Reviews by bkovacs

bkovacs says "Good police thriller from a reporter's perspective" about The Ice Maiden

bkovacs — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 22:33:41 GMT

The latest recorded book I listened to was The Ice Maiden by Edna Buchanan, and it was very good. The story revolves around an unsolved murder and rape from 14 years before. A couple of 16-year-olds on their way home disappeared. They turned up miles away -- the boy was killed and the girl had been raped, shot and left for dead. They were good kids from prominent families, so there was intense interest in the case and heavy police activity. However, there were few clues and it simply couldn't be solved.

Years later, a burglar in a jewelry store heist is killed attempting to enter the store through an air conditioning vent and it turns out that the dead burglar may have a connection to the abduction and murder from 14 years before. Just who is the burglar? Who did he hang out with 14 years ago? Did he and his friends kill the boy and rape the girl? The girl recovered and became an artist who carves ice and marble. Who is trying to break into her home?

At the center of the mystery is Britt...

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bkovacs says "Inspired casting in a fun chase comedy" about Midnight Run

bkovacs — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 01:47:44 GMT

Robert DeNiro makes a great tough guy, believable and absolutely threatening. And Charles Grodin is the consummate whiner, the guy for whom nothing is good enough unless it is perfect. These two play ideal foils for each other in the 1988 chase comedy Midnight Run, which I had the pleasure to watch in HD earlier today.

In Midnight Run, Jon Mardukas (Charles Grodin) is a mob accountant who embezzled $15 million. Both the mob and feds want him, but he's hiding from both. Jack Walsh (Robert DeNiro) is a bounty hunter who has to find Mardukas and return him to Los Angeles before his bail runs out and his bail bondsman loses his investment. Walsh finds Mardukas quickly enough, but getting "The Duke" to LA is another story.

As they cross the country switching from planes to trains to buses to cars, Mardukas soon gets under Walsh's skin. It turns out that Walsh is a tough guy with an honest streak, and Mardukas' questions and jibes find the soft spots in Walsh's conscience. Will they make it to...

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bkovacs says "'The Walk-In' was both real and scary" about The Walk-In

bkovacs — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 19:39:26 GMT

There's been a lot of books lately about Islamic terrorism and intrigue, and the best I've read so far is The Walk-In, by Ralph Pezzullo and Gary Berntsen.

The Walk-In begins when an officer with Iran's security service walks into a US embassy and says he wants to defect. To show his sincerity, he tips Matt Freed at the embassy off to a bombing plot in Qatar. Then the Iranian says that there will be a bigger attack in a large US city, but he doesn't know exactly what or when. Freed follows up and events in Qatar prove the Iranian operative correct. However, Freed needs to check things more thoroughly before he can completely vouch for the Iranian, even though time is flying by and there's a LOT of ground to cover.

Freed then crosses the Middle East and southern Asia following leads, taking him to a prison under attack in Afghanistan, a former Soviet toxic dump and to Moscow to interview a mysterious scientist. He is amazingly resourceful, and the trick he uses to get into Moscow at the...

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bkovacs says "Keep the nasties away from your expensive Nikon camera" about Nikon BM-6 (25332) Screen Protector

bkovacs — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 00:45:36 GMT

My wife has a Nikon D200 digital single-lens reflex (dSLR) camera. It's now an older model, but it was expensive in its day and still takes excellent pictures. One of the beauties of digital photography is that nothing prevents you from taking hundreds of pictures, since there is no film to process and prints to buy. With a digital camera, you can just take pictures until you're confident you have at least one good shot.

This means that you will probably handle a digital camera far more than you did a film camera. Of course, the more you handle anything, the more likely it is that the item will become damaged at some point. Therefore, protecting an expensive camera becomes worthwhile if it doesn't cost much, adds little weight and doens't hamper operation. All three of those things apply to the Nikon BM-6 monitor cover, which is a clear plastic piece that snaps over the LCD monitor on the Nikon D200 camera.

As you can see from the picture to the right, I paid $12 for the Nikon BM-6 monitor...

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bkovacs says "Powerful and flexible, but prone to failure" about Nikon - Speedlight SB600

bkovacs — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 02:16:09 GMT

My wife and I both have our own camera outfits. While I generally use a Canon G7 semi-pro compact camera, she has a beefy Nikon D200 dSLR. To go with her Nikon camera, she got a Nikon Speedlight SB-600 flash unit. The Nikon SB-600 sells for about $220 at Amazon, and it represents the middle of Nikon's flash range.

What it is

The Nikon Speedlight SB-600 is a flash unit that fits on top of the camera in a mount called a "hotshoe." Not only does the hotshoe provide mechanical support for the flash, it also has several electrical contacts that allow the camera to "talk" to the flash. The SB-600 holds four AA batteries -- we use good-quality rechargeables that last for as many as 500 flashes. Between the batteries and the Nikon SB-600's beefy construction, the unit weighs a pound or so.

The flash head on the Nikon SB-600 can be swiveled and pointed in any direction, from forward to backward to straight up. There is a small pull-out plastic lens that's used to spread the light out for wide-angle...

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bkovacs says "Fits perfectly... but where's it made?" about CarQuest - EV257 Inner Tie-rod

bkovacs — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 17:39:40 GMT

OH NO!! My car failed its annual safety inspection due to worn inner tie-rods. There are two types of tie-rods on most cars (inner and outer), and the inspecting mechanic said that the inner tie-rods on my 1995 Subaru Legacy were shot. He actually showed me the looseness of the tie-rods.

Since I do almost all my own car work, I went to a CarQuest auto-parts store and bought replacement tie-rods. The tie-rods were surprisingly cheap, costing only about $25 each. The rubber boots protecting the tie-rods on my car were cracked and failing, but I had bought those previously and had planned to replace them before. Good thing I didn't replace the boots, as it turned out to be a lot of work to replace the tie-rods, and the boots get replaced when the tie-rods are replaced. My 1995 Subaru used CarQust part number EV257.

What it is

Take a look at the pictures to the above right. (Just click on a thumbnail.) An inner tie-rod is a long straight steel rod that connects the car's steering rack to the...

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bkovacs says "PB Blaster saved me a lot of work!" about PB Blaster

bkovacs — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 16:27:54 GMT

I needed to do some exhaust work on my 1993 car. If you've ever seen nuts and bolts on a 16-year-old exhaust system, you know that they are so caked with rust that they barely resemble nuts and bolts. I looked at the nuts and bolts on my car's exhaust system and thought that I would have to cut them off, and cutting was going to be a LOT of work.

Then my wife convinced me to look at penetrating lubricants and I found PB Blaster "penetrating catalyst." I bought a can, sprayed it on the rusty bolts and -- unbelievably -- I was able to unthread them. The bottom line for me is that a $6 can of PB Blaster saved me an hour or more of physical work, cutting bolts in a very cramped space. In fact, two of the four bolts I needed to remove were in good enough condition that I was able to re-use them. In all four cases, I believe that the nuts/bolts would simply have rounded off if I had tried to remove them without PB Blaster.

How does it work?

The manufacturer of PB Blaster claims that the lubricant...

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bkovacs says "Can priests and nuns do the right thing?" about Doubt

bkovacs — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 00:30:20 GMT

Let me say from the start that Doubt is a good movie with strong acting and a timely story. It's also long and slow at times, slow enough that I had to stop it halfway for fear I'd fall asleep. Still, Doubt is worth seeing and I recommend it.

The year is 1964, not long after the murder of John F. Kennedy. The characters in the film feel like they're still mourning the president's sudden death but carrying on as best they can. Sister James (Amy Adams) is a nun teaching a classroom of 12-year-olds in a Catholic school. Her principal is Sister Aloysius (Meryl Streep), a stern disciplinarian who does not let the children step out of line. In the church next door, the priest is Father Flynn (Philip Seymour Hoffman), a gifted orator and storyteller who spins thoughtful sermons.

Father Flynn seems a little too attached to the new altar boy, Donald Miller (Joseph Foster), who is the only negro child in the school. Just how far does this relationship go and what does Sister James see? Can Sister...

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bkovacs says "The Rolls-Royce of close shaves" about Gillette Fusion

bkovacs — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 19:31:26 GMT

I got a sample Gillette Fusion razor a few years ago and was highly impressed with it. Then, after a dozen or more close and comfortable shaves, I looked for replacement blades and was astonished by the high cost -- I think the price worked out to more than $3 per blade.

That's lot of money but it just might be worth it.

What it is

The Gillette Fusion is a razor that uses an easily replaceable blade cartridge. What makes the Fusion distinctive is that the blade cartridge has five (yes, five!) actual blades in it. The theory is that dragging five blades across your skin lets subsequent blades shave off what the first blade missed.

At the top of the blade cartridge is a lubricating strip that helps make the shave go a little easier. The blade cartridges come in clips of four cartridges. Walmart sells an eight-count package of Gillette Fusion blades for about $26, which works out to about $3.25 per blade. That's a lot of money.

Using it

The Gillette Fusion takes a good firm pull to drag...

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bkovacs says "A western that packs a punch" about High Noon

bkovacs — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 17:36:14 GMT

Nothing beats a good western and I'd heard so much about High Noon over the years. I finally rented it and learned for myself: High Noon is an excellent movie.

Marshall Will Kane (Gary Cooper) gets married and resigns on his last day as marshall in the frontier town of Hadleyville. Within minutes, he learns that Frank Miller (Ian MacDonald) has been paroled from prison and is on the noon train back to Hadleyville. Miller is a cold-blooded killer who previously terrorized the town until Kane caught him and put him away. Now Miller has been released and there's only about an hour and 15 minutes before the noon train arrives.

The town fathers tell Kane to flee with his bride Amy (Grace Kelly), but the good marshall is a lawman to the core and he can't leave the town to face Frank Miller and his gang alone. As the clock ticks away, Marshall Kane returns to town and tries to assemble men who will be temporary deputies. Everywhere he goes, the men of Hadleyville are cowards. They either hide...

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bkovacs says "Excellent homeowner-quality reciprocating saw" about Craftsman Reciprocating Saw 315.171020

bkovacs — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 19:04:36 GMT

Sometimes you just need to cut a big hole in a wall. I had to wall-mount a couple of air conditioners a few years ago and needed to cut three large rectangular holes in the exterior plywood wall of my home, so I got a Craftsman 315.171020 reciprocating saw. I believe that I paid around $90 on sale, and this was probably 12 years ago.

What it is

A reciprocating saw is something like a large jig saw. Bullet-shaped, it has a sturdy blade at one end and an easy-to-grip handle at the far end. In between is a long motor assembly, which is controlled by a trigger in the handle. The blade is about six inches long and it moves back and forth (reciprocates) to make a cutting action.

The Craftsman 315.171020 reciprocating saw has a sturdy black plastic case and a heavy-duty 10-foot long non-grounded power cord. It came with a general-purpose blade, a blade-changing tool and a molded plastic carrying case. The Craftsman 315.171020 has a variable-speed motor controlled by the trigger in the hand...

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bkovacs says "A great romantic comedy with a message" about Groundhog Day

bkovacs — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 14:50:50 GMT

How can you not like a romantic comedy with a time loop and a groundhog that drives? Groundhog Day is on my short list of the best romantic comedies of all time. If you haven't seen it, plan to rent it -- it's a terrific date movie and it's really fine for the whole family.

A Pittsburgh TV crew heads to Punxsutawney, Pennslyvania, to record the annual Groundhog Day festivities. On the team is the insufferable Phil (Bill Murray), a jaded and critical weatherman who enjoys showing everyone how smart he is. Also on the team is Rita (Andie MacDowell), a sweet and attractive producer, and Larry (Chris Eliott), a droll cameraman. Phil spends the night before Groundhog Day in a bed & breakfast, and delivers a string of put-downs as he heads out the door to do the TV shoot. Once the shoot is over, the crew heads back to Pittsburgh but is turned back by a surprise snowstorm. The next thing Phil knows, he is waking up in the morning and it is Groundhog Day all over again.

In fact, it is Groundhog...

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bkovacs says "Long-running battery makes for awkward operation" about Canon BP-819 Lithium Ion Camcorder Battery Pack (2589B002)

bkovacs — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 00:53:55 GMT

I have a Canon Vixia HF11 camcorder, which is a tiny little thing that records in high definition. It really is small -- about the size of a Coke can. One of the downsides to the small size of the camcorder is that it has a small battery that neatly integrates with the package. This makes for a tidy appearance but not particularly long record times.

With a maximum record time of about 75 minutes, I knew that I wanted a backup battery that held even more power. Therefore, I bought a Canon BP-819 camcorder battery, which is good for nearly 120 minutes. I bought it at Amazon for about $75 (ouch!).

What it is

The Canon BP-819 battery is a small cube measuring about 1.5 inches tall, 1.5 inches deep and one inch wide. It clicks into a well in the Canon HF11 camcorder but is so deep that it extends about 1/2-inch from the back of the camcorder. (The standard battery, part number BP-809, is flush with the back surface of the camcorder.) The BP-819 uses the same "intelligent Li-ion" technology as...

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bkovacs says "Pricey replacement windows look average" about Thompson Creek Replacement Windows

bkovacs — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 20:42:01 GMT

My home had several windows with problems, mostly clouded panels that had leaked and allowed air to enter the space between the double-pane glass. We considered replacing the panels with new glass but figured that we could get new windows for not a lot more money. Therefore, we replaced six windows with custom replacements from Thompson Creek Windows. Thompson Creek is a local company, based in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, DC, which is one reason why we decided to go with Thompson Creek.

Making the decision

As I said, one reason we chose Thompson Creek was because the company manufactures and supports its windows locally. In addition, the company has an excellent warranty and will cover the windows for as long as we own the home. Finally, the salesman who visited us strongly touted the energy savings with the new windows. Thompson Creek replacement windows will qualify for the recent federal government energy credit, which was another factor in our decision.

We decided on Thompson...

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bkovacs says "Good performances in a worthy legal thriller" about Fracture

bkovacs — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 14:53:28 GMT

I didn't know what to expect when Netflix sent me Fracture. I had not heard of the movie and knew nothing of the story. It turns out that Fracture is a strong legal thriller with excellent performances, particularly from Anthony Hopkins.

Ted Crawford (Anthony Hopkins) is a brilliant aeronautical engineer who builds elaborate ball-rolling machines as a hobby. He has learned that his trophy wife Jennifer (Embeth Davidtz) is having an affair with a hunky cop (Billy Burke), so Ted devises a plan to incapacitate his wife and beat the charges. Ted pleads not guilty and insists on the fastest possible trial, drawing hot-shot Willy Beachum (Ryan Gosling) as the deputy district attorney. Beachum has his sights focused on a high-paying corporate law job, with a little left over for his dazzling lawyer girlfriend (Rosamund Pike). Therefore, Willy is not really paying attention to Ted Crawford's case right at the point he should be.

Will Ted Crawford get off? Will Willy get his high-paying job?...

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bkovacs says "Mine's bigger than yours" about A-Data Technology A-Data ASDH32GCL6-R Class 6 SDHC Flash Card - 32GB SD Card (4718050604289)

bkovacs — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 02:06:58 GMT

I have a consumer HD video camcorder and it records HUGE files. The camcorder (a Canon HF11) has built-in RAM memory and also has an SD memory slot. I transfer video into my computer using the SD card, and use the camcorder so often that I wanted a really big SD card to give me the maximum possible memory. Therefore, I got an A-Data ASDH32GCL6-R SD memory chip from Amazon for $65.

What it is

Looking at it, the A-Data ASDH32GCL6-R SD memory chip looks like any other SD memory card. It is the same size and shape, and it has the same contacts on the back. However, it has the maximum amount of memory that an SD memory card can currently have: 32 GB. The A-Data ASDH32GCL6-R SD memory chip conforms to the SDHC standard, and it is compatible with any device that accepts SDHC cards. (Most devices with SD slots built from 2007 and later are SDHC compatible. Before that is a toss up.)

The A-Data ASDH32GCL6-R SD memory chip has a speed rating of "Class 6," which means that it can store/retrieve data...

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bkovacs says "It doesn't get much better than this" about It Might Get Loud

bkovacs — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 17:20:05 GMT

A few days ago, I went to the local art cinema to see It Might Get Loud, a movie about three famous rock guitarists and their philosophies about music and their instruments. I'll say from the start that It Might Get Loud is one of the best films that I've seen in a while -- as a guitarist myself, I really enjoyed listening to these three discuss their past, present and future.

The three guitarists represent three generations in rock music: Jimmy Page is the guitar god from Led Zepplin, Edge (David Evans) is responsible for the distinctive chimey sound of U2 and Jack White (White Stripes) is a back-to-the-blues traditionalist with attitude. To be honest, I had no idea who Jack White was when I walked into the theater and I was prepared to find him obnoxious. Much to my delight, White turned out to be a real guy who cares deeply about music and takes a unique approach to playing guitar. All three men were utterly charming in It Might Get Loud.

It Might Get Loud is well made, and it offers...

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bkovacs says "'Laughing Daughter' tells a serious story" about Laughing Daughter

bkovacs — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 23:55:46 GMT

At a party recently, I heard of a new local play called Laughing Daughter, which was billed as a "country-rock musical." That sounded intriguing, so I went to see the show last night. It was worth seeing. Laughing Daughter is playing through Sept. 20, 2009, at the Black Box Theater in Indian Head, MD.

Laughing Daughter starts on an indian reservation in the southwest, as tourists shuffle into a roadside store to shop for indian trinkets. Sales aren't too brisk, but we get to meet Storm Heart (Jeff Barehand) and his daughter Little Bird (KJ Jacks). Little Bird is 19 and wants to see the world off the reservation, and thinks that her singing/songwriting skills are her ticket out. Little Bird leaves Storm Heart and her boyfriend Sleeping Raven (Adam Curtis) behind to become a star in the big city.

At the same time, businesswoman Jolene (Crystal Mosser) is slumming around in honky-tonk dives looking for her favorite performer, Junior Johnson (Draper Carter). She finds him soon enough and quickly...

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bkovacs says "Nice performances in a quiet romance" about Adam

bkovacs — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 21:31:07 GMT

The local art cinema had a couple of interesting movies to watch, and we decided on Adam, a quiet little romantic (almost) comedy in which Asperger's Syndrome features prominently.

Adam (Hugh Dancy) is a 29-year-old engineer, and he's first seen at a funeral burying his father, with whom he had been living. Adam has Asperger's Syndrome and this makes it hard for him to have normal conversations. However, he is very smart and works for a toy company on talking dolls. Into Adam's apartment building moves Beth (Rose Byrne), who is teaching elementary school while she works on a children's book. Beth is just getting over a bad relationship and has a little curiosity and a heart full of empathy about her smart but peculiar neighbor. Ever so slowly, Adam and Rose grow closer, but it's not without setbacks. Then Adam loses his job and he's forced out into the world to do job interviews and (gasp!) may even have to move.

Can Adam cope with change? Can perfectly normal Beth cope with the behavioral...

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bkovacs says "Family film is ultimately predictable" about The Ultimate Gift DVD

bkovacs — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 16:55:56 GMT

Netfilx recommended The Ultimate Gift, so I gave it a try. It turned out to be neither great nor terrible, just a string of missed chances holding together a predictable story.

Self-made billionaire Red Stevens (James Garner) dies at the beginning of The Ultimate Gift and all the relatives line up for their inheritances. One by one, they learn that they will get some relatively small thing but not the big plum each was hoping. However, Red saved one special inheritance for Jason, a stuck-up, inconsiderate and self-absorbed grandson. Jason (Drew Fuller) must complete a series of tests before he can find out what the inheritance will be, and Red spells out the tests in videos that he made before he died.

The first test has Jason traveling to Texas to plant fence posts for a month on the ranch of Red's friend, Gus (Brian Dennehy). Another test strips Jason of his money, credit cards and apartment, so that Jason can learn the value of money. Yet another test requires Jason to understand the...

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