benvess.
photography&design-
Right now I am on the phone with my webhost and my ISP trying to figure out why I am unable to see any of my websites! Both of them acknowleges that there is a problem but keeps pointing to someone else and I am beginning to understand how a ping-pong ball feels. To be honest, I don’t understand the corporate mindset that they cannot do any wrong. I’m not mad that there is a problem… Really, they’re expected; but what posses me off is the fact that the problem is not getting solved!

I mean, really.
But back to why I am writing a new entry after a while of nothingness…I now have a phone (yes, i’m reconnecting with the modern world) and I’ve decided to give twitter a try: see my twitters! I guess you could say I am a bit behind with all that jazz, so bear with me.
Currently, I am working on a major project (some of youse are already in on this) and it is taking a bit more of my time than I had originally thought. On the other hand, I believe that the project, overall, is doing pretty nicely. Looks hot too!
All in all, I’m doing good.
Tags: blog, iphone, life, me, rant, tech -
I’m reading an article from the New York Times (May 29) and I see that one of the Fashion’s greats, Christian Lacroix, just filed for bankruptcy in Paris. That may not be as unbelievable as one may think, to be quite frank. He overdid haute coutre and that killed him.

Yes, I understand that having “haute coutre” license is like the holy grail for designers out there. Once one reaches that caliber, one is truly a legend (Lagerfield of Chanel, Fendi and Lagerfeld. Yves Saint Laurent (may he rest in peace). Versace. And so many more). This note is for the non-fashionistas, haute coutre means hand-made. These can be given by the French Government–one does not simply claim to be haute. If you do buy something of haute coutre–you are truly wearing something a designer made by hand.
Apparently Lacroix believed that once attaining that status, his place in the industry is cemented–how wrong is he?!
These are hard times, Mr. Lacroix, hard times. Apparently, you must have been living in a cave for the last couple years: vintage’s in and hold the couture.
Before you restart your business after your bankruptcy, Mr. Lacroix, perhaps you should put down that drafting pencil and start going out–your market’s out there, but I don’t think you know what they want.
(And, this one’s for everyone! Hello there!
Don’t forget to check out deafchange.com for my new desktop wallpapers (one of ‘em is in ASL).
Tags: bankrupt, fashion, french, lacroix, news, opinionated, rant -
First of all, I must apologize to my dear readers about my disappearance from here lately. I’ve been busy with many other things–helping several people understand website management and working on my portfolio over at DeafChange. At this rate, I’m adding, like, one to three new entries a day. I’m trying to remember where my photos went, all the design works I did, the volunteer works and stuff.

Tedious, tedious stuff, really.
As for the Real Housewives of New York (of course, this must be included), I’ve been watching faithfully and caught up with the first part of the reunion show (which lasted a record seven hours). Tomorrow, the second part will be aired on BravoTV at 9pm. It’s supposed to get much more interesting, then. Let’s see.
Right now, my sister is catching up on the episodes of the show.
Good for her.Most afternoons after I get off from my tutoring gig, I tend to my garden. It’s a lot more work than I originally thought it would be. They grow pretty slow for my own taste. Ah well.
Hope all of youse are well.
Tags: apology, Bravo, garden, me, rant, real housewives of new york, return -
April 16th, 2009America, me, smoke-free
Today is day 23.
I would like to discuss something I’ve been experiencing since the day I quit. You see, I quit not because I wanted to–Honestly, deep down in my little heart, I still don’t want to. I actually enjoy smoking, in spite of all the sneers I get for doing it. I quit because it was necessary for me to do so.
I had a good long chat with an old friend the other day and she told me that it’s harder for me to quit. You see, she started smoking at 27–she smokes then stops for months then goes back into it. I don’t consider her addicted, though it’s amazing how some are just immune to the shit. Andrew is one of them too.
But I’m not like that.
She said it’s because I started smoking at such an early age (14) and my body/brain is almost hardwired for smoking. Come to think of it, it almost makes sense. Every now and then, a few times during the day, I would unconsciously wander into the garage only to realize, “Aha, I don’t do this no more.”
I still reach into my pockets when I drive. Not only that, I lower my car window just a little bit–like all smokers do before they smoke and just leave it there.
The carefree days of not struggling with this addiction is now gone. But it’s always nice hearing from those who went through what I did saying after a while you will feel good!
I kinda find that hard to believe now, though.
But today is just day 23.
Tags: ben vess, life, myself, quit, quitting smoking, rants, smoke, smoke-free, smoking -

First, I must apologize for the delay in posting this, mes chers lecteurs. Last night was disappointing, to be honest–and it had nothing to do with the show. As some of you know, Jill Zarin was supposed to be on webcam over at StarCam and that was truly a disaster!
According to Jill, over 30,000 people signed up and got in to watch our beloved Jill–and the site crashed. The first thing I thought was: “WTF!?” This is a site that’s supposed to connect celebrities with their fans?? Did they really think celebrities only have 10 fans in total?
Then, to add insult to an injury, the site charges us $0.05 a minute to watch her live on her webcam while the show is airing (though I did not get the free 100 credits as promised). $5 to open a video e-mail. Read this one, for it takes the cake: if you expect your question to be answered, you gotta pay to move it up the queque list–thus effectively disenfranchising those who already lost an arm and a leg to watch the damn webcam. (This is during the whole show…)
On another note, Jill’s Alzhemier’s Charity got about $500 bucks last night. Jill–are you reading this?? Someone lost their meal this week so StarCam could squeeze some pennies out of their viewers before crashing! Truly insulting.
All this is just giving me an headache just to think about it. Uhm.
I had originally planned a post about the wives’ blogs and where they are onlineand last night’s fiasco, I believe, merits an entry of its own.One last thing, I can’t honestly say at this point that Jill is thinking of her Deaf fan. They’ve made it clear that the transition into StarCam is a must. Fortunately for me, the audio on her part didn’t work; so, everything was written in the chatboards..
But, they’ve said they’d fix that problem by next week. I mean, I gotta give Jill props for trying to make herself more accessible to her fans–but, seriously, keep up with StarCam and Jill, you’ll lose them faster than you can say “Bobbbbbyyyyy!”
In conclusion, I’m sorry to say that I haven’t really watched the episode in entirety because I was too busy trying to figure out StarCam (jumping between StarCam, HuffPos livechat, and Jill’s site). Unlike many hearies out there, I must watch the screen to follow the show.
So, the recap will have to wait until I’ve seen the whole episode tonight.Sorry, y’all, no recap this week. Now onto week 10!And, let’s hope next week will not be such a disaster.
Tags: disaster, Jill Zarin, liveblogs, new york, real housewives of new york city, starcam, updates


