Photogenic

I'm not handsome or cute. Period.

People who knows how I look like all know that I'm just a pretty average looking boy with weird facial features that is disproportionate. I have untrimmed thick eyebrows, snotty nose, crooked teeth, normal eyes, messed-up hair, thick lips and weak chin. All in all, I just don't look like a future movie star, just someone who works in a shitty 9 to 5 job waiting for retrenchment and struggling for office ventilated air. Somehow, something on the contrary happened to me.

I was at a photoshoot, kind of being selected by my dear editor to be one of the faces featured in NextStop, a publication that features all SP diplomas that is distributed to all Secondary school 'O' level prospective students looking out for their next step into the future. First of all, I don't smile nice at all. My smile simply sucks. 70% of all my photos contain me and my goofy smile with my protruding front teeth. I look like i just escapted from a retarded institution. So how can i even look good with my barely attractive facial features and my goofy appearance?

Well, it seems my personality speaks louder than looks. There were 4 guys & 4 gals. I was chosen to be the first batch of 2 guys and 2 gals. I just posed in front of the camera, just being comfortable with the whole thing but the other 3 were somehow edgy and uncomfortable and took quite a few encouraging words from the cameraman to get them warmed up to flash a natural smile. The art director and the cameraman liked me. Strangely enough, it was because I just got into my role by jumping into the sea and started paddling then drowning, I just posed naturally and smiled decently, but me, I just didn't care how goofy I looked anyway.

Somehow or another, since I was a tall fella, they asked me to move to the front and wow, I became a centrepiece. Amazingly enough, I was a natural model for them. Just without the built or looks but the instinct to know when to smile, glare, pose and tease the lenses. The art director and the cameraman just kept asking the rest to adjust and while i just did my "thang" and pose, act cute and basically look like a kooky prick.

Well my group was finished and the second group was having their turn and guess what? The art director asked me to join the second group !!! Wow, am i that good ? or was it because they needed a geeky looking guy in the photos ? It seems that both of them commented that I was the personficiation of a "poly student". Hmmm .... I take that as a compliment somehow.

I know I have been praising myself above but all of it are true facts, not a dream! I was at Raffles Place, MediaCorp's Today press studio on the 28th floor. Well, besides that boost of confidence I met loads of great-looking individuals. I can safely say the guys were model mannequin material and the gals were gushing gorgeous gigglers. There was this girl I was kinda attracted to. I forgot her name but she kept giggling at my lame jokes.

I made an effort to kept the atmosphere as light as possible by throwing in lame comments and jokes and the gal, a 3rd year CLS student, well was quite endearing. I like her personality and was really interested in knowing her more. Anyways, I know I have no hope since attractive gals are most often hooked up to some ugly boyfriend who beat me to it. (Look at my archive or my theory of pretty gal/ugly boyfriend theory). If you (3rd year CLS gal) somehow got wind of reading this blog, contact me through friendster or email. Haha, i sound so desperate.



The gal on i'm referring to is wearing dark blue top on the left. Isn't she a wonder ? Anyway, this is a pic of the wonderful people that went for the photo shoot. All of them looked so beautifully crafted by God right ? Well, i am an atheist and i blame my mother's embryo and my father's lazy sperm. A great big thank you to Val the Violent Gal for this wonderful pic and yes, pulling your arms will make you grow taller. And yah, there is a God out there.

What even made my day BETTER was like a dream come true. I met my favourite columnist !!! Neil Humphreys. I have been a big fan of his sacarstical humour-laden style which I have learn to adopt and adapt with my own writing style and well we were just rounding up the photo shoot when Ms. Val, ahem, told the photographer whether if Neil was in because I was lika a big fan of him. Well, I became speechless in the next few seconds as the photographer just picked up the phone, dial an extension and Neil was over here in less than a minute. Well, he was a tall fella and well, standing next to him was, a towering experience to begin with.

Well here is a photo with the man himself, Mr Neil Funnies.



It was an amazing day. I would like to thank my editor, Chin Kar for the exposure. Talk more tommorrow, i'm meeting my secondary school friends and its weird seeing how we have changed in the last 3 years !!!

- Benjamin