ART IS THE ANSWER!

All art everything:

Some thoughts this morning: specifically, about art.

This past weekend, just did a quick trip down to San Diego, La Jolla, and had the insane privilege of staying by a beachfront hotel, La Jolla Shores highly recommended, and the first thing I did in the morning was just drink a cup of coffee in the little kitchenette, and then went on a walk on the beach.

The funny thing about growing up in the Bay Area is that we don’t have any beaches… Even in Alameda where I grew up as a kid, the beach was disgusting and super dirty. As a consequence, I never owned a pair of flip-flops in my life, and I think I only started wearing shorts about two years ago, at the age of 34? Now living in Los Angeles, where the weather is good.

Just dip your toes in the ocean!

Anyways, I have this strange aversion in which I don’t like to dip my toes into the sand, because the feeling of sand in between my toes is unfamiliar and I don’t really like it. But I said F it… if Cindy shelled out the big bucks to get the shorefront hotel, it is only right to milk the activities of walking on the beach, specifically, dipping my toes into the ocean.

So I took off my Vibram 5 Finger shoes, and just proceeded to walk along the beach, dipping my legs and feet into the warm ocean water, which I was very surprised… It felt like a lovely 72° in the water, almost as nice if not nicer than Hawaii.

VLOG OCEAN WAVES

I love the ocean!

Looking into the ocean, was pretty astounding. The feeling was great because if you look into the ocean, it goes on forever. To infinity and beyond.

And some meditations that I had about the ocean and water was that no matter what, the ocean is constantly tireless. It keeps on waving, crashing and waving, due to the Earth’s pull of gravity, maybe the moon in the solar system whatever, day in and day out. Even in some ways it is more virtuous than the sun, which sets at night.

Ocean over the sun?


All art everything

Almost everything can be understood in the context of art. Music as art for our ears, cinema at least the good ones, as art for our eyes, and bodybuilding as an art form for the human body, assuming that you’re not taking steroids, and even in some ways… Weightlifting powerlifting HYPELIFTING at the gym whatever… Should be seen as performance, performance arts! Why? I think I am probably the most entertaining person in the flesh, because I’m the only entertainer who doesn’t drink alcohol, smoke weed or do drugs… Also fast all day, and also lift over 1000 pounds, could easily lift over 10 plates at the gym.

Also, am I the only one I know who doesn’t use email? Certainly I’m probably the only millennial that I know, also Cindy… Who is not on Instagram or social media. Even today I saw Cindy’s mom installed TikTok on her phone and she is almost 70 years old.

Anyways, the reason why I think this is so important is that everything is art. Even my friend Brandon Phan is currently building an art car, which is like an old-school BMW, with a modern day M3 engine. He is doing all the work himself.

Anyways the reason why I feel all this is interesting, even Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein did these art car projects. And if you really really think about super super rich people… Sooner or later they just get into art. Is it because they have nothing else to spend their money on? Or are they bored? Or are they seeking beauty, beyond themselves?

Old & beauty

It seems the strange trade-off we do is a bit bizarre; we trade our health, our well-being, ultimately for more and more money, only to become old, impotent, slowly catching dementia, Alzheimer’s, which is type three diabetes, a lifestyle issue, and on top of all that… Trying to still experience beauty, but through material things and objects.

For example, one thing I always love to do as a deep curiosity is whenever I see people driving certain cars, my number one interest in curiosity, is always driving up, or walking close, and peering into the driver’s seat, to see who is driving the car.

Tell me what you drive, and I will tell you who you are.

And also, I find this really fascinating living in Los Angeles because in LA, you are your car, and your car is you. And this is where people are superficial, fake, and inauthentic… If you were truly wise, you would just drive a Toyota Prius, which is the best car made of all time. Specifically the 2010 model… The new new Prius is also very cool, I just saw one in Culver City with a matte black wrap on it, and I thought it was super gangsta… Yet, always 100% the issue of purchasing any brand new automobile car is that you’re probably going to take a 30 to 40% haircut on it, the first three years to four years of the car. The second you drive it off the lot, you’re probably taking a 15% to 20% haircut on it as well. And I’m starting to think more and more… Am I the only one who could think about money wisely, not foolishly?

Only true wise and rich people drive Priuses

Economic wisdom

Once again, don’t trust any economist who doesn’t drive a Toyota Prius.

The virtues of the Toyota Prius–

First, longevity. The 2010 model, I am still so shocked… It is the year 2024, and the car has held up so insanely well! Both in terms of style, design, and the overall ethos of it.

Even a critique on the new 2023/2024 Prius model—the new new Prius, the one that looks like a Porsche 911 from behind—the primary issue here is the rear door handles, which is integrated into the rearview mirror, is unpainted, this really really ugly black plastic, insanely cheap looking… And even it is so bad that Prius drivers have to put stickers in the back to tell Uber customers where to pull the door handle, because the average human being has no idea how to open up the rear door handles. Very very bad design choice from Toyota, because they should have not compromised here: why would they shave off the door handles on the back, but keep them on the front? They should have gotten all or nothing; keep all the door handles normal, which might have been the better idea for a Prius because most Prius drivers are also Uber drivers, or they should’ve just went full tilt and shaved off all of the door handles, to make it super super flush, like the Tesla cars.

The best door handles are no door handles

In fact, I think Cybertruck is a good example of the most modern advanced futuristic design. My short term prediction is you’ll see the next generation of Tesla cars looking more like a mini Cybertruck; assuming that most people always have their phone in the front pocket, the ideal is as you approach your car, the driver side door, or even the rear passenger door or even the rear trunk, you should be able to program your Tesla that it automatically open the door, without having to be like a soccer mom who kicks underneath the Toyota Sienna minivan to have the automatic liftgate open from behind.

I even saw this one hilarious thing, this one mom with a new Mercedes electric SUV car, trying to open up her kid’s rear passenger door, by kicking underneath the door, trying three or five times and eventually giving up.

Get rid of your iPhone

Also I suppose the upside is that maybe I am the only millennial I know who hates the phone. To me, iPhone is only good for FaceTime and GPS driving directions. Maybe also good for two-factor authentication, but besides this, iPhone sucks. This is where I still think it is a wise idea to just buy the cheapest iPhone, and I also suppose the upside of having a removable SIM card tray, because when you’re in Southeast Asia, Vietnam, etc.… It is so much easier to just buy a cheap $10 SIM card, and pop it in, rather than having to fudge around with all that eSIM nonsense.

Do you have the privilege or luxury of leaving your iPhone in the glove compartment of your car and just be 100% with your kid when you play with them at the park?

Also, one of the insane great things about the 2010 Prius is that I could just turn off my iPhone, put it into the glove compartment, close it, and then just keep my Prius key fob in my front pocket, zip it up, and go 100% phone free when I’m playing with Seneca at the park, in order not to get distracted. Whereas I think if you have a Tesla car, you always have to have your phone with you, or else your car will perpetually stay unlocked, if you just keep your iPhone in the glove compartment? I suppose you could just do the Tesla valet key thing in your front pocket, but that just seems like too much work.

Tesla autopilot makes you carsick

Also, Tesla autopilot, the technology works very well but after testing the issue is especially if you have sensitive passengers in the car, it kind of makes you carsick. Test driving Cindy’s dad’s Tesla Model Y dual motor and just using the basic cruise control, where it automatically keeps the distance in between you and the car in front of you… was far too jerky, giving Cindy car sickness. And I always remind myself, if I ever ever ever get a new car for any reason, it might be some sort of used Lexus hybrid LS car, the maximum not carsick car, for the sake of Cindy.

The best car is a Lexus LS

Am I the next JAY Z?


Real successful people or smart people just drive a Lexus LS?

If you’re going to blow close to $100,000 on a car… The only logical strategy is to buy a Lexus LS, ideally a used one, two or three years old, in all white, and ideally a hybrid… So you don’t have to fill up the gas as often.

Why a Lexus LS car? The supreme comfort, once again… Not making your passengers carsick, and also one of the big issues about being in a car for a long period of time is that it gives your passengers a lot of fatigue, you as a driver, and also the shotgun passenger. And also maybe your kids?

Even though I love Elon Musk and Tesla to death… I don’t really personally would ever want one. The first thought is you could support somebody without purchasing the thing. For example, you could be an Elon Musk fanboy, and just drive a Toyota Prius. Even Elon Musk, famous Saturday Night Live sketch, he started off by joking that “Hi my name is Elon and I drive a Toyota Prius.” If anything, if anything, I have a funny idea about icebreakers for adults, especially people from LA… Tell them to introduce themselves, and tell them to share with everyone what car they drive, or what their dream car is. The truth is in LA, your car is everything. Maybe even more important than your home?


The new elitism

Another weird thing about America, in America… Everyone wants to be elite, yet, we obfuscate it with these fake façades? Long story short, people are very disingenuous.

For example, it is considered bad manners to ask people what they drive because it puts them in a certain social class, for example if you drive an old Mitsubishi Lancer, you’re probably going to be seen as more poor than somebody who’s driving the brand new AMG G wagon.