Wee Shu Min is talented

If you dunno who Wee Shu Min is, google it and you will see what a famous gal she is at a tender age of 18.

Oh...i still have not say what is she talented for.

Politics.

First of all, she already got famous in the world's biggest network, the internet, with just one blog entry. C'mon, i barely get more than 50 views in my blog a day. You need to be famous to be a politician.

And then, she comes from a rich family. Coincidently, her father is a politiican too. If you read my "Why you must make your kid rich Chapter 3", you will know that she already get one of the advantage to be richer. Probably also proving another unproven theory, "The powerful will always get more powerful"

Last but not least, she has an elite and uncaring face (she said it herself). That is one of the most powerful thing an politician ever need. You need to look "elite", you need to strike fear in people, your underbeings, you need an aura like god, or the devil, a super power, something that only you can do and the weaks cant do. Just like how smaller animals flee at the sight of a bigger and mean looking animal.

You need to look like you own everyone's asses. That is...elite.

By the way, this "Elite" is not the same as the recent "Elite Model Look" i recently write about. Models can never be politicians, not because they are stupid or dump.

Why? Because it needs to be accompanied by "uncaring".

Politicians need to "see the big picture" and do the "neccessaries". They need to make you bite the bullet to escape from the nuclear bomb(if there's any). They can't be caring! If they are caring they are not doing their job!

A politician, simply, has to do everything that he can, even if it means sacrifising other people's wealth, sons, daughters, wives, parents, dreams, diginity, AND saving the asses of his own wealth, sons, daughters, wives, parents, dreams, diginity, to do things for the greater good of his people, his country, mankind, animal kingdom, earth, solar system, universe.

WOW!

Damn i love this gal, she makes me want to be a politician too.

Why you must make your child rich Chapter 4

Chapter 4 - They can only manage your wealth

Let's look at all the factors so far. Firstly, your kid growing u process is one of a comfortable life and educated to be in top management. He gets almost what he wants when you allow it and probably got used to it even before he graduates. His mentality, thanks to your upbringing, is something must be worth his while for him to do it, if not, why waste the time?

Secondly, he has every reason not to take up a underpaid job because we all knows as the world turns into a global village, the boss have all the bargaining power in wages. What's the point of working your ass off for somebody esle's big houses, big cars and big fake boobs model galfrens?

Thirdly, for your child to strike out on his own to be in the exploiting position rather than the exploited, it has to be early. We know the rich will always get richer and the poor will get poorer. So if you already have enough money for your child to start a business even before he gradutes, it's a whole lot of unneccsary work he can skip to start becoming richer, and not becoming poorer as the day goes by.

So what's my suggestion? Our children's career can only be worthwhile if we have a wealth for him to manage.

The only reason why your child would even have to go work for people is to see how the bosses work and learn from it. after 1-2 years, he can either take over your business if you have one, OR start one on his own.

"WHY NOT JUST LET ME STRIKE OUT ON HIS OWN AND EARN HIS OWN WAY?"

many people of the older generations thought if they can do it 30 years ago, their kids should be able to do so. however, as more economies get saturated, as capitalism is reaching its glorious days in this world, it will get to someday where there is no middle class, only the rich and the poor. Even if there is any middle class, there are just middle class who may move to the ranks of the rich, or middle class who gets pooorer and poorer and eventually get caught up by devaluation of his real income.

There is something good about letting your child manage your wealth. First of all, because he is working for his own money, his own big cars, big houses, he will be more committed, be it managing your business or starting his own. He will learn more.

Secondly, working as a boss rather than a employee makes you learn how to be a more successful boss at a younger age. of coz, people like michael dell, bill gates and steve jobs can be exceptions, but look at how many successful CEO's of the world comes from a rich family? we have every reason to believe that their career as a boss starts from young. they LEARN NOT TO TAKE ORDERS, BUT GIVE ORDERS. THEY LEARN NOT TO OBEY RULES, BUT BREAK AND MAKE NEW ONES. THEY LEARN NOT TO BE EXPLOITED, BUT BEING EXPLOITIVE. and in a very unlikely case that they fail, they are still young! and being able to fail as a boss is some learning experience better than being sack by a boss. yes, both lost a job, but the failed boss learn how to be a better boss now, and the sacked employee learn how to make his boss happy next time.

"Why do you say it's unlikely that these kids can fail in a business?"

First of all, doing business is really hard sometimes, but being a boss is much much easier. If the wealth you left for your kid is large enough, any moron, even those that failed his secondary school days, will just hire a few capable men to run his company. all he have to do is tie their bonuses to the profits of the company and they will probably work their ass off to make the company rich. If you dunno what I am talking about, try to meet those people that any CEO's have to report to. If the CEO is not the major shareholder himself, he probably have a "real boss" to answer to. most of the time, the board of directors, often relatives or brothers and sisters or cousins.

at this age we are in, there are still relatively easy way to make our "first pot of gold" by working really hard. the "first pot of gold" will give us a chance to become the rich and eventually get richer and richer by being a exploitive boss. There are still economies that are still young and unsaturated with tons of oppotunities. eg. china, middle east etc.

however, when the whole world is saturated, that is when those with the money talks and stay rich. and the poor and middle class would have no more oppotunieties to get his first pot of gold. He may be living slightly better off among the poor but never ever possible to escape from being exploited. He just can't seem to save, no matter how hard he try. as everything he uses in his daily life, food, transport, toiletries, clothing etc etc are made by big companies with a mindset of "profit maximizing and costs minimizing", things get more and more expensive, wages get less and less. no way he can save.

So now, while you STILL can, save enough money for your child to manage when they grow up. unless the poor starts a revolution, unless we stop the allowing the gap of the rich and poor widens (which is impossible), unless the world's economies never get satuarated (the rich will ensure all sectors are being exploited and saturated), your child will live a life of only work and sleep, not leisure in the future.

think about it, start saving now.

Why you must make your child rich Chapter 3

Chapter 3 - The rich will always get richer, and the poor will always get poorer.

If you are rich, you will be able to cut more costs per unit of production if you do business.

If you are poor, you probably can't even start a business at all but work for others, and be the resources of the rich to cut costs on. Even if you can start your own business, your scale of business may not be big, thus less purchasing of materials in bigger bulk, thus saving less costs per unit of production, thus less competitive, thus sooner or later you will be forced out of business. It's a uphill battle even if you manage to win.

If you are rich, you have enough resources to be in different businesses and diversify your risks.

If you are poor and in a business, you will only have that much resources and probably only be able to be in one or few businesses. You take a bigger risks of losing all your investment

If you are rich, you will have bargaining power in many business transaction. You are a big customer, so small companies will rather earn more in total amount and earn less in each unit of product (due to big orders). Economics of scale

If you are poor, you have little bargaining power in all transactions. People CAN afford to lose you as a customer or as a business partner, after all losing you is just a small amount of business loss. they rather put their efforts to service the big customers. if you cant ask for more servicing, eg delivery, free repair etc,and you probably have to use your own resources to do it, thus engaging MORE costs.

If you are rich, you can afford to hire the better employess who are experienced and are more probable to deliver results. For every dollar spend on a capable employer, you get more profit.

If you are poor, you can only afford to hire new people or people with less capability. Capable people are all hired by the rich. so you end up having to train them, or cover the work of the less capable, thus engaging MORE COSTS. For every dollar spend on a less capable employer, you get less profit.

If you are rich, ONLY A BIG MAJOR MAJOR SCREW UP CAN EVER MAKE YOU POOR AGAIN. It is LESS LIKELY THAT YOU WILL FAIL WITH ALL THE SMART PEOPLE YOU HIRE AND POWER IN BARGAINING.

if you are poor, any screw ups will make you...well since you are poor already, more poor. IT IS MORE LIKELY THAT YOU WILL FAIL WITH THE LESS CAPABLE PEOPLE YOU HIRE AND LESS POWER IN BARGAINING.

Absolute truth in a capitalism economy. Capital=money. You have money, you play the game good. You have more money, you play it better. Period.

"So what? You telling me that the poor can never work hard and become rich and live a comfortable life? c'mon! whatever happen to the work hard and you will be rewarded talk?"

Well...time for the last chapter...

End of chapter 3

Why you must make your child rich Chapter 2

Chapter 2 - What's going on in all bosses'and soon to be bosses' heads

Maybe this is a really unneccessary chapter because it's so obvious. But I know there are people who are too blinded by what certain people want them to think, that they totally don't see the obvious.

All bosses wants to maximize profits and minimize costs.

In today's global economy, it's even more easy for the boss to do that when labour are much volatile than before. Those with the money have the bargaining power when there are so many workers/employees around.

For those countries where they protect their own citizens by restricting foreigners from taking up jobs in the the country, it will only force the companies to move the jobs eslewhere. eg. setting up factories in countries where labour costs is lower, setting up management offices in cheaper countries. eg. Many headquaters of many big MNCs were once in singapore, but now moved on to shanghai because the graduates there are cheaper to hire.

Eventually, when many jobs are being relocated, the remaining jobs in the protected country will be shared among even more people who got retrenched, sacked from the jobs that went eslewhere. And when supply of labour is high, sooner or later you have to lower your expectation for salary.

Bosses are the ones happy in the end...no matter how, they achieve their aims of minimizing costs.

Another way how bosses minimize costs is by economics of scale, which can only be ACHIEVED WHEN YOU ARE RICH. only by being rich, can you order your raw materials in bulk, design machinese that mass produce and do everything in large scale.

The same applies for MNCs, the bosses are those from the top management (in rare cases the middle management) and the stockholders. Top management usually only takes up 20% of the company's headcount but they take home 80% of the company's salary expenses (This is called the 80-20 rule).

And guess what, to be a stockholder that really earn enough to offset the inflation and still earn from the stocks you hold...you need to be ...RICH enough in the first place to buy enough stocks.

I got a friend who once told me, he just need to earn his "first pot of gold" before he jumps into the higher order of being in the rat race...that is to be a boss that exploit on the employess and not being the one being exploited.

I agree, but then, everyday, there are people who managed to work their asses off to rise to be a successful boss, and the later you got your "first pot of gold", the longer you delay to be a successful boss, and the harder it will be for you to shake off being a employee...the one being exploited.

As time drags longer, the money that is enough to be the "first pot of gold" to move you from employee to employer will be getting higher and higher.

Why? You gotta read the next chapter then...The rich will get richer, and the poor will get poorer.

--end of chapter 2--

Photo series of the elite model asia pacific finals 2006

"After much efforts, pausing on my "Why you must make your child rich" series, squeezing time to do translation for a TV spot production, I finally completed my personal photo series for the Elite Model contest.

Take a look at them at

http://www.rolento.com/elite.html

Hope you enjoy the photo series, and do come back to let me convince you why you must make your child rich.

In the meantime, its time to get back some sleep that I have lost for the past few days.

They create City of Gods

I am fortunate to being asked to be the translater for the producer of O2filmes, doing a Nike TV spot in shanghai.

On the set, I also met the City of God's director, Fernando Meirelles and the Director of Photograpy , Cesar Charlone. City of God is a brazilian film I like.

Managed to find time during one of the lunch breaks to talk to a director a bit. Told him about the strange things people ate in china, and how I like the colors in the film.

It's a pity I could not find time to talk to Cesar Charlone. He brought his daughter with him on set, shoots with a 35mm Arri and also a 16mm camera that I have never seen before called the Aaton. It's the most advanced 16mm film camera that I have ever seen.

"City of gods is shot entirely on 16mm with that camera" one of the producers said.

Cool, but then, i can't get that camera in china, and there is nowhere in this whole big nation that I can get 16mm film without importing.

Maybe not very advisable for me too, the camera can only load film for 8mins of footage and you have to change cartridge. My way of making short films is probably too guerilla that I will lose a cartridge somewhere.

Anyway, on set, both of them looks like they are half working and half playing (they are freelancers...), and there is only a very vague storyboard that is not even drawn...only in their heads.

And with what they think is right, with consistant communication, they shot Liu Xiang and some american sprinters, some kids from the china badminton national team training squad, dancers in a studio, and a stunt gal jumping over a public bus (with wire of coz)

Eye opening for me, although this is not the first time I am on the TV spot/feature film set, it's the first time I see 2 guys playing with their ideas with a whole 30+ people supporting their game.

There is always something inspiring about a group of people achieving a common goal together. Although I am just a translator on set for the producer and the chinese crew, I did used my knowledge in lighting and camera angle to pre-warned the chinese what they might have to do in advance...just my 2 cents worth.

ah...in the midst of busy working for my meals, i almost forgot the promise I gave myself 2 years ago...1 short film per year.

Soon.

Why you must make your child rich Chapter 1

Before you read these few chapters that will be written in this senseless blog, I would like to thank my mum for NOT making me into the rich kid that I am suggesting all of you should make your child into.

My mum is the greatest woman ever live and its her that I know that when someday, the rich gets all the money and the poor has nothing but debt, I will still be living happily eating own grown potatoes, vegetables and hunted chicken.

If you can see beyong the mechanism of economics, you do not need to read this. If not......Enjoy.

WHY YOU SHOULD MAKE YOUR CHILD RICH
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Chapter 1 - The "Spoilt" brat

First of all, we all know that there is a global thrend of youths not willing to take on very demanding jobs. In taiwan, they are called the "strawberries". Good to look at, but very weak and vulnerable. Just a small knock and they are bruised or even destroyed. In singapore, there are graduates who are still living off their parents at the age of 30.

Are they spoilt brats? Not really.

They are just very smart kids who don't see a point working so hard for a unjustifiable miserable salary. Sometimes, I think to myself if i am them, I wouldn't take on a job that is not even high enough for me to stay on my own outside and have a reasonable social life. These kids, although living off their rich parents, are not stupid.

In some stupid university lesson I attend before, there is this theory on work, leisure and rest. A normal person should divide his day equally in these 3 parts. so it means

8 hours of work, 8 hours of leisure, 8 hours of sleep, total of 24 hours. if you have to sacrifice leisure or sleep, your salary per hour should increase at a exponential speed. because the remaining hours of leisure and sleep are more precious now.

However, in today's society, that's not the case. Overtime are taken for granted, if theres OT pay, its pro rated to your miserable salary.

If you are brought up in a society that champions spending (people spending money improves the economy), and you happen to be the top spenders for many years (teenagers spend more than their parents usually, school fees, clothes, magazines, fashion accesories, fashion boots, fashion clothes, idol's worn underwear etc),how on earth can the society to expect you to take any hardship?

I mean if you have a mum like mine, who want me to work in my school holidays since the age of 12 to earn my own Nike Air shoes, my own tea dance tickets, my own crappy fashion sense clothes, then you can really grow to a person who can take hardships...but no. Most children nowadays, being allowed by the society to spend, spend, spend, is not possible to do that.

You will be unreasonable to request a kid who grow up in a capitalism society playing the role of only the consumer for almost 20 years to be able to take hardship. FIrst you want him to spend when he is not even earning money, he spend even more than his/her parents, and you allow him to have education to know about the good paid and bad paid jobs...he/she has every reason not to oblige.

So what is he to do? Unless he/she comes from a poor family, the "brat" will always choose not to work if the work is too hard for a small salary. And I can embrace his thoughts. He is not totally wrong given how the society brought him up. And unless he really knows what he wants in life right after he grads (most youngster dun, and for those who knows what they want in life, is to work least for the most money), he wont work with parents willing and able to feed him.

End of chapter 1

Why you should be a freelancer(AKA BOSS)

Like i said before, I was fortunate enough to be rope into a project photographing models.

Although there were some minor hiccups between me and my partner, the experience was fun, fulfilling and enriching.

You may not believe this, besides the people from the model agencies, everyone esle in the team is a freelancer.

Make up artists, photographers, hair stylists, producers, chreographers, costumes.

Some of the hair stylist i talk to, even they work in a hair saloon in singapore, they are also freelancers. They only go to ths shop when they have regular customers making a booking for them.

Of course, jobs like the above mentioned, it's easier to be freelancer right?

Wrong.

The following are what I have met before too.

1) Freelance marketing director. In a product launch, company will engage him and he will then draw up a plan to do that, possibly with the help from the company's marketing department or even leading them. If not, he will assemble his own team of marketing department...coincidently, also freelancers

2) Freelance copywriter. He writes for 4A Ad agencies on a day by day basis, and he charges more than a fulltime copywriter...like a lot more

3) Freelance editors/writers. Usually writes for a few magazines, also charges higher than full timers with the same credentials

and many many more.

most people will say, freelancing is no good. No stable income, no obvious knock off time etc etc.

Well, of course not everyone can be a freelancer. To be a freelancer in anything, you must have the following conditions

1) You found something you absolutely love to freelance in. which means, whenever you are working, you are actually half working, half playing. that's what all the freelancers i met in the model contest do.(I lead a similar lifestyle too, just the playing part is less than those people)

2) You have a interests to meet people from all walks of life. freelancers usually are not advisable to have just one type of clients. In boom times, it means more clients. in recessions, you lower your risk of a total jobless situation

3) You are fully "enlightened" that working in a full time job, you are working your ass off for someone's big house and big car. You are also fully "enlightened" that being specialized in your job as a small screw in a big company's machinery will only make yourself irrelevent to the world when your boss sack you for someone younger or cheaper.
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4) You are world smart. Although you are good at what you freelance at, you also know a bit about many other professions, gossips, cultures etc, either related or non related to you. this is important as you are probably going to work with people from all walks of life, and being a jack of all trades is really better than a master in something.

5) You hate office politics.

6) you want to be your own boss.

Now comes the why part. Why would anyone ever want to be a unprotected worker in the streets rather than inside the high rise steel fotress of big MNCs?

1) You know much more about what the market is going on than a office worker. a office worker is usually made to specialized in something in a big department. He may be made to multi task but doing this that do not increase he value, knowledge or skill in his area. eg. doing your boss's powerpoint for the meeting.

2) No matter what you charge for what you do, you know you are not overworking for someone esle but yourself. You could be doing pro bono for a job to increase your exposure, you could be charging much more than market rate because you know you are not on a fix pay rate, but you are definitely not working while someone is relaxing at a golf course doing his drives.

3) You are less likely to be jobless. Anyone who is successful in being a freelancer will have such extensive network that he will always have new customers or returning old customers. remember you always meet new people in your work? every new person is a entry to another network of contacts, unless you are practising office politics in a non office environment.

4) You enjoy your job. I have not met any freelancer so far that does his/her job solely for money. Of course, they know money is important but there is always much passion in the work that they do. So technically, you are not 100% working most of the time. For me, i would say its 60% work and 40% play for me. On jobs that I hate, I will always tell myself I will photograph something that is only for myself. Its not hard to do for a photographer.

5) you will become a better survivor. you have the skill that most people who prefers to stay in their comfort zone don't, that is the ability to adapt. Which means if one day you decides to go from africa to new york, you definitely will not die.

While you may say the above 5 "why" points can also be applied to office workers, I totally agree. But hey, then these office workers cannot be seen as OFFICE WORKERS. they are freelancers too. why? If you jump 1 position up your corporate ladder every year, you are also working with different people all the time. and usually the big positions in corporate world, their nature of job is very similar to freelancers. they "MOVE", out of their comfort zone, into different arenas, know about what happens in the world (and not just being fed with propaganda from CEO and mainstream papers)

Office workers are people who stay in the same job, same rank, similar pay for more than 5 years even when they job hop. Imagine you change to a company and your new boss pays you the same, that says a lot about you.

A freelancer is different, they learn things quick. You have to learn things quick since its what you like to do(you learn the fastest when you are playing) and you quickly know how the industry is like. Many of them are earning more than co workers in offices and doing less meaningless work. They not only gets better in what they are good at because they are playing, they also get to learn more about related and non related fields, which can comes in handy in the future. For me, through photography, I also learn a little about hair styling, make up, fashion design etc.

However, there will always be people who just loves to work as a small screw in a big corporate machinery, live simple and non exciting life. That's fine i can totally embrace that because i got to know many of such people...while i am working as a freelance professional photographer.

How to live cheaply

My recent trip to taiwan, my friend was surprised.

I got to know her in shanghai, and her impression of me was I am a poor and really really struggling photographer.

She is right, I never thought i was rich.

But when I told her I bought a new camera for a job that needs higher resolution, she was shocked. She was even more shock when I told her the price.

"You actually are able to fork out $X?

She probably think my bank account will never have more than 10% of the price of the camera.

She has every reason to think that way.

My hair is unkept, let alone it being ever "out of shape", because there is none. My clothes are unbranded, unattractive and repeating (I wash them of course).

There was even once in a photo shoot, the editor, that never met me before and only spoke to me over the phone, thought my assitant was the photographer and I am the assistant.

You may think I might be insulted, but it's more like a funny experience to me than anything esle.

If my university days were ever useful, there is only one thing, and that is I learnt about "unneccsary value add"

You pay for what you do not need. You pay for what they make you WANT.

Eg. taking a bus from point A to B. You really just need a bus, reasonably safe, on time and cheap.

But then they will add air condition to the bus, maybe a TV with advertisements, sofa seats, etc etc...and then they charge you higher.

the same can be apply to clothes, computers, shoes, watches, cameras, handphones, food

Clothes- you only need them to cover your important area and to keep warm. Style is really unneccsary value add.

computers- you only need one that can run the programs that you really need. flat screen monitor, super fast ram (unless you do graphics processing), brand are all unneccsary value add.

Shoes- They are the last thing people will ever look when they look at you because they are so low. Just get something that can cover your feet. nobody actually care that much about the style of your shoes.

watch- i dun even wear one since i realize i can get the time on my cellphone.

cameras- the cheapest that meets what you really need. as a pro photographer, i only buy a new camera when the job requires me so. i dun go buy the most expensive camera with too much value add that i dun need.

handphones- these are cheap electronics made of less than 30gram of aluminium. phone makers make at least 900% profit from a new phone sold. (how much does 30g of aluminium costs? and production is mass produced) so stop paying for the CEO's big cars and houses.

Food- cheapest of the cheapest. know why there are more and more people going into F&B? because its the easiest to earn money from. a cup of coffee with 500ml of water and 10g of coffee powder can be sold between 0.70USD to USD5. they still earn if its 0.70 USD.

now i know its hard for many of us to do that, especially with all those advertisement campaigns. it's all in your mind. just follow the following steps and you can live cheaply and yet not feeling cheap.

1) When you want to buy something, first identify the raw materials of the object.
eg. cellphone is made of aluminium, clothes are made of cotton, casear salad is made of cabbages and carrots from a china farm, hairstyling is actually just using scissors to shorten your hair

2) determine the cost price of the raw materials. eg. a phone weighs about 30g of aluminium. how much does 30g of aluminium costs?

3) then add some money for the value add that you really need. eg. after the phone company buys the aluminium, they need to cast the shape, program it, transport to a shop..etc etc all those are the neccsary value add that you need to include

4) factor in mass production economics of scale. meaning you save more costs when you produce in bulk.

5) decide on a price

6) if your price is much lower than the price they give, you are looking at wrong product with too much unneccsary value add. Look for another product.

If you are a business man yourself, you will know how to arrive at this figure even easier. and you will be surprised how much more you are paying for unneccsary stuff.
because you are probably thinking of how to make your customers pay for unneccsary stuff too.

Once you reach this state of "enlightenment", you are live cheaply without feeling cheap.

Good luck

Am I greedy?

On my recent trip to taiwan i met this guy who is a lead guitarist of a independant band. In fact, all the band members are now my friends.

This guy was somehow amazed about my way of living after I photographed them for a personal project on independant musicians. And he likes to ask me very "deep" question.

Some of the question he ask me (i forgot what he asked me exactly) lead me to saying the following as answers.

"In today's world, able to do what you REALLY WANT to do is a luxury"

"I want to retire at 35, and photograph anything that i want if i still want to photograph anything, even if its my own faeces. If I can't earn enough money to do that, at least I want to be able to only accept jobs that interests me and have the financial liberty to say no to jobs that I don't like"

"I really don't ask for much in my life. I don't need big house, big cars, pretty gals with fake boobs, lobsters for snacks etc. "

It was a fulfilling chat late at night.

After a few days, he said this to me.

"You know, I have been thinking about what you told me last time. On the surface, you are one guy who don't ask for much in life you know. no big cars and houses and stuff...but now i think you are the one that is even more greedy than those people who wants big cars and big houses."

I was surprised. and I asked why.

"You want freedom, that is the even more "expensive" (he said with those colon finngers) than big cars and big houses. People who wants big cars and big houses, will never have that much freedom that what you asked for. first they need that kind of financial backing, that costs freedom, and people who wants such things will want to want the next new big car or house, that costs more freedom of the mind"

In a way, i see his point...as i was the one who said "Being able to do what you really want is a luxury in today's world"

but then, i really think i am NOT greedy. I always thought greed cannot be seperated from materialistic stuff. and what i ask for is really just enjoying simple pleasures in life without having to worry about materialistic stuff.

Morever, different people need different thing to make their life worthwhile. For me, its the liberty to wake up and 12pm if i want, photograph whatever i want even if nobody cares to see, and making short films with those ever coming stupid ideas that i have.

For some, it's the big lobster meals, the shiny red Ferrari, the blonde haired models, the downtown apartment, the media attention and a non-wrinkled 50 years face.

So..I can't be greedy.

And then I met one of my taiwanese uncle. I always held high regard for him because I really think he understand buddism inside out, more than some of the monks in the temple...and he is living the real buddist life with his wife.

I went to his house for dinner on my last day in taiwan, and we happen to talk about the beggars at this temple that my grandmother used to bring me when I was a kid.

"You know, some of these beggars like to pick up those empty plastic bottles for recycle?

"Yeah I know. there are many people in shanghai doing that too. they sell it for money to get by. Can be heart wrenching sometimes seeing old people doing these"

"haha...while I dunno about those in shanghai, but some of those in taiwan, they are not collecting the bottles to sell."

"oh?....then why do they do that?"

"Some of them have earned enough to sustain themselves till they die. some of them even have kids who bought them big houses! but they chose to wear those old clothes because they are used to wearing them, eat really little..well how much food they need? they don't work!...and just finding something simple and meaningful to them to do...i spoke to one of them, he picks bottle because he always hangs out at the temple and he just wants the temple to be free of such litter. you know, bottles takes up more space in the dustpan, so he thinks picking them up will help the cleaner keeping that area clean."

"really? is it like, living a life that has nothing to do with the rest of the world?"

"actually, i think they are living more in the real world than many others who think they are."

If someone can wear clothes and keep a unkept hairstyle without having to bother what others think about him, if someone can be satisfied with simple meals and simple public transport and he chose to retire early, if someone need not have to be successful in their careers such that his friends won't look down on him, if someone do not even worry about when he is going to die and yet lead a happy and meaningful life to himself...

ironically...i think that old man at the temple is the most greedy.

Elite Model's Look Asia Pacific Finals 4

I will never do news photography again.

News is not even photojournalism, which I also gave up long ago. News is worse.

Being involved in the finals of this competition, most of my energy is wasted on squeezing for space with rude chinese photographers for pictures of chinese artistes.

It's shots that need no brain power...you just need well exposed pictures of them smiling.

That's why there is a term call cameraman and photographers.

Cameraman is what I do today, i only operate the camera, need not think too much.

A photographer is a artist, in fact the term come from a greek term "Light artist"

A light artist use the camera as a tool to an end...his vision.

A cameraman...jsut make sure the camera is set at the right aperture, shutter...there is little or no vision at all.

F#*k.

It hurts me when I know I have to do things I dont like because of money, because of chances to expand my network,because of a miscommunication with friend, because of a unkept promise to put my f#*king brand name in all printed materials...I hope the young models today will never ever have to do that.

The show is a big mess, from start till end. of coz the audience will not see it, only people with backstage pass knows.

I hate it when I can't control my lighting, my subjects, my location, my vision.

All the best to the gals. They are wonderful people. Young people are always pure.

And no more news photography EVER for me.

but then, i always tell people "If you pay me enough, I can wash your toilet"

I hate it when I know I have a price.

F#*K.

Elite Model's Look Asia Pacific Finals 3

There is something magical about seeing someone's face within a rectangle.

Photography is one...and then there is the TV...and also big gigantic screens in big events.

Today, while the gals do their rehearsals on the beach again, the LED screen is up.

The photos of the gals' face, taken by me and my friend a few days back, were splashed on the gignatic 10m x 5m LED screen when its their turn to walk down the stage.

Suddenly, miracliously, magically, the 13 yrs old gals, 14 yrs old gals, up to 23 yrs old gals, became stars.

Somehow...i dunno why.

Media is powerful...i knew that long ago. But today, its even more obvious. especially when I have talked and directed the same young gals for the past few days...the same gals' photo on the big gigantic LED screen somehow made them someone esle...not the gals that forgot their jackets, not the gals that sat next to me during lunch, not the gals that told me my jokes are lousy, not the gals that almost broke into tears when they cannot remember the stage sequence...

Well, I felt happy for them. If a guy like me, who consider myself seasoned to the power of media, felt the difference...I am sure there are more people "falling into the trick" of media.

Yes, being free mascots can be worth it after all, if they become someone esle's "hero"

Today, there are a few guys, finalists of the china's version of "Super Idol", the name of the programme is ...coincidently..."heros"

Frankly speaking, with due respect, after a few conversation with them, i dunno why they are anyone's hero.

But they are.

Gals of all ages, from 15 to 50, are taking their pictures when they are rehearsing. and screamed with delight when they saw the photos of these guys captured in their cellphones.

Even guys.

Fantastic.

Someone once ask me if I decide not to kill myself when I am 40, what will I do.

I said "Only reason why I decide to live longer than 40 would be because I became a total 300% asshole who wants to screw the world for my own selfish benefits."

"And how do you think you can do that?"

"Control the media first"

Today, after 3 months I said that, I can't help but feel stronger for what I have said.

Maybe...I am slowly becoming that 300% asshole.

Elite Model's Look Asia Pacific Finals 2

This morning is the first rehearsal at the beach, with a half built stage.

Sun is hot.

The gals did what they have been practising for the past few days in the hotel, but this time under hot scorching morning sun.

Somehow I think someone will get a heat stroke, the water supply was delayed.

The gals are melting under the sun, with signs of minor sunburn and heat exhaustion.

Before seeing the gals being drilled under the heat, i was thinking to myself this should be my last time doing this kind of events stuff. Yes, there are pretty gals to see and talk to but this time I wasn't very pleased with what I did not get.

I thought my friend who rope me in was going to do the work with me side by side till the finals, turns out that he is only with me for 2 days, doing only the headshots, with my lighting equipments no less.(I lost a expensive softbox in the process of moving with him to unneccsary places, i admit i was careless too) Through out the days from 3rd to 15th, I am going to be with the gals every single day...shooting their rehearsals, shooting stupid PR pictures, going to stupid wheat farms for more PR stuff, etc etc etc etc. while my friend do another advertising job in the process. The best part is, I am suppose to split the payment 50/50 with my friend when I spent 13 days out there when I can better utilize the time knocking on doors and doing other shoots while my friend spend 2 days doing the headshots and another 2 days doing the digital retouching (which I thought is not that neccssary as the company that hires us later reveals they have their own digital retouchers).

Am i wrong to assume that someone who splits the money with me equally should help me throughout the rest of the shoot (under the hot sun, travelling to god foresaken places,euduring the cold sea wind at night) after the digital retouching?

What's more, I did mention before I actually was only interested in doing the headshots myself, and only helping with the documentary when manpower is shortage. Guess people chose what they want to remember.

It's still not so bad after all, i thought. They promised to put my brand name in all their media exposure in shanghai, so I think its worth all the shit i mentioned above. HOwever, murphy's law kicked in. They did not consult us what is to be used for the "free exposure", so the most fantastic thing is my brand name got left out.

"I will try to put your name in the TV credits" he said. I doubt so because he did not ask for my logo, I have to force the CD into his hands.

Fantastic.

As i expected, 2 gals need some medical attention due to the prolong heat with no water.

Sigh...indeed pretty gals are eye candys. but seeing pretty gals suffering is another thing. especially some of them are only 13-15 years old.

My working guide line is always deliver something more than what the customer expect.

And the french guy was amazed at how a picture not showing the gals' faces actually shows you the gals are pretty.

Maybe they will ask me to follow them to the next one in Dubai, but I seriously think I should really just stick to other kinds of photography for money.

Elite Model's Look Asia Pacific Finals

I have the priviledge to be rope into the documentation of 30 gorgeous models in a competition in shanghai.

What I need to do is to photograph their headshot, and to document what they do everyday in a very political correct way.

Of coz, I wont forgo a chance like this to do what I think is real photojournalism shots...although I have long given that up. (there is no truth in photojournalism)



anyway, today, which is the 4th day that I was with the gals, I felt really really sad for them.

Being models...can be a really shitty job.

Especially when you are not famous yet.(they join competition like these to increase their exposure in the media)

After 3 days of really intense rehearsals for the final show at Jin Shan Beach, yesterday was like a rest and relax day for them...but not really.

ok, 2 hours of shopping at the Yu Yuan was kind of fun for the gals, besides having their managers to ensure they stay in group, safeguarding the gals from any possible danger, ensuring that they move fast enough so they can make it to the next venue...it was fun.

rest and relax? hardly. its more like rush and rush.

they rush for their lunch, and then rush for a few very very standard group shots to be taken so that they can prove they did go to these places, and then...they rushed to wait.

Yes, rushed to wait.

Timing was somehow miscommunicated, they waited at a clinic for more than 1 hour for a supposedly relaxing facial treatment.

Turn out to be another Publich relation gig for the clinic, only some gals get to do the facial treatment...that last only for 15 minutes...so that they can be in time for the next show back in the hotel.

I am a sloppy guy, but I take 20 mins to bathe.

they have 1 hour to train from scratch, for the show in the hotel. I am so happy for them that their screw ups are not obvious to an untrained eyes. Phew.

Then there is this dinner reception to let the "VIPS" mingle with the models up close and personal.

What I see is 30 sheeps mingling in a sea of wolves.

the youngest sheep is only 13 years old by the way.

today, it is the ultimate.

we set off at 9am...the bus brought us to many many places that you can never imagine what the hell they have anything to do with modelling and fashion.

Ok, university maybe...the super duper big campus that have a super duper big fashion design faculty.

But...what about agriculture park?? what about wheat farms? what about tea houses located in a god foresaken place that is still under construction??

Throughout the whole day, we got off and on the bus for like more than 10 times, take a group photo to prove that they came, and then up the bus to the next meaningless location.

Sure, they have TV crews,photojournalists from the TV station and big newspaper there to "witness" the models playing with the wheat...but I dunno how is that gonna help the young gals become good models. (I would like to repeat that I gave up on photojournalistic truth again)

Ah! I forgot...these gals are free mascots.

FREE...unless these TV stations and newspaper are not going to tweak the news more advantageous to their own agenda.

they are pretty, they are young, they catch your attention to unattractive tea houese that are still under constructions, they catch attention to wheat farms, and of coz whatever that they are nearby. That's what models are for.

"Why are we here going to such places that has nothing to do with anybody?" a model asked me.

I really dunno much about the modelling world...I really hope thats what Cindy Crawford went through before she get her first Vogue cover.

But today...I really really felt sorry for these gals.

anyway, i told her "it's getting better from now on"

上上下下

难得和妈妈，姐姐，又回到了那个很灵的龙山寺。

上次小六会考，观音娘娘给了我一支上上签。最后一句我还记忆犹新，“秀才一举状元回”

还真的灵了。

然后妈妈后来还带我回来三步一跪，五步一拜。

不过以我现在不迷信的高知识份子身份，再求签，真的有点。。。脆弱。

人是脆弱的。。。可能，我是脆弱的吧。

我对无邪的笑容，刻苦耐劳的精神，开心面对残酷人生的灵魂，熟睡的睫毛，“要走咯”，人烟稀少的士林夜市，人造梨窝，偶尔的敷衍笑声，不放下来的长发，对海鲜莫名其妙的讨厌，白色拖鞋，干净的指甲，等等等等等等。。。是脆弱的。

三十六，不错，号码就是我退休年龄后的第一年。

再去拿签，哈哈，上上签。

谢过菩萨。

怎知，当晚该来的不来，不该来的来了一大堆。

跳舞的，假装跳舞的，喝酒的，灌人喝酒的，把妹的，假装把妹的，开心的，假装开心的，男的，假装男的，女的，假装女的，帅的，假装帅的，漂亮的，假装漂亮的。。。还有一个比菩萨说的话还更有说服力的人。

人是坚强的。。。有时，我也可以坚强。

我对无常的人生，不切实际的梦想，多吃几年的盐，太能吃苦的生活，漂浮不定工作，陌生的天花板，自己对人生的哲理，想看时间能否冲淡一切的试验，男人都不是好东西的结论，等等等等等等。。。是坚强的。

好啦，是下下签。

至少现在是。

命也。

干。

倒扁，围城之夜后记。倒扁，圍城之夜後記。

照片系列可在　http://www.rolento.com/personal.html 看到

那天下午，msn聊天，刚好有朋友要去，说去就去。

充电，查相机，买雨衣，买便当，提醒自己”想好才拍“。

看到人，红衣服，呐喊，次序，老人，中年人，小孩，学生，。。。台湾人。

终于看到灵感。。“没有蓝绿，只有黑白”

我改一点吧，“只有红和黑白”。想好了就不等了，拍拍拍。

走着，一群人有次序的走着，有次序的喊着，有次序的扶老携幼，有次序的不被雨水浇熄热情，有次序地想次序阿扁。

有人拿水给我，我第一次会把免费的东西传给别人，可惜阿婆比我还行，把水拿给执勤的警察，还说了声“辛苦了”

警察，尽忠职守的保持中立，但不时的对人群微笑。

示威怎么可能会变暴动？

“不到百万人我不回家”　一个台客说

“拍我！拍我！”　一个老伯伯说

“加油！”　一个做在巴士上的人说

不知不觉，拍满了CF卡。

不知不觉，我参与了历史。

不知不觉，同年的快乐从储藏室里奔跑出来。

原来。。。我真的在台湾。