What we can all learn from Inception

If you felt like going to the movies in my grad school town, you just, you know, went to the movies.  You met up with your friends maybe 15-20 min before showtime, bought tickets, got seats. Normal, right?  This is not the case in New York.  At least, this is not the case in New York if you want to see anything even remotely new, popular, critically acclaimed, artsy, or in IMAX--if Knight and Day is at the top of your queue, by all means, live in the moment.  

Not only are most movies worth seeing sold out hours before showtime here, but people line up crazy early to get the best seats.  Like, 90 minutes early.  For a city whose residents always seem to have somewhere to go and something to do, New Yorkers love waiting in line.  We wait in line for cupcakes, to get into Trader Joe's, and of course, for Apple products.  The immense planning and standing around (not to mention pre-order ticket surcharges) required to enjoy a night at the movies means that J and I only head to the cinema when it's something we really feel like we need to see on the big screen, which means that we pretty much only see things in IMAX.  Go big or go home, amirite?

This weekend we capped off a lovely day of water-based activities with the 1 am showing of Inception at the Lincoln Center IMAX.  

It.  Was.  AWESOME.  

I want to marry this movie.  It's beautifully shot, clever but not overly smug, impeccably edited, and has a well-thought out internal logic that's surprisingly followable and mostly consistent.  The themes, too, go well beyond the whole Matrix-y what-is-"real"-reality business, and I thought there were some pretty good messages that basically anyone could take home and apply to their own lives.

One of the big ideas in Inception is that of not letting your past decisions haunt you--actively choosing not to be crippled by regret.  It's what LDC's character has to do in order to Get the Job Done, and as a reminder, Edith Piaf's "Non, je ne regrette rien" wafts in throughout the movie, penetrating each dreamer's consciousness, signaling an imminent return to wakefulness.    

I'm currently writing up a project I did over the last year or so, and I'm realizing I could have done it better.  Not that what I did isn't scientifically sound, but if I'd made some different decisions--say, collected blood from my animals, or used a different method of euthanasia, I could be asking a lot more interesting and revealing questions.  At this point in the game, every publication I put out is important, and I feel like I didn't really maximize this one's potential.  

And no, I can't do it again.  I've got neither the time nor the money (nor, to quote Nicholson, the inclination) to re-do everything.  What I can do is make the most of the data I do have, find the most appropriate journal for it, and allow all those "if I'd only"'s not to get me down, but to fuel my future work.  

Like Leo, I have a Job to Get Done.  You probably do too!  And like Leo, we have all probably made some decisions we wish we hadn't.  The key to success, just as Leo learned, is to face those decisions head on, acknowledge them, but refuse to let them own us.  OK?  It's settled, then.  Can we pinky swear on this?

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PS- Candid Engineer also has a similarly-themed post up now.  Go read, if you haven't already (though you probably have)!

Ph.Dishes - pickled cucumbers!

Huzzah, Memorial Day weekend!  It's the official start of summer, and I went out and bought a pair of white sandals yesterday just to celebrate!  OK, they are more like "nice flip-flops" than sandals per se, but whatever.  You don't care about my footwear, you care about my delicious recipes, n'est-ce pas?

With the start of summer also comes grilling season, and unless you are a total misanthrope, you will probably be invited to (or host) a BBQ party or twelve in the coming months.  But you cannot show up empty handed, can you?  Now, maybe you find that it is just so stress-free to pick up a bag of Tostitos (tm) and a jar of Old El Paso (tm) on your way to the party, but as a frequent party-thrower let me tell you, the person who brings chips and salsa to the party is LAME.  Seriously.  Don't be that guy.  Do be the guy who brings my mom's pickled cucumbers, because they are the easiest and cheapest thing in the world to make, and if you bring these to a party, rest assured that you will be invited to EVERY party henceforth.

First you need a giant English/seedless cucumber, and I will fucking hurt you if you try to do this with a standard cucumber.  I am not even kidding!  I know they're more expensive, but this entire dish is going to cost you about $2.75, which is less than half the cost of chips and salsa, so splurge on the fancy cukes already!  I was talking with one of my lab mates the other day about salad (you can see that we are the kind of lab that is not afraid to tackle the Big Issues) and I literally spoke the words "But the thing is, I'm kind of a cucumber snob?" and I totally said it in that annoying up-talking way, too.  At first I hated myself for saying something like that, but then I decided that I have no shame in my cucumber snobbery.     If it were possible for non-English cucumbers to become extinct, I would fully support the loss of species.  (Are they even different species?  I have no idea.  I'm a neuroscientist, not a botanist!)

Anyway.  Take your fancy cucumber and take a fork.  Run the fork down the length of the cucumber, all the way around, so that you've scored the skin (you have to press kind of hard).  This will make the cucumber slices look pretty and somewhat flower-like when you're done!  Then, slice the cucumber as thinly as is humanly possible.  I mean seriously, crazy thin.  Put all the slices in a bowl, and add a little also-extremely-thinly-sliced onion.  Not a ton, just enough to add a little variety.  This is "pickled cucumbers," not "pickled cucumbers and onions," you understand?  Put everything in a bowl.

Next, put equal parts white sugar and white vinegar (do NOT use a different kind of vinegar.  I will not vouch for your results) in a small saucepan.  1/2 cup of each usually works for a normal-sized cuke, but if you happen to have gotten a real big one, add a little more.  Toss in a little salt.  Cook until the sugar is dissolved or almost dissolved, which will only take a few minutes--you don't even have to boil it!

Pour the mixture over your sliced cukes and onions.  It may not quite cover everything, but this is OK, I promise!  The cucumbers are going to release a ton of water, so in a couple hours it will all be submerged.

OH!!!

***Important*** This reminds me, you should be doing this at least 4-5 hrs (ideally a whole day) before people are actually going to be eating your delicious pickled cucumbers.

Cover and refrigerate.  That is all!  Be aware, at first people are going to be like, "Hmm, you brought pickles.  Weird!" But then they're going to eat them and then they're going to freak out.  I had a party once and someone had brought a different salad, and even though the pickled cucumbers were long gone, people were pouring the juice from the pickle bowl onto the other salad.  I would not make this up; this is how good these pickles are.  They are great as a little crunchy side, or as a topping on burgers, pulled pork sandwiches, etc.  They are magical.

So have a great weekend, everyone!  I have loads of news and things re: my sciency life, but I'm trying to organize my thoughts and whatnot before spewing the past few weeks' events into cyberspace.  In the meantime, happy pickling!