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. 

Friday, December 30, 2022

Book Review: Star Wars: From a Certain Point of View (A New Hope)

 


From a Certain Point of View is a collection of short stories set during A New Hope, but told from the perspective of characters that were ancillary and/or in the background of the various scenes. For example, the first story is told from the point of view of Raymus Antillies who was the officer on board Princess Leia's ship whom Darth Vader kills after he comes aboard looking for the Death Star plans. There is also a story from the point of view of the droid with the bad motivator that allows R2 to be purchased by Owen and a story from the point of view of one of the Jawas. We also get a story from the point of view of the stormtroopers who got mind-tricked by Obi-Wan, and a couple of stories set inside the cantina. There are also stories that include Qui-Gon (appearing as a force ghost to Obi-Wan) and Palpatine after Vader informs him of Obi-Wan's death.

The book is very entertaining. Some of the stories are better than others, but I would not say that there are any bad stories among the bunch. Of course, none of the stories change the plot of A New Hope but do flesh out the story a bit. It will appeal to most Star Wars fans, but will probably appeal the most to the people in their 40s and 50s who grew up on the original trilogy. The book is almost 500 pages long, and the stories vary in length. On the whole, it is a fairly easy read, although some of the stories are easier to get through than others. I definitely recommend it. 

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