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. 

Sunday, July 4, 2021

Movie/DVD Review: The Matrix (1999 release)


The Matrix if the movie that re-defined the action-adventure-sci-fi action genre of movies, and especially the computer-generated special effects of that genre. The movie has been around long enough that most people know the plot, humans created artificial intelligent machines that eventually became autonomous and went to war with humans. The humans eventually lost and were used as batteries to power the machines, living inside a computer simulation called The Matrix. Some humans were able to escape The Matrix (yet still plug into it and as a result have superhuman abilities inside the computer) and lead a resistance fight against the machines. 

The movie starred Keanu Reeves in his first big post "Bill and Ted" role, Laurence Fishburne, and Carrie Anne Moss, in the lead roles, with a supporting cast made up of mostly lesser-known character actors and actresses.  Some, like Hugo Weaving, who are very well-known now, and others who did not do much notably after The Matrix. At the time the movie was made, the most recognizable supporting cast member was probably Joe Pantoliano.  Back in 1999 a lot of people had very low expectations for the movie, based mainly on the "whoa" moment from the trailer thinking Reeves would totally blow the role. But, Reeves did a lot better than expected job with the role of Neo/Mr. Anderson than a lot of people expected, and Fishburne nailed his role as Morpheus.

The original DVD release did have some making-of and behind-the-scenes material, along with some deleted scenes, and a couple of different commentary tracks. And, the DVD could also be put into a computer CD-ROM drive and get some other bonus features. But, the extras are nowhere near as extensive as those that would be included on subsequent releases, especially on the Ultimate Matrix Collection Blu-Ray set or the 4K Blu-Ray releases. But, if you are one of those who never upgraded from DVD, and like going through extras, there is still quite a bit there for you.

Overall, it is an iconic movie with groundbreaking special effects that would influence CGI effects in movies and tv shows for at least a decade after its release. It is well written and acted, and even to this day can be one of those conversation starter movies. And, it holds up pretty well even 20+ years later. 

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