I guess I'll lie down

I had planned to exercise after work today. But I woke up this morning with a super cranky right shoulder. It’s bad enough that I can’t comfortably turn my head rightward, and wearing a backpack actually hurts. Guess what? That means moving a kettlebell around is not going to fly, nor is doing pull-ups. No workout today. I’m not that enthused about it, honestly.

Alas, I am getting to that age (mid 30s) where ailments like that just happen. I’d go to bed with zero pain anywhere and then wake up with a body part gone awry. It can’t possibly be the mattress, because I paid a pretty penny for a quality one about a year ago. Perhaps during sleep I am dreaming something violent happening to me, and it’s transferred over to real life.

Good thing I bought a couch this year! Indeed, every home needs a properly good couch. Lounging around - especially when parts of your body isn’t feeling to great - is the best thing. Watching YouTube on the big TV in couch mode is the only way to enjoy hours of Korean language programming. Of course, you should definitely pay for YouTube Premium. Because adverts in videos are obnoxious. It’s one those things in life where it’s good to throw money at the problem. The quality-of-life increase with YouTube Premium is worth the monthly expense.

My friends are definitely tired of me saying, “Ads? On YouTube?” every time I watch on their TV or computers. I’m simply not used to seeing ad rolls before and during the video. I’m too lazy to even click the skip button using the TV remote. When I’m on the couch, I am on the couch: totally vegged out, not wanting to move any more than necessary.

Because my right shoulder is hurting.

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Dense melon.

Dash-cam videos of car crashes are fun

As one does I spent a significant part of this weekend sleuthing on Youtube. What took me down the endless rabbit hole this time were dash-cam videos of bad driving and car accidents. As someone who haven’t driven regularly for over seven months now, the wonton idiocy and incompetence of other drivers is something I do not miss. That said, I shall be back on the road sometime next year so those compilations videos are a stark reminder of the potential dangers.

In my previous cars I ran a GoPro as a dash-cam as a sort of insurance policy against possible accidents, ensuring zero ambiguity as to whose fault it was that caused it (unless it’s me?). Luckily in those four years I never had to use it for that specific purpose; the GoPro primarily served to capture stupid drivers on the road and for me to look at the footage later and have a laugh.

It’s interesting to see the dash-cam movement catching on here in America: there’s even dedicated websites and storefronts to the cause now. We’ve all seen the crazy Russian dash-cam footages on Youtube, and in Asia almost all cars (that I’ve been in and I can see) has them installed and running. In supremely litigious United States it was only a matter of time before it absolutely proliferated here. I think it’s a hugely missed opportunity that automakers don’t fit these cameras as standard in cars.

I think in my forthcoming 911 I will bite the bullet and hard-wire a dash-cam unit in so I don’t have to screw and unscrew a GoPro every single time I get into the car.

Perhaps a bit arrogant on my part to say, but from what I can analyze of the dash-cam videos I watched this weekend, much of the accidents can be easily avoided. It’s incredibly easy for our egos to get inflated sat inside a 3000 plus pound rolling missile, and the key is tame that down. Be on a constant alert for bad drivers, and be ready to react when they encroach onto my space. Many of the collisions I saw were the unwillingness of the aggrieved party to acquiesce to the terrible driving of the other.

If another cars wants to cut me off, jump a line, make an illegal turn, go super slowly on a 65 mile-an-hour highway: I let them. The goal is to not play cop and challenge these drivers, but rather extricate myself and my precious car from the situation as soon as possible. The reward of a victorious ego from righting a wrong that ends up in a mangled car is pyrrhic indeed.

But it does make for entertaining videos on Youtube.

There was a time when appendages like these on a car would excite me to no end.

The pivot to video

I very much enjoy writing. Writing on this blog everyday is never a chore, though as with anything in life there are good days and there are bad days. Sometimes the lines flow one right after another, and sometimes the words just can’t seem to materialize and form together cogently, but still I must solider through. The goal is consistency, a daily habit I shouldn’t skip unless there’s truly compelling reasons to (like being debilitatingly sick).

I don’t ever concern over the amount of views this website is getting, and I wouldn’t care if the number is zero. Not once have I clicked on the analytics tab on the Squarespace console; I write (and take pictures) for myself, and if there’s some of you out there that happens to enjoy the content I put out, that’s simply icing on the cake. This isn’t some hopeful launching pad to a freelance career, but rather a genuine gesture at putting myself out there to the (Internet) world.

Of course it’d be incredibly nice to get paid to write and do photography, but that is not that endgame here.

As an avid viewer of Youtube, I’ve been noticing more and more people doing the “pivot” to video. It’s assumed that no one like to read anymore (if periodical circulation is any indication), and vivid visual media is where the money’s at. The barrier to entry is certainly minimal; anyone can start a vlog channel with their smartphone or laptop. With enough hustle and charisma, money from Google AdSense will start rolling in massively.

And there’s plenty of people chasing those AdSense dollars. Within the automotive genre alone are seemingly hundreds of Youtube channels with a bloke, a car, and a camera putting out videos everyday. Due to sheer volume of output, the production value is not that great; the content can be best described as disposable. You can tell their ultimate goal is monetization because in every video they’d pander the audience to click ‘thumbs up’ and subscribe.

Not everyone is like that obviously. Some truly do it for the art and passion, where view counts don’t matter at all. A particular automotive channel I highly respect is SavageGeese.

Far be it for me to criticize people for thinking only in dollars and cents; it doesn’t interest me how another person choose to make a living, as long as it doesn’t interfere with my business, or harm society. When the time comes for me to produce video content, the ethos will be the same as my writing and photography: for the enjoyment of creating art, and sharing a piece of myself with the world.

And yet the floor still sparkles.

The Youtube blackhole

This past weekend was one of those where attempts at productivity was futile. I succumbed and collapsed into the Youtube blackhole and spent much of the days watching car videos. The doldrums of mid-summer and the laziness it breeds is strange and potent indeed.

This was the second consecutive weekend where I sat on my ass in front of the iMac for much of it, though it wasn’t a complete failure: through the haze of idleness I still managed to get in a workout, finished reading a book (Ray Dalio’s Principles), and edited photographs from a shoot a few weeks earlier. 

That’s right, even on weekends where I take a vacation from my responsibilities I am unable to commit fully. My conscience wouldn’t allow such blasphemy like it did back in college. Even for super productive people (as I like to think of myself), a proper weekend off is a net positive: it clears the mind and put things into perspective.

What's important when we run into these fits of laziness is not to reprimand ourselves for the supposed fault and instead be ready to get back after it in short time. That’s what Mondays are for.

Monday is attack mode. I love Mondays.

Amongst the unproductiveness I managed to squeeze in a movie as well, and it’s one I haven’t watched in a very long time: Titanic. It used to be my favorite film back when it first released in 1997 and I was but a kid not yet in teenage. I remember fondly the multitude of hours spent at the local library (Internet access wasn't a thing for most people back then, kids) soaking up any and all information I can find about the famous ship. 

Strange then with my fascination with ships that twenty years later I still haven’t yet gone on a cruise, or even visited the Queen Mary that’s berthed in Long Beach. Time to remedy both situation rather soon, I reckon.

Titanic (the movie) may be two decades old but the computer graphics in the film still holds up. It’s a testament to James Cameron’s singular vision and perfectionist artistry, and a sad commentary on the state of CG in today's cinema in which they can’t even convincingly remove a mustache off Henry Cavill’s face. 

What are the chances I conk out for a third weekend in a row? I guess I'll find out. 

Surprised to find artificial turf used on the campus recreation fields. I guess they couldn't be bothered with maintained real grass. 

Thoughts on Motor Trend going subscription model

One of my favorite car-related Youtube channels was Motor Trend. I say was because about a month ago Motor Trend took its amazing content and put it entirely behind a pay-wall on a dedicated website. I can still watch videos for free, but not without numerous ads littered throughout. Suffice it to say I did not follow Motor Trend’s exodus from Youtube. The videos are wonderful and entertaining (who doesn’t love Roadkill?), but the friction of having to go to another site is difficult to overcome. 

And I can’t be the only person. 

Indeed Youtube’s monetization model can’t possibly be sustainable for Motor Trend’s surely armada of personnel producing its videos. Supposedly the payout per one play of a video on Youtube is lower than the already absurd 0.007% of one cent per-stream earning to the artist on Spotify. Difficult for Motor Trend to feed its crew when 1 million views returns a scant $4,000 dollars. Only the Doug DeMuros of the world - one man operation with super low production value and cost - can make a decent living within than framework. 

So I understand completely why Motor Trend moved to a proprietary subscription platform. As an artist myself I appreciate the fundamental of creators getting paid for their output. 

However, Youtube is such a juggernaut in providing potential eyeballs. I bet Motor Trend’s pure viewership count have dropped significantly once it went off the platform, due partly to people’s unwillingness to pay for a monthly subscription, and due partly to viewers like me who can’t be bothered to leave Youtube. I don't wish ill towards the team: I hope Motor Trend has got enough subscribers to sustain them for a long long time. 

Few years ago another car Youtube channel I also favored called 'Drive' did the same as Motor Trend and put its content behind a subscription. The number of paying customers was more than enough to keep the lights on, but the raw view count on the videos decreased so dramatically that car manufacturers became reluctant to lend them cars to test - the kiss-of-death for an automotive channel focused on new cars. Needless to say Drive did not survive its prosperity. 

A historic and renowned publication like Motor Trend wouldn't have that problem, right? 

The one man mowing band. 

People talk too slow

As a proper millennial I go through my fair share of podcasts and Youtube shows (I'm currently going through the back catalog of The Joe Rogan Experience). Once thing I discovered recently is the speed-up function, and I found 1.5x to be the perfect pace for me to still understand the conversation yet allow me to go through more of it. I guess at normal speeds people talk too slowly for my taste. 

For work a few years back I had to do some tutorials on Lynda.com (work pays for a subscription and it's fantastic) and the ability to listen at 2X speed was a godsend in getting through the material as quickly as possible. As long as I wasn't multitasking or distracted the extra speed did not adversely affect my retention of the material. 

Not sure why it took me so long to do the same with wordy Youtube videos and audio podcasts. The speed manipulation feature has been available for the longest time, ever since Internet media switched away from Flash. I guess back then I wasn't in the mindset of constantly craving for more content to consume. 

These days I want to maximize learning as time permits, and speeding up a podcasts and videos usually allows me to cram in two in the normal timeframe of one. And if I ever miss anything or want more clarity I can always rewind or slow it back down. The freedom to control speed is one of the best things about consuming media digitally. 

Having said that you will never get me out of physical books. The tactile interaction between my fingers and the pages that makes it special and no amount of efficiency can displace that. 

Grado SR80e: the best bang for the buck headphones for private listening. 

Korean TV shows on Youtube in the early 2000's

I reflect on the time back in the late naughts and watching Korean televisions shows on Youtube. Unlike today’s treasure trove of shows available - many from the producers themselves and already subtitled - back then one literally had to wait many weeks for a skunkworks subbing team to put in english subtitles and upload before consumption. Those crackpot subbing teams, usually consisting of strangers - bilingual of course - having met online but with a common passion for a particular Korea show, are the true MVPs of my early foray into watching Korean language programming, and on a macro level spreading the joy of Korean variety shows to an English-speaking audience. 

Heavens know none of them will read this, but belated and heart-felt shoutout to the Ramen Soup Subs group for the painstaking work in putting English to the Korean on a show called Family Outing. 

Back then, you could nary find any of the Kpop music shows on Youtube, and the ones that were available were generously and illegally uploaded by intrepid folks over in Korea possessing their equivalent of a TIVO recorder. These days, the television channels themselves have official presence on Youtube, and music shows like KBS Music Bank are uploaded within hours of official airing. Such sweet nectar was so beyond comprehension to international Kpop fans that started in the later 2000s. You kids these days truly have it spoiled. 

These days there aren’t so much subbing teams dedicated to a specific show but rather whole entire websites dedicated to putting subtitles to Korean television shows. There’s so many more avenues to get your content if you’re starting today. Obviously, these organizations thrive because of advertising revenue, while in sharp contrast, the subbing teams of years past was pure and unfiltered altruism. The waiting for subtitles may be painful, but I could definitely feel and see the love.