Early in his career, a promising actor named Frank James Cooper considered changing his name thanks to the suggestion of his agent. "Your name 'Frank Cooper' sounds too... common. should be something catchier!" "What do you suggest?" Cooper replied. "Well... I come from Gary, Indiana. So Gary Cooper has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?" The actor agreed. He later would tell the joke about his name change, "It's a good thing that my agent didn't come from Poughkeepsie!" (Or Intercourse, Pennsylvania, for that matter!) It helped that Gary, Indiana was also known for its steel mills, which were a ... [keep reading...]

There are so many ways I can answer that question, but I have to start somewhere. Being self exiled because of political prosecution in my own country, radicalized me. Watching meritocracy being decimated worldwide in favor of glorified mediocrity, radicalized me. Realizing that men invading women’s spaces was not a cruel joke but a reality, radicalized me. Children’s lives being destroyed by monsters absolved by two-tiered injustice systems, radicalized me. Governments from both sides of the political spectrum disrupting and dissolving their countries’ cultures with indiscriminate, unfiltered immigration that never cared to integrate into their hosting society, radicalized me. The ability ... [keep reading...]

Memories from school that I could consider pleasant or barely tolerable are few and far between, but one thing that kept me sane was drawing. From giant mecha robots with majestic weapons to… more giant mecha robots, the back end of all my notebooks were full of made up futuristic battles between the most bizarre steel and gears factions. [ Ten. ] But the other topic that I drew, a lot, was space. I was especially enamored of the Space Shuttle’s design and colors. It looked like a giant panda-ship cruising the sky, becoming white hot upon entering the atmosphere. I ... [keep reading...]

"All of you, relax. This is a matter of inconvenient timing. That’s all. Police action was inevitable. And as it happens… necessary. So let them fumble about outside, and stay calm. This is simply the beginning.” “Die Hard” is IMHO the greatest Christmas movie of all time (followed closely by "Home Alone", of course), and I can’t help but consider it one of my favorite movies ever. I’ve lost count the times I’ve watched it, and I was already a Bruce Willis fan from his work on Moonlighting when I saw this masterpiece for the first time. But despite epic lines ... [keep reading...]

One hot Italian summer, Verdi rented a large cottage to write music during the holidays. Days after arriving, he got one visitor who was taken aback by the fact that the famous composer was inhabiting just one room in the large house, using it as a studio, bedroom and lounge, all at the same time. “Why don’t you use the rest of the house”, the visitor asked. Verdi smiled, and invited the man to tour the house. The man was baffled to see every room literally filled to the ceiling with barrel organs, those amusing boxy pipe instruments that street entertainers ... [keep reading...]

Sometimes, the most interesting lessons I’ve learned have come from the oddest situations. Like the time I boarded a bus to leave Caracas, where I was taking an IELTS test, back home. It was already way past sunset and the evening was setting it when we were on the road, and a movie starts playing. “The Devil Wears Prada”. Bummer. A movie about clothes. Or fashion, whatever. Would have taken any godforsaken Van Damme movie over this. But anyway, there were no smartphones back then so the inability to rage tweet was one of the reasons I just payed attention to ... [keep reading...]