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. 

Monday, August 26, 2024

Book Review: Star Wars: Master & Apprentice

 


Master and Apprentice is an adult canon novel by Claudia Gray, published in 2019. It is a very good story set before Episode I, telling of a mission involving Qui-Gon and a seventeen-year-old Obi-Wan. The Chancellor, who held the position before Vallorum, sends the two to act as the Republic's representatives in negotiations to open a hyperspace lane. The book is a bit of action and mystery, with some political maneuvering mixed in.

The main themes of the book are definitely Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan's rocky relationship which was hinted at a bit in The Phantom Menace, Qui-Gon's considering an invitation to join the Jedi Council, and at the very end of the book, a further indication that "The rule of two" was more a suggestion than a hard and fast rule.

Overall, the book presents a good ancillary story to the "Skywalker Saga", is a fairly easy read (it is just over 300 pages, but the chapters are kept relatively short), and it provides more character development that the movies could not give. Chances are most people considering getting this collect all the novels and will get this regardless of reviews. If however, you are one that gets some, but not all, of the novels, this one is definitely worth the time to read.

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