Reviews, Health, and Other Stuff: Christina RIcci

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, April 25, 2022

Blu-Ray/Movie Review: Black Snake Moan

Black Snake Moan is definitely not the movie you think it is if you just look at the promotional material that has Christina Ricci chained to Samuel L. Jackson with the tagline "Everything is Hotter Down South." The movie is actually about two broken people trying to fix each other. Ricci plays Rae, the town's Nymphomaniac and Jackson plays Lazarus, a blues guitar player whose wife ran off with his brother. One day Lazarus finds Rae beaten and bloodied outside his house, and sets to cure her of her "wickedness". While the movie does have a lot of sex and nudity in it, it is not a movie about sex, but about reformation.

For those who get the Blu-Ray, the movie looks and sounds great in HD, although the audio is not as good as it could have been if Paramount used lossless audio. The extras include a commentary track on the movie by the director, a making-of documentary, a couple of featurettes on the blues music and the inspiration that the blues genre provided for the movie, and then there are a few deleted scenes.

Overall, the movie is very good. Both Jackson and Ricci shine in the lead roles, but the movie also has a strong supporting cast including S. Epatha Merkerson, John Cothran Jr., and Justin Timberlake, who has proven multiple times that he can actually act. It is definitely a bit dark, and not very family-friendly, but it has a great story and is very well acted. It is definitely worth watching.