Creators

a new way to look at the Interopia Hall of Fame

Coincidences 1

My whole life there have been so many moments that were so coincidental that my mind was immediately blown.  When they happened I usually dwelled on them for minutes, hours, or days. Each of them on their own seemed unlikely to happen in any life, but all of them taken together seemed even more unbelievable. If I had made a complete list of these coincidences, it would be an amazing read. Unfortunately, I didn’t make a habit of recording them, and I forgot most of them after a few days.

But not anymore.

From now on, whenever one occurs, I will make note of it here. Since I plan on keeping this site for the rest of my life, in a few decades time there should be a pretty crazy list of coincidences collected. It will also be interesting to hear from all of you about the coincidences that occur in your lives.

Once, when I was about 10 years old, my parents were going to have some friends over for dinner. Half an hour before their arrival, the phone rang. Keep in mind this was in the days before Caller ID, so we didn’t even know who was calling. Immediately, I said “It’s probably them saying they can’t come.” I don’t know why I said that, but it turned out to be true. Either the husband or the wife had suddenly taken ill, and they couldn’t come. My young mind couldn’t believe I had predicted it.

Just a few days ago, I was on my computer. While some of my favorite sites were loading up, I checked to see which of my contacts were online. I noticed my brother had sent me a one-word message. Samsara, it said. I replied Cool, not really knowing what he was talking about. I simply knew it was a Buddhist term. I went back to my browser, and the very first page I saw was from a torrent site. My eyes immediately honed in on the word Samsara. I couldn’t believe it. My brother’s message and my viewing of that site had come within seconds of each other, and before then I had heard nothing about Samsara, the new movie from the makers of Baraka. It just seems like it was meant to happen, especially considering the theme of the movie. I still haven’t seen the film, but I know I must as soon as possible.

According to the book The Celestine Prophecy, these crazy coincidences are like lights that guide us through life. It will pay off to notice them, remember them, and follow them. I will keep you posted on the next one I experience. Let me know about yours.

List of Types of Characters

One of our most popular posts ever is the Timeline of Fictional Characters, which named specific characters from throughout the history of legend, literature, and popular culture. The following is a companion list. This time we name all of the species of characters, rather than specific characters. These are only recurring character types that have occurred in many different sources, not a product of a single franchise. Therefore, there are no Smurfs, Ewoks, or Klingons.

One advantage of seeing all the types of characters laid out like this is that it makes creating a new character very easy. All you have to do it pick two of the following character types and mix them together to create a character never thought of before.

The character types are presented in alphabetical order. Let us know in the comments if any important ones were forgotten.

A Timeline of Famous Fictional Characters

I love fictional characters. They come from so many different sources: legend, literature, drama, movies, TV, comics, video games…but they all have something in common: they are products of human imagination. Now usually these aforementioned genres are considered separately, but I wondered what it would look like if we just threw them all together. The list is chronological, arranged by date of first appearance, so you can see when each was invented. Some origins were hard to pin down, so the dates for some are approximate. If there are two dates, the first is for the earliest possible origin and the second is origin of the modern incarnation of that character. Anyway, hope you find the list handy, and be sure to leave comments underneath. You can even nominate someone to be added to the list!

Football in Tuxes

I made this painting in honor of my favorite movie, Tommy Wiseau’s The Room. This Saturday, I’ll be seeing it at a theater in New York City in honor of its 9th anniversary. Thanks for the memories, Tommy.