Pounding The Keyboard

       I’ve just finished watching Peacemaker series (one season, eight episodes) and it’s a blast, all the episodes. Peacemaker is part of the hysterical The Suicide Squad (2021). John Cena stars as the buffoonish titular superhero who is a peace advocate (“I cherish peace with all my heart,” Peacemaker says, “and I don’t care how many people I need to kill to get it.”) Like Batman or Hawkeye or Black Widow, Peacemaker doesn’t have superpowers but is a highly-trained assassin.      I’ve watched some TV superhero series ( Loki; Hawkeye; The Falcon and the Winter Soldier ; Daredevil; The Umbrella Academy; The Boys; Invincible; Arrow (didn’t finish); Supergirl (didn’t finish); Jupiter’s Legacy ; Watchmen ; WandaVision (hasn’t finished); Jessica Jones (didn’t finish); Luke Cage (didn’t finish); The Punisher (hasn’t finished); Defenders ) but I can say without the slightest hesitation that I find Peacemaker the most (hilariously...

       A few days ago, my niece, who was a full scholar (Master’s) at a university at UK, told us that she‘s currently at the top of her class and was the leading candidate for the top honor (which is equivalent to Summa Cum Laude). We knew she’d do well in her class (which is composed of scholars from different countries) but we didn’t know she’d do that well. Well, we always consider her the second smartest person in the family (the first is my six year old nephew who always gets bored with his online class because it’s so easy). Lol. We hope she remains on top of her class until graduation and that nothing will distract her.      When she was younger (as in elementary-days younger), I would sometimes bring her to the publishing house –whenever her parents were both at work— where I do freelance works, and one day, the editor-in-chief, an amiable lady, saw her with me and asked her, “Is your uncle a nice man?”     ...

       So this morning, I was opening a can of dog food when I accidentally cut my finger with it. Used to being cut or scratched, I ignored it and just continued preparing the dog food, until I noticed there’s blood all over the table. I looked at my wound and saw that the little cut I had on my finger was bleeding profusely, like really scary profusely.      I wiped the wound with a tissue but it continued bleeding copiously, and I wondered how a cut that small could bleed so much. Maybe, I had been bleeding inside for so long, tortured by life and love, my insides slashed by other people’s indifference, and my blood just overflowed outside when presented an exit, relieved that that it had escaped the suffering inside me. I washed my wound on the sink, and Jesus, the sink was almost covered with blood, my wound almost squirting blood. I would glance behind every now and then while I cleaned it, scared that a horde of vampires was alread...

       Netflix, currently, has two documentaries about con men, The Tinder Swindler , a two-hour movie, and The Puppet Master: Hunting the Ultimate Conman, a three-episode series.      The Tinder Swindler is about a con man (see photo above) who swindles women on, yes, Tinder. He introduces himself as a billionaire and impresses his target with his opulent lifestyle—like taking them on a ride with his private jet or treating them to a posh restaurant. He then will tell them story about his enemies who are after him, and how these enemies will eventually get control of his finances and how he will need to borrow some money. I don’t know, red flags about him are waving immediately everywhere. Firstly, why would a handsome billionaire be on Tinder? That would just expose him to some con artists and psychos. And a handsome billionaire will not go looking for love; it’s love which will come looking for a handsome billionaire. The only reaso...

       So, I was watching this video about musicians that are guilty of plagiarism, like Deep Purple’s immortal "Smoke on the Water” (copied from “Maria Quiet” by Astrud Gilberto); Radiohead’s extremely popular “Creep” (which plagiarized “The Air That I Breathe” by The Hollies) or Andrew Lloyd Webber's “The Phantom Of The Opera (which copied from Pink Floyd’s “Echoes”).      Ed Sheeran, it seems, just blatantly copied most of his hit songs from other songs. Led Zeppelin, too, and One Direction. A few Beatles songs were also a product of plagiarism.      And then there's "accidental" plagiarism: George’s Harrison’s most popular solo song “My Sweet Lord (1970)” was very similar to “He’s So Fine (The Chiffons, 1963),” but despite a court ruling  that it was indeed a case of plagiarism, Mr. Harrison insisted that he didn’t copy “He’s So Fine” and that he wasn’t aware of the song while he was writing “My Sweet Lord.”...