This weekend I watched Dreamboy, a film directed by James Bolton about two gay teenagers in the rural south. It was quiet, intense, and an overall good film. I loved the setting and there were a handful of still shots that did it justice. It was predictably sad towards the end but then again, what gay coming-of-age film isn’t?
I finally (relatively) finished the move to this domain, a day before summer school no less. I had purchased the domain even before the WordPress blog and it just sat around doing nothing because I was too lazy to set everything up. However, mainly because of my impending busy schedule, I have controlled my ADD tendencies to make this place presentable. Fitting, since no longer am I a “somewhat college dropout”! I’ve enjoyed the afternoon wake-ups and days at the beach but now I’m ready to start classes, keepin it classy and voguing through the hallways.
Look, larger images! I’m going to be updating links and editing code for the next week and am excited to actually keep this blog fairly updated!
Kim and I were pleasantly surprised the day we decided to visit the Honolulu Academy of Arts. Along the outdoor halls were gorgeous displays of plants. I couldn’t believe how beautiful/weird/fragile some of them looked. They were nestled with equally handsome rocks, woods, and pots that I wanted to steal ASAP. Here’s an excerpt from the Academy’s site:
The Garden Club members do things with plants and flowers you wouldn’t think possible. For the jewelry category, seeds become pearls and blossoms become gems to create incredible arrangements to rival Harry Winston. Also on view are flower arrangements—like living sculptures (pictured is last year’s first award winner), horticulture and photography, along with classes in each of those categories. Special exhibits will reveal Nä Kïhäpai Pua Ali‘i (the Gardens of the Ali‘i) and Continuing to Plant for a Better Future.
I’m not sure if I’d go so far as to compare them to Winston but they definitely were extraordinary. My favorite piece was in the jewelry category (which basically meant they were small plants arranged within a lopsided, ring-like pot as to resemble a necklace or lei) and used what had to be the tiniest and subdued plants in the same shade of green. It consisted of pennywort, fairy moss, dwarf papyrus, umbrella grass, and water lilies. Together they created such a subtle beauty that trumped its outlandish counterparts. More photos of the plants after the cut.
I enjoyed this writeup by Lee Wallick in the Spring/Summer ’09 issue of Man About Town. I’m glad that one of my favorite scents was finally recognized as it should be.
For the amount of fragrances poured onto the consumer landscape, there are surprisingly few that actually strike the right balance. Terre d’Hermès is precisely one of those. Granted, it’s not new but its exquisitely crafted blend of bitter, bespoke sparkling citrus, matte mineral (gunflint), the vegetal and, of course, earthiness rise vertically above the rest.
Legendary alchemist and in-house perfumer for Hermès, Jean-Claude Ellena describes his creation as one that “belongs to a rather abstract family of olfactory expression, one which rests on an allusive and contemporary view. I’m not describing a landscape. I’m not expressing an actual material. I’m transposing feelings.” And yet, for all its seeming complexity, the scent is in many ways absolute – much like many of its wearers.
His inspiration started with a journey through the elements, but takes in touches of bodies after lovemaking. “I like putting something human into perfume. Nowadays, a lot of perfumes smell clean, as if they were at war with the smells around us,” he explains. This is a fragrance for a man with ambition and creative vision but whose feet are firmly on the ground. But most importantly, it’s for a man who can seduce. “Terre d’Hermès was made for seduction,” Ellena concludes. “That’s what makes perfume a wonderful human invention.”
Obsessed. I use this as a perfume for myself as well as my room. Best birthday present ever.
Mad About The Boy
What turned into a fifteen minute break from my Gender, Sexuality, and Literature readings—which, by the way are amazing—turned into an hour long scramble on getting videos to play properly on this page. The WordPress.com blog made everything so easy but now I have to upload plugins by myself, edit settings, etc. Don’t they know I can’t be bothered? And it was all because this old Joseph Gordon-Levitt interview had got me swooning. Enjoy!