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, May 10, 2023

Book Review: Star Wars Stories of Jedi and Sith

 


Tales of Jedi and Sith are a collection of short stories that span the bulk of the Star Wars timeline, with the first story set during the High Republic era and the last story set between The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker. The stories involve a Jedi (or a padawan) or a Sith. Sometimes the story is told from the point of view of the Jedi or Sith, and sometimes the story is told from the point of view of someone interacting with the Jedi or Sith. And, one of the stories shifts the point of view between Luke and one of the "regular" rebels in a story set on Hoth. 

Some of the stories involve characters that only people who have read the other novels or have seen the Clone Wars animated series will be familiar with, and other stories involve characters like Yoda, Maul, Luke, Anakin, Obi-Wan, Vader, Rey, and Palpatine. One of the best stories involves Palpatine during the events of Return of the Jedi in which we find out he still goes over his duel with Yoda, and wishes he could have killed Yoda.

Overall, the book is a good collection of side stories. The book is an intermediate length at just around 350 pages, but it reads very quickly. If you are a fast reader you will probably be able to finish it in a day or less. I would not necessarily say it is a must-read, but it is worth checking out if you are more than just a casual Star Wars fan. 

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