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 10, 2024

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: Doom Patrol Season 1

 


Doom Patrol is a comic book adaptation that aired for a total of four seasons from 2019 to 2023. The 15-episode first season aired in the Spring of 2019. It starred Diane Guerrero, April Bowlby, Alan Tudyk, Matt Bomer, Brendan Fraser, Timothy Dalton, Phil Morris, and Jovian Wade. It is what you get if you crank the weirdness of Legends of Tomorrow up about 10 notches, add in a bit of shows like Dark Angel and Supernatural, and add a lot of swearing. The Doom Patrol is basically a collection of tortured losers who have all experienced some kind of tragedy in their lives only to be "saved" by a Professor-X-like patriarchal figure they call Cheif (played by Timothy Dalton). Some of the characters from the group were introduced in live-action on the first season of Titans, which in turn was tangentially brought into the Arrowverse through cameos on Crisis on Infinite Earths. They include Elasti-Girl/Rita Farr (played by April Bowlby) who is an actress from the 1950s who was exposed to something during an on-set accident that causes her to turn into a blob-like creature when she gets too emotional, Crazy Jane (played wonderfully by Diane Guerrero from Orange Is the New Black), a character with 64 different personalities whom all have their own powers, Robotman (voiced by Brendan Fraizer from the Mummy trilogy of movies) who is a racecar driver who is injured in a non-racing accident whose brain gets implanted into a robot, and Negative Man (voiced by Matt Bomer from Chuck and White Collar), a test pilot during the 1960s who is exposed to radiation in low-earth orbit and horribly burned when he crashes back to earth, yet lives, and Cyborg, played by Jovian Wade, who in this version is trying to get into the Justice League. The cast is rounded out by Alan Tudyk, who plays Mr. Nobody, the villain of season 1, and also hilariously narrates some episodes, constantly breaking the fourth wall, and Phil Morris (who played Martian Manhunter on Smallville) as Silas Stone. There are also many strong supporting actors, some recognizable, some not.

The first season is all about character development and telling the backstories of the various characters, all while playing out the arc that Mr. Nobody has captured the Chief, and the team is trying to get him back. The show jumps time periods often, with Bomer and Fraiser appearing out of costume in the flashback sequences. It also jumps dimensions and even has characters jump inside other minds and bodies (human and otherwise). It is definitely a very adult show, with a lot of swearing (f-bombs are constantly dropped) and some nudity basically involving Fraiser's human character and his kid's nanny. There is a butt shot from Fraiser, who has not aged very well, and bare breasts by the actress playing the nanny.

The Blu-Ray set is a three-disc set with the 15 episodes equally spread over three discs. The extras include deleted scenes for most episodes, a gag reel, and a short feature on filming the series in Georgia. Kind of hilariously, the swearing is bleeped out in the bonus material, which, given that anyone watching them probably just watched the episodes, has heard anything as bad as what would get bleeped out in the bonus stuff. Overall, the show is well-written and very well-acted. Within all the craziness, it does touch on themes like child abuse, being gay, and closeted, among other real-world themes. It is definitely not a show that is going to be everyone's proverbial "cup of tea", but if you are a fan of comic book shows and movies, it is definitely worth checking out, with the caveats that it is in no way family-friendly and can go out of its way to be offensive.

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