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, August 29, 2022

DVD/TV Series Review: Hawaii Five-O (2010): The Fourth Season

 


+++Warning, this contains spoilers from season three, but no major season four giveaways.+++

Season four picks up immediately after the events that ended season three, with the ambush in Wo-Fat's cell. Of course, Steve makes it out and manages to arrest one of the gunmen. This eventually leads to a standoff with a group called NLM, who take hostages at the Palace to secure the release of the gunman. The story also ties directly to Kono and Adam's storyline in which they are hiding out in Japan. Obviously, the team is reunited and then the story-of-the-week procedural aspect starts to play out again. This season sees a couple of notable additions to the cast. First, Chi McBride (from Pushing Daises) joins the cast as Lou Grover, a former Chicago cop who joins the Hawaii SWAT team and clashes with Five-0. He is initially a recurring character but gets upped to a series regular partway through the season. Also, Jorge Garcia (from Lost) joins the cast as a local conspiracy theorist named Jerry, who acts as a consultant for the team. This season does not really have a huge cliffhanger the way seasons two and three do, but it is more of a storyline transition.

Unfortunately, from season four onward, the season sets were only released on DVD despite the first three seasons having been released on Blu-Ray. For those who follow the physical media market well know, physical disc sales, (especially Blu-Ray sales) for TV series sets have always been notoriously bad, so around 2013-2014, all but the most popular shows or special effect heavy shows were no longer released on Blu-Ray and either just did not get a physical media release, or was just released on DVD. While the show still does look good, especially when played on a Blu-Ray or 4k player that will upscale the video, it is a step down from true HD. Fortunately, this was released at a time when they were still including a significant amount of extras on the disc sets. So, this one has audio commentary tracks on select episodes, several making-of and behind-the-scenes featurettes, a featurette on Chi McBride's character, deleted scenes, and a gag reel, among others.

Overall, the show continues to be good. The large ensemble cast is juggled well, but clearly, Steve and Danny are the two main characters, and Alex O'Laughlin and Scott Caan have great chemistry. The guest cast this season is good as well with Henry Ian Cusick (from Lost), Nick Jonas, Terry O'Quinn, Robert Knepper (from Prison Break), Michael Madsen, and Melanie Griffith, among others making appearances. There are some good episodes that focus on Danny and Grace's relationship, as well as involving Lou's family. So, if you have been a fan of the show for the first few seasons, it is definitely worth watching.

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