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. 

Tuesday, June 7, 2022

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: Fringe: Season 2

 


+++Warning, this will contain spoilers from season 1, but no major season two giveaways.+++

Season two begins with Olivia being ejected from the parallel universe. We do not see the follow-up to her meeting with William Bell that ended season 1, immediately, and when she comes out of the parallel universe she is initially in a coma, and then when she wakes up discovers she has no memory. The first part of the season involves Olivia trying to get her memory back, continuing the case-of-the-week format solving the Fringe element cases, and going back to the larger parallel universe story arc. The shapeshifters take on a much larger role this season, and we begin to see the parallel universe versions of the main characters, learning much more about Peter's background in the process. The season ends on yet another massive cliffhanger with the fates of the team members totally up in the air.

For those who get the Blu-Ray set, the series continues to look and sound great in the HD format. There are a ton of special effects used in the show, all of which look seamless in HD. For extras, there are commentary tracks on select episodes that include both cast and production members, there are several short analyzing the scene and deleted scene features for many episodes. There is an unaired season one episode, a half-hour-long making-of featurette, and a gag reel. All in all, a lot of bonus material if you like watching them.

Overall, the season is very good. The storylines advance well with the series doing a good job balancing the procedural story-of-the-week cases and interweaving the serial storyline as well. It unravels the larger story arc in relatively small doses at first, then really picks up as the season comes to an end. The writing and acting are all top-notch, especially John Noble, who does a lot with the character of Walter. So, if you are a fan of the sci-fi genre, and you liked or loved season one, this is definitely worth watching.




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