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. 

Sunday, November 13, 2022

Blu-Ray/Movie Review: Limitless

 


Limitless is a movie that starred Bradley Cooper as a down-on-his-luck writer named Eddie Mora. Eddie's ex-brother-in-law gives him a sample of a new nootropic called NZT-48 which allows Eddie to have perfect recall and the ability to analyze information almost immediately. He uses the ability to invest in the stock market and make himself rich, which puts him on the radar of multiple shady characters. He also begins to experience side effects of the drug that get worse as time goes by.

For those who get the Blu-Ray, the A/V quality of the movie is very good, especially being a non-blockbuster movie. The disc has two versions of the movie, the theatrical version, and an extended version. The extended does not extend the movie by much time, it just keeps in a bit more swearing, sex, and violence that is edited out of the theatrical edition in a handful of scenes. But, it does not substantially change the movie at all. There is a commentary track with the director and a couple of short (less than five minutes) making-of featurettes.

Overall, the movie is good. Besides Cooper, the other name actor in the movie is Robert De Niro and includes Abbie Cornish and Anna Friel in supporting roles. Of course, the movie is based on the widely debunked myth that humans can only use 10-20% of their brain's ability and that a magic pill can somehow unlock more (in the case of NZT, it allows a person to access and use 100% of their brain's potential). So, while you do have to suspend your disbelief to accept the premise, Cooper does a great job both in the slacker version of Eddie and the cleaned-up, polished version. At the end of the movie, we learn that Eddie is going to run for the US Senate, which is continued in the storyline of the TV series that Cooper produced and guest-starred in as Eddie. Although, some of the rules about NZT get tweaked from the movie when it goes to the series. So, if you like the movie, the overall storyline has more to it. So, if you like suspense-dramas, this is definitely worth checking out.



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