Inception. Simplified: Vish Dhamija

     Like all sci-fis, to begin with, you need to accept that it's possible to steal information from Johnny when he is asleep and dreaming. If you accept dream-burglary, you only need to push the boundary a little to agree it's possible to seed a new idea into Johnny's mind, while he dreams. If you are, now, on the same plane and convinced it is possible, I can begin explaining Inception.

Rules of the game: 

If you die in a dream, you wake up.

If you die in a dream within a dream, (II layer of dreaming, mind you) you can be left in a limbo for a lifetime.

     Leonardo Dicaprio is tasked, by the baddie, to plant a wicked Inception in Johnny's mind. To ensure the implant happens correctly, and deep enough, the team (LD's team) decides to sedate Johnny and take him to the second layer of dreaming. According to the plan, Johnny is tranquilised on a 10 hour flight from Paris to LA (in dream arithmetic, 10 seconds = 1 hour and, somehow, 10 hour flight = 1 week, but please don't ask me why or how?)

     As luck would have it (or to lengthen the movie/story), Johnny is versed with dream-invasions and his auto-defence kicks in, which in the movie is depicted as security personnel shooting bullets at the speed of Concorde. One of these, freely raining, bullets hits Johnny, hence, before he dies, and to prevent him from getting into a limbo, the team decides to take him to the III layer of dream (hold your breath  it's a dream, within a dream, within a dream) and succeed in seeding the villainous idea.

     If that's not enough, and it hasn't got your head spinning by now, Leonardo Dicaprio (who is accompanying Johnny in the III layer of dream) decides to go in layer IV (dream, within a dream.........within a dream) to settle an age old agony/dream.

     Statistics in US reveal that the movie has attracted repetitive viewing by audience, as a lot of viewers went into a limbo.

     Why am I not surprised?

Recommendation: Watch at your own risk. You might have to watch it second time :-)

Sugar and Spice - Vish Dhamija

It's not sugar. And, it's not spice. 

     I call them sugar n' spice because the only flavours my tastebuds can discern remind me of how basic I am. My sense of gustation can, still, only recognise elementary tastes - sweet, bitter, sour, salty and spicy.

     Macallan "Fine Oak" 10 year old (Speyside) is the one I am talking about  here - smooth  and complex. (it matures in Spanish Oak casks seasoned with sherry and American Oak casks seasoned with bourbon, amongst others) The aroma has hints of fruits, honey and vanilla, though my nose finds vanilla overpowering the other two, but that could be a personal thing. In any case, either or all of, these three fragrances conjure up memories of everything sweet. Hence, I call this one sugar.

     Talisker 10 year old (Only single malt from Isle of Skye) is my spice. It tastes of sea-salt and has a peppery finish, which I love. Take a bite of strong blue cheese with a sip of this whisky and let the flavours mix in your mouth. Don't complain if you cannot stop after one.

     Like all single malts, all you need is a good glass to enjoy it. No water. No rocks. No soda. No mixer.
     A word of caution: please enjoy responsibly, :-)

JFK

There's a conspiracy theory about everything - the Titanic never sank, Neil Armstrong never landed on the moon, Elvis Presley faked his own death, Michael Jackson isn't dead, Shakespeare was someone else - and someone put it aptly: "There is no conspiracy. It's good journalism."  

JFK (released 1991) sheds light on one of United States' most enduring mysteries, the assassination of President John F Kennedy in 1963. Three years later, District Attorney Jim Garrison  - played by Kevin Costner - finds too many coincidences, inaccuracies and conflicts in the investigation report (26 volumes) by Warren Commission. Interrogating several witnesses to the assassination, he and his team establish, beyond doubt, that Lee Harvey Oswald couldn't possibly have carried out the task single-handedly. Further investigation reveals that although all documents report three shots were fired, witnesses had heard up to six shots...

In the 1969 trial of Clay Shaw (one of the accused), Garrison provides more evidence that there were six shots fired and not as reported and that the single bullet could not have assassinated JFK and another person in the car. His theory is based on the fact that CIA got the president murdered and covered it up. Though Garrison lost the case, the end credits state that in 1979, someone (I have forgotten the name) testified under oath that Clay Shaw had been, once, a part-time agent of the CIA.

Whether you believe in the theory or not, it is an amazing movie. One of those movies, which - despite knowing the outcome - you end up biting the best part of your nails. A must watch (189 minutes)

*****

Queen of Crime: Agatha Christie by Vish Dhamija

This bank holiday weekend in the English Riviera reminded me - as if I ever forgot - of Agatha Christie. Born in 1890 in Torquay (Devon) and, except for a few years, lived there for most of her life and wrote 80 crime novels, 19 plays, 6 romances (as Mary Westmacott), two books of poems, one of reminiscences and one autobiography. 

Amongst others, she created two of the most famous characters in crime fiction - Hercule Poirot and Miss Jane Marple - that live on, even to this day.  According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the  "Queen of Crime" is the best selling author of any kind (along with William Shakespeare) and her work has been translated in over 100 languages. As an ardent reader of "whodunit" mysteries, I admit I am a fan and also marvel at her brilliance. 

        Having known some authors personally, I am aware that it takes more or less a year to finish a manuscript. Then it, obviously, needs editing, polishing, re-editing et al., before it is in any shape or form to be sent to an agent or publisher. Hence, even if you are not a fan of hers, or not impressed with her style of writing, you have to acknowledge her sheer genius to have come up with so many plots, and then put them on paper brilliantly. Good enough for 4 billion people to buy them, besides all the adaptations for films, television, theatre and comics. All this with no computers to work on, back in the day.

        In September this year, there is the annual Agatha Christie Festival in Torquay (English Riviera) and it promises to be the best so far, as it coincides with her 120th birth anniversary.