今天看到的消息...

今天下午在实验室看到facebook上一条新闻。刚开始只是感觉有些意外，然后心里稍稍高兴了一下，告知几个好友，说我今晚要把新买的Beaujolais红酒开封畅饮。回到家了，看看冰箱里储存的红酒，想想还是没喝。

坐下来后，感觉又回来了。跟康奈尔的“老大姐”聊了几句，她叫我设想一下如果自己还在美国Ithaca，那么今天的生活完全就是另一个样子。白天上课，晚上学习，有空出去见见朋友，到处跑跑。而且，那样的话如果熬到今天就不会是孤身一人了。有些事情明摆着的，自己迷在局中才看不见。我原先就说有些事情不会长久，果然被我说中了。可惜老天总是给人玩一个时间差的游戏。也许是年龄还小涉世未深，对于生活的点点滴滴没有经验，就像是给个孩童一只整鸡，尽管饿极，这个鸡还是大得让他不知从何处下手。有人天生就会吃鸡，有人后天摸索出来吃鸡的方法，还有人是从别人那里学来的。如果这个孩子的父母一直把鸡撕开给他鸡腿，那么恐怕这小孩长大后都不知道鸡是何物。饥荒的时候即时抓到了一只鸡也不知道如何把其变成盘中餐。这人很可能守着食物而仍然饿死。想想至今所有错失的良机，也只能继续走下去了。毕竟生活的脚步是不会停下来等你的。

今天要申请奖学金，与SKS开会商讨这个学期的活动，又是忙碌的一天。

Thriving like a cockroach

Saturday night was Uppsala cultural night, an annual event hosted by all the activity clubs in town.

I went out with some friends. We took a drink at Upplands Nation, we went to an improvisational salsa lesson, and hanged out with some exchange students for a while. I was the one who brought groups of people together, and it was fun.

All of the guys who went with me to the salsa lesson thought it was an excellent idea. To them it meant getting intimate physical contact with scores of beautiful girls with hardly any effort. To me it wasn’t anything new. After all, it seemed like a smart idea to attend that dance lesson that night. Luckily the jousting show wasn’t as long as I thought would be. So I could make some positive adjustments to my plan. After the salsa lesson, we checked out over a hundred people dancing in circles on the square in front of the train station. A girl in our group suggested we should join the circle. So I ran over there with her. Then a funny thing happened: it took us like two minutes before we realized the dancers were all Iraqis, except us two Asians. We crashed the gathering of a local Iraqi community. But we were high, we were excited and in that moment, nothing in the world could stop us. We danced for a while before going back to our friends, who were still shaking their heads in disbelief of our little adventure.

Enough report on cultural night, let’s get down to my epiphany.

Mr. Hu the president of CSSAU once said to the graduate freshmen, that one ought to live like a cockroach in order to get used to the Uppsala student life. Roaches are die-hard creatures. You stomp on them a hundred times, they can still get up and crawl away flattened. They recover miraculously fast. To all the SC2 nerds out there, you know what I’m talking about. Just to make it clear, I deal with computer games only in past tense. Roaches even live through atomic blast. When all other sophisticated life forms perished in the nuclear winter, roaches remain, ready to dominate the earth and direct a new round of evolution in its own image.

Roaches are tough. So should men. Remember the Asian Playboy article I posted? A pickup artist should have thousands of approaches, with the number of rejections in the same order of magnitude as the approaches. Only then can they achieve their goal. In the seduction community, there is a saying that the best PUAs have had more failures than the average men. An average frustrated chump have never tried, thus, his statistics could potentially look better, because his number of rejections are zero. In the end, no matter how many battles you fight, you will only be remembered for the ones you win, and not the ones you lose.

Well, I’m not here to talk about seduction community. Getting rejected in clubs is nothing compared to those rejections for life. One of my friends at Cornell went on probation for failing numerous classes in one semester. He wasn’t dumb or lazy. That time, he took on too many projects and was way over his head. He spent half a year studying at home, fixing credits from summer school, and finally returned to Ivy League. In my opinion, he will accomplish great deeds, simply because he recovered from such a blow and learned his lesson. For someone who has always been successful, he/she won’t possess this potential. Well, if the winning streak never ends, then luck can be seen as ability. However, once the walls fall around you, some people just won’t walk around with the same confident stature as before.

It’s not about never failing, it’s the recovery. To realists, “failures” occur when things don’t go your way. They are bound to happen. You just have to live through them. Remember Mystery once brought a fake cigar to bars and night clubs. It was just another prop he wanted to try. Unfortunately, within minutes of conversation, his targets could always realize the cigar wasn’t real. They asked him why he brought a fake cigar when going out. The first time it happened, he didn’t have any good answer. He was like “uh, I don’t know…” Whenever somebody looked through his trick and confronted him about it, it was like catching a pig in a bag. No thrill, just slaughter. However, Mystery came up with an excellent way to recover from his blown cover.

He said: smoking disgusts me. Then he would puff the cigar as if it was real. This line made a humorous turn and his status was reinstated.

In real life, you don’t always find a fast and easy recovery as Mystery did. But you have to recover anyway. When Boston Celtics were facing off the Kobe-led Lakers, their head coach told the Celtics: Kobe will always score. He’ll score no matter how far away the hoop is, he’ll score with your hands in his face, and he’ll score with you performing a perfect block on his shot. You just have to take Kobe’s hits and hit back harder. In that game, Kobe scored a game-high 38 points. However, the Lakers lost with almost 20 points. It’s your right to get whatever you want, but it’s the right of the universe to grant you failures. Countering failure is like stopping Kobe Bryant from winning a game. They’ll always hit you, and sometimes hurt you. Just stand up like those hits weren’t real, and try again.

Nothing goes according to plan

A brand new semester, back in Uppsala. New friends, new faces and new allegiances. Also, a new set of plan of my last academic years. At one instance, it seemed like everything is fitting into a perfectly knitted grand scheme of things to come.

Only if the things went according to my plan.

Scenario one: finding a housing in Uppsala this year is difficult beyond belief. The youngsters born in the 1990s have graduated from high school. Due to the worldwide recession, those folks who didn't choose academia, ended up jobless. This year is the time when everyone turned their eyes from the depleted job opportunities to higher education. The university officials, incompetent as they are, admitted more students than what the local housing options can possibly accommodate. Also being the last tuition-free year for master students coming from outside EU, the influx of international graduate students is at a historic high. With my 1700 days in the line at a major housing company, I only got an apartment after three rounds of selection. The move-in was set at September 1st, two days since the semester start. During my first ten days in Uppsala, I lived at a friend's place. He was kind enough to let me sleep on a comfortable mattress in his living room. This guy and me, we were in the same class since freshman year. Now he's doing his master thesis. It's like living a life connected by three dots: BMC, the institute where he works; home; the ICA store where he purchases grocery. Life is boring and it sucks.

Scenario two: most of the people I knew since earlier are either taking a year off, or working on master thesis. There are few familiar faces in my classes. My social circle in Uppsala is facing a decline. My friend Anna with astonishing prowess in Chinese, went to China; Sven the nice dude from Chemical Engineering chose one year in Shanghai after losing a student board election; A clique of girls in my major either transferred to Gothenborg or remain in Adelaide on exchange. Other than my friends who departed, more are on their way to leave the town. Mohammad my IBO-alumnus is going to Chicago for his master thesis in a few months. Without the company of my closest friends, I'm yet again a new guy in town.

Scenario three: I finally moved into my new apartment. It seems like the previous patron from either India, Pakistan or Bangladesh abused the condo badly (his name was still on the mailbox). The wallpapers are completely greased. The doors are full of dents. The funniest part is, he even removed the light bulbs from the kitchen, the bathroom, and the closet. Something you definitely shouldn't do in a Swedish apartment for rent. This apartment came unfurnitured. The first few weeks in school are totally wasted on buying furnitures and making my home look good. Whenever I'm cooking or just hanging around, I keep finding new traces of past abuse. I don't wanna act like a racist. Though I strongly encourage people to not live into their own stereotype, giving the true racists reasons to justify their actions.

Scenario four: One of my best friend is supposed to write his bachelor thesis in Economics. However, due to a misunderstanding between him and his faculty advisor, he failed to register the thesis-writing as a course. This semester, he got no course registered. Which in turn meant no study aid from CSN, the Swedish Board of Study Aid. Initially we were supposed to share the apartment together with a third patron from China. Since he got no money, he had to back out. To fund his living, my troubled friend must find a job. I can't blame him, although I sincerely hope this transpiration won't disturb our perfectly maintained friendship. I'm sharing the apartment with two Chinese graduate students now.

Scenario five: it's gonna take longer before I can graduate. If I insist on having my master thesis in US, I must wait. Mohammad is going to Chicago in January, and he was accepted as early as in May. Two people from my major started their own iGEM team. Both of them got projects to work on stateside. They were admitted when I was still in Cornell and they are going in January as well. The lapse of at least one semester is required from the point one gets admitted til the actual visit. I realized when I was indulging myself with the Cornell experience, my Swedish classmates weren't sitting around doing nothing either. Since they stayed for a prolonged time in Uppsala and obtained experience within the local research sector, they gained an upper hand. Even with the valuable trainings Cornell offered, I ended up "in their game". For example, the iGEM folks would never peer into iGEM if they went abroad. They wouldn't know enough people in Uppsala to build a team and get financial support. In some sense, it's better to stay at one institute than moving around. It's good to get new experiences, but if you want to accomplish something, sometimes you have to settle down and let time fullfil its promises. I have no clue of what's gonna happen to me next semester. It would suck so much if I can't make it to USA before summer. I'll become a super-uber-senior who takes too long to graduate. Besides, I won't even have those friends with master thesis around me anymore. They'll be graduating in spring and leave the town.

Even with a few difficulties in my social as well as academic life, there are a few things I haven't lost my grip on. I'm mostly interested in synthetic biology. Unfortunately Uppsala has no research program or courses offered in the field. I want to find a lab in US working on it. To prepare myself, I signed up for a literature project course. You are to read articles on a given subject and submit a review. I chose synthetic biology. I want to read up on the subject so I will know for sure what I'm gonna work on. Also, it's a chance for me to prove myself for my future lab supervisor that I know a great deal about synthetic biology even without having worked in a synethic biology lab. My friend who offered me housing earlier suggested since Uppsala has no synthetic biology, I can perhaps bring it here. After working and gaining enough experience from my future research abroad, I should try to lead my own synthetic biolog team in Uppsala and become a professor. When that day comes, I must hire a bunch of good-looking babes as my students, and put my friend right in the middle of all those wonderful creatures. "By then, you can finally repay my favor!" He gave out a laughter.

Tomorrow is a big day. My parents are coming to help me furnish my room. After that it's an important meeting. I still love US much more than Sweden. Hopefully I'm going to see the "land of freedom" again in the near future.

Predators, let the survival begin!

今天看了新片《Predators》，中文好像叫《捕食者》或《钢铁战士》。对不熟悉这个系列的童鞋们，我给来个简短的介绍，就算是如个门吧。

Predator 这个系列应该可以算是科幻，动作，血腥与恐怖合四为一。第一部由施瓦辛格主演的《Predator》在1987年进入影院后便一炮打红（万分注意结尾的 s）。如今围绕这个主题展开的有五部电影，多款游戏，和无数漫画及动漫。在欧美，Predator的fanbase十分庞大。Predators是一类人形外星生物，又称捕食者。他们的科技比人类要发达很多。他们可以在星系之间航行，并且把自己的人和宇宙飞船用隐形装置隐蔽起来让人无法发现。在拥有发达的科技下，捕食者们保留了武士和猎手的文化。一个捕食者在同伴中的地位以捕猎的技能有关。他们佩带猎物身上摘取的骨头作为战利品，以此展示自己的捕猎能力。资深的捕食者一般身上挂满了各式各样外星生物的头颅。年轻捕食者必须经过的成人礼，就是被送到一处猎场，捕猎并且存活下来。



这里关键细节呢，就是：他们捕的猎物之一，是人。你看的没错，叫human也好，叫Homo sapiens也好，就是人。这里所涉及的是对传统道德观的挑战。当今人们捕猎，已经不是为了食物，而是寻求回归原始的暴力感和刺激。捕食者作为科技更发达的文明，捕猎科技落后的蛮荒人类。你还可以把它跟非洲殖民者比较，拥有机枪的白人屠杀使用长矛弓箭的黑人，也曾经被美化为文明铲除野蛮的过程。 Predator这个系列造就了一个假想天敌，把处于人类文明鼎峰的战士们放在猎物的位置，然后再把屠杀演给人看。在捕食者刻毒的高科技武器面前，人仿佛小孩脚下的蚂蚁一样弱小。在捕食者面前，低级的人类是牲口，是猎物，是娱乐的工具。在捕食者的枪口下，伟大的人与伟大的蚂蚁毫无差别。一千五百年前，蛮族首领，匈王阿提拉（Attila the Hun）率领铁骑大军席卷欧洲文明的罗马帝国，使其灭亡。阿提拉为日后的历史学家上了一课：文明与野蛮的界线，是由刀剑画出来的。残忍的捕食者之所以能把文明的人类变成牲畜，只是因为他们的科技和武器给了他们这个特权。到最后，为了存活，人类所有的道德观，价值观纷纷飞灰烟灭。唯一剩下的原则是强者存，弱者亡这个简单事实。丘吉尔曾说过：“History will be kind to me for I intend to write it.”为了存活，为了能撰写自己的历史，有时候人需要脱离并超越简简单单的“对与错”这个层面。

（透剧警告！！！）

《Predators》是Predator系列的第五部大片。电影开始，Adrien Brody（The Pianist男一号）同学以自由落体速度从天空下坠。处于昏迷状态的他在半空中惊醒，就在快要摔死的前几秒，降落伞张开，他落在了一处热带雨林里。落地后，Adrien在雨林里遇到了七个与他经历相同的人。他们几个要么是职业军人，要么就是杀人不眨眼的职业罪犯。这里有：俄罗斯特种部队先锋兵（Spetsnaz alpha group），以色列国防军狙击手（Israeli Defence Force sniper），墨西哥贩毒团杀手（Los Zetas enforcer），日本极道稻川会成员（Yakuza Inagawa-kai），非洲塞拉利昂叛军战士（Revolutionary United Front of Sierra Leone），FBI通缉的头号死囚，和一个连环杀人犯。Adrien的角色在片中既没有给出自己的姓名，也没有透露自己的背景。不过片中的以色列人，也是唯一的女角色，说他应该是该行干雇佣兵的前特种兵。逆境让一行人团结起来，合力寻找离开这片雨林的路。很快，他们发现，这里并不是地球上的任何原始森林，而是某个外星球。紧接着，他们遭到了未知生物的攻击。很快，捕食者们显形了：他们的能量武器可以瞬间把人降解成一滩血肉；他们的隐形装置能让自己与猎物近在咫尺而不暴露；他们的速度和灵活可以穿越布满陷阱的危险地带；而且捕食者力大无比，人远远不是对手。Adrien同学很快明白了：整个星球是个庞大的狩猎场，而他们是捕食者精心挑选的猎物。他们几个人被选中，完全是因为他们代表了人类社会最擅长杀人的人。捕食者们希望在猎取人同时强化自己的战斗技能。身边的同伴一个个倒在捕食者刀枪下，Adrien却在暗中琢磨如何返回地球……

整个电影动作片成分占了绝大部分。虽说剧情背景如此阴暗，但如果说写剧本的想引起人们思考什么，那绝对是不可能的。满分10分的话我给它打个7分。主要靠剧中人物的“真实性”。虽说这是个科幻片，讨论真实不真实有些可笑，可我还是要说几点。首先，剧中的人物比观众聪明。受过训练的特种兵，杀手和战士都精通杀人招数。作为被捕杀者，他们能够很快识破捕食者用以捕杀他们的伎俩。某个角色通常会解释捕食者为何如此如此，然后女狙击手会问他如何知道。解释的这个人会说：“因为我如果是猎手我会这么做”，或者“我以前就这么杀过人”。跟杂牌军相比以色列国防军的狙击手反而显得无比菜鸟，除了扣动扳机什么都不懂。大部分观众就像这个女兵，被蒙在鼓里直到有人指点才恍然大悟。由于角色们的平均智商比较高，他们每人都有很多不上银幕的小动作。因此，剧中时常出现没有任何前提而突然发生的现象。Adrien说“the sun hasnt moved since we got here”，给人感觉是“WTF？”以色列兵对周围发生的事不知情，却一眼就认出了捕食者。原来以色列军人可以随便偷看军事档案，像wikileak对阿富汗战争了如指掌。她看的资料提到美国特种部队1987年在Guatemala的一次任务中被捕食者猎杀，说的是1987年的第一部《Predator》电影的情节。FBI通缉的死囚不知何时偷偷穿上了捡来的防护背心。他背上挨了一炮都没死。可是之前剧中说防护背心只能用来屏蔽体热从而让捕食者发现不了。既然捕食者看不见他，那一炮，最不该被打的就是这个死囚。日本稻川会成员在逃跑过程中突然停下了，他要与来敌决斗。在这里还能看出好莱坞对日本武士道的神化。日本黑帮抽出武士刀，与佩带合金钢爪的捕食者大战三百回合，最终以平手告终。既然解决一个捕食者只需要牺牲一个日本武士，那么如果剧中所有的人都改行当武士的话，这八个人有大半可以活着回家。日本的铁匠也太敬业了。日本钢刀不仅可以开膛破肚，还能挡住未来金属爪的切削。死得最冤的是Lawrence Fishbourne（The Matrix里面的Morpheus）演的Noland，一个流落在行星上多年的老兵。此人亲手解决过好几个捕食者，他想尽了一切办法活下去。 Noland为了能得到更多的武器甚至想暗算我们的主人公。而Predator出现时，他随便一炮就被打死了，没有任何特技动作。剧中唯一的大腕影星所占戏份不过五分钟，看来导演把工资都花在建造这个行星上面了。虽然以色列女兵脑子不好使，她说了全片两句最有哲理的话。一句是“我们被魔鬼选到这个行星上来，是因为我们在人类社会就是杀人无数的魔鬼”，另一句是“敌人的敌人并不一定是你的朋友”。对于电影的结尾，我还是比较满意的。至少导演没给设个 “happily ever after”，那样的话就没法看了。

一本正经的雇佣兵终于说出了自己的名字：Royce；以色列女兵告诉他：My name is Isabelle。剩下的两人与最后的黑色大捕食者对决。无奈对方太强壮了，Isabelle被长矛钉在了地上，Royce被打得满脸是血。黑色捕食者伸出钢爪，准备砍下Royce的头……就在这时，Isabelle的手枪响了。黑色捕食者的胸膛被大口径子弹穿透！Royce乘这个机会，甩掉自己的刽子手。他抬头向天上望去，血色的天空中绽放开一朵朵白色的降落伞：后面的一批猎物又到了。他像天空伸出双手。每只手的手背上纹了一颗六芒星。他想起了儿时在 Auschwitz度过的地狱，向远方的耶和华祈祷……

空中有个没有张开的降落伞。一个黑点从天而坠，在Isabelle视野中越来越大。轰的一声，天空赠与的不明物体砸在刚刚爬起来的捕食者身上，把他拍扁了。地上只剩下了一滩绿色的血肉。Royce定睛一看，耶和华下赠的救命法宝，竟然是一台钢琴。他坐下来，为了感激上苍的恩赐，弹奏起肖邦的《Andante spianato et grande polonaise brillante》。曲终，Royce搀扶起倒在地上的Isabelle，看着远方落地的降落伞，说：“答令，我们找个途径离开这个星球！”

你要是相信我编的这些胡话你就傻X了。结尾你还是自己去看吧。

Inception剧情攻略

上周末去电影院看了Nolan的新片《Inception》，感觉这部片子是自从《Dark Knight》以来少有的好片了。如果满分是10分本人会考虑给它10，给Christoffer Nolan这个导演打11分。片中还有本人喜欢的加拿大女演员Ellen Page。此片成分丰富，要动作有动作，要悬念有悬念；外加梦幻世界那近似哈里波特的魔法的狂想，Inception可以说是满足了大多数影迷的胃口。我这两天在网上看到不少网友写了针对此片的影评。仔细一看发现在国内看过Inception的朋友对此片有很多不同的理解。有人以数学角度分析Nolan设计的一幕幕梦幻密题。分析透彻到连微积分，无穷尽，欧式几何都带出来了。这么认真的解析是本人想破了脑袋都不一定写得出来的。可惜的是，在同时我也看出，诸多国内的影迷没有看懂这部电影。包括一位对Inception的数学内涵分析到骨灰的网友，他在试图解释剧情时让人一眼看出：此人没看懂情节。我不知道这是文化差异造成的还是翻译的失职。至少我在瑞典影院看原版美声版的时候并不觉得有啥令人费解之处。我在此简单走一遍故事主线，以供大家借鉴。

如果你还没看过Inception，我请你不要再往下读了。我这里特地声明一个透剧警告。

首先来一个简短的人物介绍。

Dominic Cobb，职业：the Extractor，盗梦者。Cobb由Leonardo DiCaprio扮演。两个孩子的父亲，妻子自杀。依靠给跨国公司盗窃商业情报为生。手段是通过目标在做梦时侵入对方防御薄弱的潜意识拿走重要信息。

Ariadne，the Architect，造梦者，也就是萝利。Ariadne这个名字来源于古希腊神话。神话中的Ariadne是一位公主，太阳神的外孙女。她曾协助英雄Theseus屠杀为害当地多年的牛头巨怪。造梦者的任务是构造一个梦境的大环境。进入梦境的人会用自己潜意识的镜像填充这个场景。如果造梦者建造了座城市，那么街头行走的路人就是进入做梦人的潜意识。Cobb传授萝利如何造梦，让她把梦境中的整个城市对折过来。这样一来梦境与现实相比太假了，做梦者的潜意识能明白过来是在做梦，而且是别人设计的梦。潜意识的自然反应是驱逐不速之客。后来梦中的行人（潜意识的化身）攻击Ariadne，把她一刀捅醒。

Arthur，the Point Man，“抢点者”，也就是人们说的小帅。Point man的意思是军队里面抢点的先锋兵。他要在战友冲锋之前进行火力侦察这项最危险的任务。Arthur在电影中负责调查目标人物的背景。这组人执行任务时刚刚进入Fischer梦境就遭到了枪击。Arthur事先没有得知Fischer受过另一个盗梦者的训练，他的潜意识自卫能力很强。Fischer梦境中的行人已经不是路人甲，而是实枪荷弹的雇佣兵。这一失策不能不说是Arthur的失职。

Saito，the Tourist，参观者。这位由渡边谦扮演的日本公司总裁是个看客。他雇佣Cobb一行人入侵对手公司继承人的梦境，为了确定任务的完成，他跟随Cobb进入梦境协助并监视他。Saito在梦中被打死，陷入梦境地狱（Limbo），潜意识的最深处。

Robert Fisher，the Mark，“标点”。跨国能源集团的继承人，此人是盗梦者们的目标。所有人的技能和精力都汇聚在他的潜意识里，他是个方面能力汇集的焦点。

Eames，the Forger，变形者。他能在梦中假扮任何人的身份，包括目标人物的教父。剧中的打戏也几乎都是他的。

Mal Cobb，the Shade，“魅影”。Cobb已故的妻子。剧中能看见的是Cobb潜意识里对她留下的镜像。也就是说她的行为不代表真人的性格。Cobb对Mal施行inception造成了Mal的自杀。对Cobb来说，Mal的死是打击最大的失败。在Cobb的愧疚及负罪感作用下，我们看到的这个Mal是一个心魔，她代表Cobb对失败的恐惧和自我能力的怀疑。显而易见，这个心魔使尽解数干扰Cobb盗梦，说到底，还是Cobb对自己的质疑在干扰自己。

Yusuf，the Chemist，药剂师。他提炼的药物能使人处于深度梦境状态。这个深度梦境和深度睡眠不一样，因为做梦是在浅度睡眠的REM阶段。那种状态的眼球会快速转动。在Yusuf的药物作用下，梦中被杀死的人不会惊醒，而是陷入更深层的梦境，直到最深层的Limbo，梦境地狱。演药剂师的印度演员已经在两部大片里上演配角了。上一部是在《Avatar》里他演给男一号暗中提供情报的科学家。

现在我们说个重要概念。

Inception在电影中是extraction的反义词。Extraction是盗取别人脑海里的想法。Inception是往人脑海里植入想法。影片开头Saito要求Cobb往对手公司继承人Fischer脑海里植入一个想法：解散他父亲创建的跨国集团，从而挽救Saito的事业。Cobb和Arthur说这很难，因为潜意识对于想法的来源从来都能摸索到。如果某个想法是强加的，人的思维能辨别出来。为了举例，Arthur让日本总裁不要想“大象”。接着他问Saito在想什么。Saito说他在想大象。Arthur解释说他已经把“大象”植入了Saito的脑海，可是Saito明白这是Arthur给他的，不是Saito自己要想的。这段话其实揭露了Inception的本质：如果你想说服一个人按照你要求的方法思考，你不能反复念叨试图把想法强加于人。唯一可行的途径是引导目标往你想要的方向思考。接下来任务的布置也把这个观点表述的淋漓尽致。

接下来，故事的英雄们要大干一场了。Cobb设计了这么个局：三层梦境，逐渐进入Fischer的潜意识，引导他打开内心的密室，看到自己想看到的：他的父亲爱他，但他希望Fischer能为自己而活，白手起家，独立创业。等到人们都上飞机后，梦境开始了。

本人喜欢用世界杯来描述梦境的逻辑。这些人在同一个梦境中相遇，其实是所有人在共享各自的梦。这就好比世界杯球队汇聚到一个东道主国家踢球。每层梦都有一个人坐主场，其他人进入这个人的梦境。按理说东道主应该管辖梦中的场景，但Cobb一行人把这个任务交给了我们的萝利，也就是造梦者。造梦者好比设计赛场的工程师，例如在北京构造“鸟巢”的瑞士建筑家。其他人进入了梦境，把各自潜意识的镜像放在街上变成了行人，像是足球运动员进入赛场踢球。当然也有人不按规矩玩。英国人除了带球迷和小贝，还拉上足球流氓去闹事（开个玩笑而已）。Fischer受过训练，他的潜意识被军队化了，可以即刻辨别出异己分子并以重武装火力打击。就像是足球流氓砸场子。Cobb对自己的潜意识管理不严，尤其是Mal那个心魔。他一走神就把Mal和他们的小孩放进梦境。当然主场和客场也有差别，主场球队球迷多。这些共享的梦境里，势力最大的潜意识还要数主场人的潜意识。

第一层梦境Yusuf坐主场。梦境的设计者是Ariadne。Fischer刚刚进去就被Saito和Arthur绑架。与此同时，Fischer的潜意识开始抵抗，他的持枪保安们打伤了Saito。至于马路上那条火车，那是Cobb的潜意识不小心溜进去了（他曾跟他老婆在同一火车下自杀）。等到众人安度下Fischer和Saito之后，Eames装扮成Fischer的教父Peter Browning，与Fischer交谈。这里发生的是Inception的第一步：引起目标的好奇和怀疑。假教父提到Fischer的父亲在办公室保险箱里留存了一份只有Fischer能看到的密文，大意是授权Fischer把公司分解成几小块。要知道，Fischer跟父亲的关系很差。他爸临终前跟Fischer说了一句话。Fischer只听见了“失望”一词。从这判断，他能猜出老爹说的不是什么好话。对他恨之入骨的父亲竟然还给他留了一份特殊遗愿，如果我是Fischer我也想知道这遗愿说什么。时间紧迫，Arthur逼着Fischer交出保险柜密码。Fischer说不知道，Arthur就让他说出脑子里第一个想起的六位数。这个六位数成了第二层梦境的关键和第三层开启保险柜的密码。

好的，Cobb进入第二层梦境，留下Yusuf开车，执行唤醒众人的“the kick”。这里有个窍门：如果想要知道梦境是谁的可以看看其他人进入更深层梦境时留下来的那个人。道理很简单：如果这个梦是我的，我还进入更深层的梦，那我之前的梦就要土崩瓦解了。不过此处有个漏洞：Cobb口口声声说第三层梦境是Fischer的，而Fischer在第三层被Mal打死了。这么来看第三层梦境应该是Eames（变形者）的，也就是假的Peter Browning。

第二层梦境，Arthur做东。为了加快任务进程，Cobb和Arthur选择了Mr. Charles这套战术。Cobb在梦中接近Fischer，声称自己是Charles先生，一位Fischer梦里保护他的潜意识镜像。同时，为了解除Fischer的心防，Cobb成功地让Fischer以为自己的潜意识保安们是Browning派来绑架他的盗梦者，而Cobb一行人才是Fischer的潜意识镜像。这样一来，Fischer的清醒意识与潜意识为敌，心理防御骤减，由此打开了进入第三层梦境的大门。Cobb把Eames扮的假教父押到Fischer面前。这个假教父承认自己派人绑架Fischer，为了阻止Fischer听从那份遗愿解散跨国集团。Cobb要求Fischer对教父实行以彼之道还治彼身，用Browning携带的梦境器材入侵Browning的潜意识，去看看那份遗愿到底说的啥。回过头来，Cobb又对Arthur说他们其实要进入Fischer的潜意识安插解散公司的想法，但还要让Fischer以为这是Browning的梦境。说是Browning，其实是Eames。从后面Fischer被杀和Eames的举动来看，第三层梦境还真是Eames的。这是本片唯一的漏洞。

Arthur留在后面掩护，执行第二层的唤醒工作。在这里看到，决定梦境环境的不光是造梦者。萝利进入第三层后Arthur为了摆脱追杀，把楼梯变成了莫比乌斯曲面的死循环。显然，Arthur有本事驾驭自己的梦境。前两天看到网上有人以为萝利既然是造梦者，那所有的梦都应该是她造的，包括Cobb的老婆Mal也是因为萝利偷看了她生前照片造的。对于这种自编自圆的言论，我不想说什么。造梦者是梦境的建筑设计师。建筑设计师除了设计自己的房子，还参观别人设计的楼房。说萝利造了Mal等于是说建筑师进入任意一栋楼，这栋楼就变成他的了。造梦者与非造梦者的差别在于，造梦者得到造梦任务的时候造梦，非造梦者游动于这个环境。如果造梦者不去刻意制造一个梦境，那么他在这种情况下就是一般的梦境拜访者。

一进入第三层梦境，动作片的成分暴涨。这层梦境是个雪山碉堡。有士兵把守。碉堡里面有个密室，里面保存了Fischer要看的遗愿。我们先假设这层是Fischer的主场。Cobb跟萝利说过，如果你造梦时在场景里加入了监狱，金库，梦中人看到这些场所会把它们和秘密联系起来，把个人秘密在潜意识的镜像关进去。接下来Cobb进去偷走这些秘密。萝利设计的密室，Fischer把在内心最深处的想法放了进去：抛开表面的矛盾，他实际上很渴望父亲认可他。而这个认可方式被Cobb从继位偷换成了：解散父亲的集团，父亲相信他依靠自己的实力依然可以成功（这个想法在西方人看来很正常：男孩成为男人需要百分之百的独立。如果中国影迷不理解，那就是文化差异作祟了）。只要Fischer进入了密室，看到自己的想法，那样Inception就成功了。这个想法是Fischer自己加上Cobb等人引导的结果。他不会感觉是被人耍弄了。于是，Cobb与萝利在外围监视；Eames单枪匹马与守兵周旋；濒死的Saito带上Fischer潜入碉堡。在这重要关头，Cobb的迟疑又引出了Mal的干预。Mal一枪打死了Fischer，任务失败。

在梦境中被打死的Fischer进入了更深一层的Limbo。萝利建议Cobb和她进入Limbo寻找Fischer。而原先进入过第四层梦境的只有一个人，就是Cobb。所以，第四层梦境是Cobb的主场。在第四层，Cobb终于揭露了Mal的死因。Cobb曾经在Mal活着的时候两人共享梦境。他们挖掘到各自梦境的最深处，那里时间流动的很慢。（按剧本，人在深度梦境中大脑运转快，感觉上度过的几年是现实的几分钟）他们在梦境中过了几十年，直到白头到老。Mal不想离开梦幻世界。Cobb为了说服她，第一次尝试了Inception：他给Mal植入一个想法，那就是“你所在的世界是虚幻的，死亡是唯一的出路”。此后Mal听从了Cobb的游说，二人躺在铁轨上自杀从而离开了梦境。可是令Cobb没有想到的是，这个被植入的想法存留在Mal脑海里，直到Mal以为现实世界也是一个梦境，为了试图觉醒而再次自杀。Mal死前留下足够证据令警方怀疑Cobb是杀手。Cobb从此被迫离家。由于Cobb经常把Mal压在潜意识深处，第四层的Mal比先前更加来势汹汹。Cobb面对自己的心魔，终于说出了“你不是我的妻子，你只是我脑海里的愧疚”。此刻，Cobb终于摆脱了精神束缚。他让萝利带领Fischer回到第三层完成任务，自己留下寻找死在梦境，迷失在Limbo的Saito。Fischer在第三层复活，进入密室，看到了保险柜中存留的想法，Inception成功。Eames，Arthur，Yusuf同时在三个层面启动“the kick”，除了Cobb和Saito以外的所有人都返回了第一层梦境。后来Cobb找到了Saito。

Nolan在结尾给观众留下了最后一个疑团：Cobb到第有没有离开Limbo？还是他在继续做梦？如果说他是在现实，那他的小孩儿不可能丝毫没有长大啊？况且他应该离家至少有半年了，对四五岁的孩子来说，半年也能长高不少。Nolan设计的最后一幕更是绝！Cobb用来验梦的陀螺在桌子上转，好像慢慢要倒了。就在上亿观众双眼都盯在陀螺上等待谜底时，Nolan决定谢幕。这个悬念能保证人们在多年后还一直讨论这部电影，试图明白发生了什么。

Inception最大的理解误区出现在Cobb，Mal，和萝利的三角关系上面。本人评一下。

萝利与Cobb之间没有任何特殊关系。美国文化没有所谓含蓄的爱这么一说。如果Nolan的剧本里想要两人好起来，那Nolan恐怕床上戏也拍播上映了。片中所演绎的仅仅是师徒之情。有人说如果萝利不爱Cobb那她为啥那么关注Cobb心理想啥。看过片的都记得萝利是怎么从第一个梦境出来的吧？被Mal用刀捅出来的。说到底，Mal的存在是个极大的不安因素。执行Inception这个任务有风险，如果你身边的队友随时揣着个炸弹，你应该很关心他的炸弹会不会不定点爆炸。萝利关注Cobb的想法，说到底是不信任他。西方男女之间，如果连这等程度的信任都谈不上，那更甭提爱情了。

此外还有人说萝利本事比Cobb要大，她第一次造梦就把Cobb吓住了。Cobb指责萝利不要用现实场景造梦，因为习惯了以后造梦者会分不清现实和梦境。萝利这个新手在玩火，Cobb当然看不下去。根本不是Cobb感觉自己本领不够被吓住了。有的说越厉害的造梦者越能保护住自己想法不说出来。Cobb在第四层把自己的想法跟Mal都说了，而萝利却从没表白。因此，Cobb只能潜四层，萝利至少潜五层。这是那门子学说？如果萝利能潜五层，那她进入第四层还需要Cobb帮忙么？况且美国人性格直白开朗，没人认为沉默是金。萝利不说什么是因为她无话可说。Cobb原先不想跟人讲述Mal的死，积压在心里的秘密最终变异成了眼前的Mal。表白之后他才重新夺回了心灵自主权。如果你把Inception当寓言来看，它说的无非就是有事别堵在心里。心理问题不需要堵塞，需要疏通。剩下杂七杂八的言论，有的说老头跟萝利联手把Cobb困在梦境里不让他做坏事。有的说萝利造出了一个毒辣的Mal从而让Cobb回心转意，回头跟她好。对听信这类话的人，我只说：电影本身并不神秘，是人们想得太多，越想陷得越深。银幕上没交代的，就当故事主线里没有。《Inception》就是个周末两小时娱乐嘛，何必费那么多神呢。

The stagnant phase of a transition

I've been working for four weeks since I came back to the home of IKEA. And my initial prediction was correct.

When I could choose to stay at Cornell as a transfer and pay the skyrocketing tuition fee (37 grand per year, USD), or going back to Sweden to finish my degree, I chose the latter. Staying meant responsibility. I couldn't go through with all the pressure of seeking financial support outside my family and standing totally on my own. One year stateside didn't give me that much confidence. Coming back to Sweden was more or less a compromise, a realistic decision. However, just like I was afraid of, so far, this country doesn't offer me as much as America.

I remember the first week I went to work. I knew some people there since 2008. Immediately I felt that talking to my colleagues wasn't that easy. When I started working for David B. Wilson, the first day I went to his lab I got to know everybody. People approached me to ask me what I was doing, where I came from, etc. This time, nobody did that. Whenever I tried to approach people, the responses I got weren't that positive either. I guess the reason I felt this way was because I just came back from the American culture. If I didn't leave Sweden on exchange, I'd consider their behavior perfectly normal. These days when most of my coworkers are on vacation, almost all the offices are empty. To be honest, some days I don't get a lot of chance to talk to people. Instead, I'm focusing on the little project I'm doing.

With this experience, I don't really picture myself being a corporate guy in Sweden. I'd rather spend my days in an American college. For the past weeks, I've worked til quite late. Since I get paid for every hour I stay in my office, I don't mind working some extra hours. After all, my mission here is to make as much money as I can, to offset the expenses I had from traveling. The cost is, sometimes the days get boring. I go out to work in the morning, I come back. In the evening there is not much time to do anything but eating, reading, chatting and sleeping. This means I only get to hang out with my friends on weekends. There are not many places to go to. Before leaving for Uppsala, I never went out in Linköping. If somebody asked me where to hang out then I can't answer. To cut it short, this month of my life has entered some kind of phase where "change" is a luxury.

Before I had a discussion with my Cornell friends on horoscope and personality. I turned out to be a typical Sagittarius. I set up numerous targets in my life, aiming at them one by one; I flow with or become the wind of change. What's happening to me right now, I can't stand it. There's gotta be a way out.

So today, after my work, I stopped by at Campushallen, or the university gym. I purchased an monthly membership that allowed me access to all venues. Tonight I'm pumping some iron! Suddenly, I recalled a quote I read in a book: "since you can't change everything around you, work within the circles of things you can change; with time, your circle will expand and cover the things you couldn't do anything about earlier". Next time you hear someone complaining there's nothing he can do about his life, call his bluff. You can always work out in the gym and stay fit, even if all else fails.

归家之路

回瑞典已经三周了。我清晰地记得在康奈尔度过的最后一天：跟着Keenan，Josh，Cynthia和昊哥，我们几个从下午一点吃午饭直到凌晨四点才依依不舍地挥别。再见这句话，跟他们几个就说了四遍。夏天大学里人不多。还没离开的好友也就那么几个。我在最后一天还见了Marwan和Selina，另外我的荷兰室友也从西海岸旅行回来了。我站在路边跟Selina聊了半个小时。等Keenan一行人驾车招摇开过，Selina回去休息了。她几天前感冒了，还没好。Cynthia问我说她是不是我原先提起的女孩。我说是。她问我是不是还喜欢她，我反问道“有这么明显吗？”Cynthia说能看出来。不是特明显，但能看出来。后来Josh问我，如果我选择在Cornell再留一年，我是不是要继续追她。我说这是毫无疑问的。暂时，这段故事只能是像张震岳的《思念是一种病》：“那些人事物会离我远去，而我们也终究会远离，变成回忆”。因为Selina，我跟Joyce还有过一场小小的误会。她这个来自香港传统家庭的女孩太敏感了。

Cynthia刚才问我的那句话，让我陷入了短暂的沉思。Selina这朵花，因为我的犹豫和零行动，被Ed（化名）摘去了。但我能看得出她还是有些心思不定。关于Ed，她从来不跟我提起一个字。她也从没对我说自己花名有主。每次她给我发facebook短信她都要换照片，好像故意不要让我看到她跟Ed的合影。人在康桥，我们有缘相遇，无缘相处。也许未来有一天我们会重逢。到那时，我再不会是一年前的那个小男孩了。其实我心里对Selina没有任何怨念。况且我第二学期也没少跟随欧派交换生们去夜店happy，干些“不三不四”的事情。我不是什么受害者。我在康奈尔的时间短，等不到她跟Ed分手那天。心里保留对她的信念，同时也不把太多牵挂压注在一个人身上。该玩的还是要玩。

晚上，我们一行人回Von Cramm看了《The Wolfman》。几个爷们说话没遮拦，上来就问如果狼人上了片中女主角，生下来的崽子是狼还是人？Cynthia只好装没听见。电影结束后我回屋打包，朋友们在一旁帮忙。男生们翻出了我买的APB光碟，又是一阵骚动。Keenan对此事看得很开，他说我是铸造一把新的PUA武器。三点半，Nino从Collegetown一路走来道别。等到客人们都回家时，已经是四点了。我的大巴凌晨七点启程，我在床上躺了半小时，觉得实在睡不着。可能是归家之旅前的兴奋，也可能是白天那一大杯Mate latte的咖啡因。于是起床。上网看信，发信，检查机票车票都在。楼上的Natalie每天四五点钟出去观鸟。可惜那天没有。我也就没跟她道别。凌晨六点，我最后走遍了楼里所有的走廊和公共房间。这毕竟是我最近十个月的家啊。我记得第一个学期我一点都不喜欢这个宿舍。因为嫌人太少，你就是跟一两个人谈不来都很别扭。幸好几个令我不爽的家伙搬出去了，剩下的我一人就能摆平。第二学期，我在Von Cramm住得舒服到不想搬走的程度。可我还是要离开了。我到楼下，打开了通往后院的大门。猜猜谁在那里？住在我们后院的土拨鼠Chimi！我今年很少看见他，想必是因为睡懒觉。Chimi奇怪地看看我，觉得不安全，溜了。这就是再见了。

最后一个跟我说过话的Crammie是宿舍管事Stephanie，按条例她要收走我的钥匙。她也是我最后说道别的人了。我把五十公斤的行李分成两个箱，一手一个往坡上的Baker Flagpole拽。二百多米的上坡路我歇了四回才到头。天，已经大亮了。外面是阴雨。我想起十一月底去纽约见Selina天公也没给笑脸。那时候我还挺担心公车突然被取消而走不成。裹挟着雨点的寒风吹来，我拿出了红底白字的Cornell外套，穿在Cornell Engineering的T恤外。十个月前来到Cornell的时候，我是个nobody；离去的时候，我想骄傲地称自己是个Cornellian。上车的那一刻，我脑子里不由地想起一句话：

悄悄的我走了，正如我悄悄的来，我挥一挥衣袖，不带走一片云彩。

Newark Liberty国际机场与来时一模一样，包括游弋于机场屋檐下的来自世界各地的人。在托运行李排队时，身边的一个墨西哥游客突然用西班牙语问我话，我只好用英语回答说我不讲西班牙语。他看上去很友好，要不是语言不通，我肯定会跟他聊起来。等到进入了候机厅，耳边的瑞典语猛然间多起来了。说了一年英语和中文，我感觉有些听不惯瑞典语这个“乡音”。看到身边一个个金发碧眼的瑞典人，我没有丝毫兴奋。当初来美国对我来说是步入一个未知世界。在美国我要寻找新的开始，打出一片新的天下。回瑞典则更像撤退。我知道瑞典有什么，和没有什么。在瑞典，我身边鲜有能在intellect，emotion，humor层面上与我同等的挚友。在美国，这样的人却不少见。跟我朝夕相处的美国朋友们，我每天都能从他们那里学到很多关于人生和世界的新事物。身为射手座，我最不能容忍的就是循规蹈矩。美国是个自由世界，瑞典对我来说，则象征着一成不变。归途带来的，更多是忐忑不安。虽然我在美国坚信“决定命运的是性格，而不是环境”，可瑞典毕竟不同。我到底能不能把美国给我的自信和霸气带回北欧呢？

九个小时的航班很快就到达了目的地。出关的时候，我见到了离别一年的父母。我在美国的这段时间，家里发生了很多大事。母亲经历了一场大手术，父亲也有了新的变动。而我第一眼看到的，只是父母头上添了几束白发。美国让我长大成人，但我的离去又催老了父母。原先想回到美国大展宏图，看到父母这个样子，我心里又舍不得离开他们。上车的那一刻，我真的很想哭。但是，我忍住了。不能让父母看到我的眼泪。不要用眼泪毁掉重逢的喜悦。我在车上与父亲讨论世界杯，NBA，世博，和美国，我们从来没有像现在这样聊得开。后来我累得倒头睡去。三小时车程后，我回到了林雪平的家。还是昏昏欲睡的我在小屋床上躺下，回想着最近两天的还乡孤旅。美国，北欧，中国，这三个世界，不管我最终会选择哪个，此时此刻，这些对我都不重要。我只要睡个好觉。

悄悄的我，回来了。