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Stromboli the pizza roll with an identity crisis

On March 09, 2011 In Movies, Uncategorized

This is a bit of a messed up meal. I had never given it any thought until someone at the office pointed out that Stromboli is the name of a place. But first, BEHOLD! This is a Stromboli.

Basically it’s a pizza that has been rolled up. That’s about it. It makes eating an entire log of cheese and peperoni very easy (why you WOULDN’T want to eat this I have no idea). However, when I made mention of what the heck I was eating at the office on of the guys made mention that Stromboli was in fact a place! So began the hunt for information on this King of log like lunches. Fortunately we quickly found this Wikipedia article on it: Stromboli food

Which says that this was actually named after this movie:

Starring Ingrid Bergman and Roberto Rossellini. Which is about how 2 people married so that the lead ladies character can avoid being imprisoned… somehow. Anyways the hubbies home town is Stromboli which is where most of the drama occurs… Apparently. I haven’t seen it so I can’t make comment.

So here we now have a Lunch Log named for a movie that was named for the town Stromboli. A rather round about way to get a name I must say. Which brings to question… how many other movies or food have this bizarre treatment? For instance Jet Lee’s movie “Hero” could be named after the sandwich! Hulk Hogan could be named after Hogan’s Heroes which was named after a Hoagie sandwich! This conspiracy of food inspired movies and movie inspired foods runs deep I think.

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Groove Shark

On December 20, 2010 In Media

Ok. Just a quick post on this site. IF you like music, or better yet, streaming audio websites this is by FAR the best one I’ve found out there. I mean seriously. USE this music application if you haven’t already or “install” it as a Chrome Web App. It’s free and it’s like iTunes but online. I’ve literally replaced my iPod with this and I haven’t paid a dime (although the subscription costs are very cheap at $6/mth anyways). So ya. If you haven’t checked this out go here: www.grooveshark.com

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Inception

On September 21, 2010 In Media, Movies

So I got a request recently to do a quick synopsis of what the heck the movie Inception was about. So below are my thoughts and ideas regarding that movie specifically. Nothing too in depth but regardless I’m testing out the NEW “Spoiler” tag I have for my blog (style of it edited by my friend and owner of Scoopmedia. Look for her link in the links section to the right).

Spoiler Inside	Select Show
One thing that people remark about this movie is how complicated it is. I argue that it isn’t all that complicated when you break it down into it’s basic story components which it uses quite well. The basic story is that you have a group of thieves that are very good at their job and that they’re hired to do another job which instead of stealing something they want something forged and put in place (the “will” that they used to convince the son that he should break the company apart). If you want to boil this film down even further into a standard movie or story genre it’d be along the same lines as any bank heist movie… No seriously. I KNOW that there’s the whole dream aspect but that’s more or less inconsequential to the base story line itself. Which is again a bunch of very good thieves that steal information from a very secure location (the persons mind). If you want a direct comparison movie wise lets pull up the movie “Ocean’s 11″ starring George Clooney and Brad Pitt. In that film they had to do the following things. Get a heist (The Casino) Assemble a team (you know… the actual… 11 of them… cuz that’s the title of the movie) Teach a new protégées the ropes (Matt Damon) Break through multiple layers of security (The entrance, the elevator, the “pinch”, the telephones etc) Get the money Leave safely In Inception the only difference is that they’re leaving a forgery at #5 instead of taking something. So the outline would be this instead: Get a heist (convince someone to break up their fathers company by making him believe that is his fathers dieing wishes) Assemble a team (the forger, the protégées [Ellen Page in this Matt Damon in Ocean’s 11], the old master [Leonardo in this but George in Ocean’s 11], and the side kick [Joseph Gordon-Levitt in this Brad Pitt in Ocean’s 11]) Teach the new protégées the ropes Break through multiple layers of security (the rainy city, the hotel, the icy fortress) Leave the forgery for the guy to read it Leave safely (The “kick” to get them to wake up or escape a level of security) If we accept that the movies base plot is a simple heist at this point the only question that remains is the whole idea of dreaming in a dream and whether any of this is actually real or in a dream itself. Another good movie to draw parallels from for this is the movie “The Matrix” where a bunch of people are plugged into a HUGE simulation. To quote Morpheus from that film “What if you were in a dream you couldn’t wake up from, how would you know what is real and what is not?” Which if you want to put a REAL spin on that movie you could argue that the wasted earth was also a simulation to make the prisoners believe that they HAD escaped but in reality hadn’t. Much like Inception really. So the question remains was Leonardo’s character in a dream or not in Inception. Well… sadly there’s no real good answer to that. Which personally is one of the single best parts about that film I find. Regardless here’s the arguements for him not being in a dream: He wakes up with the appropriate people on the plane. If you count the levels he goes down and comes back from they work out properly The wedding ring. He isn’t wearing it all the time. If I’m not mistaken he’s not wearing it at the level he meets his kids. Which is a reasonable thing to do since his wife “left” him at that level. Arguements that he’s still in the dream: His kids don’t age (hardly their fault for not aging in the span of a single movies filming cycle though) His team. They all seem to have very distinct personality types which could be individual parts of his psyche The city chase he had when talking to the forger. It was maze like, you didn’t REALLY know the layout of the place and he was getting chased by some police force much like someones mind protects itself from other rogue thoughts as explained earlier in the movie. Finally the top at the end isn’t an argument for either. But it is a GREAT piece of cinema leaving everyone in the lurch trying to figure out if he is or isn’t in a dream. So what’s the answer? There is none. But it’s loads of fun to discuss no?

Spoiler Inside

Select Show

One thing that people remark about this movie is how complicated it is. I argue that it isn’t all that complicated when you break it down into it’s basic story components which it uses quite well. The basic story is that you have a group of thieves that are very good at their job and that they’re hired to do another job which instead of stealing something they want something forged and put in place (the “will” that they used to convince the son that he should break the company apart). If you want to boil this film down even further into a standard movie or story genre it’d be along the same lines as any bank heist movie…

No seriously. I KNOW that there’s the whole dream aspect but that’s more or less inconsequential to the base story line itself. Which is again a bunch of very good thieves that steal information from a very secure location (the persons mind).

If you want a direct comparison movie wise lets pull up the movie “Ocean’s 11″ starring George Clooney and Brad Pitt. In that film they had to do the following things.

Get a heist (The Casino)
Assemble a team (you know… the actual… 11 of them… cuz that’s the title of the movie)
Teach a new protégées the ropes (Matt Damon)
Break through multiple layers of security (The entrance, the elevator, the “pinch”, the telephones etc)
Get the money
Leave safely

In Inception the only difference is that they’re leaving a forgery at #5 instead of taking something. So the outline would be this instead:

Get a heist (convince someone to break up their fathers company by making him believe that is his fathers dieing wishes)
Assemble a team (the forger, the protégées [Ellen Page in this Matt Damon in Ocean’s 11], the old master [Leonardo in this but George in Ocean’s 11], and the side kick [Joseph Gordon-Levitt in this Brad Pitt in Ocean’s 11])
Teach the new protégées the ropes
Break through multiple layers of security (the rainy city, the hotel, the icy fortress)
Leave the forgery for the guy to read it
Leave safely (The “kick” to get them to wake up or escape a level of security)

If we accept that the movies base plot is a simple heist at this point the only question that remains is the whole idea of dreaming in a dream and whether any of this is actually real or in a dream itself. Another good movie to draw parallels from for this is the movie “The Matrix” where a bunch of people are plugged into a HUGE simulation. To quote Morpheus from that film “What if you were in a dream you couldn’t wake up from, how would you know what is real and what is not?” Which if you want to put a REAL spin on that movie you could argue that the wasted earth was also a simulation to make the prisoners believe that they HAD escaped but in reality hadn’t. Much like Inception really.

So the question remains was Leonardo’s character in a dream or not in Inception. Well… sadly there’s no real good answer to that. Which personally is one of the single best parts about that film I find. Regardless here’s the arguements for him not being in a dream:

He wakes up with the appropriate people on the plane.
If you count the levels he goes down and comes back from they work out properly
The wedding ring. He isn’t wearing it all the time. If I’m not mistaken he’s not wearing it at the level he meets his kids. Which is a reasonable thing to do since his wife “left” him at that level.

Arguements that he’s still in the dream:

His kids don’t age (hardly their fault for not aging in the span of a single movies filming cycle though)
His team. They all seem to have very distinct personality types which could be individual parts of his psyche
The city chase he had when talking to the forger. It was maze like, you didn’t REALLY know the layout of the place and he was getting chased by some police force much like someones mind protects itself from other rogue thoughts as explained earlier in the movie.

Finally the top at the end isn’t an argument for either. But it is a GREAT piece of cinema leaving everyone in the lurch trying to figure out if he is or isn’t in a dream.

So what’s the answer? There is none. But it’s loads of fun to discuss no?