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, August 21, 2024

4k-UHD/Movie Review: Spiderman: Far from Home

 


+++Warning, this contains spoilers from Homecoming and Endgame, but no major Far From Home giveaways.+++

Spiderman: Far From Home is one of the 2019 films in the massive MCU slate of movies. It stars Tom Holland, Zendaya, Jacob Batalon, Marissa Tomei, and Jon Favreau (reprising their roles as Peter Parker, MJ, Ned, May, and Happy). It also features MCU alumni Samuel L. Jackson and Cobie Smulders (in smaller roles) and brings in Jake Gyllenhaal as the film's antagonist, Quentin Beck/Mysterio. It picks up months after Endgame when the world knows Iron Man, Black Widow, and Vision (and thinks Captain America) are all dead. The snap is referred to in the movie as "the blip" because the people who were snapped out of existence came back to the same place they were instantaneously, as far as they were concerned. May (who, of course, learned Peter's secret at the end of Homecoming) and Peter are using his identity as Spiderman for charitable fundraising, and he is getting ready to go on a summer trip to Europe with his class and has an entire plan to tell MJ how he feels about her. In the process, Peter gets sucked into a mission from Nick Fury involving the character Mysterio, played by Jake Gyllenhall. I will not say too much about the movie itself to keep from giving too much away, even though the trailer gave away a lot, both with footage that ended up in the film and footage that was cut. However, I will say it strikes a good balance between mourning Endgame's events and the first movie's comedic elements. The writing and acting were again great, and it sets up a lot of what is to come.

The 4K set is a two-disc set that includes a UHD disc and a regular Blu-Ray disc. The AV quality of the movie in UHD is wonderful, and it looks and sounds great as you would expect. The extras include previews that play after the disc loads before the main menu pops up. There are some different previews on the 4k disc vs. the regular blu-ray disc, which has all the other extras on it. Then there are deleted/alternate scenes, a gag reel, and multiple behind-the-scenes and making-of clips. It amounts to a little over an hour's worth of material. Overall, it is an excellent continuation of the MCU storyline. Thankfully, the spat between Sony and Disney was resolved so Spiderman stays in the MCU because the movie was clearly setting up a direction for the character which would have had to be scrapped if Marvel lost the rights again. I definitely recommend it.

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