate just what Wes Anderson is capable of. In fact, the only usual conceit included in a Wes Anderson film that is not in Bottle Rocket is an appearance by Bill Murray. James Caan more than makes up for that as Mr. Henry.

Because so little happens in Bottle Rocket, the film largely rests on the backs of the actors and the characters they portray to sell the story. Owen Wilson plays Dignan and Bottle Rocket is not a bad outing for him. Owen is able to deadpan remarkably well and he has some of the most memorable one-liners in the film. Running around with a buzz cut, he smoothly delivers a line about simply liking short hair to someone who assumes Dignan is in the military. Owen gets an easy laugh with the simple line in that case and it works beautifully to establish the character.

Outside the performance by Owen Wilson, though, Dignan is a largely unlikable character and one who seems to waste much of the viewer's time and attention on screen. Instead, the storyline between Anthony and Inez is far more compelling. Theirs is a simple love story but it works because both characters seem to want many of the same things. So, despite the fact that Inez does not speak much English, when Anthony makes it clear how he feels about her, the film is a pleasant and quiet little love story more than anything else. It's almost too bad that Dignan comes back to upset that story with his witless crime schemes and the pursuit of Mr. Henry.

Lumi Cavazos plays Inez and she has a very simple and powerful screen presence that makes her a good rival for screentime with Owen Wilson. Where Owen is frenetic and moves so much and says so much, Cavazos establishes her character with a minimal amount of movement and dialogue. She is stunning to view and quietly brilliant in the simplicity of her performance.

Cavazos plays well off Luke Wilson, who plays Anthony. Luke Wilson gives a subtle performance of his own, much different from, for example, his role in My Super Ex-Girlfrend. In Bottle Rocket, he is quiet, thoughtful and plays a character who has tangible sense of insecurity to him. Luke portrays this with a very introverted sense of body language, holding himself with a slight slouch and delivering his lines in a quiet timbre that is realistic for one who might have recently had a nervous breakdown.

Bottle Rocket is a tough sell and I think I enjoyed it more because it showed a solid start for director Wes Anderson. On DVD, there is a commentary track and trailers, but not much more (I did not have access to the Criterion Collection DVD). The film looks and sounds good, though. This movie has an art house movie feel to it and those who go into it with that as the expectation are much more likely to enjoy it than those who go in figuring it will be some great crime caper.

For other works by Wes Anderson, be sure to visit my reviews of:
The Fantastic Mr. Fox
The Darjeeling Limited
The Squid And The Whale
The Royal Tenenbaums

5.5/10

For other movie reviews, please visit my Film Review Index Page for an organized listing of all my movie reviews!

© 2012, 2008 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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The Dismal Sylvan Beach Amusement Park (Nothing Amusing About Proposing Here!)!

2012-03-01T06:37:00.000-05:00

Sylvan Beach,New York,USA
The Good: Nice small town feel, Friendly people
The Bad: Relatively expensive for the size/location, Fairly dirty
The Basics: Small and dirty, Sylvan Beach Amusement Park is more or less guaranteed to disappoint people who want real fun.

Virtually every day for the past five years, I have driven past the Sylvan Beach Amusement Park in Sylvan Beach, New York. For years, I drove by it to take my spouse to work or to pick my spouse up at work and since the divorce, I have driven by it to get everywhere else. Sylvan Beach Amusement Park is situated in Sylvan Beach - essentially a one street town - off Oneida Lake and the fastest way to get from the north shore of the lake to places like Syracuse, Oneida, Canastota, and even just the New York State Thruway, is to go through Sylvan Beach, past the amusement park.

In the summer, Sylvan Beach Amusement Park is a bustling little cash cow for the local economy and in the winter, it is a skeleton of snow drifts and abandonment. I'm not sure which is better considering the mediocre state of this amusement park.

Location

On Route 13 in Sylvan Beach, New York, Sylvan Beach Amusement Park is a strip of rides more or less right off the sidewalk between the major route and the waterfront. Being liberal with the dimensions, this is park is perhaps a half mile long by a quarter mile deep (much more likely about 3/8 miles long by 300 meters deep), with about twenty rides, an arcade and various food stands. As well, there is now a small miniature golf section in the park, which is right off the roadside, so it encourages players to aim well.

Sylvan Beach is pretty much the back end of nowhere in Upstate New York. It is about twenty-five miles from Syracuse, NY and about the same distance to Utica, NY. Outside the amusement park and a few dining options, there is nothing to do in Sylvan Beach, save swim or boat (if one has a boat). This small amusement park is basically set on asphalt and grass feet away from a one lane (each direction) route that carries all sorts of traffic around Oneida Lake. The park is basically bordered by road, parking lot, lake, and a small cross street/beach on its four sides.

Ease Of Local Transport/Parking

If you can find Oneida Lake and Route 13, Sylvan Beach Amusement Park is easy enough to find. From the Thruway, head away from Canastota (a right when you get off at the Canastota exit, Exit 34), and in approximately eight miles, there it is on the left. Sylvan Beach Amusement Park is generally only crowded in the summertime.

Parking has recently become a sore spot, especially for the locals. Route 13 has parking right on it, at least on the park-side of the street. However, in the summer, there is a fee to park and the Pay-To-Park meters only allow one to pay for two hours, before one moves their car. As well, pay-to-park meters have been put up in the parking lot for the Sylvan Beach Amusement Park. Anyone planning to spend time at the beach or the amusement park ought to bring $5 - $10 and plan on moving the car periodically while at Sylvan Beach Amusement Park. The State Trooper's office is on the same lawn as the amusement park and they have been very proud of their local ticketing abilities the last few years.

Activity/Purpose

Well, Sylvan Beach Amusement Park is - allegedly - a place to go and be amused, at lease for a few hours. During the day, there is miniature golf, an arcade with a few video games and skeeball, a haunted house, a giant slide, a roller coaster and several rides. Rides include: tea cups, a kiddie coaster (it goes up and down in a wave as opposed to upside down or such), a tilt-a-whirl, bumper cars, and a spinning ride with two cars at opposite ends of a long, centrally pivoting pole (I've no clue what the name of it is, though).

The roller coaster is a very simple metal and wood coaster with a steep initial incline, two rough turns and no loops. It is only about three stories high, so it does not go terribly fast or vigorously. The scariest aspect of it is that it creaks something fierce when riding it, so there is the sensation that at any moment the whole thing could collapse. That is far more frightening than the actual speeds of it.

Similarly, the haunted house ride is a lame little predictable dark ride with things that jump out or glow at pretty predictable intervals. The giant slide is very much for kids, about two and a half stories up, the plastic slide is a pretty conservative descent and it is only open when there is a guard on duty, so it is pretty safe.

The rest of the rides are very typical: the tea cups twirl, the tilt-a-whirl goes fast round and round, then rises to take a place more or less perpendicular to the ground. And after watching Carnivale (reviewed here!) for the last few weeks and seeing the Colossus ferris wheel, the Sylvan Beach Amusement Park's ferris wheel (which is not taller than the roller coaster) seems pitiful by comparison.

More than that, the rides are almost universally dirty, which I suppose is to be expected wherever children are involved. However, having been to well-maintained theme parks, this one seems especially dirty. Indeed, virtually every surface at Sylvan Beach Amusement Park seems to be coated in leftover ice cream, snot and dirt from children who have played on the beach, sneezed and then ridden the rides (not as an organized movement, you understand, but this seems to be how it all gets everywhere). In riding the bumper cars years ago, was quite happy when I found one car that was clean and my germaphobe companion found one she could live with. But once we got those cars, we sure stayed in them!

There is skeeball, which earns the player tickets that can be redeemed for things like little plastic rings. This should not be an excuse to play skeeball and/or propose at Sylvan Beach. Seriously, hold off for someplace classy. With more tickets, for example, one can win stuffed animals or little plastic spiders. Go for those!

In the main Sylvan Beach Amusement Park, rides are paid for via tickets. Tickets (last time I went) were 3/$1.00 with bulk packages for $5.00, $10.00, etc. I used to go on their "Unlimited Ride Night," which allowed us to ride all the rides after 7 P.M. on Wednesday for $10.00. We rode the bumper cars for hours those nights. Good times, kid crud and all.

It ought to be noted, though, that despite my generalized loathing of children, Sylvan Beach Amusement Park has the benefit of being a remarkably safe place for children. Sylvan Beach is a relatively small community, there is a New York State Troopers office right on the grounds and it is very well patrolled, including at night (note to adults: it is well-patrolled at night! NOT a good place to sit in the car necking!). There is a very low occurrence of child-related problems at Sylvan Beach Amusement Park, at least that make the press.

Dining

At Sylvan Beach Amusement Park there is a pizza stand that makes pizza and fried dough. As well, there is a kiosk with hot dogs and hamburgers and another that sells cotton candy and snow cones. This is, of course, carnival type food as expected. Across the street from Sylvan Beach Amusement Park, there are two pizza places, a nice diner, and a fine dining restaurant as well as a new night club (hey, we locals were as surprised by that as outsiders who see us as hicksville!). On the same strip, there is the famous local restaurant Eddie's and the fine seafood restaurant, Captain John's.

But at the amusement park, there is pretty much just fast food which leaves children with sticky or slimy hands.

Shopping

The closest to shopping that Sylvan Beach Amusement Park has is the skeeball alley with its tickets that can be redeemed for prizes. On the strip across from the park are places to shop, like a swim shop. Just down the way is a Dollar General, a local convenience store, and the local head shop*

Overall

Sylvan Beach Amusement Park is about an hour's worth of fun, so it's a tough sell for those looking to make a vacation here. As part of a day at the beach or one of the local state parks, I suppose it could be an interesting distraction. But for people who are young, in love and looking to get out of the apartment, there are vastly better - even less expensive - places to go for a fun night.

For other New York parks, be sure to visit my reviews of:
Fair Haven State Park
Chittenango Falls State Park
Green Lakes State Park

* The local head shop was recently closed down and currently the building is occupied by - no kidding - a pool and spa seller.

2/10

For other destinations, please visit my Travel Review Index Page for a complete, organized list of my travel reviews!

© 2012, 2008 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.

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