I made 'Saving Private Ryan' for my father. He's the one who filled my head with war stories when I was growing up.

I missed my dad a lot growing up, even though we were together as a family. My dad was really a workaholic. And he was always working.

Before statehood was achieved, Syria and Egypt had their tanks and military equipment lined up to invade Tel Aviv and destroy it; but the Israelis scrambled together an air force, some of it from old Second World War Messerschmidts, and the invasion was halted.

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict and Jihadism have nothing to do with each other.

When I was in my late twenties, a friend suggested that, since I was an avid SF reader and had been since I was barely a teenager, that since it didn't look like the poetry was going where I wanted, I might try writing a science fiction story. I did, and the first story I ever wrote was 'The Great American Economy.'

I had a very happy childhood, but I still used my imagination as a leisure resort.

I loved the world of imagination.

Against expectations I was charmed by Gehry's Edgemar development, which housed the Santa Monica Museum of Art, and positively awed by the Bilbao Guggenheim. That Gehry is a great artist I have no doubt, but talent and determination are no warrant against confusion, nor are they a guaranty to produce great art.