Big fan of iPhone Pro Desert

iPhone review pro podcast Eric Kim

So cool

In Praise of Thin

I was really curious about the new iPhone pro, and the upgraded camera etc. And also, I currently have a pitch for Apple TV Apple TV+ on the art of street photography, pretty much imagine Anthony Bourdain traveling the world in exotic places, shooting street photography, talking to locals experiencing the local culture etc. But this will all be done by Eric Kim.

Anyways, I thought before I actually put anything, I should get the new iPhone pro shot. I picked one up at the Apple Century City Mall in LA, show it to my friend Antonio who helped me out. Got it in the desert bronze, titanium. Love it!

Anyways, these are my honest thoughts:

First, you have to put the iPhone pro on a diet. My suggestion to Apple designers and all of Apple corporation is the goal of every single new iPhone pro should be to make it lighter and thinner. Specifically thinner. Funny enough I would prefer I have your device which is thinner rather than a fatter device which is lighter.

Thinness is supreme  

Even as a random note, I’m currently considering purchasing some new weightlifting plates, and you could purchase these steel calibrated weightlifting plates, which are thinner, more compact and stronger. And much heavier and more dense.

To me the philosophy is super interesting because iron, while it is cheaper, is fatter takes up more space etc. And I think in the long term, it doesn’t hold up as well to corrosion as steel does. So if you want to become the next Carnegie, invest in steel. 

Anyways, the critical issue here is I was using the iPhone pro, I used to a lot yesterday, test out the Camera, ChatGPT voice dictation and recognition etc., used Apple Maps for driving directions etc., FaceTime call etc., and my honest assessment is for the most part, it is a perfect device. I think Apple really nailed it this time. Yet, my ultimate interesting Takeaway point is once I have discovered perfect and I have perfect, I realize that I actually don’t need perfect, I don’t need the best or perfect device, because I am the ultimate perfect device. 

And also the critical issue here is even if you have the new new new iPhone Pro, you’re already behind. Why? It is going to get outdated and what 6 to8 months? At this point, everything is becoming so hyper. Ain’t nothing lasts anymore. 

And also, one of my really big thoughts is if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. And better yet, if it ain’t broke, don’t upgrade it!

The reason why I think this is such a critical thought is often what we techies do is we are always jerking off and waiting for the newest iPhone iPhone Pro, the newest Apple device to come out, and revolutionize ourselves, our mindset, our workflows, etc. And as a consequence, we do these fundamental tricks like we end up giving our older devices to our mothers, hand me down to our siblings, family members, maybe friends, etc. So we have an excuse to upgrade to the newest device, without any feelings of guilt.

Only poor people trade in their devices or cars

People are stupid. I’m starting to think critically more and more, am I the only wise one when it comes to money?

For example, I could stay with pride that in my whole adult life, I am 36 years old, I have never purchased a car that cost more than $2500 USD? I think that might be one of the number one secrets to becoming rich, and actually more critically… Staying rich, and becoming richer.

Even something that’s very interesting, my brother-in-law Gabe, whose family is super rich, all of the Kids Just Dr., Ford fusions? And even though my brother-in-law‘s dad is a super major Tesla investor, he owns a lot of Tesla stock, for his own family, he only purchased them super super bass Tesla model three cars, and also, he didn’t pay the all cash, even though he could, but rather… He’s financing it, so he could just use the cash available right now to invest? 

And I also think that is a super super critical and crucial thing to money investing etc. The irony is that actually, are really really rich people at least the smart ones, the ones which are self-made and the ones that did not just inherit a trust fund, these individuals your first build up the family fortune or the family war chest or whatever… Did things in an insanely intelligent way, essentially they are insanely frugal, Spartan, simple and basic, and their lifestyles are super simple basic and they just pour pretty much 100% of their money into investing, whether it be stocks, real estate, commercial real estate, homes etc.

For example, my brother-in-law Gabe, my sister Annette Kim are opening up VEFA– Visual experiences fine art, fine art gallery in Torrance, and it’s super interesting because Gabe’s dad used to own a knee surgery practice in this one building, and now that he is retiring and building his legacy, they are converting the whole space into a fine art gallery. Expect to see some ERIC KIM workshops and experiences there as well in the near future. 

But anyways, super intelligent because Gabe‘s dad, I think he’s now in his 80s or something, he had the intelligence of purchasing the commercial property back in the day, and he owns the property, essentially commercial real estate, and for a long time he just sat on the property, just paying the property taxes on it. And as Michael Saylor said, at least during the baby boomer generation, the secret to real wealth was actually through commercial real estate, assuming that you could intelligently manage it well.

Certainly for us new millennials, now that we are coming of age, and now that we run the show and are super rich and have high income, obviously the path forward is bitcoin and digital real estate, not commercial real estate or physics backed real estate. 

But anyways taking it back to the iPhone iPhone pro, this is actually a very very bizarre thought to me; the normal iPhone is only $200 cheaper than the iPhone pro, why would anyone in their right mind prefer to get the chipper iPhone? Come on… It is only 200 bucks. Nowadays even two people eating out you could easily blow $200 on a date for two.

So this is actually the strings are new… Why does Apple even sell a normal iPhone anymore? Why don’t they just consolidate their lineup and just make it iPhone pro or nothing? Or actually more intelligent, Apple should start to increase the price of the iPhone pro. It seems that people are very willing to shell out the money for it. Even poor people. When I was at the Apple Store yesterday, I would see these more poor looking families, pulling up, with the whole family, and taking out crumpled $100 bills and $20 bills, to purchase new iPhone pros for the whole family?

And also, when I was in Providence Rhode Island I would just meet a lot of minimum wage workers, who would always always have the newest iPhone pros, and I asked them what they paid it in all cash or financing, and almost universally they always finance it.

Therefore my tongue in cheek remark: only poor people have iPhone pros.

The logic is by purchasing $1000 iPhone pro, that is otherwise $1000 you could have put into bitcoin, which will only 10 X or 100 X or 1000x from here. 

If you take $1000 and multiply it by 1000, 1000 X, that is $1 million!

So I think to yourself, if I could tell you with 100% certainty that your thousand dollars today could be worth $1,000,000.30 years from now, would you do the trade? Probably not, only unless you are a fool!

how to be and think rich

Once again, I think the critical line of thought here is 10 X, 100 X, 1000 X. 

One of my very very simple principles which I actually try to follow my own real life is whenever I want to buy something, I just multiply it by 10 X, 100 X, or 1000 X, and I try to think and consider whether I think the trade is worth it or not. 

For example, $20, $20 multiplied by 10 is $200. $200 multiplied by 10 is $2000, and $2000 multiplied by $10-$20,000, and $20,000 multiplied by 10 is $200,000, and $200,000 multiplied by 10 is $2 million.

And once again, I think they’re really really difficult thing for basic people to understand is the difference between saving $1 million, and spending $1 million.

Thinking of money, money retention and seminal fluid 

Apparently all the rage right now is this notion of semen retention, idea is if you want more strength clarity higher mood, attractiveness to women etc., the irony is that you don’t always want to be blowing your load all the time. That in fact the optimal strategy is to blow your load as infrequently as possible, ideally only reserving it for your wife or spouse.

“This dick ain’t free!” – Drake

I would rather say “this seminal fluid ain’t free!”

Seminal, seminal fluid, semen, seed, this is all the same root word! Isn’t this pretty funny?

Why real rich people don’t look rich

This is also very very funny thing that I have discovered, only poor people shop at Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Hermès, etc. Why?

Once again, irony is that real rich people would want to dress very very plain, comfortable, and simple, and remain as low-key as possible. Because once people know your real network, people start to bug you, look at you differently act differently around you and treat you differently, in not good ways.  even worse, I’ve heard some stories, from my friend Ray Who told me a story is how his high school friends or his childhood friends, because he knew he was making so much money, but ask him to borrow money, like $1500, and Nguyen Ray asked his friend for his money back… His friend gave him a dirty look and said “what do you need the money for?“, And proceeded to steal steaks out of his fridge. I’m not even making this up.

Anyways, I also heard a random story about the guy who sold my fitness pal to under armor for a large sum of money, and when the founder was talking to his new money manager accountant… The wisest words that his new money manager told him was “you will no longer have friends, only your old ones, your friends before you got rich.”

Does money change you?

I don’t think so. If anything, as I am getting older and richer, I’m actually becoming wiser, more frugal more spearing. If anything when I was younger as a kid, I would spell more money more frivolously as a 16-year-old 18-year-old, even a 19 year old 20 year old that I do now as a 36 year old.  

Even if I think about my spending habits now, I’m still milking my old Lumix Dunedin camera I bought in Japan back in 2018, even though I could afford to buy all the new Leicas in the world.  and this is hilarious because I spent around $8000 on a Leica M9 and like a 35 mm lens, when I was only 21, 22 years old… And now at the age of 36, only thing I would do with that sum of money is buy bitcoin. 

What changes?

What am I really really really grateful things is the birth of Seneca. Goddess mother, Cindy as Aphrodite, me as Achilles.

 it is the desire of every single man to birth at least one son. Do you know this when you see families with two daughters, three daughters, four daughters, five daughters, and like that funny I love Lucy episode, six daughters two girls as twins.

The only admirable thing that I have seen was this woman named Lana at our church who had four boys, and really wanted a daughter, and was shooting for a fifth, and finally had a daughter as her fifth kid. Super impressive.

Anyways, I think one of the insidious things about modern day consumerism capitalism is the commoditization of women. Essentially, women are seen as trophies, sex objects, sex toys for men, and men do foolish things I try to get really rich in order to get the Lamborghini to attract a beautiful babes, and hopefully he wants to penetrate all of her orifices, get unlimited fellatio, spoil her body her breasts her vagina, maybe her butt hole I don’t know, and perpetual list for sexual satisfaction for the rest of his life?

No once again, the reason why this is a bad idea honestly, if rejecting your seminal fluid inside the vagina of a woman that you do not intend to hurt a child too, it’s technically wasted energy and power. Why? Just think about it… If you’re going to try to deadlift 503 kg, 1200 pounds, are you going to rub one out real quick before attempting it? Hell no. Only a fool would do this.

Or even more specifically, if you are a boxer or a UFC fighter, and you’re about to do the big fight, once again, five minutes before you go on stage, are you gonna rub one out real quick in the locker room? Of course not! Therefore, my only real pragmatic thought is we should not think about morality or ethics, but simple physiological facts.

Fatter thicker and heavier is worse

I have a funny thought… With modern day human beings, it is all about our body fat percentage. For example it is the most supreme I’ll come for a man to only be around 5% body fat, the Eric Kim Adonis aesthetic.  in fact, if I critically think about myself my aesthetic my musculature, I am now even more impressive than Brad Pitt in fight club, Brad Pitt was too skinny in that movie, not enough muscle or meat on him. And who knows whether he took steroids or not, maybe?

Anyways, Brad Pitt is probably the best male actor of all time in my eyes, because not only did he have the handsome face and the good looks, he’s also pretty tall, I think it’s around 6 foot even, maybe 5 foot 10 or 5 foot 11, and he had the body. However now, it seems a bit sad, he seems a bit of a ghost of his former self, a little bit washed up, etc. I feel bad for him, is strange from his beautiful ex-wife Angelina Jolie and their eight or 10 kids or so.

Anyways, after using the iPhone Pro for a bit, and then switching back to my iPad Pro, it was like a godsend. Having the sides be much thinner, it just immediately feels more beautiful in the hands! The problem about the iPhone pro, is that it feels too fat and bulky, it just feels ugly in your hand. It might look pretty, but even the ugly camera board, for people like myself who don’t use a case, the #nocase lifestyle — and when I would see the iPhone pro sitting on my desk, it awkwardly tilt upwards, because the lens that bulges out is so fat.

And my simple thought for Apple is for the new next iPhone, maybe the normal one, is keep making it slimmer, lighter, more flush. The ideal is for the next iPhone, at least the normal one to be totally flat and flush.

Why? 

One thing I was very shocked was when I went to the Apple Store, the Century City Mall one, it was insanely packed, and apparently all the iPhone pros were sold out! I suppose this is good news for the Apple shareholders.

 however some bad signs; first, it took me forever to you even get a person to sell me the damn thing, and just looking at all the faces of the Apple employees, typically when I envision an Apple employee it is a jubilant happy person, kind of like somebody would meet at Trader Joe’s, rather, everyone looks so dark morose and depressive; nobody looked happy. I was the only handsome tall attractive smiling guy around, me and Seneca.

And also, maybe they need to just make an expedited sales approach at the Apple store. If you have about 20 people waiting to buy the new iPhone, and they have money ready cash in hand… And they have to wait even more than two minutes, bad sign.

There should just be like a tiny kiosk, maybe even like a dispensing machine, in which you just Apple Pay touch or insert your card, and boom out pops the iPhone pro in a box. I think you could see this at the airport, the Best Buy kiosk.

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