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, January 12, 2023

4k-UHD/Movie Review: mother!

 


mother! is a very eclectic (to put it mildly) movie that was written and directed by Darren Aronofsky (who also directed films like Black Swan, Requiem for a Dream, and The Fountain), and stars Jennifer Lawrence as mother, who is the wife of and muse for a famous poet named Him (played by Javier Bardem) who has writer's block. It is hard to review the plot of the movie, first, because it is all over the place, and second because it is hard to do so without giving too much away. The best way to describe it is that it is a psychological thriller that is an allegory for biblical destruction with characters that clearly represent Adam and Eve, Cain and Able, etc. If you are not a fan of Aronofsky's movies, especially the more offbeat ones that have almost supernatural elements to them, then you will absolutely not like this movie. The movie kind of takes the craziest kind of stuff from Black Swan and Requiem for a Dream and combines that with the supernatural elements of The Fountain. 

The A/V quality of the UHD disc is outstanding. The movie looks and sounds great in the format, and the visuals really tie into the general weirdness of the movie. The UHD disc just has the movie itself, and then all of the other extras are on a second, regular, blu-ray disc. The extras include a 30-minute making-of featurette and a 7-minute featurette on the visual effects. There are also a handful of trailers that play as the disc loads.

The movie is good overall, but very strange. It is definitely not going to appeal to everyone, even people who generally like psychological thrillers. Lawrence and Bardem are very good in roles that are pretty different from what either of them has done (especially Lawrence). It also has a strong supporting cast including Ed Harris, Michelle Pfeiffer, Domhnall and Brian Gleeson, and Kristen Wiig. I would not say it is family-friendly because it can be a bit gory and does have some nudity and swearing. 

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