Here are some photos of Keanu Reeves this week in New York, and some pics of Keanu performing with his band, Dogstar, at the Rock im Park festival in Germany back in June. Keanu remains the coolest, and I have to admit, his hair is really working for me these days. I love scruffy men, but I love it even more when a scruffy guy cleans up his look just enough. Like, he still has a beard but he recently trimmed it. His hair is just the right length too. Anyway, Keanu is currently promoting his first novel! He collaborated with British sci-fi author China Mieville on The Book of Elsewhere. It’s based on the “hugely successful BRZRKR comic book series created by Reeves,” per the BBC, who interviewed Mieville and Reeves. Some highlights:

Keanu thinks about death: “I’m 59, so I’m thinking about death all the time.” That’s a good thing, he adds. “Hopefully it’s not crippling, but hopefully it’s sensitised [us] to an appreciation of the breath we have, and the relationships that we have the potential to have.”

Creating the BRZRKR comic book series: “I love the images. I love words and storytelling and I love the way that you can have this engagement that overlays. And so you can look at the art and then you can follow the story.” The actor plays down his role in the collaborative process though, insisting: “I didn’t write a novel. China wrote a novel.”

Whether he thinks writing about violence will lead to violence irl: “I hope if they read BRZRKR, that they don’t go out and start ripping people’s arms off and chopping their heads off. Because there’s also a love story in it. But if you do read it, I hope maybe you can find love if you don’t have it.”

Creation & pain: “Maybe ultimately the fantasy of building another world brings some kind of comfort in some way. There’s something ultimately about the creative gesture that comes from pain. Creating stuff is great. Just creating, sharing, and hopefully people like the stories that we tell.”

He doesn’t give away all of his stuff, despite reports to the contrary: “I love owning things, I love having stuff. I’m certainly not going to present myself as someone who gives everything away.”

[From BBC]

Is Keanu Reeves the perfect man, yes or no? I don’t think he’s perfect, actually, but I think he’s the best person to come out of the crazy 1980s/90s Hollywood scene. He survived, he stayed grounded, humble and compassionate, and he’s continued to do work which makes him happy. I think people miss the fact that he’s genuinely very artsy because he makes so many commercial films. He has all of these amazing side-projects and such a wide variety of interests and passions. Such a cool guy. And yes, as you get older, you just think about death a lot. Incidentally, did you know that Keanu and Kamala Harris are the same age? Their birthdays are about seven weeks apart (he’s a Virgo, she’s a Libra).

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.