Keep Rollin’ Rollin’ Rollin’

As I listened to Van Halen yesterday, I couldn’t help but think Roll with the Punches would be a great title for this blog (I always fight over naming these).  In case you don’t know which song I am referring to its Jump!

During our Sunday stroll to channel 7 news, I was enlightened by a past hit I had forgotten. Do you remember chocolate starfish and the hotdog flavoured water? Well some ghetto Bangkok kid sure remembers fred durst and the the colorful heavy rock group Limp Bizkit by taggin it on a broken down building( so mad I forgot to take a picture). Myself, a fellow Canadian, a brit, an American and a Spaniard headed to the depths to witness a more andrenaline pumping side of Thai culture. Behind all the smiles, lay blood, sweat and tears. I of course am talking about the sport of Muay Thai. 

Teeee! Teeeee! Teee! My mind exploded like a watermelon from the 13^th story of a building hitting concrete. The atmosphere kicked the shit out of any event I have ever been too, more than grey cup, Stanley cup finals game and way more than any UFC (although 149 hardly constitutes a good card even Dana agrees with that). 

Similar to my first lacrosse game I was  rather enamored by my lack of knowledge of the sport. With crazy intensity, much brought on by the crowd I could feel my heart racing further with excitement. I have no idea how scoring works, and much of the strategy I learned over the course of the afternoon.

For example: Rounds 1 and 2 are weighted less. Fighters during these rounds aren’t aggressive, rather they sit back and find their ranges, feeling out there opponent. However, when that bell smashes initiating the 3^rd and 4^th rounds, so do skulls, ribs and legs.  The angles these guys get for their elbows and knees are incredible. With lightning movements 3 knees, an elbow, kick and a few punches are thrown.  Why bother trying to explain, here is a quick video I snapped and some pictures.  

Following such an ardent sporting session, flowing back into the heat, we stopped at Chatuchak weekend market, picked up some new shades for 40 baht and grabbed a beer to reminisce of our favourite moments of the afternoon. The cheers and jeers of the crowd had us frequently trying to figure out what they were saying. Along with that our interest peaked when we placed a bet. I can see why people bet and sometimes bet big.  The thrill of backing the fighter in his blue or red shorts, captivated further into the experience.  

I have also been working a bit this week so my next posts will likely include some of that.

Watch Yourself!

A couple things of business that I would like to address with this post. In my previous blog I ripped up a little bit on high fashion models and fashion shows, it has nothing to do with character of these people, as a matter of fact I have tons of friends that are high fashion. I compare the razzing to the mocking of a friend when he won’t jump off the hi-rise diving board. 

I also received some pictures from Korea; these are part of a collection for Macaw golf. Remember early December I wrote about meeting a famous Korean celebrity, it was finishing this job that she arrived.  I hope you get a kick out of these:

This past Tuesday I had the privilege of working an event for a Swiss Company called Bovet. Have you heard of them? Think, luxury, now luxury¹⁰. That’s where you need to start looking. Monocle in hand you, your inquisition begins as to what is ultra luxury. Host event at the Mandarin Oriental starts to lead you believe that you aren’t in Kansas anymore. 

 

Have you googled it yet? Bovet is an ultra luxury watch company. Ultra luxury isn’t a Ferrari; it’s a watch of equivalent value.  Yes, the watch I had to “wear” had a value of just a hair over $380 000 USD. With hand etched gold amongst, plutonium and a flux capacitor, it all started to make sense. A truly elegant watch it was, but for me a house is much more likely in the books. 

Now for a bit of enlightenment from this event. As a model, I frequently find myself in events or wearing clothes where I am far out of place. Surrounded by ultra luxury, with crocodile shoes and unfathomable gold can lead you to feel like a little green man.  Of course part of this is jealousy, but more so for me it’s a foreign feeling. While I have been blessed by a very good upbringing, it has allowed me to gain an appreciation for money. Frequently the money that is used to buy these watches is old money. An appreciation for these funds is frequently lost when money just handed down from generation to generation. Of course the other crowd I would expect a watch like this would be the gangster rapper/professional football or basketball player.

As mind blowing as these watches were, I was raised to say, yeah right. I will spend the menial amount that doesn’t cause adrenaline to pump when I hold the watch. Or in the case of a Bovet, silk gloves. 

Walking on the wild side

I recently discussed the difference between myself and a high fashion model. Essentially I compared a starving cow to that of a full bred bison, horns optional of course. One of the differences of course is that as a commercial model we typically aren’t called upon to walk. Of course as the contract states and I agreed upon, I go where they say to go. 

Fierce like a tiger, use that confidence and strut your stuff. With David Bowie giving a play by play a cool guy walks down a glittered stage. 

Pop Quiz: How do you make sure you are cool guy?

As previously mentioned I have booked the same number of fashion shows from castings as this guy:

I would like to think its my walk or my goofy face. Unfortunately when you are the equivalent to the broad side of the barn and the other models can be thrown, you get passed on easily. Initially it bugged me. Then I got comfortable with the fact I wasn’t the look and now I have come to embrace that I am not a fashion show guy. 

A list, everyone likes a list, so here is my Bowie (Pro) vs Bieber (Con) list for fashions shows: 

Bowie:

Ziggy stardust, game over. 

You spend the entire day with a bunch of models

Free food after and sometimes drinks (champagne, yes please)

Bieber:

You spend the whole day with a bunch of models

Low pay

Hurry up and wait

Herded into a casting like lamb to a slaughter

Herded into a fitting like moo (another pop quiz… remember what moo means in thai?)

Herded into hair and makeup like a bunch of zombies after they hear a gunshot (been reading the walking dead comics lately)

Castings, fitting, all day at show – a lot of time invested

Does nothing for your portfolio

As you can clearly see that Bieber has a much larger list. This is directly proportionate to his fans under 20 compared to Bieber. The negatives far outweigh the positives. I am not exactly sure where I was going with that. Bieber sucks and Bowie is awesome. That is of course my opinion and any prostitot and tweenie can go suck on a tootsie pop rather than chirp me.  

Reminiscent of a zombie feeding frenzy, there were close to 200 hundred models of all shapes and sizes waiting for this casting. Seriously, 5 ft nothing and 6"4, man, woman and everything in between.

I lucked into baep sib baep or those not familiar with Thai, the lucky chinese numbers 88. 10 at a time we were led into a meat market. Clients feast their eyes (drooling at times) on who they wanted to represent they fine threads on the tiger walk (much more fierce than catwalk). Both Thai's and falang (foreigners such as myself) were there together. These guys had a bad walk down pat. Only one of the 6 thai models actually had confidence in his walk. In their defence I think many it was their first time and they were nervous, kinda like daisy a baby calf.   

That's Right Ice...man. I am dangerous (PICS Time)

A few short weeks ago I spoke of an elegant place, of iron fairies and industrial magnitude. This of course was the backdrop for a lookbook shot with Bagspace Thailand. It was rather a shame I didn’t meet them 3 weeks earlier when I was in the market for a bag but such is life. With impressive styling to match the exquisite bags I couldn’t ask to be happier with the pictures. While I can’t post them all (here is the link for that: Bagspace Lookbook). Here are some of my favourites.

Thanks again to the entire styling team, photographer, lighting techs, my lil sis Barbara (who looks all grown up) and Bagspace especially for that wallet. Enjoy everyone. 

Happy Birthday to me (presents woo hoo)

As time rolls around so does my biological clock striking another year on my tally. While not feeling any older this year, every day I do feel wiser and more experienced.

 

For those that follow me on instagram (@wintonyk) you will have seen the whirlwind week I had last week. Sunday was the TVC, Monday was a lookbook for Nobody Jeans, Wednesday was Mitsubishi Ralliart, and Thursday Iames Thai clothing. The downside to all this was no castings, which leaves me this week on Thursday having yet to have worked. 

In the past I haven’t received much as a model, a belt, maybe button up shirt. Something has changed lately though, or I have just been lucky. Huge thanks to Bagspace for the great wallet (actually got me to start using a wallet again). More thanks goes out to the Team at Nobody jeans for a sweet hat. And lastly thanks to Circle, Danae and Pichai for the sick watch and bag for my birthday. 

Friday we celebrated with dinner and myself singing with the band, Saturday more ears were graced with my wonderful voice, and Sunday a Mexican night at a friends place. I danced, I laughed and had a really good time. It has taken a little while, but I have really started to feel at home here in Bangkok again. I have developed a solid group of friends, some will only be while I am here and others can friendship for many years to come. 

Stay tuned for my next post as it will have many new pictures.