[THEME MUSIC]
[APPLAUSE]
SPEAKER 1: Fantastic.
So Felipe, thank you
very much for being here.
FELIPE POMBO: Thank you very
much for this kind invitation.
Good afternoon to everyone.
Thank you for taking
time to come here.
Thank you, Salvadore.
Thank you, Geraldine, and
all your wonderful team.
It's an honor to be here in
Google to see the great place
where you work.
And yes, I'm very
happy to be here.
And thank you for this
kind introduction.
SPEAKER 1: So let's
dive right into it.
I think a lot of people were
interested about the work
that you've published around
the 16 eccentric portraits.
And there are many
interesting angles to it,
from the title you choose,
your decision of choosing
the eccentricity
theme around it.
And for those of you that--
just to set the
baseline, the work
has interviews with the likes
of Clint Eastwood, Tim Burton,
[INAUDIBLE] Garcia,
Alejandro [INAUDIBLE]
to Spencer Tunick,
[INAUDIBLE],, many others.
So I'll let you
elaborate on the list.
But let's start with what
led you to that project?
If you could tell us
what's the genesis?
What was your motivation
for the project itself?
FELIPE POMBO: Yes.
SPEAKER 1: And how did you
go about it, specifically
how to choose who to interview?
FELIPE POMBO: Well, OK.
I started at a very young age.
I started working, when
I was about 20 years old,
in different magazines
and media outlets.
And I had the chance
to do interviews,
to interview a lot of people.
And at the beginning, I
felt that doing an interview
was just asking
someone questions
and getting an answer.
But with the time and
with the experience,
I started developing a new way
to interview-- new way for me,
at least.
And that is not just
asking questions
but looking at people,
understanding people.
And I think journalism,
classic journalism, which
is based in news and in very--
very speed way of seeing
things doesn't give you time
to really understand people.
You see interviews every day
in newspapers and television.
But those are very fast
ways of interviewing.
What I wanted to do and
what I started doing
was taking time to do really,
really, really long interviews.
And not only, as I said,
asking things, but sharing time
with these characters
I decided to interview.
So I had the chance to
meet a lot of creators--
writers, painters,
photographers, chefs,
architects, people from
all over the world.
And what I wanted to do actually
was meeting these eccentric
people-- and by eccentric, I
mean they're not only weird
people, but they're eccentric
in the fact that they're not--
that they leave the
center of things
and they start thinking
differently, doing
a different approach at
what they do for a living.
SPEAKER 1: Obviously
the vast array
of people that you could have
interviewed is quite broad.
How did you go about going
from a potential list that
would have been very
exhaustive to narrow it down
at the 16 characters that you--
FELIPE POMBO: Well, I
really didn't have so much
the opportunity to choose.
Basically, I was given
the task to do it.
So obviously, I decided
to focus on people,
as we're speaking about, who
are really, really different,
and who think
differently from others.
So I started to travel
all over the world
when I was putting all
this profiles in my book.
I did a quick calculation.
And I've been doing the two
times the world traveling.
SPEAKER 1: Oh, twice
around the world.
FELIPE POMBO: Doing
this twice the world.
And I started to direct common
things in these characters.
First of all, they all
wanted to do something
that no one had ever done
before in their fields.
And they had to
struggle a lot with this
because they were outsiders.
They were seen as too
eccentric, as like they
were doing something
so different
that maybe they didn't
understand them first.
But they keep on going, keep
on going, keep on going.
And they became
worldwide celebrities.
They are all very well known.
They're very famous.
But I'm not centering on the
fact that they are just famous,
you know?
I think we live in a world that
is obsessed with famous people.
And we get a lot of
information from famous people.
And we don't even know
why they are famous,
like the Kardashians
or the Justin Bieber
or people like that.
We know they do things.
But they're famous
because they're famous.
So I wanted to see
what was behind that.
SPEAKER 1: And then touching
on the commonality theme,
what can you tell us about--
did you find anything common
in terms of their background
and their stories?
You hinted at some
struggle, some elements
in their character.
You know, are they obstinate?
Are they optimistic?
What can you tell us in terms
of background and character
that you found common,
perhaps, across--
FELIPE POMBO: Well, certainly,
they're not very optimistic
because I think when
you're too optimistic,
you're kind of
naive because when
you want to create
something new,
you have to be very detached
from this commodity,
and certainly from a
naive view of the world.
So most of them started--
they knew what they wanted to
do from a very young age, also.
And as I said before, they had
to come a long way to do it.
And most of them are, I think,
very lonely, very lonely.
And there you are in constant
discussion with themselves.
They are always asking
themselves, what they are doing
and how can they improve
what they are doing.
And they are really, really,
really focusing on details.
I think that's one thing
that's common in all
the characters, all of
these people that I've met.
They are absolutely passionate
about what they do every day.
They don't see them as a job.
They see it as a way of living.
SPEAKER 1: And if
you could, like--
just to bring some of
these elements to reality,
maybe illustrate with
a couple of stories.
If you could go into
specific stories of people,
how are they lonely?
How those elements that
you mentioned-- loneliness,
not being optimistic--
if you could just
share a little bit of
the specifics of people.
FELIPE POMBO:
Well, I always love
to tell one story
about one interview.
It's with a photographer.
He's not that famous
as the others,
but he's very well
known in New York.
He's a fashion photographer.
His name is Ruven Afanador.
He was born in
Colombia, as I was.
And from a very
young age he left
Colombia and he started to
become a fashion photographer.
And now he's doing
covers for Vanity Fair,
for all the great magazines,
fashion magazines, for Vogue.
And I started to
look at his work
and to try to understand it.
And I was always seeing
what he was doing,
his photography books,
his fashion books.
And I said, one day I'm
going to interview him.
So I started looking for him.
I started calling his
agent, his friends,
someone who could
lead me to him.
And I was always
getting this no answer.
No, he doesn't want
to get interview.
No, he doesn't want journalist.
No, he doesn't want
to get questions.
But I insisted.
I insisted and insisted.
And I think that's
also a common thing,
not only for me with them,
but with all of them.
They are always insisting
in what they want.
So I keep on going.
I keep on going.
I keep on going, calling people.
Finally one day I got a call
from someone in New York.
I was living in Mexico City.
And she told me, hello, Felipe.
I am Ruven's assistant.
He's very curious on why
you're following him.
He is kind of scared.
And he wants to meet you.
Can you come
tomorrow to New York?
So I got a ticket and
I flew to New York.
So I was there with this lady.
And she said, we're so
happy that you're here.
Ruben is going to invite
you to three of his shoots.
He shoots very famous people.
So the first day
he's going to shoot
Courtney Love, the widow
from the Nirvana singer,
from Kurt Cobain.
Sarah Jessica Parker
from Sex and the City.
And the actor you might
maybe know, Hugh Grant.
So he said he wants
you to be there.
But first I have to warn
you, he doesn't want
to talk about his private life.
He doesn't want to
talk about his family.
He doesn't want to
talk about his work.
OK, well, I'm here.
I'm going to do the
interview and I'm
going to see how it works.
So I was there the other day at
his huge studio in Manhattan.
And I arrive and
they say, hello.
We went.
He's a very tall man.
He's always dressed in black.
He has this long beard,
all these tattoos.
He's very, very strange.
And I approached him.
And I said, thank you so much.
I wanted to ask you
about this shoot.
And he was-- OK.
And he left.
OK, well, he doesn't
want to speak with me.
So I insisted,
Ruven, how are you?
OK.
I don't want to talk to you.
And he left.
So I said, if I keep
asking him questions,
he's going to feel
uncomfortable.
So what I have to do is I
will be like a photographer
doing the photos
of a photographer.
And I wanted to
see how he works.
I wanted to be almost
invisible so then he
won't feel like I'm there.
He will feel like he's
just doing his work
and I'm someone who is just
interested in what he's doing,
not like regular journalist
who is always asking question
and always want to
get some information.
I just want to see and to feel
what it is to be with him.
So he started doing all these
shoots with all these stars.
There were, like, drugs,
alcohol, pictures everywhere.
There was a lot of people.
And I was just like
taking little notes,
taking little notes,
no talking to anyone.
I think looked
strange at that time,
but OK, that's what I was doing.
And finally he got
what I was doing.
And he started saying,
OK, I do like these shots.
I do like this.
And we started talking,
talking, talking, like friends.
And finally he told
me all his life.
He told me what he
was working, why
he wanted to be a
photographer, how
was it to come from
Colombia to America,
to become this very well-known
fashion photographer.
So I stayed, like,
four days with him.
And then I go back.
I get back to my
office and I started
writing the piece I
was supposed to write.
But something was
missing from that
because when I want
to know someone,
I'm not only asking him
what he thinks about life.
I want to ask everyone who knows
him-- his friends, his family,
his enemies--
to get the complete idea
of who that person is.
So I decided to call his mother.
It's always a good idea
to ask someone's mother.
And I presented myself.
I'm a journalist.
I want to ask you
a few questions.
She said, OK, great.
And she told me a lot of
things about his childhood,
about growing up in a
very Catholic family
and how they took Ruven when
he was a child to the churches.
And he was fascinated with
this religious imagery.
So I started understanding
what he was aesthetically
looking at.
So I started writing.
And I got a call from his agent.
And she said, listen, we know
you spoke to Ruven's mother.
I said, yes, yes.
He doesn't want you to
publish anything about him.
We said we couldn't call her.
You couldn't call anyone.
You said-- but, I
mean, that's what I do.
That is my job.
So I wrote the piece.
I sent it to him.
He liked it.
He said he wouldn't want to
see me again in his life.
But when you're doing
this kind of job,
you don't want to be friends
with the people you're
writing about.
You want to know them
but not becoming friends.
So doing that exercise and
all the others that followed,
I learned that these
people is always,
always thinking about
what their job is
and about the art they do.
And they want to really
cross the frontiers.
And what I try to
do when I write
about them is doing the same--
crossing these boundaries.
I don't know if I
answered your question.
SPEAKER 1: No, a very
interesting story,
and insightful.
I like the piece about
adapting to your subject.
FELIPE POMBO: You have to.
SPEAKER 1: And perhaps
if that was a tough one,
you had to go a long way to
get to understand the subject,
can you talk to us
about perhaps which
other interview was at the
other end of the spectrum?
Was there anybody with whom you
had an instant click and you
really--
FELIPE POMBO: Yes
SPEAKER 1: [INAUDIBLE] on?
FELIPE POMBO:
They're never easy.
But some you get--
obviously, you
have a lot of feeling with
some other characters.
For instance, Ferran Adria.
He is, like, this great chef.
He lives in Barcelona
and he changed
the way we thought
about food in the '90s.
And he has written
a lot of books.
He had the best restaurant
in the world, called elBulli.
So I was with him
in his kitchen.
He was cooking.
He was talking about
how he saw food.
And we were eating the
food he was making--
SPEAKER 1: Did he cook for you?
FELIPE POMBO: Yeah,
he cooked for me.
And that was--
SPEAKER 1: [INAUDIBLE]
FELIPE POMBO: Yeah,
interviewing chefs
is great because they
give you great food.
And I also interviewed
René Redze.
He is from Denmark.
He has the best restaurant
in the world, called Noma.
And he was in Mexico.
And he did a pop-up restaurant
in the beaches of Tulum.
And I was there with him for
three days eating and talking
about food.
So yeah, there are easier
interviews, in that sense.
SPEAKER 1: And it's--
I had questions before
the talk about women.
Were you able to--
who did you interview?
Was it difficult to keep?
Or was that a main concern
for you at the beginning
to interview as
many women as men?
How did you approach that?
And--
FELIPE POMBO: I don't
think that in those terms.
But obviously there are
very interesting woman.
And I don't see if they're men.
I see just an
interesting creator.
One of my first
interviews, actually,
was with a woman writer.
Her name is Susan Sontag.
She was one of the best American
writers of the last century.
And I was really, really young
when I was interviewing him.
And her agent told
me, listen, Felipe.
You're going to
interview Susan, who
is a very well-known author.
And there's one thing
she really hates.
She hates stupid questions.
So please don't be stupid.
So I was preparing
for a week, trying
not to do stupid questions.
And he told me, listen,
last week a journalist
came and asked a
really stupid question.
And she throw a book at his
head, so please don't do that.
So it was kind of scary.
And in fact, she was
an adorable woman,
and is one of the best
interviews I have had.
And I think I did all the
stupid questions I could,
but she was so interesting.
And I think when those very
famous and very experienced
people see that you want to
learn something from them,
they forget they're
in an interview.
And I think the interview is
not like, here's the character
and here's you.
It's an equilibrium.
And you're giving.
They're giving you.
You are doing an exchange.
And that's what I think
a good interview is.
And if you want I can tell
another story from a woman that
was one of the best interviews
I've done in my life.
Her name is Ingrid Betancourt.
She's also from Colombia.
And she's a politician.
And she was-- maybe
you heard the story--
she was kidnapped by the
[INAUDIBLE] for seven years.
She was in the jungle
and she was kept there
tied to a tree for many years.
So I wanted to interview
her because she
wrote a book after
being kidnapped
that became a best seller.
And I wanted to know
what was in her mind
because sometimes when you
think about other people,
it's kind of comfortable.
You say, oh, they're doing
that because they think that--
oh, they-- but if you
really want to know them,
you have to put yourself
in the same situation.
Obviously, she lived through
this absurd situation
that you could never
understand what
is happening to someone
mind while she's
living this kind of thing.
So I also started following her,
following her, following her,
sending e-mails, calling people.
And when she got
away from the kidnap,
I got to interview her
in the French embassy.
And I've prepared, like, these
complex questions, these very
insightful questions,
to know what
happened to her during these
seven years of being kidnapped.
And when I arrived
there, she was, like,
this very nice woman,
very relaxed, very--
you would say,
like, enlightened.
She was telling
these huge stories.
And I forgot everything
I had prepared.
And I just sat there
and listened to her.
And I did, like, two
or three questions
because I think that is--
in some cases, you
just have to listen.
SPEAKER 1: The best approach,
to be really mindful
of your subject.
Very, very interesting.
Yeah, I was familiar
with the case.
Now, go into your
current work, just
if you can spend very briefly.
A, what are you working on?
But most importantly,
how do you feel
that this experience of talking
to these different people
and your approach influences
what you're doing?
FELIPE POMBO: Well, I work lot.
I'm the editor in chief
for a magazine in Mexico.
But I am also a fiction writer.
And as you said earlier, I
was chosen in this list of 40
under 40 writers, the
best 40 under 40 writers
in Latin America.
And I'm happy about that,
mainly because there's people
who think I'm still young.
That's great.
But I'm focusing on fiction
because you're writing,
when you're writing
fiction, you get
to interview maybe the most
difficult character you have
to interview, and that's you.
And getting to know you
and getting to see what's
inside your head,
what ideas are there
that you haven't
explored that you
want to know about yourself.
So I wrote a novel.
And I'm writing the next one.
I don't know when
I'm going to finish.
I hope soon.
But I've learned
a lot from others.
And all these long
interviews, these years
of interviewing, of traveling,
of meeting interesting people,
certainly have changed me.
And I think now I'm someone
who is more prepared to listen,
as I said, and to see,
and to see the world,
and to understand that everyone
has a different reality.
And that's what makes
the world great.
SPEAKER 1: Wow.
Final question before I open
the floor for questions.
And this is something
I have to answer.
You're from Colombia, obviously.
You live in Mexico and you
have traveled around the world.
Something that
we're seeing now is
we need to be confronted with,
and continue to be confronted
with, the classic stereotypes--
violence, drug trafficking,
particularly now
the glorification
of drug dealers.
FELIPE POMBO: Drug dealers.
SPEAKER 1: All the
Narcos, Netflix,
the new movie from Tom Cruise.
A different type of
eccentricity, no?
In a way--
FELIPE POMBO: Way
more dangerous.
SPEAKER 1: Way more dangerous.
Do you think throughout the
time that you have been work
that this perception
about Latin America
is improving, is getting
worse, is the same?
I have a view and
that's very subjective.
But you're a journalist.
So hopefully you can be--
FELIPE POMBO: Perceptions
are a hard thing
to explain, obviously.
But yes, it's where--
I always-- when I
travel, I always
get the same question,
if I have seen Narcos,
if I have seen Pablo Escobar.
Of course.
Of course.
But I don't really
get upset about that
because it's something that
happened and you cannot hide
it.
You cannot say it didn't happen.
Or you cannot say those
things don't keep on happening
in Mexico and in Latin America.
As you know, Mexico is
the most dangerous place
to be a journalist in the world.
Journalists are killed,
kidnapped, threatened
every day.
In fact, I edited a book that
was published here in the UK
called "The Sorrows of
Mexico" about how hard it
is to be a journalist
in these kind of places.
So I don't try to hide things.
Of course they happen.
But that's not the only
thing that happens.
There's people doing art.
There's people doing movies.
There's people
doing architecture.
And most of the fascinating
characters I've met
are from Latin America.
And they're forced to work
and to create in a very
hostile ambience sometimes.
And so I think it's not
a thing to be ashamed of.
On the contrary,
you have to be proud
that there are so many great
things coming from Latin
America despite all the
corruption, all the violence,
and all the hard things
that happen there.
So I don't know about the
glorification of drug dealers.
I mean, if Netflix is getting
rich with it, let them do that.
SPEAKER 1: So be it.
So if there was one thing
that you would like anybody
to know or to take
away from Colombia,
your beautiful country,
what would that be?
FELIPE POMBO: One thing--
SPEAKER 1: What one
thing you would like
people to know about Colombia?
FELIPE POMBO: Me?
[LAUGHTER]
No, I don't know.
I mean, obviously Colombia
and Mexico, which is also
a country I feel
very attached to
and all Latin America
is a place to discover.
I don't want to sound
here like a travel agency.
But you have to go
there and to see things
and to understand how
things happen differently
in other parts of the world
and not just stay there
with the stereotypes.
SPEAKER 1: Perfect.
So now we'll open the
floor to anybody who
would like to ask a question.
AUDIENCE: You mentioned that
when you are in interviews
it's partly an exchange.
So I was curious about
what type of information
you share with the subjects
you're interviewing
and how that exchange works.
FELIPE POMBO: Yeah, that's
a very good question
because when you go
to a journalist school
the first thing they tell you
is you can't share anything
with the person you
are interviewing.
You can't say anything
about yourself.
Being a journalist is
being absolutely objective.
And of course, that's a lie,
because when you're deciding
to do an interview, when you're
choosing a person, when you're
choosing the questions you want
to do, you're doing a decision.
And that's your decision.
And that's called subjectivity.
So if I'm doing an interview
and the person is asking me
some things, or if I'm
commenting on something,
it's me.
It's me and I want that
person to know who I am.
And that will make
him more human.
Sometimes journalists
think doing an interview is
like doing a police thing.
That's not at all like that.
It's sharing.
It's sharing and it's
getting that empathy
that will lead you to see
some things different.
AUDIENCE: From your book,
which-- you've already
told one or two stories.
So maybe you've already said it.
But who surprised you the
most when you interviewed?
Who gave you a story that
maybe you weren't expecting?
FELIPE POMBO: Well, it's
always hard to answer
that because I like to think
that every experience gives me
something.
But I was very,
very moved to true
to know Clint Eastwood,
the actor, the director.
He's one of the best
directors of the last years.
And he gave me the chance to
interview him in Los Angeles
while he was presenting a
movie called "Gran Torino."
So I was there.
And I was very, very
scared because I'm always
scared when I'm doing
these kind of things
because I don't want to be--
I don't want to mess it up.
And you know, meeting
these famous people needs
a lot of preparation,
a lot of coordination
from different teams
and everything.
But I was there.
And he was the only
journalist from Latin America
who he was going to talk with.
The only one was me.
So I arrived.
And he was in, like, his
very beautiful office
in Los Angeles.
And we started
talking and talking.
And he said, listen,
there's something
I hate about interviews,
and that is that they never
give me anything to eat.
So do you want to go and
get cookies and coffee?
And I said, yeah, sure.
And so we went to a coffee shop.
And I was there.
And he was-- do
you want chocolate?
I was-- whatever you want.
I will eat whatever you want.
So I was sitting there
with Clint Eastwood
for a whole afternoon
eating cookies and coffee
and getting to know
the person that I've
seen for years on the screen.
And that obviously is a thing
that you will remember forever.
AUDIENCE: Thank you.
Hi.
Being a book on eccentrics, my
favorite eccentrics of the list
is Tim Burton.
And I follow him since forever.
So do you want to maybe
share with us a little bit
about that experience?
FELIPE POMBO: Yeah,
he was very shy.
He was super shy.
And actually he is in the
category of interviewers
that don't speak.
I was there sitting with
him in New York, I remember.
And he wouldn't want to talk.
He was, like, very shy.
And he was, like, playing
with a little toy.
And he was like--
but when he spoke, he
said brilliant things.
He spoke little, but very,
very interesting things.
And what I did there
was also to let him be.
Let him be.
And if an interviewee
doesn't speak,
well, you have to tell
that in your piece,
that he doesn't speak.
AUDIENCE: Hi.
Something you've
said at the beginning
is that most of these
eccentric people you've met
have a few things
in common which
show that they were
really dedicated
from early on in their lives.
They had this goal in their
lives they wanted to pursue
and they were very
attentive to details.
And, like, maybe a bit obsessed.
I mean, you haven't said that,
but it sounded a bit like that.
Do you think some people would
refer these guys as maybe
like having a bit of
a mental condition?
Have you felt that?
FELIPE POMBO: Yes, of course.
AUDIENCE: Have you felt that?
FELIPE POMBO: And I
didn't say obsession.
But of course, I said obsession.
Of course, they're obsessive.
And I like to think
I am obsessive, too.
But I don't think it is
necessarily a bad thing.
AUDIENCE: Yeah, but do
you think that's actually
because these people have been
maybe trusted and recognized
at some point and they
have been given the chance
to express their art
in this specific way
that they are being famous
and brilliant and everything,
but actually maybe--
I mean, makes me think of
Kusama, the Japanese artist,
as well, who's doing
this kind of stuff.
Maybe more people-- you
think maybe more people who
have these mental
conditions could actually
become as brilliant?
Or there's something else to it?
FELIPE POMBO: Well, I think
everyone has a mental condition
at some point.
So I don't like to see the
world in black and white.
I mean, this person is normal.
This one is not.
There's a lot of gray spaces
between those two things.
And yes, of course,
if you become
the best in the
world in something,
there's a great degree
of obsession, of passion.
But I don't know if they should
be medicated in a hospital
or creating what they
do or doing great films,
doing great books.
I prefer them doing that.
AUDIENCE: Do you think your
process was an eccentric one?
Or is it like kind of meticulous
preparation and longer-form
pieces?
Do you find yourself
identifying with your subjects?
FELIPE POMBO: Yes,
of course I do.
And I don't know if I
invented this process
because a lot of journalists
do the same things.
But I created my own process.
I created my own
writing process.
I created my own system
to do interviews.
And of course I like
to be an eccentric.
Of course, if I'm
interested in those people,
it's because I see things, and
I've learned from those things
that I feel attached to.
And maybe that's a
degree of obsession.
When I work on a piece,
I work for months.
And for instance, for this
text on Ingrid Betancourt
that I told you about,
I worked for six months.
And I interviewed not only her,
I interviewed 30 or 35 people
around her around the world.
I make a lot of phone calls.
I tape all these recordings.
I transcribe them.
And I don't want
to miss a detail.
So yes, of course,
I don't know if I'm
such an eccentric as they are.
But I like to think
a little bit, yes.
AUDIENCE: Hi.
Yes.
I myself, I'm from
Curacao and I've
been living in the
UK for a while.
I had a question about
what it's like to be
a Colombian in Mexico.
I've been to Mexico
twice myself and I
know it's very different from
Colombia, where I've also been.
What are your main
struggles there
when it comes to building
connections or adapting?
FELIPE POMBO: It's
always hard to adapt
from a different environment.
And what I like to do is kind
of the same exercise I do when
I'm doing these interviews.
And first of all, I'm I'm
watching and listening
and understanding how things
work in a different place.
You know, it's like kind of
doing a profile on a place,
on a new country
you're living in.
And Mexico is a very
particular place.
It's a very particular
country because it has such
an impressive cultural history.
There are places there who--
I mean, there were people
there doing things long,
long before there
was even other things
in other parts of the world.
So you have to adapt
and to understand.
I mean, I think it will
be the same to move
to any other country.
I've lived in France.
I've been in other places.
And every time it's so
great to see how people
look at things differently.
In Mexico, obviously,
there is a kind of a--
well, I don't want
to say a civil war.
There's now a lot of violence.
There are a lot of problems
because of the drug
trafficking.
But it's also a place
that's very alive.
And I like to think
that in places
where death is so present,
life becomes a celebration.
AUDIENCE: I'm curious to
know who's next on your list
and why.
FELIPE POMBO: That's the secret.
I can't tell you, sorry.
No, I don't know.
I don't know.
We'll see.
Last January I was in Madrid.
I was interviewing
Mario Vargas Llosa.
Maybe you've heard of him.
He's the Nobel Prize winner.
And I stayed at his
home for two days
interviewing him and meeting
him and seeing how he wrote.
And that was a
fantastic experience.
I don't know who's next.
AUDIENCE: Hi.
Does being eccentric
always translate
into having difficult
personal relationships,
or is this just a stereotype
which has been propagated?
FELIPE POMBO: Relationships
you mean like--
like a girlfriend or boyfriend?
AUDIENCE: Yeah, I mean family.
FELIPE POMBO: Or a family.
Well, I haven't
thought about that.
But maybe as I
told Salvadore, it
implies a little
bit of loneliness,
of solitude, and to
spend time with you.
And I don't think
that that necessary
means you can't have a family
or a relationship or children.
But it does mean you have to
spend a lot of time alone,
creating-- for me, a
least at the first stages,
it's a very, very lonely work.
You have to be with
you and understanding.
And all these eccentrics,
I think they have that.
They've been alone
for a long time.
Many of them have
a family, actually,
and they have children and
they have a normal life.
But if you decide to go
that way, to have a family,
you have to have your
time to be alone thinking
about your ideas.
SPEAKER 1: [INAUDIBLE] I
think you had a question, no?
AUDIENCE: If there's time.
SPEAKER 1: Huh?
AUDIENCE: If there's time.
SPEAKER 1: Yeah, of course.
FELIPE POMBO: Yes, we have
all the time in the world.
AUDIENCE: I was just
wondering, in the modern world
of social media and so
much content and so much
what they call noise, it must
be so difficult to stand out
from the crowd, right?
So how do you walk the
balance between standing out
from the crowd but not
being sensational--
not sensationalize a subject,
to be fair to the subject
without doing that?
FELIPE POMBO: You
mean in general?
AUDIENCE: It must
be important to you
not to focus on one particular
aspect of a subject's life
because it might--
because it risks
making sensationalists.
FELIPE POMBO: Yeah, of course.
AUDIENCE: Because
you want to be fair,
it seems to me from
what you've said.
That you want to be
fair to the subjects.
FELIPE POMBO: Not
necessarily fair.
But I want to see everything
I can to give them the wider
approach to that person.
And I agree with you.
We live in a world where
there's information everywhere
all the time.
You can find information
every second, new one.
And I think we
live in a world now
and that's sometimes something
journalists like to do
is to see things, as I
said, in black and white.
And there's good people
and there's bad people.
And that's how the world works.
I like to take the time to
see that's not always true,
and that you can
find a lot of things
in a story, a lot of things.
And if you show them, if
you show the whole story,
then you will let other
people to decide if they
think it's black or white.
But you as a
journalist, as a writer,
you don't have to tell them,
listen, this is like that.
And you have to think
this about this person.
And it's very effective.
And we see it every time
in the social media.
We do all this thing about
fake news and everything.
It's very easy to sell you--
AUDIENCE: Extremes.
FELIPE POMBO: Extremes.
Yeah.
And that's what
happening in the world.
And that's why so
many bad things
are happening, because
you're not letting people
to see the whole picture,
to think about it,
and to decide what
they think about it.
You're giving them
bad information.
So yes, the kind of
journalism I want to do,
the kind of work
I want to do, is
one that gives you the
chance to see everything.
And you have to take
time to read things
and to think about things.
I think we're not thinking
a lot about many things.
And that's why the
world is like that.
SPEAKER 1: Felipe, thank
you very, very much for--
was there any other question?
FELIPE POMBO: Yes.
SPEAKER 1: There was one?
Sorry.
FELIPE POMBO: Salvadore
has to go, that's why--
AUDIENCE: I'm curious
about the eccentricities
that you mentioned.
So you've mentioned
artists and photographers
and chefs and everything.
So I'm just wondering if
you could share the most
kind of empowering
characteristic
that you've come across in
the form of whether it's
a practice or a mantra or
something that all of us
here at Google can imbibe,
regardless of a primary focus.
FELIPE POMBO: Like, a main
characteristic of all this
that you could apply--
AUDIENCE: The most
influential eccentricity
that you've come across that
can be a universal thing
to take home?
FELIPE POMBO: Well,
I've maybe repeated it,
but not being afraid of breaking
the rules that are there.
And if it means you
have to leave your job
and you have to start on
your own something and--
for instance, I get
all the time this idea
that journalism has to
be fast and that you
have to give information all
the time and that you have--
well, I don't want
to go with that.
And if I have to start
everything and to do my work
and breaking these rules,
I'm not afraid to do that.
And that's something I've
learned from these people.
They're not afraid to be
called crazy, to be called--
and of course, we know
the success cases.
We don't know many
of the failure cases.
But that will be a
clear characteristic--
not being afraid of
being who you are
and standing for what you think.
[APPLAUSE]
SPEAKER 1: Thank you very much,
Felipe, and sorry to cut--
