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. 

Friday, April 8, 2022

Blu-Ray/Movie Review: The Da Vinci Code (Two-Disc Extended Edition + BD Live)

 



This is the movie adaptation of the wildly popular novel by Dan Brown of the same name. The movie was directed by Ron Howard and starred Tom Hanks as Robert Langdon, a professor at Harvard University who is unknowingly the subject of a police investigation into the murder of the curator of the Lurve in Paris. Audrey Tautou plays Sophie Neveu, the granddaughter of the curator who joins Langdon in following clues that point to the Holy Grail.

There are different editions of the movie. I have the extended edition which has a running time of 174 minutes. The additional scenes do not change the movie significantly, just add additional material here and there, and end up being about half an hour longer than the theatrical edition. I do think the additional footage helps make the movie make a bit more sense than the shorter version does, so in that sense, it works. There are a ton of extras on the Blu-Ray set including an interactive picture-in-picture experience that plays the movie with behind-the-scenes material and interviews with cast and crew members as the film plays. There is also a selective scene commentary with Ron Howard that breaks down specific scenes from the movie. There is also a second disc just with special features that include the making-of documentary from the original DVD release, a book-to-screen feature about adapting the book into a movie, a feature called Da Vinci props, that discussed bringing the descriptions of Da Vinci's inventions into the real world, and featurettes on the sets, recreating the artwork, the visual effects, and the music, as well as promotional trailers for other Sony movies. So, a ton of material for those who like the bonus content. The movie looks and sounds great in HD, with a ton of great visuals from around Europe.

Overall, I think the movie was good as the novel. Which is the case many times when a novel is adapted into a movie. Hanks does a great job as Langdon (aside from having a weird haircut), and Jean Reno as the police inspector is great. Audrey Tautou and Ian Mckellan do a good job in their roles but don't think either of them was necessarily the best casting choice for the roles they played. The book and the movie get a lot of flack as being blasphemous, which I think is unfair. Yes, it has a religious element to it, but it is a fictional story that, while it ties some real historical elements in, it does not claim to be 100 percent historically accurate. Because of that, there will always be a segment of people who will never see the movie or read the book. But, if you can accept that it is a fictional thriller/mystery, and is not pretending to be anything more than that, it is an enjoyable movie that is worth seeing.

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