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Boston Globe
12 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
Quiz: As the film turns 40, test your knowledge of ‘Back to the Future'
In addition to the first film, director Robert Zemeckis and co-writer Bob Gale made two sequels. All three starred Michael J. Fox as Marty and Christopher Lloyd as Doc Brown. While the sequels are not as revered as the original, I personally think the Western-spoofing 'Back to the Future Part III' is the best in the series. Don't tell anyone! Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Instead, pop 'The Best of Huey Lewis' into your Sony Walkman — it might just save your life — and hop into the Globe's DeLorean for this fun little quiz. Where we're going, you won't need roads! Just bring your knowledge of 'Back to the Future.' Advertisement Good luck! Advertisement Odie Henderson is the Boston Globe's film critic.
Fast Company
16-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Fast Company
Mamas, don't let your babies grow up to be founders!
I was born and raised in Israel, but my love affair with America began in my early teens when I would wear faded jeans and plaid flannel shirts and play country music on my silver Sony Walkman. One track I always loved listening to was Waylon Jennings' and Willie Nelson's twangy rendition of 'Mamas, Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys'—a song that captures the loneliness of being a cowboy as well as the challenges that lifestyle poses for their loved ones. Little did I know the longing the song stirred in my adolescent heart would resonate with me decades later: Its depiction of the brutal, lonely life of a cowboy mirrored my own experience as a founder. When listening to the song, I sometimes replace the word 'cowboy' with 'founder' and smile to myself. Try it—it's fun! The entrepreneurial life Just as we mythologize the cowboy on horseback riding into the sunset, people tend to glamorize the entrepreneurial life. The truth is the entrepreneurial journey is not about popping champagne and riding around in limos and having everyone enthusiastically back your big ideas. In reality, it is a high-stress, low-sleep, and often unenjoyable life. Whenever anybody asks me if they should take the leap and start a company, my first response is an emphatic, 'No!' or as Jennings and Nelson liked to sing, 'Let them be lawyers and doctors and such.' There are a hundred reasons to stay far, far away from entrepreneurship, particularly if you want a stable, reliable, fulfilling career—but I would start with loneliness. Like the song says, founders 'are never at home and always alone, even with someone they love.' This is hard on entrepreneurs but equally so on the people who love and live with them. Launching a business is a full-time pre-occupation. It is never just business—it is personal, and all-consuming. You bring your bad work days and the accompanying stress home because your venture is part of you, not something you slip off like an overcoat when you walk in the door. Bottom line: You will be miserable and you will make the people closest to you miserable as well! Subscribe to the Daily newsletter. Fast Company's trending stories delivered to you every day Privacy Policy | Fast Company Newsletters Ninety percent of startups fail. Of the 10% that don't disappear, precious few are wildly successful. These are not attractive odds for a sane person—and the price you and your loved ones will pay is huge. It's an extreme sport So why do I do it? Like the song says: 'He's not wrong—he's just different!' I cannot help it: I am, apparently, a cowboy! I'm also the son of two entrepreneurs, so maybe it's in my blood. I need the adrenaline rush, the chase and sense of risk, the creativity and the total 200% immersion into something I love. Being an entrepreneur is an extreme sport—the most painful, scary, exhilarating ride imaginable. I feed on the nonstop challenge, the thrill of investing and innovating, the relentless stretching to the near-breaking point. I thrive when collaborating with the incredible people on my team, my investors, and clients to create something meaningful, transformational, and near impossible. Being a founder is my road to self-actualization, and that is in itself the incomparable reward at the end of the rainbow. So, if like me, you cannot help yourself and are going to take the plunge into entrepreneurship despite your better judgment, a few words of advice… Prepare for the loneliness, and if you can, build a support system . Seek out other founders who have been in the same place of terror-excitement-isolation-immersion so at least there will be someone in the world who sees you and understands. Surround yourself with people who will keep you honest. . Seek out other founders who have been in the same place of terror-excitement-isolation-immersion so at least there will be someone in the world who sees you and understands. Surround yourself with people who will keep you honest. Be kind and show love and gratitude to your loved ones . Your choices and lifestyle, as well as your physical and emotional absence will be hard enough for your family and friends to deal with. Remember the people you love are probably experiencing a lot of the stress that you're experiencing, without meaningfully participating in the thrill part. . Your choices and lifestyle, as well as your physical and emotional absence will be hard enough for your family and friends to deal with. Remember the people you love are probably experiencing a lot of the stress that you're experiencing, without meaningfully participating in the thrill part. Be communicative. Before you become serious with anyone, be very clear that you are not a person with a job: Your job is who you are, and that will likely never change. Ensure that your kids, partner, and friends know it's not them! It's just that you can't turn off that part of your brain when you're having dinner, playing tennis, or getting into bed at night. Though you may be 'easy to love' you're also 'harder to hold'—an elusiveness that doesn't work for everyone. I will say that seeing my father, and then my mother launch and successfully run their businesses opened my eyes to the possibility that I, too, could carve my own path—and I like to think I modeled that for my kids as well. It's not all bad having a founder in the family after all. Sending love to my fellow entrepreneurs, and empathy to their loved ones. Gil Mandelzis is the founder and CEO of Capitolis.
Straits Times
14-07-2025
- Business
- Straits Times
ST180: 180 years of covering Japan, from isolationism to Westernisation to war and peace
Since 1982, correspondents have shed light on a country Singaporeans admire but also share a painful wartime past with. The Straits Times has chronicled Japan's transformation over the years. By the 1910s, features introduced readers to its rich traditions, including sumo wrestling (above). Today, the country remains a compelling, evolving story, says the writer. – When I joined The Straits Times in June 2012 as a rookie journalist, I had no aspirations or illusions of becoming a foreign correspondent, let alone in a country I barely knew or felt any special connection to. I grew up with Sega arcade games, Tamagotchi digital pets, Nintendo Game Boys and Sony Walkman players, and have fond memories of the now-defunct Sogo department store near my childhood home in Tampines. But I did not understand the Japanese language or fully appreciate the country's deep cultural influence. Japan seemed like a nation past its prime, its economy overtaken by China, its pop culture eclipsed by South Korea. Then six months into my job, I visited Japan on a holiday for the first time. I went to Tokyo, where I was enamoured of the sights, sounds and buzz of the world's most populous region. I signed up for weekly language classes and, four years later, when I was offered a posting as The Straits Times' Japan correspondent, I didn't hesitate. More than three decades earlier, in May 1982, the paper had launched its Tokyo bureau. Announcing this on Page 1, it described Japan as 'the world's most efficient industrial power'. It was opening an office there to monitor the nation's growing economic influence and to cover 'the controversial question of whether Japan will play a greater role in maintaining the security of Asia'. This purpose remains relevant today. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore HSA intensifies crackdown on vapes; young suspected Kpod peddlers nabbed in Bishan, Yishun Singapore Man charged over distributing nearly 3 tonnes of vapes in one day in Bishan, Ubi Avenue 3 Singapore Public healthcare institutions to record all Kpod cases, confiscate vapes: MOH, HSA Singapore Man allegedly attacks woman with knife at Kallang Wave Mall, to be charged with attempted murder Singapore Singapore boosts support for Timor-Leste as it prepares to join Asean Singapore UN aviation and maritime agencies pledge to collaborate to boost safety, tackle challenges Singapore High Court dismisses appeal of drink driver who killed one after treating Tampines road like racetrack Singapore 18 years' jail for woman who hacked adoptive father to death after tussle over Sengkang flat Since taking up the role, I've reported from disaster zones and diplomatic summits, and interviewed people across the length of the Japanese archipelago, from Shiretoko Peninsula in the north-east of Hokkaido to Yonaguni in the south-west of Okinawa. The Japanese frame time by imperial eras, and I witnessed the dawn of the Reiwa era in 2019 when Emperor Akihito abdicated the Chrysanthemum Throne and was succeeded by his son Naruhito. The new era has been marked by a more confident Japan on the global stage, eager to champion a rules-based international order. Domestically, Japan is slowly shaking off the deflationary mindset of the Heisei era (1989 to 2019). Social issues like overwork and sexual harassment are now seen as relics of the past, and vices like smoking and binge-drinking are on the decline as the Japanese become more health conscious. Japan has also become a top global travel destination, hitting a record 36.87 million visitors in 2024. The population continues to age, beset by one of the lowest birth rates in the world, even as immigration rises. All this has sparked difficult but necessary conversations in a society that still sees itself as largely homogeneous. Meanwhile, Japan's entertainment industry is enjoying a renaissance as its dramas, anime and music captivate global audiences via streaming platforms. Amid all this change, history remains a constant, and I am vividly struck by how my work covering this rich and complex country adds to the living historical record of the world that is The Straits Times. Foreign correspondence 'For Sale. A few boxes of fresh Japan rice.' 'Japan-ware.' The first issue of The Straits Times on Tuesday, July 15, 1845, saw two mentions of the country in advertisements on the front page. It is a quaint glimpse into a time when Japan, still under the sakoku isolationist policy of the shogunate, remained a distant and exotic marketplace to much of the world. Yet even then, the paper recognised the West's growing commercial interest in Japan. An article in 1846 predicted that it 'cannot long be left out of the commercial union of civilised countries'. The paper's colonial attitudes were also evident, with reports – either taken from wire dispatches or written by nomadic contributors – describing Japan as a 'ruined nation through pride and obstinacy'. Japan correspondent Walter Sim at Arakurayama Sengen Park in Fujiyoshida, Yamanashi prefecture, in November 2020, with Mount Fuji in the background. PHOTO: COURTESY OF WALTER SIM As the country began to open up, the paper chronicled Japan's rapid transformation during the Meiji Restoration of 1868 as it embraced industrialisation and adopted Western ideas. The Emperor traded his royal regalia for a suit and tie. Baseball was introduced, and remains Japan's national sport. Japan quickly adopted Western technology and industrialised practices to build its first railway in 1872, connecting Tokyo's Shimbashi business district to the port city of Yokohama. 'The Japanese are an active impressionable people, and contact with the outer world, the introduction of railways, and the spread of Western science have worked great changes during the last two decades,' a report said in 1890. The curiosity extended beyond politics, and column inches were devoted to travel features. A first-person account of a hike up Mount Fuji in 1892 recounted the fatigue but also beauty – 'Below were white clouds drifting in a blue sea bathed in golden light'. Interest grew in all things Japanese. The deaths of leading kabuki actors Onoe Kikugoro V and Ichikawa Danjuro IX in 1903 were recorded in obituaries. By the 1910s, features introduced readers to the thriving, rich traditions of sumo wrestling and ama free-divers. Incidentally, I have written about these topics , although in the context of the challenges they face in an age of depopulation and dwindling interest. Many topics about pre-war Japan still resonate today. Take a 1900 report about the abuse of authority (now dubbed 'power harassment') that led to the suicide of a soldier. Or a 1906 story that cited tourism mismanagement (now dubbed 'overtourism'), or a 1907 piece that blamed a crime wave on rising costs of living (now manifesting in shady part-time jobs, or yamibaito). And a 1918 piece about the rice riots, an event that I referenced in a June 2025 opinion piece on Japan's soaring rice prices today. Another 1906 report that contemplated the role of women in politics is anachronistic today – 'the association of women with politics, it is felt, will tend to cultivate unwomanly habits' – but belies the hard truths that Japan continues to struggle with regarding gender equality both in politics and corporate boardrooms. Japanese resilience, too, is a timeless trait, evident in a 1923 story after the Great Kanto earthquake, which levelled Tokyo and killed more than 100,000 people. The author says: 'They will raise again the cities that have fallen, and they will not do it as if they feared tomorrow but in the spirit of hope and of courage.' Male ama free-diver Yushi Ikeda on his boat in 2022. Traditionally women, ama divers go into the water without oxygen tanks – relying on a single breath as they harvest abalone, turban shells and seaweed from the seabed. ST PHOTO: WALTER SIM War and peace On Feb 15, 1942, Singapore fell to Japanese forces during World War II after a week of fierce fighting. This marked one of the most significant defeats for the British Empire, even as that same morning, before the surrender, the paper's Page 1 headline struck a note of defiance: 'Singapore must stand; it SHALL stand'. The Straits Times was shut, but resumed publication on Feb 20, 1942, under a new name: The Syonan Times, later renamed The Syonan Shimbun, reflecting Singapore's new name under occupation – Syonan-to, or 'Brilliant Southern Island'. The newspaper became a mouthpiece for Japanese propaganda, with content strictly censored and controlled by the Japanese military administration. The Syonan Shimbun printed its last issue on Sept 4, 1945, two days after Japan signed surrender documents aboard an American battleship. The Straits Times resumed publication under its original name on Sept 7, 1945, with the triumphant front-page headline: 'Singapore is British again!'. In the aftermath of World War II, stories in The Straits Times reflected Singapore's complex sentiments towards Japan. There was deep resentment over wartime atrocities, like those recounted by survivors of the Changi massacre, but also a degree of sympathy for the immense suffering Japan endured in the atomic bombings. A 1946 report said the devastation in Hiroshima was 'something out of an Edgar Allan Poe horror story. Except that Poe's imagination could never have conceived anything like Hiroshima'. Another editorial described the atomic bomb as 'the greatest triumph, or the greatest atrocity, or perhaps both at the same time, of WWII', but said that Singapore should not be quick to pass judgment as 'most of us owe our lives' to a weapon that forced Japan's surrender. As Japan shifted from wartime aggressor to a nation focused on rebuilding, the paper documented its post-war recovery. It reported on Japan's settlement of war reparations, the roll-out of foreign aid through development programmes, and efforts to re-establish goodwill through cultural and humanitarian exchanges. Despite growing diplomatic ties, wartime memories endured. In 1967, during a visit by Japan's then Prime Minister Eisaku Sato, Singapore's then Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew said that the war was a 'chapter closed but not forgotten'. He added: 'It has left Asians with no illusions as to the nature of hegemony. The nearness of colour and affinity of ethnic origins do not make hegemony any the better.' The paper chronicled post-war Japan's economic and diplomatic rise, but also highlighted regional discomfort as Japan sought access to South-east Asia's raw materials and markets. This perception of exploitation led to boycotts and protests across cities like Bangkok and Jakarta. It also reported Mr Lee's advice to Japan to proactively export skills and machines to South-east Asia, which should be treated 'more as a partner and less as a hewer of wood and drawer of water'. As Japan's influence expanded, so did unease over its military potential. A 1979 report described the country's Self-Defence Forces as a 'euphemism', warning of its capacity to become a formidable force in Asia. While modern Japan now views South-east Asia as equal partners, its evolving security role continues to invite close regional scrutiny. Today, as The Straits Times' fourth Japan correspondent, I have had the honour of following in the footsteps of my distinguished predecessors. The first was Peter Hazelhurst, a veteran of The Times of London who joined the newspaper in 1982 and left a lasting legacy in Tokyo. The impact of his journalistic career was so profound that upon his death in 2021 at the age of 84 – having relocated to South Africa after his retirement in 1989 – the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan devoted five pages to remembering him in its in-house magazine. He was succeeded in 1989 by Kwan Weng Kin, a former Singapore diplomat who reported from Japan for 26 years until his retirement in 2015, and who was a respected voice on Japan in the paper. Hau Boon Lai did two stints in the bureau, from 1999 to 2003 and again from 2013 to 2014, and continues to serve as a copy-editor in the newsroom. Today, the digital era has expanded The Straits Times' reach beyond Singapore, allowing its unique geopolitical insights to resonate globally. Japan remains a compelling, evolving story, and I'm privileged to help tell it as the next chapter unfolds.
National Post
13-07-2025
- Entertainment
- National Post
Raymond J. de Souza: Memories of Live Aid and a different era
Article content Yet it was as a cultural phenomenon that Live Aid seems from an entirely different era. Would it be possible today to assemble a cast of musicians sufficiently well known across the generations to attract the viewers that Live Aid did in 1985? The stadium show itself no longer has the cultural power it did in the 1980s, when it was a staple of summertime. Article content Taylor Swift's recent tour, concluded in Canada, attracted such attention partly because it was so unusual — a pop star selling out massive stadium after massive stadium. It happens, but not like the 1980s, when Springsteen and Jackson and others packed football stadiums night after night, summer after summer — and it didn't require debt financing for the fans to attend. Article content Perhaps Swift marks a return to popular live music. A new outdoor concert facility — capacity 50,000 — opened on the old Toronto Downsview airport site last month. Coldplay did four shows there, part of their multi-year Music of the Spheres tour that has now sold more tickets than any other tour in history. Article content Article content But Swift and Coldplay are more likely exceptional. Which is a shame, because the joyous exuberance of the stadium tour is not replicable in the privatized music listening environment of the digital world. Article content Article content In 1985 the Sony Walkman was still relatively new, launched only in 1979, and had not yet reached its peak. Still running on audio cassettes, the Walkman was a cultural earthquake, converting music from an ambient communal experience to a singular, even private, one. Article content It was still possible in the early 1990s to walk around a university campus and to hear the current anthems wafting out of open windows; now everyone is wearing earbuds and no one hears each other's music. Something was lost when parents and children — and brothers and sisters — fought over what was on the radio or the home stereo. The first act to play the new Downsview site was Stray Kids. It's a K-pop group I have never heard of. To be fair, I don't know any K-pop groups. To be honest, I had to look up what K-pop is. Article content Article content The stadium and arena tour is not entirely dead. Springsteen is still performing and Elton John's farewell tour went on so long he may still revive it. Article content In 2019, Princeton economist Alan Krueger, chairman of the council of economic advisers under Barack Obama, wrote a fun book called Rockonomics on the music industry. Pre-digital, artists could earn well from sales of recorded music. Streaming killed that off, similar to declining sales in printed media. The big money now is in live concerts. According to Krueger's research, even McCartney, who dominated the world of records with his long list of No. 1 songs, now earns 80 per cent of his income from live concerts. Article content
Daily Mirror
10-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
'I made find in attic and knew what I needed to do – it's left people in tears'
When musician Daniel Astles stumbled upon his late uncle Joseph's belongings in his grandad's attic, he set out on an emotional mission that's left many in tears A musician who discovered a recording by a late member of his family in an attic has found a unique way of immortalising his memory - and it's left people in tears. Daniel Astles revealed on TikTok that he was just six-months old when his uncle Joseph sadly took his own life. "His death was devastating for the whole family, and the sadness and grief echoed through everyone," Daniel penned in a caption accompanying several images used to tell his story. He continued, explaining that Joseph was a "massive music fan" who worked at a venue in Liverpool, where he would write reviews of bands and collect records, tapes and posters of his favourite artists. Daniel continued: "When I was 15 I started getting into music and writing my own songs." At this point his grandad - Joseph's father - told him to have a look in his attic for any of Joseph's old musical belongings. "I hadn't seen these things before and my mind was blown!" Daniel declared after making an incredible discovery. He added: "There was an incredible mixtape in particular, that played out like an actual album. It contained songs by some of my favourite artists - I became obsessed with it - even buying a Sony Walkman to listen to it when I was on the bus." Daniel revealed that the tape included songs by Liverpool bands, The Beatles and Echo & the Bunnymen, as well as others including ABBA, REM and Kate Bush, and even poems by Jack Keourac. "When the time came to record my debut album, I decided I would make it a tribute to him," Daniel said of Joseph. "I created an album that is about family - it contains samples from his original tape and plays out like his mixtape." Daniel said he even made his album's artwork using images of Joseph's possessions, whilst a local bus firm allowed him the use of one of their vehicles for the day for him to host a listening party for friends and family. Proudly holding a copy of his record aloft, he added: "The song, 'Joe are you listening?' was written directly to my uncle Joseph. We have got the vinyls made and I am going to place a copy in his collection. A dream come true." Daniel closed by revealing that 'Soundtrack for the 21 Bus Home' is "out everywhere now!" Writing in response, one TikTok user penned: "Absolutely love the story to this album. Added straight to my playlist, sounds amazing." A second person confessed: "Wiping back the tears! You look so much like him Daniel, and what an amazing thing to do for your uncle Joseph in keeping his memory alive." A third gushed: "What a heart felt legacy to your uncle. In the Lion King there is a song called 'He lives in me', well your uncle Joe certainly does. Well done and keep your music going." Whilst a fourth declared: "Most beautiful thing I've seen/heard in a while. As an auntie, that sure brought tears to my eyes. Pure magic!"
