the.blog @scwleung

From a personal standpoint, holidays such as Thanksgiving have always confused me. After all, it is an arbitrary holiday that’s slotted in a more or less convenient spot to either placate the plebs, or encourage copious amounts of consumer spending. I have no problems with this as I enjoy both placation and consumer spending. What confuses me most about these holidays is the sentimentality that I, a person with the capacity for emotion as an engineer a cockroach a rusty nail, attach to these occasions.

Take this weekend, for example: Canadian Thanksgiving. For pretty much the rest of the year, I would usually take everything I have for granted – my stable career, the freedom granted to me by this country, the friends and family that I keep, the crazy hijinks I wind myself into, et cetera et cetera. Come the second Monday of every October, though, I turn into this puddle of goop that not merely reflects on what I have [and for which I am thankful], but also on the things I don’t have nor will ever have. [The latter, however, can wait for another post.]

I was speaking with a friend earlier this week, and the notion truly hit home. We’re both young urbanites with stable jobs, strong ties to family and friends, and rich personal lives. However, both of us also forgot how little others have as well. For the past few days, I’ve been trying to figure out why this was so.

A lot of it, in my mind, stems from how much we’ve de-emphasize personal and professional achievement. I deserve my monthly wage. There will always be others who can help me regardless of how much of a douche bag I am. Rather than I earned this through honesty and integrity. or I worked hard to keep my friends and earn their trust.

I look around me at work, and for the most part, I feel the latter is true. Most of my co-workers are honest folks who want to do their best and achieve more. We want to grow the business and hire more staff. However, whenever we try to hire new employees, we perpetually run into the issue of young college and university graduates who expect the world handed to them on a silver platter. How can we expect to effective train young people for a new growing industry when they come in with preconceived notions of their jobs and egos larger than enlarged prostates, without the experience and practical training to back up those claims. The ones we do end up hiring is hit or miss too. We’ve had some very good hires we’ve kept, and there are lots of folks that we’ve fired [and want to fire] who are simply deadweight. I often wonder how much longer our society can continue functioning in this manner, and how soon we’ll see an exodus of the talented and capable a la Atlas Shrugged.

Looking back on all of this, I’m having serious trouble finding something in our society to be truly thankful for.

No, wait. I have something.

- I’m thankful for the problems in our society because it forces us to create new and innovative solutions.
- I’m thankful for the lies because it allows me to appreciate the truth even more.
- I’m thankful for the lazy, incapable and incompetent people because it makes me cherish my friends who aren’t any of those even more. [It also gives me a job.]

I really have a way to make even the most pleasant topics sound depressing, don’t I? [Just because I'm in marketing doesn't mean I can't/won't spin things negatively.]

Happy Thanksgiving, folks. Gobble a few turkeys for me.

sammee

Perhaps it’s simply a reflection of myself, but it seems like everyone I see is continually exhausted. Let me clarify myself. I know I’m exhausted and have good reason for it. I just never seem to stop doing something, and there’s a perfectly good explanation for that. [I'm crazy.]

I think it’s safe to assume that I’m crazier than most people, and that most people tend to over-extend themselves less than I do. So why are people always so tired? Is our society so complex and intricate now that simple daily interaction tires us out? Is our work culture so demanding that crafting an internal memo taxes us both physically and emotionally?

What does that say of ‘progress’? What does that say of our perfect lives with our iPhones and shiny objects? What does that say of the copious cups of coffee consumed?

I don’t know. Do you?

/rant

Wow…it’s been over half a year since I last blogged here. Seems like the months have come and gone as fast as the planes that fly our skies.

A lot has happened since the beginning of the year, and I feel like I’m slowly continuing my upward spiral into insanity…of the good variety. Let me share some of them with you.

• I picked up an iPad. It’s awesome and completely fits my mobile lifestyle more than a smartphone ever did. That said, I’ve also been sporting a Motorola Milestone, so I feel like I emit a personal EM field wherever I go.
• I’ve also started blogging for iPadinCanada.ca. It’s been a lot of fun so far. Feel free to check out my posts there too.
• I recently came back from Europe. A cruise trip that took me to Denmark, Estonia, Sweden, Finland and Russia. I’ll try to post a follow-up to that soon.
• I’m still continuing my voice lessons. In fact, I’ve got my lesson coming up in an hour or so.
• Here’s something that no one’s suspected. I’ve started taking dance lessons. Of the Latin and Ballroom variety. I even competed back in May. I have to admit that it’s pretty addictive and is one of the highlights of my after-work life.

So there you have it. a quick life update in under 300 words. Just wanted to make sure you know I’m alive and well, and I haven’t lost any love for you, my little blog. It’s just, you know, I’ve been busy. A life and all, I guess.

ciao. for now.

Those whom I speak with on a regular basis knows that I care pretty deeply about my privacy. In fact, much of what I’ve been doing (as well as much of my recent behaviour) has been driven by my current stance about online privacy.

And what is this ‘stance’, you may ask…

Well, it’s simple. It’s also been reiterated time and again by those more well-known and more influential than I (not to mention that they also write better). It’s this: the age of true privacy is over; now is the age when we must recognize that the best we can do is control and sculpt how the digital world records and stores our information and our thoughts. In short: Personal e-PR.

It’s probably a little more than that, actually. It’s about sculpting your online persona such that it’s personal, without being too personal. It’s letting the world see into your life, but not so much so that your lifestream is an open book. It’s ultimately having control of your personal information floodgate.

Isn’t that a doozy?

In all seriousness, this shouldn’t be a daunting task. Social networks and advertisers should be making this easy for you. However, this isn’t always the case. Corporations, afterall, are entities whose sole purpose is to increase value for shareholders, and for the most part, you are not a shareholder. In fact, many of us aren’t shareholders for these social networks and advertisers. We are, however, stakeholders in their products. So, shouldn’t we have a say in their business practices?

In actuality, I find a large majority of social networks and online advertising networks would rather promote their shareholder valued than take care of their user base. They try to subvert user rights through carefully crafted and overly obtuse EULAs or Terms and Conditions. They also try to mask their activity through layers of PR and other well-crafted ‘nice words’. These practices are underhanded and simply unjust. Needless to say, they must be stopped.

How can we possibly stop these nameless and faceless corporations, you may ask? Easy. Spread the word. Educate people about what companies are doing with your data. Read the EULAs. Show people PleaseRobMe.com. Essentially, make as much noise as possible and let the people decide. If you’re perfectly alright with your life as an open book, please do so, but know the risks. If you prefer to keep parts of your life private, then find out how you can do so. It really isn’t hard. Afterall, most of them have privacy settings you can tweak. The worst you can do is abandon it all.

Hell, I did. Facebook is dead to me.

In any case, please spend the time to think, organize your thoughts and act. Do this, not for me, but for you and your digital self.

Ciao, until next time.

scwleung

It’s no secret. I was a pirate. Not the kind who roamed the Seven Seas in search of loot to pillage. No Sir. I’m a new age pirate. I dive deep into the vastgness of the net in an endless pursuit of data. Yes, my fellow friends. I was once a software and data pirate.

But no longer. I have hung up my digital cutlass and have lain fallow my bandwidth. I have declared my early retirement, and it is not simply because I have collected enough e-riches (or iRiches if Steve Jobs has his way) to satisfy me for a lifetime.

In fact, I’m not entirely certain why I stopped.

It’s been difficult for me to nail down why I’ve stopped. So instead of mulling over it till the cows come home, I’ve decided to post some of my potential reasons. Perhaps the wisdom of crowds will point me in the right direction.

Reason 1 – Financial

Let’s be clear. I make money now. Not the mad marketing dough that’s continually purported in Mad Men. Not in the slightest. It is, however, enough for me to live off of and enjoy nice things with. Tie this in with the fact that I don’t subscribe to cable, the math points to that the money I save from not subscribing to cable can be poured into buying TV episodes and movies on DVD (or Blu-Ray).

While all this is true, it doesn’t fully explain my situation. Afterall, I was more than happy to pirate movies and TV shows when I was making money in the past few years. Also, I was more than happy to buy DVDs even when I wasn’t making money. No, this is only a partial explanation. (Though I have to admit that it is nice to see DVD prices fall.)

Reason 2 – Social

There’s two aspects of social in this case. The first is the general social acceptance and tolerance of piracy. The second is that despite the social acceptability, there are still legal hurdles currently in place, and to be enacted in the future that will try to reverse this trend.

Despite having countercultural tendencies, I don’t really think that simple social existence would sway me away from downloading. It is an interesting thought, however, that as new technologies and services appear (think Zip.ca and iTunes Media Store), I would be more drawn to them and slowly abandon my old habits.

With regards to the legal-side of rights protection, I think most people know my stance on unjust, and oft-draconian legislations. Pretty sure I don’t have to say much more than that.

Reason 3 – Personal

It is not a secret that I work far harder than I should for someone my age (I beg to differ, though). The obvious conclusion that’s drawn from this is that I have no time to watch anything. This is so absolutely untrue, I find the simple thought of it laughable. I take in so much more media now than ever before. I listen to 5 or 6 podcasts a week; I finish a video game every two weeks; I read more (legitimately paid for) books on my Kindle than I did throughout my entire undergrad degree.

Also, with my being out of the apartment so often during the day, it would make sense for me to use my full bandwidth to download all day, every day. And yet, I am not.

In any case, those are the three reasons I have pondered on for the last few weeks, as well as my attempts at debunking each of them. It’s clear that I have made little progress since I started this exerecise. Perhaps you can help? Would love to hear if you, too, have stopped plundering the digital seas. And if so, why.

In any case, that’s all from me.

Ciao

Sam

I received a mass distribution email from Charlie Angus, MP [NDP, Digital Affairs Critic] regarding the need for ACTA transparency and public consultation on the subject. If you haven’t heard much about ACTA, it’s an international treaty on copyright that is being negotiated in secret with little or no oversight into the issue. I encourage you all to read the email [below], as well as Michael Geist’s blog regarding the issue. I feel that this is a fundamentally important issue that each Canadian needs to know about.

Dear Friend of Fair Copyright,

Thank you very much for taking the time to make your voice heard on the fight for fair copyright in Canada. In addition to yours, I have received well over 25,000 emails, letters, Facebook messages, faxes and phone-calls from everyday Canadians who want their elected officials to heed the call for fair copyright legislation in Canada for users, creators and innovators – NOT just the U.S. music and film industry lobbies.

Make no mistake, your emails and letters have made a huge impact. Without the enormous groundswell of support for fair copyright, the Conservatives never would have undertaken the consultation process that they did. Will they listen to what they heard? That remains to be seen.

A factor that threatens the development of fair copyright in Canada is the ongoing Anti-Counterfeiting Treaty Agreement (ACTA) negotiations. These talks have been conducted under a heavy veil of secrecy that excludes citizen engagement, denies public or media oversight, and undermines domestic copyright laws like those currently being considered in many countries around the world, including Canada.

Please read on for more info, but I want to make sure you take this opportunity to add your voice to those opposed to the ACTA secrecy. If you’re on Facebook, please join this group and ask your contact list to do the same: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=288885939910&ref=ts#.

Documents that have leaked from the talks show that negotiators are hammering out a deal that would criminalize internet users. It would require ISPs to spy on individual internet use and shut down access to content based any potential allegation of infringement.

The most sinister of these is the “three strikes” proposal. It sets out that anyone who is accused – NOT convicted – of illegal downloading three times is summarily disconnected from the internet and prevented from obtaining another account.

Please join the chorus of voices calling for transparency and accountability on the ACTA negotiations, so that our government doesn’t negotiate away Canada’s ability to determine what fair domestic copyright laws should be.

Sincerely,

Charlie Angus, MP
Digital Affairs Critic, NDP

Taken this morning. Really glad I made the effort to wake up extra early this morning.

I’m sure I’ll get the rest of the photos up on Flickr at some point.

2010 is here, and apparently, it hails the beginning of a new decade. With it, the new year brings renewed hope and revitalized vigor to tackle the problems and challenges this year will present. It will be exciting times and I look forward to it.

Besides, these few nascent hours of 2010 are already tons better than most of the previous year.

Let me indulge myself and take a moment to make some forecasts, predictions and resolutions for this year. Maybe in another 365 days, I can come back and see how I fared.

Forecasts & Predictions

• Against the Bank of Canada’s best wishes and efforts, the Canadian dollar will reach and surpass parity.
• Despite that, manufacturing will continue to decline.
• Canadian entertainment and media industry will be quite successful this year, but will probably go through a dramatic shift in production or distribution.
• Facebook will continue its downward spiral through more “liberal” privacy policies. Nobody notices.
• It will be an awesome year for mobile – new telcos, new hardware running Android, more ways to make money in the space (advertising, apps, sponsored usage, etc.), and new ways to compute mobilry (tablets, wearable computers).
• Online advertising will keep growing (hurray!), but will bring in more competition who don’t know what they’re doing (boo), providing opportunities to teach and grow (ok?).
• Canada will win a couple of medals at the Winter Olympics, though probably only a silver in Mens Hocket.

Resolutions

• Make a real and substantial effort to go up to KW to visit.
• Travel. A lot.
• Regain a positive outlook on people and humanity
• Continue to pursue professional designations and provide leadership in the workplace.
• Let go of things a bit more. Understand I can only affect so much change, but do my best in what I can.

That’s probably a good place to start. 2010 will be a good year. I’ll make sure this will be the case.

Happy New Year, and have a great one.

scwl

It’s hard to think about this past year without drawing up feelings of pain, anger, tiredness, and sorrow. It’s been a rough year; rougher for some, granted, but this year has certainly hit me pretty hard. The only way for me to describe it is that my world simply burned. To a crisp. It’s an odd, but not overly negative feeling, and I’ll let you decide what I mean. I prepared a relatively lengthy post, but there’s no reason for me to post that here. It’s really meant for me, but I liked the title. So here it is.

Anyways, that’s all. Move along; nothing to see here.

Happy holidays, and happy new year.

As much as I want to pepper this post with my usual [lack of] wit, I’m pretty tired. I didn’t get much sleep last night after the Wedding and Reception. Let’s just say that the wedding was delightful and wonderful, and the reception that followed was tasteful, funny, and all-round entertaining.

Congrats to Liz and Chris. My best wishes to both of you. I’m glad I got a few minutes with both of you at some point in the evening. I know you were both very busy, and I appreciate what both of you have done.

With the formalities out of the way, time to get to the meat of the post. Let’s talk about shooting pretty people!

My dear friend Jas is the co-founder of Savillian Custom Suits earlier this year. They’ve been targeting the Indian Wedding market with some success. Two weeks ago, she asked me if I can help her take photos of the Kismet Indian Wedding Show, specifically the Fashion Show portions of it. As I’ve alluded to before, this would have been the first fashion shoot I’ve done, and above all else, my first in-person exposure into the Indian Wedding culture. This was definitely an eye opener on both counts.

My only previous experience with Indian weddings is through the wild and crazy stories told by Samir. Of the little I recall from those conversations, the weddings are over the top, vaguely surreal and pretty much unbelievable [according to my standards, at least]. I still remember him telling me about a recent wedding he attended where the groom rode in on an elephant to the ceremony. I guess that’s just how they roll. Who am I to judge?

Needless to say, though, the wedding show neither disappointed, nor destroyed this stereotype for me.

When I first arrived at the Savillian booth at the show, the first thing I noticed was not the careful detail and professional displays, but rather, what I noticed was the horse in the stall across from them. Yes. A horse. A live one that blinked, kindly accepted carrots, and was generally pleased when its head was patted. Apparently, horse rides by the groom is a staple of their events, and this particular horse has seen his fair share of weddings in Southwestern Ontario. Furthermore, a horse is by far a much better substitute for an elephant here. That, and it’s near impossible to get a fully grown elephant penned up inside a convention centre.

However, I digress…let’s actually talk about this so-called photoshoot.

One of the things that struck me as I started the shoot is simply how little control I had over the situation. The runway was poorly lit both front and back. The back of the stage was too dim, whereas the front of the stage was too bright. As such, there was really only a 2.76 second window when the models walked down the catwalk where the lighting was actually reasonable. Simple, I thought to myself. I’ll just simply shoot within the window. What could possibly go wrong?

As it turns out, however, unlike plants or buildings, models are people and come with all associated properties of being people. Namely, they blink a lot. Of the numerous photos I managed to take within the 2.76 second windows I was given, a large majority of them featured models who had their eyes closed. What insincerity and total disregard for the photographic arts!

Seriously, if we found a way to artificially prevent blinking in models, we would have significantly improved the world of fashion and fashion photography. This would be the biggest thing since discovering the use of duct tape to form fit clothing. Once again, I digress. I must apologize.

There were a number of other things I learned throughout the photoshoot. For one, I learned how heavy my camera equipment actually is on my hands. With a flash, and my hefty variable zoom lens, I found that my arm was getting tired within 15 minutes of shooting. Of course, it definitely does not help that I was constantly changing the zoom – my wrists were killing me the next day.

Note to future self: Please bring and use the tripod that past self bought to make sure this problem gets mitigated. Past self paid good money for the tripod. Please use it.

Another significant learning was to decide up-front whether to be selective with what I shot, or spend the next few weeks tearing my irises in my vain attempt at selecting and touching up the gems afterward. While I got through all of Jas’ photos this past week, I still have over 1,400 photos of the other designers I still have to comb through…especially if I want to try selling them later.

Hmm…other thoughts…

Ah yes. Photographers and videographers are great folks. They really are friendly people, and totally top-notch folks. I need to hang out with them more.

Ah…one other thing. The Flash…they do nothing…

I guess a blog post about fashion photography wouldn’t be complete without a discussion and discourse about the pretty people who were modeling that day. All I really have to say is this. They were pretty people. And no, I probably won’t share these photos with you.

I guess this entire post begs one single question: Is Fashion Photography something I’d be interested in doing professionally? In all honesty, I can’t say right now. There are a lot of reasons I liked doing this photoshoot that might not be the case any other time…I was doing it for a friend…it was all very fresh and new to me…the people there were very friendly. Further still, I don’t know if I’ll ever get a chance to do this kind of stuff again. I mean, yes, there’s still Toronto Fashion Week, but that’s a whole different issue…and I certainly don’t feel I’m good enough to play in that field yet.

So the short of it is that the shoot was fun. The people were pretty. I got a whole lot out of it [and judging by the amount of post-processing I've done, I'm still getting a lot now.] If the opportunity comes up again, I wouldn’t say no. But for now, I’m just happy to take pictures of things that don’t move as much. They’re much easier to do

Train’s just pulling in to Union. Should get home soon and start laundry…

Another fun and busy week ahead. Who knows what will be in store for me though!

Later days…

Sam