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, December 14, 2022

Blu-Ray/Movie Review: Jackie

 


Jackie is a 2016 movie starring Natalie Portman, playing Jaqueline Kennedy, and is based on an interview that she gave to Theodore H. White for Life Magazine shortly after the assassination of JFK. The movie jumps around in time to show events that occurred during her time as the first lady to the tumultuous time after the assassination as she was trying to put her life back together. Then, there are the scenes in which she is being interviewed for the magazine piece by Billy Crudup's character (just called "The Journalist") in the movie, where she tries to hold it together and basically direct the content of the interview. The movie shows a glimpse of how manufactured the real-life interview was with Jackie dictating content that could be included (for example claiming she does not smoke despite her chain-smoking throughout the entire interview). The movie recreates some of the iconic images from around that time, and Portman does a great job in her portrayal of the former first lady. The movie also has a strong supporting cast including John Hurt and Peter Sarsgaard (who plays Bobby Kennedy). 

The A/V quality of the blu-ray is very good, and the film makes good use of real archival footage that gets blended into what was shot for the movie, almost seamlessly. There are a couple of extras, including a 22-minute making-of featurette, a stills gallery, and the movie trailer. There is apparently a director commentary available on the digital download version of the movie, but that is not included on the blu-ray disc. 

Overall, the movie is very good. It is well-written and very well-acted with Portman doing most of the heavy lifting. It is a very good drama and is definitely worth checking out.

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