Stories from a Comphosic Enthusiast

On Diets

2010-09-11T03:46:00.000-07:00

In my previous post, I described how I learned to feel fully energized and happy with my body through exercise. This post is a complement to that, in how to fuel my body appropriately to exercise and just generally be happy with my figure.

I've always generally ate healthily, or consciously so to say. I generally only ate junk food once in a while and for the routine meals it was always good foods like whole wheat pastas, meats, veggies, nuts, beans, cheese... My conception of what food is healthier than another was totally subjective based on nothing but opinions.

For my triathlon last year, I trained hard and ate a lot of complex carbs and veggies, as recommended. Essentially a vegetarian diet, with little meat, eggs, etc... I didn't feel any energy boost or anything from doing this, oddly enough. Also, I didn't lose weight despite putting in 5+ hours of decent cardio a week over the course of a few months. Something weird was going on, but I didn't think much of it then.

I started doing weights, and didn't lose any more weight, but was developing muscle which felt pretty good. After a few months of this I lost some weight but still had a lot of fat on my body (which is good for Ontario winters, but not Vancouver so much). I started looking into diets specifically and found a ton of support that the FDA food pyramid is nonsense, and that I wasn't getting enough protein/fat. My family is pre-diabetic on both sides apparently, so eating lots of carbs, even whole wheat, tend to show a lot. Carbs turn to fat if you don't use them anyway (and chances are you're not going to be using them, if I wasn't at the amount of exercise I was doing).

I did a long run once, 20k specifically not eating carbs beforehand or during, but since I kept it low intensity it felt like the best run I've done at the time. I didn't hit any wall or anything which I usually do (a sudden burst of tiredness), and kept going instead. It was wicked.

This post isn't as passionate as others as this isn't something I want to go into too much, as it may come off preachy. I'll post some links supporting these types of diet and you can decide for yourself. I'm just saying it worked for me.

Fat based diet:

http://trit.us/transition/fatfear.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/07/magazine/what-if-it-s-all-been-a-big-fat-lie.html

http://www.slate.com/id/2248754/pagenum/all/

http://www.fathead-movie.com/

Paleo Diet:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paleolithic_diet

http://www.neanderthin.com/

"Optimal" Diet:

http://homodiet.netfirms.com/

Fat: 62-70%

Protein: 20-25%

Carbs: 10-12%

Non Paleo Awesome Foods:

http://www.ted.com/talks/william_li.html --> http://hubpages.com/hub/Anti-Angiogenesis-Foods

On Exercise

2010-06-01T00:00:00.027-07:00

This is going to be a topic I've been asked many questions about. The biggest question being: "How did you get into running?". This is the back story and progression of said question, so if you don't care much for anecdotes then don't read on.

I remember when I was in elementary school, whenever I got a new pair of shoes I thought I could run really fast. I think every kid goes through this phase, but maybe not like this. I would tempt people to try and catch me, incite conflict just so I could get a chance to run away. Very odd, but hey that's me.

My parents kept me in sports and generally tried to keep me active, despite not being able to hold my breath very well. I even used to have a puffer for something. I played basketball for 6 years or so in a league. Good times. After getting bored of that sport, I switched to soccer. Again, the breath issue was more intense here as the rules in soccer were such that players had to be on the field longer. They stuck me in goal (was probably the only goalkeeper in the league who wouldn't dive for the ball haha) instead of helping me train endurance or telling me how. Awfully nice of them in retrospect... In any case, the way I'm telling this it isn't apparent that I enjoyed running quite yet... what with the running out of breath all the time.

High school starts, we run in gym class but not all that intensely. I was pretty much average if not slightly below average in the course, despite my friends at the time saying I looked kind of 'lean and muscular' for not doing any sports outside of school. Maybe it was the piano lessons, haha. This is the period where I ran for the first time for fun outside of school. Had a pair of runners from basketball, nobody told me any technique or anything, I just ran. I had a goal in mind, but it was mostly to tell me the running progression. Went pretty well, managed to train for the first time without issue. Was getting up to 5 miles in one go, a useless measure for me then but was pretty good in retrospect. Was kind of boring, I was doing this going around a track a bunch of times at night. Still not all too enjoyable but very rewarding after progressing... until my knees started to hurt.

After running five miles my knees would give out. It was an aching kind of pain that would stick with me for a week at a time. Was not good. I tried cutting down on the distances and the same thing happened. It was at that time I decided to screw it and not run like that anymore. Not to say I stopped exercising... During the summer, I would swim a lot. We would go up to Sudbury and stick around in the water during the day. Loved it. It wasn't considered exercise, it was considered 'fun' at the time. Along similar lines of fun outside was weekly soccer with Etobicoke friends.

Etobicoke Friends (2009 edition)

We played every Saturday, just before Dungeons and Dragons, video games and Pizza Hut. It was a pretty balanced day of fun. Just 6-9 of us playing. We did 4-4ish on a small field. Nothing too competitive, just good times. Naturally, high school ended after a while and university had begun. At this point summers were filled with summer jobs instead of month long trips to the family cottage up north. The Saturdays of fun would last for 7 or so years, or until I moved downtown for my fourth and final year of university. Even though I was 19 for a year at this point, it only started to take it's toll on my physique and self confidence by the end of that year.

My last year of university was filled with shitty pub food, drinking, and no exercise at all. I went from 160 lbs to 190 in 8 months or so. After I graduated, I went on a cross Canada road trip with Nicole and at one point I was lagging behind on a mountain hike. She asked me "Didn't you say you liked this kind of stuff?" and I replied with "I do, but it's hard with 20 pounds of camera gear on your back.". Hard as it is to do it with that pack on, it is still just an excuse.

I soon after moved to Montreal and tried to start running again. No dice. Knee pain came back even worse, due to the fact that It was pretty much running around a mountain. Also the breath issues came back because of the fact that I was living downtown in a city instead of glorious suburbia. After discovering snowboarding, and using that as my weekly exercise I signed up with a trainer at this gym to see how I could keep in shape. She taught me a few things, got 8 sessions for a ridiculously large amount of money. It didn't really pique my interest, plus she didn't help with my running technique at all. Only thing I learned was that apparently I got more flexible and better cardio after a while. Great. I kept doing the exercises in my apartment up to a point but it didn't last. It wasn't fun.

Needless to say, I moved back to Toronto for another exercise-less summer filled with working on a contract job. Following that was my move to Vancouver, which by random coincidence opened me up to a new, healthier lifestyle where I finally discovered my joy for running, among other exercises.

It started when my roommate Ian moved in. He was also from Computer Science and the Imager Graphics Lab. He had been weightlifting for a year. He was telling me about his diet and I found it very peculiar. I don't know what started this but I challenged him to a 'health' competition to prove his claims. Him being a larger and taller gentleman than myself, we made the competition fairer by using body fat percentage instead of mass for the deciding factor. This lasted all summer. His arsenal was weightlifting and weight related cardio. I decided against pure running for fear of knee injury again, and signed up for a triathlon. I liked swimming as well, and biking I've done a bunch, so why not? Training was hell for a while, but due to the clean air in Vancouver I managed to pass the 'puking after 10 minutes' phase after a few weeks. Those were the hardest weeks, mind you.

Ian (2009 edition)

The 'weigh in' came a few days before my triathlon and we both tied at a few percent decrease.The triathlon in September was a different story altogether, but I didn't injure my knees doing a quick 5k in my runners. During my training though, I came across a blogger who had a pain in his foot and switched from traditional runners to barefoot, then toe-sock/shoe hybrids. The point of the shoes was to mimic barefoot running. He claimed going barefoot cured all his foot based ailments. I ordered a pair mid summer, but promised myself I wouldn't run in them seriously until after the triathlon (for fear of injuring myself beforehand).

I remember my first run in them, it was short. I was advised not to go far, and progress very slowly. I did 1-2k and that was it... but man, I wanted to do more. My calves were ridiculously sore after, but a pleasurable kind of sore. It was then I knew I wanted to be a runner (at the bare minimum). I had done an earlier short 10 min run or two barefoot with Ian in the summer. This was an amazing experience. Not only was it fun (and not stressing) to run barefoot, we were sort of chasing each other around. Good summer times without booze, very familiar...

The triathlon date was well passed and I've been working up to 10k in these Vibram Fivefingers. It felt great. Guess what? No more knee pain. The endurance I got from triathlon training. Both major problems solved! I did a few more practice Olympic distance triathlons on some random Sundays and felt great. The biking put me off though, felt kind of unnatural to me and I didn't like that it was so equipment based.

Ian recommend I try the gym out, and more specifically weightlifting. I was very stubborn about this, for stereotypical reasons. "The people in there are all jocks", "I'm not going to know what anything does", "I don't want to be indoors all the time", and other excuses. He refuted every of my claims with his unassailable logic, plus he said it would help with other cardio I was doing (swimming/running/biking, though biking I wasn't that interested in at this point). I got a gym membership for the first time. He pointed me to a link to this beginner strength program and we had many a discussion of diet to figure out how to gain muscle and minimize fat, and such. I was progressing quite well.

For a while I was biking into school and back twice a week, doing weights 3 times a week, and running and swimming on the side. Vancouver doing what Vancouver does best, it started to rain for the winter season around late October/early November. Suddenly, biking and running was less enjoyable. My goggles for swimming had sprung a leak so that was no longer enjoyable. I could still run on the treadmill though (one of the convenient perks of having a gym), though I mainly went for weights.

This schedule lasted until Spring 2010 sometime (a few months later). I was getting exhausted at the gym, because the beginner schedule I was doing reached weight so heavy that I was doing too much in one day and tiring out. I switched to going 4 days a week, for different exercises each day. Running was still around my schedule a bit but not nearly that much. Then I read a very important book.

Apparently this is the life changing book, or bible of a bunch of barefoot/Vibram shod runners. I had already been using Vibrams for a few months, but one of the chapters in this book essentially quotes research papers that suggest humans evolved for running. Not only that, but running barefoot. Naturally being the scientist/experimental person that I am, I gave it a shot. A more serious shot than just 10 minute running at a time. A 1 hour/10km shot. It is an amazing feeling. I worked my way up to more and more evil sidewalks, but the fun part is constantly paying attention. There's no time to zone out. I would liken it to video games, where you try to think quickly to dodge fast-moving obstacles. If you hit one, it hurts your foot. So this is why I like running barefoot, and running in general now so much. I'm probably the only one to say it's like a video game, or more appropriately the other way around.

I hope this story answers that question "How did you get into running?". Long story short, I guess I've always been into it. I just forgot I was for a while... What's next? Well I love running so much I'm training for an ultramarathon (goal is to do 100km by the end of summer in a day, casually for fun). Also, going to run the Victoria Marathon this year too. I've been getting into swimming again, going to get into running with weights as well.

Movnat - Erwan LeCorre - The Workout the World Forgot

Most importantly, there's a type of training I'm working up to called Movnat. I believe this to be my final stop on the exercise train for me. It is essentially a movement based training approach that teaches experimentally optimal ways for walking, running, jumping, balancing, moving on all fours, climbing, lifting, carrying, throwing, catching and swimming. All of this wearing pretty much just running shorts. It seems to be the most ridiculously fun thing I can imagine at zero cost. Seems to be something parents tell their kids everywhere anyway, "Go play outside.". When did we stop playing and start 'exercising'?

Achievement Unlocked - Complete a Sprint Distance Triathlon

2009-09-27T22:24:00.004-07:00

Hooray. It went super well. Tons of fun. Almost drowned due to cold water. Lessons learned: get a wetsuit, practice in ocean ahead of time. If doing it competitively would need a road bike.

Had a Hipster Photoshoot with Brad and Jen. Also went well. Lots of fun, very hilarious. Parody of hipster shoot more like it. Not much to say about it except how awesome and fun it was. Tried to match a more vintage style, practised photomanipulation stuff for the hoverboard picture. In the same day biked out and onto this crazy jetty with Landon.

Apart that things have been ok and sort of fallen into a routine nowadays. Wanting to do lots of exploring but alas no car or motorcycle yet Maybe a bike trip to the island would be a good idea. Started biking to school, and signed up to Gold's Gym. Should be in good shape... to randomly do a triathlon whenever I guess.

Roar Nearby Goals

2009-08-11T11:59:00.003-07:00

So this being a blog supposedly for projects and photos I figure I'd give a heads up on what I'm working on (or rather should be).

1. Game
I've had a few ideas for making a game that should prove pretty interesting. One of the ideas is to not use polygons (i.e. no 3d models) and to instead use more rasterized/painting/drawing based techniques to make things look pretty and flow more naturally. Mathy interpolation is pretty boring looking. Progress on this so far: trying to get the damn libraries to work nicely... no dice thus far.

2. Photo Scavenger Hunt
I've made no headway on this. I have the list. I have to go develop the MF film I have now to see if it's even gonna be decent. Otherwise I'll take a pic with my D80 as well as Mamiya and hope for the best. Have a few ideas for some of the shots but that's about it. Will need models for a few of em :/.

3. Triathlon
It takes place September 7th, I'm making great progress. Hooray.

4. Piano Songs
Now that I actually acquired an electric keyboard (thanks, Jen!) I can start practicing a few of the songs I wanted to play. Maybe for CS coffee house next year. Among them are songs from a few songs from video games and the beginning of Tchaikovsky's piano concerto #1 which I would duet with myself singing and sounding like a drunken boor to achieve lulz.

5. Violin
I would like to be able to play and not sound like a cat in distress. Progress: Still sound like a cat in distress.

Also, pictured above is a dinosaur. Roar!!

Summer Toronto Trip 2009

2009-07-26T22:20:00.002-07:00

In case this blog is the only way you get info from me (which would be quite sad and you should talk to me more by other means), I went back to Toronto a few weeks ago. The pics are up, and have been for quite some time and are located here. Here I'm going to go through a brief narration of the highlights (aka the things I can remember, as it has been a while).

Generally the trip was much needed, and towards the end I don't feel like I was overstaying my welcome. Though everyone seemed to be getting a lot more and more busy, and I managed to dodge the garbage strike and supposedly happy I stayed only 2 weeks instead of 3 or more. Vancouver's been pretty fun since. Anyhoo. So the trip started with hanging with Laura and James, and ridiculous thing #1 has to go to drinking rum and coconut water out of sippy cups in the park with James. Then got to shoot pool at the Cue do a shoot with Nicole (which I still have to edit, it's a tough project but I think will turn out well... would be much easier if I had a backdrop and D700).

Next ridiculous thing happened when hiking with Mark and Ante. Thus ridiculous thing #2 is where I had to boulder with a camera vest and some equipment on. It was a nice hike though, lots of greenery deciduous forests and conversation that involves many a mold of the volcanic and Chernobyl variety.

Next day or so hung out with Michael (from UBC CS Grad) going to get a coconut, a beer tour, a big fat burrito and Bistro 422. Then hung with people for Nicole's grad, which was bitchin as we went back to Bistro 422 later. Good times.

Hung with Liang and Dave for a while, which was wicked fun but relatively short in terms of all the other hanging out going on :(. Too many friends. Played guitar hero at their place and observed their kitty and home indoor garden.

Ridiculous thing #3 has to be trapezing at Laura's birthday party! Wicked good fun, broke up a nail which hurt for a few weeks but great times nonetheless. Lots of fun! Must do again. Good pick, Laura!

Ridiculous thing #4 goes to making a smoker out of a trashcan that was to be mounted on top of an existing bbq with Peter. For fathers day went to the lake on Dad's boat and neighbouring restaurant. Good shots of the sunset from there.

Ridiculous thing #5 has to be at my going away BBQ with mostly Etobicoke friends I didn't get to see. We ended up playing this silly game Dave suggested that worked out quite well. Everyone puts a few dares into a hat at and people draw at random (which may possibly include their own dare, so it balances out in terms of how stupid the dares get). One such dare involved "Give Dave a vigorous face massage", enacted by Mike. Lulz were achieved.

The last ridiculous thing was doing the shoot with Nicole, which involved over 400 T-lites, constant relighting by Ken, in an enclosed garage... Like I said earlier still working on that one.

Now, back in Van. Good to be back. Wouldn't call it home, but wouldn't call Toronto home at this point either. blackb0x computer is working again, which is why there was delay in the editing of photos. There's no place like 127.0.0.1.

BBQ and Bamboo

2009-05-18T14:32:00.002-07:00

So yesterday we had a BBQ on Jericho Beach, Tom and I got a cheap one. Delicious. Few good shots, been a while since I posted a photo. Just haven't been in the mood lately for some reason. Think I'm gonna swing back into it what with it being pretty summer. Now I am sunburned and it sucks. The cheap bbqs are pictured to the left and are really tiny. They look like props from Plan 9. Maybe Ed Wood was a BBQ enthusiast....

I picked up a Wacom Bamboo for drawing and photo editing. It's been a while since I've drawn (a much longer while). Hopefully will be able to come up with some neat stuff once again. It's got blue LEDs on it. Everything has blue LEDs on it. There's at least 5 things near my computer that have blue LEDs on them now. It's ridiculous. I know it's a soothing colour but maybe have... Red or something?

Done Courses and the Summer Competition

2009-04-30T01:26:00.003-07:00

So I'm finally done grad courses, possibly forever, possibly not. We'll see how research goes. Despite being done there hasn't really been much official celebration going on, a little disconcerting. Got pretty good grades thus far, not that they mean anything in grad school. I suppose it's time to start the 9-5 work schedule again to work on thesis and research. Slowly transitioning back into that groove, but need a swift kick in the arse pretty soon.

My roommate Ian (pictured left) and I are doing a competition until September 1st, on who is the most healthy. In quantitative terms who can lose the most body fat percentage from the initial starting point. I've been experimenting with diet and exercise and it's a little depressing thus far. We'll see how it goes. Not been feeling in the best shape and it's affecting my mood and work and sleep habits.

Not enough regular hugs in this city.

Blue Skies and Flowers That Arise

2009-04-15T19:30:00.003-07:00

So apparently spring is here, as the skies are no longer rainy and flowers are budding on the cherry blossom trees. Was a good day to bring my camera with me, although very out of practice. Definitely give this weather a thumbs up though. Started running a bunch and rollerblading more.

Also, my roommate and I are now in a 'health competition'. We'll see how that goes, definitely a good competition though even though there's already people betting on us...

Something strange happened on the bus today. Some big older dude started talking to me about it being beautiful weather for photography. I was talking to him about it and was confused for some reason. Such a rare event. So confused I got off 3 stops before mine. What does that say about society when one is sort of confuzzled by someone talking to you on the bus? Why doesn't it happen more often? Did it used to happen more? Odd, that.

The Quest for Vancouver's Best Burrito - Phase One

2009-04-02T19:08:00.004-07:00

So I've been looking for the best burrito in Vancouver, despite extreme pessimism that there is no good burrito here. Last one was at a place with Jeff (pictured left).

Here are the ratings. List and pictures will be updated accordingly.

85% Budgies' Burritos (Kingsway and Broadway) (Reccomend the Jame Dog one)
75% Burrito Bros (1st and Yew)
70% Taqueria (Main and 12th)
50% Steamrollers (Chain all over town)
20% Red Burrito

Photo Scavenger Hunt - The List

2009-03-29T15:27:00.003-07:00

Here it is for this scavenger hunt...

The colours of the rainbow, preferable ROYGBIV, on an interesting medium.
I'm assuming it's color, so contrasty, bright, vivid, like bright reds and burn your eyes out blues. A macro shot or an abstract part of something. Needs to be lines and gradients. insane depth of feild to make creamy/mikly smooth gradient. party bokeh (say lights behind it). the in focus part, not a face but maybe part of a face (hafl?), a line of a hip (assuming girls here), but probably not so maybe something like a line of a building dissipating into bokeh with water from fountain being in focus (there are plenty of buildings downtown that have fountains).OR you can just pick something that, as you see it, relates to me.
I want a shot of/in the central branch of the Vancouver Public Library downtown.
Sunset over vancouver island.
Take a photo of my former roommate Damien taking a photo of you.
A pirate and a cowboy drinking tequila and playing pool. Thems my requests. :p
Happy people spreading LUUURRRVE!!! and Epiclulz. <3
Sexy elf girl
Splashyness!
Build something really neat that you like, and then set it on fire
Someone drinking a can of pabst blue ribbon
I want a picture with amazingly low depth-of-field of doggie poo with the dog and yuppie owner next to it, looking very proud of themselves.
East Hastings, a picture that captures the character of the area.
2 girls kissing that should be fun and artsy
Ian lifting a boulder

Should be interesting.. some may be hard to get but we'll see.

Whistler, Club and Climbing

2009-03-26T21:51:00.002-07:00

Last weekend I went up to Whistler with some friends. We heard rumours of epic snow, and there was. I got stuck in more than 3 feet of powder, and more than half hours of lines everywhere. Totally worth it though, know where to go now when epic snow hits.

After that (same day) went to club with Ian. Supposedly librarians and other nerds go mingle there. Girl smiled at me, nothing more than that though. Not a good place to converse; too loud.

Today tried rock climbing for the first time (as an adult) and it was epic. I think I'll tie it into workout routine. Running, swimming and climbing sounds good. All fun activities and best of all no time spent in gym.

No pictures this week. Projects all around 3/4 completion, except for one at 1/2 or so. One month left.

Pi Day 2009!

2009-03-15T00:55:00.002-07:00

Happy Pi Day 2009 everyone! There's some new pics on flickr. We had 3 types of pie, one not photographed is pumpkin sadly. It was epic delicious. They all were, urrrrghhhh. Yesterday I did a UDLS presentation on Horror. Slides will be available online at some point like for the photography talk I gave. Nothing special really, a lot of pressure from prospective grads and non-UDLS regulars so I had to nerf the content a little... Okay, a lot. There was no atmosphere building or anything, it was mostly just wikipedia summaries and my personal take on things.

In any case, starting to get back into photography more, things are generally getting more lighthearted. It's odd how quickly some things can change for very small reasons. Chaos theory at its finest. There's only about a month left of courses, 2/3 projects well underway, will start (and possibly finish) the third this week. Violin's going okay, I think I need to take 5 lessons or so just to play by ear better and bow technique. Will wait til summer. Amazingly remember a lot of the clarinet scale. Like... 90% of it all.

MC Ben?

2009-03-09T12:41:00.004-07:00

So last week was interesting, and there should be pics of this eventually. I was an MC for Computer Science Graduate Student Coffee House. It was a pretty wicked experience, I suited up for it. People seemed amused, the actual performers though were really awesome.

Saturday was spent obtaining guitar strings, wailed on the Strat a bit... went out of tune really easily despite relatively new pickups.... At this point it may have to retire next year, after 10 years of wear, tear and fire...

Missed usual Sunday blog post, was busy marking assignments. Got a nice bell distribution, feels good. Don't know why.

Reading Week and Then Some

2009-03-01T22:46:00.002-08:00

Just an update on my reading week. It was mostly uneventful, went shopping for stuff (including much needed sunglasses), lots of video gaming, vegging, chilling, celebrating and that's about it. Also, went biking with Landon (shown on left) up to North Vancouver. Pretty decent bike ride, but need bike shorts for next time... it... hurt a lot.

After reading week, things have been ok. Projects seem pretty cool, all will have neat looking visual results for the end of the term. As far as photography goes, my test roll for the Mamiya is done, I just have to get it developed somewhere, then I can get started with the scavenger hunt, which has 2 slots left in it I believe.

In music news, violin's going okay, slow and steady. May need to take lessons just to get the bow technique down. Guitar's same old same old, electric should be getting here in a few days/week or so. Clarinet, suprisingly remember a lot of notes/scales from muscle memory... but no songs except the first bit of Hall of the Mountain King. Also, getting antsy to play some piano but alas, no keyboard. Was gonna get some bristol board and colour in piano keys to at least practice (without sound...) but I need that auditory feedback. 4 instruments... Jack of all trades, master of none haha. More fun this way.

Dad's Birthday/Firefly Marathon

2009-02-15T17:39:00.004-08:00

So I took the photo here for my Dad's birthday, hope he likes it. It's taken from my lab desk. Can't get anything close to that in Toronto. Haha, suckers.

Apart that, things have been generally okay since the shoot. Went snowboarding at Big White last weekend, was pretty damn awesome and yesterday had a Firefly marathon as I've never seen it before. It was pretty good, disappointingly short and the movie was sort of okay but cool at the same time.

Reading week is this next week, nothing planned. Probably will get Wii Fit and some other rrands. Trying to run a lot but it's not really too fun alone with no.. scenic anything nearby.

Still not done the practice roll with the Mamiya, got about 4 shots left on it. Will do a few tonight, then will start to do the photo scavenger hunt roll which still has .. 3 slots left on it.

Band Shoot and Rant

2009-02-04T21:44:00.002-08:00

So Serge asked me to accompany him on doing a shoot for a friend's husband's band or something. It went okay, not terrible, not good, definitely not great but just okay. I went in knowing pretty much absolutely nothing except for the fact that we were shooting a band. Didn't know about where, when, what, how, why or anything. Thus it went okay. It wasn't even shooting a show of a band, just piecing together impromptu photos not knowing anything about the location, having very little lighting to control and just... frustrating. Alas, after having read my rules then you know nothing ended up 'good' let alone great.

Apart that, been shooting with the Mamiya so no new pics really apart the shoot ones. Getting a little peeved at the philosphy of Nikon/Canon fighting to bring more and more expensive cameras instead of making more economical good cheaper ones. Stupid capitalism. Sure the $9000 D3x is great, but doesn't offer more than the $3500 D700. Is there a good cheap low light camera for Nikon? Not yet. Canon at least has decent low light noise with the rebel. Plus Nikon's kicking out a whole new line of 'full frame' lenses... but wait, you had those from film format, what's the point of these newer better ones if the film ones were just fine? Just aggravating. I think I'll eventually get a D700 or equivalent for low light shots, but as far as landscapes and day shots go I might eventually get a cheap medium format (also around $10K, which is much superior quality for larger prints anyway) who's whole philosophy is exchangeability of parts. Not 'newer is better because we like it!'.

Not really a rant, more of frustration with camera equipment. Of course this would mean something if I had a job. A man can dream...

Failed Trip To Popeyes

2009-01-25T13:59:00.002-08:00

So last week after watching Little Nicky we decided to go to Popeyes Chicken. Apparently there was none in Vancouver so we went for an hour ride to Coquitlam according to Google Maps. Turns out, KFC took it over 3 years ago and once again Google maps fail.

Other than that, Stephen was in town for the past little while which was pretty cool. Gets really busy when someone's crashing at your place. Tons of fun though. Ended up going to Blackcomb yesterday and though the conditions were pretty 'terrible' for here, they were about the same as average hills in Ontario. I.e. groomed or icey. However, going to the Blackcomb glacier was really epic. Wonderful vista, 10km of snowboarding straight and decently cushy snow. Aka really really fun. It was like wakeboarding sort of in that it was rough, but easy to navigate through if you loosen up your legs (as critically damped springs!). Then we went for sushiyama and of course crazy italian gelato place with 218 flavours again. Good ritual.

Not many pictures posted, not many taken either. Gotta get into the habit of carrying my cam more again. Moving into new house next week which will actually have room to set up my studio stuff.

Personalized Scavenger Hunt

2009-01-17T22:55:00.016-08:00

So, if you've been keeping tabs with me you'll know how excited I am for getting my first real camera. As in not a point and shoot. It's going to be a medium format Mamiya 645 Pro TL and should be in the mail within the next week.

In celebrating this, I propose a scavenger hunt of sorts. There should be twelve shots on each roll of film. Reply or contact me if you want to reserve a shot on the roll. Tell me what kind of shot you want to whatever detail you want and the rules are :
a) it should be free to take a picture of (to get to even)
b) be possible to take (and at ISO 400 or so)
c) be creative
d) shouldn't involve a picture of my bare ass in front of anything (this happened before...)
e) should be in or around Vancouver
f) no shots where I have to be snowboarding or anything actiony....

What you get: There are going to be high res scans of these eventually and very good quality (hopefully). The roll of 15 will be going up on flickr in a special album. :)

FYI/Hint This is going to be a very special roll of film...
[Currently 15/15 spots filled]

Gedankenexperiment - True Love Highlighter

2009-01-14T02:11:00.002-08:00

Imagine this. Imagine you're walking on the street one day, going about your business. Doing what you do on routine and suddenly you see someone you are absolutely fascinated with. Someone who is actually highlighted by some divine means that is interpreted to be your true love. They're pointed out to you as your actual true love. You now know who you're supposed to end up with.

Supposed to. What would you do?

Problem: You know your true love, you're not with them.

Case 1: You're single.
Well, you'd take more chances, or wuss out and end up with someone lesser? It's a tough decision. I mean, after all, how can you trust a highlighted augmented reality without justification? The pressure's on now. Don't blow it. If you mess it up you'd end up with someone you're not supposed to be with, by definition. Be yourself and it should work out, by definition. This definition, by fundamental flaw don't take into account the human psyche sadly...

Case 2: You're taken.
Well then that's a little fucked. Do you dare risk it for some dream? Do you dare settle? How would one even consider this, it's mind boggling. Would you blow it for a dream? True love at first sight?

Proposed Solution and Explanation: It's random. If you're single, meh, fuck it. If you're taken, meh, fuck it. Either way pressure is never going to make for a good long lasting relationship... at least initially. If it was meant to be then it'd happen. A laissez faire approach but probably the best. Proof? Proof by contradiction. Assume you try. Consider you actually try for the love... If you have to try then you must be not yourself since you are exerting yourself. By yourself, I mean yourself at a rest position, an equilibrium of sorts... which you are over time. Since you are not yourself, it wouln't last over time as they would be suited for someone else better.... probably. Arguably. Love is hand wavy and so is emotion.

An interesting experiment. Thought experiment. What would you do?

Vacation Status III - 7741 A New Year

2009-01-08T14:45:00.002-08:00

Interesting holidays, I wouldn't say too short though. Met up with most people, except two or three groups sadly. Everyone's doing their own thing, it's good to see. Beat Super Mario RPG in that time too :) Good nostalgic satisfaction haha. Games used to be a lot better and the key was heart. They didn't have as much graphics/bugs/stupid glitches so they spent a lot of time putting heart into games. Not so much like games nowadays with a few exceptions (Portal being one of them). Games aren't nearly as polished anymore, they're not as artistic generally speaking. I think the high point was in the mid 90's and early 2000's with Super Nintendo and then dying off with Playstation 2.

In any case, apart video games I think this year is going to be awesome. A good magical year filled with lots of instrument playing, research and fun mwahaha. School courses are looking pretty sweet too: Scene Analysis with the legendary David Lowe, a simulation course and computational geometry. Pretty much pure graphics and math/physics about graphics too. No machine learning to sap my energy this time around.

I have to say something about my flight back to Vancouver... It took 17 hours of travel time instead of 7 or so. Weak. Just a few pictures from the break. Didn't really carry my camera around too much. Too busy actually interacting with people. The only reason I have pictures of Ken/Nicole is because there was a possibility of a photoshoot that day, but alas no dice.

Good luck to all this year. :)

Vacation Status II - Up to Christmas Day

2008-12-25T21:07:00.003-08:00

Been in Toronto for about a week. Now in Sudbury. No pic again yet, need to have my computer in Van. Storing everything on camera...

So far so good, hung with about 80% of the people I wanted to see, but not for nearly long enough. Sigh, breadth and not depth sucks. Still good to see everyone though.

Christmas this year feels really... Odd. Getting older I guess but things just don't really feel homey despite the love. I can't quite place it... Sort of want to go back to Vancouver and get back in routine... I guess it's because this 'vacation' isn't really a vacation. Working on project and seeing everyone is so rushed... So much pressure, more pressure than during school. Beh. Don't feel the love or lulz...

Cool presents included walkie talkies for snowboarding (props to sis), violin w/ electric pickup (which I totally suck at right now), marshall microamp, some Ansel Adams portfolio books, clothes and moneys which can't buy everything...

Vacation Status I - Two Days of Whistler, Back in Toronto, Project Looming...

2008-12-19T00:45:00.003-08:00

Firstly, went to Whistler/Blackcomb twice. It was pretty epic. Started to teach a friend how to board from scratch. He got the hang of it, then injured elbow. Lulz for all.

Secondly, back in TO for the holidays. Good chilling with friends and family. Little weird. No... Lot weird. Very surreal. Everyone's changed. It's really tough... I don't know how many times I can do this... One doesn't realize how fast people live unless you miss out on a few months. It's very scary. Same happening to me too I guess... Still pretty damn young though. More time for philosophy later. Feeling melancholy again, will romance ever come? It's happening to more and more friends. Getting left behind again. Worth waiting in 'x' years? Can't tell. Not even drunk, no booze tonight... relatively speaking. Last night was fun, woke up with a few injuries just like the good ol' days. Also, Super Mario RPG. Ahh nostalgia.

Finally... Project due in 11 days. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Some vacation. *sigh* Don't like. Scared. Can't enjoy self. Melancholy. Busy in mind, always. Back hurts from sleeping on couch/taking bad fall boarding. Life of Grad Student suppose.

Birthday Shenanigans Part Deux

2008-12-09T22:13:00.002-08:00

So! The shenanigans continue. Saturday was a busy day. Woke up at 6, invigilated an exam 8:30am-11am, got home, napped, cleaned up place, dirtied up place with silly string and portal signs everywhere, went to Steamworks brewery, got drunk a bunch, went home, got drunk a bunch more... All the time, friends wearing silly hats! It was a great time, thanks everyone for coming and celebrating such a special event. No "Partying Hard" to AWK, but will reserve that for with Misko, supposedly. I don't know if I got up to 23 drinks or not, there was 17 ticks on my arm and I think I missed quite a few... but... still worked out pretty fun. Bus system here sucks, so people bailed around 12-1am or so.

Interesting drinks included:

Steamworks "Sampler", equivaltently 3 drinks worth of different microbrewed beers.
"Muff Diver".. a whip creamy Martini glass filled with whip cream and a shot of Kalhua in it somewhere... (Thanks to Kevin/Elan)
A "real" prairie fire with 1/3 tobasco, 2/3 tequila... ouch.
McClellan Islay scotch mmm... nice smokey peaty flavour.
My special Hot Chocolate + Creme de Menthe (only had peppermint schnapps, but it worked almost as well) snowboarding season drink
Ooodles of Heineken beer... with a keg and a half to spare

It's official. I'm prime.

Birthday Shenanigans Part 1

2008-12-03T14:07:00.004-08:00

So the day ended up being pretty awesome. Last year's birthday was chilling at Ein-Stein's, no cake even. Today was sweet, got a lot of work done (it matters!) and then when I went for weekly "Tuesday Tea" people sung... "hip hip hooray" haha. It's not the custom but it was silly and fun because the person who initiated it was told it was... by me haha. After that we went to the liquor store and got booze with a gift I got from me mom. Pat got scotch, which I'll discuss later.

We then went to sushi with Serge, Imelda, Pat and Emma in no particular order I'm sure. New place, awesome sushi. "Sushi King House". Not as good as Sushiyama but still pretty damn good given the proximity. Also, ridiculously cheap.

Back at my place we mingled, played rock band, portal and drunk... and drunk... and drunk. Half a bottle of scotch (challenge succeeded!) and a few other drinks later it was time to call it a night.

Awesome day. Does the Cake look familiar? ;)

Saturday is starting to scare me...

Mass Photo Update

2008-12-01T03:52:00.003-08:00

I hate it when this happens. Like 50 pics posted to flickr. Some from the flavour tripping party others from pictionary/chillin downtown. Always fun but so many to go through hahaha. A good multiple of how many actual photos per posted one is 10. Aka going through 500 photos is a pain. Didn't bother editing them, except for crops.

The party itself was pretty weird. The miracle fruit tablets did in fact make a lot of things taste sweeter. Didn't affect the texture, hot sauce/wasabi burn, garlicy atmosphere in mouth, burning in throat, and just general other non-taste things that happen in your mouth. I guess it's pretty neat to see an emphasis on those effects. On the other side of the spectrum though, some things were ridiculously good, I think the best was the lemon as pictured above and grapefruit. Also drinking Corona with a lemon has never been better haha.

The downside to all this though is things mixing in the stomach afterwards. Felt very sick. Interesting experience. Don't think I'd do it again just because... well... I don't like being sick? Haha.

Also! December 1st is now. 20 hours until primality!!

Birthday Season

2008-11-28T01:19:00.003-08:00

First, I would like to thank my sister for this delicious rum. It tastes like home...

Birthday's next week. Going to chill out until then mostly. Going to a miracle fruit party tomorrow, should be fun and there will be pictures. Apart that, feeling pretty anxious. Getting ramped up to see everyone in Toronto. After tomorrow will have 2 projects left. Fun ones :). Lucky that I enjoy my work haha.

Oh and very special news. Whistler is open. I have a season pass. Fancy that...

Photoshoot Pics

2008-11-23T18:25:00.002-08:00

Photoshoot pics are up. I like the noir one better than the pinup one. *Shrugs* Live and learn.

Fun Night

2008-11-23T14:27:00.003-08:00

Last night went to a formal cocktail party. Really fun, woke up to find a bloody hand and bandaid haha.

Damn you 7/11. Damn you ravioli can.

Apart play, projects are in full swing... Kinda sucks, but good at the same time. Just a few more weeks...

Manual Optic Lulz

2008-11-21T04:18:00.002-08:00

Figured out how to take pictures with my cam without a lens on, and consequentially do ye olde macro lens from any lens trick by turning the lens around. Played around with tilt-shifting too but with less impressive results. Crazy macro (or micro) lensy goodness.

The Rules of Ben's Good Shots

2008-11-18T03:29:00.004-08:00

After doing that photoshoot Sunday, which I'll post about when I'm done with the photos.... I came to realize/formalize how and when I take good shots... Aka I wasn't too pleased with myself and the shoot as much as I'd like.

It occured to me after my sister told me to take a shot of so and so, and thus they pose. Terrible. I can take an okay shot, but definately not a good shot. All my good shots (linked to on left) happen when I see the shot, not anybody else. If you want to take it, get your own camera. Mine's set up for what I want to do and it works for me.

In terms of portraits, or shots generally, here are some rules if you want me to take a good picture.

Don't tell me how to take photos. I can't stress this enough, if you want to enlist in my services say something like "I want a shot of the four of us" or whatever. Then you can pose and I'll take it... with alterior motive. I'll wait for the four of you to be together conversing and most likely laughing/having fun. A candid shot. Posed stuff sucks usually, unless the pose in question is silly or whatnot, in which I start doing child photography 'look at the birdie' techniques.
I'm only comfortable taking photos of you if I'm comfortable with you. If I'm not, then I don't really feel happy taking your photo. Actually I feel kinda bad without your permission. Thus should I take one it's because I see a shot, but it won't look good because I'd be in a rush to take the photo or something.
I only take the shot if I see a promising shot. I don't like taking photos of everything, I only take it if I think I see something that's good. Sort of like in 1, I can't take it if there's no moment or anything which brings me to 4...
I capture moments. Poses are not moments. Let us celebrate this moment of posing by a commemorative photograph. No, that's not how it works. You want a good picture of you, wait for it and don't pay attention to me. To see an example of a moment see Ken on the right in a ridiculously serious conversation with a ridiculously silly hat on.
If it's staged, then I have to have thought of it for a while. Sort of brings me back to the shoot. I can't stage something improv, at least not at this point. It's different than seeing a moment as in you have to actually interact/set up. For a moment it's usually a glimpse of someone by a pretty light doing a certain expression, and I just ask them to back up and do that again or if I'm lucky just get it the first time. This is just a matter of practice, I suppose, but philosophically the type of photography I like to do is observing scenes, not modifying. Unless I'm lighting things on fire.

So there's a rant of some... things. Hope it may have been helpful and hopefully not insulting in the least. This is what happens when I can't sleep and am frustrated with hobbies.

In other news, homesick, stressed about projects and I miss my electric guitar. Less than a month now.

Of Pies and Plays

2008-11-16T01:44:00.002-08:00

Firstly, I was invited to a dinner party. So I made my passed down via neighbour Butterscotch Pie. Unfortunately nobody had it cause they were filled up on Tiramisu by the end of the night. Delicious as that was, I felt I cooked in vain *sigh*. I do have a pie leftover though.

I saw Cyrano today! My favourite play, finally a live production version. I've been waiting for Stratford to put it on with no avail and I got to see it live here. :D. Sadly it wasn't in french, and a lot of it has been modernized *sigh* but still very good and romantic, comedic and tragic. Good times. Good nostalgia. Good... hopeless romantic craving haha.

Tomorrow I have a photoshoot, will let know how it goes. Should be fun, a little nervous about it though.

Pain and Lulz

2008-11-14T19:42:00.003-08:00

Firstly the pain... I went to get a backdrop stand and few background papers for a pinup/noir shoot I'm doing on Sunday. I figured I could go on the bus with a 9 foot roll of paper but was turned down by several... I ended up figuring I could walk home from 5th street to 64th... aka 60 blocks or so. At about 35th my arms got so tired hauling this stuff I was borderline dead. Luckily there was an empty bus who let me on... Damn public transportation.

Apart the physical pain and pain of cost... Now I have to put off pay stuff for a looong while... Lulz was achieved when I finally posted this photo haha.

Polymorphic Ben

2008-11-11T14:58:00.003-08:00

Here's a pic from my new shaving setup.

Also, funny story from over the weekend. Friday I gave my presentation on photography, where I met a friend's friend (from out of town) and then Saturday I gave myself a buzzcut. Seeing how everybody hardly recognized me as is, my friend thought it would be hilarious if he reintroduced me to the same friend. So we did, and he did not know we met before... despite me giving a 30 minute presentation. Hilarious.

New Razor!

2008-11-09T13:36:00.002-08:00

I got a new safety razor today that looks like that. Will post pics later. Also got all the fixins. No more paying ridiculous amounts for razors that don't even give a close shave. No more stupid irritation... Though might take some practice to get the hang of...

Friday

2008-11-08T01:47:00.000-08:00

Presented today on photography. Deckard Cain was an essential guest, helping people remember what not to do in their photos.

Pros of the day involve having fun with friends, getting them into the 'Zombies!!!' boardgame, though nobody was really enthusiastic (including myself) , just one of those days.

Cons are still missing Toronto very greatly. Got a pack of Colts, had one on the way home to nostalgically remind me of good times in TO. Not the best coping mechanism but it'll do... I didn't inhale so there. Just the taste....

Sigh. Soon enough isn't soon enough. Buzz cutting tonight, buzz buzz buzz.

End of the School Week

2008-11-06T18:56:00.002-08:00

Hooray, another week gone by. This one in particular signifies the end of homework.. and the start of projects. Albeit somewhat more interesting, this time vortex of a course load will render me insane and hilarious. Coincidentally one of the courses is rendering, so this makes sense I believe. My cool project has something to do with shape from polarization filters so might be fun. The other two are pretty ok, not as interested but pretty fun... sort of.

I'm just anxious to get back to Toronto. Already have Christmas Karaoke party with my sis as well as a LotR marathon with some friends. It will be goooooood. Also, got that Zombies!!! board game and played with a few friends last night. Wicked cool game. No DnD this week, people were way too busy :( Stupid crunch time...

Grad School, Vancouver and Halloween

2008-11-03T00:38:00.003-08:00

Usually I write in my journal, but it's been more of a hiking log than anything else...

Grad school's been tough. Rewarding, fun, but tough. As predicted... 3 courses, but so much more is expected of you. Even though I've taken a fair bit of them before, as an undergrad you were sort of just expected to pass or do 80 or something. Now 80 feels like a fail of sorts, 90+ is expected. Not that marks mean anything, or the courses, you're supposed to impress with your skillz.

Having said that, things have been generally ok in Vancouver. Starting to miss people from back home and such, no really super close friends here, or if they are everybody's super busy. Need close friends that you see on a regular basis, which takes time... Hasn't happened quite yet but... bleh. It's not the same as UofT. I terribly miss the CSSU crowd (from my year anyway). Back home it probably wouldn't be much different either, people are carrying on with their lives, new work buddies and what not... Caught between a few worlds I am over here.

Halloween was pretty ok, really nice and chill. Didn't really meet anyone new or anything but still fun nonetheless. Tons of people in cool costumes. Lots posted on my flickr. Here's one of me. Hopefully things will pick up. November is pretty much dedicated project month. I have no exams, no more homeworks (after Tuesday, just have readings) and just have to work on projects. Then Toronto... *sigh*

The Week of Depp

2008-03-30T17:55:00.002-07:00

So it would appear, having lack of productivity and inspiration in this here realm that is Montreal, I have been withering away. Up until last week, watching streamed TV was the norm, mostly Frasier. Fairly high brow but no sense of accomplishment.

Thus! In hope to get inspired I have been 'studying' the career of my favourite actor. Just to see how one's career progresses from nothing to something, to something extraordinary by finding one's niche, to something popular while still holding to one's idiom in art. A study which may very well prove useful to me in the future, but we shall see.

Ergo, in order to destress from the impending doom that is grad school acceptance choices and the weeks remaining in this bizarro land I have been watching all of Johnny Depp's films. Around 45 or so where he is lead or supporting actor. There's about 5 left. Here is the list I have compiled along with which I've yet to see (in bold) over the years and last week.

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007) .... Sweeney Todd
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007) .... Captain Jack Sparrow
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006) .... Jack Sparrow
Corpse Bride (2005) (voice) .... Victor Van Dort
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005) .... Willy Wonka
The Libertine (2004) .... Rochester
Finding Neverland (2004) .... Sir James Matthew Barrie
Secret Window (2004) .... Mort Rainey
Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003) .... Sands
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003) .... Jack Sparrow
From Hell (2001) .... Inspector Frederick Abberline
Blow (2001) .... George Jung
Chocolat (2000) .... Roux
Before Night Falls (2000) .... Lt. Victor
The Man Who Cried (2000) .... Cesar
Sleepy Hollow (1999) .... Ichabod Crane
The Astronaut's Wife (1999) .... Commander Spencer Armacost
The Ninth Gate (1999) .... Dean Corso
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998) .... Raoul Duke
The Brave (1997) .... Raphael
Donnie Brasco (1997) .... Donnie Brasco / Joseph D. 'Joe' Pistone
Nick of Time (1995) .... Gene Watson
Dead Man (1995) .... William Blake
Don Juan DeMarco (1995) .... Don Juan
Ed Wood (1994) .... Ed Wood
What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993) .... Gilbert Grape
Benny & Joon (1993) .... Sam
Arizona Dream (1993) .... Axel Blackmar
Edward Scissorhands (1990) .... Edward Scissorhands
Cry-Baby (1990) .... Wade "Cry-Baby" Walker
Platoon (1986) .... Private Gator Lerner
Private Resort (1985) .... Jack
A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) .... Glen Lantz

To critics, I realize I'll have to watch 21 Jump Street as well to get a fully comprehensive study. I'll have to address that later.

Title

2008-03-14T11:43:00.001-07:00

Oh, and in case people wonder. Comphotar is a term I coined for computer+photography+guitar.

Praise Ashlee Simpson (for Martin).

First Post

2008-03-14T11:36:00.000-07:00

Every blog has a first post, the postiest post that ever posted. In any case, the primary use of this blog will be to keep people updated on my whereabouts, travels, adventures, projects, anything that I'm too lazy to re-iterate in person. Mostly for projects/ideas brainstorming. In any case here it is and look forward to updates in the future.