eating class

inception viral: the dream-share manual.

2010-06-01T17:02:00.000-07:00

if you haven't already seen it, here it is.

so i'm just gonna rattle off all of my inferences:

1 - SPECIALISTS/OPERATIVES

the architect - ellen page - actually does draw out and sketch the dream worlds, just like in the mind-crime viral game.

the chemist, brainy as he looks, corresponds closest to the forger, tom hardy's character. he is, after all, the one who seems to know best how to make weapons, hence his line to "dream a little bigger." it may also refer to someone making somnacin, the drug used with the pasiv device.

2 - ENVIRONMENT CREATION

the new york-like place is crossed out because existing places may not be used as a dream world. it must be an original place. hence leo's advice to ellen, the architect: "never recreate from your memory, always imagine new places!"

the igloo/castle/desert/farm picture is crossed out because a dream world must possess like places. if you create an arctic environ, the things inside it must be appropriate for the setting. which begs the question "how the fuck does that train get in the middle of the street?"

3 - THE DREAM/WAKING WORLD RELATIONSHIP

straightforward enough, methinks. anything that happens to a pasiv used while they are under affects them in the dream. so slapping someone in the real world will send them flying in the dream. splashing them with water (or "giving them the kick") sends water flooding through the dream, which answers tons of questions. and suffocating them in the real will suffocate them in the dream.

4 - THE HOSTILE SUBCONSCIOUS

when someone is mind-jacked with the pasiv, their subconscious becomes the battleground. when they become aware of it, that battleground will actively work against the infiltrators, presumably through its projections, or the 'people' that populate the dream.

most important thing here is the line not blacked out: "the projections as they become aware will attempt to seek out and destroy the source of the projections." it sounds like a way to self-destruct. hypothetical: cillian is the mark. they hack cillian's brain; his brain becomes aware; his own projections attempt to find him to end the dream.

5 - WARFARE IN THE DREAM

the pictures are way too vague for me. anyone with better luck?

6 - INTERROGATION TECHNIQUES

in addition to the illustrated typical techniques, in the dream, infiltrators can crack a safe to access said secrets. just like the mind-crime game, again.

and there we go.

happy trails!

'inception' assembled and some observations.

2010-05-11T01:14:00.000-07:00

with the newest - and more than likely final - trailer for Inception finally out on the Internet in HD, i was again compelled to make one more re-edit of the available footage. like a nerdy moth to an awesome flame.

for sake of uniformity, i did not use the three available tv spots since i could not find them in 1080p, like the trailers.

with the deluge of official information coming in, i've decided to stop with the pages-long analysis and simply mentioned some of my thoughts briefly within this new video: 'Inception' assembled. (note: please watch in HD.)

i cannot, however, remain wholly silent, so here are some quick ideas. before i go on, i will say that ALL of the following is inference, not fact:

in the punchline scene of trailer 3 with tom and jgl, jgl shoots at something offscreen, to which tom remarks, "you mustn't be afraid to dream a little bigger, darling." at first, i thought this was a figurative statement, referring to how jgl should have brought a bigger weapon. it also confused me as to how calm they were in the middle of a situation that necessitated weapons. i think this scene is actually at the start of a mission and jgl and tom are merely trying out their weapons. more importantly, tom's words are quite literal, referring to how they can dream up whatever weapon they want - hence, 'dream bigger' and get a bigger weapon. like a grenade launcher.

there are multiple scenes with elevators. this is a hail mary guess, but i think the way in which they arrive and leave the dream worlds are via elevators manifested in the world, much like the phones in The Matrix.

i think that during the hotel mission, ellen dies or is taken and that cobb's crew has to escape twice over, from the dream and in the taxi vs. train chase. the responsibility cobb refers to when talking to jgl, the part that was 'not part of the plan,' is probably the loss of ellen.

anyway, i hope y'all enjoy the video and don't forget to let me know your thoughts down in the comments!

consequence of cuisine.

2010-02-23T09:06:00.000-08:00

it all struck me as a bit of a surprise, but after having the exact same thing for breakfast for the past 40 days, i'm getting pretty sick of it.

i have a meeting with cliff huxtable.

2010-02-05T23:01:00.001-08:00

pop quiz, keanu reeves:

chris de burgh's seminal 80's classic "lady in red" is

a) a song featured in mary harron's film adaptation of american psycho.

b) great elevator muzac.

c) something jerome likes to sing to himself in his office.

d) all of the above.

about a friend of mine.

2010-01-28T23:56:00.001-08:00

question: if your workout recovery drink includes booze, does that make you an alcoholic?

"dying alone is not so bad" and other pick-me-ups from the internet

2010-01-20T17:26:00.000-08:00

you know when you do something so often, so routinely, that you've forgotten what other people think of it? i'm talking about that feeling of being in your own world, being comfortable with your habits.

well, i always relish moments when the world goes out of its way to tell you, "well actually what you do is extremely embarrassing and while you should probably kill yourself while you can, here's some ways you can make your continuing presence tolerable for us, and hey as a bonus, for yourself too."

my political stance.

2010-01-14T21:07:00.000-08:00

there have been a lot of questions lately, allegations made, regarding where i stand in the world of american politics. people have come a-knockin' and letters have come a-arrivin' and i feel like i have a responsibility to let all you readers, all three of you, who i support:

FTW.

the unemployed endorsement: Nutella.

2010-01-03T22:28:00.000-08:00

"When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things."

when i read that quote, i always end up thinking about the things i ate as a child, and the things i eat now. i'm pretty sure that's not what the bible was trying to get me to think about, but oh well.

anyhoo, when i was a kid, like most kids, i thoroughly enjoyed peanut butter sandwiches.

the toasted white bread, its warmth melting the nutty spread into a delicious gooey center - crispy and tasty all at the same time. my mother packed it up in those little plastic bags and even when the condensation made the browned bread mushy and moist, there was always a hint of crunchiness that remained.

yeah, takes me back.

now sometime in my youth (a distant echo now, i know), i came across something amazing, dare i say, even more amazing than peanut butter sandwiches.

now there are candies, and there there are candies. and then there is Ferrero Rocher. to this day, i do not know what that name even means. even with all the internets and wikis in the world, i struggle to maintain the mystique that name held over me as a child.

it's either that or my ignorance. i'd rather you thought it was the mystique.

do i really need to tell you what these delectable little gold balls are? well, they get internet under rocks now too, right? underneath that shiny foil wrapper is a core of creamy hazelnut filling surrounded by a layer of smooth chocolate with hazelnut bits. i mean i can describe them all the day long but it would only end up being an exercise in the futility of words. in other words:

TRY IT. going on...

as peanut butter sandwiches and Ferrero Rocher balls came and went in my mouth, there was always that linger question in my mind:

"would these two taste experiences ever possibly collide?"

the answer that went through my head back then was "no." since you, on the other hand, are reading a piece about Nutella in which Nutella hasn't been mentioned yet, you would probably figure "yes."

yes, my good friend, these two taste sensations eventually did explode in my mouth one faithful day, in the creamy form of Nutella. this divine gift from culinary heaven is a spread consisting of hazelnut, skim milk, and cocoa, or as i like to pronounce it "ko-ko-AH."

quite simply, it's Ferrero Rocher in spreadable form. if the significance of that statement is lost on you, let me reiterate:

remember in your childhood when you wished you could make a candy sandwich? someone out there had the same wish and is making money off everyone right now. including me.

and so now, as i depart from childhood and go out into the big wide world to look for a job, i take a bite into a sandwich. but not just any sandwich, no. not a peanut butter one, most definitely not.

a Nutella sandwich is what i bite into.

"When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things."

my "Inception" treat and some end-of-the-year speculation.

2009-12-31T11:48:00.000-08:00

Well, before 2010 rolls around and Inception finally arrives for multiple viewings, I wanted to give everyone a little something. It's not much, but hopefully it's at least a little cool. To be honest, if I had to screencap anymore of that trailer, I would need a drink beforehand, and not after, as usual. I'm serious, guys; I watch the trailer like a robot now. No passion. Just cold, hard, analyzing eyes.

Anyway, here you go (watch it in HD by going to the Vimeo page):

Hope you liked it. Anyway, the sheer volume of times I've watched the trailers has forced my mind to constantly think about what's going on all the time, whether I'm reading a book; eating Chick-Fil-A; or trying to make happy hour through Los Angeles traffic. I have a couple more speculative ideas about Inception but I'll keep them brief so that I can give my Mind a break from all this:

When Leo says, "He's hiding something and we need to find out what that is," before it becomes his dialogue with Cillian in the hotel room (which, as you'll notice better in the video, seems like the same hotel where the JGL fights take place), it is voiceover that begins exactly on the footage of Lukas being dragged away at 00:00:46 of teaser 2.

I think Lukas is the one hiding something. Considering the fact that they've shown this clip in the two trailers so far needs to mean something, especially when you realize that Lukas isn't even top-billed on the posters.

What something could that be? I'll get to the answer in a bit. If Lukas is the one hiding something, this would probably place him as a bad guy, at least before Ken comes into the picture.

I've been assuming JGL calling for the Kick is part of the same scene as Lukas giving Leo the Kick. While I think the trailer means to help us find out what it is Lukas is actually doing, I now think they are part of two different scenes. Lukas may be part of the same outfit as those masked men holding Cillian and the other guy hostage; while they hold those two prisoner, Lukas is giving Leo the Kick.

Now for the final bit (of this entry, of this entry):

Let's assume Lukas is hiding something and that it is from early in the film, sometime after the Paris sequence. What could he be hiding? Obviously, at that point in the hotel, when Leo mentions how something is being hidden, they don't know what it is yet.

"What's the most resilient parasite? An idea. A single idea from the human mind can build cities. An idea can transform the world and re-write all the rules. Which is why I have to steal it."

Assuming the opening of teaser 2 isn't just voiceover recorded specifically for the trailer, I would bet that Idea is what Lukas is hiding. But what could it be? We haven't been shown any tangible form of this Idea yet, just its effects.

But when Leo calls it a parasite, it evokes, in me at least, the idea of something living. Resilient... something that will not stop, will not quit (reminding myself of The Terminator now).

My Hail Mary guess? Bear with me cause it's a little insane:

Ken is the Idea. Lukas creates Ken and Ken's power in the Mind-Cities threaten the entire world, and so Leo and Co. have to subdue him, kidnap him, 'steal' him from Lukas to restore order.

Okay, well I'm gonna try to swear off thinking about this movie till 2010, but stay tuned! I'll be bringing you more with the new year!

Have a safe and happy new year, everyone! See you in 2010!

"Inception" mailbag and more thoughts (because the voices won't stop!).

2009-12-30T23:57:00.000-08:00

No, this isn't that treat yet - that's coming tomorrow sometime - but I just had to go back and call attention to some good stuff about Inception posted on the comments that you may or may not have missed. Unsurprisingly, I've found some more stuff in the trailer as well as some speculative ideas you may want to consider. I also found that mini tequila bottle I thought I misplaced.

It's not a problem till people tell you to your face. Anyway:

Lenny shed some light about what all this water might be about:

"Entering water acts like a sensory deprivation chamber and this helps in the dream like state. Sensory deprivation chamber takes away your senses. smell, touch, etc. It is also known as "isolation tank" which is used neuro-psychiatrist (if all stimuli is cut off to the brain then the brain would go to sleep).

The tank uses special salt to adjust density and the water is at skin temperature.

The ears are submerged in the water = reduced hearing. Arms float to the side = reduced skin sensation and body feeling since air and water are at the same temperature as the skin. Water does not contain Cl = reduced sense of smell.

The tub of water is how Leo enters or exits the dream world. That's why we see him being put down into the tub filled with water."

I buy it. In fact, the only reason I didn't say it before was because it seemed like something out of the script leak. Now the only question is: where does that put the tubes? Are they an alternative way into the Mind-Cities? Are the water tanks/tubs and tubes all part of one system?

This train of thought makes me think that there has to be a Host Mind for which the city to exist and then others can travel into it. But then it gets tricky. If that is the case, the logical assumption is that the Host Mind can use his/her Ideas to "transform the world" whilst a person is in it, hence the danger.

But then why does Leo say, "Never recreate from your memory! Always imagine new places." Note, this is not pure voiceover in the trailer; Leo is actually telling Ellen this in Paris, while in the Mind-City. How can we tell? Because of the Paris city-folding scene.

So that means Visitors such as Leo and Ellen in that scene can affect the Mind-City with their Ideas, even while in it. What do you think?

Giving further evidence for a previous theory, Aaron Faulkner called the water glass scene from teaser 2 back to my attention.

Look at the bottom left part of the water glass.

You can spot the reflection of a lamp, with light from outside blowing out the frame around it. Yes, I know what you're thinking. "He's finally gone crazy." Well, yes, but also watch the reflection as the scene goes on.

As the angle of the water becomes more extreme and agitated, watch the lamp reflection.

You can see a shadow taking the place of all the light earlier from outside, all of this occurring while the water's angle changes. As if the vibrations weren't enough, I feel that this is strong evidence that at this moment, the Mind-City is shifting, hence the movement from light to shadow outside, kind of like the shadows the Mind-City casts during the Paris folding sequence:

Aaron also cited someone's idea that Inception is about memetics. Memes.

"In his book, Dawkins contended that the meme is a unit of information residing in the brain and is the mutating replicator in human cultural evolution. It is a pattern that can influence its surroundings – that is, it has causal agency – and can propagate." Wikipedia said it, it must be true.

By that definition, an idea could be a meme. Considering how the tube seems like a surgical method and Leo's wording that an idea is a "parasite," I think this scientific classification of an idea suits the film.

Next up, locations.

So Nolan shot at a variety of locations for this film, from Los Angeles to Tokyo to... you get the idea. While he could have just liked a bunch of various locations from different countries and they'll all be stitched into only a few locales in the final film, I think the characters will actually go to all of these places in Inception. The only question is whether they'll physically be there or whether some of these places will be Mind-Cities. Just something to think about.

Now as for the trailers, let's place where the characters are:

Leo seems to be in some sort of bathhouse, judging by the circular sink, or a dilapidated warehouse/building from the general surroundings.

That window seems to match the vibe of yet another place in the trailer.

Is Lukas giving Leo the Kick in the same place?

And is Cillian and the other man being held prisoner here too? Also:

That man has no arm!

further insight into "Inception" teaser 2 (or "Let's Talk About Clothes, Baby").

2009-12-29T23:17:00.000-08:00

First off, I want to thank everyone who read the previous analyses, particularly those that commented! You guys spotted a lot of stuff I missed. Also, you made me feel relieved knowing that I'm not the only person obsessing over this movie (y'all are obsessing, right?). Anyhoo, I'll be bringing up your points throughout this post.

(Also, Lenny, was that all conjecture? Or was it from the plot detail leak a while back?)

So it's only been a matter of hours since I finished the last post and a matter of minutes since my last drink, but here I am yet again. As I prep my small Inception surprise before 2010, I find more things in the trailer that I missed in the previous entry, something even I found ridiculous as I began making these connections even during bathtime. C'est la vie.

To quote Morpheus from the Matrix Reloaded trailer, "Here we go."

[For the following, I'm going to use both teasers released so far.]

Since it won't fit anywhere else, I want to share a discovery by Aaron Faulkner regarding this shot:

Spot any other famous mugs in there? Cillian from behind, Leo of course, JGL with his gun...

...and yes, why it's Ellen! How could anyone miss her cute Canadian face? Thanks for the find!

Now onto the meat of the matter:

Considering Nolan's penchant for nonlinear storytelling, it would be difficult to guess what happens where in the story, even if we knew the plot. But we can place certain things in closer proximity if we look at the clothes people wear. For the time being, I'll only focus on Leo.

So whilst in Paris, Leo wears a very casual grey jacket with a blue button-up shirt. We can place this as his wardrobe for that entire scene.

I've been told I like to hammer in points. Anyway, this is already an easy scene to connect because we have Ellen throughout each shot in the same wardrobe to connect them already. But for future trailers, this may come in handy.

Now here's where I need your thoughts. So here Leo wears a brown leather jacket and the taxi is parked nearby. Convenient. When else have we seen a brown leather jacket and a taxi?

Right. Before I move to my main point, I'll tie in these two scenes together even more. Take a close look at the taxi in the previous shot:

Back window's out. How could that have happened? Well, I can't answer that, but I can show you another taxi that has its back window broken:

This is more than likely the same taxi. However because we do not see in either scene the actual breaking, we can't place which scene happens first. I will point out that in the shot with Leo in the brown leather jacket, the taxi looks dry, so this could be the earlier scene BUT we still don't know the rules of Inception too well (unless Christopher Nolan is reading this somewhere) I would say there's a possibility that the city-building, world-transforming, rule-rewriting power of ideas may also encompass the ability to (...wait for it...) 'make it rain.'

Okay, okay, main point. So whose jacket is it? If we go with the safer assumption that the brown jacket Leo is the first shot, then the jacket is indeed his. So why would JGL be wearing it during a chase sequence?

My guess is that they swap clothes so that JGL will be his decoy. This makes sense if you go with the idea that JGL is Leo's security detail. They will think Leo is driving the taxi and then:

Leo actually pops out of the backseat to shoot at his pursuers (assailants?). Wait, Leo? Yes, I said it seemed like Tom Hardy in the backseat before. Let's backtrack to the last entry I made.

Jen1 brought up the idea that this man in the brown jacket Leo shot is Tom Hardy. I judged from his out-of-focus face that it was JGL, but I don't think JGL's hairstyle has that left hand part. I think she (I will assume Jen1 is a she, awkward if you're not) is right, so I compared that guy's look to the man I had pegged as Tom before:

As much as I think it doesn't look like Leo, I think it's actually him, and not Tom. And for one reason I had overlooked before.

This man has a watch.

The man before (who I now believe to be Tom Hardy) has no watch. We've seen Leo with a watch before.

Many...

...many...

...times. Not only that, look at his shirt in all of those shots except for the one in the kitchen.

Striped shirt.

Between the watch and striped shirt, I think it's a safe enough bet that it's just one of those weird moment when a person doesn't look like himself, like when you contort your face, and that the man in the taxi backseat is Leo. As always, thoughts?

Now, moving on, Matthew Lensch pointed out that that thing/tube Leo is holding in the 'kick' sequence-

-is also being held by the sick/wounded in the sickbay shot-

-and by protagonist Ken in the waking/feigning sleep scene. Oh and also:

He too is wearing a striped shirt and watch. I had a crazy theory that an idea infects Leo and temporarily turns him into Ken because of the similar wardrobe, but there were too many discrepancies between them that I've abandoned the idea (punny enough for you?). I would at least guess from this that Leo and Ken will be doubled in this film, sized up as the antithesis of each other. But hey, what am I doing? Looking so much into two pieces of clothing. So take it with a grain of salt.

Going back to the watch, I was rewatching the first teaser while preparing that Inception treat for you guys and I came across something you all have probably already noticed (but I didn't because my brain was so fried yesterday from Avatar and screencapping and no eating and the drinking):

Whose watch is in that insert shot? Leo's or Ken's? Does it matter? God, I am going crazy.

not from Inception

"Inception" teaser 2 analysis (or "How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Unemployment")

2009-12-28T15:43:00.000-08:00

Hello one and all! Another trailer for Nolan's Inception has come upon us and so, yet again, I am invariably drawn to dissect it. Well, that and having no job makes you do nerdy things.

Okay, maybe I'm just a nerd.

Just in case you missed it, find it here.

The last time I did this, a lot of deduction was done after the breakdown. This time, I'll do it all at the same time to make it easier to understand my logic. Also, for all the spoiler-phobes out there, all of this is from deductions from what WB has officially shown us. Don't worry, Joseph Gordon-Levitt's character!

So without further ado, let's have at it!

This trailer wastes no time, starting without so much as a Green Band to tell us it's approved for all audiences. The first thing we see is Leo in something that looks like a dilapidated bathhouse to the sound of the distorted horns from the previous teaser.

Oh, what's that?

Yes, the top we've been teased with for so long is indeed Leo's. He spins it on the tabletop and we cut to detail on it spinning.

from the first teaser

You will note, however, that this is not the same scene as the top from the first teaser.

However, when he grabs it off the table, he seems pained. Why?

We get the Warner Bros. logo as a city again except instead of traveling down to it like in the last trailer, we travel through it. Same basic deduction as before: further emphasis on the idea of the city as a maze. Also, the music from the first trailer begins to evolve into a new piece with insistent strings behind the horns. Perhaps this is finally from the film's score?

Next, we get Leo and Ellen watching as the city before them folds over them. Leo's voiceover says, "A single idea from the human mind can build cities." The main thing to draw from this line-scene juxtaposition is the implication that ideas, or the mind, can affect the landscape of the(se) world(s). The most interesting thing about this scene, however, is that if you look closely, you will see that even though that portion of the city is folding over, the vehicles and people there are not adhering to the rules of gravity.

None of the cars are falling. This would explain the lack of fear in Leo's and Ellen's face in the previous shots. From this, it would seem as if gravity is absolute and does not change even when the city does. However, there is proof of the contrary later.

Before we leave that shot, it's important to notice that even these bystanders don't seem very worried by the city folding on itself.

Then comes the first of many shots of the water glass intercut into this sequence. This is an earlier portion of the water glass shot from teaser 1. Here, it only begins to vibrate, presumably because the world is shaking/shifting. As evidenced by the previous scene, that wouldn't be out of the question in this film.

Leo V.O.: "An idea can transform the world and rewrite all the rules."

Next, we get a person (seems like a man) coming to a window to see a fire outside in the city, followed by an explosion (is this what Leo means by "transforming the world?"), engulfing some vehicles. People are unsurprisingly running away. This man is wearing what seems to be a white shirt with yellow polka dots. Also, he also does not seem to be very concerned with what's going on outside, judging from his body language. Part of his reflection is visible in the window but not his face. I would ask if anyone with Photoshop could pull it up, but, well, I already have the answer, for later. How's that for suspense?

Now, someone (can't tell who) enters a room filled with what seem to be wounded people. The room itself seems very rundown and a man in the center of the room gets up to meet/greet whoever is entering it.

A shot we've seen before in the teaser, where Leo stands atop some building at night. More details in the previous entry.

not from Inception

It looks very much like Batman in The Dark Knight when he stands atop the Sears Tower.

"...which is why I have to steal it." We see Leo wearing gloves, walking very determinedly through a kitchen as he screws on a silencer on a pistol.

not from Inception

Save for the color temperature, this reminds me of the kitchen where the Joker talks to the gangs in TDK.

After the "From the Director of The Dark Knight" title card, we get a train (!) in the middle of the city, ramming through traffic. If an idea can change the world, can it also makes objects appear a la the loading sequence in The Matrix? I can't think of any other way the train would get into such a disparate environment.

Leo is tailing Ellen through Paris and what starts as voiceover in the train shot is revealed to be Leo's dialogue in this one.

"Never recreate from your memory. Always imagine new places."

Ellen is walking away from Leo as he continues to talk, giving me reason to believe Leo is trying to give her advice about the mind-cities while she's having none of it. This gives us a little more insight about how they work. We'll go back to all this later.

Then we cut to a seemingly idyllic scene with Leo and Ellen at an outdoor Parisian cafe while things explode and get tossed in the air beside them. Again we get the mayhem with calm reactions, as in the city-folding sequence. But why this time? Maybe this is only a simulation so that Leo can prove a point to Ellen about his advice from the previous scene.

Here we get two successive shots from the teaser of Leo watching as Lukas Haas is being taken away. This is the first of the rainy scenes. Judging from the first teaser and the first poster, water figures largely into the story. For more on that, check my previous entry.

"He's hiding something and we need to find out what that is." Who is hiding something? Probably Ken. Or if this is early in the movie, a lesser threat that leads to Ken.

Leo is talking with someone we only see from behind and slightly from the side. Judging from the profile, I am fairly confident it's Cillian Murphy. The people in the background look tense, leading me to believe that Leo is in some sort of trouble and that these people are his security detail. If we look at previous shots of other characters and compare, we can also get one more thing out of this shot.

One of the security detail who is out of focus, carrying a gun, is Joseph Gordon-Levitt (I'll call him JGL from now on; we're tight like that).

And now we get wet again! This time, we see JGL (wearing a leather jacket, not a suit this time) driving a taxi in the rain while someone aims a gun out of its shattered back window. (Because of the perspective in each shot, it's not totally certain they are in the same car, but that is a safe assumption as they seem to be on the same side.) The taxi is driving backwards.

photo of Tom Hardy (not from Inception)

I was going to say it's Leo with the gun but with HD and a closer look, it seems like this actor could pass for Leo, but the shot doesn't seem like it would require a stunt double, so I say it's actually Tom Hardy's character. Thoughts?

My guess is that this belongs to the same sequence as the train shot from earlier, and the taxi is being chased by said train. Can you say set piece?

After the title card sequence for "Your Mind is the Scene of the Crime" begins, we see the water glass shot from teaser 1. Remember what I was saying about absolute gravity before, that there were contradictions? Well, my guess about it lies with this shot. The water would only achieve that angle if it was being tilted over, as in when the city shifts. But why doesn't the glass fall too?

I think that the reason is that solid objects (such as the cars from the folding city and this glass) remain in absolute gravity in the mind-city, regardless of the city's orientation, but fluids (such as water) are still subject to changes in gravity. Which is probably one of the reason why water figures so largely in the film.

And now we see the bad guy! Ken Watanabe (with hopefully more screentime than in Batman Begins) gets up from bed with a gun. Was he feigning sleep? JGL's voiceover begins which becomes his dialogue later. Also:

What kind of medicine is in there? Or is it something else?

More rainy vehicular mayhem, this time a shot of two people on a motorcycle (one with a double-barrel shotgun). Who are they and is this shot connected to the earlier chase sequence?

"We gotta break outta here. Give him the kick!" JGL, up close and personal. His dialogue is the most interesting part of the scene. If these two lines were not edited together from two different scenes, it's easy to infer that 'here' is a mind-city. More fascinating is 'the kick.' The fact that he says 'the kick,' and not 'a kick' is that 'the' makes 'kick' seem like terminology, and not just the general 'kick.' Compare to: "jacking in" in The Matrix.

What follows after mention of 'the kick' is Lukas Haas letting go of someone. By the look of that person's feet, they look as if they are tied to something, a chair perhaps.

Wait, does that shirt look familiar?

Yes, it seems like Lukas is the man nonchalantly witnessing that explosion. Now back to the rest of the trailer:

So here's Leo falling back in a chair, presumably let go by Lukas. Into what? I'm pretty sure they're not short on water...

Two masked men enter a room where two men are on the floor, seemingly as prisoners.

Though he is out of focus, the prisoner we can see looks an awful lot like Cillian Murphy.

"This was not a part of the plan!" Leo yells to someone off-camera, while JGL cocks a gun in the middle of the frame. And would you look at that? A taxi.

Two men fight while the environment shifts. Here we see another contradiction in my gravity theory: the two men are falling, but so are those objects in the room, like the pillow.

Again, the shot is blurry, but judging from the blur of skin color, it's one white guy and one black guy.

from the first teaser

That means it is probably a part of the JGL fight from teaser 1.

Continuing the previous shot, Leo is falling into a tub (?) of water, eyes closed. Is this "the kick"? Does this mean he is going into a mind-city or out of one? Riddle me this...

The JGL fight from before continues. If anyone had any doubt the room was shifting before, take a look at that. JGL is standing on what was a wall while what was a bed has effectively become a wall JGL is scrambling to.

Ellen begins to scream "Wake me up!" over Leo waking and emerging from the tub of water. Is Leo waking up in this shot? From being in a mind-city? Why do they have to be in water? More importantly:

What is Leo holding?

Leo and what looks like JGL (judging from the suit and hair) enter a room, gun raised. This looks like the room from earlier, where Leo talks to Cillian Murphy about someone hiding something. After all, JGL was in that room too.

As Ellen continues to plead "Wake me up!" Leo (who really does look an awful lot like Nolan in this film) stands and watches as the Japanese-themed room he is in begins to flood with bursts of water.

You can guess it's Japanese from the kanji on the wall.

Hm, Ken Watanabe is Japanese and the bad guy and Leo is trapped in a life-threatening situation in a Japanese-themed room? Is there meaning here or is it just the worst coincidence ever?

And with that another amazing trailer comes to a close, same logo animation as before.

Now before I go back to drinking, let me try to sum up what the story might be kinda sort of about:

Ken (the bad guy) is hiding something in these mind-cities that Leo has to find. That something is probably the "resilient parasite," the "idea" Leo refers to in the opening V.O. Ideas can change these mind-cities for better or worse, and since people can be pursued in it, people in the mind-city should "never recreate from memory" and always "imagine new places" so that they cannot be found.

Ellen is Leo's sidekick. Cillian Murphy and JGL seem to be on Leo's side, judging from how they interact with him in their scenes. However, seeing as how JGL is almost always seen kicking ass, he is part of Leo's security detail, and seeing as how Cillian is seen only talking or being a prisoner, he is probably more on Leo's consulting team than anything.

The things still shrouded in so much mystery are Lukas' role and the meaning of the water.

Comparing this info with the first 'Mind Crime' viral game will probably yield more info, but that's for another day. Come back before the new year because I've got one more Inception analysis in the works. In the meantime, please discuss in the comments!

Anyway, I hope you've enjoyed this trailer analysis as much as I've enjoyed writing it to stave off my depression.

hey guys! let's analyze the "Inception" Mind Crime viral game!

2009-12-27T12:23:00.000-08:00

It's been just over four months since the first "Inception" teaser attached to "Inglorious Basterds." If anyone didn't already know, the second teaser can be seen now with prints of "Sherlock Holmes" and on Apple beginning tomorrow, December 28.

Since then, I am aware that more and more details about the film have leaked, such as character names and even more about the actual plot, but (and this will come to a surprise to those that know me to be very info-hungry) I have mastered my desires and kept myself from those spoilers. By contrast, anything that can be divined from marketing materials such as trailers and posters are fair game.

So let's begin! So as not to mince details, I'll be as precise as possible.

The first viral game comes from http://www.yourmindisthesceneofthecrime.com/

When you go to the page, you see the image above, taken from a scene from the first teaser. Upon moving your cursor to the first panel, where the top is, the image animates and follows your arrow as it spins. However, for now the only clickable portion, in fact the only place the top will go to, is the first panel.

From this, it's a safe bet that these panels will be unlocked as we trudge closer to the film's summer 2010 release, representing four main stages for the Inception viral game.

Upon clicking the first panel, you are taken to, literally, Stage 1 (http://www.yourmindisthesceneofthecrime.com/stage1/), a web game called 'Mind Crime.' As a quick reminder, the film's tagline is "Your mind is the scene of the crime."

Before we even get to the game mechanics, let's look into the starting image of 'Mind Crime.'

We have a sheet of graph paper, of course, but two pieces of set dressing that may be of note are the top on the lower left and the glass of water in the top left that we've seen before in the first teaser.

With these clues, we can eventually figure out whose shoes we are in when we play 'Mind Crime' by identifying whose top and/or glass of water that is in subsequent virals or trailers.

Now to the game itself:

The game mechanic consists of two main phases. The first phase includes drawing a line between two points: A and B.

When you are satisfied, clicking on the Play button causes a variety of lines to burst out of the original one you drew.

Look familiar?

After the line animation completes, the maze of lines becomes a city, with its paths derived from said lines.

We have now reach the second phase of the game, in which you navigate your character through the maze/city you've created to a goal. Remember those two points you drew the line between? Well, Point A becomes your character's start point and Point B becomes that goal.

Naturally, it won't be so easy, as there are Red Men on patrol looking for you. If you let yourself fall in their line of sight (represented by a circle around them), something of a life meter at the bottom of the screen begins to fill up. If it goes all the way up, you lose.

Think of it as Metal Gear Inception.

Anyway, if you reach the goal, you are taken to a safe, which promptly opens. Originally, there was an envelope inside that you could open to reveal the first poster:

Others discovered that by completing a pre-made maze via another link, the safe contained an envelope containing the film's banner poster:

Now, completing the maze only yields the following screen, yet another spinning top cameo:

Now before we depart from 'Mind Crime,' let's really look into what's going on in the game (albeit with a little bit of 'foresight' from the second teaser in theaters):

Drawing the line creates the city. In the trailer, Leo's character says that "an idea can build a city" over footage of Leo and Ellen watching as the city folds over on itself. There is also another line, much hazier in my memory, in which Leo advises (presumably) Ellen to always think of something different because otherwise he will find them.

We can safely infer that the cities originate from these lines or ideas. Better yet, the inception of these cities are the ideas. Hence, if a crime were to happen in one of these mind-cities, your mind would, in effect, be the scene of the crime.

There is also the matter of the Red Men who chase after you. What happens if you die in a mind-city?

From the trailers and virals, there aren't enough to inform a more full-bodied explanation of the rules of Inception's world. Is it like the Matrix where they are transported to mindscapes via a machine? Or are these people somehow physically in these spaces?

That's all I could take from this phase of the viral but feel free to discuss in the comments!

Now to see Avatar 3D in a real IMAX...

Spotted Dick: A Meditation on Growing Up

2009-08-25T23:47:00.000-07:00

One of Slickdeals' "Up and Coming Topics" today is for a 6-Pack of Heinz Brand Spotted Dick. If you're wondering, they're 10 oz. cans and are on sale for $22.48 at Amazon. But I'm not here to sell you on some dick.

Take a look at that Amazon page. I remember there were times and are times when I look at a product's page and I can't stand unhelpful reviews. Maybe they go way off-topic; are written in alternating caps; or are just completely immature. And you can bet I'm gonna put a big, fat "Not Helpful" vote their way.

And people usually follow suit.

Look at this review for the Spotted Dick. 21 out of 22 people said it was helpful. And it's a great big dick. Joke.

But what surprised me more than anything was that that tally went up to 22 of 23 after I left the page. You can't beat a good dick. Joke.

And I realized then that I get a lot of flak for laughing at crude jokes.

I'm 22 at the moment - I get younger when I feel like it - and having just graduated from college, there's extra pressure for me to be super-mature. If you've also just graduated or are younger and had a repressed childhood like mine, you know what I mean.

If you see a friend vigorously shaking a Wii-mote sideways-

If someone says they're having a hard time screwing it in-

If you see someone giving the Heimlich Maneuver-

You can't laugh! They expect you not to laugh!

Why? Because you're older and mature and mature people can't laugh at toilet humor. Look, guys, guys. I didn't get a degree in the arts to stop laughing at sex jokes. I got a degree in the arts to make sophisticated sex jokes.

But I digress. I do get a lot of flak, but I got my flak jacket on and it's gonna take a lot more than digs at my 'maturity' to make me change. Unless you've got a job for me. If you do, I will sell out right now.

The moment you stop laughing is the moment you get old. Life is a long time to be so serious.

Laugh at dirty jokes. It's free; it's fun; and it doesn't take long.

That's what she said.

Not to me.

"Inception" Teaser 1 breakdown and analysis

2009-08-24T18:33:00.000-07:00

Last week, we got the teaser for Christopher Nolan's latest, "Inception." Secretive to the utmost, the auteur has kept much of the film under wraps, save the logline:

"A contemporary science fiction tale set within the architecture of the human mind."

If you haven't seen it, find it here.

Now, seeing as I'm spending all day watching it anyway, I might as well do one of those analyses, see what we get.

Let's break it down shot-by-shot, shall we? (Click on thumbnails for enlarged views.)

1) the WB logo - depicted as an overhead view of a city, confined by the outer rim of the logo; perhaps suggesting the city within the confines of the human mind?

2) spinning top - a top spins on a water-stained surface, also marking the first of MANY times WATER appears in the trailer. Possibly significant as the film's site is a replica of this shot, but could just be a red herring.

3) overhead shot of the city - possibly just an establishing or POV shot, but important because only one building has a readable SIGN here, that being "MITSUI GARDEN HOTEL" on the upper left. This could be the hotel hallway that figures LATER in the trailer.

4) shot of Leo looking through a rainstreaked window - Leo seems to be looking on with apprehension at something going on outside his vehicle. There is at least one other person there with him, and an "EXIT" sign is visible in the background. And look there's the water again. My guess is that this shot is connected to shot 5, since it is-

5) POV shot through rainstreaked window - the view is of a helipad with two men escorting actor Lukas Haas (Brick) away from what seems to be a helicopter window. Upon close inspection, he has a bloody lower lip. Perhaps a fight breaks out just before? Maybe he's pursuing Leo, if shot 4 is indeed connected, explaining Leo's apprehension?

6) a glass of water on a wooden table - significant, if only for the fact that the table and glass stay completely still, yet the water inside is tilting to one side. I believe this to be indicative of the perspective-altering properties of the "Inception" world we are about to see in the Hallway Fights.

7) title card graphics "YOUR MIND" - the text "YOUR MIND" appears centered in the screen, between buildings and quickly rotates ALONG WITH the cityscape. This may be yet another conveyance of the properties of "Inception's" world.

8) Leo notices something, the skyline behind him - here, he seems to be on a roof, as there is no glass obscuring the city behind him. Also, not much surprise is registering with him, so whatever he's seeing can't be too astounding. A minor revelation here, at best. Perhaps the least telling shot.

9) title card graphics "IS THE SCENE OF THE CRIME" - yet another title card. Here, the buildings actually seem to be moving, most evident at the tail of this shot, and again, a possible sumation of "Inception."

10-11) Hallway Fight, 5th Floor - now for the meat of the teaser. Here, a black man and Joseph Gordon-Levitt run at each other from opposite sides of a hallway. At the left side of shot 10, you can make out a room number (526), so now JGL is on the 5th floor of this building (possibly the hotel in shot 3). Maybe he is trying to get to the top floor or...?

12) Leo or JGL emerging from a tub of water - the most significant looking water shot. Someone bursts out of the water. Doesn't seem pleasant, and watching closely, you can see that water is escaping the man's mouth.

Maybe he was being drowned. On the other hand, it's very reminiscent of Neo's awakening scene in "The Matrix;" it could be something else completely. I lean towards the latter.

13) Hallway Fight, 4th Floor, Part 1 - JGL continues his fight as the room's perspective shifts, taking them along the walls. This time, his opponent is white, and from the room numbers and the large sign in the back, he is now on the 4th floor. Of course, trailer's can be cut out of order, but maybe he is making his way down?

Still, here is where we get the best glimpse into the fight mechanics of this scene and maybe even the film. Watch the CART in the background; it seems to be falling UP. More evidence in shot 16.

14) insert of a clock ticking to 12 - not a lot to say here. It's a Sunday.

15-16) Hallway Fight, 4th Floor, Part 2 - JGL seems to be slamming his opponent into the ceiling as the perspective continues to shift. As the two fighters go up to the ceiling in shot 16, we can still see the cart (albeit out of focus) falling up. But the most telling bit is in shot 17.

The camera seems to be recreating the current perspective of the world as the opponent seems to be falling away, TRYING to hold on to something, while JGL has to hold on to the notches on the left side to keep from doing the same.

17) Leo waking up or being startled - too little context to guess much about this. He starts with his eyes closed so either he is waking or just being shocked by something. All the same, we see light flash just outside to the left of him.

18-19) title reveal - starts off as a skyline shot of a city before becoming the "Inception" logo. Again, not much here EXCEPT it looks an awful lot like the logo for Syncopy, Nolan's production company:

For bonus, way-out speculation points, "syncope," from which syncopy is derived, is the medical term for fainting. Thanks, Wikipedia!

In closing?

- Water seems to figure largely into the plot.

- People are subject to their environments not the other way around. As in shots 13, 15, and 16, we can guess that JGL and his opponent are not manipulating their world, but rather playing by its rule.

- Too early to tell, but my Hail Mary guess is that one technique Nolan will employ in "Inception" is the use of camera perspective to actually affect what is going on in the scenes. My only basis is shot 16 - how he uses an "overhead" perspective to the hallway while the combatants seem to be falling sideways in "reality."

Lastly:

- I have no life.

I'm sure I missed something, so discuss! We've got till Summer 2010 anyway.

opening shot.

2009-04-16T01:56:00.000-07:00

I will open with this:

Whenever I write about myself, I'm reminded of John C. Reilly's personal ad in the beginning of Magnolia.