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.
Wednesday, December 14, 2022
Blu-Ray/Movie Review: Jackie
Thursday, September 8, 2022
4k-UHD/Movie Review: Thor: The Dark World
This movie sees the threat of Dark Elves, with the main antagonist being Makliketh (played by Christopher Eccleston), the leader of the Dark Elves who was defeated by Thor's grandfather. He is trying to capture a substance called The Ether which can basically undo the big bang and bring the universe back into darkness. I will not spoil the movie for the handful of people reading this by now who have not seen the movie, but the plot requires Thor to return to Earth after Jane is put in danger, and team up with Loki to take down the Dark Elves. It also sets up the concept of the Infinity Stones which, of course, play a larger role in the following movies.
For those who get the 4k Disc set, the movie looks and sounds great in UHD. Not a huge jump from the blu-ray version of the movie, but noticeable enough that if you have a 4k TV and blu-ray player, it is worth the double-dip. The UHD disc just has the movie itself, and then the extras are included on the second disc which is a regular blu-ray. The extras include a commentary track on the movie by the director Alan Taylor, Marvel's head honcho, Kevin Feige, and Tom Hiddleston, who of course plays Loki. The commentary track provides some good insight into the process of making the film with some good behind-the-scenes details from Hiddleston. Then there is another Marvel's One Shot titled All Hail the King, which is a documentary about Trevor Slattery, the "bad guy" from Iron Man 3, showing what is life is like in prison and setting up the 10-rings storyline. Then there are deleted and extended scenes, a handful of making-of featurettes that can be viewed one at a time or all at once, and then a gag reel. So, a lot of material if you like to look at the bonus material.
Most of the supporting cast from the original movie including Jamie Alexander, Renee Russo, Anthony Hopkins, Idris Elba, Stellan Skarsgård, Ray Stevenson, and Kat Dennings appear. Zachary Levi replaced Joshua Dallas as Fandral, one of the Warrior's Three in Asgard, because of a scheduling conflict. The other notable addition to the cast is Jonathan Howard who plays Ian, Darcy's intern who is basically a lacky she "hires" to do the stuff she does not want to do as Jane's intern. The movie gets ragged on, but it is definitely not as bad as some make it out to be. It is definitely a filler story, but it does set up a lot of what is to come down the line, so it is essential to what is going to play out in the later movies. The acting is great from the entire cast. I would say that the supporting characters all kind of took a back seat in this movie and were not as involved as they were in the first one, but all of them made the most of their screen time. Kat Dennings stole pretty much every scene she was in, as did Stellan Skarsgård who had to play Erik as stark raving mad (with lucid intervals) because of Loki taking over his mind in The Avengers. There are some cameos, including the usual Stan Lee cameo, but also a pretty hilarious one by Chris Evans. The movie continues the mid-credits and post-credits scene tradition. The mid-credits scene set up the Guardian's of the Galaxy, and the post-credits theme was a more humorous wrap-up of the movie. While it is not the best MCU movie, it is not as bad as some make it out to be, and is definitely worth watching.
Monday, April 11, 2022
Blu-Ray/Movie Review: Black Swan
For those who get the Blu-Ray, the movie looks and sounds great in HD. The extras include several short featurettes that include character profiles, production design, costume design, as well as the theatrical trailer. There is also an almost hour-long making-of feature titled Black Swan Metamorphosis, which is split into three parts that have a ton of behind-the-scenes footage, interviews with the cast and crew, and more.
Overall, the movie is wonderful. The writing and acting are both top-notch. Along with Portman, the main cast includes Mila Kunis, Vincent Cassel, Wynona Ryder, and Barbara Hershey, who does a great job as Nina's mother who is overprotective and lives vicariously through her daughter. Portman and Kunis are definitely featured the most, and both do a great job in their roles. Portman is in nearly every scene, if not every scene, and has to play a wide range of emotions through her character. She had proven her acting chops well before this movie, but it really did cement her as being a great actress who can play damn near anything. It is a great movie that is definitely worth watching if you are in the mood for something that is a bit out there.