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, May 5, 2024

DVD/TV Series Review: The O.C. Season 4

 


+++Fair Warning this will contain the major season 3 spoiler and some hints, but nothing major from the final season. If you have not yet seen the third season (which is unlikely by now) avoid the first couple of paragraphs.+++



The fourth and final season of The OC was the shortest season (just 16 episodes) of the series and aired during the fall of 2006 into the winter of 2007. The season rebounded nicely from the messier season 3.  The first half of the season was all about Ryan (and Julie) coping with the death of Marissa, who was revealed to have died in the car accident at the end of the third season. Julie essentially recruits Ryan to go after Volchuck to exact revenge, which, of course, Ryan is all too willing to do, While Sandy, Seth, and Kirsten try to get him to stop pursuing Volchuck and come home. Once that part of the story ends, the focus is really on wrapping up the series and the lingering storylines. The various character relationships are tested again, but luckily not by unlikable characters as in past seasons. The focus is kept (as it should be) on the remaining core characters, with a few ancillary characters (including an appearance by Ryan's father) mixed in.

The DVD set is a five-disc set. The extras include commentary tracks on a couple episodes and a few featurettes on the 5th disc. The focus is on the evolution of Christmakah and the evolution of Summer as a character. There is not a ton of bonus material, but what is included is good. The final episode gives a nice glimpse back at the series as well as a flash into the future to see where the characters ultimately end up. While it is not really a show that requires everything to be tied up in a little bow at the end, I think the writers did a good job of wrapping up the series. While this season is still not as good as the first two seasons, it is still worth the time to watch.



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