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. 

Thursday, October 20, 2022

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: DC's Legends of Tomorrow: Season 1

 


Legends of Tomorrow is, along with the Flash, another show spun off from Arrow. It received a backdoor pilot in the Flash-Arrow crossover (in season 2 of The Flash and season 4 of Arrow). The pilot picks up with the Vandal Savage storyline, in which a "Time Master" named Rip Hunter (played by Arthur Darvill) recruits Sarah Lance (Caity Lotz), Ray Palmer (Brandon Routh), Martin Stein (Victor Garber), Jefferson Jackson (Franz Drameh) Captain Cold/Leonard Snart (Wentworth Miller), and Mick Rory/Heatwave (Dominic Purcell) to help him stop Savage's rise to power in the hopes of saving his family whom Savage kills in the future.

The first season storyline involves the group, along with Hawkman and Hawkgirl traveling through time on a ship called The Waverider, trying to take Savage out before he can rise to power. This sees the characters in the recent past (the 1970s), the more distant past (the 1950s), back in the 1800s, and in the future. Of course, things do not always go as planned, and there are several twists along the way. The season ends on a couple of pretty big cliffhangers that have consequences going into the second season.

For those who get the blu-ray set, the A/V quality is on par with the other Arrowverse shows and looks as good as you would expect a show from 2015 shot on digital to look. The extras include a portion 2015 Comic-Con panel where host Geoff Johns talks with the cast about the show which runs about 20 minutes, a short gag reel, a nine-minute tour of the Waverider set, a look behind the scenes at the episode "The Magnificent Eight", and a look at how they created the different time periods.

Overall, the show is good. It is definitely more of a serial story than a procedural one, so you have to watch it from the beginning to really know what is going on. There are definitely plot points that don't make a whole lot of sense, and the show can get a bit cute with the twists. The ragtag band of misfits theme works well, and the show does a good job juggling the large ensemble cast that really does not have a traditional series lead. It is a good blend of action, dry humor, and drama. Even when the writing is uneven, it is very well-acted and a good addition to the slate of Arrowverse shows, which at the time this aired included Arrow, Flash, and more tangentially, Supergirl. While some Arrowverse characters make appearances in the first season, the show does not lean on existing shows and does tell its own story. I do think that having a smaller run of episodes (16 as opposed to the 22-24 that the other shows get) did help the series because it got in and out of the season one storyline without getting too stale.



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