GT: Sport photo mode

If there’s one party-piece of the forthcoming Gran Turismo Sport I’m most excited about, it’s definitely the photo mode. For sure I’m also massively looking forward to driving on the new tracks and sampling the new cars - reminds me I’ve got to purchase a new steering wheel device - but for a semi-serious photographic hobbyist like me, the 1,000 photo ‘Scapes’ available looks absolutely delicious. It combines the three things I love: photography, automobile, and travel, for the mere price of the game itself. 

I never got into the photo mode in previous iterations of GT due to the pathetic and appalling “camera” output of 1080p. For someone whose starter camera had 12 megapixels - commence snickering from older folks that started earlier than I on digital - the 2.1 megapixels of 1080p is insufficient. Not to say one wasn’t able to get incredible shots in GT5 or GT6 - there’s definitely some killer gems out there - but I guess I’m more of a stats-whore than I want to believe. 

GT Sport with the power of the PS4 should change things tremendously. There will not be enough hours in the day come October.  

Hamilton Musical

It’s been over two years since me and a bunch of closest friends discussed the cultural phenomenon of the Hamilton musical, and how if it ever does a tour here in San Francisco, we would just about do anything within legal parameters to attend. 

Hamilton started it’s four months stay at the Orpheum Theatre in March.

It’s last show day was yesterday.

We were there at the penultimate show, fulfilling a dream. 

For sure we were heading in with just insane amounts of anticipation and expectation due to the overwhelming success of the Broadway show and how we’ve suffered through four months of people on our social media feeds bragging about the wonderful performance. To say the least, we were not disappointed, but rather utterly amazed, and deeply hypnotized. Hamilton is a masterpiece of performing art, and to see it live is an absolute privilege and joy. 

Akin to listening to my favorite hip hop songs, I was glued to the bars and wordplay putting history lesson into mesmeric prose, accompanied by a live orchestra to tingle the spine. This is one musical you cannot go see a recording of in a movie theatre as substitute; I’d dare say that would be an insult to the art-form. Hamilton is so incredibly moving, and so alive.  

Lin-Manuel you crazy genius. 

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Getting back to gaming

I think I shall get back into a bit of gaming.

Gaming used be a huge thing for me; I’ve owned every iteration of the Playstation, and to the detriment of my parents’ wallet, built multiple gaming PCs. Gaming for me was a combination of obviously pure fun (that hand-eye coordination training!) and more importantly, escapism. Games were the greatest escape from reality possible for the kid. My family was decidedly lower-middle class so the housing situation wasn’t great; The Sims series allowed me to dream and build the abode I lusted after and model the life, however virtual, I selfishly craved. 

Another example: I love cars, and the wait for aging to a certain maturity with the privileges of attaining a driver license was absolutely agonizing. Games like Gran Turismo gave me to opportunity to “drive” way before I ever could in real life. I remember fondly purchasing a Logitech Driving Force Pro steering wheel, constructing a stand for it out of Home Depot lumber, and pushing my task chair in front to from a driving simulation cockpit. I cannot tell you the sheer amount of virtual laps I did on the Nurburgring in GT4. 

As I’ve “adult-ed” my way through my 20s I’ve lost touch with gaming because ironically now that I’ve got the means financially, I prefer more tangible entertainment and activities. Perhaps I didn’t need the escapism any longer? Whatever the case, I endeavor to rediscover the joy of gaming, probably not to the point of engrossment with indiscriminate amount of hours as I did in the pass, but just enough to satiate the fun meter every now and then. 

Hello, copy of Final Fantasy 15, it’s finally time to tear off your plastic cover. 

Korean TV shows on Youtube in the early 2000's

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

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

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

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

Stoicism

I’ve recently being reading about Stoicism, and one of the particular tenets that struck me deeply was the maxim of, and I’m paraphrasing here, “it’s already broken.” As in, think of your material possessions as if they are already broken and imperfect. That way, when those items do inevitably decay and get damaged, you wound’t be so fraught over it as people, me definitely included, tend to do. 

The tendency to overprotect and maintain perfection was especially acute back when I bought my Subaru Impreza WRX STI. I treated that thing better than myself: the front-end got an insanely expensive paint-protection film done, and the entire car got a permanent coat of synthetic wax (also not cheap). Every new nick and chip was scrutinized and agonized over, while fresh bird-droppings on the paint were dealt with swiftly to the point of obsession. A tiny scratch suddenly appears? Better break out that scrubbing compound!

In hindsight, such pursuit of perfection never bought me joy or comfort; if anything I was in a constant state of paranoia, And this extends to things beyond simply the car - think of all the money spent on protection-covers and sleeves that were purchased for my precious consumer electronic devices (though I’ll never understand why people put glass covers on their smartphone that already comes with scratch-proof glass).

 I’ve let the proverbial things to own me, instead of the other way around. For sure it’s been a constant struggle to change that paradigm, but slowly I think I endeavor to rid myself of obsessive over keeping things perfect (though not necessarily to the point of neglect). Imaging items as already broken makes an excellent affirmation.   

Adulting

I wonder when did it begin the transition in becoming more “adult” and being less cavalier with money usage. Back in my college days and earlier in my work career, not only did I spent every dollar I made, anything I want to purchase, once reconciling with the finances (at least I wasn’t leveraging credit cards to the hilt), I’d simply go buy it - no hesitation whatsoever. 

These days, there’s immense amounts of hesitation. Big spending purchases are only done after massive amounts of analysis; pro and con chart, utility factor, and asking the ultimate question: do I really need it? Many times over I could’ve bought new wheels for my Miata, but prudent sensibilities have overruled and won out repeatedly. A stunning new OLED television would be splendidly nice indeed, but my now ancient 1080p set still soldiers on after five years. The five year ago me would’ve bought it already (precisely how I came to own the TV), without any feasibility study. The rationale was simple: if there’s a want and the bank account agrees, then it’s mine. 

That mind-set has evolved. For example recently it took weeks to make the final decision on a new iMac. 

Perhaps it’s all the books I’ve read about the dangers of materialism and how one should have financials in reserves in case shit hits the proverbial fan. Or perhaps I’ve come to realize that plenty of the items I bought back when didn’t necessarily add to my permanent happiness. It’s fleeting is what I’m attempting to say. Buying car parts and modifications just may be the stupidest thing ever when considering I don’t even own that car anymore. The current car remains, hard as the mind tries, completely stock. 

I now see my little brother at the same stage in life: in the midst of college and having a part-time job with no worldly adult stuff to worry about. When boxes with Amazon Prime taped over arrive home at regular intervals, it’s quite the nostalgia. 

Retirement for the iPod

Today, Apple discontinued the iPod Nano and iPod Shuffle. If not officially, but certainly de-facto. Customers can no longer purchase the two varieties of the legendary music player on the Apple Store. The iPod Classic has long been put to pastures, and now the lone remainder of the lineage is the  “why are you buying this instead of an iPhone” iPod Touch.

The first-generation iPod Nano remains the most elegant and best designed iPod ever. I’m only sad that I never got to purchase it because at the time I had the full-monty fifth-generation iPod. That was a treasure as well. 

I’m actually surprised that Apple still sells iPods at all. The device has had a glorious run, but these days the smartphone does everything an iPod can and you get a phone for free. Even for someone like me who have thus far resisted the transition to streaming services and still have in silo over 150 gigabytes worth of songs, the contemporary iPhone comes with the requisite storage capacity to store all of it. It’s been years since I’ve had to carry an iPod to accompany the iPhone due to lack of capacity. Don’t lie; if you love music at all, you did that too. 

I love vinyl, and at the time compact discs with skippable tracks without waiting as you would a cassette tape was a revelation, but nothing expanded my love of music quite like the ability to access thousands of tracks on a device the size of a skinny deck of cards. There’s simply no replacement for convenience, which is why no one outside of headphone-amp huggers complain about the quality of an mp3 file anymore, and music streaming apps have take over. 

Long lived the iPod.