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, July 14, 2024

Book Review: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes [Hardcover]

 


The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is a prequel to The Hunger Games trilogy of novels. It was written by the series' creator, Suzanne Collins, and published in 2020. The storyline is set around the 10th Hunger Games, 64 years before the Hunger Games in which Katniss competes. Cornelius Snow is 18 years old and tasked to serve as a mentor to the female tribute from District 12  named Lucy Gray Baird. Snow, who is already set to be President in the future, is trying to use the games to restore glory to the Snow family, but he also develops feelings for Lucy and ends up risking his future to help her.

The hardcover version of the book is just over 500 pages long. It reads very much like the original novels, so if you got through those quickly, you can get through this one quickly as well. Collins does a good job laying the seeds for who Snow would become later in his life but makes him much different (and much more of a sympathetic character) in this book. We also find out how the Hunger Games came about, how the games evolved to become a spectacle, and how the treatment of the tributes developed over time. The story does get a bit slow about 2/3 of the way in, but it does pick up in the final couple of chapters. If you are a fan of the original books, this is absolutely worth reading.

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