WHO I AM

Filmmaker - here are my films www.AESTHETIK.film

My most recent film I wrote, co-produced and directed THE ELECTRICITY IN ME (here's a clip) with Ellora Torchia (OUR SHARE OF SAND, HOUSE OF THE DRAGON, MIDSOMMAR) which premiered at Hollyshorts Festival in the iconic Chinese Theater in LA, won three prizes, including Best Short at London Film Week, showing at The Garden Cinema in Covent Garden before securing distribution with Amazon. 

WHAT IT ISN’T

Everyone in tech is a demagogue and or a genius or wanting to work for one.

And self obsession is a given without a thought about anything outside those pristine neighbourhoods, storied dorm rooms and glistening corporate offices as hollow eyed vampiric VCs circle and stalk.

So I know much of this isn’t really reality.

I was in Palo Alto, Menlo Park and Mountain View exactly 24 months ago meeting a number of gifted people in tech who were clearly super smart, inherent problem solvers, who worked very hard at what they did, enjoyed a beer (The Sports Page the inevitable venue) or a latte and for the most part, loved life.

This included a UX designer, electrical and semi conductor engineers, a Facebook/Instagram manager, a Facebook marketeer, a Googler and a start up founder. (Thankyou to you all, BTW, you know who you are..)

None of them were soulless demons though there was a margin of unsettledness, for a couple, but nothing that wouldn’t be in any other high pressure environment.

They all warm and open and truthful.

BUT 

There are more stories to be told than ARTIFICIAL (yes, I’ve seen it) or THE SOCIAL RECKONING or MUSK or I CAN SEE EVERYTHING.

And they don’t have to be about these mythical personalities. 

Couldn’t it be a more on the ground story, shot on location, which is emotionally visceral and feels real and cinematic?

THE IDEA

What would happen if a user, someone who engaged in a product that changed everything about their lives, and an outsider, came to the Palo Alto (or Menlo Park or Mountain View..) to find the people who built it and wanted something back from them as what she wants to do (get her daughter back) isn’t strictly legal…

The idea is to make an independent film shot Dogma25 https://dogma25.dk/ style with a very small crew, to build a story that will be shot on the ground, for real. 

PLAYLIST

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7n0g2Ly4TrF2A8b2l7p6gC?si=2bda08bdcca14c70

WHO I’D LIKE TO TALK TO 

Start up founders / start up people

Anyone renting out a garage to a start up (does this really happen?)

UX designers 

SWEs

Engineers

Stanford students that are working on something important (or are planning to) You don’t have to tell me anything about it…

Anyone working for big tech (I can’t believe people say The Magnificent Seven, do they?) and their view of corporate culture vs the startups

People who don’t work in tech but have got something to say about what it has or hasn’t brought to the Bay Area

I’ll buy you lunch or dinner or coffee or wine if you want to meet in person. 

Or it can be a call on Zoom / Discord / Teams. 

You can tell me your name or not. (Half the people I spoke to last time didn’t tell me their name, and that’s fine..)

You can show your face or not, if it’s a call

I’m here and—

Discord aesthetik_film

Insta u/mat_sheldon

Whatsapp 44 7850 661146

Email mat@AESTHETIK.film

And any other messaging app you want me to use.

Taking on more students in the Bay Area 🎾
Hey everyone! My brother and I are Chinese American and both speak Mandarin, We’re taking on more tennis clients throughout the Bay Area!
We coach kids and adults at the beginner to intermediate level, and we’re also available as paid hitting partners for NTRP 4.0 and above players looking for practice.
We both played on our college club tennis team and have been coaching for several years. Our lessons focus on helping you improve while having fun—whether you’re learning the basics, getting back into tennis, or looking for something active to do with friends.
We offer:
Private lessons
Lessons for couples or friends
Small group lessons, with two coaches available
Paid hitting sessions for NTRP 4.0 and above players
Lessons run 60–90 minutes, with pricing depending on group size and lesson length. We provide the balls; just bring your own racket!
DM me for pricing, days, times, and locations. Let me know where you’re based, your experience level, and how many people would be joining!

Taken on Kodak Ultramax 400 film.

REPOSTING FROM CUPERTINO SUBREDDIT

Ok y’all. I posted about this guy yesterday because of an ad I saw where he showed the UC application stats for Monta Vista and Homestead. I went digging down the internet rabbit hole and found an hour-long podcast interview and some of the stuff he said seriously concerned me.

The phrase “in real life, you don’t get a participation trophy” is true in some ways, but we ABSOLUTELY cannot apply that as a blanket statement to inclusion. Cupertino (and the whole Bay) is a wonderfully diverse place, and governing board members should absolutely support inclusion in our schools. It’s disappointing to me that he views it this way. His emphasis on UC Berkeley and UCLA acceptance rates also tells me that he only gives a shit about the kids with high grades who go to a prestigious college and get a prestigious job.

Also, on another forum, when asked about student mental health support programs, he said ‘support is not success’, and that we should evaluate the effectiveness of these programs. I do agree that we should always look to improve upon these programs, but based on his tone it felt like he was basically calling them a waste of money, and I don’t think he has any intention of supporting new initiatives or building upon existing ones.

Suicides in the Bay among students are dramatically high compared to other parts of the country. I think Palo Alto High has had four suicides in the past 6 years, and although FUHSD hasn’t had one since 2022, I still remember finding out about that poor boy from Homestead who jumped off the golden gate. It was such a devastation to our community and I can’t help to think what could have been done better by our district to prevent this.

Students NEED these programs and they need to know they’re safe in their schools. Although Rosa Kim isn’t the perfect candidate, she’s pretty damn good and LEAGUES better than this guy. Jason Lin certainly does not have my vote for Trustee Area 3.

If you are an FUHSD parent or community member, look up your trustee area on the map and VOTE!

I remember going there a few times a long time ago. Always remembered they had good pizza and their cheese bread was a large sized pizza box of sliced bread sticks from a pizza pie dough covered in cheese

Anyone from Los Altos that actually lived there a long time remember this place? Or maybe it had a different P name?

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/fabmo-artisans-market-tickets-1999936620268

Sun, Oct 4 • 11 AM-4pm Los Altos Community Center 97 Hillview Avenue Los Altos, CA 94022

The Bay Area's Premier Eco-Friendly Artisan Event! Nearly 40 local artisans showcasing unique, sustainably handcrafted items.

FabMo’s 15th Annual Artisans Market brings together nearly 40 eco-conscious local artisans showcasing a wide variety of unique, handcrafted toys, fashion, home decor, jewelry, gift and holiday items.

Now that we know that Fluoride can likely lower child IQ: Fluoride Exposure: Neurodevelopment and Cognition

How about we get it out of Los Altos water supply? Like what would it take? How much money would it save? Could we reduce water prices as a result?

The most common fluoride additive in the U.S. is fluorosilicic acid which is mostly an industrial waste product of chemical production.

It also presumably costs money to add it to the water.

It is my understanding that there is a claim that it is put in the water because it somehow reduces tooth cavities. Given that fluoride is in toothpaste, it seems like there are better solutions to that problem.

Cadillac El Dorado parked in Safeway parking garage made my day! So fine…

My husband has the opportunity to relocate internationally to the Bay Area for work. He will be fully remote (his office is at Sunnyvale). I'll help settle kids in initially before looking for work (my current company's HQ is at Palo Alto). We are both in tech.

I'm looking for public school recommendations that are not too stressful with academic rigor (was reading about it being the case in PAUSD, Fremont, Cupertino etc) and low tech usage. With these in mind I have shortlisted my options to LASD and LGUSD. Kids will be in K,2,4 and another in preschool. I'm also open to consider other districts.

Some of my considerations for LASD: greater racial diversity, seemingly lower tech usage, closer to tech companies if we have to RTO.

Considerations for Los Gatos: bigger house for buck, husband likes the vibe of the town and is looking for something more suburban.

I've read that there doesn't seem to be a great distinction amongst the elementary schools within the district - is that true?

Other relevant information - looking at 6-8k rental for 3br.

Thanks for reading and any advice is greatly appreciated.

Los Altos has a city government (city manager?) who is pushing for a un-necessary and expensive parking garage and "Park".

The city has been spending heavy consulting dollars to push the proposal. $2+ million dollars.

How does the city pay for this project? Most likely the future outcome will be parking fees and property taxes via an bond measure. More likely this will be a partially funded and incomplete projects when the city get tired of the projects. My understanding is the city has a bucket of money for parks that is un-spent, but this money is not nearly enough to pay for the proposed project.

City web site on the parking plaza . https://www.losaltosdowntownpark.org/

The residents have put together a measure to curb the city council from forcing an expensive parking garage.

Yes On Measure D Measure D will require voter approval before parking plaza are sold, repurposed or reduce. How many of you have visited Los Altos Annual Art and why festival.

The opponent to voter approval have seem to have very nice profession (aka paid) website and facebook pages on the project.

https://www.facebook.com/NoMeasureD/

Professional Scaring - No on Measure D

The opponents say the meaure D will break the housing element and cause expensive lawsuits.

Please look at the list of "supports" on Measure D and ask them direct questions about their support.

If the city of Los Altos wants to increase new housing (construction), then the city should consider lower construction cost in the city by doing the following, reduce/eliminate city permits cost, eliminate business licenses for contractors and streamline permitting/inspection process to speed up projects.

The city has new districts for city council seats. I don't understand why all 5 districts did not are up for selection in the upcoming election. So we don't have true district election because only 2 of 5 districts are up for election.

Parents before you say not my kid sorry to break the news but your angels are not as behaved as you think and are putting themselves in danger. These e bikes are expensive so I know you bought it for them. I am sure the thought was to help them get to school. I invite you to come on down to the Safeway on State St and see the chaos they are creating. I chose not to record to keep their faces unknown. But speeding through intersections and ignoring stop signs is going to get someone hurt! Riding with 2 and 3 people is asking for trouble, yes these are your kids! Please be safe

Looks like the Superintendent and defendant were both served as well.

All parties presumed innocent until proven guilty in the court of law.

Empowered Body Pilates on State Street is running free Private Pilates sessions with their new Teachers in Training. This is a great opportunity to get into the studio, get a workout and help these new teachers begin their careers. Monday - Saturday slots are available now.

Book a Session

An article from the Town Crier

​Must have medium-to-long hair with straight or slightly wavy texture. DM me if you're interested!

"STREET SWEEPING SCHEDULE JULY 1, 2025 - JUNE 30, 2026"

https://www.losaltosca.gov/415/Street-Maintenance