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 27, 2022

DVD/TV Series Review: Beavis and Butthead - The Complete Collection

 


One thing to be noted at the outset, this is not the complete series with the episodes as they aired. This is a repackaging of volumes 1-3 of the Mike Judge Collections, adding the fourth volume which was the limited run season that aired in 2011, and then the movie that was made during the original run of the series. In volumes 1-3 each volume is split between two discs. The first disc has the episodes and the second disc has the music videos that they could get the rights to. Anyone who watched the series in the 1990s, when it was originally on MTV probably remembers that in each episode, in breaks in the story, Beavis and Butthead would watch, and make fun of, music videos. Because of licensing issues, they could not get the rights to all of the videos that originally aired, so the solution was to remove the music videos and show just air the storylines (so each episode ends up being about 20 minutes long, give or take), and then showing the music videos on disc 2.  It should also be noted that not every episode that aired is included in the set. Most of the episodes that aired are included, but there are some missing. For the fourth volume, which is the 2011 season, all of those episodes are included as they aired. In that season, instead of watching primarily music videos, during the breaks in the story, they would watch, and rip on the MTV reality shows. 

The DVDs carry over all of the extras from the original individual collection releases. Those include deleted scenes, promo spots, and special appearances that Beavis and Butthead made (such as at the MTV music awards), and a multi-part behind-the-scenes/making-of retrospective where the creators of the show discuss how it was made, the influence on pop culture, and the like. The movie has a commentary track by Mike Judge which is really good, and the extras for the fourth volume include a good discussion from the Comic-Con panel between Johnny Knoxville and Mike Judge.

For most people, the show will probably be a blast from the past. You definitely have to enjoy juvenile and sometimes stupid humor, but masked in the humor was a commentary on topics like political correctness and the topical events that were happening in the 1990s. It is disappointing that not all of the episodes are included, and we cannot get the complete shows, as they aired, but this is probably the best set that is going to be released. So, if you were a fan of the show, it is definitely worth the pickup.

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