Quentin Tarantino Facts & Quotes

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Quentin Jerome Tarantino is one of the most influential director-writers working today. He was born on March 27, 1963 in Knoxville Tennessee and moved to the Los Angeles area in 1965 with his mother. Later he attended Hawthorne Christian School and Narbonne High School before dropping out at the age of 16. Shortly after, he enrolled in acting classes at the James Best Theatre Company. 

In 1984 Tarantino took a job at The Video Archives, a video store in Manhattan Beach, California, where he watched (and studied) thousands of films and developed an almost encyclopedic knowledge of well-known movies, as well as more obscure films.

His first movie script, written at the age of 22, was titled Captain Peachfuzz and the Anchovy Bandit. A few years later he sold another script, Natural Born Killers, to a makeup company for $1,500 dollars and a promise to do the makeup work for his first movie. Later he sold a script titled True Romance for $50,000 and decided to use the money to make his first film, Reservoir Dogs. After meeting Harvey Keitel through Lawrence Bender, Keitel read the Reservoir Dogs script and was impressed enough to help finance the film and also agree to act in it. For the next year Tarantino traveled around to various film festivals promoting Reservoir Dogs, which was moderately successful. His next movie, Pulp Fiction went on to win an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, as well as the Palme D’Or award at the Cannes Film Festival while also grossing over $100 million, making Tarantino a household name. The last movies he released were Kill Bill (Vol. 1 2003, Vol. 2 2004), both films together grossing $136 million. He recently worked with Eli Roth on the 2006 film, Hostel, which was controversial for its many disturbing scenes of violence and torture. 
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James Bond Facts & Trivia

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Although the first James Bond film appeared in 1962, our favorite spy had already been capturing imaginations on the pages of Ian Fleming’s novels.  Even today, the Bond phenomenon continues with books and movies galore!  The following offerings are bits of Bond facts and trivia about a British hero with timeless appeal.

Beginning with the first film, Dr. No, Bond became a fashion connoisseur sporting a tuxedo created specially for him by Pierre Lorillard of New York’s Tuxedo Park fame along with his classy tailored shirts with turnback cuffs by Turnbull and Asser.

Sean Connery played the first screen Bond to popular acclaim. 
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Reel Estate

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Real Estate AgentIn the movies, real estate agents are portrayed in a variety of ways. Some flattering; some not so flattering:  The helpful mediator, the greedy shyster, or the earnest businessperson caught in the middle, etc.

Regardless of the role, they are always fun and interesting to watch, as these films featuring real estate agents will show.

Which ones have you seen? What would you add to the list?
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Greenhouses in the Movie Houses

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GreenhousePeople go to them for different reasons. To rest, to retreat, to grow, think, meditate, dream, and nurture.

They are places of life, and places of tomorrow.

Hollywood has its way of presenting greenhouses, as these movies featuring them will attest.

Which ones have you seen? What would you add to the list?
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Family Business in Film

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Family BusinessThere’s no business like show business, and no business quite like a family business. Even Hollywood has paid homage to this unique blend of business and pleasure.

Check out these movies featuring family businesses. What’s your favorite? What would you add to the list?

Body Waves, starring Bill Calvert and Leah Lail: A teenager sets out to break away from the family business and do something on his own, and in doing so, invents a popular sex cream. 1992.
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Bee Movies

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BeesSometimes B movies get a bad buzz. They have low budgets, so-so actors, and don’t do so well at the box office. But these B movies have something the others don’t, and that’s real bees.

To pay tribute to bees and B movies all over the world, check out these films. Have you seen them? What would you add to the list?

The Abominable Dr. Phibes, with Vincent Price and Joseph Cotton: The 9 Biblical plagues come to life in this horror movie with bees, bats, killer frog masks, and one dead doctor after another.  1971.
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Welders in Cinema

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WelderThe heat is on.

Sparks fly.

Who’s behind the welder’s mask?

Take a look and you’ll find skilled workers, men and women, dedicated to their job.
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Travelers on Film

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TravelerOn the road again.

Just can’t wait to get on the road again?

Traveling doesn’t have to be a task to loathe. Instead of inciting bouts of road rage, travel can be, if you let it, a time of great reflection, planning, and productivity.

Whether you’re the occasional traveler out for a nice Sunday drive, or travel so often you can’t wait to get off the road again, it’s time to give you the recognition you deserve, so here are a few movies featuring travelers and traveling that you may find enjoyable.
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Pilots on Film

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PilotLook.

Up in the sky.

It’s a bird. It’s a plane.

It’s a pilot flying a plane.
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Graphic Designers and Illustrators in the Movies

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IllustratorA picture is worth a thousand words.

The magazine kind, and the Hollywood kind.

To pay tribute to those behind the images that catch our eye, turn our head, or make us want to run out and buy a brand new car, here are some films featuring graphic designers and illustrators:

Washington Heights, featuring Manny Perez: A young Latino wants to escape his neighborhood and make it big in New York as a comics illustrator. 2002.
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Feminists on Film

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FeministsBurning bras or burning bridges, feminists have changed women’s lives forever, and for the better.

Without them, we wouldn’t have the luxury, or right, to choose  career, family, both, all, or whatever we please. We would still be in the dark ages were it not for the pioneers. Thanks to their trail-blazing, we can vote, work, strive, study, create, compete. We can love it or leave it. Take it or shake it. That’s what feminism has given us: The FREEDOM  to embrace the parts we want, reject the parts we don’t, and define our lives the way we will.

To celebrate feminism in all its glorious colors, here are some films that feature feminists. What would you add to the list?
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Electric Movies

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ElectricFeaturing electricians, power plants, and  of course, electricity.

Almost all professions are portrayed by Hollywood: Law, medicine, education, business, white collar, blue collar, etc.

Now it’s electricity’s turn to shine in the spotlight.

Here are some movies featuring electricity.
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Blacksmiths on Film

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BlacksmithsIt takes unique skill and craftsmanship to be a blacksmith, an ability that can be learned by anyone, but can’t be enjoyed by just anyone. Not everyone can know or appreciate the expertise that is often passed down from one generation to the next.

Some say it is a thing of the past. But that is what makes it so intriguing.

Even Hollywood has noted the mastery of the blacksmith. Here are some films that feature them. Which ones have you seen? What would you add?
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The Silent Wonder of Silent Cartoons

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Old FilmFew silent cartoons were ever made due to the expense involved.  At first glance, one might not realize how expensive it was to produce cartoons.  However, back in the early twentieth century, artists needed to draw twenty-four separate cartoons for an individual second of airing time.  This took time and money.

Stop-frame cinematography was used to film individual frames or drawings that differed only slightly from each other.  Then, to give the illusion of movement, the frames would be projected in rapid succession.  Two-dimensional art gave the appearance of motion and suddenly became alive.

Later, when transparencies, known as cels, were made available, the cost decreased considerably.  A transparent celluloid, or cel, would be placed upon an existing drawing.  The artist would redraw only the part of the cartoon that needed to change for the animation.  However, even though legal difficulties disrupted the availability of this invention and production of silent cartoons remained slow, most silent cartoons were produced between 1914 and 1920.
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