XSp. http://xspblog.com Curiosity amused the cat. Sun, 08 Aug 2010 05:51:45 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=abc Inception – What I took from it http://xspblog.com/2010/08/08/inception-what-i-took-from-it/ http://xspblog.com/2010/08/08/inception-what-i-took-from-it/#comments Sun, 08 Aug 2010 05:18:46 +0000 XSportSeeker http://xspblog.com/?p=17398 If you didn’t watch Inception just yet, do yourself a favor an do it!

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I’m making this post to share my own conclusions about it, so please be advised, it’s almost pure SPOILERS.
And even if you don’t mind it, I’d suggest you don’t read it and try first to reach your own conclusions before reading this.
But if you already watched the movie, I do recommend reading the post to compare your conclusions with mine, correct me if I’m wrong, or just try to analyze the movie deeper… it’s what I liked the most about the whole movie.

Posting some of the trailers before I start rambling.

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And one more.

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Spoilers start here, you’ve been warned!
First of all, let me begin by saying that I usually don’t write movie reviews, but there’s a reason I decided to make this one.
I might be completely wrong on this one, but here’s my reason: I believe most people won’t be able to fully understand the plot complexity or the whole idea which made me admire Christopher Nolan and put this movie among the best of all times in my list.

I already had high expectations about this movie before watching it. The stunningly beautiful and atmospheric soundtrack by one of my favorite composers (Hans Zimmer), a very nice choice for trailer music (, photography from previous Nolan movies, and great actors were enough to make me guess it would be a good movie. But I really wasn’t prepared for the dimension of it!

Inception

Inception


At first, after watching it I thought it was an awesome movie – costumization, scenarios, crossreferences (M.C. Escher) – but as I was still thinking about the movie, it was only after a bathroom break that it hit me like a train… it was like HOLY F*CK! Most people won’t realize how big the story truly is!

I avoided spoilers like the plague, and I don’t know if other people reached the same conclusions as me (didn’t find anyone else who did, including people who watched it with me), but here goes.

Naturally, after getting home I started reading Wikipedia entries, searching for stuff about the movie. There are nice images out there for those who got confused about the dream levels and characters, such as this one:

The Levels of Inception

The Levels of Inception

(source: http://www.giantfreakinrobot.com/film/5-levels-inception-infographic.html )
And this one:

Inception Timeline

Inception Timeline

(source: http://dehahs.deviantart.com/#/d2unnlj )

I heard people comparing it to The Matrix, heard and read lots of people discussing the open end, and the fact that Nolan left the spinning totem in the end for viewers to decide it’s end.

Inception - Cobb's Totem

Inception - Cobb's Totem


But here’s my opinion: There’s only one ending. And even more: Cobb’s totem isn’t something decisive to it… it’s only a tip Nolan left there for people to realise how further down the rabbit’s hole the movie’s plot goes!

One might think this way: But if Cobb’s totem stops spinning, like it almost seemed to do, then it’s proof that he’s not dreaming at all… and that’s the end of that.
What I’m thinking is: If Cobb is still dreaming, it doesn’t matter if his totem stops spinning or not since the whole idea of the totem theory was created into the dream.

Inception

Inception


The whole movie is a dream. There are few, very well mixed up, and subtle tips there… I’ll have to watch the movie all over again to “fish” some more, but from what I remember:
- Cobb is THE MAN, he’s the best, he travels around the world, everything he does works out, etc;
- Ending is perfect, just as planned, for Cobb and for his almost impossible job;
Inception - Limbo

Inception - Limbo


Now, let’s talk about the plot development. More specifically the climax.
When Cobb reaches the 5th level (Limbo) there are two main things he accomplishes there: The final step to convince Robert Fisher (the Target) that the inception (that his father wanted him to dismantle the company) is real (saving the whole team during that), and coming to terms with Mal’s (his wife) death. This second accomplishment is key to understanding.
Inception - Miles

Inception - Miles


Now, to the characters: First, let’s talk about Miles (Cobb’s father in law, mentor and foster parent to Cobb’s children).
He taught everything Cobb knows about dreams, and in the final scenes it seems he knows what’s happening… calling the kids and getting Cobb’s attention.
Miles could be the one behind Cobb’s dream, which some will think as reality.
He has a reason: To make Cobb come in terms with his wife’s death, which in turn will make Cobb overcome his fear of looking his children’s face again. We still can’t know what’s the situation on reality (or I couldn’t grasp it), but it could be a completely different story.
It could be that Miles don’t even know why Cobb can’t look at his children faces, which is why he has to go so far.
But it’s a huge trauma, and an almost impossible task to accomplish.
For that, Miles needs to plant an idea on Cobb’s mind (inception), which leads us to… Ariadne – Miles’ inception to Cobb.
Inception - Ariadne

Inception - Ariadne


Ariadne, the architect who Miles points out as “better than Cobb”, looks like kind of a nosy student who tries to go after Cobb’s most deep and dark secrets – at one point (Limbo), justified as trying to protect the crew.
On Ariadne’s first test, she goes on a rampage changing the whole dream scene and calling a lot of attention to herself (despite Cobb’s warnings) – which could be interpreted as naiveness… or that Ariadne wanted to do that in the first place to get Mal to show up.
She is the only one who could do that, and it works as a perfect excuse to bring Mal up (and learning more about Cobb’s story), for her to keep warning and giving advices to Cobb about it, leading to Cobb’s confrontation.

So that’s it, though I’m shure I’ll have more to say after watching the movie again.
This is the reason why I admire the movie so much. It’s very rare nowadays for a movie plot to continue after it’s end, to make you want to watch it again not because you didn’t understand, but because maybe there’s more to it you’ll only be able to get on a second look.

And maybe I’m just looking too much into it, and completely wrong. I dunno. Guess only Nolan will be able to tell after all… or if someone finds something that voids my view, I’d be pleased to know about it!

Hope you enjoyed the read and the movie! And please, if you come to agree with me after reading the post, give me credit for it – remember I reached this on my own! ;)
- Renato Murakami

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]]> http://xspblog.com/2010/08/08/inception-what-i-took-from-it/feed/ 2 Imin Matsuri 2010 Curitiba http://xspblog.com/2010/06/17/imin-matsuri-2010-curitiba/ http://xspblog.com/2010/06/17/imin-matsuri-2010-curitiba/#comments Thu, 17 Jun 2010 19:18:34 +0000 XSportSeeker http://xspblog.com/?p=17391 Taum galera, Imin Matsuri é nesse finds!
Imin Matsuri 2010

Imin Matsuri 2010


Segue as informações pra quem não conseguir ler no cartaz… :D

Data: 18, 19 e 20 de junho (dessa sexta até domingo)
Local: Pavilhão de Exposições do Parque Barigui
Entrada: R$5,00 (sexta-feira a entrada é gratuita)
Horário: 18h às 22h na sexta e das 11h às 22h no final de semana

Fonte: Tadaima! Curitiba
*English readers: This is a post about a local event that’s happening this weekend

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]]> http://xspblog.com/2010/06/17/imin-matsuri-2010-curitiba/feed/ 0 Hana Matsuri 2010 – Curitiba http://xspblog.com/2010/04/10/hana-matsuri-2010-curitiba/ http://xspblog.com/2010/04/10/hana-matsuri-2010-curitiba/#comments Sat, 10 Apr 2010 15:08:49 +0000 XSportSeeker http://xspblog.com/?p=17370 Uma amiga me chamou a atenção de que provavelmente teria muita gente passando aqui pelo blog (que está meio abandonado) buscando informação a respeito do Matsuri deste ano, então resolvi postar.

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VI Hana Matsuri (Festival das Flores)
Local: Centro Cívico – Av. Cândido de Abreu (em frente ao Palácio Iguaçu)
Data e horário: Dia 10 de abril (sábado) das 11 às 22 horas
Dia 11 de abril (domingo) das 11 às 21 horas
Entrada livre (gratuito)

Hana Matsuri 2010 Curitiba

Hana Matsuri 2010 Curitiba

Release:
“Uma apresentação da dança moderna dos festivais no Japão, o “Yosakoi Soran Street Fest” e um show de taiko (tambor japonês), abrem amanhã (sábado), às 12h15, o VI Hana Matsuri (Festival das Flores). Este evento, que comemora o nascimento de Buda, é organizado pela comunidade nipo-brasileira e pela primeira vez será realizado no Centro Cívico, em frente ao Palácio do Iguaçu.
Este ano Curitiba está sediando o segundo festival brasileiro de yosakoi soran street fest (o primeiro evento foi realizado em 2009 em SP). Estão participando grupos de Londrina, São Paulo, Campo Grande e Curitiba e a apresentação de todos será no domingo, às 15 hs.
No sábado, às 13h30, está programado um ritual budista quando crianças tipicamente vestidas estarão fazendo um cortejo até o local onde será realizada a cerimônia religiosa. Os monges budistas e acólitos acompanharão o cortejo distribuindo talismãs de proteção. Depois da cerimônia o público terá a oportunidade de dar o banho de chá doce na estatua do pequeno Buda para pedir paz, saúde e sorte para todo o ano.
Além do ritual budista durante os dois dias estarão sendo vendidas comidas típicas japonesas e o público poderá assistir a apresentações culturais (musica, tambores e dança), de artes marciais e também poderá conhecer o artesanato oriental.
Segue programação abaixo.

Programação

SÁBADO – 10 de abril

11h 00 –Início das atividades na Praça de Alimentação
12h15 – abertura com show de yosakoi soran street fest (dança) e taikô (tambor)
13h30 – Cortejo de Monges e Acólitos
14h00 – Cerimônia do Kanbutsue (ritual do banho do chá no Buda)
15h00 – Abertura com autoridades
15h30 – Bom Odori e matsuri Dance (dança folclórica com participação popular)
15h50 – Moti tsuki ( apresentação de preparação do moti)
16h10 – Karaokê infanto-juvenil
17h00 – Artes marciais
17h45 – Grupo Brisk – Cover do SuJu (dança moderna)
18h00 – Show de música, dança e taiko (tambor)
19h30 – yosakoi soran (dança moderna)

DOMINGO – 11 de abril

11h 00 –Início das atividades na Praça de Alimentação
12h30 – Bom Odori e matsuri Dance (dança folclórica com participação popular)
13h00 – Apresentação do grupo de taikô (tambor) da Acema
13h10 – Yosakoi Soran. – Grupo Seishun (Campo Grande)
13h14 – Artes Marciais
14h00 – Moti Tsuki ( apresentação de preparação do moti)
14h20 – Karaokê infanto-juvenil
15h00 – Yosakoi Soran Street Fest 2
16h30- Show de música, dança e taiko (tambor)
17h45 – Grupo Brisk – Cover do SuJu (dança moderna)”

Mapa para o local do evento:

*ah sim, meu grupo de jornalismo (3o período Universidade Positivo) vai estar lá para fazer uma pequena matéria de 2 minutos… depois que estiver pronto faço um post a respeito. :D

Fonte: Tadaima! Curitiba e Assessoria de Imprensa do evento pela Nikkei – Associação Cultural e beneficente Nipo-Brasileira de Curitiba

*english readers: This is an informative post about a local Hana Matsuri event happening this weekend. :D

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]]> http://xspblog.com/2010/04/10/hana-matsuri-2010-curitiba/feed/ 7 For all those missing the daily posts… http://xspblog.com/2010/03/01/for-all-those-missing-the-daily-posts/ http://xspblog.com/2010/03/01/for-all-those-missing-the-daily-posts/#comments Mon, 01 Mar 2010 17:37:50 +0000 XSportSeeker http://xspblog.com/?p=17362 Dunno if I made this clear enough, so I’m just posting to say that I’m still making my daily news selection.
You can read them by either:
- Getting a Twitter account and start following the XSpBlog’s Twitter account
- Checking once in a while the Recommendations page here on XSpBlog
- Use the public feed page automatically generated by XSpBlog’s Google Reader account… though it’s kinda messy.
ImmaLion

ImmaLion


Don’t be afraid or get in the f* car if you see the above on the Twitter profile or other pics – it’s just me.
Just figured out it wasn’t worth rewriting every piece of interesting news I picked everyday, if I could just point them out like this.
Blog will be used… quite rarely unfortunately… for when I produce my own content.
Thanks to all readers out there! :D

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]]> http://xspblog.com/2010/03/01/for-all-those-missing-the-daily-posts/feed/ 0 Danny Choo no Fantástico! http://xspblog.com/2010/02/24/danny-choo-no-fantastico/ http://xspblog.com/2010/02/24/danny-choo-no-fantastico/#comments Wed, 24 Feb 2010 18:21:17 +0000 XSportSeeker http://xspblog.com/?p=17348 Mais de mês que não escrevo nada… é que ainda estou decidindo o que vou fazer com o blog.
Mudanças drásticas no formato virão.
Mas enquanto isso, estou escrevendo para avisar os otakus brasileiros que neste domingo (talvez no próximo) teremos Danny Choo no Fantástico!
Danny Choo

Danny Choo em seu ambiente de trabalho (inveja)


Pra quem não conhece, Danny Choo pode ser considerado o embaixador internacional dos otakus no Japão.

Não quero ficar puxando o saco aqui, mas ele não é um otaku ordinário como eu e você. ;)
Danny Choo

Palestra dada na Anime Festival Asia 09


Danny possui uma lista espantosa de grandes empresas (como Amazon do Japão, Microsoft e JAL) onde trabalhou, uma lista de redes de televisão (CNN, BBC News), revistas e grandes portais onde deu entrevistas, além de eventos que ou participou ou promoveu em diversos países onde se fala uma das cinco línguas que domina.
Danny Choo

Danny Choo em filmagem - The People vs George Lucas


Está por trás de vários projetos interessantes (como o livro Otacool) e atualmente é diretor-executivo do portal de Internet – Mirai Inc que tem grandes empresas como clientes.
Danny Choo

Danny Choo e Amano Ai na loja Kotobukiya - Akihabara em sessão de autógrafos para o lançamento do livro Otacool


Danny Choo foi um dos grandes inspiradores em minha decisão de criar e manter este blog.
Escrevi um certo número de posts onde ele aparece em algum ponto, como em Hobby Trailer e vídeos de seu alter-ego (que o tornou famoso no início da carreira no blog) – Tokyo Storm Trooper.
DannyChoo.com

DannyChoo.com


Pra quem sabe bem inglês, recomendo visitar o blog do Danny Choo. É um misto de cultura otaku, a vida cotidiana no Japão, mais alguns outros temas que também cubro por aqui. :D

Fonte e informações detalhadas: Página instituicional do blog official do Danny Choo

*english readers – This is an annoucement of Danny Choo’s interview that will show up on brazillian TV next Sunday. Post is mostly Danny’s bio, which can also be found on the link above! ;)

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]]> http://xspblog.com/2010/02/24/danny-choo-no-fantastico/feed/ 6 Strapya World – Sound of Something Button Keychain http://xspblog.com/2010/01/30/strapya-world-sound-of-something-button-keychain/ http://xspblog.com/2010/01/30/strapya-world-sound-of-something-button-keychain/#comments Sun, 31 Jan 2010 01:21:46 +0000 XSportSeeker http://xspblog.com/?p=17096 Strapya World is a japanese toy company/distributor/store that get on the news every now and them for their weird, cute, interesting and unique ideas for toys.

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Lots of random cellphone straps or keychains with random sounds.

They are sold like small gifts and prizes… generic toys.

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Smells like office prank, don’t they?

Source: tomonaring YouTube Channel

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]]> http://xspblog.com/2010/01/30/strapya-world-sound-of-something-button-keychain/feed/ 0 I Can Has Cheezburger – Kitteh on the Prowl http://xspblog.com/2010/01/30/i-can-has-cheezburger-kitteh-on-the-prowl/ http://xspblog.com/2010/01/30/i-can-has-cheezburger-kitteh-on-the-prowl/#comments Sat, 30 Jan 2010 16:05:43 +0000 XSportSeeker http://xspblog.com/?p=17344 What got my attention on this Cheezburger video is the cat’s pupil:

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Freakish or funny? I dunno!

So, I spent yet another very productive evening doing this:

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Enjoy!

Source: ICanHasCheezburger

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]]> http://xspblog.com/2010/01/30/i-can-has-cheezburger-kitteh-on-the-prowl/feed/ 0 Strapya World – Electronic Beer Can Opener Cellphone Strap http://xspblog.com/2010/01/29/strapya-world-electronic-beer-can-opener-cellphone-strap/ http://xspblog.com/2010/01/29/strapya-world-electronic-beer-can-opener-cellphone-strap/#comments Sat, 30 Jan 2010 01:17:43 +0000 XSportSeeker http://xspblog.com/?p=17094 Strapya World is a japanese toy company/distributor/store that get on the news every now and them for their weird, cute, interesting and unique ideas for toys.

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Can we call this one a patch or fix for alcoholics?

Source: tomonaring YouTube Channel

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]]> http://xspblog.com/2010/01/29/strapya-world-electronic-beer-can-opener-cellphone-strap/feed/ 0 Strapya World – Bandai Edamame Soybean Pod Keychain http://xspblog.com/2010/01/28/strapya-world-bandai-edamame-soybean-pod-keychain/ http://xspblog.com/2010/01/28/strapya-world-bandai-edamame-soybean-pod-keychain/#comments Fri, 29 Jan 2010 01:07:03 +0000 XSportSeeker http://xspblog.com/?p=17087 Strapya World is a japanese toy company/distributor/store that get on the news every now and them for their weird, cute, interesting and unique ideas for toys.

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Edamame from Bandai only makes sense for those who ate fresh natural boiled soybeans that are still in pods.

It’s stupid delicious! In this case though, it’s just a stress relief in keychain or cellphone strap form. :P

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mamemamemamemamemamemamemame

Source: tomonaring YouTube Channel

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]]> http://xspblog.com/2010/01/28/strapya-world-bandai-edamame-soybean-pod-keychain/feed/ 0 Strapya World – Banana Peeling http://xspblog.com/2010/01/27/strapya-world-banana-peeling/ http://xspblog.com/2010/01/27/strapya-world-banana-peeling/#comments Thu, 28 Jan 2010 01:19:47 +0000 XSportSeeker http://xspblog.com/?p=17091 Strapya World is a japanese toy company/distributor/store that get on the news every now and them for their weird, cute, interesting and unique ideas for toys.

Clique aqui para assistir o vídeo inserido.


Believe it or not, this is a japanese keychain toy thing that emulates peeling off a banana.
And the best part? It emulates the supposed sound of peeling a banana with a voice saying “peel” in japanese… or english with a very heavy japanese accent.

Source: tomonaring YouTube Channel

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]]> http://xspblog.com/2010/01/27/strapya-world-banana-peeling/feed/ 0