okay, since the 365 day challenge is obviously a miserable failure and no one ever reads this (quite literally, I'm writing to thin air here), I had a bright idea of making yet another blog. How ingenious.
But, it makes sense this time. A lot more sense than this one. Tomorrow, I shall unveil the project through facebook, and I'm just going to turn this blog into a normal one, though I really don't have much time to write (or update 2~3 blogs at once), I'll try again.
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
Sunday, December 2, 2012
365 Day Challenge Day 27 - Escalator
Some people like to take spectacular pictures of spectacular places. I don't. To me, a picture of an amazing place will pretty much look amazing regardless of the photographer; it will take a novice or someone real special to screw it up. I'm sure most landscape photographers are horribly offended by what I just said, though they don't need to be. All I'm saying is that I'm oblivious to all the intricate details that make up a good landscape photo because I'm ignorant, and I'm ignorant because I don't care for landscapes.
When someone becomes infatuated with something, all the little details can mean the world to them. For the rest of the non-infatuated population - we just don't get it.
In fact, I have tremendous respect for landscape photographers. It's just that I don't really experience any catharsis from looking at say, Ansel Adams's work. But whenever I look at Steve McCurry's or Alex Webb's photos, I often put my hands no my head in despair and think to myself, "why can't I take pictures that are half as good?"
So what kind of photographs am I into?
My favorite type of photography is one that portrays humanness. One that triggers a deep feeling within us precisely because we are human beings. These pictures don't necessarily have to be of starving children taken in Africa, but in a developed country, the opportunities are more scarce I think.
My next favorite type is one that sees situations and things in a different perspective. What most people see as a banal moment, I can sometimes point out something interesting, by changing the perspective or focusing on a certain detail.
Yes, I like pictures like this one. Nothing too special, but I like it a lot.
When someone becomes infatuated with something, all the little details can mean the world to them. For the rest of the non-infatuated population - we just don't get it.
In fact, I have tremendous respect for landscape photographers. It's just that I don't really experience any catharsis from looking at say, Ansel Adams's work. But whenever I look at Steve McCurry's or Alex Webb's photos, I often put my hands no my head in despair and think to myself, "why can't I take pictures that are half as good?"
So what kind of photographs am I into?
My favorite type of photography is one that portrays humanness. One that triggers a deep feeling within us precisely because we are human beings. These pictures don't necessarily have to be of starving children taken in Africa, but in a developed country, the opportunities are more scarce I think.
My next favorite type is one that sees situations and things in a different perspective. What most people see as a banal moment, I can sometimes point out something interesting, by changing the perspective or focusing on a certain detail.
Yes, I like pictures like this one. Nothing too special, but I like it a lot.
365 Day Challenge Day 26 - Lidija
One of the reasons why I stopped doing the 365 Day challenge was because it took too long to resize the photos to 800 pixels. Bigger pictures tend to be more flattering and even the x-large picture setting on blogspot annoys me quite a bit because it's not large enough. And to resize the pictures everyday... it's just too annoying, although I can just take gazillion pictures and resize them all at once in lightroom. But what would be the point of the 365 day challenge if I'm going to take 365 photos in one day?
Anyways, here's a picture of one of the most beautiful persons I know - just objectively speaking from a photographer whose job is to study faces. I have no idea why she is not a model, especially when she's tall enough to be one.
*Now that I look at it, it's not TOO bad. I'll just do this and hope I will continue with the challenge.
Sunday, September 9, 2012
Saturday, July 14, 2012
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
365 Day Challenge Day 19 - Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring
It looks like the place in the movie, Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring.
The movie is awesome by the way.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0374546/
Monday, July 9, 2012
Sunday, June 24, 2012
Sunday, June 10, 2012
365 Day Challenge Day 13 - Arches National Park
@Arches National Park, taken with Canon SD450 Point and Shoot.
Saturday, June 9, 2012
Thursday, June 7, 2012
365 Day Challenge Day 9 - Make up
Monday, June 4, 2012
365 Day Challenge Day 8 - Weeds
Many people dislike weeds due to their aesthetics, but I admire them for their resilience.
Saturday, June 2, 2012
365 Day Challenge Day 7- Window Seat
If a flight is longer than 5 hours, I always get the aisle seat and the window seat for anything less. The reason is to take pictures next to the window, but if the flight is too long, I'd rather sacrifice photography for comfort. Normally, I'd never do this but I've been on a plane enough times (my passport is 2 years old and it's almost half filled) that I usually don't see anything new outside, so comfort it is. But on a rare occasion, I do see something new and pleasant.
Scene from an airplane, near Hong Kong International Airport.
p.s. Between a window aisle seat and the middle aisle seat in Boeing 747, middle aisle seat is slightly better. On a window aisle, two people will need to pass through you, while only one person will do that on a middle aisle (the seating arrangement is 3 window - 4 aisle -3 window).
p.s.s. I do remember a 747 with 5 across the middle, but I don't see those any more.
Scene from an airplane, near Hong Kong International Airport.
p.s. Between a window aisle seat and the middle aisle seat in Boeing 747, middle aisle seat is slightly better. On a window aisle, two people will need to pass through you, while only one person will do that on a middle aisle (the seating arrangement is 3 window - 4 aisle -3 window).
p.s.s. I do remember a 747 with 5 across the middle, but I don't see those any more.
365 Day Challenge Day 6
Albert performing near Japanese Cultural Center, Little Tokyo.
A never been seen footage of Albert. If he becomes a superstar, I hope this picture will be worth tens of thousands of dollars.
Friday, June 1, 2012
365 Day Challenge, Day 5
My classical guitar. I've played all types of guitars (trust me, when I say all types, I mean it), and it never occurred to me that I should try classical. Currently, it's my favorite instrument.
I've been living for 30 years, and even if I live for 300, I will never be able to understand music. Why is it that major chords sound so happy? Why is that you change a single half note, to a minor chord, and you suddenly feel dejected and melancholy?
For most of you, 100% of music that you've ever heard, from twinkle twinkle little star to the most complicated jazz piece to Justin Bieber, involves just 12 notes. Just 12! And most of those songs only use 7 of those notes. What kind of prose can you write with 12 words? How many foods can you make with 12 ingredients? Music is incredible. And sometimes, it's more prudent to enjoy something rather than to try to make sense out of it.
Thursday, May 31, 2012
365 Day Challenge, Day 4
Hong Kong skyline.
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I got rid of title picture because I thought it was distracting the pictures from 365 Day Challenge.
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
365 Day Challenge - Day 2
Traveling is one of those things that are almost always romanticized and seldom seen as what it is - a physically and mentally draining experience. But since I am no longer exhausted, I can start spinning my globe in search for the next destination. Let's romanticize again.
Monday, May 28, 2012
365 day photo challenge, here we go.
I know I shouldn't do it, because I'm probably gonna update for about 3 days and call it quits (aka fail). But you know what, that is why it's called a challenge - because it's difficult. And it's not in my character to shy away from something due to fear of failure. Actually, that is precisely my character, but if I tell myself that it's not, then someday it might change.
Anyways, here are the rules:
I will NOT take a picture everyday. That is simply impossible. Heck, I won't even update once a day. But what I will do is:
1. Publish a new picture that has never been seen before.
2. Publish one picture per day, though it will be updated every 2~3 day or a week.
3. Write a short caption about the picture - about the content, my philosophy towards photography, or whatever is on my mind.
Day 1:
I usually know whether a picture is going to be good or not before I press the shutter. When I saw this - or this section - I knew I was seeing something special.
But after composing and taking the shot, I felt like something was missing. It was intuitive. I didn't really know what was wrong, but I knew it was. After about 10 more shots, I finally had what I wanted, which is what you're seeing. The two people have what my previous silhouettes lacked - a human trait that differentiates black shadows on a bridge from a human being. The woman is briskly moving, perhaps to a meeting, perhaps to pickup her children, I don't know. The man, on the other hand, has the weight of the world pressed onto him. Stressed out from work, getting a divorce, who knows. May be he has a gum stuck on his shoe. But it must be a big gum, because he looks quite worried.
On the bottom, there is the reflection of a gorgeous model. She's the type of person that you never see in real life, only in fantasy. I actually like the fact that it's a reflection of the ad and not the real thing, because it makes the ad look more dreamy. The top portion is the complete opposite - pure boredom.
Did all this go through my head when I took this picture? Of course not. But intuitively, I knew it. That is why you gotta act quickly in photography. Ideas are fragile, and you better capture them before they're tainted.
Anyways, here are the rules:
I will NOT take a picture everyday. That is simply impossible. Heck, I won't even update once a day. But what I will do is:
1. Publish a new picture that has never been seen before.
2. Publish one picture per day, though it will be updated every 2~3 day or a week.
3. Write a short caption about the picture - about the content, my philosophy towards photography, or whatever is on my mind.
Day 1:
But after composing and taking the shot, I felt like something was missing. It was intuitive. I didn't really know what was wrong, but I knew it was. After about 10 more shots, I finally had what I wanted, which is what you're seeing. The two people have what my previous silhouettes lacked - a human trait that differentiates black shadows on a bridge from a human being. The woman is briskly moving, perhaps to a meeting, perhaps to pickup her children, I don't know. The man, on the other hand, has the weight of the world pressed onto him. Stressed out from work, getting a divorce, who knows. May be he has a gum stuck on his shoe. But it must be a big gum, because he looks quite worried.
On the bottom, there is the reflection of a gorgeous model. She's the type of person that you never see in real life, only in fantasy. I actually like the fact that it's a reflection of the ad and not the real thing, because it makes the ad look more dreamy. The top portion is the complete opposite - pure boredom.
Did all this go through my head when I took this picture? Of course not. But intuitively, I knew it. That is why you gotta act quickly in photography. Ideas are fragile, and you better capture them before they're tainted.
Friday, May 18, 2012
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Bonobos
Whenever I learn something astounding, my initial reaction is "why didn't anyone tell me?" Well, just couple days ago, I didn't know a single thing about bonobos, and now that I do, I am absolutely flabbergasted. Why don't they teach about bonobos in schools? Why aren't people writing about bonobos in their blogs? Why aren't we talking about them in bars? Why didn't I know about bonobos before?
If you didn't know what bonobos are, they are apes, previously known as pygmy Chimpanzees. But scientists now consider them to be a different species of great apes.
What makes bonobos so astounding are their similarities to us. Some studies suggest that bonobos genes are 99.4% identical to humans. Although I'm slightly skeptical of this statistic, there is no way of denying that two species are incredibly close to one another.
Take a look at this video, for instance. For the first half of the video, the bonobos are having sex, and the eerie part is, they are facing each other. Not only that, but look at them walk around in their hind legs, just like humans. How are people not fascinated by this, I will never understand.
Another clip of bonobos in love. They gaze at each other, they hold hands, hug, and kiss (not so much in this video), just like human beings.
And if you want to learn more, since my three days worth of bonobo research is far from expert knowledge, there's always TED:
If you didn't know what bonobos are, they are apes, previously known as pygmy Chimpanzees. But scientists now consider them to be a different species of great apes.
What makes bonobos so astounding are their similarities to us. Some studies suggest that bonobos genes are 99.4% identical to humans. Although I'm slightly skeptical of this statistic, there is no way of denying that two species are incredibly close to one another.
Take a look at this video, for instance. For the first half of the video, the bonobos are having sex, and the eerie part is, they are facing each other. Not only that, but look at them walk around in their hind legs, just like humans. How are people not fascinated by this, I will never understand.
Another clip of bonobos in love. They gaze at each other, they hold hands, hug, and kiss (not so much in this video), just like human beings.
And if you want to learn more, since my three days worth of bonobo research is far from expert knowledge, there's always TED:
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
The Perfect Diet
This is my first post since google changed the layout of the blog. Although I do see definite improvements, I am immensely annoyed by the position of the title in the "compose" screen. It's so detached from the rest of the post, as if the title should have nothing to do with the writing.
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*Disclaimer: This blogpost is my opinion, and I am not a physician qualified to say anything about our diets.
The problem with today's diet is that people are not eating as nature intended. True, if we all went back to hunting & gathering, vast majority of us would starve to death, but the problem is the foods that we consume are so refined and extracted from its original form, that it is causing us harm.
So the diet I'm suggesting is to go back to our roots, and try to limit any refined or extracted foods. In addition, try to limit the flesh of an animal that eats foods that they weren't designed to eat. For most foods, it's not really difficult. Do you see and twinkie growing from a tree? No? then don't eat it. How about spinach? yes? then go ahead. Stuff like orange juice is a little complicated, but it's made from a concentrate, so no. What makes this really difficult is when you have things like salt. My advice is to intake as little as possible. What about sugar? Do you see sugar lying around in the nature? No, it is extracted from a sugar cane/beet. Eat strawberries instead.
Sounds nice and simple right? But it's incredibly difficult. You would have to throw out just about every food that is in a box. And since virtually all of our animals are eating corn we would have to throw all of them out except naturally caught fish (though this creates a new problem called extinction, obviously). So it sounds like being a Pesco vegetarian right? Actually it is much more difficult, because you would have to throw out white bread, white rice, pasta, and many other foods as well.
The sad reality is, this is how we were designed to eat, yet it's almost impossible to do so in this day and age. Americans consume over 150 pounds of sugar a year, in which 1/3 of it comes from added, or extracted, sugar. If you have hard time visualizing, here it is:
10 five-pound bag of sugar. That's a whole lot of sugar if you ask me. That's only a third of what average Americans consume.
So what do I mean by eating foods that we were designed to eat when we were designed to be omnivores who eat everything? Well, let's take cows for an example. Cows are designed to eat grass. It's reasonable to think so because that is what they eat in nature, and they have four stomachs for a reason. These ruminants need all four stomachs to break down the grass. So what happens when you feed these cows corn instead of grass? They'll eat it, but corn only takes one stomach to break down. That's fine you might say, they only have to use one stomach instead of four, which is better right? But the truth is, cows become sick when you feed them corn. Making their stomachs do less work will actually make them sick.
What are humans supposed to eat then? Humans are not ruminants - as omnivores, we are designed to eat all types of foods. This is fine. But the problem is, modern technology has made it possible to extract a single element from plants - like sugar, and make our own food that never existed in nature before. The problem with this is that our body doesn't have to work as hard to break down refined foods like white rice and white flour. The work is already done for us.
These foods, known as simple carbs, causes a spike in our insulin levels because the hard part - breaking down the rice - is already done for us. If you eat rice in its more natural state, it takes time for our bodies to break it down and absorb the energy. In short, white rice and other simple carbs burn like gasoline, while complex carbs burn like wood - slowly for a longer time.
My theory is that it is the same for sugars. Although some people may disagree, sugar from sugar canes probably act differently in our bodies compared to sugars from fruits because the hard part is already done for us. I believe sugar from fruits such as strawberries requires more effort and time by our bodies to digest, which helps our insulin levels stay rather constant. Hence, eating naturally occurring foods that contain sugar is fine, but extracted sugar is not.
So there it is, my perfect diet. It actually should be called the common sense diet. I mean, all I am saying is, let's eat like we were designed, whether you believe in evolution or God, to eat. Why is it so hard to do?
_______________________________________________________________________
*Disclaimer: This blogpost is my opinion, and I am not a physician qualified to say anything about our diets.
The problem with today's diet is that people are not eating as nature intended. True, if we all went back to hunting & gathering, vast majority of us would starve to death, but the problem is the foods that we consume are so refined and extracted from its original form, that it is causing us harm.
So the diet I'm suggesting is to go back to our roots, and try to limit any refined or extracted foods. In addition, try to limit the flesh of an animal that eats foods that they weren't designed to eat. For most foods, it's not really difficult. Do you see and twinkie growing from a tree? No? then don't eat it. How about spinach? yes? then go ahead. Stuff like orange juice is a little complicated, but it's made from a concentrate, so no. What makes this really difficult is when you have things like salt. My advice is to intake as little as possible. What about sugar? Do you see sugar lying around in the nature? No, it is extracted from a sugar cane/beet. Eat strawberries instead.
Sounds nice and simple right? But it's incredibly difficult. You would have to throw out just about every food that is in a box. And since virtually all of our animals are eating corn we would have to throw all of them out except naturally caught fish (though this creates a new problem called extinction, obviously). So it sounds like being a Pesco vegetarian right? Actually it is much more difficult, because you would have to throw out white bread, white rice, pasta, and many other foods as well.
The sad reality is, this is how we were designed to eat, yet it's almost impossible to do so in this day and age. Americans consume over 150 pounds of sugar a year, in which 1/3 of it comes from added, or extracted, sugar. If you have hard time visualizing, here it is:
10 five-pound bag of sugar. That's a whole lot of sugar if you ask me. That's only a third of what average Americans consume.
So what do I mean by eating foods that we were designed to eat when we were designed to be omnivores who eat everything? Well, let's take cows for an example. Cows are designed to eat grass. It's reasonable to think so because that is what they eat in nature, and they have four stomachs for a reason. These ruminants need all four stomachs to break down the grass. So what happens when you feed these cows corn instead of grass? They'll eat it, but corn only takes one stomach to break down. That's fine you might say, they only have to use one stomach instead of four, which is better right? But the truth is, cows become sick when you feed them corn. Making their stomachs do less work will actually make them sick.
What are humans supposed to eat then? Humans are not ruminants - as omnivores, we are designed to eat all types of foods. This is fine. But the problem is, modern technology has made it possible to extract a single element from plants - like sugar, and make our own food that never existed in nature before. The problem with this is that our body doesn't have to work as hard to break down refined foods like white rice and white flour. The work is already done for us.
These foods, known as simple carbs, causes a spike in our insulin levels because the hard part - breaking down the rice - is already done for us. If you eat rice in its more natural state, it takes time for our bodies to break it down and absorb the energy. In short, white rice and other simple carbs burn like gasoline, while complex carbs burn like wood - slowly for a longer time.
My theory is that it is the same for sugars. Although some people may disagree, sugar from sugar canes probably act differently in our bodies compared to sugars from fruits because the hard part is already done for us. I believe sugar from fruits such as strawberries requires more effort and time by our bodies to digest, which helps our insulin levels stay rather constant. Hence, eating naturally occurring foods that contain sugar is fine, but extracted sugar is not.
So there it is, my perfect diet. It actually should be called the common sense diet. I mean, all I am saying is, let's eat like we were designed, whether you believe in evolution or God, to eat. Why is it so hard to do?
Monday, April 9, 2012
Saturday, April 7, 2012
Thursday, April 5, 2012
1. I don't understand why it's okay for the state of Massachusetts to mandate health insurance on its denizens but the federal government can't.
2. I don't understand why the federal government can send you to a war thousands of miles away from home, especially when it really has nothing to do with national security and it was waged based on faulty evidence, but it can't mandate health insurance.
3. I don't understand why the federal government can mandate education but not health insurance.
4. I don't understand why the state of California can mandate car insurance for all drivers (virtually 100% of active working population) but the federal government can't mandate health insurance.
All this, of course, is on the assumption that the supreme court will vote Obama care unconstitutional, 5-4. (Ellito, Roberts, Clemens, Scalia, and Kennedy). I really don't like Obama care all that much, and frankly speaking, I am repulsed by the idea that the federal government is making you buy private health insurance. But isn't that what they're virtually doing already when the federal government builds freeways and buy fighter jets?
This is my idea of health care. There are two ideas, the first one being better.
1. Make it completely national, just like the education. All taxpayers must pay for their health care - it would be just like paying for education. If you don't like the insurance, you can get your own private insurance on top of the government insurance. It's like rich people (or Asians) paying for tutoring after school. This is how it works in Korea, and though it has its faults, it's much better than current American health care, and Obama care for that matter.
2. Make it completely private. It sucks but medicare and medicaid is unsustainable at this rate.
2. I don't understand why the federal government can send you to a war thousands of miles away from home, especially when it really has nothing to do with national security and it was waged based on faulty evidence, but it can't mandate health insurance.
3. I don't understand why the federal government can mandate education but not health insurance.
4. I don't understand why the state of California can mandate car insurance for all drivers (virtually 100% of active working population) but the federal government can't mandate health insurance.
All this, of course, is on the assumption that the supreme court will vote Obama care unconstitutional, 5-4. (Ellito, Roberts, Clemens, Scalia, and Kennedy). I really don't like Obama care all that much, and frankly speaking, I am repulsed by the idea that the federal government is making you buy private health insurance. But isn't that what they're virtually doing already when the federal government builds freeways and buy fighter jets?
This is my idea of health care. There are two ideas, the first one being better.
1. Make it completely national, just like the education. All taxpayers must pay for their health care - it would be just like paying for education. If you don't like the insurance, you can get your own private insurance on top of the government insurance. It's like rich people (or Asians) paying for tutoring after school. This is how it works in Korea, and though it has its faults, it's much better than current American health care, and Obama care for that matter.
2. Make it completely private. It sucks but medicare and medicaid is unsustainable at this rate.
Monday, April 2, 2012
Meet Nikkor f/2.8 24-70mm zoom lens, conveniently priced at $1,900. So $4,900 is the least amount of money I can possibly spend if I were to make a switch to D800.
This is Nikkor 14-24mm zoom lens. 24-70 will take care of my basic needs. I will take this lens with me when people ask me to take pictures of their baby or something, but 14-24 will allow me to take more creative pictures, like my landscape pictures that people love so much. ($2,000)
And a light shed would be nice, so that I can have my own studio... $80
And a macro lens (to take pictures of small things)... $1,000
And one more flash... $546
70-200mm lens... $2,300
Fisheye lens... $600
Nikon D7000 as a Travel camera, since I don't want to get mugged in Mongolia... $1,300
Sigma 10-20mm lens and Tamron 28-75: 500 + 500 = $1,000
And a new tripod... $200
Filters, batteries, accessories... $200
What is that, roughly around $14,000 ~ $15,000?
So basically, I would have to save up for almost a year, just to buy some camera equipment. The crazy part is, I'm tempted to do it.
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
This is my $300 headphones:
People ask why pay 300 dollars for headphones. The correct answer is, because it's worth it. You never know what you've been missing until you listen to the music with headphones that shows you the details.
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I really want to buy a new camera. If I do, I will be spending at least 4,000 ~ 10,000 dollars. One side of me tells me to follow my passion and just do it, while the other side is telling me to save for the future (for the year 2012, I am trying to save about 2,000 dollars a month). This is somewhat uncharacteristic of me. I would usually come up with thousand different ways to get whatever I want, trampling any obstacles that come in the way.
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I am planning to have the words "memento mori" (remember, you will die) written everywhere, my work, my home, etc. so that I won't squander any more of my living days.
People ask why pay 300 dollars for headphones. The correct answer is, because it's worth it. You never know what you've been missing until you listen to the music with headphones that shows you the details.
__________________________________________________________
I really want to buy a new camera. If I do, I will be spending at least 4,000 ~ 10,000 dollars. One side of me tells me to follow my passion and just do it, while the other side is telling me to save for the future (for the year 2012, I am trying to save about 2,000 dollars a month). This is somewhat uncharacteristic of me. I would usually come up with thousand different ways to get whatever I want, trampling any obstacles that come in the way.
_____________________________________________________________
I am planning to have the words "memento mori" (remember, you will die) written everywhere, my work, my home, etc. so that I won't squander any more of my living days.
Saturday, February 25, 2012
It's so annoying when you think you've just heard the perfect song - you're mesmerized for almost a minute, caught in its sweet magic, and for whatever reason, it's just ruined.
The first 38 seconds or so, it was so awesome. I mean, I was just enamored, until the bass beat came in. Straight quarter notes, killing the groove. Boo.
The first 38 seconds or so, it was so awesome. I mean, I was just enamored, until the bass beat came in. Straight quarter notes, killing the groove. Boo.
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
It occurred to me that I always bitch about the same thing. I want to lose weight & exercise, I want to learn at least two more languages, I want to refine my command of both English and Korean, I want to spend less time staring at an electronic screen.
The fact that I've been wishing for all these things for years prove yet again how difficult it is to change behaviors. However, I shall succeed eventually. Victory shall be mine.
The fact that I've been wishing for all these things for years prove yet again how difficult it is to change behaviors. However, I shall succeed eventually. Victory shall be mine.
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Free Tibet
I always thought that people who cried “free Tibet” were annoying overzealous liberal lunatics who watched one too many Brad Pitt movies. I was wrong. Just 105 days after the Korean War, China invaded the de-facto independent nation of Tibet. The international community, pre-occupied with the war in Korea, failed to listen to the cries of then 15 year old Dalai Lama as he pleaded for help. Yes, he is the same Dalai Lama you see on news from time to time, and yes, Tibet is still annexed by China.
Monday, February 6, 2012
My taste in pictures seem to be really different from rest of the crowd nowadays. Take this for example:
taken @ the Incheon International Airport, S. Korea.
It's a silhouette of a kid looking at an airplane. It may not be one of my best works, but I love this picture for so many reasons. Didn't we all have a fascination of airplanes when we were kids? Apparently not, or the point wasn't delivered well.
Let's look at the next picture:
View of Ulaan Baatar
I guess the view IS spectacular - I mean you don't see this kind of view everyday. But there is nothing more to the picture. You don't reminisce about the past (unless you lived in UB, which is not the case for most people), and it really doesn't have much depth, as in beauty is all it's got to show for. Arguably, beauty itself has a value and we should appreciate it, but my personal opinion is that this picture is no different than a pretty girl who can't converse.
I wasn't even going to post it on facebook but it turned out to be the most popular. Strange.
Third picture:
Picture of my good friend, Bubmin, and his wife, before marriage.
Actually it's a picture of my good friend's wife, not him. But anyways,
look very carefully. The girl you're seeing is actually a reflection. You can tell because you can see the borders of the mirror and you can see her unreflected head. Her soon to be husband is two reflections away in the picture, which creates the illusion that he's far away though he is standing next to her.
I like this picture because the reflections are unique. She's talking to her fiance before her marriage, which is fairly common, but it's seldom seen from this perspective. He looks so far away, but he's really close kinda thing.
I guess it's true that when you're really into something, your tastes change.
taken @ the Incheon International Airport, S. Korea.
It's a silhouette of a kid looking at an airplane. It may not be one of my best works, but I love this picture for so many reasons. Didn't we all have a fascination of airplanes when we were kids? Apparently not, or the point wasn't delivered well.
Let's look at the next picture:
View of Ulaan Baatar
I guess the view IS spectacular - I mean you don't see this kind of view everyday. But there is nothing more to the picture. You don't reminisce about the past (unless you lived in UB, which is not the case for most people), and it really doesn't have much depth, as in beauty is all it's got to show for. Arguably, beauty itself has a value and we should appreciate it, but my personal opinion is that this picture is no different than a pretty girl who can't converse.
I wasn't even going to post it on facebook but it turned out to be the most popular. Strange.
Third picture:
Picture of my good friend, Bubmin, and his wife, before marriage.
Actually it's a picture of my good friend's wife, not him. But anyways,
look very carefully. The girl you're seeing is actually a reflection. You can tell because you can see the borders of the mirror and you can see her unreflected head. Her soon to be husband is two reflections away in the picture, which creates the illusion that he's far away though he is standing next to her.
I like this picture because the reflections are unique. She's talking to her fiance before her marriage, which is fairly common, but it's seldom seen from this perspective. He looks so far away, but he's really close kinda thing.
I guess it's true that when you're really into something, your tastes change.
I kinda want to get the facebook timeline, or whatever its called just because you get to have that in-your-face ginormous profile picture, and I think it looks fantastic. I'm not really gonna get it; I'm just sayin'.
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Behaviors are hard to change. In fact, 9 out of 10, you will fail in changing your behavior (I made up this statistic). Remember that time you tried to quit cigarettes or lose weight? Yeah, you probably failed. You may have succeeded, but the chances are that you probably screwed up plenty of times. If not, well, I'm sure there are plenty of people who failed enough to bring the average down, such as me. It took me about 30 tries to quit cigarettes.
I'm not writing this to be pessimistic. What I'm trying to say is that it will take all of your effort - and I mean all of it, to develop one good habit or get rid of a bad one. So it's foolish to have 10 new years resolutions and expect all of them to work out simultaneously. You can write 10 or 20 or however many you want, but if it involves long-term behavior, you better work on it one at a time. Or two, if you are getting rid of a bad habit and replacing it with a good one.
First, I'll begin my "no screens" project - no computers, ipads, smart phones, tv, etc., unless it's truly necessary. We spend too much time droning, staring at a screen and not enough time with our loved ones or something that truly enriches our lives. And with all the extra time I'll get, I will exercise... hopefully.
__________________________________
Behaviors are hard to change. In fact, 9 out of 10, you will fail in changing your behavior (I made up this statistic). Remember that time you tried to quit cigarettes or lose weight? Yeah, you probably failed. You may have succeeded, but the chances are that you probably screwed up plenty of times. If not, well, I'm sure there are plenty of people who failed enough to bring the average down, such as me. It took me about 30 tries to quit cigarettes.
I'm not writing this to be pessimistic. What I'm trying to say is that it will take all of your effort - and I mean all of it, to develop one good habit or get rid of a bad one. So it's foolish to have 10 new years resolutions and expect all of them to work out simultaneously. You can write 10 or 20 or however many you want, but if it involves long-term behavior, you better work on it one at a time. Or two, if you are getting rid of a bad habit and replacing it with a good one.
First, I'll begin my "no screens" project - no computers, ipads, smart phones, tv, etc., unless it's truly necessary. We spend too much time droning, staring at a screen and not enough time with our loved ones or something that truly enriches our lives. And with all the extra time I'll get, I will exercise... hopefully.
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