I never realised that the stretching of time in dreaming was also built into the music score: Basically, every level of sleep in the film stretches the time – 5 minutes of sleep gives you 1 hour of dreaming time in the first level of sleep (12 dream minutes per 1 real minute). On the second level, one gets 1 hour for every 5 minutes spent in the first dream, which means that 5 minutes in the real world turn into 12 hours at dream level two.

So,  Hans Zimmer used the same slowing down with the Édith Piaf song “Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien”, the song used as a countdown marker for the team. Pieces of Piaf’s interpretation of the song were stretched, manipulated and woven into Zimmer’s score. The following YouTube video shows how it works:

“You realize that the elements that we’ve extracted from the Piaf song are the way you get from one dream level to the next,” Zimmer says. Simple and yet such a brilliant idea! Great film on many levels – well worth watching.

Here’s a video of Hans Zimmer and Johnny Marr perform live in the Inception premiere:

These guys are not only supertalented but also superheroes: if you wanted to show your support or enjoyment of the album then they ask you to make donations to Burma Campaign or Refuge (the domestic abuse charity).

Since every good album needs at least one Star Wars related tune:

04 Every Death Star Has Its Exhaust Port

Lyrics: EVERY DEATH STAR HAS ITS EXHAUST PORT.
(This song will mean nothing if you haven’t seen, memorised and quoted Star Wars (ep. IV, V, VI) or The Last Starfighter. The word FRAK comes from Battlestar Galactica. I’m saving Quantum Leap for the Q album.)

Are you gonna let them talk to you like that?
Live your life under tyranny…well FRAK THAT!
I ain’t standing for this bubble of shat,
You’re incredible, right? It’s time to be incredible.
They aren’t the dogs with the biggest teeth no more,
You need to use your noddle if you wanna win a war,
This is what rebellion is for,
We’re invincible, right? It’s time to be invincible.
And you can start by singing a song like:

YES THIS BATTLESTATION IS FULLY OPERATIONAL,
JUST REMEMBER THAT KICKING ASS IS AS SIMPLE AS SHOOTING WOMPRATS BACK HOME!
(they’re no bigger than two metres, they’re no bigger than that!)

“Greetings Startfighter you have been recruited by the Star League to defend the Frontier agaist Xur and the Ko-Dan armada,”

A-Team, Airwolf and Street Hawk too,
Taught a little boy what he really had to do,
And that’s to help get the message through,
That you’re incredible, right? It’s time to be incredible.
And now I’m getting a chubby for justice.

YES THIS BATTLESTATION IS FULLY OPERATIONAL,
JUST REMEMBER THAT KICKING ASS IS AS SIMPLE AS SHOOTING WOMPRATS BACK HOME!

There is no try, only do or do not…Karl.
You gotta STAY ON TARGET!
Come on, Kid.
Let’s blow this joint and GO HOME!

MANY BOTHANS DIED TO BRING THIS INFORMATION TO US.
(Ewoks! UNITE!)

Nintendo DS bought from Bangkok has turned to a huge hit with my four-year-old nephew Oiva. Hours pass by and the little guy just can’t get enough of Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy and Lego Indiana Jones, The Original Adventures. The strength of both games is that these cute Lego characters have unlimited lives in their puzzle adventures. Once a story (level) has been played through, it gets unlocked and can be accessed again and again. Nimble auntie is still needed to unlock the stories the first time, but it looks like she won’t be needed much longer… I watch in awe how quickly a kid learns; Legos, Star Wars and gaming combined, I support this hobby full heartedly.

Learning the basics of Nintendo DS

Sudoku and Spanish language games on DS will be tested with my 60-year old mum Kaija some time soon.

Talking about mum, all the apple trees in Laukkoski are bursting and she has become proper hardcore in the neverending process of juice making. When passing the kitchen and her bubbling cauldron, I witnessed these labeled bottles and couldn’t stop laughing:

Liian makea omppumehu

Liian makea omppumehu, ‘Too sweet apple juice’. I pointed out her peculiar labeling, but she didn’t find it funny at all. Instead, she informed that

When I mix the content of these bottles with the previous set of liian hapan omppumehu ‘too bitter apple juice’, the resulted combination will be just perfect.

(Yes, she did a degree in chemistry in the University. One of her wisdoms is: “Everything is chemistry”, which seems to answer pretty much every question I’ve ever asked her.)

Another wise Finnish woman, a priest and journalist Hilkka Olkinuora was recently interviewed in Teema for her new book Elä Ihmeessä! Her revolutionary idea of “On OK olla tavis“, ‘it’s ok to be average’ is refreshing; Western culture emphasises people’s uniqueness and individuality and even though it is encouraging to think that everyone is special, it also increases the pressure to succeed and the fear of failing. Olkinuora’s viewpoint is both comforting and merciful.

Less comforting are the results of a research by Professor Adrian North of Heriot-Watt University that link music tastes to personality. “The aim of this survey is to investigate the importance of musical preference in different aspects of everyday life. We also would like to see if it can have an influence on one’s significant relationships.” Go here to participate in the online survey.

Roi recently defined my favourite music genre as nynnymetalli, ‘wimp/loser metal’. The research defines metal fans (rather accurately to Roi’s definition) as:

Low self-esteem, creative, not hard-working, not outgoing, gentle, at ease

No one has ever called me ‘not hard working’, ‘not outgoing’ ‘gentle’ or ‘at ease’. I am very much the opposite of all those attributes. I go through the results looking for a more suitable music genre for the hard working and outgoing people and the result is – country and western! Curse and damnation!

P.S. The task took couple of years to complete, but I finally finished watching the whole seven seasons of Deep Space Nine: 176 episodes, 45 minutes each adds up to 132 hours or five and half days of Star Trek. Time well spent – I might not qualify as a Trekkie, but you can call me Niner anytime:

Star Trek fans who believe Star Trek: Deep Space Nine is the best series of the franchise adopted the title of Niner following the episode “Take Me Out to the Holosuite“, in which Captain Benjamin Sisko formed a baseball team “The Niners”. (Wikipedia)

Nerdy and nice. Wonder where I should proceed next? Captain Picard beware…