DVD Review
Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment
Release: June 16, 2009

“Morning Light” is a true documentary that takes you through the inspiring story of a group of 15 young sailors that go through six months of intense training for the biggest race of their lives. Racing a high-performance 52-foot sloop in the TRANSPAC, the most respected of open-ocean sailing competitions, the crew of “Morning Light” matches wits and skills in a dramatic 2,300- mile showdown against top professionals.

If you’ve ever seen a reality show then you wont be surprised by the movies set up. There’s a countdown on screen to help remind of how long they have before the big day. A lot of the time is spent on talking about the race and not enough on the people sailing. So unless you’re an experienced sailor you may not be as intrigued by the story. It would have been nice to get a feel for how those not chosen for the race felt or how the only female on the boat was dealing with the ten other males.

The bonus material is what makes purchasing the DVD worthwhile. It includes “Morning Light: Making the Cut” as aired on ESPN. This contains everything that the feature documentary is lacking as it delves deeper into the story, picking up the difficulty of the initial thirty people chosen to compete for the eleven spots. We are introduced to the competitors, and are flies on the wall as they are put through their paces and eventually whittled down to the fifteen found in the movie. Watching this first is highly recommended and will make the movie flow a little bit better for those not watching for the sport.

Film: 6.5 Leaves something to be desired

Video: 6.5 Average, it’s a documentary

Audio: 6.0 Again, it’s a documentary

Extras: 7.5 Good as it gives you something to watch before and after the movie

Final: 6.5

Blu-ray Review
Paramount Home Entertainment
Release: June 16, 2009

Continuing with resurrecting oldies but goodies, Paramount Pictures brings back “Fatal Attraction”, the story that took the box office by storm in 1987 with six Oscar nominations and heated debates in both print and parties. The movie took a simple love affair and brought to a whole new level.

The movie starts by introducing Dan Gallagher and his family with his wife Beth and daughter Ellen. They seem to be the idealistic family on the surface, but when Dan can’t attend a family getaway it takes its turn for the worse.

Dan eventually meets with book editor Alex Forrest and ends up getting the weekend of a lifetime. They two spend an incredible weekend between the sheets and have some of the most incredible and animalistic sex a couple could have in the matter of 48 hours. However, come Monday, all must come to an end and Dan must return home to his normal and now seemingly boring life, but what he doesn’t know is that saying goodbye to Alex proves not to be as easy as getting in bed with her.

This is where the movie takes its turn as Alex denies his rejection and begins to try harder and harder to get him back. She’s soon repeatedly calling his apartment, showing up at his office, and confronting him in the street. The movie draws you in and keeps you till the very end. It’s definitely a worthwhile movie if you have yet to see it and your parents don’t still have the VHS lying around.

Paramount has done a decent job in bringing the movie to blu-ray but don’t expect anything special, remember, this was made in 1987 (over 22 years ago this summer). It retains its fine grain look and slight softness while contrast isn’t always consistent.

The audio comes in TrueHD 5.1, though I don’t see why it has to. Dialogue is clear which is good but no need for TrueHD 5.1 here, especially with its age.

The extras are the same from the DVD in 2002 with only the trailer and alternate ending being upgraded to HD. Though they’re the same they’re still worth checking out with a directors commentary, a remembering fatal attraction, a few other that may interest you.

Film: 8.0 Oldie but goodie here

Video: 6.5 Though a step up from DVD, it’s old and putting into HD isn’t easy

Audio: 6.0 Crisp and clear, but no need for surround sound

Extras: 7.0 Same as the DVD but the alternate ending is good and in HD

Final: 7.0

Over 32% of adults living in Mississippi are obese, meaning that they are living with a body mass index BMI exceeding 30.

When it comes to children living in the state, as many as 44% of them are considered either overweight or obese.

As far as the country goes, obesity rates rose in 23 states, and not one state saw a reduction in their rate of obesity.

Furthermore, the rate of obese babyboomers is also on the rise, this demographic being those Americans over the age of 50.

The lowest rate of obesity was found to be in the state of Colorado.

“The obesity epidemic clearly goes beyond being an individual problem,” said Jeff Levi, executive director of the Trust, a nonprofit public health group.

Each year in the US, up to 56000 trips to the emergency room are documented because of painkiller overdoses, because people either knowingly take more than they are supposed too, or are unclear of how much to actually take.

The common ingredient in painkillers that is drawing attention is acetaminophen, which if ingested in excess, can result in serious health problems including liver failure.

The advisory panel discussed possibly recommending that the single adult dose of painkillers be reduced, and the maximum dose be available only via prescription.

It will likely be months before the FDA rules on this matter, but when they do, it is key to note that they do not have to follow the recommendations of their advisory panels.

The virus has taken a huge toll on the world since it emerged in Mexico earlier this year, killing more than 250 people and infecting more than 33,000.

Not only will summer camps have a reduced number of children attending, but those that do will be constantly reminded of the importance of staying clean.

Parents are unsure whether depriving their children of summer camp fun is worth it, due to the virus being easily transmitted.

Health officials state that unless a child has an underlying medical condition, their risk of contracting swine flu at summer camp is no higher than it would be if they visited any public place.

Camp officials have taken steps to insure that their camp grounds are kept thoroughly clean, and will act accordingly if any of their campers exhibit worrisome symptoms.

“We try to create a temporary community in the summer and we are very vigilant about it,” said Andy Pritikin, director of Liberty Lake Day Camp in Mansfield.

George Hotz is the same guy who originally unlocked the iPhone, and now he has produced the first jailbreak for the new model, which he has dubbed “purplera1n.”

He is a thorn in the side of Apple, who might as well hire some guy to fix the loophole, giving Hotz the opportunity to find another one.

The program only works with Windows, but not Windows 7, and requires the most up to date version of iTunes.

Hotz stresses on a blog post that for people wanting to take advantage of the jailbreak, that they should remember to back up their data on their phones first.

For step by step instructions, go here

This news comes following a study performed by researchers at the Mayo Clinic.

The study finds that the disease is now 4 times more common in the country than it was 50 years ago.

The disease is a digestive disorder and can be diagnosed in both children and adults.

The disease effects a person’s ability to digest gluten, resulting in an inflammatory reaction that effects the absorption of nutrients into the body.

Treating the disease is largely diet based, with affected people cutting out all sources of wheat and other grains containing gluten.

For their study the researchers analyzed blood samples from healthy male army recruits between 1948 and 1954.

They compared these samples with those of men living in this generation.

They found that the blood from the recent blood samples were 4.5 times more likely to contain traces of Celiac antibodies than the blood of the army recruits taken more than 50 years ago.

The first recall is for Simplicity drop side cribs as they have been shown to increase a child’s risk of suffocation.

More than 400,000 of the cribs are being recalled and the manufacturer Simplicity, has gone out of business.

“The most important thing is to not put your child to sleep tonight in a recalled Simplicity crib. Find an alternative and take your crib back,” said CPSC spokeswoman Patty Davis.

The second recall is for more than 4 million inflatable baby floats shaped in a variety of different fun loving shapes, and distributed by Aqua-Leisure Industries.

The products were made in China and sold between December 2002 through last month.

The floats are being recalled because of reports of their seats ripping, sending the children in them into the water.

According to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) the beef recall is in line with a similar massive recall by Colorado based JBS Swift Beef Company.

Eating food contaminated with E. coli can be very dangerous, resulting in heavy vomiting, diarrhea, fatigue and other health problems.

What products should consumers be avoiding? According to the CFIA consumers should avoid the following, and if they have them in their freezers they should throw them away:
• Fresh beef steaks, roasts and ground beef bearing best-before dates between April 29 and June 16, inclusive, sold in Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic Canada.
• Fresh beef knuckle roasts, four to five pounds (about 1.8 to 2.27 kilograms), sold from April 30 to June 10 at Sue’s Market at 205 Don Head Village Blvd.

No illnesses have been reported in Canada from people eating contaminated beef, but many have been reported across the border.

She had posed as a boy, Josh Evans on the popular social networking site, and allegedly bullied 13 year old Megan Meier until the young girl could take no more.

She allegedly did what she did because Megan had been harassing her own daughter.

Originally she was charged with a four-count indictment and convicted on 3 of them.

Drew could’ve spent up to 3 years in prison but U.S. District Judge George Wu overturned the jury decision.

The judge stated that he had no choice but to overturn the conviction, citing the web site privacy policy.

“You could prosecute pretty much anyone who violated terms of service,” he said.

Prosecutors have not stated whether or not they plan to appeal.