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, October 13, 2024

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: Shameless Season 8

 


The 12-episode 8th season of Shameless aired from November 2017 to January 2018. It tries to continue character development and take the characters in new directions. Some of it works (Lip has a great arc this season), and some do not (cult leader Ian, for example). Of course, that is all subjective, however. This season also sees Fiona as a landlord and getting into yet another complicated relationship, Frank trying to be an upstanding member of society (which, as you would expect, does not exactly last long), and Carl gets into a Fatal Attraction-like relationship. Liam actually has more than two lines, and Deb is balancing work and being a parent along with (kind of) being a girlfriend. Kev and V continue to have issues with Svetlana, which have mixed results for all but result in a pretty good (and funny) couple of story arcs.

Instead of a two-disc Blu-Ray release as seasons 1-7 received, this season gets a single-disc MOD release. While it is a MOD title, it does have some extras (mostly deleted scenes, but it does have a couple of featurettes) and captions. Plus, you get a true play-all mode that lets you pick up where you left off. Overall, the show is still good but getting a bit long in the tooth. For those who follow the series, you know that there is, and will be, more cast turnover (this season, no major characters are leaving the show as in past seasons). There is a lot of sex, swearing, and some drug use (although that is a bit more toned down than in the past), plus the unapologetic LGBTQ storylines. So, if any of that will turn you off to a show, this one is not for you. But it has a good blend of dark humor (sometimes very dark) and drama. While it is not as good (in my opinion) as in prior seasons, it is still worth watching and better than many shows out there, especially on network TV.

No comments: