Saturday, June 27, 2015

Cleanliness

The Army would say, "Yes"
Sorry in advance, but this is going to start off as more of a rant than a blog post.

I recently acquired the additional duty of being a barracks manager and had the undertaking of signing over an entire building. Part of signing over a building was ensuring the interior was clean. My goodness! I'm not perfect, but I cannot believe the level of filth that people can live in.

I can be lazy with taking out the trash, but if it starts to smell, then my laziness goes away immediately. Rarely, do I let it get to that point, but I certainly wouldn't tolerate it. Worse still, I definitely would not proceed to put trash on my counter top because my trash is overflowing. I can forgive people not knowing how to clean stains, but not taking out the trash is just bad.

Now with that out of my system, I thought I'd share my favorite cleaning products that have made my living areas nice and clean. With just these four products, I've been able to clean just about everything and removed all stains. Note: this blog has received zero endorsements from any companies. These are simply my personal recommendations based upon my experiences.

The first cleaning product on my list would have to be Clorox wipes simply because they are the easiest and most widely used cleaning product that I own. As the labeling suggests, these are great for counter tops, appliances, little stains on the floor, certain furniture, and even bathroom fixtures. It can't do everything, but they are very easy to use and convenient. Clorox wipes are my first line of defense against most stains. Usually, I can clean most stains on my counter top and clean dust off of surfaces using just this product. The color and smell make no difference to me. I usually buy a multi-pack in order to save money and trips to the store.

For reflective surfaces such as mirrors, windows, and stove tops; nothing beats the power of Windex made of vinegar. I don't know exactly why, but I found the vinegar based formula to be much more useful than the original blue formula. Obviously, you'll need paper towels for most surfaces and possibly a scrub pad for harder stains. Normally, if a Clorox wipe cannot easily clean up a stain, I'll use Windex with paper towels or a scrub pad instead of wasting multiple Clorox wipes. The advantage of Windex over Clorox is simply that Windex won' leave any streaks. Streaks aren't noticeable on counter tops and most surfaces, but on reflective surfaces such as mirrors, it'll be apparent that you'll prefer Windex.

In the unlikely and rare event that Windex cannot remove a stain, I move to my next level of defense which is CLR - calcium, lime, and rust. This is my heavy artillery, and I primarily use it to clean my toilet bowl and bath tub. A lot of my initial cleanings from when I first move into a room will primarily use CLR too. I rarely use paper towels with this product. I typically will use a scrub pad or a sponge. Main reason is because if I am having to use this for a stain, paper towels may not be strong enough. Plus I like to save paper and not waste huge amounts when it's not too hard to clean a sponge.

Last and not least. Easy-Off off oven cleaner is my nuclear bomb of cleaning products. Almost used exclusively for the inside of my oven, in very rare instances I will use this on tough stains. I think the only times I've used it for stains has been on a stove top and because I was lazy with some metal. The stains I used it on were before I discovered CLR. 

A word of warning: I once had a plastic bowl that I was frustratingly trying to remove a stain out of and this product actually ate through the plastic (should've read the warning label). Also, I do find the yellow can to be better than the blue one, but the fumes produced by this cleaning product are no joke (the blue one produces no fumes). This can easily make you gag and burn your eyes. With that said, despite all of these negative things, the positives easily outweigh them which is why I still highly recommend this product.


Sunday, June 21, 2015

Terminator Genisys Review

A sequel of sorts to -one of my favorite movies- Terminator, the humans have just defeated Skynet only to discover its final weapon, a time machine. John Connor sends Kyle Reese back in time to protect Sarah Connor only it seems like this has already happened, yet something has also changed.

Apologies for the plot summary being a little confusing because that was perhaps my biggest gripe with this movie. Ironically, the whole parallel timelines creates some of my favorite bits where they recreate scenes from the first Terminator movie but add a twist. The parallel timelines device does make me like this movie moreso than Terminator 3 where the characters affirm that they actually have choice instead of being doomed to fate; however, it causes a lot of confusion and unanswered questions (perhaps purposely done since this causes several headaches for Kyle Reese). I won't divulge too much into it because it would spoil the movie, but the confusion and unanswered questions center primarily around John Connor and the T-800 terminator.

For those wondering about how Arnold Schwarzenegger's age would be dealt with, the creators of this film actually invent a fairly clever idea. The terminators have actual human tissue surrounding them, so it must also logically age (contradicting The Sarah Connor Chronicles, but season 2 can be ignored). On that note, Arnold again nails the terminator performance showing both heart and humor. Emilia Clarke and Jai Courtney do a great job portraying Sarah Connor and Kyle Reese respectively. They bring an original performance that feels faithful yet not a cheap imitation which makes perfect sense since -technically- these are not the same Sarah Connor and Kyle Reese that we've known before. I wish they could have done a little more with JK Simmon's character, but he had some great moments as well. Lastly, Jason Clarke did a phenomenal job as John Connor especially since his character underwent some big changes throughout the movie.

Lastly, I want to address the controversy that this didn't get a "hard R" rating. This movie proves that you can have an entertaining and action-packed movie that's not filled with nudity and swearing. The nudity is discretely concealed by smoke, fog, or well-placed objects. And of course since most of the violence is between robots, there's not a lot of blood. An "R" rating is needless and would probably cost the studio money. An "R" rating wouldn't have made this movie better.

I don't know if I really want to see this movie again except to possibly try and piece some more clues together to figure out the story, but I was definitely entertained throughout the whole movie. Great action, great special effect, and great character moments keep you engaged the entire time. It's definitely one of the better movies this summer but just not enough for me to give it 4 stars. As I said earlier, I think the only thing that made me not like this movie more is that the plot was fairly confusing due to either plot holes or questions that are never answered. Perhaps these questions will be answered in a sequel.

Note: There is a mid-credit's scene.

I give this 3 stars out of 5






1 star = I hated it. Avoid it at all costs.
2 stars = I didn't like it, but you might.
3 stars = I liked it. Doesn't warrant a repeat viewing.
4 stars = I really liked it. Has rewatchability.
5 stars = I loved it. Make plans to watch it.