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. 

Wednesday, July 13, 2022

Blu-Ray Box Set Review: The Lord of the Rings: The Motion Picture Trilogy (The Fellowship of the Ring / The Two Towers / The Return of the King Extended Editions)

 


These are, of course, the movie adaptations of the popular series of novels written by J.J.R. Tolkien and directed by Peter Jackson about a group of Hobbits, Elves, and Humans in the fictional realm of Middle-Earth work together to destroy the one ring to rule them all to prevent an evil lord named Sauron from ruling Middle-Earth. The movies starred many recognizable actors and actresses, including Elija Wood, Viggo Mortensen, Andy Serkis, Karl Urban, Miranda Otto, Liv Tyler, Ian McKellen, Sean Astin, Christopher Lee, John Rhys-Davies, Orlando Bloom, Hugo Weaving, John Noble, and Cate Blanchett, to name a few. The books and movies have been around long enough that I will not do a detailed review of the movies themselves. Still, for those who have not seen them, they are iconic fantasy stories that are a mix of medieval-era kingdoms and magic and were the precursor to Dungeons and Dragons, Game of Thrones, and anything like it.

This set has the extended editions of the movies (which were already long) in which Peter Jackon inserts many of the deleted scenes into the films and extends many existing scenes. And these are not additions that just add a few minutes to the movies. They are substantial additions that add a lot of material (Return of the King gets an additional 50 minutes added to it, making the run time over four hours). On top of that, there are a TON of extras. Each movie has four separate commentary tracks, one that includes Peter Jackson and the writers, one that includes cast members, one that includes members of the production team, and one that includes members of the design team. Then, there are seven different appendices, each containing hours of making-of and behind-the-scenes material that can be played in individual segments or all at once. There are 15 discs in all, and even if you watch each movie once, you are looking at over 11 hours to watch the movies. Then you have hours of the appendices material. So, as my headline says, this is just for someone who is a die-hard fan of the movies (or really loves watching bonus content). If you are just a casual fan of the films or the fantasy genre, this is likely overkill and more than you will ever want to watch. But, if you are a die-hard fan, this is definitely worth getting and devoting multiple days to watching.

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