Spoiler Alert!!! Don't Read This If You Haven't Seen Inception Yet!

Okay. Now I'm going to talk about Inception and I didn't want to spoil the awesome movie for anyone. Seriously, if you haven't seen it and want to, please don't read this post. SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Okay, hopefully if you're still reading, you have already seen it (or don't plan on seeing it). As you know, the movie has an open ending. Dom spins the little metal top and just as it seems like it might waiver and fall, the credits roll. So is he still in a dream or not? Of course there is no way to tell for sure. The movie ends before anyone knows. But here are some clues that I've gathered after my second viewing of the great movie.

-Since we don't know how much time has past between the last time Dom saw his kids and the present time, we have no way of knowing how much the children have aged. Maybe only a few months. Maybe a few years. About 30 minutes into the film, Dom talks to his children over the phone. His son sounds like a little kid (muppet-ish voice, asking kid-like questions). But his daughter sounds like she is 10 or 12. In Dom's memory, the children look like they are between 4 and 8 years old. They also seemed close in age. So the daughter couldn't be 10 or 12 and the son still a muppet sounding toddler. But at the end of the movie, Dom sees his kids again and they look exactly like they did in his memory. It makes it seem like a dream and since we can't see what happens to the spinning top (it only topples in reality), I guess that's the point. POINT: Not sure.

-Michael Caine plays Dom's father. At one point Dom has presents for his children and asks Michael Caine to send it to them. Caine says something about how stuffed animals aren't going to make Dom's children forget that they don't have a father. If Dom's children were a lot older, stuffed animals wouldn't be an appropriate gift. So the fact that his gift was stuffed animals makes it seem like they are still little. POINT: Ending was reality.

-At the end of the movie, Michael Caine is waiting at the LA airport for Dom, seemingly out of the blue. The Michael Caine parts in the movie go like this: Dom goes to Paris to see Caine, dropping off gifts for his stateside children and seeking new talent for this one last job. Caine recommends Ellen Page's character. 2 hours of movie go by and then at the end, Caine is there to pick up Dom at the airport. Granted, Dom could have called his dad and said, "Hey pops, I'm coming back to the states. I might be going straight to jail or I might be scott free. Either way, can you pick my ass up?" I mean, they don't usually show characters going to the bathroom or eating breakfast. It could have happened. And I know Christopher Nolan didn't include such a scene because it would have ruined the open ending. But I don't think it's likely that Caine's character was there at the LA airport. When we last saw Caine, he was in Paris. Dom flew into LA on a 10 hour flight from Australia. Is that enough time? And why didn't Dom's mother (or whoever is watching over his kids) pick him up instead? POINT: Ending was a dream.

-The little metal top is a talisman that Dom uses to verify that he is back in the real world and not still dreaming. When Dom spins it in the real world, it spins for a while, waivers, then falls down. While in a dream, the top spins endlessly. At the end of the movie, Dom spins the top, then sees his children and runs out to them. The top continues to spin while Dom is hugging his children in the background. Then the top starts to waiver and BOOM, the credits roll. From what we saw in the movie, the top wouldn't have waivered at all in a dream. The fact that it does start to waiver is a clue that gravity is in effect and that Dom is in the real world. POINT: Ending was reality.

After all that, I'm still not sure what it is. If it is a dream or reality. But Inception is a kickass movie. That much I know.

Water Jug (or The Sweaty Worker)

I had been taking a 20 ounce water bottle to work, but that wasn't going to cut it. Pictured above is the upgrade. It holds one quart and it's an Igloo so it should stay cool.

The heat at my new job isn't so bad. It's nothing compared to delivering phone books at 2 in the afternoon with a 90 degree sun beating down on you. But it is kind of hot in there and you work really hard. So it's easy to get dehydrated. Hopefully the Igloo will help. I'm excited to try it out.

Inception Rocks!!!

I just got back from seeing the latest Christopher Nolan masterpiece and it kicked my ass and took my name, but in a good way. Certain keywords indicating movie awesomeness include: masterpiece, Christopher, Nolan. It was great from start to finish. Since this is a sloppy sort of blog, I'm not going to give it much of a review other than the acknowledgment that it was great and I will verbally provide a Reg Lee's Stamp of Approval. Here it is: Reg Lee's Stamp of Approval.

Also the fact that I want to see it at least 2 more times should be an indication of Inception's greatness.

Pictures of Triumph!!!

The green salsa recipe was a success! Actually it was more than just a mere success. I think it's the best green salsa I've ever tasted. Fresh, flavorful, with just the right amount of kick, it's good enough to eat straight from the jar. Pictured below is the sample "bowl" and one of the jars. If you're not jealous, you should be. I'm going to make another batch over the weekend. A typical batch only yields one and a half jars. And frankly, that isn't enough for a salsa guzzler like me.

One Pound of Tomatillos

"Wow! A whole pound of tomatillos? This fool must love eating tomatillos raw or something."

Nah, it's nothing like that. This is for the best tasting homemade green salsa that ever existed. That's right! EVER! Recipe courtesy of The Sister-Machine. We made a batch the last time in Pittsburgh. Click green salsa link if you want to see the Pittsburgh batch. It links to The Sister-Machine's blog page. Hopefully my batch will be just as good.

Pictures of triumph or sorrow to follow.

P.S. Really enjoying Youth In Revolt. Looking for cheap copies of Young and Revolting and Revolting Youth, the continuations of Nick Twisp's adventures.

More Futurama Review

So I continued my Netflix Instant watching of Futurama with The Beast with a Billion Backs and Bender's Game. Let me give you a grade for each before (sort of) breaking down the what and why. The Beast with a Billion Backs: GRADE D. Bender's Game: GRADE B.

Okay. The Beast with a Billion Backs isn't very good. It was probably one of the worst Futurama episodes I've ever seen. The jokes weren't good. I'm not feeling very articulate about crappy episodes right now, so I'll just say that it stunk.

Bender's Game was much better. It would have been great, if not for the Lord of the Rings crap that they did near the end. I kept thinking when did Bender's Game come out? Don't they (futurama writers) know that Lord of the Rings has become overdone? That said, it was much better than Beast with Billion Backs, but not as good as Bender's Big Score.

Next up: Into the Wild Green Yonder (and please, no Lord of The Rings crap in this one.)

New Job, New Shoes, New Harlots

Well, two out of three isn't bad. Start the new job tomorrow. Got the new work boots yesterday. The new boots are great. Very comfortable. And they make me an inch or so taller. Which might lead to some new harlots. Bwahaha!

Youth In Revolt (book)

Found Youth In Revolt (by C.D. Payne) at Half Price Books for $1. It was a great find at a great price. I saw the movie with Michael Cera when it came out and loved it. Knowing that the book would be better (they almost always are), I've been searching for it (at a reasonable price) ever since. Closest I got was a $3 Very Good copy on Half.com, but funds were low at the time and I couldn't get it. Skip to yesterday: I'm at Half Price Books specifically looking for Youth In Revolt (the book) when I find it on the Clearance shelf for ONE DOLLAR!!! The cover is a little worn, but the pages are clean and white and the book doesn't smell like library or smoke or anything else gross and disgusting. I'm very pleased with my purchase. Check your local Half Price Books if you too are interested in such a bargain buy. They might have it for a dollar.

Bender's Big Score (for free-kinda)

Thanks to Netflix, everything Futurama (all four seasons and the straight-to-dvd movies) are available for live viewing on Netflix Instant (or whatever it's called). Seeing how I've never seen the straight-to-dvd Futurama movies, I decided to start with that. And sometimes when you start something, it's good to start at the beginning. Other times, like when reading magazines, it is preferable to start at the end. At least for me.

Anyway. I just finished watching Bender's Big Score, the first of the four straight-to-dvd movies. It started off kind of badly, spending the first 5 minutes or so making fun of Fox for dropping the show. But it got better as it went along. There were two song-and-dance routines for reasons I'm not entirely sure. The first involved The Professor singing about something or another. It wasn't very good. The second musical segment involved Robot Santa, Kwanzabot, and the Chanukah Zombie singing in Santa's toy factory. It was better but still a little unnecessary. I mean, what it this, Mary Poppins?

Overall, I liked it despite the slow start (yes, I understand that Fox is run by a bunch of morons, after all, they wanted George Lucas to include rock songs in Star Wars Episode IV) and the musical segments which felt like someone said "Oh! We have 88 minutes to fill. We can do whatever we want! Bwah ha ha!" It was definitely worth the price of the already paid Netflix subscription. And I might want to own it one day. But not before owning the other seasons (already have Season 3!). It was good. I'd watch Bender's Big Score again. But it's not as good as a full season. Next on the Netflix Instant agenda: The Beast With a Billion Backs.