Nick - Juxtaposition

I storm into the meeting room furious. I have a prepared speech in my hand, but I'm not going to read from it; I know it by heart. I looked around the room. Senator Kirby is sitting on the left side of the long, oval shaped meeting table. He is my staunch political ally, but he averts his eyes as I walk in. He has already caved in, and he knows I am going to fight.

I nervously open the door handle to David's apartment. I can hear the party going on inside, but I still wish that Ryan would come let me in. He is the only reason I am here; I really don't even know David that well. I had come out here on Ryan's insistence that I should get out and have fun more often, but it was feeling more and more like a bad idea. I opened the door.

I hear the meeting room door slam behind me as I walk around the table, giving Senator Ryan Kirby a stern look of disapproval. There are two men in suits, standing, ready to give a presentation. Supposedly they are "experts," but I know better. They're nothing more than pawns, probably in the employ of Senator Adrianna Christie.

I squeeze into David's apartment, and my ears are assaulted by loud music, and even louder shouting and laughing. The noise is a little overwhelming. I squint around, trying to find Ryan, who had said that he would be here. I had been texting Ryan earlier this night, but he had stopped responding. I struggle through the crowd of people, but I'm having trouble moving around at all, let alone finding Ryan. I see a sliding glass door leading out to the balcony, and decide to see if my friend is outside.

"Nice of you to join us," says Senator Christie, who sits at the head of the table. She sneers in a way that makes me want to drop the act of professionalism and punch her in the face. She seems to revel in her position as the head of the newly-formed Agricultural Subsidies Commission. I keep my cool and say nothing, my countenance remaining stern and immovable.

I sigh in relief as I step out of the hot, crowded air of the party, onto the cool and relaxing balcony. Ryan is out on the balcony talking to a small group of people. I interrupt him and say hello. He shakes my hand, and urges me to wait out here for him while he goes and talks to someone inside. Feeling slightly abandoned, I watch him head back into the apartment, taking much of his social circle with him. I'm left out on the balcony with two men having a smoke, and a very bored looking girl.

"We think the evidence clearly shows," said one of the men in suits, as they finish their presentation, "that the implementation of this subsidy increase for high-yield plantations is absolutely necessary. After all, certainly we can all agree that we want to encourage efficiency?"

Standing on the balcony, feeling the cool breeze, I stand by myself until the girl standing not far from me strikes up conversation. I answer all of the usual questions: how old are you, where are you from, how did you hear about the party? I was twiddling my thumbs shyly, but finally I look up at her and we make eye contact. She's beautiful. We talk for a surprisingly long time.

I slam my hands down on the table in response to such a ludicrous question. "This subsidy is nothing short of highway robbery, and you know it!" I burst out violently, "all of your keywords, your talking points, are just smoke and mirrors. These subsidies are no more than handouts to the richest parts of the agriculture industry, and calling them 'high yield' or 'high efficiency' doesn't change that fact! This is the money of the taxpayers, and it should be going to those who need it, or nowhere at all!"

"I know you said you were here with your friend Ryan," says the beautiful girl, "but I really am not at all good with parties. I'm meeting a few of my friends at a restaurant in a little while. Any chance you'd like to come with?"

My face is red from shouting. I look around the table at everyone else present. No one meets my eye, except for Senator Christie, who looks back mockingly.

"I would love to go with you," I tell her, giving a warm smile, "I'm not very good at parties either. I don't think I'm going to miss this place much."

"There's really no need to get so upset," Senator Christie sneers, "After all, we already have the votes to clear this plan, with or without you."

As I walk out of the party with the beautiful girl, I remember that I don't know her name yet. "I totally forgot to ask your name."

I lean in close to Senator Christie, and my mind fills with hatred as I stare into the soulless void of her eyes. "No matter how many votes you have, I'm going to keep fighting this. I'm not giving up this time."

My smile widens as the beautiful girl laughs, her eyes sparkling, and says, "Sorry, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Christie."

Sometimes I think that maybe, if we had met under different circumstances, things would be different.

-Nick.

Things that make me go bump in the night.

So guys, what have you done with your last week?

I have lost my wallet, beaten Final Fantasy XIII, worked way too much, gone camping, seen Band Practice in concert, written a will on behalf of my '95 pimp van, and seen Inception twice.

Losing my wallet sucked ass tits. Beating Final Fantasy was great, working was a worthy investment (so I'd like to think), going camping was awe inspiring, seeing Band Practice was really cool, learning of the van's impending doom was, well, expected. But man... seeing Inception gave me what I like to call a "nerd boner".

I have seen five Christopher Nolan films. All of which have stuck with me due to the impressive (and impressively consistently impressive) storytelling. Always do I leave the movie wanting to turn around and go watch it again. Oftentimes I do, as was the case with Inception. Memento, The Prestige, Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, and Inception all rank in my top twenty favorite movies. That's pretty ridiculous. One director can claim a fourth of my favorites to his name (not that he'd care to). Each of those movies contains ridiculous depth and all of them are prone to plotholes due to their complexity, but you would strain yourself coming up with any harshly significant ones. The man should really collaborate with Disney Pixar, seeing as how both entities seemingly can do no wrong.

Anyway, back to my raging nerd boner. Seeing movies like this gives me the uncontrollable urge to dissect the film and truly understand it for everything the director wants the movie to be understood for. Hence I saw The Dark Knight six times in theatres. It inspired me to watch three seasons of Batman: The Animated Series and was the reason I grew my hair out two months longer than I wanted to just so I could pull off a killer Joker for Halloween. I delve into the mythology of these amazing stories, pore over the internet for tidbits of info on who will be playing The Riddler in Batman 3, see other people's theories on the ending to Inception. When something so anticipated and something you are so interested in is done so well, it transcends the label of being a "great movie" and reaches beyond the love you had for it going into the production. The Dark Knight is a movie I love and cherish due to its brilliance in bringing to life a story that graphic novels can take only so far. My imagination runs rampant with ideas and stories that would be portrayed if Heath Ledger's dumbass wouldn't have OD'ed after giving his best on-screen performance ever (and that dude played a gay guy! a gay cowboy no less! that shit is hard to do!). Hey, there's still hope Heath faked his death and that The Joker will be back in Batman 3. Leave it to Nolan to stage the greatest subterfuge in the history of mankind, right? Right? ....sigh..... if only.

Finding flaws in Chris Nolan movies is like bitching about the one thing your parents didn't get you for Christmas. However, in the case of Inception, Rotten Tomatoes has found plenty of gripers to showcase the neediness of American movie-goers. If you read into the negative commentary most of it is either ignorant people who didn't care enough to actually invest themselves into understanding the movie or ignorant people who didn't like it because it was weird and different. This movie offers so much it serves up a brand new never before thought of concept, exhilarating and epic action sequences, engaging and dynamic characters, and about six layers of thickening plot on a two and a half hour long platter. I won't ask for anything more, except maybe a ticket to the next available showing. (Oh and here's some related reading if you thought the Inception critics were laughably unreasonable. The funny thing is, look at how smart most of these people try to sound just because they need you to believe they're smarter than you for their opinion against conventional wisdom to hold any ground)

Chris Nolan, the man who knows how to make movies better than you do, is working on a story for Batman 3. Two years from now, that movie will have been out for a day (I will probably be on viewing number 3). Fact is, Inception serves as proof to me that the man can and will do no wrong. He can take something, make it up, and then do it to perfection the first time. He is brainstorming a mind blowing movie right now and for that I thank him. Until that day two years from now, I will be anticipating, keeping busy, watching less significant big screen releases, re-watching old Nolan masterpieces, and waiting patiently as the movie of my dreams comes together like a symphony under the conducting of the one man who I'd trust with my life to do it beautifully.

Guys, I really like Christopher Nolan.

--Eliot Sill