On a side note, this show is apparently the first scripted show to feature kid-created content. (They show a lot of videos that kids send in.) Not sure if this is entirely true, nor am I sure it is that much of a selling point.

Episodes on this 2-disc set include...

• iPilot - which I mentioned above, so there's not need to go over it again.
• iWant More Viewers
  The trio look for ways to increase the number of views for iCarly, so the split into two groups and let the iCarly viewers vote. On a side note, Sam and Freddie are fighting, so Carly squirts them with a water bottle to get them to stop. This is the same method I use on my nephew to get him to do his math homework. It's effective, and funny.
• iHatch Chicks
  Carly and Sam are grouped together for a science project and decide to hatch some chicks, which they decide to film for iCarly.
• iDream of Dance
  Something about Scottish Highland Dancing, which I think is just an excuse to have an episode featuring men in kilts.
• iLike Jake
  Jake, the cute guy in school, breaks-up with his girlfriend, and all of the girls want to date him.
• iWanna Stay with Spencer
  Carly's grandfather wants to get custody of Carly while her father is stationed overseas. However, she wants to stay with her older brother, Spencer.
• iNevel
  The trio try to get their site reviewed by Nevel, who has the final word on cool on the internet.
• iScream on Halloween
  It's the Halloween show and the trio film iCarly in a haunted apartment.
• iSpy a Mean Teacher
  The trio decide to follow around Ms. Briggs (a.k.a. Mindy Sterling) to see if she is mean outside of school as well. But what they learn might be too much for them to handle.
• iWill Date Freddie
  There's a new feature on iCarly where they can talk directly to the fans, and one of them wants to date Freddie. And of course Carly and Sam decide to spy on them during their date. (At least Carly has the decency to feel guilty while doing it.)
• iWant a World Record
  The trio go for a world-record longest webcast, which is only 24 hours and 8 minutes, which doesn't seem that long to me.
• iRue the Day
  Nevel returns to get his revenge because Carly refused to kiss him last time, so he hacks the iCarly website. Will they get control back in time to feature the Plain White T's on their site?
• iPromise Not to Tell
  Sam does something nice, which causes no end of trouble for Carly and Freddie as they try to fix it.

Extras start with a music video for "Leave it All to Me" and a making of said music video. Next up are 10 behind-the-scene clips. Most run about 1 to 2 minutes long, but sadly there is no play all button to watch them all as one 14-minute chunk. There are no subtitles, no proper chapter placements (in fact, each episode is only one chapter). But there are play all buttons. As for splitting the season into two volumes, most kids shows only last 65 episodes, because that's how many you need to syndicate the show. Therefore, you have two full seasons of 26 episodes, and a half season of 13. Splitting the DVD releases into five 13-episode volumes instead of two full seasons and one half season makes sense. Hell, I'm just happy they are not releasing a bunch of 4-episode best-of DVDs.

iCarly has proven to be a serious hit for Nickelodeon, and Miranda Cosgrove could become the latest teen star. The DVD release for Season One - Volume One has better extras than most kids shows, and the fact that it is not a "Best Of" release alone makes it worth picking up for fans. Hopefully full season sets will become standard, and before long I will get Kim Possible full season releases on DVD.

Yes, for the third week in a row, we have The Love Guru on the DVD Release Report. This time, however, we are just dealing with the Blu-ray release and what's new compared to the DVD.

Nothing.

How many times is this going to happen?

Granted, the movie looks great, but as a lowbrow comedy, this is not the kind of film that you are going to break out to show off your home theater system. (Also, the sound mixing does nothing to show off what High Definition can do at all. But again, comedies are rarely known for sound editing.) At least the extras are all presented in High Definition, which is more than some Blu-ray discs have to offer, and it only costs about 25% more for the Blu-ray over the DVD + Digital Copy. However, it is still hard to recommend the upgrade, and it is certainly impossible to be enthusiastic about it.

The film starts with a coffin being accidentally unearthed somewhere in Italy. On top of the coffin in an urn with strange markings, that immediately interest the Monsignor, and after he examines its contents, he seals it and sends it to an expert at the Art Museum of Rome, Michael Pierce, to confirm his suspicions about its origins. However, two assistants of his, Giselle Mares and Sarah Mandy open it first, and all hell breaks loose. Almost literally. There's a wave of violence, 52 suicides in 2 days, mothers killing their babies, people beating up each other, and at least one guy totally beating the crap out of a car. It is now up to Sarah Mandy to figure out what is going on and stop the Mother of Tears.

Dario Argento created some groundbreaking films early in his career, and as influenced countless filmmakers. However, lately his films have lost whatever it was that made his earlier films so special. The story starts out reasonably well, maybe a little confusing, but it isn't able to stay clear. It gets more muddled and the ending is just awful. (You can't set up the main villain that much and then defeat them that easily. Major Spoiler: Sarah used the spear to rip the talisman (a.k.a. the red sweater of death) off The Mother of Tears and burn it. That's it. Burn the shirt and the main source of evil is rendered powerless and the building collapses. I couldn't believe that's all it took. Another problem with the film was the acting, some of which was simply terrible (including the main witch). This might be due to the multinational cast, including some that might have been struggling with English as a second language. But whatever the reason, throughout the movie, there were scenes with acting bad enough that I couldn't become involved in the movie. Also, a lot of the gory special effects were equally bad. I think the main draw here is blood and breasts, of which there were roughly equal parts, but the former was not particularly well done, while the latter in no way compensates.

On a side note, why is it that all of the witches wore too much eye make-up?

Extras on the DVD include a 33-minute making-of featurette and an 8-minute interview with the director.

A lot of people were hoping that with Mother of Tears Dario Argento would return to the old form that he showed with Suspiria. That wasn't the case. In fact, the film is worse than its reivews would otherwise indicate, at least in my mind. I can't recommend the DVD for anything more than a rental, and that's only if you are a Dario Argento fan who must see how the Three Mothers trilogy ends.

This season they deal with a lot of weirdness, most of which is self-inflicted. The season starts when them finding... a floater in the pool. And for the first episode they deal with the aftermath. (Which includes getting a net gun, which Rob swears he will only use on someone he catches trying to take a dump in his pool. He lied.) They take Mini to a horse show. They try to break records in the fields of skating and eating. Put a wig on Meaty. Rob wears a fat suit to see what it's like to be a big man. Try to set up Rob on a date, head to Vegas to celebrate Drama's 21st birthday, celebrate Meaty's birthday, deal with a ghost, and more. This is not Masterpiece Theater, but it is entertaining.

On a side note, the FBI and the CIA may use polygraph tests, but they have never caught a double agent with one of them. It is only useful to catch dumb criminals, who are pretty easy to bust anyway. Professional liars have no reason to worry about it. (On the other hand, I saw an episode of America's Dumbest Criminals where two cops used a photocopier, alligator clips, and a colander to convince a criminal that they had a foolproof lie detector. I want that show on DVD.)

Extras on the 3-disc set and very impressive with audio commentary tracks on all 15 episodes. These include five of the on-screen talent, plus a couple of producers, and definitely lean heavily towards the entertainment side of the information / entertainment scale. The rest of the extras can be found on disc 3, starting with The Best, Worst, and Unused is a 20-minute clip show, but most of these clips we've already seen, so its value is limited. There are also 33 deleted scenes that run just over 86 minutes, which is roughly 4 episodes worth of material.

For fans of Rob & Big the Season 3 DVD is a great buy. Even those who are lukewarm on Reality TV should find something to like with this buddy comedy brand of the television genre.

Samantha now has to navigate her new life with all the obstacles from her old life, like her parents (Jean Smart and Kevin Dunn) whom she hasn't spoken with in two years. Or her best friend (Jennifer Esposito) who is itching for Old Samantha to come out and play. Her old boyfriend (Barry Watson), whom she had a tumultuous relationship with. Finally there's here best friend... from grade seven (Melissa McCarthy from The Gilmore Girls) who uses the amnesia to get back into her life, and Frank... the doorman (played by Tim Russ, who is also in iCarly, which I reviewed above).

The writing is strong, and the cast is great. At times, because she's lost so many memories, Samantha is like a child, and Christina Applegate plays that part perfectly. I especially the chemistry between Samantha and Tuvok the Doorman, I mean Frank the doorman.

Extras on the 2-disc set, on the other hand, are light with just an audio commentary track on the first episode, a very short selection of outtakes, and seven deleted scenes, with optional introductions. They do have subtitles, play all buttons, while the opening credits are so short you don't need proper chapter placements.

Samantha Who? started last fall and despite the season being ended early by the writers' strike, Season One doesn't lose its momentum partway through. Extras on the 2-disc set are light, but overall it is still a great value and worth picking up over just renting.

The DVD is broken up into three parts: The Campaign, Our History, and How Government Works.

• The Campaign - Deals with issues politicians might campaign on, like...
  Energy, Taxes, Wall Street, The Debt and the Electoral College. Sadly they skipped cosmetics on swine, the cost of haircuts, and whether or not Hawaii is considered too exotic to be American, all of which have been raised by political pundits this election cycle. Of this group, Energy Blue is my personal favorite, although the Pro-Tax song, Tax Man Max is a nice break from all of the anti-tax sentiment. I have no problem with paying taxes; I consider them clubhouse dues to be a member of your country. Complaining about waste is reasonable, but calling taxes "theft" is not.
• Our History - Deals with the history of America, including...
  Three songs about the revolution, how America is a nation of inventors, and the great melting pot. This is the weakest of the three sections and none of the songs are among the best Schoolhouse Rock has to offer, at least in my opinion.
• How Government Works - Deals with the inner workings of the Government, starting with...
  The Constitution, as well as the three branches of government, how a bill becomes law, and the Suffragettes movement. This part contains I'm Just a Bill, which is easily the most famous song on this DVD, and the second most famous ever made, behind just Conjunction Junction.The Preamble is also one of the better songs, and I particularly like the part about, "(promoting) the general Welfare...", which is part of the constitution that seems to be ignored.

Schoolhouse Rock - Election Collection is a great collection of shorts, however, this single-disc DVD has the same list price as the 2-disc Complete Collection, so it is very hard to recommend this one over the other.

Star Trek - Alternate Realities - Buy from Amazon
The latest theme DVD release from the Star Trek franchise. This 5-disc set contained 20 episodes stretching across all 5 TV shows, starting with Mirror, Mirror from The Original Series, which is an excellent episode. In fact, a lot of these episodes are excellent. But not all are.

There are four groups of episodes starting with....

Mirror Universe:

• The Original Series - Mirror, Mirror - A transporter accident sends the crew of the Enterprise into a mirror universe, one that is ruled by fear.
• Deep Space Nine - Crossover - The Mirror Universe returns when Kira and Bashear have troubles in the wormhole, which is the new transporter malfunction.
• Deep Space Nine - Through the Looking Glass - After the events of Crossover, Sisko is kidnapped and forced into the Mirror Universe to help continue the rebellion Kira and Bashear started previously.
• Deep Space Nine - Shattered Mirror - This time Jake Sisko goes into the Mirror Universe to be with the counterpart to his late mother, and Sisko follows him.
• Enterprise - In a Mirror Darkly - Part I & II - Set entirely in the Mirror Universe, which is the best part of these episodes. Archer mutanies in order to steal a ship from the future and use it to form his own Empire.

• The Original Series - The Alternative Factor - Captain Kirk meets a man named Lazarus who is being chased... by a man named Lazarus, his anti-matter doppelganger. But because they come from parallel dimensions, they threaten to destroy the universe.
• The Next Generation - Parallels - Worf returns to the Enterprise from a tournament when things start changing, minor things at first, and only he can tell the difference. How can he figure out what is happening if only he can tell there is something to investigate.

• The Original Series - The Enemy Within - A transporter accident-- Shut that damn thing down! It's dangerous!... moving on... A transporter accident causes Kirk to be split into two, his good half and a bad half.
• The Original Series - Tournabout Intruder - Kirk and a woman from his past switch bodies, and the woman uses Kirk's body to take over the Enterprise.
• The Next Generation - Frame of Mind - Riker is flashing between a play he is acting in, and an insane asylum, and he doesn't know which reality is real.
• Voyager - Shattered - Voyager becomes broken through time and only Chakotay can travel through the different time frames.

• The Next Generation - Yesterday's Enterprise - The Enterprise encounters a previous version of itself from an alternate timeline where they have been at war for 20 years. It is also the return of Tasha Yar.
• The Next Generation - The Inner Light - Captain Picard is hit by a beam from a probe and it is taken to strange planet and a new life where he lives a simple life.
• Deep Space Nine - The Visitor - Benjamin Sisko is zapped and sucked into subspace dimension, and his son spends the rest of his life trying to get him back.
• Voyager - Before and After - Kes travels backward through time, but if she travels too far, she will cease to exist.
• Voyager - Timeless - Chakotay and Kim have to fix the timeline to prevent the ship from crashing into an ice planet.
• Voyager - Course: Oblivion - The crew and the ship starts to disintegrate and they need to figure out why this is happening, and how to stop it.
• Enterprise - E² - Archer encounters an alternate timeline Enterprise filled with the descendants of the original Enterprise.
• Enterprise - Twilight - Archer is injured and can no longer form long-term memories, and T'Pol must take care of him, for 12 years.

Extras include a 19-minute featurette on the Mirror Universe, split over two parts. It shows how it started on The Original Series and why it became popular (Spock's goatee) and how it was brought back in Deep Space Nine and how it became so popular the second time around (Kira in a rubber outfit). Parallel Universe is a 7-minute featurette on the two Parallel Universe episode from Star Trek. Twisted Realities runs just under 13 minutes and deals with the four episodes in this category. Alternate Lives is a two-part featurette on this group of episodes, which runs 25 minutes in total. There are also commentary tracks on five episodes, one per disc.

Wow. Long review. Clearly I am not over my Star Trek addiction. That said, it is hard to recommend Star Trek - Alternate Realities despite the high quality of the shows presented here, at least most of the shows presented here. Every show here has been released on DVD, at least three times (full season sets, full series sets, and a full franchise set) but there are plenty of extras on this 5-disc set, and the price-per-minute is a lot more reasonable than the previously released sets. I'm going to call it a solid rental, leaning to a purchase, depending on how many of these episodes you own on DVD already, and how big of a Trekkie you are.

The Transformers - 2 Disc Special Edition with Transforming Packaging - Buy from Amazon
This is the fourth version of this movie I've reviewed now. ... I think. I admit I may have lost track. This is just the 2-Disc edition with a fancy case. How fancy? It transforms.

Okay, calling it a 'transforming' case might be overstating matters. You just slide out the legs, put the feet into place, and slide out the arms, but it does stand in the end. It is not terribly stable, and I wouldn't leave it in that form on a table that it likely to be bumped, but it is cool looking, sort of. I get the value of this version of the DVD depends heavily on how much of a Tranformers nerd you are. However, if you are a really big nerd like me, you likely complained about how Michael Bay destroyed the very soul of a childhood classic. At least it doesn't cost any more than the ordinary packaging.