Review - The Beekeeper Streaming Online

When I saw the trailer for The Beekeeper 2, I was prompted to review the first movie, same title minus the 2. Actually, I thought I'd already done this, but I couldn't find it on the blog.

The film is streaming free for subscribers on Amazon Prime, Roku, MGM, and YouTube Premium. You can also rent it on Amazon, Apple, and probably a few other places too.  

To be honest, I was a bit underwhelmed by the movie. It had some good parts, some unique ways to kill people, and some elements that made you wonder if it was inspired by the previous President's son's cocaine escapade in the White House.

In any event, here are my thoughts on this action movie starring Jason Statham, an actor known for high concept thrilling action movies. You'll also see Emmy Raver-Lampman, Bobby Naderi Minnie Driver, Jeremy Irons, Jemma Redgrave, and Phylicia Rashad along with many others in the cast.

So far, I don't believe he's outdone the first Transporter movie which had unqiue fight sequences and, dare I say, comedy? Each of his films seems to get more violent than the previous one. I guess it's Art imitating our increasingly violent times.

In The Beekeeper, the premise is an emotional one that's a hot button issue in our contemporary world: senior citizens victimized by online thieves intent on lining their own pockets—corporations with huge call centers—and stealing everything the elderly may have saved.

Every good action film needs an emotional reason for the violence. Right? That way we can root for the guy visiting justice on the evil-doers. In this movie, it's another "cut off the head of the snake" story where all who created the asset-stealing crooks must pay the piper.

That's all I need to say about the film because I don't want to give spoilers about the set pieces and how The Beekeeper goes about getting justice. In this case, Statham teaches all involved that "Crime does not pay." Especially if someone he loves is the victim in that scheme.

TAKEAWAY TRUTH

I won't say this is a feel good movie, but if you like high-octane action flicks with an emotionally resonant reason for the violence, you'll probably enjoy The Beekeeper. With the sequel on the horizon, this first flick will tell you if you'd like the second.

OLD ENOUGH TO BE BOLD

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Monday Magic - YouTube Trick - Change Start Page

Good Monday Morning! Ready for a little Tech Magic?

If you're like me and have Subscriptions to dozens of YouTube channels, do you still start YouTube with the Home Page opening?

That takes time, doesn't it?

There's an easier way to get going with YouTube by going straight to your Subscriptions page, and it's easy to do.

CHANGE HOME PAGE TO YOUR SUBSCRIPTIONS PAGE

1. When you click on YouTube, it opens automatically at the Home Page. Go to the link displayed in the browser, which will be https://www.youtube.com and add this bit of code to that link:

/feed/subscriptions

which results in this URL:

https://www.youtube.com/feed/subscriptions

Now, with that URL displaying, bookmark it. Next time you go to YouTube, go to your bookmarks, click the one you made for YouTube, and the website will open on your Subscriptions page.

TAKEAWAY TRUTH

A minute saved is a minute earned—or something to that effect. Have a great Monday!

THE TROUBLE WITH LOVE

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Sunday Thought - Change

I guess it's part of the human condition that no one seems to like change. I guess it's because we feel safe in our present circumstances.

Even when people are in bad situations, they cling to the status quo rather than change. 

Socrates—yes, that ancient Greek—said, "The secret of change is to focus all your energy not on fighting the old, but on building the new."

Yes, change is often inevitable. Would we better off not fighting it? Perhaps we'd be better to analyze the impending change to ascertain whether it will be bad or good before we start fighting against it.

TAKEAWAY TRUTH

I guess it's like the Serenity Prayer of bygone days. "God grant me the ability to accept the things that cannot be changed, the courage to change the things that can be changed, and the wisdom to know the difference."

Saturday Share Recipe - Baked Pork Chops and Rice

Recently I came across my Mom's recipe for Baked Pork Chops and Rice.

I remember this main dish because it was the first time my Mom used Cream of Mushroom Soup, a shortcut for her since she made everything from scratch.

The dish was a big hit tastewise for the family and time-saving for her. It's easy to put together and serves 6 hungry people.

In today's world when it seems pork is less expensive than beef—at least that's how it is in Texas—it may offer savings on a family's food budget.

BAKED PORK CHOPS AND RICE

Ingredients

Seasoning Mix for 6 Chops

3 teaspoons salt

1-2 teaspoons ground black pepper, to your taste

2 teaspoons garlic powder

2 teapoons celery seeds

2 teaspoons Tony Chacere's No Salt Creole Seasoning

6 pork chops

1 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon of butter

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 large onion, chopped

1 1/2 cup rice, uncooked

3 cups water

Large skillet or Dutch oven with a tight-fitting lid

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F (176°C). Mix the soup and water together in a large measuring cup or bowl. Blend well.

2. Wash the chops. I encourage you to always wash meat you purchase. Many supermarket meat departments no longer properly clean cut meats which is why you can find bone residue on chops, steaks, and roasts.

3. Pat the chops dry.

4. Sprinkle the seasoning mix on both sides of the chops.

5. Heat the olive oil and butter in a large skillet.

6. Add the chops to the heated pan and brown on each side. Remove for now.

7. Add the onion to the pan and saute until light brown. Remove for now.

8. Add the rice and saute until light brown.

9. Return the onion to the pan and stir with the rice. Add the chops back in the pan and arrange evenly over the rice and onion.

10. Pour the soup mixture over everything, cover the pan with the lid, and place in pre-heated oven. Bake 40-45 minutes or until rice is done.

All you need is something green to complete this meal.

TAKEAWAY TRUTH

Cooking at home is fun. Get your family involved in making delicious, healthier meals than you can get with takeout or even most restaurant food that may contain ingredients harmful to health.

Joan participates in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, affiliate advertising designed to help websites earn advertising fees by linking to products on Amazon. If you click an Amazon link in her post, she may receive a small commision at no extra cost to you.

The Trouble With Love

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99¢ Sale for May - The Trouble With Love

May sneaked up on me. I've been so busy writing to finish OLD ENOUGH TO BE BOLD , now on pre-order at Amazon, and trying to pack up my office because painters are scheduled.

I'm afraid I lost track of some things I should have done in April—like sending my newsletter to subscribers and blogging each day.

I hope to get my April newsletter out to subscribers by Sunday. (I'll mark that task as "Better late than never.")

I'm trying to get ahead of the curve on the writing, and the blogging will take care of itself.

May is going to be a frantic month. We have a couple of high school graduations and 2 out of town trips. Then there are the painting, landscaping, and a few other projects to wrap up. 

I'm afraid some of these things will carry over into June, and new projects will be added to the list. But let's get to the 99¢ sale.

MAY 99 CENT SALE

THE TROUBLE WITH LOVE went on sale yesterday, and this book is also on Kindle Unlimited for you subscribers.

Please leave a review. The competition grows fiercer every day. Authors need a lot of good reviews to make it in today's world.

Susannah Quinn is a by-the-book Texas deputy who's about to have her life turned upside down! When the tall, dark, and too-darn-yummy FBI Special Agent D.E. Hogan strolls into the Sheriff's office, battle lines are drawn. To her consternation, she finds herself in a steamy battle of the sexes—and a battle of wills—that's hotter than a bowl of Texas chili!

TAKEAWAY TRUTH

I'm looking forward to the weekend, and you probably are too. Here's wishing you good weather—none of that scary stuff involving storms—and relaxation. Get a fun book and your weekend will be complete.

Joan participates in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, affiliate advertising designed to help websites earn advertising fees by linking to products on Amazon. If you click an Amazon link in her post, she may receive a small commision at no extra cost to you.

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Monday Magic - YouTube Trick 2 Ways

Do you attend YouTube University? I do—just about every day of the week.

Of course, I mean learning how to do something from a YouTube video. My Darling Hubby has repaired more mechanical things than I thought possible just by watching videos on how to do it.

So far, he's replaced sprinkler heads, repaired a sprinkler valve, figured out what was wrong with his pickup's engine fan that 4 trips to the dealer—cost about $1K—didn't properly diagnose it, replaced the blade on the riding lawn mower, and on and on.

I don't know how much he's saved us in repair bills, but I do know the cost of parts he ordered were a fraction of what a repair service wanted.

Me? I mostly watch videos for research, graphic design, using AI for graphics, and other information probably used mostly by authors.

I do find I go back to videos I watched for research to find a specific part of the video to make notes, and it takes time if you have to scroll from the beginning because many videos do not have time or subject matter stamps on them.

I discovered there's a way to easily do this. So that and other tricks are the focus of today's Monday Magic Tech Video.

1. Go to a specific part of a video by adding a bit of code at the end of the URL.

There are 3 simple ways to do this. When you open the video, go to the URL in the address bar (must be the actual URL and not one from a playlist. At the end of the URL, type the & sign followed by t (for time) then the = sign and the time you want the video to start. For instance, to start at the 1 minute 5 second mark, you'd type: 1m1s then copy that URL

When you paste it into a address bar, the video will start at that time stamp. Example: Here's the URL for one of my videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ay8ZSIW3aBI

To start it at the 27 second mark, I added: &t=27s to the end of the URL which made it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ay8ZSIW3aBI&t=27s and then I copied that URL and saved it. I can now paste that URL into the address bar—without opening YouTube etc.—and the video will open at that time stamp.

Another example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y415Y-EqcUg&t=1m18s

2. Go to a specific part of a video by using the YouTube Share feature.

The second way is even easier, but by reading the first way you'll understand what bit of code is added to make this happen.

This way is simply typing in the time and letting the YouTube feature add the code.

When playing a video and you reach the spot where you want to return to it again, pause it, go below the video to SHARE. 

In the pop-up box, there's a little square that says START. Put a check mark in the box, and a time designation appears. If that's exactly the point to return to in the future, click copy, and the link with that time stamp as the start is saved to your clipboard. Paste it anywhere you want.

If you want to start a few seconds before or after that or whenever, simply change the time stamp YouTube popped up to what you want and then copy, etc.

TAKEAWAY TRUTH

I hope this helps. If you like YouTube tricks, keep visiting on Monday. I've learned a bunch that saves a lot of time. I intend to add these to my Monday feature. That's a wrap for Monday. Have a great week.

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Saturday Share Recipe - Oven Roasted Duet of Potatoes

A Duet of Potatoes? Confusing title? Actually, it means 2 kinds of potatoes.

Most people cook either white potatoes or sweet potatoes, but not both together.

However, it's perfectly okay to roast them together. In fact, it can be quite delicious to have a side dish of two kinds of roasted potatoes.

Serve with a grilled steak or roasted pork or ham, and you'll be convinced.

This uses Idaho potatoes, commonly called baking potatoes, and sweet potatoes.

Here's how you do it.

OVEN ROASTED DUET OF POTATOES

Ingredients

1 pound white potatoes, unpeeled and scrubbed thoroughly, cut into 2-inch chunks

1 pound sweet potatoes, also unpeeled, scrubbed clean with any bad spots cut off, cut into 2-inch chunks

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

1 teaspoon dry thyme

4 tablespoons olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Preheat oven to 450°F (235°C).

While oven heats, pour oil onto a foil-covered baking sheet. 

Add both types of potato chunks and coat with oil. Sprinkle salt, pepper, and thyme on the potatoes.

Place pan in oven. Every 15 minutes, turn potatoes so all surfaces get brown. Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour until tender.

Remove from oven, adjust the seasoning if needed, then sprinkle with the parsley to serve.

TAKEAWAY TRUTH

With summer coming on, we cook out a lot. I love easy side dishes to accompany barbeque chicken or grilled steaks.