Category: Posts
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TECHNOLOGY IS NOT THE FUTURE
Instead, coffee, human physiology. Fitness, weight lifting, zen, happiness, health.
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I AM THE FUTURE OF PHOTOGRAPHY
Cameras are NOT the future of photography, nor phones. The future of photography is motivation, inspiration, ideas, methods, pursuits.
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I DESIRE TO BECOME A DEMIGOD!
My desire for a â€demigod bod†(body).
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Why in such a hurry?
Why the desire to see daily gains and improvements? Would this be possible in Ancient Greek times before scales, time, stop watches, measurements?
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Why do women want men to look like women?
Why do women want men to look like the soft and girly BTS?
Theory — less scary. Emasculated feels more safe. Why in royal courts in Asia, women only accompanied by eunuchs (men who were castrated, aka neuteted — made “neutralâ€).
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All bodybuilding is unnatural and SHOULD be unnatural
Is pre-workout powder “natural� Certainly not.
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JUST SHOOT IT.
The more directly we shoot, with less hesitation, the more perfect street photographer we become.
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Aspirational Strength Goals
For us men:
- Deadlift— trap bar deadlift. At least 600 pounds and beyond.
- Squat: For funsies. Disregard squat depth. Squat as a weight bearing exercise to ultimately build our courage and manliness, and to strengthen our bones and spines to maximize our deadlift.
- Benchpress: Just do it on the floor. Don’t use an actual bench. Floor bench press for superior leverage, which means higher weights. Also safer — you cannot drop the weight on you. Also more independent— you don’t need a spotter.
Floor bench press attemptS -
Really really fit people don’t wear Lululemon
Men who wear Lululemon — kinda fit guys, mostly skinny nerdy tech guys, who aspirationally want to become stronger (bench at least 2 plates, and deadlift at least 3 plates).
Women — either “skinny fat†women (superficially look very skinny, and not fat … but have no muscles or muscle mass). Kinda do yoga maybe once every two weeks or once a month.
Better goals:
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TECH SLAVES
What do you live for! The new iPhone? The new Tesla? The new upgrade, the new promotion, the new job, the new salary bump?
The new house?
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ON TOP
When you’re on top, use that opportunity for insanely epic innovation!
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I DON’T WANT ANYTHING FOREIGN
Even if it may be superior.
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DESIGN IT FOR YOURSELF.
Make sure you can easily find and access your own stuff on your own website!
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“Fucking cest la vie!â€
My favorite Kanye quote.
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HOW TO BECOME MORE STOIC
- Get rid of notions of “success†and failure. Only courage and cowardice.
- Conquer the fear of death
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Why are people so racist against the Chinese?
And when I say the Chinese, I mean mainland Chinese.
Are people so racist against the Chinese because they disdain the fact that there are so many uber-rich mainland Chinese who can just buy out a whole Louis Vuitton or Hermes store? Or people don’t like their lack of “normal†behavior such as spitting in public, talking loudly, and bossing around service workers, and not standing in line (in a queue)?
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Is beauty a binary? Or are there levels to beauty?
Also with male physique and muscles — what is the gradations between beautiful and grotesque (Ronnie Coleman)?
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SPEED THOUGHTS.
Faster recharge times, cooking faster (shabu shabu) instead of grilling the meat, faster transport (flying not driving), faster internet or Wi-Fi or 5G— whatever is fastest.
Eat faster (cut your meat up). Fall asleep faster (restrict coffee consumption before 10am), and no devices or screens in your bedroom.
Faster sessions at the gym — just go 2-3 a week, and focus only one lift per visit. Trap bar deadlift, heavy squats, floor bench press.
Make your coffee faster (espresso machine), automatic grinder.
Electric shaver.
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It doesn’t matter how much you can lift
Numbers don’t matter. What’s the most fun and interesting:
- Whether you’re progressing and becoming stronger.
- The self courage you needed to exert by yourself, to conquer your own self doubts of yourself.
- The joy of surprising yourself and of your own strength
- The joy of the lift itself — going blank when you give it a maximal 100% effort.
- The promise of future gains?
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What would you do if you had to live forever in a mall?
Like a really nice spaceship. If you have access to a gym, and a pool, deadlift and squat, and enough heavy weights, you would probably not go crazy at least.
The challenge we have for interplanetary travel, going to Mars etc:
How do we NOT go crazy, or get insanely depressed while on the spaceship?
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Maximum Flex
Clothes with maximum flex, shorts and pants with extreme maximum flex.
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I WANT BETTER. I WANT MORE!
I don’t want to be stuck in one place forever.
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Has civilization “improved†man, or our mode of living?
Civilization certainly has made us more compliant, predictable, less scary to one another. But is this “better� I say not. It has made us more cow-like.
The upside of civilization, and living in modern society is primarily sanitation. Access to clean facilities, clean showers, clean houses, flushing toilets, running water, clean water, clean drinking water, and trash pick up services is good. Also, access to modern day medicine, vaccines, surgery etc. Also, security and safety. Nobody could just steal your stuff without your permission; the upside of having police and judges and courts of law. Private property laws is good.
Also division of labor. I like how I don’t need to grow my own food or meat, or harvest things myself. I like the internet, and modern day digital tools and photography!
Then this is the barbell:
Harness all the upsides of modern day society and civilization, but remain a modern barbarian!
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THE INTERNET IS *STILL* THE FUTURE.
The best question is simply, how?
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Don’t Google It.
If something makes you curious don’t google it. Just follow your personal curiosity. You just chance to think, wonder, imagine, or think.
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AMERICANS CARE TOO MUCH ABOUT COMPETITION AND RANKING.
Also “prestigeâ€.
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BAREFOOT WEIGHT LIFTING
A good idea. Hafthor 501kg deadlift barefoot!
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JUST DO IT YOUR WAY.
You will be happier doing something your own unorthodox way, and succeed, rather than following the regimen of somebody else (even if their method is superior).
For example, my supreme joy of deadlifting more, with a trap bar, instead of a traditional sumo style deadlift.
ERIC KIM LIFTED ME: 540 pounds Also, the extreme joy of achieving something, even though you have no video recorded proof of it, or witnesses.
Once again, if you deadlifted 600 pounds, and nobody witnessed it, will it still be substantial? Of course!
Or, assuming that you squatted 540 pounds, but didn’t do it “all the way “, or “cheated “. But would it still matter? Of course!
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Why Am I So Motivated in My Photography?
I’m probably the most motivated photographer that I know. Why is that? Some theories:
1. Anti-durability
The first interesting idea is this: don’t seek durability in your photography, which means making a photo, a photo series, or a book which lasts forever.
Why not?
When you try too hard to make a perfect photo, a perfect series of photos, etc., it is anti-innovation. Even study Henri Cartier Bresson, who is definitely the greatest photographer of all time, but he lost motivation to make photos in his later years. Anti-Henri Cartier Bresson.
Because when you strive to make timeless photos, it disrupts your motivation in several ways. In striving to be a perfectionist in photos, or make a perfect photo, you become paralyzed, and stop making photos altogether. Or you become so self-conscious about your photography that you end up sharing or publishing nothing.
2. Extra small JPEG
Film holds you back, shooting raw holds you back. In order to become the most motivated photographer, I suggest just shooting extra small JPEG, with some sort of built-in preset for your photos. I prefer high contrast black and white on my Ricoh GR 3X.
Then, just keep uploading your photos to your own website and blog, like a streamer photos. My aspiration is to make 1 trillion photos before I die.
3. Don’t seek a durable camera
No Leica. No film Leica. No film camera. No brass. Seek the newest Ricoh GR digital camera, even though it is not durable. At best, a Ricoh GR digital camera might last you 2 to 3 years. The trade-off of compactness and smallness and lightness is worth it in my opinion. I think I’ve realized that at least for now, I will just keep buying digital Ricoh GR cameras until I die.
The same thing goes for phones. Ain’t nobody going to own an iPhone forever, until they die. Can you imagine giving your kid your old iPhone, when they become 18 years old?
4. Just shoot it all
A big thing is to strip away all of the boundaries of your photography. Seek to become the overphotographer, which means, you photograph literally anything and everything. Photograph your food, your kid, your wife, yourself, your muscles, your receipts, the streets, and your life. Become the ultimate vertically integrated photographer.
Also, no more labels. For example, even amongst the weightlifting community, I think a lot of people hold back their potential by putting themselves in a very narrow bucket. For example, don’t just restrict yourself to powerlifting, bodybuilding, kettle bells, calisthenics, body weight only, yoga, running, etc. I say do it all.
For example, I think every single bodybuilder should be able to deadlift at least 500 pounds. Also, every single powerlifter should have visible six pack abs. Also, long distance runners should also know how to squat and lift weights.
Why were categories even invented in the first place? My thought is it is a bunch of skinny fat nerds, who wanted to dissect great individuals in history, and make them discernible, understandable, decipherable. When a nerd puts you in a bucket and classifies you, he says:
Ah yes, I have discovered what makes this individual so much greater than me, because of reasons X, Y, Z.
For example, people just call Kanye West crazy, because they cannot understand his level of thinking, and how he is so superior to the average human.
Also, people call Elon Musk “Asperger’s†because they want to figure out why he is such a phenomenal and great entrepreneur. And therefore people will say “Because I do not have Asperger’s, I don’t need to pressure myself to become as great as an entrepreneur as Elon Muskâ€.
Even Steve Jobs, people thought: why was Steve Jobs such an asshole? “Ah yes, he needed to be an asshole in order to become great. However, I do not desire to be an asshole, and therefore, I do not deserve to become Steve Jobs.†(sour grapes fallacy). This is people just validating their own self mediocrity to themselves.
5. No pressure
What is the worst way to motivate great performance? Performance. Being tracked, recorded, observed, etc.
For example, I’ve discovered if I want 100% pure focus when attempting a very very very very heavy weight in my deadlift or squat, I cannot record myself. Why? Recording myself, even with my GoPro, definitely robs me of at least 5 to 10% of my focus. On the back of my mind, I’m thinking “is the angle right? Am I in frame?†And thus this distracts me.
For example, I found that before attempting a one rep max squat, I like to do a “power stomp†on the floor. Yet, this often messes up the framing of my GoPro, and I am low-key afraid that as a consequence, others will not be able to witness the full extent of my great lift.
Or even more recently, I’ve discovered that in order to maximize my power output, I need to hype myself up to the max. And since recording myself hyping myself up, I also distract myself, because I am too concerned whether I capture the fullest extent of my hyping up in Camera of my GoPro.
Or, the reason why I like to lift weights when nobody’s around, is I am less distracted. When there is other people around, or I know that there are people in the vicinity, I think to myself:
Will that person witness my string? Or, will they think I am caught cheatingâ€, because I am not squatting deep enough?
Also, when we know we are putting on a performance for others, this distracts us. I actually wonder if competitions, in competitions which are recorded, or recording ones, has actually prevented new world records from being made. For the deadlift, squat, benchpress, etc. Apparently there’s a lot of people who make new world records while just training in their normal gym, rather than when they are at official meet, or competition.
Why? The benefit of doing things on your own terms is that you are familiar with the environment, your tempo, your equipment, etc. Even when Eddie Hall did his record-breaking 500 kg deadlifts, he commented on how the bar was not quite to his liking, as it was different from the bar he typically uses.
Also, I’m starting to become suspicious of myself. When I hope myself up at the gym, and there is at least one or two people around, I wonder to myself:
“I just putting on a show for other people, in order to assert my own dominance? Or am I really doing it because I really need to do this?â€
Or another words, would you still care to have a Lamborghini with the Lamborghini scissor doors, if no one was around to witness you getting in and out of your car?
Or, as I asked my friend Don Dillon who has a very cool Porsche 911 GT3 RS:
If you have a cool car, but nobody witnesses you in the cool car, is it still a cool car?
He laughed, and said probably not.
6. The child is the ultimate photographer
Seneca is currently one years seven months old, and actually knows how to turn on my Ricoh GR 3X camera, and even take pictures. Yet, this is interesting thing I’ve noticed:
he requires no push or motivation from me. It is something that he is generally interested in, for himself.
He likes to look at the LCD screen and look at the pictures, and he also likes to shoot pictures, he also likes to inspect the lens retracting mechanism, and he also loves to open up the battery door, pop out the battery, put it back in, and then close the battery door. Seneca is naturally interested in mechanical and haptic things, and technological things, for the sake of understanding it, and also his own personal curiosity. I don’t even think he does it out of fun, he is simply curious.
I think what drives him is the curiosity a figuring out how things work, kind of like an engineering mindset.
Maybe in our photography, adopting a more engineering mindset is a good idea. To shoot a photo, simply we are curious because how it will manifest as a photo.
For example, even nowadays when I walk around penom pen, and I see a search in things, I’m curious to shoot a photo of it, because I’m curious how it will manifest as a photograph. Real life and our photo interpretation of it is different. Perhaps this is what makes photography our art.
ERIC
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VLOGS and video is the future.
Even when you look at the camera market, all of the new and innovative cameras are the cameras optimize for vlogging and video.
Also, look at YouTube‘s description; videos, music, and live streaming. The importance of entertainment is in that order precisely.
Once again:
- Videos, and vlogs
- Music
- Live streaming
This is what humanity loves the most.
Share the motivation
If the sparked any ideas within you, feel free to forward to a friend!
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PHOTOGRAPHY VERTICAL INTEGRATION
I seek an eternity for my photography. I want to do all the shooting, processing, selection, uploading and sharing myself.
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ANTI DURABILITY.
Don’t seek durability, seek the most supreme thing, 100%, at the expense of durability.
For example, 100% merino wool, no nylon added. Adding nylon adds durability, but reduces performance.
Also, 14 karat gold is more durable than 22 karat gold, but 22 karat gold is much more yellow and interesting, and looks more baller.
Also, aluminum over stainless steel. It really makes no sense to have a stainless steel iPhone Pro, as nobody’s going to own their phone that long anyways. Aluminum is less durable, but lighter, doesn’t attract fingerprints, and thus superior.
Even with cameras, brass is more durable, like on the black paint film Leica MP, but it is heavier, thus inferior. With a camera, one should always optimized for lightness.
Once again, heavier is inferior.
Even my Ricoh GR cameras, the durability is very poor. Sooner or later they stop working after about two or three years, until I just get a new one. Maybe the trade-off is worth it.
Also, with luggage and backpacks. Better to have a lighter backpack, with less durability, than a very durable backpack or luggage case, which is heavier. When you’re traveling, we’re on the road, every gram counts.
Also with bicycles; carbon fiber over iron. Even though iron is 1 trillion times more durable than carbon fiber, if you’re seeking to win a race, every gram counts.
Perhaps athletes, or those seeking the summit don’t care about their own bodily durability
For example, I recently learned that if you’re a bodybuilder, who is taking all these steroids, human growth hormones, and strange testosterone boosting drugs, your body becomes reliant on it, and if you get off of it, your body can no longer produce testosterone naturally anymore. This is horrible.
But, if you’re a bodybuilder sitting in the summit, let’s say a Ronnie Coleman, it seems that he seeked and desired the peak summit of muscular mass, and bigness, at the expense of being a cripple for the rest of his life.
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SUPERFICIAL THOUGHTS.
Some of my personally most random thoughts, end up actually being the most interesting, both to me and others.
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T-shirt, sleeveless shirt, tank top, or topless?
The optimal, just get an Outlier.NYC merino wool T-shirt, cut one. Black. Maximal versatility. Medium fits me well.
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Why tights?
A new trend amongst men, using tights, either full length, half length, or 3/4 length, when training. Either pairing it with shorts, or just wearing the tights alone.
For example, the 501kg deadlift from Hafthor.
The first thought is actually, if you’re going to dead lift, using a Street bar, either conventional or sumo style, to maximize the efficiency of the bar travel, it will probably either scrape your shins, your knees, or your thighs. Therefore, wearing full length tights seems to make sense.
However, if you see somebody doing a deadlift with a trap bar, like big boy doing his thousand pound trap bar deadlift, because the bar doesn’t get in your way, it seemed like he was able to do it fine with just normal athletic long pants.
My experience
My personal experience, that lifting 540 pounds of the trap bar, and also doing a 540 pound micro squat with 540 pounds is this:
It seems ideal and optimal for me to do it, with my shorts all the way rolled up, having maximal thigh flesh freedom.
You don’t want clothes, or body parts to get in your way
So, assuming you’re just doing trap bar deadlifts, and normal straight bar squat, then, the ideal is to have some sort of tights, which are maximally short as possible. And even, when I roll up my shorts all the way up, the fabric in the shorts pockets gets in the way.
So in short, either get a pair of short shorts, maybe running shorts, or something you can roll all the way up, and allow maximum leg, flesh, thigh, and hip exposure.
No more good reason to get full length tights or leggings.
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HOW TO RESIST DISTRACTIONS.
The Internet is full of distractions. How does one overcome and prevent oneself from getting distracted? My simple theory: mentally note to yourself, that by looking at the thing or clicking on the thing might cause you some sort of downside, that, there is a chance that that information might benefit you. However, to force yourself to put yourself at a disadvantage.
Once again, there is a chance that that article online, that video, etc., might actually benefit you. However, perhaps your goal isn’t to benefit yourself or advantage yourself. Rather, to simply resist the distraction.
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What is the cause of knee pain?
Some theories; tight hips, which require more hip stretching and strengthening exercises, the yoga pigeon pose.
Or, tight ankles. Just doing a simple ankle stretch and calf stretch on an elevated step seems to work well.
Another theory, tight hamstrings, doing some hamstring stretches is a good idea.
Another thought, don’t do unnatural things like “runningâ€. Either do effortless walks, or sprints.
Another thought: too much time walking on flat surfaces. The necessity for humans to have uneven surfaces. Ideas, going on a hike, or just taking the stairs.
Another theory, shoes. Go barefoot or just wear Vibram five finger shoes. No shoes with padding.
Another theory, tight back or lower back. Some “dive bomber†stretches to resolve this.
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The ultimate functional fitness
The ultimate functional fitness; being able to keep up with your kid, and have maximum vigor to keep playing with your kid, going further, and physically challenging them.
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100% OR NOTHING.
Either 100% arabica or 100% robusta. Towards an anti blend.
Either 100% focused productivity or nothing.
Either 100% focused effort (one rep max, powerlifting, hypelifting) at the gym or nothing. Make sure your â€off†days are really 100% off.
When things are off, totally turn them off 100%. Like when turning off your phone, turn it off 100%. The secret handshake totally off (volume up, volume down, power button hold).
