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, July 24, 2024

4k-UHD/Movie Review: Joker

 


Joker is a 2019 film directed by Todd Phillips, starring Joquin Phoenix, Robert De Niro, Zazie Beetz, and Frances Conroy. It is a totally different adaptation of The Joker's story than seen before (for the most part, anyway), especially in live-action. It gives Joker an origin story as a loser named Arthur Fleck, a guy who works as a clown, is an aspiring stand-up comic, and is borderline crazy as the seedy underbelly of Gotham drives him further into madness. It does away with the whole falling into a vat of acid to turn him into the psychotic clown but instead tries to answer what would turn a "real" person into The Joker.

Phoenix, a weird dude anyway, does an incredible job with the character. He totally makes it his own and does not try to be a carbon copy of any of the performances that have come before him. It is unclear where the movie fits (if at all) into the DC movie and television universe. Obviously, Jared Leto played a totally different version of the character in Suicide Squad, and this version is not a precursor to that one. It does not give anything away to say that the movie is set when Bruce Wayne is still a child, so we do not get any hint of Joker vs Batman.

The 4k set is a two-disc set containing the UHD disc and a regular Blu-Ray disc. The UHD  disc just includes the movie, and the extras, which consist of about half an hour of making-of and behind-the-scenes material, are included on the regular Blu-ray disc. The only disappointing thing about the physical release is the lack of bonus material. Even though the movie does create something of a continuity mess with the DC cinematic universe, even more than it already has been to this point, if you accept the fact that it is its own thing and does not (at least as of now), and may never tie into the other movies, it is definitely worth checking out. It is well-written, acted, and paced. The two hours do not drag at all. I highly recommend it.

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