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.
Saturday, March 9, 2024
Blu-Ray/Movie Review: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Ultimate Edition)
Friday, March 8, 2024
Blu-Ray/Movie Review: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Ultimate Edition)
Wednesday, March 6, 2024
Blu-Ray/Movie Review: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Ultimate Edition)
Ultimately, as is the case with the other UE versions (especially for the first two movies), the extras are great and provide hours of great content. If you like going through the bonus content and can live without having an extended version of the film (and do a little price shopping), this is a great addition to your collection.
Monday, March 4, 2024
Blu-Ray/Movie Review: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Ultimate Edition)
As for the movie itself, it is great. By this time in the series, you kind of know how the movies flow and feel in comparison to the books. You have to expect that a lot is going to be cut from the books to make the movie. Since this was the point at which the books started getting longer, more is cut from this movie than was cut in the first two. The story introduces three characters that are essential to the rest of the story. Sirius Black, Lupin, and Wormtail. Lupin gets the most screen time and is great as the favorite teacher who takes Harry under his wing to start to prepare him for what lies ahead. The story continues to get darker, and the characters are put in more and more peril. Basically, this is the film where the shift from introducing the world and the characters to getting to the meat of the Harry vs. Voldemort story begins.
The big change in this movie is the addition of Michael Gambon as Dumbledore. Gambon plays a far less soft-spoken and more eccentric version of Dumbledore than Harris dis. When I first saw the movie I did not like his version as much, but after this film you get used to him more, and his presence feels more natural by the end of the series. I did prefer Harris's version of the character, but I do not think it would have worked for Gambon to try to be a carbon copy of Harris. Had Gambon been cast as Dumbledore from the start, his portrayal would have been fine, but switching from one actor to the other was grating. Of course, the character of Dumbledore was too essential to the story to kill off after the second movie, so the role had to be recast.
The lack of an extended version of the film aside, the movie is great, the A/V quality of the movie is excellent, and the extras are very good (although not quite as good as the extras in the Ultimate Editions of the first two movies). If you are more than just a casual fan of the franchise and can find this for the right price, it is worth adding to your collection.
Sunday, March 3, 2024
Blu-Ray/Movie Review: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Ultimate Edition)
Like with the first movie they had to cut material from the books out of the movie. More material was cut for this movie than in the first one, but since the second book was still fairly short, they did not have to cut a ton of the material from the book, and they did keep the important parts of the story. Thus, the story flowed very well. The standout character introduced in this film was Lucious Malfoy. Jason Issacs had the sinister, evil slimeball character down. There was not an ounce of sincerity in anything that Malfoy said or did (aside from the evil parts) and Issacs played it perfectly. Dobby's role in this movie is true to what was in the book, but that does change in subsequent movies. He did provide some comic relief and helped to move the story along.
This is another three-disc set with one disc containing the theatrical and extended editions of the movie. The Ultimate Edition of the movie has a picture-in-picture director commentary, and the rest of the bonus content is on the second and third discs. As for the extras, like the first Ultimate Edition set you get a lot of behind-the-scenes material. The second installment of Creating the World of Harry Potter (which runs just under an hour and a half) focuses on the various characters. Again they discussed characters from all the films, but the slant was toward the second movie. There are also a lot of deleted scenes (most of which ended up in the extended version of the movie), screen tests, a conversation with J.K Rowling, and then some interactive material. There are also character cards and a booklet devoted to creating the characters.
The A/V quality is wonderful again, and the special effects look even better and more seamless than they did in the first movie. Again if you are a fan of the movies and books (more than just a casual fan) and want the most extras you can get then you want to add this to your collection.
Thursday, February 29, 2024
Blu-Ray/Movie Review: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone: Ultimate Collector's Edition
The only drawback to this film is that the kids were so young and inexperienced as actors that their performances were very inconsistent and forced at times. The veteran actors had to do a lot of the heavy lifting in this movie, but luckily those who did the casting found actors who could learn quickly and develop great skills so that even by the second movie they had their characters down and really became those characters. Of course, all of the adult casting was great. Snape is played perfectly by Alan Rickman, and Richard Harris is perfect as Dumbledore. The only bad thing about the movies was that Harris passed away before they were complete and the actor they brought in to replace him (Michael Gambon) while good, was just not the same. He played Dumbledore differently and did not give the character the same feel as Harris did.
All in all, this movie sets up the series well. It introduces the characters, blends the humor with elements of the dark material that would come in the subsequent films, and tells the story from the book as well as could have been done. As I mentioned, there are portions of even the first book that had to be cut out, and as the books got longer and longer more would have to be cut. So, you have to look at the movies as their own entity and the books as their own.
If you love the books and want to get the most out of the movies (or if you just love the Fantasy genre), this is a must-have for your collection. Even though it is probably the weakest of all the movies, mainly because the kids were all so green as actors, it is still an excellent film and absolutely worth the time to watch.
Thursday, August 3, 2023
Book Review: Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore – The Complete Screenplay
Monday, December 5, 2022
4kUHD Review: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
Tuesday, June 14, 2022
Blu-Ray/Movie Review: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Parts 1 and 2 (2-Movie Ultimate Edition)
This is the Ultimate Edition of the last two Harry Potter movies, which split the last book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, into two movies. In the first movie, Harry, Hermonie, and Ron, try to track down the remaining Horcruxes (with a bit of help from items that Dumbledore bequeathed to them in his will), while trying to evade the death eaters. The second movie is the showdown between Harry and Voldemort which takes place at Hogwarts. I will not spend a ton of time reviewing the movies themselves as most people who are likely to read this by now have seen the movies and/or read the books multiple times. However, as you can imagine, not every character makes it out unscathed, and more characters, including major ones, die in the movie. The movies do deviate some from the books. I would say that Part I follows the story from the book's first half closer than Part II follows the book's second half. I do think that the final battle (and the setup to it) at Hogwarts, including everything involving Snape and the Harry v. Voldemort confrontation, is done better in the movie than it was in the book.
The A/V quality of the Blu-Ray transfer was great. The parts of the movie where the scenes were visually dark (and there are a lot of them) are very dark in the transfer, but in the portions where it was not, the colors really pop, and it shows off the great cinematography. And, the special effects look nearly seamless. Where the set really shines is in all the extras and bonus material you get. First, there are two physical extras in the package. A set of lenticular image cards and a hardcover book with images from all the different movies showing how the actors literally grew up during the course of filming the movies. As for the discs, there are six in all, each movie on a Blu-Ray disc and a DVD disc, and then two Blu-Rays with extras/bonus features, one for each movie.
Each movie allows you to play them in Maximum Movie Mode, in which picture-in-picture behind-the-scenes material pops up during scenes as well as sidebar "focus points" that have some interactive material while you watch the movie. For extras, each movie has over two hour's worth of making-of and behind-the-scenes featurettes, deleted scenes (11-minutes for part 1, and 7-minutes for part 2), then there is an almost hour-long conversation between J.K Rowling and Daniel Radcliff, a preview of the Pottermore website, the trailers, and more. So, if you like going through extras, there is a TON there for you, all of it very good.
Overall, the set is really for the most hardcore Harry Potter fans, because you are going to be paying much more than just getting the individual movies, but you get a lot more. My only real quibble is that unlike the Ultimate Edition sets for the first couple of movies in which the deleted scenes were incorporated into the movies in an extended edition of the movie, on this one (as well as I believe movies 3-6) there is no extended edition. You can only watch the deleted scenes separately and not see how they would have been incorporated into the movies. It is only a small nitpicky point about an otherwise perfect set, and not worth dropping it down a star, but it would have been nice if both the theatrical versions and extended versions of the movies were included. But, if you are a fan of the Harry Potter franchise, this is well worth the pickup.
Friday, April 1, 2022
Book Set Review: Harry Potter Paperback Box Set (Books 1-7)
Harry Potter is, of course, the massive series that consisted of these 7 books, which were ultimately adapted into 8 movies, and then spun off the Fantastic Beasts franchise that is currently still going strong. The books are set in the 1990s at a time when a ten-year-old Harry learns that he is a wizard, and starts attending school at Hogwarts school for witchcraft and wizardry. The theme throughout the series of books is the looming threat of the dark wizard Voldemort who tried and failed to kill Harry as an infant. The author JK Rowling, wrote the books with the intention that kids about Harry's age could start reading them and then age with the characters in the books. So, they do get progressively darker and more "adult" as the series goes on. The first couple of books are easily appropriate for 10-11 year-olds, but the later books are probably more appropriate for those in the 13-15-year-old (on up) age range. Even though they are technically kids' books, they can easily be enjoyed by adults. The books also get longer as the series goes on, so if you have seen the movies, there is a lot that happens in the books, especially books 3-6 that get cut out of the movies. I do think, on the whole, the books are better than the movies, but I think there are some things that the movies tweaked from the books that worked better.
Overall, it is a great book series. The story is unique in that, as opposed to a lot of other books in the sci-fi/fantasy genre that set their stories on made-up worlds that have little in common with our reality, it sets the world of magic in the "real" world in contemporary times, just making it clear that people without the magical ability (called muggles) are largely unaware of the existence of magic. If you are one of the few who have yet to read the books, I highly recommend them.
Friday, January 28, 2022
Book Review: Fantastic Beasts and the Crimes of Grindelwald
This is the second of what will be at least a trilogy of books/movies in the Fantastic Beasts prequel to Harry Potter. It is set in the late 1920s. Grindelwald, having been captured at the end of the first book, escapes in the process of being transferred for trial. Then the story jumps ahead in time a few months, and the rest of the story plays out.
The title is a little misleading as the story is as much about Leta Lestrange and Creedence as it is about Grindelwald. In fact, Grindelwald is in the movie very sporadically, and mostly toward the end. The story also picks up on the Newt-Tina and Queenie-Jacob relationships, and, as you would expect, throws a wrench into things. We also get the first real introduction to young Dumbledore, played in the movie by Jude Law. He, like Grindelwald, is not in the book a ton but is being set up for a larger role in the next book/movie.
Like Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, this is not a novelization, but a screenplay. So, it basically tracks the movie word-for-word. Nothing more gets fleshed out in the book, but unlike the Harry Potter novels, nothing from the book is missing from the movie. Also, it is fairly short, about 275 pages, and because the book has a lot of illustrations throughout, the pages are not full of text, so it is a much quicker read than a traditional novel.
Overall, if you liked the first book/movie then you will probably like this one. While I still prefer the Harry Potter series to Fantastic Beasts, this is still a good story within that world and is definitely setting up the Dumbledore backstory we were all hoping for in the last few Harry Potter novels.
Saturday, January 8, 2022
Book Review: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
Friday, January 7, 2022
Book Review: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
Fantastic Beasts is, of course, the prequel to the Harry Potter series, set in the same universe, but in the mid to late 1920s as opposed to the early1990s, which was when Harry Potter started at Hogwarts in the novels. Unlike the Harry Potter books, this is not a novel. It is a screenplay for the movie. As such, it is pretty much, scene-for-scene, and word-for-word what you see in the movie. There are no "extra" or additional storylines included in the book that were not in the movie. It also, clearly, does not read like a novel, but more like a script.
The story is set in New York in the mid-1920s. Newt Scamander (who coincidentally writes a book of the same name that Harry has to purchase for class years later) travels from England to New York in order to release a creature into its natural habitat. He has a run-in with a Muggle (or no-maj as they are called in the United States) named Jacob Kowalski and in the process, a creature called a Niffler, which is pretty much a kleptomaniac gets out and starts causing havoc. Newt's beasts also get blamed for wreaking destruction throughout the city which is actually caused by something more sinister.
While the story is set in the Harry Potter Universe, the story is definitely not a carbon copy of the Harry Potter story. Due in large part to the fact that most of the characters from the Harry Potter novels and movies are not yet born when this is set. The only characters that were seen or mentioned in Harry Potter that are established to be around now are Dumbledore (who is mentioned in the book) and Grindewold, who the book establishes as the main antagonist of the time period. He is basically the Voldemort of his time, with a goal to start a war between the magical world and the nonmagical world. The other main characters in the book are Tina Goldstein who works at the US version of the Ministry of Magic and her sister Queenie, TIna's boss at the Perceval Graves and Credence Barebone
Overall, the story is very good. I like the fact that it is different than the Harry Potter world. For example, wizards and no-majes in the US are totally separate from each other, and wizards and witches are forbidden to marry a no-maj. And, the story is not focusing on a young Dumbledore (at least not at this point), using Newt and Tina as main characters along with Queenie and Jacob. So, as long as you accept that this is not a carbon copy of Harry Potter, it is enjoyable. Although, I do think it would have been better as a traditional novel as opposed to just a screenplay which may be difficult for some people to stick with reading.
Monday, December 27, 2021
Book Review: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Parts I and II
Sunday, October 31, 2021
Book Review: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Monday, September 20, 2021
Book Review: Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
Friday, August 20, 2021
Book Review: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Saturday, July 24, 2021
Book Review: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire