Inception Time

All right I have read most of the reviews in the newspapers and on line about Inception. Now it's time for my two cents - if it's really worth it.

My initial thought was that somewhere in this mix we would get to where Cobb's reality actually was. If you think we saw reality at any point in this movie. I believe you better get your diagram out again because we never did.

The entire 1 hour and 48 minutes of the movie is nothing more than a dream. The one significant character who brings that out to me is only seen in the movie twice - Michael Caine's Miles.  Despite his small tidbit of a role it is major enough for me to believe he's the one planting the inception. Because when Cobb goes to visit Miles the elder man tells Cobb "To come back to reality, son."  That right there should have tipped you off that we weren't in reality but stage 1 of the dream and that Miles had entered to make sure the incepton was beginning to take place for Cobb.  Eventually Miles calls upon Ellen Page's character Ariadne to "architect" the layers which involve the supposed kidnapping of Robert Fischer and keeping Cobb in his dream state forever.

The reappearing of Mal - Cobb's wife - throughout the movie is not because she was limbo and eventually killed herself because she could not take reality, it was a mechanism Miles had placed in Cobb's dreams to get him to comeback to reality, which Cobb never does. In reality Mal cameback and now with the help of her father and Ariadne they are trying to convince Cobb to wake up.  It seems they never found his kick to wake him up.

Everyone comes into the dreams are there to throw Cobb for an ego trip like no other believing he caused the inception to get Fischer to split up his father's company. When they are really trying to wake him to present time. Plus the projections which were Fischer's men were nothing more than there to make sure Cobb jumped from stage to the next throughout and with just enough resistence to make him out to be a hero each time.

Since Mal had already "kicked" herself out of the dream by falling from the hotel at this point she was nothing more than a projection in the fourth stage of Cobb's inception from Ariadne and Miles. Ariadne is then forced to shoot Mal to permanently take her out of Cobb's subconscious and allow him to stay in limbo to find Saito, which will eventually lead us back to the beginning of the movie.

Not to mention when you think about Ellen Page's character's name she was left by Theseus in Greek mythology. Just as Cobb left Aridne to find Saito and had her go back through the stages.


All of them have mementos which let them know when they are in reality and when they are dreaming. Cobb's is the top that he took from Mal as he continued to be in limbo and dream stages while she remained in reality. If the top stops spinning it means Cobb is in reality. If it continues to spin he's still dreaming. to me it seems the top did an awful lot of continuous spinning. Plus we only saw the other's mementos and never saw them in action. Not once.

OK finally the ending - Cobb finds an aged Saito. If it took Cobb that long to find Saito why didn't he age? Because it was Cobb's dream and he could be as old as he wanted and look as young as he wanted.  So as they travel back through the levels Cobb stays the same because he's dreaming he never aged while Saito gets younger. Through this now Miles and Ariadne can't seem to bring Cobb back. Saito does as promised and makes the call to allow Cobb to safely be back on US soil at the customs checkpoints at LAX.

All at the airport are there now to say goodbye to Cobb because they have brought him back safely to the original stage of the dream where he can either now live out his fantasy of being together with his children or go back to being a "mind" thief. They have all did their share in balancing the other stages of the dream sequence. Miles takes Cobb home. His two children are in the same position as we have seen them in every scene through the movie with their backs turned wearing the same clothes. They turn around to see Cobb and smile and are the same age as they were when he first left them and spent several years in limbo. Even if time moves slower than dreams as long as Cobb was allegedly gone don't you think they would have aged beyond the years that they were throughout his flashbacks and at least be wearing different clothes?

The top will spin forever as Cobb will remain in a dream state because it is his reality. It's how he remembered how things were prior to originally prior to going to limbo in the first place with Mal so many dream years ago.

This was definitely a Nolan masterpiece then again I have been a fan of all his movies, but this tops them all. We will look back at this film for years to come as an original thought that was brought to life. Nolan gave what a lot of us have always wonder could happen - going into someone else's dream and visualizing the experiences. A high score for a breath of fresh air into the cinema which has been lacking of originality for quite awhile.  The creative genius Nolan has given us with this latest movie should put him atop in the annals of writers/directors of my generation.

Back at it...

For those of you wondering where I have been again as it was two weeks ago I was stuck in Master's class paper purgatory. I have one more assignment due in that class and then I will be six hours away from my graduate certificate.

The Reds...I now see GB and a 1/2 under it. All because the two teams that tormented the Reds recently have rolled over against the Cardinals. Well at least the Reds have the Nationals in town this week for four games. Wednesday should be interesting as Strausburg makes his first appearance against the Reds. Unfortunately I will be a little pre-occupied from that game. More about that in a minute.

On the recruiting trail my alma mater Butler has taken one from my high school alma mater. Andy Smeathers a 6-foot-7 swing player has been offered a scholarship by coach Stevens and has accepted. I am excited about that for Smeathers and for the Butler program. But I do not believe him to be the next Gordon Hayward. While we are it as some have some times said I am not a loyal alumnus to my high school there's some business Smeathers and his teammates need to take care of in the 2010-2011 season. No it is not winning the Hall of Fame Classic in December. No, it's not winning yet another Johnson County Tournament in January (yawn). IT'S WINNING CG'S FIRST SECTIONAL IN 17 YEARS! I'm looking through and that is currently the longest drought between sectionals for any varsity sport at CG. Not that I want to add any pressure but it would be nice for Smeathers to have a piece of sectional net in his possession when he arrives at 4600 Sunset Avenue next June.

Well so far no big shocks coming from the summer tournaments, but the big ones all begin this week in Las Vegas. Shoujld be some rumblings as that tournament commences and we go through the various games on and off the court this week.

For you Colts fans out there - Sanders to play or not to play in 2010 - is that the question?

Broncos - report is if things slide Tebow could see some serious playing time. YIKES! Not sure I am ready for that yet.

But college football is right around the corner. Should be an interesting year for my Northwestern Wildcats. Oh just so happens last season Outback Bowl is on ESPNU. And unfortunately the Wildcats still lose to Auburn 38-35 in overtime.

Which brings me to why I will be pre-occupied Wednesday night. For several years now some of my sportswriting friends I met during a summer at the IU High School Journalism Institute and I get together. We always sit in the Ernie Pyle booth at Nick's English Hut on Kirkwood Ave. in Bloomington. Out of the seven somehow four of us are still in the sports journalism or journalism in general on a full-time basis. So I guess those are good odds or they aren't married and don't have kids. Well at least kids they don't know about - just kidding. Anyway, we'll get together talk about how we would change the sports world for the better and sometimes for the worse. And by the end of it we will have decided why change it because that would just make sense to everyone and be too easy to do. Or something like that. A couple of times in April, May and June there were mini get togethers after they were covering some of the big summer club basketball tournaments and I officiated which were in Bloomington. We all pretty much were together after beating deadline for the state track and field meets in June which were held at IU.

Either way it's just good to hang out with some friends who met on a whim in 1989 and have remained close ever since. Yes, I'd go through a brick wall for any of them any day of the week. Loyal to the bitter end.

The Reds are spinning and the World Cup is over

The Reds just couldn't get a win against the Phillies this weekend in the four-game set. Came from behind Thursday night and lost in extra innings. Had a six-run lead in the bottom of the ninth Friday night and blew it and lost in 10; then Travis Wood had a perfect game through eight and lost it and then the Reds lost in 10 again. And then today another gem by Maloney and the Reds fall 1-0 to get swept. UGH! Thank goodness the All-Star break is here. Rest will probably do some of the players good as they begin the battle with the Cardinals in the stretch drive of the season. It's a one-game lead right now so we'll see how it all plays out in the final two and half months of the regular season. I still like where the Reds are but a win or two in Philly this weekend would have been nice.

World Cup is over and congrats to Spain with the 1-0 win in extra time today against the Netherlands. I thought it was a good game, not a great game. I have seen better 0-0 games played in my  lifetime in the World Cup since I began seriously watching it in 1994. Still think there are a couple of tweaks the United States team needs to do and then it might be right on the cusp of getting past the round of 16.

Watched the Butler-Duke game last night for the first time in three months. I still say Gordon Hayward could have still went straight up with his jump shot over the big Duke player and the shot probably would have still tickled the twine. Instead he had to overcompensate for leaning backwards and the shot was off on the other side of the rim. Still love watching Matt Howard's pick at the end of the game to give Hayward the shot. I can only hope we see more of the same next season. Trust me the Dawgs will falter a little, but they'll still be contenders come March. Looking forward to the Dawgs first practice on Oct. 15. BTW - catch the Dawgs on their new radio home this season - AM 1070 The Fan. Cashing in on the success of last season and having Butler people in management roles at Emmis never hurts.

The Reds are beginning to break my heart, LeBron oh well

Memo to Dusty Baker to begin this post - The All Star break is coming the heck with resting the bullpen; get Mike Leake out of there and let's win a game we deserved to win. Instead kept Leake in too long, the Phillies tied and took game two of the four-game set 9-7 again in extra innings tonight. Last night the Reds came from behind to tie before losing; tonight was a game that after being ahead 6-1 should have been easily put in the win column. This is dangerous because the Cardinals are in a meaningless series with the Astronomicals. Things stay this way and the Reds and Cardinals will be tied heading into the All-Star Break.

The Reds might need one more arm to solidfy the pitching staff; hopefully Rolen's back is healed quickly; taking the All-Star break off and not attending would be in his best interest.

What a marketing ploy by Major League Baseball.  Having Votto not on the original ballot so that it could a gazillion hits on the website and promote the last player in contest. I hope he hits at least two home runs Tuesday.

LeBron...LeBron...LeBron...first off it's the NBA and it needed something to keep interest. So the Heat look good on paper, but we'll see what happens during an 82-game season. Still LeBron has immortalized himself as just a player looking for a ring now and his prime isn't even here yet.

World Cup final - Spain vs. Netherlands - should be a great game. Both teams looking for the first title. Hopefully we'll have a 4-3 final score and no penalty kicks to decide it.  Also I am still trying to figure out after the game and they award the World Cup to the winning country who and where is it kept?

Votto got job; World Cup and the recruiting wars begin

I have yet begun to work ahead in class so tonight let's get to it

Baseball first

How do I put this nicely - NUTS...BOLTS...JOEY VOTTO GOT SCREWED! That's about as nicely as I can put it of how Jerry Manual can leave off the leader in the National League in home runs and in top of all the other triple crown categories from the All Star game and make Votto's fans have to vote him into the All-Star game for next Tuesday. Despite the fact three Reds are already in the ASG it still gives me a reason to protest not watching it and even more of a reason of why I won't feel as bad missing it since I will be out on the town with the Most Beautiful Woman in My World celebrating her birthday prior to our weekend getaway.

Hey about the AD at Georgia the night before his pay raise is to take effect he promptly goes and blows it. Talk about your $550,000 mistake learned the hard way.

Bron Bron just go to Chicago and try to fill Jordan's shoes; uh...that will never happen because well no one will ever be MJ that's why his statue is outside the United Center.

The World Cup is down to its semifinals. I'll take a Netherlands-Germany final and that would be well worth the watching. If you haven't grasp this soccer thing yet and even though the USA is out get with someone who is knowledgeable about the sport and watch it. You'll learn a lot from watching just one game.

Finally I would like to personally welcome the cesspool known as the college basketball recruiting tournaments to Indianapolis. They all begin tomorrow morning at 8 a.m. all around Central Indiana. Trust me there will be more action off the court than on the court with the so-called "coaches and handlers" in town. Several college coaches will also be in town to take part in the madness as the traveling circus begins its trek to Las Vegas here in Indy and then down to Louisville next week for the Kentucky Hoopsfest

School is driving me nuts and sports thoughts...

Well for those who have been wondering where I have been the last few days I have been in writing assignment purgatory. Long story short I got accepted into Indiana University's School of Public and Environmental Affairs last year (acutally April 2009) because I wanted to make myself more marketable for a job I have desired since I can remember. The job opened after I got accepted, I got to the final two and still decided to get the graduate certificate for nonprofit management because I figure the extra education wouldn't hurt. After two traditional course classes, this summer I have been taking my first on-line class - human resource management for nonprofits. To be honest with you every two weeks I have begun writing and researching for a paper and trying to finish it off by Friday morning (assignments are due at midnight on Friday). I currently have an A+ in the class and would like to keep it that way. In this last assignment I threw everything into it and hopefully it will pay off. Matter of fact the assignment drove me nuts enough I refuted back to what I used to do for study breaks while in high school and college - out at the middle of the night shooting free throws for an hour. Not to mention no rest for the weary as I need to get a bigger head start on the next assignment prior to Wendy and I leaving for a weekend getaway from the Fabulous Rueff Boys in two weeks. The next assignment is due July 16 and I promised Wendy I would not be taking the laptop to work on the assignment at all.

Ok back to sports thoughts

Felipe Melo - you are dead to me! How can one player get a whole team to self destruct? Well Melo did that today for Brasil in losing to the Netherlands. How disappointing it was with an own goal, then a red card. Brutal is all I can say.

Ah the Reds. The National League Central Division leading CINCINNATI REDS! You know it was a year ago at this time the Reds were in the hunt of first place against the St. Louis Cardinals. The series was at Great American Ballpark. In the opening game of the series the Reds had led throughout the game and then Albert Pujols came up to the plate. I kept thinking to myself as David Weathers was on the mound "Walk Pujols. It's one run and it won't hurt you with a three-run game. Dusty be smart here and walk Pujols." No such luck "Crack" Albert sent a shot to deep center field and the Cardinals took the lead. Pujols would again hit another one and the Cardinals won the game. The Reds were never the same the rest of the month of July and the Cardinals simply ran and hid from the rest of the division. It was the first time in years I had lost sleep over a Reds loss. That one stung and rightfully so. Now the Reds are still contending and actually have the lead in the division. It really seems this team is going to stick around. I said it would explode around the trade deadline. I don't want to jinx anything but the final meetings between the Cardinals and Reds in August and September are going to be HUGE!

LeBron; LeBron; LeBron. Don't know where he's going; don't care. I haven't cared about the NBA since well since Reggie Miller's last game as a Pacer. The NBA Finals were some good drama last month but it was mainly because it was the Celtics vs. the Lakers and nothing more.

Big week of hoops coming to Indianapolis. Not one, not two but THREE college recruiting tournaments taking place all over Central Indiana on the boys side and one on the girls side.

Adidas Invitational - North Central and Westfield

Hoosier Shootout - Gathering Place, Mount Pleasant Christian Church, Howe High School, Indy Sports Park and Baptist Academy

Indiana Shootout - Sports of All Sorts and Warren Central

Circle City Invitational - Fishers and Hamilton Southeastern.

Really three tournaments for the boys side? They can't combine to make one huge one? Anyway, if you are looking to watch some hoops regardless of what side of town you're on you'll be able to see plenty in Indianapolis next week. I will be at Mt. Pleasant Tuesday night.