Retirement Only Lasts A While...
Retirement only lasts a while, but life is a lifetime.
Retirement only lasts a while, but life is a lifetime.
My right hand is kinda cold.
I guess it's cold in the room. I'm sitting here in shorts and shirt and wool socks, and a robe, looking out at the snowy lands outside, plagued by ice and sleet during the night and most of yesterday.
My car's frozen over.
I tried to swipe away the snow yesterday but it's the kind that sticks. I brushed off a surface veil, but below that it was glued on. A centimeter-thick layer of water and snow combined, melted together during ideal temperature for trouble.
The side windows are covered too.
Side mirrors.
Door handles and keyholes.
Everything.
And I still have those strange electrical issues, which means I have unplugged my battery while the car stands still, which means I need to pop the hood and plug it back in before I can start heating the car and properly scrape the snow off the windows. Which might be difficult if the hood's been frozen shut.
Might need to get up a bit earlier tomorrow if this unwanted albeit protective veil doesn't start melting...
I woke up around 8 today, and got up before 9, 1-2 hours earlier than usual. A bit too early, but I'm trying to get better sleeping habits before a Buddhist temple retreat trip next weekend, for which I'll have to get up around 6. Don't want to be totally sleep deprived when I arrive.
It'll be three days of hopefully unwavering and existentially enlightening meditation sessions at the Northernmost Buddhist temple in the world... or was it just the Northernmost in Sweden? Not sure.
That tongue thing seems alright now, no further issues or effects *knock on wood*, and the SEO meetings are ongoing.
A lotta stuff's going on at work right now, and elsewhere, so aforementioned retreat seems all the more well-timed a moment of rest.
If I can just learn to sleep alright.
I've been selling some stuff via online auctions recently.
Bought a shipment of 3,5'' HDDs in varying condition and have been selling away the ones with uncertain future fortuity, and going through some 20kg weight vests I bought at a heavy discount (I don't think it was an intentional one - the company I ordered from might've missed a digit in their price tag). I dared order only a few lest I cause notable financial loss or they decide to not send said order.
And smaller things. It's an interesting side-hustle.
Got a bunch of music projects teetering on the edge of completion now too, of which I might've managed one or two this morning if I wasn't so tired; unable to focus on essentials...
More voice acting work too. I got my voice back so I've got some dues. And there's an interview on route - recorded this weekend.
Was initially hella frustrated over my to inability to properly lead a regular conversation, and not fond of my regular non-rap voice... but I will be doing more of those. Because I'm crap at it. I need to improve. I will get better.
So that's what's coming! I'm about to head out on the traditional daily routine lunch walk and hopefully warm up and start getting somewhere with stuff today. Maybe there's a glimpse of sun behind those clouds. Maybe the snow can fall off. Maybe there's hope after all.
For the most part rejoice, and open your jaws, and spit out some rythmics or slurp on some sauce. Or edible moss. Be good and degauss. Go hood like a boss. Not sure what I'm writing, need sleep as it was, but we are in awe of this legion and all. Keep on proceeding and seeing the Oz. The vision, in us... one day let us redeem tradition and be religion.
And 22/02/2022 is a thing apparently! Happy 22/02/2022.
They gave Shaft a reboot! Samuel Jackson's classic OG cop role, and I dig it.
...or was it a thug role? I don't really know yo. Just like I wasn't entirely sure this movie would be as good as the last. Samuel looked kinda worn for a moment, though the irresistible opening.... daaaamn. Now that's an intro.
I was feeling a bit sorry for said OG in the beginning though, and I didn't feel for the younger OG either. Felt like they might be on the wrong track with this reboot. Following trends. Modernizing. Actually getting feminine and vegan (not that there's anything wrong with being vegan) and all that jazz. But I was wrong. They get back to how it should be. Tough. Awesome. When the whole family starts getting involved is when it starts getting really good - both feelgood and bad-ass.
They're a crazy family y'all. Especially the pops.
I was getting disappointed till I was getting overjoyed, and the movie turned on me completely. I love it. Love the throwback in the beginning too, even if it's a break-up scene. All those good cars collected there...
Feels like you see the CGI sometimes, but for the most part I'm impressed with the details also. The final fall. The way the body bumps against the building a bit further down. The thoroughly shot up car. The smoke and mirrors with the elevator, and the slow-mo romance gunfight, all those things, it just gets better and better.
It's comedy. Action. Love. Guns blazing all the way, an appreciative Method Man in a minor role and unexpectedly solid character development, though maybe they had a bit too much soundtrack occasionally, and it feels like the FBI confrontation scene wasn't necessary either. Could've ended up with straight up love and bad-assery. No compromise required.
But this was grand, and wholesome.
Hope they have another one planned another nineteen years down the line, then maybe Samuel J can play the old man for real and let the next one take over. And at that time maybe we actually won't mind.
Right now he's still in his prime.
rated 5/5: friggin awesome
You want good dubs? Don't watch this. You want good fights? Do watch this. You can't take fights seriously if dubs are entertainingly bad? Don't watch this! You don't really mind and just find it fascinating how they distort the narrative and draw words out as they do here? Do watch.
There are little inconsistencies with the fights too. A few small steps outside the red mat. A few clearly cut sequences mid-action, or waiting.
But that's part of the charm to me. It feels real when there are flaws.
I love how green the scenery is too; how lush and free; how honorable and peaceful the culture and scenery is. Shaolin... keep Buddha in your heart and be merciful, and there really is no difference between us.
And it's about way more than just shaolin and ninja.
It's more like Japanese VS Chinese Shaolin - with a bunch of ninjas on the side who keep getting their asses handed to them. Albeit with a few exceptions; executions; tragic losses...
Felt like a gem this one. True to the times. Good showcase of skills.
Good battle.
rated 4/5: fo shizzle
A common man who transforms into a gangster revolts against the very system he once obediently followed by declaring war on the police, the government, and the industrialists.
I love the sentiment. I love the justice this movie seems to call for; how the main character stands up for what's right regardless of what that'll cost him. Regardless of the hierarchy of power and government. The intention's pure, and it sounds simple when you read the above, but the plot's a mess, riddled with politics and notable people dying left and right, and all of a sudden there's a real protagonist involved? It's not the main character?
Feels almost like they were writing the script as they went along. Even if it does have a couple good twists along the way they both come into play after said new protagonist arrives, and then it ends with a bang, and the showdowns are quick but ferocious.
I remembered the construction site climb from last time I saw this, many years back - maybe one of the first Bollywood movies I was introduced to, but not much else. I wonder if it'll leave a longer-lasting impression now. The scenes I feel I should remember the most are the showdowns towards the end, and the first truly merciless execution scene with the bulletproof vest, and of course the burning car that flies high in the air.
Compared to similar movies there's surprisingly little focus on the romance, and not all that many dance scenes (three?) but all in all... it's a solid one. And clearly a Bollywood one.
The fights are relatively realistic too. Or more so: exaggerated in a good way. Not so much it's totally bonkers. More so just hella cool.
I do love Bollywood. They got the fire. They got the color. They got the fight.
The main two actors are Saif Ali Khan and Jimmy Shergill by the way.
Vidyut Jammwal comes later. Loose cannon and end, but great too.
That's all I'll write.
rated 4/5: fo shizzle
Here's a real reel though the years, with mini interviews of cast members and voice actors, little sketches - both real and cartoon ones starring other icons from the same era, glimpses at the Warner Bros lot and a brand new little mystery that breaks the fourth wall in this 52 year anniversary homage and recap, celebrating a pretty impressive number of years of unbroken Scooby Doo media!
It really is an impressive feat innit. Currently longest running cartoon?
You get some good glimpses behind the scenes here, and some laughs, though it feels like Velma's suddenly an unusually comedic highlight - more than Shaggy and Scoob - and at the point the chase scenes started I started feeling my age.
Like it was just silly. Like maybe this show isn't for me anymore.
The hints of nostalgia with the original show had me considering going back and watching a few episodes at first, but ever so slowly that allure starts to change, and I'm kinda bummed out they didn't include the villain in the diving suit among their favorites; chosen moments from the old era. That was my favorite. Or at least the one I remember most vividly.
Not that their chosen moments seemed all that thorough...
The movie seems like a promo for something else too. Bungalow 15...?
But it was an uplifting little trip. I learned a bit, and saw the voice actors for real. That's a first.
I'm curious about the old voice actors too now. Seems like only one of these guys might've been there from the start...
rated 3.5/5: not bad at all