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. 

Sunday, August 13, 2023

Book Review: My Heart is a Chainsaw

 


My Heart is a Chainsaw is a novel written by Stephen Graham Jones and published in 2021. The book is set in a lake town in Idaho called Proofrock, with a story centered around a character named Jade Daniels. Jade basically sees life through the lens of every horror movie ever created and compares all of her life experiences to her favorite horror movies like Halloween and Friday the 13th. 

Most of the book deals with the development of the character Jade. The book starts out with a mysterious murder on the lake. Then, about 2/3 of the novel is just about Jade's life, dealing with finishing High School, dealing with her abusive father, and avoiding most people. Toward the end of the book, it basically becomes a slasher/horror story as the plot circles back to the murder at the beginning of the book and reveals many more.

The hardcover version of the book is what I consider a moderately long book at just over 400 pages. My only criticism is that the story gets very slow in the middle. I think that the character of Jade could have been built up and developed the same amount in fewer pages. Had the climax of the book come a little sooner, I do not think that anything from the story would have been lost, or the quality of the book compromised. That said, once you do hit the climax of the story it is very good and very entertaining. It is definitely worth the time to read it. 

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