I’ve been devouring this great ebook from this guy I found on Twitter called Scott Ginsberg. His thing is that he ALWAYS wears a nametag. I haven’t read enough on his website to find out where that came from, but he has written a killer of a book. It’s got 159 pages of stuff for you to analyze, think about, challenge yourself with. And it’s all FREE RIGHT HERE. Today, I’m thinking about Probe your darkness.

A friend asked me before I went to see Inception, “Why are you so excited to see this movie?”

My answer: it looks like a mind fuck.

A “mind fuck” movie is one that treats the audience as intelligent, and creates puzzles that we can either solve, or are slowly solved as the movie goes on. But there is no pandering, no overexplaining of plot. In a really good mind fuck movie, the movie contains enough ambiguity that the plot can be imagined a number of different ways. So when you leave the theater, you’re still chewing on it.  I love having a “what the fuck happened?” moment. Much like the Ben moments on Lost.

Inception turned out to be all that. After I saw the movie, I immediately called up a few friends to compare theories, and after that dove onto the Internet to see what other people thought. At first, the comments were just OH MY GOD. But then, the theories started emerging. Let’s go over some of them!

WARNING SUPER SPOILERS APPROACHING!!! TURN AWAY IF YOU HAVEN”T SEEN THE MOVIE!!

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are you still there? good. Ok.

The genius of Inception is that it is ambiguous enough that you can come up with a good theory and find corroborating evidence in the movie for it. Here are the theories I’ve seen so far that sound interesting to me.

Oh by the way, if  you’re having trouble keeping it straight, the infographic at left may help. Credit to http://dehahs.deviantart.com/#/d2unnlj.

#1 Everything in the movie actually happened, but at the end, Cobb was stuck in limbo, and dreamed he came back to his kids (what I thought when I walked out)

Why?  His kids had not aged, and they were wearing the same clothes he always imagined them in. This made the top spinning moot.

Also, a friend of mine noted that when he called his kids earlier in the film their voices sounded older than the kids that physically appear to Cobb at the end: i.e., he actually talked to them earlier, but he sees them as he remembers them in the dream at the end.

However, I no longer support this theory. Read on.

#2 The entire movie was an inception in Cobb’s mind, to help him let go of his wife’s death

• http://halphillips.tumblr.com/post/822919795/inception
• Here’s another one in a similar vein.

Miles (Dom’s father) in the movie tells him to “come back to reality.” It is Miles who introduces Cobb to Ariadne. Her first task is to create a maze. If you’re familiar with Greek mythology, you’ll know that Ariadne helps Theseus to escape the labyrinth by giving him a sword and thread to find his way out after he slays the Minotaur. Ariadne in the dreams in the movie is the one who is guiding Cobb to confront Mal and work through his issues. Think of when they both appear in the last dream in the snow area. Ariadne asks Cobb “what’s down there FOR YOU?”

Some people also speculate that Ariadne is in reality Cobb’s daughter, which is why Miles says things like, “she’s even better than you used to be” which sounds cocky but it could be grandfatherly pride.

A variation on this theory is:

#3 The whole thing is an Inception set up by Miles (Michael Caine) to get the truth about Mal’s death, so Cobb can be vindicated.

This theory written by a commenter in a forum:

Just throwing this out here, but something I thought was that Dom’s “team” was actually trying to extract information from Dom in order to really determine if he is innocent or guilty. They finally found out the true story about Mal’s death and are able to vindicate him and he is then able to return to U.S. to be with his family.

I’m not sure I can get behind this theory. it’s been proven over and over again that human memory is fallible. We can overwrite and change things subtly as we reconstruct memories on the fly (they don’t exist verbatim in the mind, but are stitched together as they are retrieved.)

#4 Mal is actually still alive, and Cobb is the one who doesn’t realize he’s stuck inside the dreamscape and the Inception is to get him out.

I haven’t really fleshed this one out totally, but a few things that Mal says/does support this theory.

• Mal saying things to Cobb like, “Do you really think you’re being chased by faceless international agents?” and “come back to be with your real children.”
• Mal being on the opposite ledge at the hotel. This is a very dream-like situation.

A commenter said:

…Mal is probably just trying to get Dom to come out of the dream world. The fact that she is in a different building from him is a very important point. …Are we to believe that she rented the hotel room precisely across from the one where Dom is? …then, of course, trash the room, go down the elevator, go across the street to the other hotel, go back up the elevator, and climb out onto the ledge? That’s a lot of faffing, and it’s totally unecesarry if that’s a real life event. It is, however, the way a scenario like that might play out in a dream, where everything is fraught with symbolism. Her being close to him, face to face, but just far enough away to where he is completely helpless to intervene…

When Mal is on the ledge, she is the one who is trying to convince Cobb to kill himself and come with her so they can move a level up and get out.

If this is true (and they are still down a level or two in a dream), this makes the whole slowed-time aging in the lower level more possible – they are down more levels than just one. Otherwise it didn’t make sense both of them went down one level and suddenly one afternoon was 50 years.

And maybe Mal keeps appearing in his “jobs” because she’s trying to make him realize that they aren’t real, and to get him to finally come out.

#5 The entire movie was a dream Cobb had while flying home to see his children

• http://paulgude.wordpress.com/2010/07/22/alternate-inception-theory-spoilers/

This one could also be true. The reason it could work is that in the airplane after he wakes up, no words are exchanged between Cobb and “the team.”  Although Arthur (Joseph Gordon Levitt) does sort of “smirk” at him (I’ll have to watch again to see for sure). Saito wakes up, and although he picks up the phone (presumably to make the call that will allow Cobb to re-enter the country), we don’t know for sure. He could just be making a random call.

Also, the “leap of faith” is said several times in the movie, once by Saito, and once by Mal. It makes sense if both these characters are inside Cobb’s mind the whole time.

Also, Miles is waiting for Cobb at the airport. How would he have known he was coming back?

#6 The dream actually started in Mumbasa when Yusef gave Dom a taste of the sedative. He was then dreaming like the others in that room.

I don’t have info on this one, just saw it postulated about. Not really into this theory.

MORE THEORIES

This page contains more theories (especially in the long comments)

http://www.thefilmyap.com/2010/07/22/inception-theories-points-counterpoints/

Other things to chew on

Mal’s “secret”

At first I wasn’t sure what this meant, but upon a second viewing I think that what she locked away was her totem, the thing that let her know that she was dreaming, and not in the “real world.”  How Cobb “incepted” her was to sneak in there, and set the totem spinning, thus making her believe again that her world wasn’t real. Since he “incepted” her at such a deep level, she carried this thought up through the levels.

The wedding ring

One commenter remarked,

“If it were all a dream, why is he wearing his wedding ring in all of the “Dream” world scenes and not wearing it in all of the “Reality” scenes?”

Some have postulated that the wedding ring is Cobb’s actual totem (the spinning top was actually Mal’s totem). Will have to watch again to check this one out.

Saito and Cobb at the beginning and the end

Cobb wakes up on the ocean shore in the movie beginning and at the end. We know that the shore represents “the edge of the dream world.”  The whole exchange between Cobb and Saito is so strange. The talk of “a leap of faith.” The confusing speech – both men completing each other’s sentences. Also, Cobb looks so dazed and terrible. Has he been out on the “dream shore” for ages? Why are his eyes so weird?

One afternoon does not equal 50 years

Cobb and Mal were dreaming together for one afternoon, and he said they had 50 years together inside the dream. This math doesn’t add up. It would seem they would need to go several layers down for this kind of slow time to occur. In this case, Mal could have died, and they go up one level to where she kills herself. So she still may be alive. But maybe Cobb is still stuck on a level lower. This also makes me think that the whole movie in fact was Cobb’s dream on the plane.

For the geeks in the audience

Found this on a forum:

Dom’s name seems to be an in-joke, since DOM in computer programming stands for “document object model”, a tree-like structure with successive nodes. The structure of the dom is similar to the dream structure in the film, a descending tree with a series of nodes and branches and a root node.

I LOVE THIS MOVIE AND ALL THE THINKING IT’S MAKING ME DO

I’m not the type to write inspirational posts, but here’s my first one, so be gentle.

It was a few weeks ago that I read the post from Havi Brooks, called Exit the Middle.

She relates the middle to yoga practice, and the gist is this: in yoga (and life) there are beginners, those in the middle, and advanced. If you’re a beginner, everything is new, and still a challenge. Those advanced know what is going on, and how to create challenges for themselves, and also when to rest. More on the middle:

It’s the people who want you to challenge them instead of finding new ways to challenge themselves. Or it’s the people who want you to tone it down, instead of giving themselves permission to do less.

In business, the middle is filled with people looking outward to find out what more biggified people do, instead of inward to find out what is theirs.

Instead of innovating and making (or playing with what’s there in order to make it your own), the middle copies what already exists.

In the middle is all this wanting to be there already. It is not fun, being in the middle.

The tragic irony: no one is keeping you there.

Most people think the middle is where you are until you get good. No. The middle is where you stay until you decide to be conscious.

Staying in the middle means being cut off from your sovereignty.

In the middle, you need other people to show you what to do. You’re constantly waiting for other people to deliver. And constantly disappointed when what they give you doesn’t live up to your expectations.

Once you step out of the middle, you get to make conscious decisions about what appeals to you and what you’re willing to try.

But the tragedy of the middle is that there is nothing keeping anyone there.

Reading that really hit me.

I’m in the middle. I’ve been in the middle for YEARS.

I’m the person always trying new things, going places. I’ve now lived on both coasts and  few places in the middle. I’ve changed jobs numerous times, dated lots of people, and done zillions of hobbies. I thought it was because of the challenge, and partly, it is.

I’m in the thrill of beginner mind, where everything is a challenge. But as soon as I thought I had gotten a handle on whatever I was doing, i lost interest, and moved on to the next shiny thing.
But i think maybe I was afraid of the middle.

Afraid of making challenges for myself. Of really not knowing how.

I had been chewing this concept over for about a week, when I found myself running a 4 mile race in Central Park with a friend. I’ve been running for years, and it helped me lose 90 lbs, and I’d run a few 5K races. But I’d never really taken it seriously.

And during this race, i was doing the usual. I ran at a lackadaisical pace a bit, backed off. Walked a bit. Peed, got water. Ran at my friend’s pace. Basically, i wasn’t taking it seriously.

Then something happened at mile 2. I thought of that article. And decided I was tired of living in the middle. Of waiting for someone or something to challenge me.

I was going to do it NOW. HERE.

So I picked up the pace. It felt ok. I felt a momentarily guilt for “leaving” my friend, but I knew she was fighting to leave her own middle, and she would support me leaving mine.

I kept running at that pace. It felt GOOD. I was running at a pace faster than I thought I actually could. This worked until mile 3. I hadn’t run more than 3 miles for a few years. My little voice spoke up, “ok, you can stop now. Just walk a little! Nobody cares if you finish or not, it’s just a 4 mile.”

I told the little voice to SHUT THE FUCK UP!!!

I kept running. I decided then and there that even if I had to tiny jog, i was going to run until the very end. It felt good to make that decision. But I still had to keep my word to myself. And I haven’t been very good at doing that.

I heard Jillian Michael’s voice in my head:

“THIS DOESN’T COME FOR FREE. YOU HAVE TO FIGHT FOR IT.”

I kept fighting for it. I didn’t even know how far the course end was. I kept running. And this was the amazing part: I think I ran faster that last mile than I’d done the whole race. I just kept going.

In my head I thought:

IF I CAN DO THIS, I CAN GET ANY JOB I WANT.

IF I CAN DO THIS, I CAN HAVE A GOOD RELATIONSHIP.

IF I CAN DO THIS, I CAN DO ANYTHING.

It HURT towards the end. but I was finally KEEPING A COMMITMENT TO MYSELF!

I finally rounded the corner of the race on 72nd street. My little lazy voice was still in there, but it was literally shocked into submission.

I was GOING TO DO IT and there wasn’t a damn thing it could say.

There was cheering! Those lovely people at the race who are strangers but they cheer you anyway!

I was pumping my fists over my head in a ridiculous way but I didn’t care!

I passed the finish line at 52:04 for four miles (minus 5 minutes for a pee break!)

I thought I was going to pass out, but I got my two glasses of gatorade, and pretzels, and made my way over to a bench.

and promptly started to cry.

I was SO DAMN PROUD of myself.

It was just a race, but it was literally the first time in my life that i FOUGHT for something so hard. That I pushed myself into doing more than I thought I could do. I was so happy but at the same time sad that I’m 42 years old and this is the first time I’ve done that.

But, as they say, it’s only too late if you don’t start now.

These cookies were a big hit when I sold them at the Greenpoint Food Market this spring. I can’t take credit for the recipe though, it was given to me by my friend Meg many years ago (though I changed the name)!

Chocolate Kick Cookies

1/2 cup currants
2 T Kahlua
2 oz. unsweetened chocolate
4 oz. bittersweet chocolate
3T butter
7T flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
pinch cayenne pepper
2 eggs, room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350.
Combine currants and Kahlua in saucepan; warm over low heat (I just put them in microwave for 30 sec).
Combine the unsweetened and bittersweet chocolates and the butter in a saucepan and melt over low heat, stirring frequently. Set aside to cool.

Combine the flour, baking powder, salt cinnamon, cracked pepper, and cayenne in a small bowl; stir to blend.

Beat the eggs and sugar until page and thick, about 5 minutes. Add the vanilla and melted chocolate; stir to combine.

Fold in the flour mixture. Gently stir in the currants, any remaining Kahlua and the chocolate chips (the dough will be loose). Drop by spoonfuls onto the lined cookie sheets.
Bake 8-10 minutes, until the tops are shiny and the cookies slightly puffy. Let cool 5 minutes before before transferring to racks to cool completely.

Yields about 18 cookies.

I like to be surprised, so I like to let some time pass in between my Brooklyn Flea visits, so vendors can rotate and I can be delighted by new things. Today my Brooklyn Flea companions were my Twitter friends (converted to IRL today, whee!) Betsy (@btreinen) and Christine (@christinetaffe). First stop is always food at the Flea, and today had some new and exciting vendors. First, I introduced Betsy to the Asiadog. I got a Porkball sandwich from Porchetta (they didn’t have potatoes and crispy ends but they let me squeeze the pig and I felt better!) I squeed when I saw the Manchego Crispy Fritters from Good Fork. I’d always had Manchego in cold form, with say, a good crisp apple. But I needn’t have worried. They served it up hot and fresh from the fryer, with a sweet/sour sauce on top.

Betsy was enamoured with People’s Pops shaved ice, today in Deep Plum and Sour Cherry. Both were heavenly.

You can’t handle the cute!

Ok i love the food but the real reason I go is to see what’s new in craftland, or treats. Today I met Susannah of sktceramics. A yellow porcelain bee cup caught my attention. Susannah draws/paints, throws and fires everything. The drawings are so delicate, and she told me they each have a story, from the otter and bees that came from commissions, to the little penguin she says has a backstory of coming from the midwest (just like me!) and she actually has a series of paintings about it (which I am dying to see!)  She even makes a musk ox cute. Here is the adorable necklace I bought.

Yeah, I dig cute things. Piss off.

I almost got this one (the penguin with the Brooklyn Bridge in the background), but I liked the round one better.

She told me she used to do flies. *nose cringe* Why is it that bees (which are also insects) can be made “cute,” but flies are still disgusting? bleah.

Piggy Banks

Foundation4.com drew us in with some zipper flower pins, lovely paper leaf chandeliers, and this adorable pleather piggy bank. But how do you get the money out? Open up the butt!

Twig Terrariums

On my way out I spotted Twig Terrariums, little scenes assembled inside various glass containers. I asked the ladies if owning one required any semblance of a green thumb (I joke that the only reason my cat is alive is that she meows to remind me to feed her) and they said just “mist it and keep it out of direct sunlight”!

and now, a few random photos.

THe cute paper bag I got an item in

I wish I’d bought this friendly bunny doorstop.

and officially I’m grossed out by hairy wrestler guy but how funny would he be on my desk? and what’s up withe the green tongue?

I remember watching Sex and the City before I lived in NYC and they would joke how “you’d better go to this restaurant before the Times writes it up and ruins it.” I had no idea how literally that is true.

The Greenpoint Food Market is a fabulous indie food market started by Joann Kim in Greenpoint, Brooklyn last fall. It was held in the basement of the Church of the Messiah on Russell Street. Joann ran it under the radar of the department of health and NY licensing, in that no one needed proof of food licensing, the food being prepared in a licensed kitchen, or liability insurance. Technically it was all “illegal” but I think all of us accepted the risks of such an undertaking.  On a realistic note, when was the last time you ever heard of someone getting sick from Farmer’s Market or foodie market food? It’s all my friends and I live on most weekends.

I discovered Greenpoint Food Market last fall because of my foodie friend Meg and was pleased to see all sorts of up-and-coming treatmakers taking advantage of the low barrier to entry (only $20 a table) to get their food experiments out to the public. I had planned to do a booth of my marshmallows when I got my chocolate tempering machine in order, but decided to do a trial run with some other baked goods and frosting shots in April 2010. It was a fabulous experience. I met people who were serious, and treatmakers who were just doing it for “shits and giggles” on the weekends. Joann did a great job of picking new and interesting vendors, and it was always fun to see the new food every month.

But it couldn’t last…the word had gotten out about the fair, and in May 2010, the New York Times visited and wrote an article. Because of the publicity, the Department of Health got wind of the “illegal” setup, and warned Joann and the vendors that fines would be rained down (each vendor fined at a minimum of $500) if vendors did not comply with DOH regulations for food preparation and sale.  For most vendors (myself included), this effectively means no more Food Market.

What It’s Going To Cost Vendors Now

Besides the costs of ingredients and labor, to sell food legally at the market the following rules must now be followed:

• Certificate that food has been prepared in a licensed kitchen, which involves commercial kitchen rental time (varies, but can be $300 for a few hour shift)
• Food protection certificate (must taken an online 15 hr class, then get certificate for $25)
• The vendor needs to get a “temporary food vendor permit” EACH TIME he sells ($20 a pop)
• Food booth costs ($20 and up)
• Product liability insurance (minimum $300/year)-not required by Greenpoint Food Market, but it’s advised you do it to cover your ass

Obviously the biggest cost in this is commercial kitchen rental time. I had done a little research when I arrived in NYC, and was saddened to see how expensive it was. I would only need two hours every few weeks, and $300 would in fact put me in the hole profit-wise, since I’m only doing it on the side.

Why It Sucks To Lose Greenpoint Food Market

The big need that Greenpoint Market filled was an “experimental space” small food vendors need when they are first starting out. They can put out their product and see if it’s even viable. Your family and friends might think you make the best brownie in town, but everyone loves something when it’s free. Would someone pay for it, over and over? Is it different enough from other brownies that you could make a profit?

I think the Greenpoint market served another set: those of us are just doing this for fun and wanted an outlet to spread our goodies to excited consumers. I don’t have world domination plans for my marshmallows. I don’t have a desire to see them in every Target or Walmart (Dean & Deluca, maybe).

It makes me want to start a Renegade Food Market of sorts. Much like the underground raw milk scene in New York, you’d need to “know someone” to get into it. We’d have an exclusive list, and you’d only be notified of the fair location a day or so in advance. We’d have it in different locations every time. And we’d advertise it as something non food-related, like “Ham Radio Operator’s League #12.” I’m still sketching it out.

On a happier note – there are some initiatives going on locally in Brooklyn to get running some affordable incubator kitchen spaces for small vendors. There will be a Think Tank Potluck on June 26 to discuss these new rules and some options coming up. I’ll be attending and will report on the results!

I remember as a 15 year old girl seeing this video on MTV in 1983, not even really knowing who Neil Young was, and thinking, “wow he looks like a nice fellow.” And loving this song. Still love it today.

If you want to have some fun, go to YouTube and search for “trailer” and “recut.”
It’s pretty easy to recut any darn movie as a “romantic comedy.” All you have to do is add some swelling music, and longing looks.

Matrix recut as a “lost love” movie

The Shining, as a romantic comedy

Back to the Future (as “brokeback to the future”)

Sometimes you find a mashup that just works.
This is the original Star Wars trailer recut with new Star Trek movie audio.

Humans have a thirst for something. They seek that water everywhere. Always looking for a hose with a never ending supply of water to quench our thirst. The truth is, there is, and never was that hose. Nor will it ever be there. When we find a good connection, what happens? Our thirst is quenched after a while and we seek another hose that will give us the water we need. Nothing ever stays static. Life is a constant flow of change. Changing emotions, changing physical structures. Changing shapes. Changing history, the list is endless.

Suffering occurs when we try to manipulate that change to suit us. When we desire things not to change. When we desire, period. Of course, life is never going to bend to us. Things happen that are beyond our self centred needs. It may well be worth trying to become more universally centred and not so self centred. Not you, I mean everybody.To become the flow. When we are going through whatever it is we are going through we temporarily become the centre of the universe in our own deluded minds. Yet life just is.

Life just is, moment by moment. Any thoughts of the future and any thoughs of the past are just thoughts. Thats all. They are just chemical and electrical impulses in your mind based on whatever belief system you happen to operate. They are not real.

There is no magic to life.

There is no prince charming.

Life is nothing special.

Yet, it is a joy if you allow it to be.

Perhaps, instead of wallowing in whatever it is you are wallowing in, try to look at the wonder of whatever it is. Become curious about pain. Become curious at the workings of emotions. Become curious at life, people, science, the world, the planets, trees, animals, the weather system, the sun, death, change, skin colour, natural climate change the list is endless. It is all life, it all goes on outside of your window.

Life is nothing magical. It has an equal balance of pain and pleasure. It has to. Science dictates so. Things do not work with only a negative or positive.
People try to spend their whole lives avoiding pain at all costs and living in their comfort zones. Living in a comfort zone is delusionment. Living in reality will bring you a certain enlightenment and will reveal thousands of Eureka! moments. Most people are deluded and never really know themselves because they are not brave enough to face the continually empty vast space that is life. Instead they self centredly imagine things to dampen their worst fears that……….we’re all alone.

Accept this fact, and watch yourself suddenly become at ease with things. It takes time to accept and to overcome loneliness, and to see loneliness as nothing more than your thoughts. Chemical. Impulsive. Not reality.

I have said this before and I am saying this again too, but become whole and content on your own first. You can ONLY share something with somebody you so desire if ONLY you have it yourself first. For example, you can only love/know/respect somebody if you love/know/respect yourself first.
So this connection you so desire will only come once you connect with yourself, and you have not yet. Try meditation and looking at Zen philosophy, I think many answers lie in these, but they take a little while to filter through becasue of how we’re conditioned.

_________________________________

I am sad that I found this somewhere on the web, took the time to copy and paste it into a post, but neglected to write down who said it. So all I can say is that it wasn’t me…