Bolt

I was so pleased that Liam seemed to love one of my top favorite Disney movies just as much as I did.  The last five days have had us watching this movie at least 8 times now haha.  You know it's good when you can still sit down and continue to enjoy it that many times in a row.  In case you have been missing out on this truly awesome Disney adventure or in case you need to revisit it, let me tell you what the story is about.

Bolt is a Disney movie that revolves around a dog named Bolt that is an action/sci-fi star for a tv show.  He is the protector of a teenage girl (his human) named Penny and has been altered to have powers such as super bark, super strength and heat vision.  His entire life he has been led to believe that he truly has all of these powers, and the tv sets are set up so that he can never know that it is all just a show.  When the show ratings start to drop, they decided to leave a cliff hanger episode that ends with Penny getting kidnapped and Bolt has not saved her at the end of the episode like he used to doing for years.  This makes him go on an adventure to try to rescue her when he thinks she is in danger.  He accidentally ends up instead across the country in New York and must make his way back to Hollywood to Penny, all the way he truly believes that he has the super powers from the show and ends up on a cross country voyage with an alley cat and a true believe fan hamster as they try to save Penny.

 This movie is just amazing!  I love everything about it.  The elements of the show.  How much thought went into the entire thing.  The way that the characters all play off of one another and work together in this show.  I think this is one of the top genius shows that Disney has put out. 

Bolt was originally released in 2008 as the 48th animated film by Disney.  Bolt is voiced by John Travolta, and Penny by Miley Cyrus.  It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Film but ended up losing out to Wall-E.  What a great year for animated films. 

At first, the film was going to be titled American Dog, the story of a dog named Henry, a famous TV star, who one day finds himself stranded in the Nevada desert with a testy, one-eyed cat and an oversized, radioactive rabbit who are themselves searching for new homes, all the while believing he is still on television.  However once reviewed it was decided that some changes need to take place, the original director was removed and the new directors were given just 18 months to complete the Bolt which we see today.  Normally computer animated films are slotted with 4 years to create, so 18 months is quite a feat and to have such an amazing result, I have to say that I am incredibly impressed with the result.  It opened up at the box office in the 3rd position behind Twilight and Quantum of Solace.  It grossed a worldwide total of $309,979,994.

Belly Pilates

Belly Pilates with Rania Review

I bought the DVD Belly Pilates with Rania a few years ago.  I have done it many times in the past but I am always in so much pain from sore muscles afterwards that I am no good at sticking with it.  Let me give you some background on the video:  Belly Pilates is a workout designed by revered Belly Dance fitness instructor Rania Bossonis and created in 2008.  In it she combines Belly Dancing & Pilates to do a lot of flowy and isometric moves.  Rania has many other Belly Dance inspired workouts that I will check out in the future to include Belly Abs, Belly Yoga, Belly Dance Fitness, & Belly Dance Fat Burning.  You can buy it on Amazon new for about $7 or used for less than $2.  It is a great workout to get many muscles in the legs, shoulders and abs.  I would suggest a lot of stretching afterwards.

Mychal and I have been working out in the evenings at home and we take turns deciding what we do.  So I challenged him to my belly pilates DVD.  Let's just say that I don't think he was expecting it to be as hard core as it was, and I spent more time giggling at his groans of movements than working out.  He claims to already be sore and is dreading how he will feel when he wakes up in the morning.

If you want to check out any samples of these video just look up Rania & Belly and all kinds of workout videos associated with her come up int he results.  I perused through a few but couldn't find one from Belly Pilates, it seems to be one of her first videos created and she seems to have gotten better production and helpers in the background since she first started.  I would definitely recommend Belly Pilates, as it is only about a half hour workout and then you are done.  It looks like the rest of her videos would be great as well.  Enjoy toning those abs, and feeling the burn in the morning :)