Reviews, Health, and Other Stuff
Here you will find things about fitness and nutrition, mainly (but not exclusively) in relation to the Beachbody programs like P90x and Insanity. And, I will start adding reviews for Books, DVDs and Blu-Rays, and other products. All views and opinions on this blog are my own.
Welcome
Welcome to my ever-evolving blog. It started out as a blog on Beachbody workouts and products, mainly when I was a Beachbody coach. I no longer coach, not because I don't believe in Beachbody's programs (I subscribe to Beachbody on Demand and use their workouts every day), I am just not a salesperson and hated that aspect of it. I am more than willing to answer questions about my experiences with their products and the various workouts, and I feel freer to do so without the appearance of giving a biased review of something.
I have also started adding reviews for various things I have purchased like movies, books, CDs, and other products. This was brought about by a fight with Amazon in which all of my reviews were removed over a completely bullshit allegation that I posted a review that violated their terms of service. After going back and forth with the morons in the community-reviews department (even after they admitted that my posts did not violate their guidelines) they restored my account (which took them six months to do), but I have been posting my reviews on my blog to have them preserved in case something like that happens again. And here, I will post uncensored reviews so I will swear from time to time and post reviews that may be longer than Amazon's character limit. Everything I post here on any topic or product is my personal opinion, and I take no compensation for any product reviews I post. I am a member of Amazon's vine program and because I get those products for free, I keep those reviews on Amazon only, but everything I have purchased with my own money, whether from Amazon or some other store/website/outlet, I will post here.
I also plan to do some longer blog posts on various topics, such as how to learn physics, how to get through calculus, and longer reviews of workout programs as I do them. Basically, whatever strikes me as interesting at the time. As you can see if you navigate around the blog, I had many years in between postings. During that time I was going back to school to get an engineering degree, and learning material that I avoided my first time through college was a different experience and one that gave me a lot of insight into how to do well in those classes, which I will try to impart here for those who are looking to get a science or engineering degree.
Thursday, June 12, 2025
Book Review: Merlin's Tour of the Universe: A Traveler's Guide to Blue Moons and Black Holes, Mars, Stars, and Everything Far
Wednesday, June 4, 2025
Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: Cheers: Season 3
The blu-ray set is a three-disc set and reproduces the content of the original DVD releases. Again, the individual seasons are not available on blu-ray; you can (at least as of this writing) only get the blu-rays in a complete series set. The A/V quality of the blu-ray release is very good. The extras are all included on the final disc. Those include clips of Norm talking about his wife Vera (who never appear on screen), clips of Carla making fun of Cliff, clips of Fraiser's key moments in the season, a virtual tour of the bar, and a tribute to Nicholas Colasanto (which features interviews with Ted Danson, George Wendt, and Rhea Perlman talking about Colasanto and what he brought to the show and the character of Coach.
The series really found its footing by the third season. The show continued to be a mix of procedural weekly storylines and longer serial arcs. While the show's focus remained on Sam and Diane's relationship, the writers continued to expand the storylines for the supporting characters, particularly Cliff and Norm. Each of the supporting characters received at least one show devoted to him or her. As was the case in the first two seasons, there are definitely jokes that would probably not be used if the show were made today, and there are quite a few adult jokes, so while the series is mostly good-natured and wholesome, it is not entirely family-friendly. Ultimately, if you liked the first couple of seasons, this one is worth watching.
Sunday, June 1, 2025
Book Review: Heretics of Dune (Dune #20 Chronological Order, #5 Publication Order)
Friday, May 30, 2025
Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: The Big Bang Theory: Season 9
The relationships of the characters continue to be the centerpiece of the show. All the couples on the show go through a period of transition in their relationship, and even Raj does a complete 180 from his days of not being able to talk to women unless drunk, with pretty humorous results. Overall, I think if you have found the show enjoyable in the past few seasons and have not felt it getting stale, then you will also enjoy this season. If it has been getting stale for you, then you may not.
The blu-ray set is a two-disc set. The extras include the comic con panel, a few short behind-the-scenes features, including one devoted to the 200th episode, and a gag reel. Definitely good for what is there. Unlike one of the other reviewers, I had no problems with episode 12 not playing or missing in my set, so it is not a problem that affects the entire lot of blu-ray sets out there.
Thursday, May 29, 2025
4K-UHD/Movie Review: Cloverfield
Monday, May 26, 2025
Workout Update: Insanity Max 30/Power 90 Hybrid: Day 70
Day 70 was a rest day. I did do the Lift 4 stretch workout, but did not foam roll. It was nice to have a day off from workout out since I have been pretty gassed this week.
Workout Update: Insanity Max 30/Power 90 Hybrid: Day 69
On day 69, I just did the Sculpt 3-4 workout from Power 90. I was able to increase the amount of weight I used on a couple of the exercises, and actually had to break out the micro plates to get the "heavy pants" (bent over back rows) to 27.5 lbs.
Workout Update: Insanity Max 30/Power 90 Hybrid: Day 68
Day 68 was Friday Fight Round 1 in Max 30, Sweat 3-4, and Ab-Ripper 200 from Power 90. I could only get to the 8:26 mark in FF before maxing out, and once I did, I took a lot of breaks, but I was trying to do as many unmodified exercises as I could. The evening workout went fine. There is nothing major to report from that one.
Workout Update: Insanity Max 30/Power 90 Hybrid: Day 67
Day 67 was Tabata Power again in Max 30. I made it to the 23:38 mark before maxing out, which was a significant improvement from Tuesday. In the evening, I did Sculpt 3-4 from Power 90. I did not increase the weight for any of the exercises from the last workout, but I did hit 10 reps easily on a couple of the exercises, so I will be increasing the weight next time.
Workout Update: Insanity Max 30/Power 90 Hybrid: Day 66
Day 66 was Sweat Intervals from Max 30 in the morning and Sweat 3-4 and Ab-Ripper 200 from Power 90 in the evening. Both workouts went pretty well. I made it to the 11:30 mark in Sweat Intervals before maxing out. I was a bit tired in the evening workout, but I got through it.
Workout Update: Insanity Max 30/Power 90 Hybrid: Day 65
Day 65 was Tabata Power from Max 30 in the morning and Sculpt 3-4 from Power 90 in the evening. In the Max 30 workout, I was able to get to the 16:10 mark before maxing out doing a mix of unmodified and modified exercises. My intent is to do every exercise in each circuit unmodified at least once before I switch to modifying, then max out when I cannot go any further. In the Power 90 workout, I was able to increase the amount of weight on a couple of the exercises.
Sunday, May 25, 2025
Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: Cheers: Season 2
The show continued to primarily use a story-of-the-week procedural format, but also called back to storylines from previous episodes. The prominent serial arc was Sam's (played by Ted Danson) relationship with Diane (played by Shelly Long). The second season picks up immediately after the events that ended season one, with Sam and Diane kissing and agreeing to try to have a relationship. To say their relationship did not go smoothly was an understatement, with the two constantly bickering throughout the season. Even though their relationship was the primary storyline throughout the season, the writers gave all the cast members great material to work with, and all the characters received at least one episode centered on them.
The blu-ray set is a four-disc set. Again, at least in the US, the blu-rays are only available as a complete series set, with each season packaged individually inside a decorative outer box. The A/V transfer is very good, and the play all mode allows you to pick up where you leave off if you stop before watching all the episodes. The individual seasons are only available on DVD, which is a four-disc set. The extras are all on the third disc and are transferred over from the DVD release. Those include interviews with some of the cast members, some of which included archival footage from an Entertainment Tonight segment, and some of which were from interviews with Danson, George Wendt, and Rhea Perlman made after the series ended. Then there are three different featurettes showing clips of Cliff's, Norm's, and Carla's best moments of the season and a gag reel.
The show really starts to hit its stride in the second season. It is a good comedy, but some of the jokes are absolutely dated and would not work today. For example, there are jokes about being gay that would probably not get past today's censors, and a segment where Sam and Diane repeatedly slap each other that would not fly today. That said, the series is mostly good-natured and enjoyable. While there is no overt sexual content, there are jokes that are definitely suggestive, so it is not entirely family-friendly. Ultimately, if you liked the first season, the second season is worth watching.
Wednesday, May 21, 2025
Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: The Big Bang Theory: Season 8
The 24-episode 8th season of The Big Bang Theory aired during the 2014/2015 TV season. All of the main cast members return for the 8th season, as do many of the primary recurring cast members such as Carol Ann Susi, Regina King, John Ross Bowie, Wil Wheaton, Laurie Metcalf, Christine Baranski, and Stephen Hawking (in another voice appearance). This season's notable guest stars include Stephen Root, Billy Bob Thornton, LeVar Burton, Nathan Fillion, and Kevin Smith (in a voice appearance).
The blu-ray set is a two-disc set. The A/V transfer is very good, and the show looks and sounds great. For extras, on disc one, there is a relatively short writer's panel (and Wil Wheaton's appearance) from Comic-Con and a behind-the-scenes feature on Billy Bob Thornton's guest appearance. The second disc has a feature on a group of contest winners who were taken to the set and sat in the studio audience, a short feature on Kaley Cuoco, Jim Parsons, and Chuck Lorre getting stars on the Walk of Fame, a tribute to Carol Ann Susi, and a gag reel. Definitely good for what is there.
If you have loved the show and do not think it has gone stale then you will love this season. If you have hated the show either because of the laugh track or any other reason, this season is not really going to do anything to change your mind. Thankfully the show is popular enough that the studio is still released on blu ray, for those of us who get the discs and prefer that format. The show definitely lays the groundwork for where it is going next season. As other reviewers have said it would be good if the show took some of the focus off the relationship of the main characters and incorporated more of their families into some episodes. That said, however, if you love the show this is definitely worth adding to your collection.
Tuesday, May 20, 2025
Blu-Ray/Movie Review: Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle
The plot involves a pair of rings that contain and unlock a list of people in the witness protection program. The list is stolen and set to be sold to various criminal organizations. A couple of revenge plots are intertwined within the story, and we get a bit more backstory about Crispin Glover's character.
This is a single-disc release containing both the theatrical version of the film and an unrated version that adds a few more minutes to the runtime, mostly by adding more violence to a couple of the big fight scenes. The extras include several commentary tracks on the film. There is an audio and a telestrator commentary by McG. The audio tracks are exactly the same, but the telestrator commentary is annotated with things being circled in the background of some of the scenes while McG talks. Then, there is a commentary track by a couple of the writers. The theatrical version can also be played with a trivia track similar to the old show, Pop-Up Video, where information about the movie is displayed in pop-up boxes while it plays. Then there are several different making-of and behind-the-scenes featurettes, a preview for the 2019 reboot, and the music video for Pink's song Feel Good Time.
Ultimately, the movie is a fun action-comedy. It is similar in style and tone to the first movie. It does have a lot of adult humor that skirts the bounds of what can be included in a PG-13 film. There is also a scene where the Angels are nude in shadow so you cannot really see anything except for a brief flash of sideboob from Drew Barrymore. Of course, the big draw when the movie came out was that this was Demi Moore's return to movies after a hiatus of about six years. She was phenomenal in the role and looked fantastic. It seems all the actors had fun in their respective roles and did not take themselves too seriously. The big change from the first film is that Bill Murray did not return. The writer's commentary track touched on Murray's absence, stating that they knew they would have to go in a different direction with the Bosley character when it was clear that Murray would not be back. There was no mention in any of the bonus content of the conflict between him and Lucy Liu in the first movie. They came up with a good way to have Bernie Mac be the new Bosley and did include a picture of Murray in one of the scenes. If you liked the first movie, you will probably like this one. Like the first film, this one takes a lot of suspension of disbelief and has some plot holes, but if you do not overthink it and just enjoy it for what it is, it is worth watching.
Saturday, May 17, 2025
Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: Cheers: Season 1
Wednesday, May 14, 2025
Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: The Big Bang Theory Season 7
There are a couple of different blu-ray sets out there. The original release was a five-disc set with two blu-rays and three DVDs. It was later re-released as a two-disc blu-ray set. The A/V quality of the blu-rays is outstanding. My only critique is that the "play all" feature does not allow you to pick up where you leave off if you do not watch all the episodes on the disc in one sitting. As far as extras go for those who get the Blu-rays (or DVDs), there is a lot of behind-the-scenes material, a Comic-Con panel with the writers, a making of the Star Wars day episode, and a gag reel. All in all, probably around an hour's worth of bonus material. Definitely enough to make those who like going through that stuff happy.
Monday, May 12, 2025
Workout Update: Insanity Max 30/Power 90 Hybrid: Day 64
On day 64, it was back to two-a-day workouts. I did the cardio challenge workout from Max 30 in the morning, and Sweat 3-4 and Ab-Ripper 200 in the evening from Power 90. My approach to the Max 30 workouts is to do unmodified exercises for as long as possible in each block, then switch to modified. That way, I can work my way up to doing a fully unmodified round. I will count maxing out when I have to take a break from the modified exercises, which this time was at about 12:50 into the workout. I did the unmodified version of every exercise in the workout for as long as I could in the first round of each block. For some exercises, that was the entire 30 seconds, and for others, it was about five seconds. In the second and third rounds, sometimes I started with the unmodified versions and switched to the modified, and for some exercises, I just did the modified versions in the second and third rounds. That was tough and emphasized how much harder the high-impact versions of the exercises are than the low-impact versions. The Power 90 workout went fine. I have taken to doing the Ab-Ripper workout as the warmup since the Power 90 warmup is pretty useless by today's standards, where he warms up with a ton of static stretching.
Workout Update: Insanity Max 30/Power 90 Hybrid: Day 63
Day 63 was a rest day in Power 90, so I did the Lift 4 stretch workout. I did not do foam rolling, however. I think I am maintaining my flexibility, but am not really improving it during this round. If I had unlimited time to work out, I would follow the cardio workouts with a few minutes of yoga. I do plan on getting the bike before the end of the year to do the bike workouts in the morning, so I may start doing the "five-er" yoga routines after that to try and increase my flexibility. We shall see.
Workout Update: Insanity Max 30/Power 90 Hybrid: Day 62
Day 62 was Sculpt 3-4. I did manage to increase the amount of weight I used on a couple of the exercises, but for the most part, I used the same weight as last time.
Workout Update: Insanity Max 30/Power 90 Hybrid: Day 61
Day 61 was Sweat 3-4 and Ab-Ripper 200 again. Both workouts went fine. I do not really think I made much improvement from the last workout, but did not backslide either.
4k-UHD/Movie Review: Charlie's Angels
Saturday, May 10, 2025
Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: The Big Bang Theory: Season 6
Thursday, May 8, 2025
Workout Update: Insanity Max 30/Power 90 Hybrid: Day 60
Day 60 was Sculpt 3-4 from Power 90. The workout went well. I was again able to do more of the bodyweight exercises, and have better form, and was able to increase the amount of weight I was using on several of the lifting exercises. So, overall, it was a good workout.
Wednesday, May 7, 2025
Workout Update: Insanity Max 30/Power 90 Hybrid: Day 59
Day 59 was Sweat 3-4 and Ab-Ripper 200 in Power 90. They both went fine, although I did not feel like I had as much stamina in this workout. That is probably because I am taking the week off from Max 30. It is a bit of a double-edged sword doing the two-a-day workouts. My cardio stamina is better, but the second workout is very tiring.
Tuesday, May 6, 2025
Workout Update: Insanity Max 30/Power 90 Hybrid: Day 58
Day 58 was Sculpt 3-4 from Power 90. I was able to increase the amount of weight I used for a couple of exercises, but I was able to easily hit 11 reps on quite a few of the exercises, so the next time I do the workout, I will increase the amount of weight on those. I also got deeper on my push-ups than I have in a long time, so I am making progress.