Category: Brain
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How Does Free Solo Reflect Neuroplasticity, Balance, and the Pursuit of Excellence?
Read more: How Does Free Solo Reflect Neuroplasticity, Balance, and the Pursuit of Excellence?Free Solo is a 2018 American documentary film directed by Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin, profiling rock climber Alex Honnold’s quest to achieve the first-ever free solo ascent of El Capitan in Yosemite National Park in June 2017. Watching it a few years ago, I still remember the sweat on my hands and feet—I…
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How Does Suzume Reflect Our Reality and the Power of Awareness?
Read more: How Does Suzume Reflect Our Reality and the Power of Awareness?Can disasters shape our collective memory? Suzume is a 2022 Japanese animated coming-of-age fantasy adventure film written and directed by Makoto Shinkai. The story follows 17-year-old Suzume Iwato and a young stranger, Souta Munakata, as they team up to prevent a series of disasters across Japan. Their mission is to seal doors that release a…
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Is The Lost King (2022) a Reminder of How History, Bias, and Neuroplasticity Shape Our Perception?
Read more: Is The Lost King (2022) a Reminder of How History, Bias, and Neuroplasticity Shape Our Perception?Can history ever be truly objective? The Lost King (2022) is a British biographical film directed by Stephen Frears, based on the 2013 book The King’s Grave: The Search for Richard III by Philippa Langley and Michael Jones. It dramatizes the remarkable journey of Philippa Langley, the woman who initiated the search for King Richard…
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How Does Sultans of Swing by Dire Straits Challenge Our Perception of Music?
Read more: How Does Sultans of Swing by Dire Straits Challenge Our Perception of Music?How do personal experiences shape our musical tastes? I recently wrote about Minor Swing, and naturally, Sultans of Swing by Dire Straits came to mind. When I first picked up the bass, I had a friend—a drummer—who was a few years older than me. He introduced me to bands and songs I wasn’t yet familiar…
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Is Gattaca Closer to Reality Than We Think?
Read more: Is Gattaca Closer to Reality Than We Think?Gattaca is a 1997 American dystopian science fiction film written and directed by Andrew Niccol. My wife likes the actor Jude Law, and since I hadn’t seen the movie, we decided to watch it—at a time when I wasn’t yet working on One Daily Tale. Still, it made its way onto the list of films…
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How Did Sailor Moon Revolutionize the Magical Girl Genre?
Read more: How Did Sailor Moon Revolutionize the Magical Girl Genre?What makes Sailor Moon so iconic? Sailor Moon is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Naoko Takeuchi, published from 1991 to 1997. It remains one of the best-selling shoujo manga series of all time. The story was later adapted into an anime, which I first watched as a child on French television. The…
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How Did Minor Swing by Django Reinhardt Become a Gypsy Jazz Classic?
Read more: How Did Minor Swing by Django Reinhardt Become a Gypsy Jazz Classic?I recently reheard Minor Swing, composed by Django Reinhardt and Stéphane Grappelli, while watching the movie Julie & Julia. The tune had already been on my list of songs I wanted to discuss, so this felt like the perfect occasion to write about it. Composed in 1937, Minor Swing has since become a cornerstone of…
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How Does Kiki’s Delivery Service Teach Us About Growth and Resilience?
Read more: How Does Kiki’s Delivery Service Teach Us About Growth and Resilience?Kiki’s Delivery Service is a 1989 Japanese animated fantasy film written, produced, and directed by Hayao Miyazaki, based on Eiko Kadono’s 1985 novel of the same name and animated by Studio Ghibli. Recently, my wife and I cooked a pie inspired by the anime. We found numerous YouTube tutorials showing the recipe—not just from this…
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Garou: Mark of the Wolves – Can We Break Free from the Chains of the Past?
Read more: Garou: Mark of the Wolves – Can We Break Free from the Chains of the Past?What made Mark of the Wolves a legendary fighting game? Garou: Mark of the Wolves is a 1999 fighting game produced by SNK, originally released for the Neo Geo arcade system. Recently, I learned that the a-cho arcade in Kyoto had permanently closed on January 31, 2025. This arcade had been a cornerstone of the…
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Neon Genesis Evangelion: What Can We Learn from This Cult Anime?
Read more: Neon Genesis Evangelion: What Can We Learn from This Cult Anime?Neon Genesis Evangelion is one of the most famous anime licenses and is well known all over the world. This Japanese mecha anime television series, produced by Gainax, was broadcast on TV Tokyo from October 1995 to March 1996. There is a lot to discuss about Evangelion—the depth of its characters, each torn by childhood…