Niccolò Paganini died on this day in 1840.
I do not play the violin, yet Paganini has, without a doubt, shaped my musical education. His most important work - Caprice in A Minor, Op. 1 No. 24 - has served as inspiration for other prominent composers, from Lizst to Brahms to Rachmaninoff, resulting in numerous transcriptions [...]

I stumbled across this amazing Illustrator in Spain - Borja Bonaque - whose style marries simple shapes with rich texture, giving the final look a somewhat noir-ish feel. I am particularly impress with his use of colour and shadows.

“Every two years, the owners of the world’s most elaborate facial hair come together for the World Beard and Moustache Championships. On May 23, 2009, the championships will return to the United States for the second time in their history, as the City of Anchorage, Alaska plays host to the world’s bearded and moustached elite. [...]

Reif Larsen’s story is somewhat of a fairytale in the book publishing world. He wrote a whimsical novel of a 12-year-old boy - T.S. Spivet - from Montana who has been commissioned by the Smithsonian museum for years, thinking that he is a highly accomplished cartographer. The book begins with him travelling on a freight [...]

I grew up in a different part of the world. My childhood reading consisted of Malaysian fables and Chinese legends, with just a smattering of European folklore and Indian myths. I most certainly did not know of Bigfoot until I came to Canada. Popular in the Pacific Northwest regions of North America, I first heard [...]

I remember being blown away by Chuck Palahniuk’s 1996 novel (and the movie adaptation) ‘Fight Club’. I have to admit that I have only read two of novels, but he is certainly a novelist that I hold in high regard, with his cynical and dark humour, minimalist writing style and subversive demeanour. I am, therefore, [...]

Of the crop of new films coming out, I am most excited about Brothers Bloom. Offbeat and light-hearted, it should make for a great summer flick. I cannot wait, especially when teased with alternate posters like Zach Johnson’s masterpiece below:

“We endeavored to create a good old-fashioned Hollywood poster, like how they made them before Photoshop [...]

I have always loved stamps. While I no longer collect them, they still inspire my imagination. Acting as tiny windows into our past and present, they serve up snippets of our heritage, culture, environment, aspirations and the like in the form of small pictures - informationally rich small pictures. With so many aspects of our [...]