Here you will find things about fitness and nutrition, mainly (but not exclusively) in relation to the Beachbody programs like P90x and Insanity. And, I will start adding reviews for Books, DVDs and Blu-Rays, and other products. All views and opinions on this blog are my own.
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.
Thursday, August 15, 2024
Book Review: Dragons of Eternity (Dragonlance Destinies Volume 3)
Saturday, August 10, 2024
Book Review: Dragonlance: Dragons of the Autumn Twilight
The story is set in the world of Krynn, around a group of friends who make a pact to return to their home city of Solace in five years after deciding to split apart to travel the world on their own. When they reunite the world is on the verge of a war between gods of good and evil with humans (and other races like elves, goblins, and yes dragons) aligning themselves with each side, some, like magic-users and clerics with powers, and others who are just "regular" people caught in the middle.
While overall the story is not all that unique, it does have a great group of core characters, all of whom, whether good or bad, have a mix of flaws and strengths. And, unlike The Lord of the Rings or Game of Thrones, the number of main characters is kept relatively small (especially in the first book), making them easy to keep straight. That, in my opinion, makes it a much easier read than either of those series. It also uses the fantasy world to touch on real-world issues like racism, religion, politics, power, ambition, etc. This first book is really set up for the larger story which plays out over the second and third novels in the Chronicles trilogy and extends into the sequel, Legends trilogy. There is a lot of action in the book, but it is sandwiched between slower parts where details are revealed to the characters and of course the reader.
Given that the Dragonlance series of books are not anywhere near as popular as they were back in the 1980s and 1990s when if you went into any bookstore, the books would take up multiple bookcases in the sci-fi/fantasy section, chances are most reading the reviews by now are fans of the series. For those who are just checking it out and not extremely familiar with the books, I would describe it as something between The Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones. So, if you are a fan of either or both of those series, there is a good chance that you will like, or love, this book and at least some of the books that came after it. I first read this book in the late 1980s, and have read it multiple times since then. I think it holds up all these years later and is definitely worth the read.
Saturday, August 5, 2023
Book Review: Dragonlance - Dragons of Fate: Dragonlance Destinies: Volume 2
Monday, August 15, 2022
Book Review: Dragons of Deceit: Dragonlance Destinies: Volume 1
Dragons of Deceit is the latest novel that Weiss and Hickman have written in the Dragonlance universe and the first since 2009 with the final entry of the Lost Chronicles trilogy. Of course, the Dragonlance universe started with their first novel published in 1984, Dragons of the Autumn Twilight, the events of which tie heavily into this book, which was a part of the Chronicles trilogy of novels and then followed up with the Legends trilogy. From there, a couple hundred or so novels set in the Dragonlance universe have been written over the years, with Weiss and Hickman returning every so often to pen new novels and/or trilogies.
This book spans multiple years, with the story beginning during the War of the Lance and the bulk of it happening after the events of the Legends Trilogy. The main crux of the story is that the daughter of a Solmanic knight named Destina Rosethorn loses everything when her father is killed in the battle of the High Clerist Tower. She is desperate for a way to prevent his death and finds a magic user who convinces her that there is a way she can save her father. She first has to find two artifacts, one that will require her to travel to the dwarven kingdom of Thorbidan and one that will require her to track down a Kender named Taselhoff Burrfoot. I will not spoil the exact plot, but there are ties into the other novels, especially Dragons of the Autumn Twilight and Dragons of the Winter Night, as well as loose tie-ins to the Chaos War novels. Several characters from the original Dragonlance novels appear in this book to varying degrees. Obviously, Taselhoff is one of the main characters, but Tika and Carmen are prominently featured, as is Dalamar. There is a larger end-of-the-world threat that only some of the characters are aware of, and more characters from the original series of books will be appearing in the later novels, including those who died during the Chronicles and Legends books. The book ends on a cliffhanger that points to where the story is going.
If you are a fan of Dragonlance, this is a must-read (as I would classify all of the Weiss-Hickman novels). They do a great job returning to the beloved characters without missing a beat. They also do a great job developing Destina as a character and providing her motivation before leaning heavily on the legacy characters. Therefore, it does not feel like she was just shoehorned into an existing story. Hers is an extension of the prior stories. The authors do a great job of setting up the larger story that will be told in the two remaining books of the new trilogy without giving too much away. It is a moderate length (just under 400 pages) but reads fairly quickly. So, if you are a fan of the Dragonlance universe of novels, definitely pick this one up.
Wednesday, August 10, 2022
Book Review: DragonLance Chronicles Volume 1: Dragons of the Autumn Twilight
This book introduces readers to the world of Krynn which inhabits humans, dwarves, elves, kender, goblins, and other races of creatures. A group of friends had separated five years earlier and made a pact to return to their hometown (Solace) after five years. They discover that the world is on the brink of war and find that Solace has been taken over by a religious cult (called seekers) who are in league with an autocratic group known as dragon highlords who are preparing to unleash their might on the world of Krynn. The members of the group get in the middle of a skirmish that leads them to discover that the war is between the gods of good versus the gods of evil being fought by proxy on Kryn by the followers of each.
The Dragonlance series of novels were to those of us who were kids (or young adults) in the 1980s our generation's Lord of The Rings (which D&D and Dragonlance were clearly inspired by) and served as a bridge to series like Game of Thrones. It has a similar quest/adventure theme that Tolkien's novels had, but (at least for me) had a lot more action and less period of inactivity than Hobbit and LOTR had. And, there were far fewer "core" characters so it was easier to keep all the characters straight (something that plagued both Tolkien's novels and GoT). This is also something that, unlike GoT, kids can read without it being too adult. There are some violent action sequences, death, and some sexual content (mostly innuendo, not the graphic detail that GoT gets into).
Overall, I would say this is somewhere in between what you get in the later Harry Potter novels (Books 4-7) and what you would see in the more adult series. I first read this when I was in middle school (when I was about 12 or 13) and I think that the book (and the series overall) is fine for someone that age. It is also something that adults can easily enjoy. The storyline does have themes like gods and magic, but the gods are more like those from Greek mythology and are not heavily modeled after any contemporary religion. So, if you are a fan of the sci-fi/fantasy genre, and have not yet read these novels, this is definitely something you should check out.
Sunday, March 13, 2022
Book Review: Dragonlance: The Annotated Chronicles
Chances are anyone looking to buy this has already read the books multiple times, however, if you have not, a couple of provisos. First, this set is annotated, as the title suggests. The authors insert comments throughout the book that discuss specific events and even spoil things that happen in the later parts of the story. So, if you are reading this for the first time, and you care about spoilers, I would advise you to get the mass-market paperback versions of the novels and read those first, then read this to get additional insight into the story and the characters. Or, just do not read the annotations before you read the story. Second, the annotated version is probably overkill for anyone who is not a die-hard fan of the series. It provides a lot of extra detail that someone who is just casually reading the books is not likely to care about. But, if you are someone who really loves the characters and the story, this is definitely worth reading.