I thought I'd watched this one more than once already... maybe I hadn't!

Or maybe I just didn't review those subsequent views. Maybe they were in too close conjunction to the first one...

It was slower than I remembered initially. More romantic than I remember - with focus on Dom and Letty's relationship but even more so on Brian's. Of course. It was his last film in the franchise after all, with some of his scenes recreated posthumously...

I feel like during the final battle a bit too much of the CGI on his face shines though. There's one particular scene when he's in the car there, in the dark, and it looks noticeably off, but otherwise they did an impressive job with the recreation.

Big props to his brother to for stepping in despite the grief. And for arranging such a bittersweet farewell at the end. That really was masterfully done. Still has me tearing up seriously. What a ride it's been! I feel like I truly was along for it - since the third one I've seen every single one of these on the big screen too. I'm ready for the tenth one already.

The movie did feel excessively cheesy starting off, and some parts really look fake, and Tony Jaa gets a good but also somewhat too Americanized an introduction - they did Ronda Rousey better justice - with a tie rather than an actual loss, but somehow when it's all over I'm still so moved by this movie. And impressed with certain scenes.

The Rock gets the best ones. He both opens and closes things in the most bad-ass way possible, even if it seems they tone down his role a bit as to not have him take over.

And Stratham's great all the way! He keeps coming, like a Terminator, popping up at the most inopportune times. Or maybe more like Nemesis in Resident Evil 3.

I'm glad they added him to the main crew later on, cause he really isn't a bad character. He has family values too. You see him changing. Dom just has that way with people; somehow manages to bring people from the most diverse walks of life together. And it's awesome.

I wonder if he's like that in real life.

Overall... since it's been a while since Paul's passing, and I'm not sure I thus appreciate this movie as much now as I did when I saw it in a more sentimental state - it feels aged already in some areas... I think I need to down the score just a little.

It's great, but not all not cliché. And the choreography's messy. Not always in the best way.

The family way they have going though?

Sappy or no, it eventually hits me right in the feels each and every time.

 rated 4.5/5: almost awesome

Produced by Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham?! I didn't realize they were involved to that extent!

Watching this again now I think I'm more of a fan than I was back then. I've watched more of their movies since. I've watched some Kevin Hart and Ryan Reynolds stuff too - and have become all the more charmed by their particular brands of comedy as well. Plus there's a great message here: Heart over machine. In the days of beckoning and threatening potential future AI takeovers that's a nice sentiment to value...

The car stuff realism is still off - during the industrial area and showdown runs in particular - but everything else is so awesome. And it doesn't need to have authentic vehicular chases either when it's not an official part of the Fast/Furious franchise does it? It feels alright they distance themselves a bit, like Vin Diesel did with Xander Cage, even if he seems to occasionally forget to make that character distinction.

I'd love to see a sequel this. I hope they make one. Looking back I wish this one had better reviews initially, since it really is a solid movie. Not as a Fast & Furious one maybe, but as a standalone one.

We really got an outstanding collaboration, and both entertaining and stylistic contrast between bleak UK streets and swaying palm trees of LA - you see it in this particular promo poster too (image above).

Just The Rock and Jason Statham in the same movie's enough, but Ryan Reynolds and Kevin Hart no less? And the funny, charming, witty wonderful Vanessa Kirby? The cast's all-star. Idris Elba is a killer villain too - and yet he's not the villain - the real one's still hiding behind his soundwaves somewhere... or her? Was it Cipher...?

Make sure you stay for the after-credit puns! Ryan's in top form there. B+.

And the All Roads Lead Home song by Ohana Bam, as they're preparing for war, it features Token! How crazy is that. How long a way that dude's come now. I'm proud of him.

Great musical choice for the scene no less. This movie has some really strong points; now that's one too. *fingers crossed for sequel*

 rated 4.5/5: almost awesome

Woke up from a musty Äppelmust dream today.

We were just getting ready to taste-test a year old brew that had been stashed away in our outhouse for some time, when beep goes the alarm.

There goes the dream.

Before it ended I was scooping away foam and apple residue from the glass, and though some of this stuff looked a bit oddly yellow - almost mustard-like, the remaining content looked good.

It fizzed with promise shortly after it had been poured up, and the remaining liquid - though most of it disappeared as foam and remains - was suitably clear and tasty-looking. We were JUST about to have a sip of it! Come on!

It had been stored in a plastic bottle with maybe not the best lid though, as it didn't give off any kind of psshh sound when opened. Together with a bunch of other odd and old stuff in the shed. We were digging through; cleaning stuff out.

Just a little earlier we'd been out on the lake, fishing I think, and there was some issue with the water... it was drying up. A portion of the lake had been turned into land, and you could basically walk across it, the bottom like dunes of wet sand, the water was almost gone entirely.

We were there for the fish though, which had something to do with the land conversion, and I don't think we saw the problem as seriously as it maybe really was.

The weather was nice and nature was plentiful, and there might've been something there in regard to cloudberries too...

I forget. The morning lecture's started and I have a cup of tea beside me for wake-up purposes. Educational matter emitted via loudspeaker is pushing away the remainder of said musty appelmust dream. And maybe that's best. Maybe I can get back where I left off tonight...

Time to learn about zinc. That's it.

I think.

Courtesy of my main source of worldly (albeit mostly US) news these days.

Title's my own though. Must say it feels hella relevant at the time of writing - early human candidate Neuralink testing's currently on track too...

I've succumbed.

I must admit I've succumbed. To playing games. To binging YT videos. To eating unhealthily - food with traces of wheat even - since I was given a can of capsules that supposedly break down gluten this summer I don't seem to care anymore, even if I do feel the effects thereof anyway. I ate wheat bread for three days straight a month or so ago and suffered the consequences. Gastritis, stomach inflammation and all that shit again - I make rarer unhealthy dietary exceptions since.

I don't care about brushing my teeth every night either. I don't care about my bedtimes - they fluctuate as wildly as stock markets during the ongoing inflation. I stay up late and play when I can, then try to better myself when there's a reason to get up in time for once. I seek solace in music and YT binges of inspiring content, but all this fails me. In making me feel satisfied, and satiated, and like I'm on on the right path with life and all.

Maybe I haven't really gotten over the loss of my car.

My sense of freedom's been crippled. My slate of progress in life's been wiped clean. I invested and lost, and have to thus rely on inferior methods of transport when I need to get somewhere. And though I do have plenty of dues lined up on my calendar; though I have been going with daily Inkember verses all November in secret too; though I am recording gameplay footage when I do get disciplinarily sidetracked, with the intent of making said time I spend on games be at least somewhat useful at a later date... I feel like I've succumbed. To a lifestyle devoid of true motivation, and purpose, and discipline, and progress. Yet again.

The one thing I have been keeping up with on a daily basis lately are the cold morning showers.

Don't they help anymore? Are they not cold enough? Do I need to take it to the next level and insulate a freezer and fill it with water and actually take a bath every morn' (though that sounds hella expensive with the currently also fluctuating and rising electricity prices)?

I stopped with those for a while too - after I caught a cold and/or potential second hit of covid in the middle of September. But I'm back on track with those at least, and at least that feels good.

I tried some meditation the other day too. I picked up my weights again in a half-assed attempt to get buff and/or stay in shape that same day. When I devour at least one chocolate bar and two or three packs of seaweed snacks (with sugar - though they call it maltitol) on a daily basis it's not like that helps in the least. Yet I take great pleasure in lightly jogging by everyone on the escalators on my way to work. No matter if they're going up or down. No matter how long they are. No matter if they're running at all or just malfunctioning and the lactic acid is burning like a mofo.

How can people seem so lean when they don't move?! Even when they're not sitting by a computer. Do they all have paid gym memberships and go ham for an hour or two every day and then lounge on said escalators instead, tired after those grueling workouts?

If there's one thing I won't embrace its our overlord phones though.

Stay mobile people.

I woke up with what seemed to be a pretty bad headache today, at 11 AM, and it serves as a reminder of the bad lifestyle choices and direction I've been taking lately, like I'm re-living my angsty teenage haze years.

The first thought that popped into my head was that I have succumbed, and I started formulating the beginning of this post in the shower, and as you'd best do with all things you intend to see through I'm now sharing my plan for rapid betterment here with the world in an effort to be accountable.

So, it's time to change things around a bit. It's time to take myself seriously again. Even if I manage work and dues and all at a reasonable pace this isn't the lifestyle I yearn for on the side either, or a pace that I'm happy with. So let's amp things up a bit.

I'm making some sushi for lunch today. It's the second time I attempt this. I have a sushi mat now, which enhances confidence in sushi-making abilities.

Maybe that'll get my hopes up again; inspire something, and then it's time to keep pushing... time to start making some serious progress in life again! Time to get a new car again and regain that sense of freedom and momentum that comes with it!!!

Maybe that particular time's later since I am currently low on funds after superfluous seasonal Christmas shopping, and there seem to be no cheap cars around right now, and gas prices are still high, and it'd be pretty bad timing to regain that responsibility mid-winter of all times.

But I shan't succumb. Rule of thumb. Lift some weights or go and run.

Those temptations... let them come. I'll obliterate.

Even in my weakened winter state.

Let's have fun.

It's not Christmas yet (though apparantely the first of December is when it's officially alright to put up Christmas lights and decorations - as per a 4,000 town survey in the US) but Håll Sverige Rent sent out this fun little greeting today, so I figured I might as well share it here, and remind y'all to not throw artificial shit around so much. Regular shit is OK, it's all those oil-based chemical compounds that so compactly pesticide the wild y'all.

It's simple wordplay: 'Ren' means clean in Swedish, but also deer.

There's a deer there wishing everyone a Clean Christmas.