James Zhan in real life.
James Zhan in real life.
James Zhan
Hi, I’m James, a full-time videographer and video editor at University of Toronto, a YouTuber, a former audio engineer of 10 years, and someone who majored in English and writing, loaded with opinions. This is my personal blog where I write opinion pieces, personal reflections and articles about rabbit holes I’ve gone down, and share what I’m currently up to.
Latest Posts
When people discuss computer displays, they always talk about the refresh rate and LCD vs OLED. I understand that high refresh rates and true blacks are appealing for gaming and media consumption, but when it comes to colour grading for...
It’s been five years since I first got into specialty coffee, and I had just learned that you can have two different coffee grinders of equal calibre but produce drastically different flavour profiles in the cup (while all the other...
Last week, I saw my boss use the Nespresso Inissia she kindly brought to the office to share, and let’s just say that before I even had a chance to feel stunned, she already had her steamy espresso in a cup. 30 seconds—that was how long...
I discovered a coffee questionnaire on Online Goddess (originally from Syl’s blog), and I knew I had to participate! How can I not talk about coffee on my personal blog? I love coffee and I’m what some consider a “coffee snob”—I only...
It’s with a heavy heart that I’m writing this post. Yes, I’m just talking about app icons and yes, I’m being dramatic, but you have to understand that I care a great deal about design. I’ve always loved Apple’s design and that’s one of...
I just finished my first week going into office for three days due to my employer’s RTO (return-to-office) mandate, and it was as pointless and absurd as I had expected. You can read my opinion piece on why RTO is terrible for diversity...
Note: Since this post is about this blog’s design, I recommend reading this post on a desktop browser so you can see the new design. That said, it’s not mandatory as I’ve included screenshots. Thanks to my obsession over design and...
For my entire 20s, I hustled non-stop. Six years of that was studying full-time while working as an audio engineer and being in a metal band. Then, I freelanced full-time as an audio engineer—not only working with bands but also teaching...
Having shared why I quit professional audio engineering after 10 years in the industry, I feel like embarking on a nice nostalgia trip, unearthing some of the memories I hadn’t revisited for a very long time and sharing how I...
When was the last time you typed a quotation mark or an apostrophe? Most likely today, very possibly within the last hour. When was the last time you took a good look at them? I bet never1. I’ve been doing some copy-editing and...
This year (2025) marks my 10th year as a professional audio engineer, and it’s also the year I decided to officially retire from professional audio engineering work. My audio engineering stats, generated in June 2025 It’s been a long and...
When I first chose Bear Blog as my blogging platform, I didn’t realize that it had such a vibrant and wholesome community (discover other Bear Bloggers). I saw a Bear Blog carnival going on for Nov 2025 (hosted by Absurd Pirate) and I’m...
Preamble: The whole affair is Google’s fault and not Bear Blog’s. Huge thanks to Herman—Bear Blog’s founder and dev—for his patience and help. A month after I started my first Bear blog at blog.james-zhan.com, my blog was entirely...
I had been in such a creative rut this year. Last year, I published 11 videos on my YouTube channel. It may not seem like a lot, but I make videos on YouTube for fun as a creative, not for a living—it’s where I channel my creativity (pun...
Affinity apps are undergoing controversial changes in 2025 after the Canva acquisition: subscription fears, AI concerns and a move from forum to Discord.