‘Inception’, Escapism, and some old artwork o’ mine

Inception–everyone’s talking about it, and if you’re one of the few who say you didn’t like it, I can’t say that I believe you. But let me tell you one thing, I haven’t geeked out on a movie like this…ever! Well not since Avatar.. For someone who is obsessed with surreal visuals, paradoxes, puzzles, and well, just dreaming in general, this movie enchanted me.

In high school and for a short time in college, I used to try to train myself to lucid dream, looking down at my hands and fingers every so often as a way to check if my current situation was either a dream or reality (my totem, I guess you could say). They say that if you look down at your hands and find that something funky is going on–missing fingers, extra fingers, no fingers, hair or plants growing on your palms..you get it–then this would confirm that you are indeed dreaming.

Back to Inception. The movie provided everything that a person could possibly want in a film–it had the visuals, the action, a small bit of humor, and all the heart-wrenching romance that kept us attached to our protagonist.. And most importantly, it provided the escapism, the fantasy of leaving yourself to experience a world different from the one you know.

Think about some of the movies we’ve seen in the last decade. There have been quite a few that deal with the character passively lying down while experiencing an entirely different world, either inside their head or in some parallel universe. The Cell. The Matrix. Surrogates. Avatar. Inception.

Plugging In

They plug in, and while their body stays in one place their mind goes somewhere else. Sounds a bit like our society right now doesn’t it? These films are exaggerated, romanticized metaphors of what we as people in the new millenium do everyday. We could be sitting by ourselves at the DMV (yes, I am writing this entire blog post in my seat at the hell that is the DMV), pick up our smartphones and plug into the vast network of thousands, millions of people who are currently plugged in as well. I’ve seen entire groups of teenagers at the mall, all hanging out together but all on their phones…their bodies may not be asleep, but their minds are definitely somewhere else. Once I went on vacation with a girl who brought her laptop and couldn’t get off of iChat for the life of her! She chatted all day long, talking to other people online and somewhat ignoring the ones she took a trip with. What was it that made her online conversations more desirable than real human interaction? For most of us, losing our laptops or cellphones are like losing a limb. You feel empty and naked without it. Unplugged. Just something to think about I guess.

Anyway, time for me to unplug right now. I think my number is about to be called, thank God (yup…still at the DMV). I managed to make sure to look somewhat put together today for my driver’s license photo..unlike last time, where my black beanie made me look like I had a big afro and not a hat.

With that said, at the moment I’m working on some geeky Inception-inspired fan art. I’ll post them up sometime next week. !!!

Paradoxical Art

In the meantime, while we’re still on the Inception theme, I wanted to share with you some super old paintings I made for my AP Studio Art class when I was 17, deep into optical illusions, paradoxes, and my lucid dreaming phase.. Til next time!

Wooden House, 2003