Are you a movie buff? Do you like sci-fi movies? If your answers to these questions are in affirmative, you should definitely know this. The Matrix franchise is one of the most popular movie series from the 20th century. For those untouched by the phenomenon of Matrix, it is a franchise of science-fiction movies directed by the Wachowskis. The series was launched in the year 1999 with the first The Matrix being released on the big screen. Following this, two more feature films were released as part of the same franchise in the year 2003 as Matrix Reloaded and Matrix Revolution respectively. While the fandom and craze surrounding the series is ever-present, it is the green rain that continued to remain a mind boggling element.
What’s The Green Rain?
You know how they say, “First impression is the last impression”, that’s exactly what happened with The Matrix too. The title sequence of the 1999 film created a buzz among the movie-goers. The film enthusiasts were quite perplexed as to what was the code in the beginning of the film which was depicted as a digital rain or green rain. To give you context, the plot of the movie revolves around a computer programmer who had discovered that his reality is based on a computerized code called The Matrix. The film shows the quest of the programmer to fight a low-key battle with the computers and decode the secret.
The depiction of this code has been showcased in the film, at the outset during the title sequence, where you see a rain of several codes flowing on the screen amidst a green background. That’s how it got its name, green rain.
The Food Secret Of The Digital Rain
While people kept making assumptions about what the code could be and how could they solve it, it was only several years later that the designer of the code, Simon Whiteley revealed the secret. Just hold your breath as we are about to unveil the biggest secret to you. The code that has confused the minds of many experts is actually based on sushi recipes. You can go ahead and take a moment to let this huge reality sink in.
It is quite natural for people to have thought that the Matrix was based on a very complex secret code that has a lot of scientific formulas and logics attached to it. Well, seems like the reality is just the opposite. In several interviews during the year 2017, Whiteley shared that Wachowskis wanted a Japanese or manga kind of code and asked him to try his hand at designing one. Since his wife was a Japanese, they believed that he would be able to do it. On returning home, he flipped through the pages of several Japanese cookbooks until he found one with sushi recipes.
That was the moment of Eureka for him as the cookbooks served as an inspiration to write the famous Matrix code. However, the quest did not end here. When the code was designed on computer and animated, the flow of the katakana symbols did not look appealing. That’s when it struck him that Japanese write from back to front and characters fall from top to bottom. Following the same logic, the code was made to flow from top to bottom the screen and boom! Magic happened.
While we still don’t know which cookbook did Simon refer to as he wanted to keep that part secret, the thing to ponder upon is whether one would be able to make sushi by decoding the recipes from the code. That’s also a tough nut to crack since the code is in katakana and not in the usually used hiragana and kanji syllables.
Don’t fret, we won’t let you leave disappointed. Though we can’t give you those sushi recipes hidden in the code, here are some lip-smacking sushis that you should definitely try at home.
1. Rainbow Vegetable Sushi
As the name suggests, this sushi is going to be full of colours. The vibrant sushi is not only stuffed with the goodness of carrots, cucumbers and beetroots but also looks very appealing to the eye.
2. Maki Sushi
Looking for a sushi roll? This maki sushi should be on your list then. Fold up the sushi with vegetables in a thick roll and enjoy with soy sauce.
3. Zucchini Sushi
This one is a delectable sushi variety that comes packed with a pickled zucchini wrapped in a rice and seaweed layer. Dip it in wasabi or your favourite soy sauce and enjoy.
Now that we’ve unveiled the secret behind Matrix code for you, it would be unfair if you don’t have a sushi as an ode to the classic movie, right?