



No rules apply to me!
It all comes down to the hype!
Go big:
Prius vision baby!
Both metaphorically and literally!
The goal is to gain ascendancy, not to become “happierâ€:
Become the change which you desire to see manifested in the world!
Never stop innovating.
For the sake of what?
WE THE REAL STOICS! Peter Limburg Thoughts
I think this is true; any sort of plug-in besides the ones which disable stuff, are bad.
What are the most useful plug-ins, for WordPress or beyond? The ones that get rid of things or disable things.
For example, disable comments plug-in, or spam protection plug-ins. All of these other plug-ins which strive to “optimize“ things, often break your website.
For example, this one thing that I’ve been using for a while called Astra — I paid for it, the premium theme, perhaps $250 outright for a lifetime pro theme, but it has broken my website at least twice. Straight in the trash.
I think the reason why I am also now very very suspicious of that Astra team is that in order to “unlock“ the “pro featuresâ€, you must install this WordPress Astra pro plug-in thing; but aesthetically, I hate the addition.
The other day when going to a ReStore, some sort of random secondhand furniture store, I stumbled upon one of the greatest finds of my life; about 900 pounds of steel; a shitload of 45 pound plates, neatly talked into a container, only $.50 a pound!
I think I counted it and it was around in total 14 45-pound plates, two 35-pound plates, two 10 pounder Rogue bumper plates, two 5 pounders, and two 2.5’ers.
This was such an insanely big deal for me because the last year or so I’ve been toying with this idea of creating and starting my own gym. But the big problem was this;
Getting access to steel plates, or any 45 pound plates is insanely expensive. The cheapest I could find on Amazon was around $90 for a single 45 pound plate!
The true cheapest option which a lot of commercial gyms do is get them produced in China at one of those mega industrial factories, and get them re-branded and shipped directly to the states but via cargo ship, on boat overseas. You can get a good price on this, but the big problem is that it just takes too long; you often have to wait several months before getting your package. And also you have to deal with international commerce which is always a little bit concerning when you’re dealing with credit card transactions, financial international exchanges etc.
Anyways, a thought on my mind:
Is it best for me to continue being the goat at the gym, and continue to keep going to the gym, having fun at the gym, keep making friends and making new friends, keeping in touch with friends and making new friends, hitting your personal records, enjoying the gym life, or, is it more interesting and better for me to start something epic and interesting myself?
I think the simple solution and answer is perhaps it is more important, or more interesting, or more critical to use this opportunity to start my own gym concept.
Or in other words,
When in doubt, choose the more entrepreneurial path!
A movie that has made a massive impact on me is FIGHT CLUB. I read the book and watched the movie, I think I actually might prefer the movie. Why? Even though I like imagination blah blah blah, I like visuals.
There is something interesting that I’ve discovered about society;
The bias of how we “should†be versus how things truly are.
For example let me give you example, society, modern day society, notions of chivalry etc. says that if a man wants to attract women, he must be prim and proper, nice kind, and romantic and cartel to all of the desires of the woman.
However based on my true observations, it seems different; the best ways to be loud, rambunctious, some sort of wild untamed beast, happy, good eye contact, smiling etc.
Another way to reprogram yourself; don’t drink beer, don’t grow facial hair or a beard or a mustache, don’t wear a hat, a trucker hat, don’t wear sunglasses, don’t drive a big ass car with limo tint, etc.
I think the funny new modern day bias in today’s society is everyone wants to feel dominant, without having to somehow engage with other human beings. Therefore, people always hide behind something; once again people hide behind the tint in their cars, when they’re out in public they hide behind sunglasses, a hat, they hide behind being antisocial etc.
I would say instead, the better goal is to be insanely friendly, insanely cordial, and also insanely kind.
What is money? The current thought I have about money is that it is like some sort of legal tender for debt, both private and public.
For example, the other day I critically looked at a $100 bill, after not having looked at cash money for a long time, and I was extremely discerning and read all of the text on it. It read:
This note is legal tender for all debts, both private and public.
There are many theories behind money, debt being one of them.
When we do entrepreneurial things, create businesses, become self-employed, start selling or services and products etc., what are we doing? Technically we’re not making money, assuming that money has to do with that. Instead it seems that we are doing something else; creating new sources of value.
What is value? Value comes from valere which means strong. Colloquially, value means that which we care for, what we have heart for.
A simple approach to things in life is simply create things which we value, put yourself on the other side;
How do you know if something has value or not? Use yourself as your own litmus test; that means, if it has value to you, assuming that you used yourself as your own barometer, there is a high likelihood that it will have value for others.
How do you know? Simple; assuming that there are 7 billion people on the planet, 300, million Americans plus, and you’re using the Internet, or website a blog some sort of forward facing platform, certainly there will be at least one human being on planet earth who will drive value from what you create and share.
The trillion dollar question, and also the supreme task of philosophy is this; why?
I think part of it is just a self entertainment thing; I think personally it is just more interesting to do the more entrepreneurial thing. At least for myself, I don’t desire to live a base life. For me innovation in doing things differently is a pride thing.
Secondly, not to overthink it. Personally, I just put myself in the shoes of when I was a kid, 12 years old, 13 years old, 16 years old, 18 years old, 21 years old, 26 years old, etc.
For example, the reason why I was so committed to the open source idea is that when I was a kid, and I was poor, and cannot afford stuff, the ethics and approach things was simple:
How can I do things that would benefit me when I was a teenager?
Therefore the take away points simple: just put yourself on the other side!
For example, my new current passion with coffee, hundred percent fine robusta. Honestly coffee is not a good business; there’s too much over market saturation, too many options, pretty much no profit margins, yet it is something that I love and I’m committed to. Why? At least for myself, when I drink other types of coffee, it doesn’t make me feel good. But when I drink Eric Kim OMAKASE coffee, the coffee that I innovativer, I feel phenomenally great! And I suppose my passion and interest is striving to share that with others, to also empower others as well!
POWER GOALS:
Also when in doubt,
ERIC
Think better with THE THINKER >
Make each and everything distinct.
Entrepreneurship is a mouthful, difficult to type out. I always typo it.
Essentially to me, business and entrepreneurship is pretty much the same thing. I suppose the subtle difference is that at least with entrepreneurship, it is more of an ethos and approach and philosophy to life; having a passion for innovation, creating and designing new things, innovating and paving new concepts, choosing the less obvious path in life.
My passion for the less obvious path in life!
Become the change which you desire to see manifested in the world!
Never stop innovating.
Super inspired from the movie ‘FIGHT CLUB’– in terms of how to conquer my personal fears in life, how to break free from societal bullshit, and to become the best version of myself:
Here are some life lessons I’ve learned from the film:
In society, we are spoon-fed this need for constant ‘self-improvement’ in the eyes of some self-improvement guru.
But the fallacy is that we need ‘improving.’ You are already perfect the way you are.
Rather, Tyler Durden suggests we seek ‘self-destruction’ — the antithesis of self-improvement.
Not to destroy ourselves to commit suicide or cut ourselves. Rather, to destroy the bullshit consumerist mentality we have in our minds.
To destroy the false veil of reality, to see the truth in life.
‘I see all this potential; and I see it all squandered. Entire generation of slaves with white collars.’ – Tyler Durden
As humans, we have so much human potential. Yet, we waste it pointlessly. We waste it becoming consumerist slaves — except instead of chains, we wear golden rolexes. We live in a golden cage. We cannot fly free.
So friend— how can you fulfill your potential in life?
‘Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don’t need. No purpose or place. No great war, no great depression. Our great war is a spiritual war. Our great depression is our lives.’
To have a zest for life, we need struggle. We need pain. We need something to overcome.
We need to find meaning in our lives— to find some deeper purpose.
For me, I find purpose in life through creating art, through empowering others, and in terms of fulfilling my creative potential.
What is your drive in life?
‘Without pain and sacrifice, we would have nothing.’ – Tyler Durden
To me, life is all about sacrifice.
My mom (umma) sacrificed her life and suffered to give me and my sister a better shot in life. Whenever I show my love for Cindy, there is always some sacrifice. As Nassim Taleb says, ‘Love without sacrifice is theft.’
How can you put more ‘skin in the game’ to life a life with more pain and sacrifice— but in a meaningful way?
‘It is only after we’ve lost everything that we’re free to do anything.’ – Tyler Durden
Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt) — aka the alter ego of Edward Norton, blows up his own condo. But after purging himself of his prior life, he is free.
Practically speaking — I have gained much freedom by purging myself of my past. Purging my past negative memories, purging my superfluous possessions, and purging bullshit. This helped me become reborn, and now I feel free.
‘I don’t have a car’ – Tyler Duren
Be like Tyler— don’t be a slave to wanting an expensive car. In-fact, it is cooler not to have a car.
Also consider, are you a slave to debt? Does debt have you working that job you hate, just so you can buy that next $30,000 car?
Consider if you are paid $20 an hour ($40,000 a year USD). Are you willing to work 1,500 hours (62.5 days straight with no rest), or 187 eight-hour working shifts (6.25 months at $20 an hour) just to buy a car, or any other bullshit consumerist good you don’t need?
What is your time worth to you? What is your life worth to you?
‘You are not your job; you’re not how much money you have in the bank; you’re not the car you drive; you’re not the contents of your wallet.’ – Tyler Durden
Our identity is who we are as human beings— our soul, the creative work we do, our worldview, and our self-identity.
We don’t need to identify ourselves via the work we do, how many 0’s we have in our bank account, or society’s labels of us.
In one of my favorite scenes, Brad Pitt and Edward Norton enter a convenience store, pull out the cashier, and Brad Pitt puts a gun to the head of the kid.
Brad Pitt asks the cashier what his dream in life was. The kid says it was to be a veterinarian, but he dropped out of school because it was too hard.
Brad Pitt then says, ‘I will kill you unless you go back to school and pursue your dream.’ The kid runs away.
Edward Norton says something like, ‘What the fuck — why did you do that?’
Brad Pitt then says to Edward Norton:
“Imagine how he feels— tomorrow will be the most beautiful day of his life. his breakfast will taste better than any meal you and I have ever tasted.“
Brad Pitt then also says that in life, when we have no fear or distractions, we can let ‘that which does not matter— truly slide.’
The best part— Edward Norton opens up the pistol, and sees that the gun has no bullets inside.
Assignment: If someone put a gun to the back of your head, and asked you what your life dream was — how would you answer? And what would you do tonight or tomorrow to pursue your dream?
The interesting concept of Fight Club — Tyler Durden is the same person. Brad Pitt and Edward Norton are the same person.
However Brad Pitt is the idealized version of Edward Norton. Brad Pitt is everything that Edward Norton wants to be.
We all have an inner-Brad Pitt (or Tyler Durden). The only thing we need to do is to take radical change in our lives, to become what Nietzsche calls— the ‘over-man’ (or ‘superman’) who overcomes all the difficulties in his life.
We need to take responsibility for our lives. Not to blame others or make excuses. We just need to go out and pursue our dreams and do what we truly believe in — refusing to let the rules of society cage us in.
Fight Club isn’t about winning or losing. It is rather about fighting your inner-self, your inner-ego, your inner-fears. In Fight Club, you aren’t beating another person — you are just conquering your own fears in life. And you are getting closer to another human being in fraternity.
In real life, there is no winning or losing. We are all on the same team in this world community of humanity. We need to help one another— build each other up, instead of tearing each other down.
Let’s win in life together. Empower yourself in life:
Be strong,
Eric
If you want to conquer your fears and meet new peers, attend an ERIC KIM WORKSHOP >
Cinematography and life lessons:
In tyler we trust — what greater good?
‘self-improvement is masturbation’ //
Seek ‘Self-DESTRUCTION’ // seek ANTI-Consumerism // anti-social media // anti photography // anti-street //
anti-role model.
—
‘i see all this potential; and i see it all squandered. entire generation of slaves with white collars.’
‘advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don’t need. no purpose or place. no great war, no great depression. our great war is a spiritual war. our great depression is our lives.’
you wear leather clothes that will last you the rest of your life.
‘without pain and sacrifice, we would have nothing’
‘It is only after we’ve lost everything that we’re free to do anything.’ – Tyler Duren
—
‘i don’t have a car’
‘you are not your job; you’re not how much money you have in the bank; you’re not the car you drive; you’re not the contents of your wallet.’
‘the things you own end up owning you’
‘i look like you wanna look; i fuck like you wanna fuck; i am smart, capable, and more importantly — I’m free in all the ways that you are not.’
—
‘were consumers; we are the byproducts of a lifestyle obsession. murder, crime, poverty — these things don’t concern us.’
‘you wanna make an omelet; you gotta break some eggs’
Tyler and Narrator stop outside a convenience store at night. Tyler takes out a gun and walks into the store to do their homework assignment of a “human sacrifice”, while Narrator protests. Tyler forces the clerk out the back exit at gun point.
Voice-over: On a long enough timeline the survival rate for everybody drops to zero.
Narrator: Stop! What are we doing? Come on! God!
Tyler Durden: Hands behind your back. Give me your wallet.
The clerk, now kneeling, hands him his wallet.
Tyler Durden: Raymond K. Hessel. 1320 South East spanning apartment A. Small cramped basement apartment, Raymond?
Raymond K. Hessel: How did you know?
Tyler Durden: ‘Cause they give shitty basement apartments letters instead of numbers. Raymond, you are going to die.
Raymond begins to cry. Tyler examines content of the wallet.
Tyler Durden: Is that your mom and dad? Mom and Dad are going to have to call up kindly Doctor So-and-so. Pick up your dental records. Wanna know why? Because there’s gonna be nothing left of your face.
Narrator: Oh come on, come on.
Tyler Durden: An expired community college student ID. What did you study, Raymond?
Raymond K. Hessel: S-stuff.
Tyler Durden: Stuff? Were the mid-terms hard? I asked you what you studied!
Raymond K. Hessel: Biology mostly.
Tyler Durden: Why?
Raymond K. Hessel: I don’t know.
Tyler Durden: What did you wanna be, Raymond K. Hessel? The question, Raymond! Was “What did you want to be”?!
Narrator: Answer him, Raymond! Jesus!
Raymond K. Hessel: Veterinarian, veterinarian.
Tyler Durden: Animals.
Raymond K. Hessel: Yeah animals and stuff.
Tyler Durden: And stuff, yeah I got that. That means you have to get more schooling.
Raymond K. Hessel: Too much school.
Tyler Durden: Would you rather be dead? Would you rather die? Here, on your knees in the back of a convenience store?
Raymond K. Hessel: No, please no!
Tyler takes his gun down, takes out Raymond’s driver’s license throwing the wallet in front of Raymond.
Tyler Durden: I’m keeping your license. I’m gonna check in on you. I know where you live. If you’re not on your way to becoming a veterinarian in six weeks, you will be dead. Now run on home.
Raymond gets up and runs into the night.
Tyler Durden: Run Forrest, run!
Narrator: I feel ill.
Tyler Durden: Imagine how he feels.
Narrator: Come on, this isn’t funny! That wasn’t funny. What the fuck was the point of that?!
Tyler Durden: Tomorrow will be the most beautiful day of Raymond K. Hessel’s life. His breakfast will taste better than any meal you and I have ever tasted.
Voice-over: You had to give it to him. He had a plan. And it started to make sense in a Tyler sort of way. No fear, no distractions. The ability to let that which does not matter truly slide.
Tyler throws gun to Narrator who opens the barrel to find no bullets inside.
Narrator: I felt like putting a bullet between the eyes of every Panda that wouldn’t screw to save its species. I wanted to open the dump valves on oil tankers and smother all those French beaches I’d never see. I wanted to breathe smoke.
Tyler Durden: Where’d you go psycho boy?
Narrator: I felt like destroying something beautiful.
Narrator: I know it seems like I have more than one side sometimes…
Marla Singer: More than one side? You’re Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Jackass!
Taglines
• How much can you know about yourself, if you’ve never been in a fight?
• When you wake up in a different place at a different time, can you wake up as a different person?
• Losing all hope is freedom
• Mischief. Mayhem. Soap.
• It’s only after we’ve lost everything that we are free to do anything.
• This is your life and it’s ending one minute at a time.
• Fuck Martha Stewart ..its all going down
• You’re the all-singing, all-dancing crap of the world.
Cast
• Edward Norton – The Narrator
• Brad Pitt – Tyler Durden
• Helena Bonham Carter – Marla Singer
• Meat Loaf – Robert Paulson
• Jared Leto – Angel Face
About
• A stylized version of our IKEA present. It is talking about very simple concepts. We’re designed to be hunters and we’re in a society of shopping. There’s nothing to kill anymore, there’s nothing to fight, nothing to overcome, nothing to explore. In that societal emasculation this everyman is created.
• We wanted a title sequence that started in the fear center of the brain. When you hear the sound of a gun being cocked that’s in your mouth, the part of you brain that gets everything going, that realizes that you are fucked – we see all the thought processes, we see the synapses firing, we see the chemical electrical impulses that are the call to arms. And we wanted to sort of follow that out. Because the movie is about thought, it’s about how this guy thinks. And it’s from his point of view, solely. So I liked the idea of starting a movie from thought, from the beginning of the first fear impulse that went, Oh shit, I’m fucked, how did I get here?
• David Fincher Gavin Smith goes one-on-one with David Fincher (1999) Interview with Film Comment magazine, October/November 1999 issue
• The movie is not that violent. There are ideas in the movie that are scary, but the film isn’t about violence, the glorification of violence or the embracing of violence. In the movie, violence is a metaphor for feeling. It’s a film about the problems or requirements involved with being masculine in today’s society.
• Violence shouldn’t be presented as drama. I think people looking for an easy way out often write scenes where characters come into violent conflict as opposed to looking for the true drama in the situation. That’s a shortcoming of a lot of films and television shows. I think certain presentations of violence are not immoral, but amoral.
• I find it amoral if you’re making a movie where the problem is solved with a guy standing in the back of pickup truck firing a machine at the bad guys. The morality of it is questionable because the repercussions of violence are incredibly far-reaching.
• I do like movies that take a toll on the audience. I want to work the subconscious. I want to involve you in ways in which you might not necessarily want to get involved. I want to play off those things that you’re expecting to get when the lights go down and the 20th Century Fox logo comes up. There’s an audience expectation and I’m interested in how movies play with–and off–that expectation. That’s what I’m interested in.
• David Fincher Fightin Words (1999) Interview with drDrew.com about Fight Club
External links
 Encyclopedic article on Fight Club (film) at Wikipedia
• Fight Club quotes at the Internet Movie Database
• Fight Club at Rotten Tomatoes
I used to be a mega proponent of android, I was a hard-core android, Samsung, HTC user for a long time before switching to iPhone, only about a year ago prior.
First, I think the greatest pull of android is the open source concept. The idea that you could customize it to your hearts liking.
However when I go to the android website, it is insanely lame. There is zero to negative incentive for me to switch.
Based on the marketing, it seems that android is just trying to cater to poor people.
People like me. I honestly think that if Google android wants to succeed or continue to succeed, what android needs to do is try to cater to people like me. That is, people who have all Apple devices, but dislike iPhone.
For example, android needs to figure out better ways to integrate with MacBook laptops etc. One thing is certain; I will never ever ever ever ever again phone or purchase or use a Windows based computer.
Also, open source camera?
My new goal. Some sort of really good open source WordPress theme?
Even when you’re angry! And irrational!