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, August 2, 2026

DVD/Movie Review: Fantasies

 


Fantasies is a 1981 film written and directed by John Derek. It starred Bo Derek (credited under the name Kathleen Collins when it was filmed) and Peter Hooten. The supporting cast includes Anna Alexiadis, Phaedon Georgitsis, Nikios Pashalidis, and Kostas Baladimas. The movie was actually Bo Derek's debut. It was filmed in Greece in 1973 and was titled Once Upon a Love, but was not widely released until 1981 after the movie 10, and an appearance in Playboy magazine made Bo a well-known star. She was about 17 years old when the movie was filmed and began a romantic relationship with John Derek (who was 30 years older than her) and eventually, in one of the most cringe-worthy Hollywood relationships, married him a few years later.

The DVD is a bare-bones release. The only extras are short filmography listings for John Derek, Bo Derek, and Peter Hooten. Otherwise, you just get the movie itself, and it does not play with captions. The film is absolutely awful. The writing and acting are horrible, and to the extent there is a plot, it plods along. In it, Bo and Hooten play Anastacia and Damir. Although Damir and Anastacia are not siblings, they grew up together in the same household after his parents died. He wants to revitalize the island where they live and make it into a tourist attraction, and she dreams of owning a fancy bathtub. The two start to have feelings for each other, despite considering themselves to be like brother and sister. They basically fight with each other through the entire movie while they are trying to figure out if they are in love. The movie does earn an R-rating as Bo Derek is nude a few times (although there are no sex scenes). Of course, the nudity would never be filmed today since she was 17 years old when the movie was made. Ultimately, the only thing this movie has going for it is that it was Bo Derek's first movie. While she was never considered a great actress, she was a big star during the 1980s, mostly because of her looks and willingness to take her clothes off in every movie. If you are looking for award-winning acting and writing, this does not have it. If you want to check it out for the sake of curiosity and accept it for what it is, it's worth watching but probably not one that you would return to much.

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