self expressed

it's not personal - it's business

Bloody hell - I am flying to London on 14 August for a week.  Then I'm back in T.O. for a little while - and then back again to London shortly thereafter. 

Life happens quickly.

L'Esthete @ 23:53

webmaster

So I'm always a little late in jumping on the coolest-latest-hottest-film bandwagon, but better later than never.  A whole two years later, I have finally gotten round to renting Spider-man and subsequently seeing its sequel in the cinema last weekend.
 
For kids' films, they were both actually quite good, the second much more noticeably than the first, which was rife with just about every cliche possible - especially in the dreadful closing scene, during which I cringed about twenty-one times.  What hit me, however, from the very beginning was how deceptively complex the films were.  Given that so many characters have alter egos, the interrelationships between them really did form a very - how shall I put this - intricate web. 
 
Don't call me biased - especially whilst continuing my love affair with him since seeing Seabiscuit - but Tobey Maguire really did turn in a brilliant performance.  He was brilliant because he was understated, which is rare, and never at one point did he seem unreal  (yes, the CGI wasn't bad either).  As for villains, Willem Dafoe was clearly the better bad guy - what with his vacant, yet altogether piercing, blue-grey eyes, and ever-so-knowing creepy smile.
 
Do I sense a third Spider-man?  There was one relationship which was never fully resolved, but not to give anything away, I hope that if there is a third film, it won't be a repeat of the first...

L'Esthete @ 20:48

a tribute

I am a little behind on the news, I should say, having heard this sad news story only two days ago. While I was in Yellowstone, Marlon Brando passed away.

If you wish to watch some of his most brilliant roles, do rent the following:
1) A Streetcar Named Desire
2) On the Waterfront
3) Viva Zapata!
4) The Wild One
5) The Godfather
6) Last Tango In Paris
7) Apocalypse Now

He will be missed, but never forgotten.

L'Esthete @ 18:23

psst

You think I should take a before and after picture of my farmer tan???
Indeed - especially if it is a bad farmer's tan. After all, who wouldn't salivate at the thought of oooohing and ahhhhing at a bad fashion blunder?

Would it be possible to see a "Kokanee-esque" version of you without using my imagination? If this stumps you, watch some more of their commercials...
I do not know of these Kokanee-esque adverts of which you speak, and something tells me that I don't really want to, either...

When will farmer tans be "the shit?"
Why the sudden fascination with farmer's tans? Perhaps it has to do with it being summer. Soon you'll no doubt be asking me whether vinyl snowsuits are still fashionable. Farmer's tans are a no-no but whether or not you apply sunscreen, you'll still tan anyways (and if you're anything like me, you'll tan quite easily at that). Stay out of the sun, perhaps, or remove watches, socks, footwear, sunglasses, etc. Actually, you're better off sunbathing nude. But this isn't usually the most practical option, now is it?

L'Esthete @ 23:38

the sun also rises

I'm back.

I really ought to be saving this for later, but as it has been deathly quiet at work, it seems like a relatively appropriate time to be updating this website. It is my first day of being officially "on the floor", as they say, and I've had close to seventeen heart attacks. This sounds incredibly silly (especially coming from someone like me) but I break into a sweat every time my phone rings - and it rings often. The sequence and complexity of buttons to be pressed to connect a client to a lawyer's voicemail is simply astounding - you'd think I was programming a space shuttle, or something similar. I'm not by any means stupid, but I do feel this way whilst transferring a call.

Lesson: I am a nightmare on the telephone. Don't ring me, and don't ring my lawyer either. At least, not until this (hopefully) temporary bout of stupidity passes. (I have had many unhealthy thoughts about simply disconnecting my telephone, but that's not exactly confronting the problem in an intelligent manner, now is it?)

Yellowstone. It was beautiful. Considering that I prefer travelling to large, cosmopolitan (and European) cities, I had a brilliant time. The scenery was unparalleled and spectacular - simply breathtaking. It was much more wild, unspoiled, and uncommercialised (is that a word?) than Canada's national parks, with buffalo, elk, coyotes and bears freely roaming the grounds, a common sight when driving by. Geysers and steam vents dot the landscape, making the earth seem continuously on fire, a sight made even more surreal by moonlight. There were brilliant, clear, steaming pools coloured as if by watercolour paints, in stunning azure and sapphire blues, emerald greens, and canary yellows. Hundreds of acres of branchless, dead trees - the result of a massive and devastating forest fire in the late 1980s - form striking silhouettes against the night sky. We took an eight-hour drive through diverse and remote areas of Montana and Wyoming, where one sharp bend of the road yielded completely different landscapes. High mountain ranges and cold, snow-capped peaks. Lush and dense forests covered in a tapestry of trees and bushes. Dry, arid, eerie lunar-like hills. Vivid green valleys dotted with cows, stretching like a carpet over miles and miles. Deep gorges and canyons laced with cascading waterfalls. Sheer cliffs, terracotta-stained, piercing the sky with their brittle jaggedness. Blood-stained sunsets. The rustle of trees. The call of ravens in the dusk.

And the soft, gentle hum of the car, on endless journeys, for miles and miles, hugging the curves of the roads.

Bliss.

L'Esthete @ 18:31