Reviews, Health, and Other Stuff: Soundtrack

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.

Tuesday, May 28, 2024

CD/Music Review: Northern Exposure: Music From The Television Series

This is the first of two soundtrack albums with music appearing in the 1990s drama Northern Exposure. As many reading this would likely know, the DVD release of the show in the mid-2000s removed a lot of the music because of licensing issues. The first season set, and I think most season 2 sets, contained the original music from the show, but from season 3 on, many original songs were replaced with dubbed over instrumental (think elevator) music. Given how much a part of the show music was (especially the radio station scenes) while it did not make it unwatchable (for me anyway) it takes away from the overall experience. Assuming the show will not get any further DVD or US blu-ray releases with the original music back in (there is a UK Blu-Ray set with the original music that is very expensive and requires a Region 2 Blu-Ray player to watch), this soundtrack (and more music from the Northern Exposure soundtrack) will be the only way to hear some of those songs. Especially those that are not by major artists that you can get on other albums easily. This is a must for anyone who is a fan of the show and loves the music used in the show.

Monday, May 27, 2024

CD/Music Review: More Music From Northern Exposure

Northern Exposure was a show in the 1990s that lasted six seasons and became somewhat of a cult hit. As anyone who is likely looking at this knows, music was very much a part of the show's original run, with many scenes set in a radio station. Many of the songs in the show were selected specifically to tie into the plot/storyline of the episodes in which the songs were used. By the time the show was put out on DVD, the studio had lost the rights to a lot of the original music, so generic "elevator" type music had to be dubbed into many of the scenes in the show. While getting this does not make up for that completely, it will allow you to hear some of the music from the show that had to be taken out because of copyright issues.

Most of the songs included on the CD are not the big hits or well-known songs used on the show. For example, this does not include songs like "At Last" or "Somewhere Over the Rainbow." That said, the songs that are included are all very good, and the CD does include the opening credits theme music (which is the most recognizable track). If you are a fan of the show, and especially the music in it, then you will definitely enjoy it.