Author: Overcoming Adversity | Buteau’s Odyssey

This past Mother’s Day was particularly poignant for me. This year marks the 10th year of my mother’s passing away in Bangalore, India, from a rare cancer. Social media was filled with tributes to the world’s wonderful moms. My mother, Lakshmi, was also amazing. And she was also… difficult. Reflecting on my mother leaves me with lasting lessons about the impact of “difficult people” in our lives and careers. Calling someone “difficult” could seem pejorative, but it’s actually descriptive of the complex interpersonal dynamics that may not be as simple as we would like, but are active reflections of reality.…

A few years ago, after my wife, Linda, and I dropped our twin daughters off at college, I walked through our front door and felt homesick in my own home. And it wasn’t just my children. All my relationships felt asunder. I had just lost my dad, was losing my mom, my marriage needed to be renegotiated, and my friendships needed to be remade. I was hardly alone: Everyone I know was craving connection and feeling like we’ve abandoned our loved ones for our screens. I went looking for solutions and found a startling story hiding in plain sight: the…

I’ve been enjoying seeing conversations from horror fans around the world who have had a chance to see Obsession. Even if you saw trailers and clips ahead of time, it still doesn’t fully prepare you for Curry Barker’s horrifying, gut-wrenching, and character-driven take on a familiar “wish” concept. We saw this with a packed audience at the Overlook Film Festival in April, and it was easily my favorite film of the festival. After seeing the film last month, I knew I had to catch up with Curry Barker and the cast to discuss some of the film’s best moments. What…

New understanding of frequent liars includes Machiavellianism and moral disengagement.

2026’s Faces of Death is a whip-smart meta-slasher with a ton of social commentary.Faces of Death is meta-horror done rightThe 2026 Faces of Death remake/reboot/reimagining will go down as one of the most unusual box office bombs in horror history. It had the media hype train behind it, it had a big name cast, it had influencers pimping it all over the socials, it had the gory magazine covers and it had a low-key brilliant marketing campaign … and nobody saw it in theaters earlier this year. The Wikipedia hive mind says the film cost more than $7 million to…

Luka Modricwas included Monday in Croatia’s squad and is set to play in his fifth World Cup.Croatia coach Zlatko Dalic named a 26-man roster also featuring Ivan Perišić, who has scored in the past three tournaments.Modric broke his cheekbone last month but the Croatia captain is expected to be fit when Croatia kicks off its World Cup campaign against England on June 17. It also plays Panama and Ghana in Group L.The 40-year-old Modric won the Ballon d’Or in 2018 — ending the long reign of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. He made his international debut in 2006 and is…

I live across the street from an 80-acre park and spend many mornings walking its paths, especially those in the rose garden, which is a favorite of local photographers. Young families with new babies, adult children with aging parents, graduating seniors—they’re often in the park, creating keepsakes for the family photo wall. But, most importantly, they’re building memories. I am especially taken by the young women getting their senior photos taken, leaning casually against a wall, their hair shining in the sunlight, their dresses shifting in the wind, their toenails painted. My senior photo was a different story. We had…

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Adult and senior twins often experience an extension of the emotional separation problems they first encountered (non-verbally, and perhaps even crying) when they entered this world. Slowly, as they mature, twins learn to survive alone, with their twin being away from their side and sometimes even out of sight. While twins of all ages out of necessity have learned so many ways to cope without their twin’s presence and their reactions, adulthood creates new twin issues with emotional and physical separation that can be intense and overwhelming. Facing new people and explaining who you are and what your interest is…

Personal Perspective: Cut off by war, I confided in DeepSeek. AI became a saint without a church, always listening and responding. Can we trust it?