Snowpiercer - Complete Second Season

 

Snowpiercer - The Complete First Season

Synopsis

As Season One ended, so did the revolution, with Layton emerging as Snowpiercer's leader and another threat to the survivors fast approaching in the form of a rival train.  

In Season Two, Mr. Wilford arrives, bringing a secret from Melanie's past.  A new power struggle emerges causing a dangerous rift as people are divided between their loyalties to Layton and to Mr. Wilford, who has a new train, new technology and a game plan that keeps everyone guessing.  While Layton battles Wilford for the soul of Snowpiercer, Melanie leads the charge over a shocking new discovery that could change the fate of humanity.

My Thoughts

I enjoy watching apocalyptical movies and television series with my husband and children. It allows us to debate on what if scenarios of multiple sorts.   Whether we like it or not, I think it is good for our brain to think of how we would react and survive if something dramatic would happen on our planet.   

Let me remind you that this series is a reboot of a film,    The series follows the passengers of the Snowpiercer, a moving train that circle around the globe, after the planet became a frozen world.   The series deal with various themes like class warfare, social injustice and politics during a time of survival.  

A series like this is great to stir interesting discussions with your teenagers I find.  There is so much we could glean from the episodes and the themes explored.

This BluRay contains a digital code as well as special features that are linked to the arrival of Mr. Wilford.

The series  was renewed for a third season which will premiere in January 2022 and has already been renewed for a fourth season.  Keep your eyes on this series as I think we will see more new twists and turns in Snowpiercer.

Disclaimer: Thanks to Falkowitz PR for sending me this book for review purposes.  I was not monetarily compensated for this review.  Please note that the review was not influenced by the Sponsor in any way.  All opinion expressed here are only my own.

Superman & Lois: The Complete First Season Blue-Ray and DVD

 I will admit something - we do not have cable television for what seems like forever.   We simply rely on Netflix, Disney+, AppleTV+ and Amazon Prime.

So I did not know about the television series entitled Superman & Lois.  Yes, I know, chocking when it comes to a family who usually follow all television shows and movies from either Marvel or DC.   (We are behind on some of these television shows as we do not have cable... but we do watch them.)

Anyhow, when I had the opportunity to promote the release of the Complete First Season of Superman & Lois in both Blu-Ray and DVD, I jumped on the opportunity.   Even my husband was unaware of this television series.

So this American superhero drama is based on the DC Comics characters Superman and Lois Lane and the series is set in the Arrowverse which means it share the continuity with the other television series of the franchise.

This is a brand new television series which premiered on February 2021 - in the midst of the pandemic.   A second season was ordered and should premiere in early 2022.

Premise: Clark Kent/Superman and Lois Lane return to Smallville with their sons, Jonathan and Jordan, where they are reacquainted with Lana Land, her husband Kyle Cushing and their daughter Sarah.   Their idyllic lives are upended when The Stranger enters as well as the secret experiments of Morgan Edge.

The Blu-Ray contains all 15 episodes from the first season in high definition as well as a digital code (US only).   The 15 episodes are:

1. Pilot
2. Heritage
3. The Perks of Not Being a Wallflower
4. Haywire
5. The Best of Smallville
6. Broken Trust
7. Man of Steel
8. Holding the Wrench
9. Loyal Subjekts
10. O Mother, Where Art Thou?
11. A Brief Reminiscence In-Between Cataclysmic Events
12. Through the Valley of Death
13. Fail Safe
14. The Eradicator
15. Last Sons of Krypton

The special features included are:

• Superman: Alien Spirit
• Superman and Lois Legacy of Hope
• Never Alone: Heroes and Allies
• DC FanDome Panel: Superman & Lois.

One thing is for sure is that we are looking forward to watch this television series that we were not aware existed as soon as we have some time to do so.   

This Blu-Ray and DVD television series, which is released on October 19th 2021,  is available at your favorite store even on Amazon.

Amazon CANADA

 

Amazon US 

Disclaimer: I have received this DVD from Warner Bros, Home Entertainment and Falkowitz PR.  I was not monetarily compensated for this review.  Please note that the review was not influenced by the Sponsor in any way. All opinions expressed here are only my own.

A Cinderella Story - Starstruck (DVD)

 A new DVD has been released last year on a familiar story to everyone - Cinderella.  However, this Cinderella movie has a few twists on its own.

First of all this is a musical film set in Dreary, Idaho.   It stars Bailee Madison as our modern-day heroine Finley Tremain and Michael Evans Behling as her charming remantic interest, Jackson Stone.   Second, the title of the movie/musical is A Cinderlla Story: StarStruck is set in a farming community.

Synopsis: Finley Tremaine, a small-town farm girl, longs to spread her wings and soar as an aspiring performer.  When a Hollywood film crew arrives in her sleepy town, she is determined to land a role in the production and capture the attention of handsome lead actor Jackson Stone.  Unfortunately, a botched audition forces her to change course.  Now, disguised as cowboy Huck, Finley finally gets her big break.  But can she keep the charade a secret from everyone, including her evil stepmother and devious step-siblings?

This is the sixth installment in the A Cinderella Story movie series.  Note that I had no clue that this was part of a series of similar titles that have been released in more recent years:

• A Cinderella Story with Hilary Duff
• Another Cinderella Story with Selena Gomez
• A Cinderella Story: Once Upon a Song with Lucy Hale
• A Cinderella Store: If the Shoe Fits with Sofia Carson
• A Cinderella Story: Christmas Wish with Laura Marano

The DVD also also contains special features:

1) Finley's Best Friends: Meet the Farm Animals

2) Dirt Under My Nails: The Making of A Cinderella Story: StarStruck.

If you like Cinderella type of stories, you will probably like this new movie.  However, if you find there is too many of these type of movies out there, I would suggest that you find something else to watch until you are in the mood for it.

Disclaimer: I have received this DVD from Warner Bros, Home Entertainment and Falkowitz PR.  I was not monetarily compensated for this review.  Please note that the review was not influenced by the Sponsor in any way. All opinions expressed here are only my own.

Supernatural - 15th Season DVD

Watch out Supernatural fans because the fifteenth and final season of the beloved television show is now out in Blu-Ray and DVD.  Reunite wit the Winchester Brothers in this last season of the television show.

This specific season contains the final 20 epic episodes from the landmark series' final season, as well as a bonus disc loaded with over two hours of special features including the special retrospective episode Supernatural: The Long Road Home.   

The Final season bonus disc is composed of the following features:

• Supernatural: The End of the Road
• Supernatural: Family Don't End in Blood
• Gag Reel
• Deleted Scenes
• Supernatural: 2019 Comic-Con Panel
• Winning Baby: A Supernatural Giveaway
• Winchester Mythology: Midwestern Heroes
• Supernatural: The Long Road Home - Special Retrospective Episode.

Easy to find at any store where you purchase your DVDs or Blu-Rays.

Disclaimer: I have received this DVD from Warner Bros, Home Entertainment and Falkowitz PR.  I was not monetarily compensated for this review.  Please note that the review was not influenced by the Sponsor in any way. All opinions expressed here are only my own.

Reflections on the past year

 Hard to believe it has been a year already...

What am I talking about?  Well a year ago I headed back to work after over 13 years of homeschooling my children.

The journey to find work started more than 2 years before that but it takes time now to get employment and I guess it was not the time to do so for me.   Besides 2019 was a year of grief and I needed healing in so many different ways.

Nevertheless 2020 started and I had some interviews.   In March, I was offered a position under contract at  one of the universities in town.  My start date was set to March 16.  

Was I nervous when this date arrived? You can bet I was...  so I drove to work in order to arrive for 8am.  I entered the building and went where I was suppose to go.   I wasn’t sure which door I needed to take but my supervisor came and asked me if I had received her message.  What message I asked?   Turns out that all employees were sent home because of the pandemic.  Most workplace in Ontario had to respect the new COVID restrictions of the province.   I stayed literally many a good 10 minutes.  I had to go back home.

Throughout the week, I attended virtual meeting, did online training, slowly set up my computer at home. It took about a week to have access to everything I needed.  My training for this position was done virtually.

Then a couple of months later, a coworker was going on maternity leave.  I decided to apply on the position because the salary was higher.  I got the position and was trained again virtually for 2 weeks before her maternity leave started.   For about 2 months I juggled the responsibilities of both positions until the new employee which was taking over the first position started in August.

Today, I am reflecting on the year of busyness as I call it.  These positions has brought a lot of activities in my daily work.   Not only do I have to work mostly from home but at times I do have to be on site for the learning activities of the students that I am managing.   COVID has thrown curve balls at us for scheduling and managing things but we have always found solutions for it.   The learning activities I am in charge had to be tweaked due to restrictions in the number of people allowed in the rooms where they are held but in the end we are trying very hard to make the learning be interesting to the students.

Today I celebrate my First year being at the university and I am in awe of the blessings the Lord had poured on our family.   One year ago, He has opened a door for me to get back on the market and to build up my confidence.  It has been an amazing year trusting Him in so many ways.  I am thankful for His presence in my life and His care for me and my family.   

I am not alone.  He is with me every day of the year - every single year  that goes by.

Have you trusted God lately?

Sous Vide Cooking

 Have you ever heard of Sous Vide Cooking?  I have heard of it but never had tasted it. 

According to Wikipedia, Sous Vide is the French for under vacuum.   Sous Vide Cooking is known as low temperature long time cooking which is a method of cooking in which the food is place in a plastic pour and cooked in a water bath for longer than usual cooking times at a precisely regulated temperature.

Recently, I have had the opportunity to review a Sous Vide device and over the past week-end, we have cooked not once but twice with it.

The pictures included in this post show you the second meal we have made which was a roast.

We have put the roast in a plastic bag and remove the air in the bag using a vacuum sealer machine.  You can also use a Ziploc bag and press carefully to remove all the air.

Afterward, we set up the Sous Vide cooking device on either a pot that can contain a large quantity of water or a Sous Vide container like this one below.

Our Sous Vide device is KitchenBoss G320 model.  This one is somewhat different than other models on the market as it allows the water to circulate in the container allowing the meat to be cook equally.  This model possess a color LCD allowing you to pick an already set mode or set your own mode like we did below.   We have set the temperature to 140F and the cooking time to 2 hours.

Once the water has reached the desired temperature, you simply have to put your bag in the water to cook it.

 

Once cooked, we can cook the meat to grill it - this usually take less time that you would do usually since you already cooked it sous vide style.  For the roast, we cooked it approximately for 15 minutes in the air fryer.  Look at this beautiful piece of meat!  

We really enjoyed both the meals we have done with the sous vide kitchen tool.   This has become my husband favorite item in the kitchen apart from the air fryer.

The meat was so tender it was almost unbelievable.  Everyone enjoyed their meal when we used it.  

Below are the items we use for sous vide cooking:

KitchenBoss Sous Vide G320

Automatic Vacuum to remove the air 

Rubbermaid 12 Quart Container

Philips Air Fryer XXL 

Two items that we would like to add eventually would be:

Cover for the Rubbermaid 12 Quart Container

 

The rack to hold items in the Rubbermaid Container

Have you ever eaten something cooked Sous Vide?   I would strongly recommend that you try it out.  It is definitively an item that will be part of our lives for years to come.   We look forward in discovering other type of meat to cook with this technique. 

Bon Appétit!

Doom Patrol: The Complete Second Season Blu-Ray

 

Doom Patrol - Complete Second Season
Warner Bros. Home Entertainment

DC's misfit heroes are back to save the world once again with the release of the Complete Second Season in Blu-Ray format.

You will be able to watch all 9 episodes of the second season of the original DC series and enjoy the extra features which also includes two behind-the-scenes featurettes.

In this season, Doom Patrol find themselves mini-sized and stranded on Cliff's toy race car track.   They are going to deal with their feelings of betrayal with Niles Caulder aka The Chief, while confronting their own personal baggage.   As each Super Hero faces the challenge of moving beyond trauma and failure, they must come together to protect the newest family member, Nile's daughter, whose powers remain a mysterious but real threat to bringing on the end of the world.

Special features:

•  The Transformers: Doom Patrol's Make-up FX
•  Doom Patrol - Come Visit Georgia PSA

This is perfect for the DC or Doom Patrol fan in your life.

This season of Doom Patrol is available in Blu-Ray or DVD at your favorite store, even on amazon.ca.

Disclaimer: Thanks to Falkowitz PR for sending me this book for review purposes.  I was not monetarily compensated for this review.  Please note that the review was not influenced by the Sponsor in any way.  All opinion expressed here are only my own.

Snowpiercer - Complete First Season

 

Snowpiercer - The Complete First Season

Synopsis

Set more than seven years after the world has become a frozen wasteland, Snowpiercer centers on the remnants of humanity who inhabit a perpetually moving train, with 1001 cars, that circles the globe. Class warfare, social injustice and the politics of survival play out in this riveting television adaptation based on the graphic novel series and film from Oscar® winner Bong Joon Ho (Parasite).

My Thoughts

I personally did not know about this show and reading the description of it I was curious.  What I also didn't know is that this television series is also based on a movie from a 2013 South Korean-Czech film and a French graphic novel from 1982 titled Le Transperceneige.

This post-apocalyptic dystopian thriller television drama series premiered on TNT back in May 2020. It has since been renewed for a second season which will come out on January 25th, 2021.

The idea behind the series is interesting.  With so many dystopian based movies and series out there, this one has definitively a unique idea.   The Earth has become a frozen wasteland and the remnant of the population travels endlessly around the world in a moving train which is composed of over 1000 cars.   Can you imagine living in close quarters for days on end while the outside world is an hostile environment?  I suspect there will be clashes and battles that will arise for sure particularly when you know that there are classes set up and a social hierarchy is visible.  How will the limited resources be allocated within the train?   

Interestingly enough the series is set in the year 2021.  This is close to home this time for a dystopian story.   As I write this just so my future readers understand why I say this - the year 2021 has started 16 days ago and today in Ontario, Canada we are having the first snow fall of the year.  

The series investigates class struggle since the passengers are segregated by wealth, social injustice, warfare and the politics of survival.

If you enjoy post-apocaliptic dystopian kind of television series, you will enjoy Snowpiercer.

Disclaimer: Thanks to Falkowitz PR for sending me this book for review purposes.  I was not monetarily compensated for this review.  Please note that the review was not influenced by the Sponsor in any way.  All opinion expressed here are only my own.