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Arthur Stands Up to Bullying

AJ Garcia — Thu, 01 Aug 2013 14:45:52 +0000

Arthur Stands Up To Bullying is a great collection of Arthur episodes that really utilize the message of the theme. Usually with kids releases you can expect to find the main title episode with it’s own individual theme, but when you watch the next few episodes following, they tend to become run off without much relation to the overall theme. Not here. You get, well, at least three great episodes about bullying in its many different forms that will please kids and parents alike.

The Last Tough Customer was is probably my favorite episode from this collection. In it we find an origins story about tough customer member Molly (the tough customers is a gang of bully’s at Arthur’s school). We see Molly as a small child at the beginning of the episode and an event which leads her to become the bully she is in the present.

Due to the school being bully-proofed (if only, right) the Tough Customers just aren’t finding the fun they used to have picking on kids. It’s gotten so bad the kids they used to tease have began using reverse psychology on the bullies and making them bully themselves (you have to see it to understand it). Binky, the groups leader, has decided that the Tough Customers have to change their image in an effort to keep up with the times. Molly thinks the idea is a bad one and refuses to stop bullying, but she doesn’t foresee how her behavior will effect the people she loves. A great episode.

Brain’s Chess Mess is a prime example of subconscious bullying which is implanted by society. Remember that FB post that one friend decided to post on everyone page, the one about judging people and not knowing that they have suffered some tragedy, aren’t what they appear, etc. Well in this episode Brain discovers that he may have found his Chess soul mate when he discovers an unlikely student who has more to teach him about the game then he even knew was possible. Dropping those judgmental walls and giving people you’ve already made up your mind about might reveal some hidden gems out there.

So Funny I Forgot To Laugh is one of those episodes that will make you stop and think about the way we treat our friends. As an adult I know that I often poke fun at some of my friends and figure their adults and can take a joke. Kids are a bit more sensitive when it comes to joking around, and when you end up going to far things can get out of hand, especially when your joke becomes everyone’s joke. In this episode, say it isn’t true, Arthur becomes a bully. Yikes.

The final episode is a kind of a best of compilation of stories where we find the kids all relaxing outside on a ice day reminiscing about their best and worst days. Not exactly a bully theme but kids will probably still enjoy seeing past episodes all jumbled into one.

All in all a great release that I think would work well being played in schools all over the country.

Review:

TV on DVD

Exclusive?:

Grade:

4.35

Tags:

Arthur

PBS

Bullying

Arthur

Season:

Arthur Stands Up to Bullying

Hansel and Gretel: A Healthy Adventure

AJ Garcia — Tue, 30 Jul 2013 10:24:28 +0000

Super Why’s Hansel and Gretel: A Healthy Adventure is one of those releases that feels half hearted to me. The disc only comes with two episodes and runs a short 60 minutes and costs (Amazon) about $9. I always have to gauge these releases as a parent who owns Netflix. The price for the streaming service, which includes over 60 episodes of Super Why is still cheaper, plus the added benefit is you get more to watch then just this one show.

That aside I felt like the episodes took a well intentioned idea and just stretched it out without much thought. The Hansel and Gretel segment felt watered down as Little Red just couldn’t find the energy to keep playing. Whyatt and friends head into the storybook to find the titular characters, two health conscious kids, and the witch who seems to be surviving off the sugary confection that is her house. The episode moves on into too preachy territory that feels read and cheaply put together as far as story goes.

Later in the next episode we find King Eddie Who Loved Spaghetti, yet another concept that’s been done to death, and that’s execution doesn’t seem all in, again feels slow and boring. Even including the usual Super Why formula to the aged storyline’s just make the episodes seem longer and more taxing. It just seemed like these stories would have been better utilized as books rather then actual episodes.

Special features on the disc include Music Video’s, Interactive Games, Coloring Pages, and Resources For Parents.

Review:

TV on DVD

Exclusive?:

Grade:

1.79

Tags:

PBS

Super Why

Dinosaur Train: Nature Trackers

AJ Garcia — Thu, 18 Jul 2013 09:52:47 +0000

Dinosaur Train is an impressive CGI show that is brought to you by the Jim Henson Company in association with Media Developmental Authority. The show stars a young T-Rex named Buddy who breaks free from his egg to find that he’s in a nest of Pteranodon’s and is quickly adopted by the family as one of their own. Call me crazy but that’s pretty revolutionary for a kids show, and that’s only the beginning.

Buddy and his family like to take rides on the dinosaur train where they learn all kinds of new things and meet all kinds of new dinosaurs. Not just dinosaurs though, dinosaurs with distinct personalities, slightly fleshed out home lives, and jobs as well. Kids will meet these new dinosaurs and laugh at their quirky personalities while being taught something new every second of every episode.

In the very first episode of this collection kids will learn the differences between dinosaurs, some of the cool capabilities they have (such as eye shine and their talons), star constellations, family, and more, all in the context of humor. The lessons found within are so easily ingested by viewers it makes learning fun, characters likable and more likely that kids will want to return to the collection for repeat views, and all the lessons range from science to nature to etiquette that parents will be amazed and happy to allow their children to watch such a great show.

The disc comes with 4 double episodes as well as a bonus coloring book and guide inside of the case. The Guide, which is also the coloring book, is fantastic. Kids can color the pictures and use the guide to do some cool nature stuff with the family. One picture the guide asks you to plant a tree and then take a picture of your family and yourself in front of the tree to create a new memory. In another the guide asks you to get a scrap piece of paper and draw some of the dinosaur tracks from an episode kids have just watched. It’s like every aspect of the release is focused on fun, nature, and learning, and it works. I highly suggest.

Review:

DVD

Exclusive?:

Grade:

4.50

Tags:

Dinosaur Train

Jim Henson Company

PBS

Dinosaur Train: Nature Trackers

The Great Zebra Exodus

AJ Garcia — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 03:32:16 +0000

The Great Zebra Exodus was not what I had expected it to be. Taking place in Botswana's Makgadikgadi salt pans, we follow the zebra as they migrate from their home in the salt pans to a more fruitful area, but also a more dangerous one.

It was interesting to hear about the way zebra’s define one another and how they group together in small groups of families. One stud and as many as five mares, each giving birth to foals and extending the family of the stud. It’s an interesting social structure for sure, one that is unfortunately given the once over with and not really given an in depth look at. Instead we pan off to watch Meerkat and other indigenous wild life as they too adapt to the seasons.

While the film is beautiful, from the season changes, geographical sites along the migration, and even the footage of the animals in their respective poses, the film is also a bit brutal and may prove to be hard for younger audiences to watch. One particular scene is rather jarring as a small foal viciously attacked by one of their own.

I highly recommend watching the film even if you’ve never really been interested in zebras. The information found within is pretty striking and intriguing considering the way in which the animals behave in their social structures. Its both as far from being human as you could possibly imagine, but also very human in some respects. Disturbing, yet breathtaking.

PICTURE QUALITY:
The film, having aired on cable, was shot in 1080i, basic cable HD. The picture has its usual pangs of pushing in and out of HD quality, or at least being low on the spectrum of HD quality. For the most part though the film looks relatively good. The issue is Exodus has many wide out shots, usually the kind of shots that end up killing HD quality.

Review:

TV on Blu-Ray

Exclusive?:

Grade:

3.82

Tags:

nature

The Great Zebra Exodus

PBS

The Great Zebra Exodus

Understanding Art: Hidden Lives of Masterpieces

AJ Garcia — Thu, 06 Jun 2013 14:57:07 +0000

Understanding Art: Hidden Lives of Masterpieces is a collection of documentaries from Juliette Garcias and Stan Nuemann that were filmed between 2006 and 2010 during the study days at France’s Louvre. During these study days the iconic art museum took famous and not so well known paintings from and inspired by the masters, removed them from their settings, and put them through scrutinizing tests, the results shared with and discussed by the worlds foremost experts in art.

The series of documentaries covers five masters; Leonardo, Rembrandt, Pousssin, Watteau, and Raphael. Each segment takes a few of the artists creations and sets them up for discussion. Discussions include the placement of characters within the paintings and the societal codes their positions imply, what X-ray and Infrared results revealed about the paintings, the artists personal life in context with the content of the painting, and so much more.

As an art layman I have to say that the set of documentaries was informative and educational, but on a level of enjoyable education, it left much to be desired as it featured a faceless narrator whose dialogue seemed very read, and a majority of the speakers from the art world were voiced over by interpreters whose deliveries ranged from decent to bland. The discussions themselves ranged from fantastically informative to pretty boring.

If you’re an art lover and have devoted time and memory to the great works of artists from the past then this release should give you a lot to look forward to. On one hand, again, as an art layman, I really enjoyed the more informative bits of information delivered here, but as someone who isn’t that much into art, some of the discussions came off as interestingly as discussion an algebra equation. Overall though, it is definitely a program that I am glad I had the opportunity to watch. Fascinating stuff, but better used for the classroom then the living room.

Review:

TV on DVD

Exclusive?:

Grade:

3.01

Tags:

Understanding Art: Hidden Lives of Masterpieces

Nature: Legendary White Stallions

Peter Oberth — Wed, 29 May 2013 14:28:08 +0000

Nature: Legendary White Stallions

On DVD:

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

On Blu-Ray:

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Network(s):

Studio(s):

Genre:

Country(es):

Running Time:

60 Minutes

Discs:

This is the story of the world-famous Lipizzaner stallions -- from their origins in ancient times to the almost unknown drama of their rescue in 1945. The program begins at the Spanish Riding School in Vienna, where the white stallions perform an impressive display of beauty and power that celebrates a perfect harmony between horse and rider, movements originally intended for use in war.

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Nature: Legendary White Stallions,

nature,

Legendary White Stallions,

PBS

Climate Of Doubt: The Politics of Global Warming

AJ Garcia — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 12:42:52 +0000

Frontline presents Climate of Doubt: The Politics of Global Warming, an inside look at the men and women who have campaigned to both bring the issue to light and to discredit it. Correspondent John Hockenberry interviews some key players from both sides, or at least the ones who are willing to get in front of the camera and speak their minds, and the documentary piece offers up it’s own investigations into the core issue to give you perspective.

There was a time in news history where people were trusting. You could turn on the news and watch the indifferent faces of the anchors delivering the news of the day. You trusted them with the facts. At some point news sources became a platform for ambitious men and women whose biased views infected the resource of public information delivery. The trust ended there. It all became agenda driven half truths or blatantly opinionated points of view from certain anchors who sneered childishly at certain subjects and turned their nose up and their naysayers. It became a matter of defense between two opposing sides rather then a fact based delivery of events. What happened to the news?

That being said, as I watched Climate of Doubt I found myself completely impassive to the goings on, on my television screen. Sure, I’d followed the Global Warming debate for awhile but between the two sides canceling one another out with sabotaging information and serious discussion turning into childish cat fighting I was done. I’m still done and Climate of Doubt does very little to change that fact. It’s basically an interview between to sets of people who are having an argument like this:

Side A: Global Warming is real.
Side B: No it’s not.
Side A: Yes it is.
Side B: No it’s not.
Side A: I read your Mom abuses prescription drugs.

Yawn.

What I did walk away from this documentary with was something I already knew. Politicians are full of hot air. For example when asked the question, “Do you think there is a human factor when it comes to global warming?”, the politician answered, “The Earth has been cooling and warming since day one. I don’t think humans play any part in that process.” I was blown away by this response. Then again since the anti-Global Warming side thinks science is more science fiction the guy probably holds no regard for Newton’s Law. In any case weather or not the issue is real or made up the truth is humans do have an effect on the Earth. Smog is not natural, deforestation is not natural, and the slew of other harmful things we do to the environment sure does make a change in the way the Earth works since day one.

In any case, you can learn a few things in this documentary about Global Warming which you will then have to decide weather or not their the truth or fictitious. It’s not easy when you have interviewees who smirk at the correspondent when he asks them if the financial decline helped his case against Global Warming and then answer with an almost jovial laugh, “Yes it did.” The doc hasn’t changed my mind one way or another about it or the fact that the idiots in charge will still be undecided if the world comes crashing down around us. As always final judgment is yours.

Review:

TV on DVD

Exclusive?:

Grade:

1.94

Tags:

Climate Of Doubt: The Politics of Global Warming

AJ Garcia — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 12:42:52 +0000

Climate Of Doubt: The Politics of Global Warming

On DVD:

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Studio(s):

PBS (DIRECT)

Genre:

Other,

Educational

Running Time:

60 minutes

Discs:

Tags:

Ken Burns: The Dust Bowl (BLU-RAY)

AJ Garcia — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 02:28:08 +0000

In the mid-30’s farmers began using newer methods for farming their crops. No one knew it then but these new methods would contribute to the rise of a catastrophe of biblical proportions. A plague of Crickets, dust storms so sever they blotted out the sun, and disease so rampant it killed crops, live stock, and people. It was the worst of times, literally for those folks that lived in the Dust Bowl.

Ken Burns has brought us some really fantastic documentaries over the years and this one is no exception. Pieced together from archival film footage never before seen, interviews with living survivors of those dark times, pictures, and a script narrated by Peter Coyote. Burns’ latest outing is an exceptionally detailed one that both educates you and pulls at your heartstrings. It’s a true tale of history, one that shows us the error of our ways and the aftermath of mother natures revenge and how we are surely doomed to repeat our mistakes in one form or another. Truly captivating. So how does it look on Blu-Ray.

PICTURE AND AUDIO QUALITY:
As you would expect, the show is comprised of new and old footage, including some still shots in 1080i. That being said, like most documentaries about history long since past the picture quality suffers due to a mixture of sources both new, old, and really old. Try as they might to make it look good, and it does look good, it still makes for a patchwork of quality in the grand scheme of things. Still, nothing much to complain about when you take all things into perspective.

Audio is in 5.1 Surround Sound but as you would also expect, there isn’t much call for surround sound for a documentary. The added special effects sound kind of cool and you’ll likely not get a better version of a few Woody Guthrie songs, but overall weather you watch this on a standard speaker TV set or surround sound, the doc is likely to have the same effect.

BONUS FEATURES:
~Behind The Scenes
~Deleted Scenes
~Additional Interviews

Review:

TV on Blu-Ray

Exclusive?:

Grade:

4.00

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