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Tour de force performance by Aubrey Plaza--the best of any actress so far in 2022. What makes her role even more riveting, profound and believable is the relevance of her character who is living in a world where upward mobility is virtually non-existent. This is a case study and a social commentary on the failure of late stage capitalism and rampant wealth inequality which makes some believe that engaging in a life of crime even when they fully know that crime does not pay, is the only way out.
A former coworker of mine who was originally from South Florida recently moved back because the cost of living in Hawaii is so high. She hasn't kept in touch with me or my other coworkers since moving back, so I have no idea how she's doing at the moment.
As far as where Hurricane/Tropical Storm Ian is heading, I'll look to what Joe Bastardi who is the founder, chief forecaster and meteorologist at WeatherBELL, who accurately predicted where it would initially make landfall. In a news interview, he mentioned that the storm will head north to counties in Central Florida like Orlando and northeast to cities like Jacksonville. For this reason, the National Hurricane Center has issued a hurricane watch from northeast Florida to South Carolina.
Interestingly, he described in great detail how when a storm is moving parallel to the west coast of Florida, frictional effects will cause it to pull inland. And once it makes landfall, it will look for water on the other side (Atlantic Coast). If it gets back to the water, it could restrengthen back into a hurricane. Conversely, when a hurricane approaches the right side of Florida, the frictional effect will keep it offshore.
[quote]Meanwhile, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have vacated Tampa and are practicing at the Dolphins facility here in Miami for their home game Sunday night. This due to the hurricane that will smash into the west coast of Florida in a couple of days. The NFL will probably have to relocate that game to another venue, most likely in the midwest.[/quote]
The latest advisory I looked at mentioned how Hurricane Ian appears to be tracking towards the south and east. So if this hurricane remains on this course, Tampa might be spared from a direct hit, while it could make landfall further south near Naples, Port Charlotte or Fort Myers and these counties could experience the brunt of the storm surge instead with heavy flooding. This could be the reason why millions of Florida residents were urged to evacuate a huge area ranging from Tampa all the way down south to Fort Myers.
Hopefully, this means that Miami will be spared, at least as far as the hurricane's storm surge if the trajectory remains consistent, although Miami residents could experience powerful winds strong enough to blow the roofs off of houses. But then again, being a lifelong Hawaii resident, I'm all too familiar with the unpredictability of hurricanes which are sometimes known to change trajectory or even stalling for a considerable amount of time before continuing on its course. Some are predicting that if Ian makes landfall, it could then slowly move across Florida and dump lots of rain. Thus, if possible, it may be good advice to evacuate inundation zones in Southern Florida such as Naples Florida and other counties along the path of the hurricane and move to higher ground due to flooding. For this reason, I've often heard the expression whenever a hurricane comes close to Hawaii, "We may not be out of the woods just yet."
At the moment, this Category 3 storm currently has an 80 mile wide swath of hurricane force winds and a 300 mile wide swath of tropical storm force winds. However, the warm Gulf of Mexico waters will further strengthen it to become a Category 4 hurricane.
Hey Carved, you must be pretty stoked that Miami recently won and remains one of only three undefeated teams in the NFL. I just got off the phone with Jobina and she's ecstatic as well. Could this be the year that the Dolphins go all the way to the Super Bowl? Saying so isn't much of a stretch as they beat their AFC East Division rival Buffalo Bills, who some predict will be the best team in the NFL this season.
I believe their success is due in large part to Hawaii native Tua Tagovailoa who is finally playing up to his full potential. He is currently 2nd in passing yards with 925, 3rd in touchdowns with 8, and 1st in QBR. I don't want to jinx their winning streak but hopefully they'll beat the Bengals, another potential playoff contender, whom they will play on Thursday.
Thanks for the correction, Carved--I edited my post by omitting that entry.
[b]Fierce People[/b] has got to be one of Kristen's most underrated films considering a compelling coming-of-age storyline and a great cast, especially Donald Sutherland. And as usual, Kristen displayed good chemistry and held her own starring alongside other talented actors.
Speaking of Kristen's onscreen parents, she had several of whom I would rate their roles anywhere from good to exceptional:
In addition to Patricia Clarkson in The Safety of Objects, and Kurt Russell in Cutlass, I would add Robert De Niro and Robin Wright Penn in What Just Happened, Alec Baldwin and Julianne Moore in Still Alice, Tim Robbins in Zathura, Jennifer Beals and Sam Robards in Catch That Kid, Elizabeth Perkins in Speak, Jodie Foster in Panic Room, Billy Burke and Sarah Clarke in The Twilight Saga, Josh Pais and Mary Birdsong in Adventureland, Meg Ryan in In the Land of Women, Dylan McDermott and Penelope Ann Miller in The Messengers, Talia Balsam and Jess L. Martin in The Cake Eaters, Diane Lane and Michael Rooker in Jumper and Dennis Quaid and Sharon Stone in Cold Creek Manor.
And one more couple I believe I should add, for while they weren't her onscreen biological or even adoptive parents, they acted just as fatherly and motherly as any of Kristen's other aforementioned parents:
James Gandolphini and Melissa Leo in Welcome to the Rileys.
Just imagine the six degrees of separation possibilities with this list, Carved.
[quote]This one is also from that Harper's Bazaar photoshoot ...
https://www.kristenphotos.org/displayimage.php?pid=162942&fullsize=1
Therefore, for the first CD, I have decided to go with this black and white photo from Harper's Bazaar UK in 2019 ...
https://www.kristenphotos.org/displayimage.php?pid=162946&fullsize=1[/quote]
The photo from the Harper's Bazaar photoshoot is easily my favorite out of all the pictures you posted links to, Carved, as it is oozing with personality and she looks great in it.
Directors, cinematographers, fashion photographers and film critics have often complimented Kristen's photogenic nature, saying the camera loves her. So in the B&W pic from Harper's Bazaar UK, the way Kristen tilted her head upward made her appear even more photogenic than she usually is, as it further accentuates her chin and jawline, which are two of her prominent facial features.
However, some would argue that tipping ones forehead towards the camera with one's chin pointed slightly downward is more flattering.
And lest we forget that for many of her fans, her eyes are second to none--so covering her eyes with shades could be equated to the masking of her most prominent facial feature--this would be my only objection to using this photo.
But then again, Kristen can appear phenomenal staring straight into a camera, which is supposedly a big no-no for anyone who knows a thing or two about photographing faces. And because she has multiple prominent features, covering one of them will by no means prevent her beauty from shining through.
In other words, beauty is in the mind of the beholder and for this Kristen fan, I have yet to see a picture of K-Stew which I don't find aesthetically pleasing in at least one way. Heck, Kristen could break every rule in the book and would still be easy on the eyes.
[quote]I say, "almost," because I refuse to download and use any photos from Getty Images because they splash their damned logo over every photo they publish, thus, in my opinion, ruining the quality of the photos.[/quote]
If money is no object, Carved, and you are willing to part with $500 bucks for each large, high resolution image, you would have flawless pictures without the Getty Images logo.
Or if you are like me, you could go the more economical route and opt for near equally impressive photos courtesy of photographer Xavier Collin whose breathtaking images of Kristen donning Dolce & Gabbana are available on this site: https://tomandlorenzo.com/2022/03/critics-choice-awards-2022-spencer-star-kristen-stewart-in-dolce-gabbana-red-carpet-fashion-style/
And I totally get that because Kristen is an ambassador for Chanel and the face of Chanel makeup, that you wish to use a picture from one of her Chanel photoshoots. So if you insist on going this route, you could go with the pictures you posted previously or use a photo of her appearance at the 78th Venice International Film Festival: https://www.zoemagazine.net/177764-3-reason-why-love-kristen-stewart-chanel-makeup/
Being that the character Jobina is around Kristen's current age, you could go with one of the pictures in her relatively recent Entertainment Weekly photoshoot: https://ew.com/movies/kristen-stewart-spencer-cover-shoot/?slide=a33ed0b7-f512-48df-971a-7d86712129a2#a33ed0b7-f512-48df-971a-7d86712129a2 All of these pictures are flattering, but if I were to narrow it down to my top five, starting with the best, they would be #12, #11, #3, #4 and #1.
However, even while she looks stunning in all of the aforementioned pictures, none of them are quite becoming of the billionaire philanthropist which I have envisioned Jobina MacKenzie Cohen to be. So I would suggest you use one of the pictures of her all snazzy and spiffed-up in Dolce & Gabbana at the Critics Choice Awards, which would be more apropos and befitting of the stature of a woman as powerful as Joby, with angelic looks to boot, and worthy of gracing the cover of your soundtrack, Carved:
https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/kristen-stewart-attends-the-27th-annual-critics-choice-news-photo/1384965872?adppopup=true
https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/kristen-stewart-arrives-at-the-27th-annual-critics-choice-news-photo/1384980736?adppopup=true
https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/kristen-stewartarrives-at-the-27th-annual-critics-choice-news-photo/1384980826?adppopup=true
https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/kristen-stewart-attends-the-27th-annual-critics-choice-news-photo/1384938691?adppopup=true
https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/kristen-stewart-attends-the-27th-annual-critics-choice-news-photo/1385062838?adppopup=true
https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/kristen-stewart-attends-the-27th-annual-critics-choice-news-photo/1384931795?adppopup=true
https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/kristin-stewart-attends-the-27th-annual-critics-choice-news-photo/1384931852?adppopup=true
My list isn't written in stone so I could easily see myself ranking Kristen's performances in the exact order that you did, Ron. It appears we have very similar taste and preference, at least as far as Kristen's performances goes.
Great compilation, Carved. I didn't get a chance to listen to all of the tracks, so I can't say for sure which are my faves. Growing up, my siblings used to often play songs by Roxette, Heart, The Cranberries, k.d. lang, Linda Ronstadt, and The Rolling Stones, so their songs definitely grew on me and the musical taste I acquired as a kid still remains largely intact.
As far as the two selections we both added to our soundtracks, if there is one song which I believe captures the essence of my story, not just lyrically, but also by the emotions it elicits in me and the atmosphere it creates, it has got to be [b]These Dreams[/b] by Heart. I was thinking about including it in the concluding scene of my screenplay or using it when the end credits roll, a nice way of wrapping up the story.
[i]Zombie[/i], by The Cranberries, definitely sets the right mood and ambience as well. I actually used this song in one of my Kristen Stewart music videos, the one which showcased film clips of her performance in Camp X-Ray, but for some reason YouTube removed it. This happened when this song only had a fraction of its current 1.25 billion views. Just goes to show that even songs from alternative rock groups can gain worldwide, mainstream appeal.
[quote]Needless to say, I was extremely annoyed that neither Speak nor The Cake Eaters were included on this list.
Then I realized that none of Kristen's pre-Twilight performances were included.
Thus Panic Room and Into the Wild were also excluded.[/quote]
Agreed, Carved, for a primary reason why Kristen was maligned as an actress is because of her role in Twilight. To paraphrase what you stated, including Twilight while excluding some of the best performances of her career is doing her a disservice. While I myself wouldn't characterize her Bella Swan portrayal as atrocious, I definitely wouldn't rate it in her top ten by any stretch. Doing so indirectly implies and contributes to the myth that most of her roles are one-note if the majority of her acting roles are ranked lower.
I would even go as far as to say that Kristen had at least ten pre-Twilight performances I would rank higher than her role in Twilight ([i]i.e. The Cake Eaters, Speak, Into the Wild, Panic Room, The Safety of Objects, The Messengers, Fierce People, Zathura, In the Land of Women, The Yellow Handkerchief[/i]). Even her cameo-like roles in pre-Twilight movies such as Jumper, What Just Happened, Undertow and Cutlass, I would rank higher. Heck, even her role in the family friendly flick Catch that Kid or her part in the godawful thriller, if I may call it that, Cold Creek Manor, I would deem superior. Thus, not listing a single pre-Twilight role is inexcusable. Makes me wonder if she watched any of Kristen's earlier performances.
It should also be stated that Kristen's acting has continued to become more refined, many critics describing her acting as understated or subtle and nuanced, which I totally understand. However, we mustn't forget that Kristen was absolutely fearless as an actress in some of her earliest roles. This is a major reason why Kristen's portrayal as Princess Diana holds my top spot as not only did she become the beloved Princess of Wales, in my opinion, it signaled a return to exhibiting such fearlessness we fans have come to admire her for as a budding actress.
Here's how I would rank Kristen's 20 Best Performances:
[b]1) Spencer
2) Clouds of Sils Maria
3) The Cake Eaters
4) The Runaways
5) Speak
6) Adventureland
7) Welcome to the Rileys
8) On the Road
9) Personal Shopper
10) Still Alice
11) Into the Wild
12) Cafe Society
13) Panic Room
14) Camp X-Ray
15) Seberg
16) The Yellow Handkerchief
17) Happiest Season
18) The Safety of Objects
19) Crimes of the Future
20) American Ultra, Charlie's Angles, Equals, Snow White and the Huntsman (tied)[/b]
Notice how her roles in Lizzie, J.T. LeRoy, Certain Women, Underwater, Anesthesia and Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk did not make the cut, despite critics praising her for some of these roles. It's not that she didn't churn out good performances in those films. My exclusion had more to do with a lack of acting range being exhibited, in large part because the role didn't call for it.
I'm surprised as well, Carved. Being that Anne Thompson selected two actresses from the same movie Everything, Everywhere All at Once, either shows that this is her absolute favorite film so far in 2022 or she hasn't seen very many movies. I'll readily admit that I only watched around 30 movies released in 2022--so my Best Supporting Actress Oscar list would be far from complete.
For example, I could have included all three actresses, Mia Goth, Jenna Ortega and Brittany Snow, as they had nearly equal screen time and all three churned out pretty good performances in the movie [b]X[/b]. Or I could include 13-year-old up and coming actress Madeleine McGraw from The Black Phone, who did well for such a young actress, despite her performance not exactly being Oscar worthy. Or I could have chosen Tiffany Haddish as my frontrunner based primarily on the fact that The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent is my top rated film so far this year in large part because of Nicholas Cage's career defining performance in this. Or, I could simply nominate Kristen Stewart because she is my favorite active actor bar none. So I believe I'll hold off on nominating any actors until I've actually watched most of the Oscar-bait type films which often contain many of the top performances, most of which are released later this year.
As far as your soundtrack which has been expanded to two CDs, I'll be especially interested in finding out which of the two songs on my soundtrack will be on yours.
I glad you received it, Ron. Like I told Carved earlier, the script has some typographical/formatting errors for when I converted it from 12-point courier (industry standard screenplay font) to PDF format, for some odd reason some of the words and paragraphs got split in half, some sentences got moved to the next paragraph, while some words and headings got deleted completely. So please bear with me on these formatting errors.
When it comes to song lyrics, you sure know your stuff, Carved. If I were in charge of selecting songs for a soundtrack for a film based on my screenplay, I would probably go primarily for the atmospheric qualities of a song to create a distinctive mood of the scenes and the feelings the melody, harmony and rhythm such music elicit in me. And being that this is a female oriented script, I would likewise choose songs from female singers to comprise my entire list:
Heart - These Dreams: youtube.com/watch?v=41P8UxneDJE
Alan Walker (Iselin Solheim vocals) - Faded: youtube.com/watch?v=8NPNTlC_OFQ
Within Temptation - Memories: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhzJO34SCoc
Sneaker Pimps - 6 Underground: youtube.com/watch?v=2eBZqmL8ehg
Nina Simone - Sinnerman: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QH3Fx41Jpl4
Madilyn Bailey - Titanium youtube.com/watch?v=IfrnIr_jOgk
Evanescence - Going Under: youtube.com/watch?v=1RCTr6NWXAc&t=23s
Kelly Clarkson - Save You: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGfU6-zEysg
Mono - Life In Mono: youtube.com/watch?v=CeU-V0IZ-S8&t=1s
Leona Lewis - My Hands: youtube.com/watch?v=Ek-6UNAEtvY
Jefferson Airplane - White Rabbit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WANNqr-vcx0
Metric - Black Sheep: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xcSDYy3Dl4
Sixpence None The Richer - Don't Dream It's Over: youtube.com/watch?v=ZUHKDHkRasc
Avril Lavigne - When You're Gone: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0G3_kG5FFfQ&t=29s
Evanescence - My Immortal: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5anLPw0Efmo
Lana Del Rey - Young And Beautiful: youtube.com/watch?v=PL89iQBgfrM
Cyndi Lauper - All Through The Night: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZONKoKIQ9RY
Enya - Only Time: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wfYIMyS_dI
Juice Newton - Angel Of The Morning: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTzGMEfbnAw
The Cranberries - Zombie: youtube.com/watch?v=6Ejga4kJUts
P!nk - Try: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTCDVfMz15M
Madonna - Live To Tell: youtube.com/watch?v=IzAO9A9GjgI
Adele - Hello: youtube.com/watch?v=YQHsXMglC9A
Yes, Carved, I was perusing through my email and noticed that I sent you a message early last year using the same address. So I went ahead and sent you my screenplay a few minutes ago. I was skimming though the PDF version of my script and noticed some of the words and paragraphs are split in half. This must have happened when I converted my script from 12-point courier font to PDF format. So please bear with me on this.
Like I mentioned earlier, I've deleted several pages of dialog along with some subplots from my script in order to cut it down to under 200 pages, mercilessly omitting anything which didn't advance the story forward, as I was admonished to "kill your darlings" so to speak, from the books on screenwriting I've read. So the storyline isn't nearly as fleshed out as it could be. If anyone decides to produce a film based on this script, I believe it could become epic in scope, with perhaps enough material to make a four hour film or two feature films. And I believe this story, if it falls in the right hands, has nearly unlimited potential if say, a seasoned Hollywood screenwriter applies his or her master craft to it.
Being that I reside in Hawaii, many of us NFL fans often root for multiple teams because we don't have a pro team to represent the 50th State. I became a Tampa Bay fan after Brady left the Patriots--so you're right about Jobina Cohen in the sense that the one who conceived her character, yours truly, is a bandwagon Bucs fan.
Hopefully Amazon gets their act together and mails you your order ASAP, Carved, like they eventually did with the [i]Spencer[/i] Blu-ray that was released back in January.
While I have a subscription to iTunes, you're probably well aware of the sheer multitude of songs which they don't have, as in my case there were a bunch which weren't available. If it's not on iTunes I check out alternative sites like mp3va.com to download songs. If a song isn't available on any of these other sites I would then download it from YouTube as the last resort. And there definitely is a tradeoff even when you can download it for free as YouTube songs are uploaded/downloaded at 128 Kbps instead of the industry standard 320 Kbps bitrate for HD audio.
I recently sent Ron a PDF file containing the screenplay I wrote. If you too would like to read it, I would be more than happy to send it to you if you give me your email address in a personal message. I still have the email you sent me five years ago in a PM, but I'm not sure if this address is still current. Like I told Ron, I uploaded the PDF file of my script to the cloud via Google Drive but for some strange reason it doesn't generate a URL link I could post in a PM.
Here's the synopsis of my script, which I believe you will find compelling considering we have similar tastes when it comes to dystopian sci-fi movies:
[quote]This story is predominantly a cautionary tale set in the not so distant future, which tells of a billionaire philanthropist named Jobina Cohen, whose mission in life is to do her part to save the world. But little does she know that the future of humanity hangs in the balance and hinges upon a decision only she can make. She lives during a time when the centralization of power has reached a crescendo point, posing an existential threat to the very survival of humankind.
As dystopian as this sounds, there is still hope just as long as she makes the right choice. However, because so much is at stake, an elite ruling class will do everything in their power to try and prevent Jobina from saving the day and the world. So this story will be rife with conflict between the protagonist and antagonists and charts a collision course between the wealthy and the poor, between mankind and technology, and between man and God. To describe it as a riches to rags back to riches plot wouldn’t tell the half of it. To say Jobina goes on the proverbial hero’s journey would be an understatement for the ages. To imply this script has the potential to help create the best female-oriented film of all time—oh well, I’ll leave that up to you to decide.
Hollywood may not yet be ready to produce a film based on a script such as this, as it’s loaded with spiritual motifs and moral premises, but there’s no denying that it is relevant for the times we are living in. And besides, isn’t that what indie actors and directors, such as magnificent Kristen Stewart are for? What is detailed in this informal query letter doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface of what is contained in my screenplay. So if you are curious to find out more, including my take on the end game of my story, please give it a read.[/quote]
Great to hear you are interested in reading it, Ron. I sent an email with the PDF file of my screenplay attached--so hopefully you will receive it. Please let me know if you haven't received it or have an issue with accessing the contents of the PDF file and I will resend it.
If you are interested in reading my screenplay, Ron, and don't have an issue with giving me your email in a private message, I'll be happy to send it to you. I finally got the script under 200 PDF pages--shaved off nearly 50 pages. I recall right before IMDb closed it's message boards that some of us exchanged emails to keep in contact and to decide which forum we would migrate to next.
The reason why I may need your email is because I tried attaching the PDF file of my screenplay to a PM and it seems Moviechat does not allow for attachments--unless there's a way to do so which I'm not aware of.
I also tried to upload my screenplay to the cloud on my two Google Drive accounts, but when I clicked on the button "Get Link" it did not generate a URL which I could use as a link to my script. So if you or someone else could help me out on this I could send you a link to my script on a PM, which may be the preferred method, instead of having to send it directly to your email address.
I recall, Carved, the time you told me that you ordered a [b]Spencer[/b] Blu-ray from Amazon and that despite pre-ordering it weeks before it's release date that the approximate delivery date would be several days after its release. So if there's any consolation, hopefully this means you'll be receiving it in the mail sooner than you think. Case in point: About a week ago I order some Blu-ray blank media from Amazon and was only told a couple days ago that they had just shipped it. So I was surprised to receive it in the mail today--very speedy shipping considering I live in Hawaii.
It seems that you and I have similar taste when it comes to dystopian sci-fi films. The first time I watched [i]Dark City[/i] I mistakenly assumed it was released after The Matrix came out, thus ripping off from it. I was very impressed when I found out that this film came out the year before the Wachowski's masterpiece. But then again, Alex Proyas is a formidable director in his own right.
As far as YouTube downloaders go--I must admit I only tried the free versions and years ago they worked flawlessly. However, over the past few years these programs don't work as intended for the reason you mentioned. The funny thing about how I came to learn about such software is from an 8-year-old kid who told me how he downloaded thousands of songs for free to put on his MP3 player. I was thinking to myself, how can this be? That was until I tried it myself.