Happy Birthday, Bram

Happy Birthday, Bram

Culture and Politics, Pop Culture

Had he been a vampire, Bram Stoker would have been 165-years-old today. Happy Birthday, Bram, from me and from Google: Nwa-ha-ha-ha-ha! If you’ve got a Kindle or a device running a Kindle app, check out novelist Colm Tóibín’s sharp introduction, On...
Ladies and Gentlemen …

Ladies and Gentlemen …

Culture and Politics, Music, Pop Culture

And now, for a message from one of my other obsessions … The biggest news out of the UK today, as far as I’m concerned, was not prime minister David Cameron’s reading of Chapter 30 of Moby-Dick for the “Moby-Dick Big Read” project....

May the Fourth

Pop Culture

Today is “unofficial Star Wars Day.” Why? “May the Fourth Be with You.” [Yes, even my ten-year-old groaned when he heard that.] To celebrate, a little Star Wars Lego for your viewing pleasure: AND

License Plate Envy

Pop Culture

My video lecture on cosmopolitanism for the NYUAD Summer Colloquium begins with an account of my name — Cyrus Rusi Kaikhusroo Patell — and the naming of my sons, Liam and Caleb. Yesterday,when I was in K-Mart looking for bike supplies, I saw a display of...

Two of My Favorite Things

Film, Pop Culture

In honor of the first day of the World Cup, I’m embedding a video of this adidas commercial, which brings together two of my favorite things, soccer and Star Wars: You can read more about this video, and who besides Snoop Dogg and David Beckham are in it, at...