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.
Sunday, April 28, 2024
Book Review: Star Wars: The Living Force
Thursday, April 25, 2024
Blu-Ray/Movie Collection Review: The Ultimate Matrix Collection
The first movie was truly groundbreaking, both in the story (let's face it, it was one of the few original movies of its time that was not a reboot or sequel) and in terms of special effects. The whole "bullet time" concept that they used to give characters powers in The Matrix was like nothing that we had seen up to that point. Yes, CGI and digital effects have evolved in a huge way since then, but the original film was really the bridge between what was being done in films like Blade to what you got in the Harry Potter films, the Lord of the Rings movies, and almost every sci-fi/fantasy movie out now.
Most of the criticism of the movies themselves tends to center around the continuation of the story in Reloaded and Revolutions. Although given that the anticipation for the Matrix sequels rivaled that for the Star Wars Prequels (which also came out at the same time) given the popularity of the original film, I honestly don't know what story they could have told that would satisfy everybody. In some ways I do think the filmmakers had the Lucas complex of falling too much in love with the CGI, especially since at that point they did not have the technology to make the digital characters look as real as Gollum in LOTR, so during the burly brawl in Reloaded when they switch from the actors to all digital it looks like a video game. I personally however think the story continuation that was done in the 2nd and 3rd films is better upon repeated viewings than when I originally saw them in the theater.
What makes the set shine however is the tons of bonus material. For each 2 hr movie, you get anywhere from 3-4 hrs of bonus content per disc. There are multiple commentaries on each movie and several making-of and behind-the-scenes features for each movie. The extras include a lot of explanation of the digital effects and why the filmmakers and crew did things the way they did and a great look at the stunts and the training that all the actors did to do as much of the fight sequences and wire work as they could. Say what you want about Keanu Reeves's acting ability, but he busted his ass when it came to training to do the fight sequences which were of course the staple of his character.
Aside from the bonus material on each movie disc, you get all the Animatrix features that fleshed out the story (both before the original movie showing how the war started) and in between the films where we got bits and pieces of information but not the entire story. Plus you get a bunch of bonus material on how the animatrix stories were made. Finally, there are 2 discs that revolve more around the story itself, how the filmmakers came up with the story, and some of the early concept art, as well as the featurettes from the video game. So if you are one who loves going through the bonus material on the discs then you will be extremely happy with all you get, because you can spend hours upon hours with all that is there.
The A/V quality of the movies on blu ray is very good. There are some limitations because of the fact that the movies are older now (with the first movie being about 15 years old), but they are better on blu-ray than the original DVD releases. I would say that this set really is for hardcore fans of the series overall. If you hated the second and third movies as some do, then you are far better off getting the stand-alone Matrix blu ray and being done with that. Because that is only a small part of what you will get in this set. If you like the other movies but do not really care about going through all the bonus material then you probably just want to stick with the movie trilogy. But if you want to get the entire experience, then you cannot go wrong with what is here.
Wednesday, April 17, 2024
Book Review: Star Wars: The High Republic: Tales of Enlightenment #StarWars
Monday, March 4, 2024
4k-UHD/Movie Review: Avatar
This is one of two 4k sets that are available. Even though this is labeled as an ultimate collector's edition, the version that is just labeled "Collector's Edition" has more features. This one is a three-disc set. There is a UHD disc and one regular blu-ray disc that just contains the movie. The A/V quality of the UHD disc is fantastic and can be considered reference quality. The third disc is another blu-ray disc with all the special features. The special features mix new material created for the 4k release with some (but not all) of the legacy material created for the original physical media release. The new content includes a roundtable discussion with one of the producers and the prominent cast members called "Memories of Avatar" and a featurette called "Avatar, a Look Back" with new interviews with the cast and crew members. The legacy carry-over content includes the hour-and-a-half-long documentary titled "Capturing Avatar" and the hour-and-a-half worth of making-of featurettes. This set does not include the extended edition of the movies, the trailers, the stills gallery, the VFX featurettes, etc., contained in the original Extended Collector's Edition blu-ray release. If you own that set, you may want to hang onto it if you get this one.
The movie is very good. The story is based on the concepts of colonialism, imperialism, and the treatment of native populations throughout history. It also hammers the themes of environmental damage and corporate greed. It is well-written and well-acted, but the fantastic special effects are the main appeal. This movie took a leap similar to what The Matrix did back in 1999 in terms of special effects and integrating CGI effects into film, making the CGI characters and sets nearly indistinguishable from what was built practically. Even if you are not a huge fan of Sci-Fi, this is still worth watching.
Sunday, February 25, 2024
Book Review: Star Wars: The Eye of Darkness
Friday, February 16, 2024
4kUHD/Movie Review: 2001: A Space Odyssey (Spoilers)
Even with all that, the movie plays on concepts of the origin of life, god, alien life, technological advancement, human reliance on computers, and the possible dangers of artificial intelligence. All of this makes for ripe debate now 50 years past the movie's release. It is unique in the fact that it does not really try to provide any answers, or really set up all of the questions that it is posing all that well. It is not a movie that you can really have on in the background and follow everything, yet there are parts where you can completely ignore it and not miss anything.
The 4k set is a three-disc set. The movie looks great in 4k UHD format. On the UHD disc, you just get the movie, with or without the option of playing the commentary track with actors Gary Lockwood and Kier Dullea. It is hard to tell exactly how great the restoration is until you see the low-definition clips from the movie on the special features disc (which is a separate blu-ray). While it does not look as good as some of the new movies do in 4k, given that it is now over 50 years old, it looks as good as it will ever look in any format unless it gets an extensive restoration. That said, the A/V transfer was of good quality and it is a step up from the DVD and the initial blu-ray releases. There is also a regular blu-ray disc with just the movie itself on it.
There are about 2 hrs worth of extras, some of which were documentaries shot in the 2000s which discussed the movie's impact on all the sci-fi movies that came after it, and how it was a giant in the world of practical special effects. There was also some behind-the-scenes material shot while the movie was being made, a documentary from back when it was being filmed about how the filmmakers and NASA were working together to make it as authentic as possible, and for me, the most interesting, how they thought technology and the space program would be in 2001 as opposed to what reality has been. They got some very close (like the tablet devices on the ship that look a lot like iPads do today) and other things that were way off about (like permanent bases on the moon, and space flight being as normal as flying in an airplane). There is also an almost hour and twenty-minute long audio interview with Kubrick done in 1966).
Overall, I cannot say that this is a movie that everyone will enjoy. Chances are, however, anyone who is considering this has already seen the movie and is a fan. I would say, that it is a good idea to also get 2010 which was the sequel that was made in 1985 which not only concluded the story but also helped make the story in 2001 make more sense than it does upon first viewing. It is also, in my opinion, a more entertaining movie than this one, because it is less thought experiment and more drama. Even though I do like 2010 better, this one is still one of my must-watch movies.
Sunday, February 11, 2024
DVD/TV Series Review: Fringe: The Complete Series
The premise of the show was that a special division of the FBI was set up to investigate a series of strange phenomena (which was referred to in the first couple of seasons as the pattern). Much of the phenomena was based on the work of Dr. Walter Bishop (played by John Noble who gives probably the best overall performance in the series) who had been in a mental hospital for 17 years. Walter ends up as a special consultant for the FBI along with his son Peter (played by Joshua Jackson) who initially just tags along acting as Walter's babysitter and then he ends up helping investigate the events.
The cornerstone of the series was the wonderful acting. All the actors from the series regulars to those who played recurring characters and the bit parts did very well. It was another series where there was really no huge star that was a series regular. While Leonard Nimoy did make a few cameo appearances throughout the series and his character was mentioned a lot throughout the series, he was not in many of the episodes. I also like how the writers always grounded the unreal concepts in real science. They either took a known scientific fact and then stretched it, or took a scientific hypothesis and tried to come up with an explanation for it (reasonable or otherwise). Obviously, the outcomes were totally fake and unreal, but the premise that it started with was at least rooted in something that was.
The first season mostly followed a procedural case-of-the-week formula. Even in the first season, however, you can see that the writers were placing hints from the start of the two big serial storylines of the series, namely the war against the parallel universe and the war against the observers. Even with the procedural stories, there was actually a lot of continuity between the episodes, and as a result, it is definitely one of those series where you really do have to see it from the beginning to follow what is going on (especially as you get into the later seasons).
The only problem I have with the series is that at times it tried to do too much, and often went on too many tangents. Personally, I think they should have focused on one big story (either the parallel universe war or the observer takeover) and stuck with that. The 4th season kept the parallel universe, but changed the storylines because of Peter being "erased." On one hand, it allows for a different twist on the stories, but on the other hand, it created a storyline that just ended with the 4th season finale, and the storyline of William Bell's attempt to create his own universe did not really get totally resolved. The heroes did stop him, but he was allowed to just disappear and then the show did the time jump to tell the story of the observer takeover which ultimately ended the series. I think they lost a lot of more casual viewers that season because things just got hard to follow.
Fringe is definitely not a show that will appeal to everyone. Even though it started out with fairly good ratings it always was kind of a "cult" following kind of show. If you cannot easily suspend your disbelief this series is not for you. The show gets weird at times, but that is the point, and often joked about in the show. If you do like that kind of thing you will enjoy the series. If you are into science and are entertained by sci-fi material, and like shows that have unique storylines and is definitely not a carbon copy of anything else, this is worth giving a look.
Saturday, February 10, 2024
DVD/Movie Review: Barbarella
Monday, January 22, 2024
Book Review: Star Wars: Dawn of Rebellion: The Visual Guide
Monday, January 8, 2024
Book Review: Star Wars: The High Republic Character Encyclopedia
Tuesday, December 19, 2023
Book Review: Star Wars: Crimson Climb
Monday, November 27, 2023
Book Review: Return of the Jedi Novelization
Monday, November 13, 2023
Book Review: Star Wars: Tales from the Death Star
Saturday, November 4, 2023
Book Review: Star Wars: The High Republic: Tales of Light and Life
Sunday, October 29, 2023
Book Review: Star Wars: From a Certain Point of View: Return of the Jedi
Wednesday, October 25, 2023
Book Review: Star Wars: Starlight Stories
Sunday, September 24, 2023
Book Review: Dune: The Butlerian Jihad (Dune #1)
Saturday, August 12, 2023
Book Review: Star Wars: Lords of the Sith
The book also focuses on the beginnings of what would become the Rebellion, set around the planet Ryleth and Twi'lek freedom fighters led by Cham Syndulla who was a character in the Clone Wars television series. The organization who have a local imperial in their pocket learns that Vader and the Emperor are going to be coming to the planet with the Senator for the planet. They see an opportunity to take out the head of the empire and the local Moff and hatch a plot to bring down their Star Destroyer. I will not spoil the rest of the plot although everyone knows that Vader and the Emperor survive, but the story of how is really well done and suspenseful.
To me, the best part of the story is the focus on Vader and the Emperor's relationship, and what we get of Vader's state of mind. He has lost everything he loves, and is fueled by rage, and does not care for anyone besides his master, whom he is already considering overthrowing. We learn that he is still haunted by the memories of his past life as Anakin, and uses those to enable his anger and make himself more powerful. We also get a reminder of just how powerful Palpatine is when he wants to be and a sequence where he and Vader take out an entire colony of predatory insect-like creatures native to the planet. It does a lot to set up the characters we eventually see in the original trilogy.
While I do not think the book is perfect, I think it is well done for what it was. I would have liked it to be a novel that gave more post-prequel trilogy check-in on all the major characters. Even just cameos for Obi-Wan, Yoda, and Bail Organa raising Leia would have been a nice touch. Those novels may, of course, come down the line, but given what the focus of this book was, it was done well. I would definitely recommend it to get more of the canon storyline.
Book Review: Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith Novelization
Ultimately the story is how Palpatine/Sidious has been manipulating events from the beginning, using the Clone Wars to turn the republic into an empire, with him at the helm. There is a great scene between Palpatine and Dooku, just before the rescue, that really crystallizes that whole theme. The first third of the book, in fact, tells the events of the rescue, while also reintroducing the Anakin and Obi-Wan characters and how they became heroes during the Clone Wars. Of course, everything sets up for Sidious turning Anakin, which is done in a much slower manner in the novel than it was in the movie, which made it much more believable and made Anakin seem much less like an easily duped rube, which is what he ended up looking like in the movie where he was basically turned in two or three scenes. By telling the story of the Palpatine-Anakin friendship that evolved during the Clone Wars, it made things much more believable. Another aspect I really liked was the author almost splitting Palpatine and Sidious into two separate entities, with Sidious being an all-powerful shadow that could defeat any Jedi.
The book, while longer (about 420 pages) reads relatively fast. It is pretty easy to finish in a couple days if you are a fast reader and how many breaks you take. Even if you were not a huge fan of the movie, it is still worth reading if you are a fan of the novels, as it is one of the better ones both in the canon and expanded universe sets.
Book Review: Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace Novelization
I do think the political subterfuge story works much better in the book than it did in the movie. The author was able to cover it enough without going into a ton of detail and focused more on the various character relationships. The book gives more detail on the Qui Gon-Obi Wan relationship than the movie did, and even though Jar Jar was still annoying in the novel, he did seem to be at least a bit less useless than he was in the movie (although not much). Darth Maul was still very underutilized in the book as he was in the movie, with his only real significant appearance being the battle at the end (which was altered a bit from the version that was shown in the movie).
Ultimately your feelings toward the book will largely depend on what you thought of the movie. If you loved the movie, you will likely love the book. If you hated the movie, while you may not hate the book as much, it is not so different that you are likely to love the book. And if you are somewhere in between, then you will find good and bad in the story. It is a fairly quick read and can easily be finished in a day or two if you are a fairly fast reader.