Thank you Bohlsen Group for sending us a copy of this book! Many Christians often wonder if they are truly saved and many non-believers wonder what salvation is all about.  Is it simply praying a prayer and apologizing for your sins, or is there more to it?  Can a person lose their salvation?  Pastor Bill Parker has spent over t...

Thank you Click Communications for sending us this DVD!

Miles From Tomorrowland is a futuristic space themed animated series on Disney Junior.  It came out in February of 2015 and has some recurring characters with famous voice actors including Bill Nye, Alton Brown, Wil Wheaton, George Takei, and Mark Hamill.  The main character, Miles, is an enthusiastic and curious kid that often finds himself in and out of trouble.  His sister, Loretta, is the complete opposite and follows the rules and is the smarter of the two kids.  Their mother, Phoebe, is the spaceship's captain with their father, Leo, as the ship's engineer.  The parents work for Tomorrowland's Transit Authority and undertake many missions to keep outer space safe for all of its travelers.

The Let's Rocket DVD contains ten episodes including:

• Runaway Shuttle -There's an out of control ice cream truck heading to one of Jupiter's smoldering moons, Io.  The Callistos have been summoned to assist their former schoolmate, Lucky, who is trapped in the ice cream vehicle.   
  
  
• Surfing the Whirlpool - Miles wants to go surfing with his dad where he used to hang out as a younger surfer dude.  While the mother and daughter stay behind, they learn of a huge gamma ray burst heading straight for Miles and his dad.
  
  
• Ocean in Motion - The Callistos have been summoned to figure out why a probe has received water damage.  The most unusual part of this mystery is the planet that the probe is on, doesn't have any water.  Or does it?
  
  
• Explorer Exchange - Blodger Blopp visits the Callisto family as part of a Cosmic Explorers exchange program.  
  
  
• Game On - While a new highway is being setup in an uncharted quadrant, the Callistos are sent to introduce themselves to the alien races in that sector to start an alliance.  They get captured as prisoners instead.
  
  
• How I saved My Summer Vacation - The Callisto family is on vacation, but the vacant planet they visit is nothing like the pamphlets describe it.    
  
  
• Who Stole The Stellosphere?  While Miles is left behind to clean his room, his family's spaceship is stolen.  Can Miles stall the thief to help his uncle and family reclaim their ship?
  
  
• Rock N' Roll - Miles is finally big enough to use the Exoflex.  His whole family is certified to use it, and it adds pressure for Miles to learn how to use it quickly.  Unfortunately, he's not the natural he had hoped he would be.  Miles will have to overcome his doubts and save his family from a rock slide on the moon using the Exoflex.
  
  
• The Goldilocks Zone - Miles gets reunited with a former skating buddy of his. As sweet at the reunion is, the situation could have been better since his friend's home planet was destroyed.
  
  
• Hiccup In The Plan - The Callistos accept a mission to locate a missing beacon.  However, the mission would be a lot easier to accomplish if Merc, the robotic ostrich, didn't have ship shaking hiccups.

My kids enjoyed this two hour DVD and are new fans of the Miles From Tomorrowland series.  My son liked the bundled blastboard flashlight.    The DVD sells for a little over $12 on Amazon and is worth buying for any kid that likes outer space.

Thank you

Thank you Disney for sending us this movie to review! Unlike previous Disney movies, Descendants opens up with a story from a tablet instead of a book.  When Belle and Beast married they rounded up all of the villains and cast them away on an island with no Wifi and no escape.  That is until Belle and Beast's son, Ben, is crowned kin...

Thank you Rogers and Cowan for sending us this DVD to review!

Skepticism is on the rise and Christianity has been under attack from scientists, scholars, and archaeologists.  Many consider the Bible to be nothing more than a history book or just a bunch of fairy tales.  For more than fifty years, many prominent archaeologists believe that there is no solid evidence for the events in Exodus taking place as the Bible claims.  This view is so widespread that prominent rabbis like David Wolpe consider the book of Exodus to be "historical fiction."

If the book of Exodus is myth then the rest of the Bible loses its credibility and purpose.  Director Timothy Mahoney sets out to validate or disprove the Bible's account of Exodus in a twelve year archaeological journey to Egypt and around the world. Throughout this documentary (narrated by Kevin Sorbo) there are interviews with prominent Egyptologists, historians, archaeologists, authors, and even the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and Shimon Peres, the president of Israel.

What Tim discovers is that many people assume the Biblical Exodus took place during the New Kingdom era of Rameses II.  There is no evidence of a famine, infanticide, or vacating and destruction of Biblical cites in that time period.  However, if you examine the previous era, the Middle Kingdom, there is evidence that matches up perfectly with the Bible time frame and historical accounts.  The problem with these findings is that it would mean that all of the dating to this point would be inaccurate and this is a tough pill to swallow for  Egyptologists, historians, and archaeologists.  

Thank you Click Communications for sending us this Blu-Ray to review!

The Walt Disney Animation Studios Short Films Collection contains twelve short films that are bound to make you and your family laugh, cry, and stay on the edge of your seat.  Even though my family owns several Disney movies, we have only seen two of the short films beforehand.  The collection includes:

• Frozen Fever - Elsa wants to make up for lost time and throw her sister a birthday party that she'll never forget.  The only problem is that Elsa isn't feeling that well.
• Feast - A dog is enjoying the bachelor life style with his owner and all of the junk food that goes along with it.  Things change when the owner gets a health conscious girlfriend and hilarity ensues.  
• Get a Horse - The classic black and white Disney characters get a 3D CGI-makeover in this silly short.
• Paperman - A couple falls in love at first sight and suddenly get separated - can paper airplanes reunite them?
• Tangled Ever After - Pascal and Maximus lose the rings for Rapunzel and  Flynn Rider's wedding.  They go through a lot of effort and humiliation to retrieve them.
• The Ballad Of Nessie - The origin of Loch Ness is explained in this story about a dragon who was kicked out of her happy pond when a mini golf course took over the region.
• Prep & Landing - Operation: Secret Santa - Christmas is just around the corner and Mrs. Claus needs the help of some tech savvy elves to put together a gift for Santa.
• Tick Tock Tale - Clocks can live an exciting life too, especially when the owner of a clock shop leaves for the day.
• How To Hook Up Your Home Theater - Goofy just wants to watch a football game on a good sized television in the comfort of his own home.  Little does he know how complicated setting up a home theater can be!
• The Little Match Girl - In the dead of winter a poor girl is trying to sustain herself by selling matches.  Unfortunately nobody seems to be interested in buying them or helping her stay warm.  Perhaps her matches can comfort her?  
• Lorenzo - A gluttonous cat enjoys eating in front of starving cats starting at him from his window.  As a tail-less cat walks by, Lorenzo makes fun of it.  He is then cursed with a tail that has a mind of its own that likes to dance the Tango.  
• John Henry - Recently freed slaves are promised land for helping construct rail road tracks. The deadline is quickly looming and they may lose this opportunity.  The legendary John Henry with his super strength gives it his all to  help secure better lives for his family and friends. 

Thank you Sunshine Sachs for sending us a DVD screener of this film!

Thanks to his girlfriend of five years, Damon Gameau has been eating a healthy diet with very little sugar in it. With a baby on the way he wants to see firsthand what impact seemingly healthy foods would have on his trim body. His goal is to eat the national average of forty-four teaspoons of sugar a day for two months and to record the negative changes his body goes through as a result. Instead of indulging on known sugary food like candy and ice cream, his new diet will include food with hidden forms of sugars in food such such as yogurt, granola, and fruit juices. 

To document his journey, Damon enlists the help of several doctors and a nutritionalist. While they monitor his calorie intake and the deterioration of his liver, Damon still exercises as he did before this experiment. Not surprisingly Damon started to develop fatty liver disease, mood swings, and loss of energy throughout this documentary. His abdomen and rear end grew in size as well.

That Sugar Film is not just about Damon - he travels across Australia and to the United states to interview Aborigines and other people impacted by sugary sodas like Mountain Dew. Soda addiction has put many Aborigines in the grave or on dialysis and there was a seventeen year old in the US with such badly rotten teeth that he needed to have them pulled and get dentures. The dental procedure is a little graphic and there are some images of naked Aborigines. 

Other than those scenes, there are some light hearted skits and silly songs featuring famous actors like Stephen Fry and Hugh Jackman. Most of the film is as serious as the issue at hand. People have to learn to read the labels on all of their food items; many foods look innocent, but contain the daily suggested amount of sugar by themselves! After seeing That Sugar Film and Fed Up, our family has been paying closer attention to how much sugar is in the food we are eating and have eliminated sugary cereals from our pantry. Thankfully we have never been big soda drinkers, but we have been fooled by seemingly healthy food. I highly recommend watching this movie, and if you don't please pay more attention to the amount of sugar (in all of its forms) in the foods you are eating.

Thank you Destination America for sending us a screener of the first episode!

People often ponder what happens after we die.  Do the lights simply fade out, or is there more to it than that?  The Bible says that Jesus is the resurrection and the life. He who believes in him, though he may die, he shall live. (John 11:25)  The team of Project Afterlife set out to talk to various people who have clinically died and have miraculously come back.  Their stories thus far indicate that there is indeed more to come after we die.  Are you ready for that day?

Each of the six-part series will look at two extraordinary cases.  The team consists of an investigative filmmaker, a paramedic, an ordained minister, and a retired state trooper.   A camera man and another teammate (who has some expertise on the case at hand) will interrogate the resurrected person and those involved with their death and resuscitation.    

The first episode has a case about a non-believer in his fifties that had a massive heart attack and died at a hospital shortly after his arrival.  He was pronounced dead and was unresponsive for forty minutes.  Despite all of the doctors' efforts, they cleared the room with the exception of one nurse.  The doctor in charge left the room and was audibly told to pray for the man and to try reviving him again.  The doctor obeyed after being told twice by this voice in his head (whom he believed to be the Lord's).  Even though his actions were questioned by the nurse and another doctor who entered the room, he prayed for the deceased man and shocked him one more time.  After putting his reputation and possible career on the line, the once dead man came back to life despite his body darkening after the massive heart attack he suffered.   

While that man was not a believer at his death, this experience changed his views and he lives a completely different life now as a result.   The doctor who obeyed and saved him was greatly impacted by this experience as well.  I won't go into too much more detail as this show is worth seeing firsthand.

Thank you Jones & O'Malley for sending us this CD to review!

Donna Allen has been making R&B music since the eighties and released a couple of CDs, "Perfect Timing" in 1986 and "Heaven on Earth" in 1988.  She released some singles in the '90s and her song "He is the Joy" appeared on the Precious soundtrack.  In 2010 she released the single "He's Got the Power" which is the final track in her latest CD: I'm Your Bride.

Those who watch the show, The Voice, may have seen her singing "You Are So Beautiful" and blowing away Adam Levine and Christina Aguilera.  

After seeing her performance, there's no denying that she has a powerful and great voice.  It's even more inspiring that she uses it to glorify God in her latest album.

Thank you Falco Ink for sending us this blu-ray to review! Brother's Keeper tells the compelling story of identical twins, Andy and Pete Goodwyn who tragically lost their parents at a young age.  As a result, they rely on each other and go in completely opposite directions with their lives.  With their high school graduation drawing ...

Thank you DreamWorks for sending us screener episodes!

Turbo the movie came out in 2013 and my kids really liked it.  The Wii U videogame that followed was a dud though.  Fortunately, the animated series that premiered later that year does a lot of things right. Including the rap intro song!  

My kids enjoyed some of the episodes available in Netflix's new and exclusive season that includes thirteen shows.    The two episodes we watched were Home On Our Own and the Sting of Injustice.  In Home On Our Own, most of the snails are away for a seminar while Skidmark and White Shadow stay behind to catch up on their favorite show, Gossip Snail, on SnailFlix.  While they're binging, their place is getting broken in by a couple of crabs attempting to rob them.  Fortunately, their attempts are thwarted and the snails get to find out the identity of Gossip Snail in a humorous fashion.        

As funny as Home on Our Own was, we enjoyed The Sting of Injustice more.  In this episode a superhero hornet moves into town and recruits Turbo as his side kick.  At first their intentions were good as they got the price lowered for theater popcorn.  While the townspeople didn't mind cheaper popcorn, they did not enjoy getting ticketed for silly offenses like exceeding the speed limit at a race track. Turbo and his friends have to work together and find a way to get rid of an unwanted  and over-reacting super hero.  

Thank you Cartoon Network for sending us this Blu-ray to review! Unlike previous seasons, the disc set for season five has twice the number of episodes in it. There are fifty-two action packed and wacky episodes in this collection.  There are shows about love, breaking up, getting married and becoming parents.  This season has it all...

Thank you Falco Ink for sending us this DVD to review! Any Day is the story of a boxer named Vian (Sean Bean), who was recently released from prison after serving twelve years for killing a man with his bare hands.  Now that he is free, he must find a place to live and a job to get back on his feet.  His sister, who is a single mom, ...

Thank you Bohlsen Group for sending us this book to review!

John Hayden is a Christian certified fitness trainer that uses his skills to train others to stay fit and glorify God.  The goal of Godfit is to challenge believers to be both spiritually and physically well.  If believers stay healthy, they can live and serve others longer.  This 117 page book is broken down into a six week program that has both exercise routines and devotional questions.

Before you begin, you should make sure you have the required equipment including dumbbells, kettlebells, and a Bible.  The book also recommends using a photo of yourself for inspiration.  There's a core strength assessment that is highly recommended to complete in order to gauge your fitness level.   There is a spiritual questionnaire to evaluate your religious life as well.

Each workout is between twenty and thirty minutes long.  There are various warm-up and cool down routines to choose from.  If you're unsure of how to do an exercise, there are video examples on http://www.godfit.com.  The videos are password protected but the password is in the book (page 5).

Thank you Sunshine Sachs for sending us a screener of this movie to review! Call Me Lucky is a film directed by Bobcat Goldthwait who was inspired by Barry Crimmins in many ways.  Barry used to go by the nickname "Bear Cat" to which Bobcat Goldthwait followed suit.  Besides helping Bobcat stay sober, Barry has helped launch many succ...

Thank you Click Communications for sending us a DVD to review!

After a wonderful summer together, Brady and Mack (Mackenzie) are heading back to school together.  Even though they're celebrating their three month "meetaversary", their relationship is about to be seriously tested as they discover that they are complete opposites when it comes to their academic studies.    

Mack has her future planned out with wanting to become a marine biologist.  She already knows which college she wants to go to while Brady doesn't even know what he's going to have for dinner at night.  Even though biology isn't Brady's strongest subject, he's not stupid.  In fact, he's designing many great surfboards.  The problem is that he's lost his confidence and doesn't want to share his passion with his girlfriend for fear of being rejected.  

Other guys are taking notice of Mackenzie and Brady is getting jealous of the attention she is getting.  Between the jealousy and the secrets, Mack is wanting some time away from Brady.  Back in Brady's favorite '60s movie, Wet Side Story (a surfers versus bikers rendition of West Side Story), the main characters Lela and Tanner are sensing some trouble between Mack and Brady and come to the future (our present day) to save them. 

Thank you Entertainment One for sending us a screener of this movie to review!

An over protective nestrian father  is on the move again after his son, Finny, had just settled in and started making friends.   Finny isn't happy about the change, but this time it can't be avoided since the global flood is coming and they have to head towards the ark.  Once they arrive at the ark, the nestrians run into a setback as they are not on Noah's list of animals to bring along.  Perhaps it has something to do with their fictitious species?   Another unique species called grimps, did make the cut though.  The father and son disguise themselves as grimps and stow away on the ark.  The female grimp isn't happy about the nestrians becoming a part of their fictitious family.  

Finny and the young grimp, Leah, get along for the most part and start exploring around the ark.  Panic sets in when they discover that they were not actually on the ark when it has taken off without them.  After a while, the parents notice and try to convince the lion captain to turn the ark around.  Their request is denied and they decide to take matters into their own hands.

Meanwhile, Leah and Finny are trying to find high ground and avoid becoming dinner for a couple of flying creatures that are pursuing them.  Along the way, they meet some other stragglers that didn't make it onto the ark either.  Despite the grimp's nature of being a loner, Leah learns the value of friendship, teamwork, and forgiveness.   

Thank you HarperCollins for sending us a copy of this book to review!

The videogame industry is a huge multi-billion dollar industry.  It started and flopped in the early eighties with notable failures like Atari burying between 700,000 to three million copies of ET in a landfill.   Nintendo and Sega continued on and started a battle that defined a generation.  Console Wars is a 576 page book written by Blake J. Harris and weaves the history of these two companies based on over two hundred interviews from family, friends, and former employees of Sega and Nintendo.    

In 1990 Nintendo was dominating the videogame market with its 8 bit Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) and soon to be released 16 bit Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES).   Even though Sega's Genesis was the first available 16 bit console, it didn't get much recognition and as a result it failed to sell very well.  That changed when Tom Kalinske was personally recruited by Sega of Japan's president to become the CEO of Sega of America.  

When Tom started at Sega, he didn't know much about videogames, but he did know how to market things with huge successes including Barbie, He-Man, and Flintstone multivitamins.  He specialized in uphill battles and this story is no exception. It's so good, a feature film is being made about it!

The book goes into the humble beginnings of Sega, Nintendo, and eventually Sony's endeavors into the videogame industry.  Nintendo has an interesting past with their playing cards origins and briefly owning a hourly rental hotel.  They definitely became more family friendly later on which gave Sega a target for their aggressive commercials aimed at slightly older gamers.  Sonic the Hedgehog gave Nintendo and their mascot, Mario, a run for their money.  

Thank you No Starch Press for sending us a copy of this book to review!

My kids have learned many programming languages like JavaScript and Ruby thanks to the helpful books published by No Starch Press.  Build an HTML5 Game assumes that you are familiar with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, and will teach you how to create a game from start to finish using them.  You don't have to be an advanced coder to read this book, but some foreknowledge will go a long way since you won't be learning the basics of these programming/scripting languages. 

This 198 page book written by Karl Bunyan will teach you how to make a browser based bubble popping game similar to Bust-A-move.  There are eight chapters and the first seven are dedicated to programming the game while the final chapter discusses other HTML5 capabilities such as retrieving data, webSockets, WebGL (for 3D) and security.  The final chapter also makes some suggestions on other games HTML5 would be well suited for including solitaire, platformers and match-3 games like Bejeweled.  

You won't be getting any history lessons as the first chapter has you diving in and coding right away.  Some of the goals achieved during the development process include randomizing the game board, calculating the firing angle and stopping point for the bubbles fired, dealing with collisions, keeping track of the score and handling new levels and the game's ending.  

Throughout the book, there are many helpful explanations and points to consider.  While the author recommends using Google's jQuery files, we have found the program to run better with them hosted locally.  The source code is readily available to download and view if you're stuck and can't figure out why the game isn't running. 

Thank you Universal Pictures for sending us this DVD to review!

Curious George is back and up to his usual unintended trouble making.  The story begins with George and Ted (the man in the yellow hat) flying a kite in a park.  For most people the worst case scenario is losing the kite to a tree, but for George it's a very expensive excursion with many food vendors  getting their carts knocked over and losing any chance of  turning  a profit.  The man in the yellow hat hands out yellow contact cards with his insurance information to those impacted by George's kite flying.  It makes me wonder what his insurance premiums are.  

Later George and his owner head back to the museum where Ted works and they are greeted by Mr. Houston.   There is an opening for an astronaut to go on a mission to alleviate the massive flooding in Africa.    George is eager to go, but the man in the yellow hat isn't sold on the idea right away.  Fortunately for George, he relents and lets him go on the mission.

Sadly, the mission doesn't go as planned and George gets lost in Africa.  Houston and his team estimate George's location within a 500 mile radius.  Not surprisingly, most of the movie revolves around locating George.   Even though George starts off alone, it's short lived as he befriends many unlikely wild animals.