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. 

Monday, April 11, 2022

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: Harley Quinn The Complete First and Second Seasons

 


This is a new, very adult, animated series centered around the character of Harley Quinn, voiced by Kaley Cuoco in her first post-Big Bang Theory role. The basic storyline of season one is that Harley is sick of being used by Joker (voiced wonderfully by Alan Tudyk), breaks up with him, and then tries to get into the Legion of Doom. She has to put together her own crew which includes Poison Ivy (voiced by Lake Bell) who insists she is not a member of the crew, Dr. Psycho (voiced by Tony Hale from Arrested Development), Clayface (voiced by Tudyk), and King Shark (voiced by Ron Funches). The end of the first season is basically a showdown with Joker that sets up a version of the no-man's land storyline where the various villains take over portions of Gotham, and by the end of the second season includes Darkseid and the parademons.

As I said above, the show is very adult. While the original DC animated series showrunners are involved in this show, it is not family-friendly. They drop f-bombs left and right, and there is a ton of animated violence (which is pretty over the top) and sexually suggestive material. There is really only one word that is bleeped, said by Dr. Psycho, but done for comedic effect, not because they had to bleep it. The show has a strong supporting cast including Diedrich Bader as Batman, Giancarlo Esposito as Lex Luthor, Michael Ironside as Darkseid, Wayne Knight as Penguin, Christopher Meloni as Commissioner Gordon, Alfred Molina as Mr. Freeze, Jim Rash as The Riddler, Jason Alexander as Sy Borgman, and J. B. Smoove as Frank the Plant.

For those who get the Blu-Ray set, there are, unfortunately, no extras. Just the twenty-six episodes spread across three discs. There are English captions that you can play if needed, but there are no deleted scenes, commentary tracks, or making-of features. So, it is a pretty basic MOD set.

While I cannot say that this will appeal to everyone, if you are a fan of the character, a fan of the other animated series (like the Animated Batman and Superman series from the 1990s, or the animated Justice League series), and are not easily offended, then this is definitely worth checking out. Cuoco's take on Harley is not a carbon copy of how Arleen Sorkin voiced the character but Tudyk channels Mark Hamill's Joker so much it is hard to tell sometimes that it is not Mark Hamill doing the character. It is a very well-done series, the actors seem to have a great time playing their characters, and it is definitely worth checking out.

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