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. 

Tuesday, August 20, 2024

Book Review: Star Wars: Journey to Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Spark of the Resistance

 


Spark of the Resistance is a 2019 Star Wars story by Justina Ireland. It is a short, one-off, young-adult story set between the events of The Last Jedi (a few months after the battle of Crait) and The Rise of Skywalker. While out on a supply run, Rey, Poe, and Rose receive a distress call from a planet called Minfar. They discover The First Order is enslaving the locals and helping to fight them off.

This is a novel that is ancillary to the "main" storyline novels but is still considered canon, like everything that gets put out under the Star Wars banner post-Disney's buyout of Lucasfilm. It is a short book, just over a couple hundred pages, and an easy read. The story is pretty basic, which is not all that surprising given that it is a children's novel, but it is enjoyable enough for adults. It does not really have any obvious tie-ins to The Rise of Skywalker but does give readers a bit of an idea of what the characters were up to between the movies.

Chances are, if you collect the books, you are going to get this. If you get just some of the novels and not others, I would not say it is a must-read, but it is enjoyable.

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