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. 

Showing posts with label The Looming Tower. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Looming Tower. Show all posts

Tuesday, August 6, 2024

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: The Looming Tower

 


The Looming Tower is a 10-episode miniseries that was released on Hulu in 2018. It stars Jeff Daniels, Tahar Rahim, Wrenn Schmidt, Bill Camp, Louis Cancelmi, Ella Rae Peck, and Peter Sarsgaard. There are a couple of things to note when it comes to this series. First, while it is based on the book of the same name by Lawrence Wright, its focus is very different. In the book, the focus was mainly on the rise of Al-Qaeda from its beginnings during and after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan to just after the 9-11 attacks. The focus of the series, which was a smaller part of the book, is the tension between the CIA and FBI, centered around the characters of John O'Neil and Ali Soufan. It really displayed how the CIA saw its mission as intelligence gathering, and because the FBI was interested in making arrests, the CIA would stonewall the FBI agents working on bringing Al-Qaeda down. It also dealt with some of the politics playing out in the late 1990s and early 2000s (Clinton's affair and impeachment, and the Bush Administration's obsession with taking out Sadaam Hussein in Iraq and indifference to the Al-Qaeda threat), which prevented any real action against Al-Qaeda being taken until it was too late.

Second, it is a fictionalized docu-drama. It is not a straight-up documentary retelling everything that happened exactly as it did. It does mix in a lot of real-life news footage of events that the series depicts and footage from the congressional hearings that were held a few years after the attacks. Some characters were a combination of real-life people or a fictionalized version of real people (like the Schmidt character (played by Peter Sarsgaard), who was based on a pretty crazy real-life CIA agent at Alec Station), and some events were changed a bit (such as the bombing of the USS Cole). So, if you are looking for something that gives a straight-up retelling, then this is not it. Nor does it put a ton of emphasis on 9-11 itself. The attacks and aftermath mainly play out on monitors playing real-life footage in the background in the final episode. There was very little that the show filmed depicting things that happened on the actual day itself. What was filmed were things like Richard Clarke in the White House as it was being evacuated, and later in the bunker, one of the FBI agents walking through the streets after the collapse of the towers, etc. A big chunk of the last episode involves Ali Soufan finally getting access to interrogate Bin-Laden's former bodyguard who was being detained in Yemen and distills what was an interrogation over several days into a 10-or-so-minute sequence.

The acting and writing of the show are very good. Jeff Daniels really shines as John O'Neil, and for all but one episode is pretty much the main character. Tahir Rahim also does a great job playing Ali Soufan, who was part of a group of FBI agents butting heads with the CIA to get information. Some of the real-life players were also consultants and/or producers of the show, which I think helped its authenticity. For extras, there are commentary tracks on the first and last episodes by the writer and director of the episodes, and then about 40 minutes worth of behind-the-scenes, making of, and source material featurettes. Very good for what was included. It also looks great on blu-ray.

It does have some flaws, but overall, they are, in my opinion, minor in the larger overall context. It is definitely worth checking out.