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16 Inch MacBook Pro Touch Bar Unboxing and First Impressions by ERIC KIM

by ERIC KIM

Quick thoughts:

  1. Not as heavy as I thought it would be. Feels only marginally heavier than my 13” MacBook Pro Touch Bar. Perhaps in this new COVID world where we won’t be traveling as much, it seems like it makes more sense to get a (refurbished) 16” MacBook Pro Touch Bar instead of getting the 13” MacBook Pro Touch Bar.
  2. The keyboard feels much better than the 13” MacBook Pro Touch Bar. More key travel equals less carpal tunnel for typing (sad truth I get carpal tunnel and wrist and finger pain when typing on my 13” MacBook Pro Touch Bar for too long).
  3. The screen seems substantively brighter (at max brightness) when compared to 13” MacBook Pro Touch Bar. I can notice the difference and it is good.
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Magnanimous Virtue

by ERIC KIM

Don’t expect others to treat you the way you treat them.

This then means:

You are a magnanimous monster of great and highly virtue. If others act petty around you; don’t let it faze you.

You just do you (meaning, you pursue your epic virtue for the sake of it and for the sake of yourself!

ERIC

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In Praise of Playing with Kids

by ERIC KIM

For the most part, I FAAAR prefer interacting and playing with kids than adults. Why? We have soooo much more to learn from children:

  1. Their phenomenal sense of creativity, disregard for rules and ‘social tact’. They speak what is *really* on their mind.
  2. I wonder if children (if we observe their thought patterns and behaviors, etc) are the more *true* form of human being. The modern adult as simply a castrated, domesticated (herd) animal. Children are like wild beasts; is this our primal nature?
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Why RICOH GR III is the Best Camera

by ERIC KIM

I am convinced. RICOH GR III is the best camera of all time (thus far). Why? Reasons:

  1. The smallest size of all time, and the most premium. Smaller than even the great RICOH GR II, with better performance. Also lighter. The smaller and lighter your camera, the more you will carry it with you everywhere you go and the more you will shoot. And for us photographers, to make *new* photos is our lifeblood.
  2. The best JPEG files: Cross process filter on JPEG is phenomenal. So is the high contrast black and white monochrome mode. You will never need to shoot RAW ever again!!
  3. Shoots great videos and is perfect for vlogging.
  4. The best price. You cannot beat the ‘bang for the buck‘ compared to any other camera on the market.
  5. The sharpest photos. Sharpest photos… even more sharp than digital Leica photos! Also the resolution of the JPEG files are huge (6000 x 4000 pixels). You can print insanely huge, and also pixel peep a ton as well (if you want).
  6. Charges via USB-C: This means you can use your MacBook Pro charger to recharge your Ricoh GR III … insanely useful.

Long story short, get RICOH GR III.

ERIC

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The Whitewashing of Society

by ERIC KIM

First of all I don’t believe in “white” people. This makes no sense. I’m actually more pale and more “white” in skin tone than many Caucasian people (the more accurate term for a “white” person) as a Korean.

So when I talk about “white washing”, what do I mean? I mean it is like applying bleach to anything which is saucy, interesting, enjoysome and “racy” and “inappropriate” in life to make it acceptable and “wholesome” to essentially placate over-protective parents, paternalistic members of the elite intelligentsia, and also to placate advertisers.

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All News is Fake News

by ERIC KIM

What is “fake”? It means to rob, swindle, or to “spruce up with artificial means”. Thus in this regard, all news is “fake” news. Yes this includes Google News, New York Times, NPR, The New Yorker, Atlantic and every form of mainstream (and underground) news.

All news is polished and spruced up not for “journalistic integrity” but towards what news agencies really want — more advertising revenue.

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Digital Hegemony

by ERIC KIM

Hegemony comes from “hegemon”— leader, guide. Think “Enders Game” (my favorite science fiction book of all time, as audiobook). Or think of the “Dollar Hegemony” (Henry C K Liu).

Typically when people think “hegemony” it is seen as bad and evil. “Hegeomai” (the root word of hegemon, or hegemony) is actually good … it means to lead, go forth, lead the way, guide. It comes from the Proto Indo European “*sehg”: to seek out.

Anyways back to the notion of “Digital Hegemony”— the gist is at this point Google *is* the Internet which means if you desire to be relevant online, best to kowtow and merge with Google and play good with Google, or be left behind.

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The Best WordPress Blogging Theme

by ERIC KIM

It seems right now the best WordPress blogging theme is Newspack.pub by Automaticc (company which runs and owns WordPress.com).

Why? Essentially this is the conspiracy:

WordPress.com and Google “News Initiative” is together in bed, plotting to take over the (news and blog based) internet, to maximize Google’s digital hegemony over advertising (Google Adsense).

Let me explain more in depth:

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How to Shoot Kid Street Photography

by ERIC KIM

One of the most under-rated forms of street photography:

Kid street photography.

Honestly at this point; it all goes. With permission, without permission. Photos of your own kids or the kids of others. Photos of kids in public space or private.

I see street photography as more of a technique, approach and ethos. This means there is a ‘street photography style‘ — striving to capture raw human emotions. The technicalities (with permission, without permission, candid or posed, etc) doesn’t matter.

Real thoughts:

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