Chatting up complete strangers

Filipinos usually don't start conversations with random strangers, but the old people do that, especially in public places, they comment on something and hoping that the person next to them would respond to their comment. I don't really start conversations with strangers, but sometimes when I feel like it, I do. Usually I do that in bookstores. Foreigners (Americans) are usually the ones who come at you and start conversations, this one guy that talked to me out of the blue (in a bookstore) started by asking what kind of book I was reading (it was about painting), and then we talked about his daughter who's into anime and another daughter in NY doing comics, and some other stuff.

Jam it back in, in the dark.