Law & Order Is The Best Hour Of The Day

Authored by Oswaldo Blackburn

Being the avid lover of crime shows, Law and Order has always been one of my absolute favorites. It doesn't matter if it is SVU or Criminal Intent, I love them all the same! Now that Law & Order is broadcast in HD, I could not be happier! The show airs nightly in my city, so each day at 8:00 p.m. I curl up on my soft and cozy couch, grab the remote and a drink, and turn Law & Order on myexpertsatellite tv. It is the best hour of the entire evening!

Watching the show in HD makes it so much better. I don't know, makes it even feel more real to me. I am not sure if anyone else feels that way about HD or not, but I have wondered where HD has been all my life! I could never again go back to regular television, at least not with my Law & order that is! The picture is so crystal clear it can be described as nothing but simply amazing! So glad to have HD television in my home with my favorite show coming to me!

Hola Dora!

Guest post written by my buddy Hans Hale

As the mother of a 3 year old daughter, I am always concerned about the time she spends in front of a television set with DIRECTV satellite specials. But now that we have discovered Dora the Explorer on Nickelodeon, I feel much more confident about her watching television. The show comes on twice daily in the morning, and she and I turn on the satellite tv and watch our favorite show together.

Dora teaches so many wonderful things! Even at 3 my daughter is able to speak some Spanish words. In addition to teaching Spanish, Dora teaches numbers, letters, counting, colors, and so much more. Boots is our all time favorite character, and the "I'm The Map" song seems to stay stuck in both of our heads all day long. I've even caught myself in the middle of the store singing it, to some wondering eyes.

It is nice to be able to have programs such as Dora that offer more than entertainment for children of her age. Even as a grown woman I have learned from Dora! What could be better than a show designed for youngsters teaching mom too? All salute Dora and Boots!

Twitter update

I've decided against using @ObservantReader as the primary Twitter account for this blog. It didn't make sense for me to create a new account when I already have one. So if you're interested, follow me @EnnuiPrayer instead. However, I'm not that much of an interesting guy. And I do have my random moments of tweeting like a madman. Or, you can just keep tabs on me via the widget on ===> that side of the page. 

Weekend Movie Update

This is probably the first movie update I'm doing where the movies aren't adaptations. I said last month that I'd be doing these, though I'm as good at reviewing movies as I am at books. So in no particular order, here are the movies I've seen so far:

Black Swan

Starring: Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis & Vincent Cassel

Director: Darren Aronofsky

Release Date: 17 December 2010

DVD Release Date: N/A

Approx Time: 108mins 

Genre: Drama/Thriller

Rated: R

Not since his adaptation of Requiem for a Dream has Darren Aronosfsky made a film worth my time. Some might argue his 2009 film, The Wrestler, was worthy, but those people aren't me. 

Maybe it's just me, but it seems that most - if not all - of Aronofsky's films have one common theme: Obsession.  Black Swan is no exception. Nina Sayers (Portman) strives for perfection, hoping that director Thomas Leroy (Cassel) casts her as the lead in their dance production company's performance of Swan Lake. When veteran dancer Beth Macintyre (Winona Ryder) is forced into retirement due to her age, Thomas gives Nina the lead. But strange things start to happen in Nina's life as she strives to perfect her performance of the Black Swan. From her overbearing mother to the beautiful Lily (Kunis), Nina starts to see tiny plots to take the lead away from her - a role she's willing to kill to keep.

Much like the "moral" of Requiem for a Dream - which was more Hubert Selby, Jr's moral than Aronofsky's - Nina's obsession to see her dream through comes with a price. And if she doesn't learn how to let go, she'll only see her self destruction after it's too late. 

While I could've lived without the a lot of the special effects presented in the movie - which are used, I suppose, to highlight the transformation of Nina as White Swan to Nina as Black Swan (metaphorically, anyway) - they seemed a little over the top and cheapen the movie experience. Nevertheless, the direction and performances save the movie from becoming a flop. It's highly worthy of anyone's time, especially those who love the psychology of films such as this. 

Over all rating: 4 out of 5 stars.

Other products mentioned in this post:

BlueSky Scrubs

I'm pretty sure you medical folks out there know how hard it is to purchase a pair of scrubs - or a lab coat, for that matter. Well, not so much hard as expensive. And you've probably all asked the same question - "Where can I buy scrubs online without spending so much?" Believe it or not, there is an online store that usually has nursing uniforms for sale.

The site carries a large variety of scrubs, nursing uniforms and lab coats for men, women and even children for reasonable prices. Just check out the nursing uniform catalog to see if they carry what you're looking for. 

A Sordid Love Affair

Amazon Kindle (wifi) conquers bound books

It was a conversation that took place almost six years ago that keeps repeating itself in my head. I'm in the office of my then creative writing professor, Rene Saldana, Jr., chatting up a storm - which I was known to do in those days with my college professors. He brought up the conversation about the future of books, asking me what I thought of it. The conversation is vague in my head, but my answer was somewhere along the lines of, "E-books aside, the printed word is here to stay.*" It was around then that the steady of slump in newspaper sells was being noted. Magazines were now offering digital subscriptions. It seemed that the printed age was coming to an end. But I was steadfast and headstrong. "People are always going to buy books." Let the pseudo readers have their electronic readers. Let them have their digital copies. Real readers, like me, will always want to have our shelves filled with pages of authors long since passed and the words of our contemporaries. 

Fast-forward five years, a more "adult" me sees the new Amazon Kindle with free 3G and WiFi. I feel this sudden urge to claim one of my own. But what of the highlighting of important passages? What of scribbling notes on a Post-It and sticking it to the margins - I've never been one who could bring myself to writing in my books (other than text books, of course). It's only my weakness when I realize that Kindle offers all this, sans having to find that pen and sticky note. It's at my fingertips. Everything I ever wanted. Was I wrong all those years ago? Or have I just come to term that I'm not a real reader, but one of the pseudo lot. Am I cheating on the printed word?

Not every book is available, yet.

And why the Kindle and not the Nook or whatever it is Borders offers? Why not an iPad instead? Well, the Nook isn't attractive to the eye. We don't have a Borders here so I hold some prejudice against them. And I despise all things Apple as I see most people who own it in the same light that I see people who buy Starbucks - pretentious sheep who aren't clever enough to realize they're not buying a product, but a name. Monica even made a case with an iPad, stating she's just download the free app. But whenever I think about the apps I downloaded for my phone and netbook, I can't help to think of my face. Because that's pretty much what I'm looking at. 

See what really got me hooked on the Kindle was the E Ink Pearl technology - which means, rather than it feeling like you're looking at some screen, you have this illusion that you're reading a real book - save all the trees that had to die in the process. Not to mention it's also pencil thin. 

Another friend, Eddie, mentioned how he hasn't read a conventional book since he got his. I don't plan on turning my back on bound books, but I do plan to buy less classics (whenever possible). Public Domain books, for the most part, are free. And what beat free? We'll see where this leads me in the end, but so far, this little guy is going to make 2011 that much more entertaining for me. Until next time, keep on huntin'.

*Trust me when I say this, I didn't sound anything like that. What's the point of having a blog if I can't powder myself up?

Start the Spring Semester right & save money

This has made my month!

Call it my late Christmas present or my early Dia de los Reyes gift, I'm calling it awesome. After a few days of tracking and pining, my copy of Annabel by Kathleen Winter finally arrived in the mail. Tagged along with it was my Amazon Kindle!!!! Okay, we all know what the major joy of that package was; I just didn't want Kathleen Winter's book to pale in comparison. 

There have been several instances in my life when I denied ever wanting a reading device. I even mention my conversation with my old creative writing professor - Rene Saldana, Jr. - about the subject. I don't think this device would keep me from buying hard copies, but it will reduce my spending on public domain novels - as they are free on Amazon (for the most part, anyway). I'll write more on this subject later.

Moving on, I'm excited to read Annabel once I get around to completing Queen of the Damned by Anne Rice. The inside flap reads as follows:

A #1 best seller in Canada, award winning author Kathleen Winter's debut novel is an intimate portrait of the family of a mixed-gender child born into a remote, blue-collar seaside town in Eastern Canada.

In 1968, into the devastating, beautiful landscape of Labrador, a child is born: a baby who appears to be neither fully boy nor fully girl, but both at once. Only three people are privy to the secret - the baby's parents, Jacinta and Treadway, and their trusted neighbor and midwife, Thomasina. Though Treadway makes the difficult decision to raise the child as a boy named Wayne, the women continue to quietly nurture the boy's female side. And as Wayne grows into adulthood within the hypermasculine hunting society of his father, his shadow-self, a girl he thinks of as "Annabel," is never entirely extinguished.

 When Wayne finally escapes the confines of his hometown and settles in S. John's, the anonymity of the city grants him the freedom to confront his dual identity. His ultimate choice will once again call into question the integrity and allegiance of those he loves most.

 It's no surprised that the novel caught my attention. While not directly related to my current writing project, it does - I hope - lend me some insight on the subject of gender identity. Annabel was first published in 2010. This edition was published by Black Cat, a paperback original imprint of Grove/Atlantic, Inc. 

New Year, New You

It seems like every year, we all make some resolution of toning or shaping up. After all the holiday gluttony, I can see why. And let me tell you now, I'm far from being immune - though, I tend to make resolutions every three months until I collapse from exhaustion (have you tried partaking in a turkey eating contest with my family?). Well, this year is different from the last. I'm going to learn how to self motivate and keep up with my exercises and possible diet. 

Now diets have gotten a bad rap from several mediums. A lot of people say they don't work and for the most part, these people are right. The diets they're talking about are fad diets, which rarely work at all - think Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution. Real dieters will tell you, however, it's not so much the portions you eat a day, but what those portions are made up of. 

Here are a few diet books that I've personally tried and seen results:

1. The Abs Diet - Now in a new edition, David Zinczenko - the editor-in-chief of Men's Health - combines common sense diet knowledge, a great exercise regimen and meal plans to help you get back into shape. I can't tell you much about what the new edition contains, but the older edition did help me shed off extra pounds - up until I stopped, anyway. There's a supplemental cookbook and a recipe book that you can purchase, a women's version of the diet, as well as, workout DVDs (for the ladies) if that's your fancy.  
2. Also from the editors of Men's Health comes The Belly Off! Diet - written along with Jeff Csatari. Not to be confused with Flat Belly Diet, Belly Off! started off as an idea online. It compiles true results stories of people online, combines techniques used by several online users and created this great diet and exercise plan. Like The Abs Diet, Belly Off! includes an exercise section that'll aid you to complete your weight-loss goal. It also includes recipes - so you don't have to go off and buy another book - and a grocery list. 
3. Now there's nothing more common sense than the Eat This, Not That series - also from Men's Health (I'm sensing a pattern here). Because there are several, the most important guides are Supermarket Survival Guide and the Restaurant Survival Guide. If you have kids who are less than active, you might want to think about getting the for Kids! edition.
4. Because the time to mold your beach body is now, rather than the week before Spring Break, your best bet is to check out P90X. I warn you - as I have found out for myself - these are intense workouts - even the yoga pretty much crippled me. It's not for the faint of heart or those easily discouraged. If you do take this route, I suggest you start out with a lighter workout first. That way it's not too much of a shock when you step into it. Check more info either via Amazon or the Beachbody website. The package includes a nutrition guide, an exercise planner and 13 DVDs. It's pricey, so it's not something you want to buy unless you're determined. 

Setting all this aside, if you want to lose weight without spending money, the best laid plans are ones that make sense. Drop the fatty foods you know are bad for you. Stop eating out as much, and choose healthier foods if you wind up at a restaurant. When preparing your own meals, choose lean cut meats and chickens, fish containing Omega-3. Make sure to have plenty of veggies - try the thirds idea, where you divide your plate into three sections, dedicating two-thirds to veggies and carbs (not too much of the latter if you're not openly active). Take walks and bike rides. But most importantly, find a partner who is motivated if you don't happen to be - they'll motivate you if it kills you. And don't drop your healthy choices once you're at the achieved goal. Otherwise, you'll just slump back into bad habits. Remember, three healthy meals a day tagged along with three healthy snacks in between. Trade your potato chips for carrots and your candy for nuts. You can do this.

Books in the Mail

My final BetterWorldBooks order of 2010 shipped in today, consisting of three books - two of which land on the naughty list. 

• Do Me: Tales of Sex & Love from Tin House - (inside flap) Do Me gathers the smartest, sexiest fiction and essays from the award-winning journal Tin House. In this collection, the stories do more than just titillate; Tin House authors explore sex from all angles: first moves, breakups, blind gay cruises, furrie conventions, married sex, bad sex, on the phone, and in pools, fun houses, Vegas hotels, and public parks. Hilarious and irreverent, Do Me puts a new spin on bedtime reading and its essential fare for those who crave food for the brain as well as the libido.
• Zen Sex by Philip Toshio Sudo - (inside flap) In zen, every moment is a chance to lose ourselves in the substance of life, every encounter an opportunity for spiritual awakening. In this passionate and inspiring guide, Philip Toshio Sudo explains the zen of sex.\\"Don't try. Do,m:" say zen masters. Put technique aside. Stop fretting over sexual frequency. Love your body. Frolic. Tease. Make love. All it takes to be a good zen lover is a giving heart, and the awareness of the life force coursing through our bodies. Zen Sex will help you cultivate that love within the capacity for feeling ecstasy and giving joy that is nothing short of divine. (This continues on, but that's the gist of the book.)
• Gravity by Tess Gerritsen - (inside flap) Emma Watson, a brilliant research physician, has been training for the mission of a lifetime: to study living beings in space. Jack McCallum, Emma's estranged husband, has shared her dream of space travel, but a medical condition has grounded and embittered him. He must watch from the sidelines as his wife prepares for her first mission to the International Space Station.\\Once aboard the space station, however, things start to go terribly wrong. A culture of single-celled organisms known as Archaeons, gathered from the deep sea, is to be monitored in the microgravity of space. The true and lethal nature of this experiment has not been revealed to NASA. In space, the cells rapidly multiply and soon begin to infect the crew - with agonizing and deadly results.\\A recovery attempt ends in catastrophe; the NASA shuttle crashes, and the space station is left dangerously crippled. Emma struggles to contain the deadly microbe, while back home, Jack and NASA work against the clock to retrieve Emma from space.\\But there will be no rescue. The contagion now threatens Earth's population as well, and the astronauts are left stranded in orbit, quarantined aboard the station - where they are dying one by one...

They all seem like interesting reads, don't you think?

15 Books You Should Have Read in 2010 - Culture - GOOD

Considering that the year is only three days old, there's no harm or foul to post a list of 15 Books You Should Have Read in 2010 compiled by Good.is. The truth is, the only book I read in 2010 that was released in 2010 was Ice Cold by Tess Gerritsen. 

By the looks of the list, however, it's not exclusively for books published within the year as Italo Calvino's Invisible Cities was also on the list. Patti Smith's book, Just Kids, made it on the list, as well. In fact, her book and that of Keith Richards are the only ones that draw my attention. Sadly, I didn't get to purchase Just Kids as of yet. But the book hunter is patient. We have to be. I'll just tide myself over with her poetry collection in the mean while.

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Most Anticipated Books of 2011 - The Daily Beast

It would seem that the Daily Beast has released it Most Anticipated Books of 2011 list, and I got to say the only book to pique this book hunter's interest is Kenneth Slawenski's biography on the late J.D. Salinger. There are several good ones, no doubt, but I'm not a fan of Ronald Reagan and I don't think I've ever sat through an entire book by Joyce Carol Oates - I know, I know. Some English major I turned out to be. Politically, O: A Presidential Novel has garnered some of my attention, but not enough for me to want to go out and read the book. Besides, I have little respect for anonymous political fiction writers who usually turn out to be some news reporter known for his/her bias. Open City by Teju Cole, on the other hand, just might be the book for me this year. If it's a hunt I want, I'm sure it's a hunt I'll get it. Anyway, check out the list and see what the year holds.

New Year's Resolution: Get Better TV

I'm going to stop letting others push me around. And that includes a certain cable provider who has lied to the public one commercial at a time. They promise so much and provide very little. I think it's time that all of us just take the stand and shout out, "No!"

It's like bad politics with them - they boast how much better than Directv, but they fall short with their promises. Not only that, but they treat you like a number. Promising fast service and great customer relationships, it still takes them several days to serve you. It's a shame, really, because they'd be a great company if it weren't for those broken promises. And don't even get me started on their Internet services - no outages? Pfft,  yeah right, buddy.

So ring in the New Year by canceling your subscribtion to that mean old cabel company, and click the link that allows you to chose from several Directv packages and select the one that's right for you. Let go of the myths instilled on you by bad commericals. Don't just watch TV, as the slogan goes, Direct TV.