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, March 31, 2022

Blu Ray/Movie Review: Gone With the Wind 70th Anniversary Edition

 



Gone With the Wind is a movie that causes a lot of division, especially with the rise of the infantile division we have had in the country for years. The truth is, it can both be a classic movie and have a problematic theme. But, it also has to be looked at through the lens of history. It is a movie that could be made the way it was in 1939 with the understanding that it would probably never be made the same way today. And that is not to say it shouldn't be made the same way today. It was set during the Civil War and told from the perspective of people in the south. Obviously, most people today would not agree with the perspective of the rich, slave-owning, southerners of that time, but it does not mean that how they were portrayed in the movie is not how they were. Also, the movie was a dramatic period piece, not a documentary. So, it was never going to show the evils of slavery in all their gory details. And, I do think to say that the movie glorified slavery does a couple of things. First, it ignores the fact that there were in fact slaves that had roles such as "Mammy", and it also diminishes Hattie McDonald's achievement in playing that role. The fact that she was a black woman living under the Jim Crow laws and facing the racism that she did and still won an academy award is frankly amazing. And. let's face it, even states that did not have Jim Crow laws were not (and are still not) devoid of racists by any means, so the fact that a black woman in the late 1930s/early 1940s would even be nominated for an academy award, much less win it, was quite something. All that said, no, the movie is never going to be banned, and anyone who thinks so is kidding themselves, if you want to find it, you will always be able to do so, and if you are such a weenie that a disclaimer at the beginning of a streaming version really triggers you, it has been released on DVD and Blu-Ray multiple times. The people who think the movie is somehow going to be banned, the people triggered by a disclaimer, and the people that think critical race theory is being taught anywhere but in some law schools is probably a circle on a Venn Diagram.

As for the movie itself, as I said above, it is a drama set in the south during (and after) the Civil War. It stars Vivien Leigh as Scarlett O'Hara, who is basically a rich brat, who at the beginning of the movie is trying to steal her cousin's boyfriend. Clarke Gable plays Rhett Butler, who was an attendee at a party thrown at the O'Hara estate who did not buy into the fact that the war was going to be a quick and easy thing, and also, ultimately ended up gaining Scarlett's affection, by basically standing up to her and not taking any of her crap, and marrying her. The movie is partly a romance drama, but mostly about the ravages of war, telling how Scarlett had to grow up and transform from the bratty Southern Belle who was handed everything on a silver platter, to having to deal with the realities of war. The first part of the movie (up to the intermission) deals with the war and ends with Atlanta burning. The second part deals with the aftermath of the war, and the characters trying to put their lives back together.

For those who get the movie on Blu-Ray, it looks and sounds great in the HD format. The HD transfer was very well done, and while it still has the Film-noir era look to it, the video transfer does look great. What kind of extras you get depends on the version of the movie you pick up. There is a multi-disc collectors edition that has about 19 hours' worth of bonus content. The version I have is the single-disc 70th Anniversary edition, and the only extra on it is a commentary track by Historian Rudy Behlmer.

Overall, the movie is a timeless classic. It has many great quotable lines, and it tells a good story, although definitely from the perspective of the losing side in the Civil War. Chances are if the movie was made today, more of the evils of slavery would be shown to give it more context and show exactly why the Civil War was being fought. And yes, the civil war was about slavery, pure and simple. If you read the articles of secession from any of the states that formed the Confederacy, that is plain as day, and to say otherwise is denying all reality. I do not think the movie glorified slavery as much as it glorified the south overall. But, again, taking the movie for what it is and considering the time it was made, it can both be a classic movie and a topic of debate at the same time. And, I think a healthy debate about what was good and what may have been problematic about the movies would not necessarily be a bad thing.

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