So the week started like usual - weak, but the past few days I've been efficient as hell! I have been working like there's no tomorrow, getting up early in the mornings, and I'm writing this seven minutes till midnight after just recently handing in my Creative Writing assignment of the week (why does it always have to be last-minute?!) so you could say it's moving on to a grand finale. Just hope I'm not too tired to start tomorrow the same way. :)

Been listening to a lot of Jay-Z this week, occasionally procrastinating a bit (but not really cause I did things like write that blog I just linked to in such moments), having some momentary trouble with Google (but not all bad), posted 11 movie reviews and other stuff. Resolutions are going well, so far I've written a poem every day, which you can browse here, and all that... other stuff? Maybe it's time for a quick resolutions flashback before I forget about them. :) Soon.

I woke up one morning with a something jawful (the title's a pun on a viral media site, in case you don't know), but apart from that I've been feeling hellishly tired. I mean life's good. It's winter, you know? Dull weather, mostly (today was a grand exception, though I didn't really have time to appreciate it). Days move fast.

Past week? Here.

Been listening to Jay-Zs new album a lot lately. It's nice and jazzy, smooth and addictive, it's dope like coke. My first impressions weren't that great, but they've changed quick. I have it on loop now, and as the critiques say: it's very easy to listen to.

Some of my favorite songs are... wait, are there any songs that aren't a favorite? I like all of them equally, but the collaborations with Nas maybe a bit more, and the Rick Ross collabo FuckWithMeYouGetIt is pretty catchy indeed. It's probably only the love song starring Beyonce that I am tiring of a little, it's not bad, it's actually probably the most truthful song on the album... but it doesn't have the same pace as the rest of it.

The first time I listened to Picasso Face I thought he was saying Taco Face for sure. The two words may not seem similar when read in written form, but the way they're scratching the Pi-caso-caso face... I'm sure you'll see the similarity. ;) I mean hear. There.

It took a few rounds before all the similes sunk in, and I still didn't get a few of them until I read the online annotations, like how the hook in the first one was referring to the music industry, or how some lines refer to him being a parent, I don't remember exactly... was a bit proud I got the back when I was talking Instagram, the last thing you wanted was your picture snapped early on though. :P

I'm starting to like Jay-Z more and more, I like his wordplay; his style. Before this album I feel I was a bit unaware of his skills and unadjusted to his persona. It's like before I heard Kanye West the first time, discovering there are other legends out there than Eminem. Woah, revelations! Magna Carta Holy Grail is a good album.

Damnit I can't focus on anything! As soon as I get today's great assignment done I can do what I want. I can relax, I can do anything, none of my other projects have a fixed deadline. Why can't I focus?

I'm not being in-efficient, but I've learned the hard way that you're most efficient when you get closure on your projects. When one project is done, you can move onto the next one. When you try moving onto the next one without finishing the first one, you'll keep thinking of the first one and not get the next one done. It's a vicious... line.

And why am I writing this? Because I'm waiting on a file transfer and I don't like doing nothing. I'm transferring files because I'm procrastinating. But I see this as a form of motivation. Ranting about what bothers me motivates me to take care of it. Like when I wake up in the morning and count to ten in my head. If I actually get up at the count of ten, I am content with my effort and proceed to be content with the rest of the day. If I don't, then even I know that my willpower is lacking and I will obviously fail at all tasks I attempt to perform during the rest of this per-planned period of time.

That's what you call waking up on the wrong side of bed. Though in this case, it's a conscious choice you make. You can get up at the count of ten if you really want to. So go on, do it, don't wait, don't live with the illusion of progress, don't make the conscious choice not to progress or to not greet the day when you have the chance. Get up. Start working. Accomplish the goals you set before you.

If it just so happens that all that happens in life is random and what you plan is of no consequence, you'll still be better off doing what you set out to do until the time comes when some amazing opportunity pops up in your path.

Motivational message of the week, there you go.

Or maybe it's the message of the month, cause for some odd reason I'm feeling particularly motivated today. Right now (yes I am aware that doesn't make sense since I'm not doing what I should be). Is it the sunshine? Is it the fact that I accomplished more than I hoped for yesterday? Was it that I did get up at the count of ten this morning?

No, it wasn't. I woke up at 5:20 and decided to get up at 7, but the next time I looked at the clock it was 8:20. Late. At that moment I had already convinced myself that today would be shit, subconsciously.

That realization sank in as easily as a rock sinks in water, and it took more than a walk to get rid of that misconception. It took some actual working. It took a very strained initiation into being efficient despite this lack of motivation and understanding on how life turns out like it does because of how you believe it will turn out, and what you do, and that wallowing in despair and depression is what will effect the way life turns out, and not the other way around, that you wallow because life turned out that way.

So get up off your lazy ass you lazy-ass man, keep your mind busy, don't ponder how your life will be in a few years if you keep doing the same things, don't wonder what you did wrong in the past, don't consider that your jaw feels sore and might be dislocated again. The pun's been done, but like Nike: take a hike. Do it.

I'm writing this
While I am waiting
For a process
That is running

But really
It is walking
More like strolling
Maybe stalling

Oh wait
It is done

This is like the Asian version of Charlie's Angels, in which Charlie's the one usually fighting, and his enemy is actually his friend, and his initial rival soon works for him. It's a bit of a B-movie, and in the fights especially I'm thinking the characters just never really let go of the ground, even if they are doing some pretty fancy kicking. After watching HK action with Donnie Yen and the likes it feels like they're all way too heavy. Guess Wushu's on another level... though it might also have to do with filming technique, not as much filming from ground level or really capturing the close-up motion of a kick.

The final chase/fight on the roof of a small plane was pretty cool though. And there are no special effects... at least not much. The final explosion was the only part that felt a bit fake. In one fight they're filming the character from underneath a spotlight, and occasionally the character moves, so the viewer gets blinded by that light a bit. Not the best tactic IMO. There are also a lot of chases going on, and not always that much getting anywhere. The characters fight, escape, fight another day, escape again... it feels somewhat inconsistent.

As for the plot, it's about a pair of plates, printing plates, about a syndicate, about rivals and friends and people competing over that set of plates. At times it's a mess, at times it's actually pretty clever. Oh, and this is apparently the sequel to Tokyo Raiders, which I have seen, but I'll need to see that again to write a review, been a long time. If my memory serves me correct though, the original was way better.

 rated 3/5: not bad

I must've dislocated my jaw last night.

I woke up feeling some kind of discomfort on the left side, every time I opened my mouth, but not when my mouth was fully open, just when I'd started to open it, or when I moved my jaw without opening it. I tried massaging it a bit, opening and closing, you know the flow - no change.

So I started eating breakfast, a big bowl of crunchy muesli, and I immediately started to doubt if that was the smartest form of food since the pain flared up a bit more when I started chewing, but I stubbornly kept going. Suddenly something snapped and *poof*, the pain was gone! It felt like the left side somehow realigned.

So I guess I must've somehow misaligned my jaw last night.