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. 

Saturday, August 30, 2025

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: The Big Bang Theory: Season 12

 


The 24-episode 12th and final season of The Big Bang Theory aired during the 2018/2019 TV season.  It does a good job tying up storylines for most of the characters in a way that gives a "life will go on" feel to it. The major storyline of the season revolves around Sheldon and Amy's research on Super-Asymmetry and the possibility of winning the Nobel Prize in physics. That leads to a few great appearances by Kal Penn and Sean Austin as rivals to Sheldon and Amy. Raj also gets a major love interest story, while the other characters receive mostly one-off story arcs.

The show continues to get a great slate of guest stars. There are some old favorites (Will Wheaton, Christine Baranski, Bob Newhart, etc.) and some new faces, like Kevin Smith and a great cameo by Sarah Michelle Gellar in the series finale. They also figured out a clever way to do a crossover with Young Sheldon via the magic of VHS.

The Blu-ray set is a two-disc set that is almost identical to the prior releases. The 24 episodes are spread out across the two discs, as are the extras.  This season, the bonus content includes a feature on the scholarship fund the show set up for STEM students in the UC system of colleges, a portion of the Comic-Con panel, and several behind-the-scenes features and retrospectives on the show's impact. Much more extras than you get from most shows DVDs or blu-ray releases these days.

By now, pretty much everyone knows what the show is and is not. If you are a fan of the show, then you will likely enjoy this season. If you hated it, then there is nothing about this season that is going to change your mind. The writers do a good job of continuing to develop the characters, even after 12 years, and manage to balance the large ensemble cast well. Yes, the show uses a laugh track as well as genuine reactions from a studio audience, which will turn some people off, but it is pretty standard sitcom fare. It was, after 12 years, definitely getting "long in the tooth" as a show, and I think it was a good time to end it, even though it could have likely gone on for as long as the main actors wanted to return. However, when Jim Parsons indicated, going into the 12th season, that this one would be his last on the show, it was right to end it instead of trying to keep it going without the most popular character, especially with the spinoff series going strong. Ultimately, it is worth the pick-up, especially if you have the prior season releases on the physical discs and worth watching to see how the series wraps up.

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