A Nice Quiet Week
After seeing Krista's folks off on Sunday, we've had a pretty quiet time of things this week - even though there was more sushi on Sunday afternoon.
The major event turned out to be seeing "Inception", which I was keen to see but worried as people had been comparing it to "The Matrix".
I can see where the similarities come from, but thankfully "Inception" isn't as horrible as the comparisons had made me think, since "Matrix" is hideous. Additionally, unlike "The Matrix" I can't imagine this being spun off into a sequel or a trilogy.
In a sense, I'd argue that "Inception" is a caper or heist movie, almost an "Ocean's Eleven" sort of affair only with a lot of weird psychology and none of the wisecracking ensemble cast that a caper movie is meant to have. Does it work? Yes. Is it as good as some people are saying? Not necessarily. The visuals are incredible in places - the exploding cafe and folding-the-city-on-top-of-itself really have to be seen on the big screen to be believed - but some of the acting and plot development is a bit weak.
Speaking of the plot, it's probably best not to say too much about it since there are twists and turns that you need to see as they happen. The general concept, though, deals with the idea of inserting yourself into a dream and stealing people's secrets ("Extraction", as they call it in the film) and the more experimental idea of inserting yourself and planting an idea in someone's mind (the titular "Inception"). I wouldn't have minded some more explanation about how people established that they could do it as sort of background here, but apparently that wasn't to be.
Nonetheless, the rest of the week has gone by rather uneventfully. I've had a mild cold for most of it, and we've put some ideas together about how Melbourne could be achieved. There's also some planning afoot for trying to be in Germany for Eurovision 2011 and then possibly going through Poland to get to Estonia and see Krista's family there.
The major event turned out to be seeing "Inception", which I was keen to see but worried as people had been comparing it to "The Matrix".
I can see where the similarities come from, but thankfully "Inception" isn't as horrible as the comparisons had made me think, since "Matrix" is hideous. Additionally, unlike "The Matrix" I can't imagine this being spun off into a sequel or a trilogy.
In a sense, I'd argue that "Inception" is a caper or heist movie, almost an "Ocean's Eleven" sort of affair only with a lot of weird psychology and none of the wisecracking ensemble cast that a caper movie is meant to have. Does it work? Yes. Is it as good as some people are saying? Not necessarily. The visuals are incredible in places - the exploding cafe and folding-the-city-on-top-of-itself really have to be seen on the big screen to be believed - but some of the acting and plot development is a bit weak.
Speaking of the plot, it's probably best not to say too much about it since there are twists and turns that you need to see as they happen. The general concept, though, deals with the idea of inserting yourself into a dream and stealing people's secrets ("Extraction", as they call it in the film) and the more experimental idea of inserting yourself and planting an idea in someone's mind (the titular "Inception"). I wouldn't have minded some more explanation about how people established that they could do it as sort of background here, but apparently that wasn't to be.
Nonetheless, the rest of the week has gone by rather uneventfully. I've had a mild cold for most of it, and we've put some ideas together about how Melbourne could be achieved. There's also some planning afoot for trying to be in Germany for Eurovision 2011 and then possibly going through Poland to get to Estonia and see Krista's family there.