Job Hunting

Here I am updating my old rickety resume with the last stint I had in IT. I cannot belive that more than 4 years have passed since I did a major update. I kept thinking what made me stay for all those years. Was it the money? The people? The benefits? Such thoughts got me thinking that first it was money, then it was people, then the benefits.

As I mentioned before, I have met a lot of characters here and there. It's your typical A-Z crowd. From the people who I think I jive with to the people who are just plain nutty. I don't mean to abandon anybody, I tried to know everyone either by face or name but this brain can only take so much. Thinking back, I remember a lot of faces but rarely remember their names.

Anyhoo, I digress so let's go back to my resume. Apparently, keeping track of what you have done is mentally taxing. There are so many minute details that you can write on but the question is, which of those mattered? I'd like to think that I contributed something culture-changing but since they expanded, the culture evolved. I guess being a melting pot of different perspectives can be bad if not utilized properly or nobody takes their time to guide the direction that it takes. If I were in a position to make a decision, I could have prevented that and would probably not allow such a thing to devolve the office culture I once loved.

We all hear about that change is a constant but we always forget that we can redirect that change and use it to our advantage. If left alone, you get chaos. That rarely puts us in a better position in moving forward. We love to bicker and we love to take advantage of others. I guess its a natural thing for social beings. Its engraved in our minds that we should be at an advantage. Sad but true.

Ah well, I'm almost done with updating my resume and will just proof it later.

Inception

When was the last time you watched a movie that left you mentally exhausted? That was the question that impeded on my mind after watching the latest Christopher Nolan project, Inception. The cast is led by high-caliber actor and academy award winner, Leonardo Di Caprio and supported by a strong support cast which includes, Ken Watantabe ( The Last Samurai) and Joseph Gordon-Levitt (3^rd Rock from the Sun, Ten Things I Hate About You).

The brunt of the story shows a seemingly unlikely future where people can manipulate the subconscious by entering the victim's so-called Dreamscape and plant the most simple of ideas that affect the way a person decides in the real world. In a much more deeper level, if too much ideas are planted on the victims subconscious, this can affect the totality of the person when they wake up form their slumber.

It appears that this sort of activity is considered illegal yet used often in any type of espionage for those that can afford but yet again this has never been shown to be true. Proof that this is accepted as part of the future's business practices have not surfaced either during the movie.

The plot maintains the old anti-hero versus the system feel but in this script it deals with mind manipulation using the subconscious as the medium. If you remember the Wachioksi Brothers the Matrix and Phillip K Dick's Paycheck, you can see the similarities and know that this was inspired work in the realm of science fiction. Depending on how deep one thinks, I do not see that anyone will get the canon of the movie immediately. I can imagine the difficulty of executing complicated situations in a visual form that requires the mental capacity of the above-average to grasp in a few minutes the visual and mental stunning concepts while watching the film.

Just like in the Matrix Trilogy, the concepts are similar but the difference is that the aforementioned shows reality as generated by computers and the current is reality generated by the subconscious. The battlefield in this story is interestingly enough the subconscious of the victim which has a whole plethora of possibilities and limitations.

There is a dark quality to the movie that projects a clean-on-the-outside-but-dark-on-the-inside atmosphere. Leonardo Di Caprio's character, Dominic Cobb and his supporting cast shows this in the simplest way possible. I strongly believe that this is the appeal of the film. There is not much visual grit and violence to see but the mental concept is left to the viewer's imagination.

As the movie progresses along, one will initially think that the plot revolves around Leo's team versus the victim. That plot slowly shifts that implication and draws it's attention slowly to Leo and the complicated past his character endures.

There is a lot of implied ideas on the film where you think you will grasp it but a twist changes the flow of the plot and as I mentioned this is a mental roller coaster and the mind needs to be active at all times.

I feel I do not need to discuss the whole plot as I encourage you to watch it with a clear mind. If I go on about the details of the plot, I'd end up with spoilers and you may soon realize that the little spot on your screen is spittle from your mouth after a moment of cursing at me in the most vicious of tongue.

What I liked about the elements on the film is the use of real-world experience's to explain what we tend to miss. One example is what they called the Kick. This is essentially how to wake up a dreamer in the dreamstate. If you remember dreaming, you always end up in the middle of something but never at the beginning of the dream. Most of the time you either wake up from that dream, falling from a high-altitude or dying. When one thinks about it, these explanations of what happens in real life are true. In the film, they attempt to explain these truths in order to simulate the Kick by waking up the dreamer by either plunging the dreamer's real body in a tub of water or simulating the feeling of falling from a chair or any place where the body itself will feel like its falling which in turn causes the dreamer to wake up.

Here is something to think of when you watch this film which I believe is the best movie this Summer of 2010.

Is Dominic Cobb still dreaming or is he still in what he considers his own reality?

I'd like to hear your own interpretation of the movie and tonight when you dream, I challenge you with a question:

Will you be dreaming tonight and be able to control your subconscious?

Let me know how it ends.  

The Last Day

Today is my last day at work. I have been planning this since August when I heard that the account I was working in had to pull out when they were swallowed up by a bigger institution. It's too bad since I was starting to like it and I knew almost every nook and cranny in their process. Alas, all good things must come to and end. I do not regret staying here for as long as I have but I felt I am no longer needed here and I need to do something new. 

I have met a lot of interesting characters and I surely hope I have made a name for myself here. Beyond the courtesy and social niceties, I decided to leave abruptly to avoid any regrets on my choice of leaving. Taking into account the cost-cutting measures and the egos I have encountered have added a stronger affirmation of the urge to leave and start anew in a different field of discipline. 

I understood the risks and I plan for the long-term and have a recovery plan in case it doesn't work. If this doesn't work out I may have to succumb back to my origins and try again. Nevertheless, I am in the pursuit of passion and when was the last time that the romance of pursuing a passion been a disappointment?

Off to a new adventure is both exciting and unnerving but that's why it is called a leap of faith.