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. 

Monday, January 16, 2023

Book Review: Star Wars: The Last Jedi - Expanded Edition

 


+++Warning, this assumes that you have already watched the movie, so there is some slight spoilerish material in the review+++

This is a fairly standard novelization of what was probably the most controversial of the sequel trilogy movies, The Last Jedi. Meaning, it tells the same story that the movie does, it just fleshes out some of the details that we saw in the movie, and has some additional content that was not included in the movie, but does not dramatically change the storyline. Some of the additional material includes a dream sequence that Luke has at the beginning shortly before Rey arrives, a funeral for Han, more of Luke and Rey's interactions on Ahch-to, including the revelation that Luke was going to actually come with Rey before he walked in on her communing with Kylo-Ren, and more scenes on the Supremacy involving Finn and Rose. 

Ultimately, how you felt about the movie is likely going to be how you feel about the book. Whether you loved or hated the movie, the book does not alter the story in any significant manner, it just expands on what was already there, and includes more of the ancillary characters. Luke is still bitter, something even Mark Hamill took issue with when filming the movie, although I think he is more like the original trilogy character at the end of his story in the book than he was in the movie. The side stories still make as much or as little sense in the book as they did in the movie, and the controversial elements from the movie like not filling Poe in on the plan, Snoke, etc., are not any better or any worse in the book. So, if you liked the movie you will like the book. If you hated the movie, the book is probably not going to change your mind. 

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