Sleep to dream her

So I finally saw Inception last night. I'd heard a lot of positive reviews and it sounded like a movie that I'd be into. It was. Probably not for everyone, as it was a serious mindfuck but I have to admit that I really enjoy those. I'm going to try to break it down and attempt to write out what I think happened. THAT MEANS SPOILERS. ERON, DON'T KEEP READING.


The basic premise and concept of the movie was based on a new technology called dream-sharing where several people could share the same dream. Actually, this is all really complicated so I'll just send you to this link that explains the concept, and this link that breaks down the technology and specific roles of each of the players. Trust me, its complicated. But understanding the basic concepts is the only way to figure out what was going on.

Okay, so. My theory. Its out there. Blame LOST. I don't think that the two most common theories are even close. 1. The end was real. 2. The end was still a dream. I don't think those theories go far enough. Those theories assume that the rest of the movie was on the level and that just the ending was up for interpretation. My theory: Cobb was the 'target,' not Fischer. There were a bunch of subtle clues and hints that lead me to think that. The most subtle 'inception' ideas were given to Cobb. To 'wake up.' That whole mantra that everyone kept saying to him. To 'take a leap of faith.' Not to 'become an old man, waiting to die alone.' Here are some of the reasons I think the ENTIRE movie was all Cobb's dream, orchestrated by the grandfather.
1. The creepy repeated mantra.
2. The fact that Cobb was able to change things in dreams where he was not the architect and allegedly not the dreamer.
3. There were multiple instances of 'how'd they get THERE?' which was supposedly how you would realize that you were in a dream. It could also have been standard film transitions.
4. The grandfather whose grandkids are now parent-less was the man who taught Cobb. Motive.
5. At the end of the movie, Cobb's kids are exactly how he remembered them, down to the clothes, posture, and AGE.
6. Remember the weird classical music that was played as a "que" to wake up? I'm pretty sure it was also what played in the credits. A subtle 'its time to wake up' for the audience.

Honestly, I'm not all that concerned with the "exactly what happened." The moral seems to be that Cobb's character went from a paranoid whackjob spinning the top at chance he could, ready to blow his brains out if it kept spinning... to spinning it at the end of the movie and then not even caring if it stopped or not. Dream or reality, he chose that plane of existence to be his reality.

At the end of the day, I think that 'The Point' of the movie was not to try and puzzle out what the 'Correct' ending or explanation was.... I think that Nolan wanted the viewers to leave the theater simply with the idea that, obviously, reality is very subjective. Perception is reality. This idea was planted subtly throughout the entire movie (sound familiar?) in little bits that snowballed until the end. It sounds like a stoner idea, "dude are we even really here? are we just all in one big dream?" The Australian Aborigines thought so. I remember being a kid (scary that I was having these thoughts so young) about 9-10 years old and being alone, listening to the ringing sound of silence and trying to push my consciousness outside myself. Thinking things like, 'what are the odds that I'm me? how crazy is it that we exist as we do, with the ability and intellect that we posses? what if I was someone else? what are the astronomical odds that I'm in my family, not some 3rd world refugee or insect?' Yeah, maybe that's why I'm so weird. I got a little too existential at a young age.

In the end I think the title of the movie wasn't inward facing; talking about the idea planted in Fischer (or Cobb depending on your theory). I think it spoke to the idea that WE as an audience had planted subtly in our minds; that reality is subjective. Its is exactly what we make of it. So take advantage of it while we can lest we 'grow old waiting to die alone.'

TOMs shoes

I'm late to the trend - but I ordered a pair of TOMs shoes today. Navy Canvas Classics. And even though most of my readers already own their own pair, I know there's a few lurkers out there who read but don't comment (and that's fine). :) So here's the backstory and awesome idea behind TOMs shoes and the "one for one" model that I wish more companies would do.

Essentially - my purchase of one pair of shoes means that one child in need will get a free pair of shoes. So not only do these shoes make me look good... they make me feel good too.

Hate Mongering _p0wned!

Another Westboro Baptist Hate Group, er.... "church" protest. Another bad idea. This time it was at SF Comic-Con. Did you actually think you were going to out-protest these people, Fred? They're creatives by profession! Comic artists, video gamers.... They're going to have better signs, better chants, better press coverage, better everything. They're better people than you. Your 'church' (sorry, you don't deserve a capital c) goes miles out of their way to events not intended for them only to tell the people that are there to feel better about themselves and be with like-minded people that 'God hates them' and that they're going to hell. If heaven really does refuse these kind-hearted people and allows your hate infused people, I don't want anything to do with it.

Anyways - enjoy the hilarious anti-protest signs and costumes.

Favorites:
-Sign that reads, "Is this thing on?"
-Trekkie with sign that reads, "God hates Jedi"
-Sign that reads, "Magnets - how the *@!# do they work?!"

It just blows my mind that people can be so misguided that they can make a sign that reads "GOD HATES ______." I thought you were supposed to be religious? Did you even read the bible? The simplest (and perhaps best) anti-protest sign was a response to just that misguided sentiment:

"GOD LOVES EVERYBODY."

Carnavas

Dood.
I've been listening to the Silversun Pickups album "Carnavas" this morning. Its fantastic. Every track is good. Not a single skipped track, which doesn't happen much these days. If I were able to choose what kind of band to be in, it'd be something like that. (Not that I'm not happy with my current band.) Its got all of my favorite stuff: Ambient swirling backgrounds, huge fuzzy guitar tones, syncopated drums, and cool PSD cover art, ha.

Banksy bombs Detroit

Banksy appears to have made a stop in Detroit and sparked an interesting controversy. Here's the full story.

Basically, there's a gigantic abandoned building/complex in Detroit that the city has been trying to get cleaned up or removed for decades. Only - nobody seems to 'officially' own it. Nobody wants to foot that bill. So the huge eyesore has stuck around.

Now the street artist Banksy has tagged and stenciled his talent onto a crumbling concrete wall: A child with a can of red paint with the message, "I remember when all this used to be trees."

This is the beauty of intelligent street art. Banksy is a damned good artist (as well as social satirist). His works, both legal and illegal, go for 6 digits. Whether or not he meant to - Banksy lit the fuse this cleanup project needed. A non-profit art gallery came to the abandoned site and took/stole/acquired the entire wall it was painted on. Why not? Nobody owns the place.

Only now this single piece is valued at over $100,000. Suddenly people are asserting their rights to the piece via ownership of the site. The City of Detroit is waiting to see how it pans out - waiting with the bill for eradicating the god awful eyesore from their city.

Bansky's message: 'This concrete monstrosity is an ironic slap in the face of the huge forest that used to exist there.' Now - there probably won't be an entire forest supplanted there anytime soon. But his act may have been the catalyst needed to get the ball rolling on, at the very least, putting a tree or two back in the form of a city park or landscaped office park.

Here's some more Banksy outdoor works.

Johnny Myer steals JW's hairdo

Headlines

Not much time to post today, but I did get a chance to go through Google News (of course).


In science nerd news: Protecting the world from massive (and semi-permanent) blackouts using what is effectively giant surge-protectors. How a relatively cheap and easy fix for a problem bound to happen is going unnoticed. Includes a warning about massive solar flares and a great explanation between the difference of volts vs. amps. I had to learn about that so as to not kill myself when I put my hands inside an amplifier.

In always-hilarious Sarah Palin news: In the spotlight this week for tweeting (yes, tweeting) her stance on a mosque that wants to build near Ground Zero in NYC. The best part is that even though her views in of themselves are fantastically xenophobic and anti-muslim, the focus has been on her made up word "refudiate." It's too good. She later tweeted another message trying to fix it using the word 'refute' - which IS technically a word, but still not the right word. After showing the world twice that she's not the sharpest knife in the drawer, she likened herself to Shakespeare in that they both coin new words. Sarah - Shakespeare's words include "lackluster" and "bloodstained" and "luggage" actual new words whose meaning seems intrinsic - you just got confused between 'repudiate' and 'refute.' Also - "wee wee'd up?" Who votes for you? You are a moron. It really is that simple. You didn't even know what the VP does while you were running for that very office! The fact that you think you would make a good President is laughable (another word coined by Shakespeare).

And in The Onion news (its fake, Nic. Just FYI): "Struggling High School Cuts Football—Nah, Just Kidding, Art It Is"