I will spoil one joke for you. Less than a minute into the show when Russell Peters is interacting with the crowd he says, "Somebody brought a kid, good job, huh? Good job." I'm spoiling this one joke as a warning that this is not a family friendly show and he does swear on occasion.

Extras on the DVD include, holy crap, there are extras! Usually stand-up concert DVDs have no extras, if you are lucky a very short behind-the-scenes / interview featurette. This DVD / CD combo comes with a CD version of the concert, for those who like to listen to stand-up. It also has an audio commentary track for the main routine with Russell Peters, Clayton Peters (brother), and Jigar Talati (director). There are also numerous bonus clips from both shows. (They recorded the first two sets done in New York City, and the first one didn't make the cut. There are seven such bits, three of which have audio commentary tracks. In total they run close to 30 minutes, so it is not an insubstantial amount of extras.

Russel Peter - Red, White, and Brown is a great set with a fantastic amount of extras. It is a must have for fans of his stand-up work, and if you haven't seen him before, at least give it a rental. I think if you do, you will become a fan.

While I'm not a member of the target audience, I've seen enough similar films to be able to tell when one is not working. This one does not work. The lead characters were both highly annoying, which made it exceedingly difficult to care about their troubles. There were some great special effects shots, like the flight over the city, or the march of the toys, and I suppose that smaller children might be enthralled enough by these scenes that they will like the whole movie, but even then there are better options out there.

Extras on the DVD start with... while technically not a special feature, there is the option to watch the movie in English, or the original Mandarin with English subtitles. If you watch it in English, Corbin Bleu from the High School Musical franchise does the voice of Bailey the Magic Gourd. The real extras start with "Bloopers", which are 90 seconds of faked mistakes. There's a game called Too Many Toys! that should entertain the target audience. Backstage Disney has a 28-minute long making of featurette and a music video, both are in Mandarin, but the making of featurette at least has English subtitles.

The Secret of the Magic Gourd is not exactly a bad movie and the extras are not bad for a direct-to-DVD release. However, there are just too many other options for your entertainment dollar to recommend buying this DVD for most people. It is worth a rental, if you have younger kids.

Space Buddies - Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray
Just a quick note to start, I only have the Blu-ray at the moment, but I will update this review next week when the DVD arrives.

The owners of the puppies are on their way to a space facility to watch the launch of a new spaceship as part of a school trip. There are no pets allowed, but that doesn't stop these dogs from sneaking in with them, and once there, they sneak on board the ship and are off to the moon. Along the way, they meet up with a Russian cosmonaut, and his dog, who are trapped in space, they have to deal with a saboteur, and more.

Space buddies is the sequel to Snow Buddies, which was the sequel to Air Buddies, which was a sequel / spin-off to the Air Bud franchise. That series spawned five films, but only the first two managed theatrical releases. So in total, there have been eight films in this franchise, which explains why it feels so tired. Nothing happens here that isn't telegraphed a mile away. Additionally, while the plot of the film is uninspired, the characters are grating, and the acting is even worse. There are a lot of recognizable faces in this movie, and for the most part I'm not complaining about them. But some of the voice acting and the kids just drove me nuts. Granted, part of the problem is the characters themselves, as it would be nearly impossible to turn the character of B-Dawg, or his owner, into something that didn't grate on my nerves. But I'm sure they could have found someone better.

Extras are impressive for a direct-to-DVD sequel, starting with Buddy Facts, a pop-up trivia track for the movie. There is also a making of featurette / space exploration featurette that runs just shy of 13 minutes. It should entertain the kids. There are 3 minutes of bloopers, some faked, some with the puppies and other animal actors actually making mistakes. The real mistakes are funnier than the faked ones, but this is usually the case. There is also a music video for "Dancing in the Moonlight" by Alyson Stoner (from Cheaper by the Dozen, as well as Camp Rock, Phineas and Ferb, etc.) I've seen far too many Disney stars try their hand at music. Most should not, but she's definitely one of the better singers I've seen.

Extras that are exclusive to the Blu-ray include Buddy Finder, which is a game you play while watching the movie. You hunt for objects in the movie, and if you find all 100, something happens. Maybe. I don't want to watch the whole movie again to find out. Also, the disc is BD-Live enabled, but it only has the standard Disney selection (messages, Movie Rewards shopping, etc.).

This is the eighth film in the Air Bud franchise, and I wish they would stop. Space Buddies is so uninspired and unimaginative that I have a hard time imagining that kids will be that interested in the film. The extras on the DVD and Blu-ray are surprisingly strong, but even for fans of the franchise, a rental is all that is needed.

• Spongicus - Plankton tears down the Chum Bucket and in its place build a replica of the Colosseum, complete with lionfish. A man-eating lionfish. ... Wait a minute, there are no men in Bikini Bottom. There's nothing but fish, and crabs, and other sea life.
  The latest season gets off to a strong start with a high energy episode.
• Suction Cup Symphon - Squidward get the oppurtunity to compose a piece for the Bikini Bottom Symphony Orchestra, but SpongeBob and Patrick keep interrupting his concentration, which causes some unique results.
  While watching this DVD with my nephew and his friends (to get a different viewpoint) one of them said, "This has to be a dream sequence. Squidward can't win in the end."
• House Fancy - Squidward finally gets his home featured on his favorite TV series, House Fancy. However, his home is a mess, so he is forced to turn to SpongeBob for help, which some unique results.
  The set-up might be different, but the outcome is surprisingly the same as the previous episode.
• Krabby Road - Plankton, SpongeBob, and Patrick form a band. But are they really going for Rock'n'Roll fame, or is this just another attempt for Plankton to steal the recipe for Krabby Patties?
  Of course it's the latter, but it is still a good episode.
• Penny Foolish - Mr. Krabs sees SpongeBob finding a penny on the ground. ... And he will stop at nothing till that penny is his.
  This episode plays on a common theme for the series, and because of this, it is not one of the better episodes on this disc.
• Nautical Novice - In order to impress Mrs. Puff, SpongeBob memorizes the history of boating. But will it come in handy on their class trip to the Nautical Museum?
  This episode plays on a common theme for the series, and because of this, it is not one of the better episodes on this disc.
• Not Normal - SpongeBob decides he has to be more normal, with disastrous results. But he might have gone too far and not even Patrick will be able to return him to is old, spongey self.
  Creepy. This episode is creepy, as SpongeBob's normalcy is unnatural, but it is also a great source of humor.
• Gone - SpongeBob wakes up and everyone's gone. The entire town of Bikini Bottom is missing. But why?
  Arguably the best episode on this DVD, especially the conclusion. (Which I won't spoil here.)

On the one hand, I vastly prefer full season sets. On the other hand, when these episodes do come out on full season sets, the two image galleries will likely not be included. Of the eight episodes on Spongebob Squarepants - Spongicus, I can recommend five of them, but I think waiting for the next full season set, or the first volume of the full season set, is wiser.

Wow... that was short, but it is all that needs to be said. So as an added bonus, I will give you my way of improving the American presidential elections, specifically the primary season.

First step: Divide the nation into six sections.

1. Northeast: Pennsylvania, Maryland, D.C. and all states north and east of that border
2. South: Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Louisiana, and all states south of that border
3. Midwest: Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Michigan
4. Mountain & Plains: Utah, Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana
5. Southwest: Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada
6. Pacific: California, Oregon, Washington, Alaska, and Hawaii

1. Northeast: New Hampshire
2. South: South Carolina
3. Midwest: Iowa
4. Mountain & Plains: Wyoming
5. Southwest: New Mexico
6. Pacific: Oregon

Step Four: Take the remaining 45 states (or 44 states plus D.C., Americans abroad,. Guam, et.c) and divide then into three groups of 15, also alphabetically.

Step Five: Hold each of three 'Super Tuesday' ever other Tuesday starting two weeks after the final single primary. This way candidates are forced to compete in massive, nationwide races, which better simulate the presidential election in November.

Step Six: The next presidential cycle, take the first of the individual races and movie it to the back. Do the same for the three Super Tuesdays groups. And repeat this process each new presidential cycle. This way no one state gets to go first every time and no state is forced to be last each time.

This system has many benefits over the current system, while using a rotating alphabetical order will ensure all states will have a more equal say in the choosing of a candidate, if not every cycle, at least every third cycle. And by setting it up in advanced, states are less likely to jump the line, because they know they will get their chance sooner or latter.

On a side note, I thought Matt Hamill was beating Rich Franklin, until he took the low blow. I think the after effect of that allowed Rich Franklin to get in the shot that ended the fight.

Additionally note. Jason MacDonald, who is Canadian, has the nickname, 'The Athlete.' Other nicknames from this DVD include The Piranha, The Punisher, The Barbarian, The Hitman, etc. Nicknames that imply you are tough, but above all else, dangerous. That's just not the Canadian way. We're just too damn polite for that.

Extras on the DVD include two additional fights not seen on the PPV that are on disc one, the rest of the extras are on disc two. There is a 41-minute long countdown show, the weigh-ins (Is this really of interest?), there's a 30-minute behind-the-scenes featurette, and finally a 21-minute UFC.com featurette.

UFC: Ultimate Knockouts - Volume 6
I was looking forward to this DVD over the first, because I figured it would be very hard to knock someone out when you are rolling on the ground, so the 35 fights featured here should heavy punches, devastating kicks, and much less ground and pound. There was more ground game than I was expecting. There were some great stand up exchanges, but not enough for my taste. Also, with 35 fights in 65 minutes, most fights are only shown as 30 second of set up, 30 seconds of actual fight, and 30 seconds of replay. That said, the lack of pomp and ceremony before the fights, and that means there are a lot more blows thrown and hits landed per minute. In fact, there is more action in this 65-minute DVD than there is on the card from UFC 88, which is twice as long. But the lack of context could hurt the overall value of the disc for fans of the sport.

There are no extras on this DVD.

For fans of MMA in general and UFC will be happy to pick up these two DVDs. For those who are interested in the sport and the rankings, then UFC 88: Breakthrough is the better deal. If you just want to see fast and furious action, then grab Ultimate Knockouts - Volume 6.

The film stars Rebecca Hall as Vicky, a sensible, grounded woman to is engaged to her successful and dependable boyfriend of many years, and Scarlett Johansson as Cristina, a woman who thinks love and passion must come with pain and suffering, and almost seems to seek them out. They get a chance to spent several months in Barcelona after distant relatives of Vicky's (Judy and Mark Nash) offer to put them up. Once their they almost immediately meet Juan Antonio, a suave Spanish man who is attracted to both women, and both women are attracted to him. However, only Cristina acts, a decision that becomes more complicated when his crazy ex-girlfriend, Maria Elana returns.

Like I said above, I had high expectations for this film, perhaps too high. Don't get me wrong, it is a very good movie and I enjoyed watching it, and I do think it is arguably Woody Allen best film since Everyone says I Love You, but I probably would have enjoyed it more had my expectations not been so high. I think this is because the movie is so subtle that it is works best as it draws you in. The narration pulls you in a smooth way. All the parts work like a well-oiled machine thanks to Woody Allen's script and his extensive experience with films like this.

Sadly, there are no extras on this DVD. However, given Woody Allen's track record when it comes to DVDs, as most of his releases have little to no extras. I do not have the Blu-ray, but it appears to have no extras either. It does cost about 33% more, which is acceptable for this type of upgrade.

Vicky Cristina Barcelona is a great movie that combines a tight script, excellent director, and fantastic acting by all involved. Even with a featureless DVD or Blu-ray, it is still worth checking out for most and picking up for many. However, if it has a full compliment of extras, I could have been a lot more enthusiastic in my recommendation.