1. The Ocelot – is a visually appealing wild cat who possesses many distinguishing features which are shared by the typical domestic cat. Beautiful, bright, and shiny eyes gaze at you with their knowing way, looking into your very soul. They are approximately twice the size of your beloved family cat. It has a distinctive growl which I find unnerving as it sounds feral and aggressive. Unlike my furry felines, the Ocelot does not avoid the water and will in fact swim. However, it is difficult to adopt a wild or domesticated one into your family. They have been listed as an endangered species and they have been hunted for their soft sleek coats.
2. Sokoke – is a long-limbed, short-haired cat with a meow which is unique to the Asian breeds. They are medium in size and are very muscular compared to most domestic breeds. Their front legs are longer than their back legs, which is typical of wildcats.
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3. Minskin – are small cats with large bright eyes and even larger ears. They have long tails (sometimes longer than their own body), short little front legs, but longer back legs. Maintenance of these friendly kitties requires a weekly bath as they are virtually hairless, or they possess very little fur.
4. Peterbald – is another cat who is virtually hairless or who possesses a small amount of fur. Their body temperature is higher than most breeds and as a result, also eat greater amounts of food than the typical domestic. Their skin is soft to the touch and is similar to an elephant with its wrinkly appearance.
5. Kurilian Bobtail – is a cat that is true to its name as it bears a resemblance to a rabbit from behind with its naturally occurring bobbed tail. They are excellent swimmers and fishers despite their abundant amount of fur. They are muscular and they intelligent, understanding some human words.
6. Burmilla – have stunning green eyes outlined with black making them a prominent facial feature. They come in a variety of colours and they are either short-haired or semi-long in fur. They are a cross between a Chinchilla and a Burmese.
7. Serengeti – is large boned and long legged. They possess a thick short coat and large ears with rounded tips found on top of the head, rather than to the sides like most domestic breeds. Being very social, they tend to be vocal and demanding when it comes to your affections.
8. Ojos Azules – or blue eyes, is noted for its distinctive eye colouring – even bluer than Siamese. Medium in size, these cats come in many colours but typically possess white tips on their tails, feet, and often their ears. These are one of the most rare domestic cats.
9. Napoleon – these kitties have the shortest legs of all the breeds. They are fluffy like the Persian and possess a short pug-like nose. Medium-sized, these cats are typically short-haired or long-haired and come in a variety of colours.
10. California Spangled – has fur that is short and spotted. They have eyes that are yellowish or coppery and they are medium in size. Despite their wild appearance they are very domesticated and are a great addition to any family home.
These pendants are by a jewelry designer named Vanessa Gade. She’s based in San Francisco. The jewelry is minimalist in tone, and is an interworking of metal bar and metal chain in angular arrangements. It is a clean and delicate esthetic, but tangled.
Usually the metal bar forms a geometric shape, which is broken and intersected by chains. She works with mostly silver colors, but uses some gold chains as well.
She calls her work bold, kinetic and sculptural. It has an elegant interplay of curves and angles, according to her site. Gade’s jewelry design esthetic is artchitecturally-inspired.
It is handcrafted work. The metals used are sterling silver and yellow gold.
Gade’s jewelry has been featured in a lot of magazines such as O, Vogue, InStyle, Self, Elle, Nylon, LUcky, Cosmopolitan, San Francisco and Qvest.
Antler Necklace in Bronze and Leather
Rustic jewelry like this has drawn a lot of attention and it’s popularity continues without stopping. We found three antler pendants to meet the three different budgets, all featuring gold antler designs.
The main feature of this blog is the necklace pictured above, the bronze and leather crafted piece. We talk about that one last.
One thing about these antler pieces is they look great on women and on men. I’ve seen a lot of photos of men sporting these antlers, probably more than women, but I’ve seen women wear them too. Couples could probably pass this necklace back and forth.
We’ll start with the least expensive item, but just as good an item. It’s a different style. A lighter piece, with a full rack (both antlers), with one end of the necklace chain attached to each antler. It’s a gold-plated alloy necklace and chain.
These are available for around $20-$30 dollars, depending on whether they’re on sale. Click here to see them.
The next item is a middle-priced deer antler piece.
You can get them in gold, silver or rose gold.
It’s a full-rack piece, also somewhat delicate, but with more detail and a different layout.
This first antler (the one in the image above) was based on a naturally shed White Tail Deer antler. The jeweler used the actual antler as a guide for this Bronze and leather piece.
The craftsman is a Canadian out of one of Canada’s oldest cities, Montreal.
He was careful to include the detailed ruts at the base of the antler, which smooth out towards the points, which are highly polished.
The craftsman pointed out that the piece looks good from every angle.
To read more about this piece or to see what the current price is and possibly buy it, click here.
Romance and the film industry go hand-in-hand on the big screen. When it comes to passion and smoochin’, these movies take the cake. You may recognize some of these blockbusters, whilst others are a tad low-key. They all have one thing in common; romance! These, in my opinion, are the top ten best romantic movies (not in order) of all time.
Number 10: The Notebook
The Notebook is a 2004 American romantic drama directed by Nick Cassavetes and based on the 1996 novel by Nicholas Sparks. The film stars Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams, who portray a young couple falling in love around 1940. The story is narrated by James Garner, an elderly version of Gosling’s character; Noah Calhoun, who reads from a notebook McAdam’s character Allie Hamilton wrote for him before her onset of dementia. Noah remains loyal to Allie and reads her writing back to her in a nursing home. The end of the movie shows that both Noah and Allie die peacefully in a bed together, stark in contrast to how their love began.
Number 9: Amelie
Amelie is a 2001 romantic comedy directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet. Guillaume Laurant, along with Jeunet, wrote the film. It’s a fanatical depiction of Parisian life, set in the city of Montmartre. It tells the story of a shy introverted waitress, played by actress Audrey Tautou, who tries to aid others while struggling with her own issues of separation. Upon helping the people around her, Amelie is led to a young man named Nino Quincampoix. She must deal with her inner demons before allowing herself to be with him. I believe the metaphor for this movie is; “What goes around, comes around.” If you do good for others, good shall return to you.
Number 8: Brokeback Mountain
This 2005 film is a tribute to the increasing awareness of equality in America. It features actors Heath Ledger as Ennis Del Mar, and Jake Gyllenhaal as Jack Twist. The film is set in the mid 1900’s where the two cowboys struggle with their feelings for one another. Twist envisions the life they could have together, whereas Del Mar refuses to even imagine it. A scene in the movie; a hanger in a closet holding their two shirts, summarizes their love perfectly.
Number 7: Titanic
I’m sure you’ve all heard this movie title before, and with good reason. This is a film that indulges in the prospect of lower class and upper class pitted against one another in a dance of prohibition. A seventeen year old aristocrat named Rose DeWitt Bukater (Kate Winslet) falls in love with a charming, but poor artist named Jack Dawson (Leonardo DiCaprio) aboard the ill-fated R.M.S. Titanic. The pair fall madly in love, much to the dismay of their friends and family, before the ship crashes into an iceberg and sinks. Jack dies, and Rose is left to remember him well into her elderly years. Before the credits roll, Rose admires a necklace that Jack was accused of trying to steal when they were on the Titanic. She throws it into the ocean, which may be symbolic to moving on.
Number 6: Casablanca
“Set in Casablanca, Morocco during the early days of World War II: An American expatriate meets a former lover, with unforeseen complications.”
Directed by Michael Curtiz and based upon an unproduced stage play titled; Everybody Comes to Rick’s, the film follows Rick Blaine, played by Humphrey Bogart, as he struggles to choose between his love for a former flame (Ingrid Bergman) and helping her Czech Resistance leader husband (Paul Henreid) escape the Vichy controlled Moroccan city of Casablanca so he can continue his fight against the German Nazis. This movie combines violence and passion, as well as the state of the world during WW2. The contrast flows beautifully, as does the sadness and desire within the film itself.
Number 5: Annie Hall
Annie Hall is a romantic comedy directed by Woody Allen, co-written by the latter and Marshall Brickman. The film stars the director as Alvy “Max” Singer, who tries to figure out the reasons for the failure of his relationship with the film’s female lead, Annie Hall, played by Diane Keaton. It follow’s Alvy’s attempts to understand Annie and procure his place within the relationship. Their love, however, does not last. The movie ends with Alvy’s voice summarizing; “Love is essential, especially if it is neurotic.”
Number 4: Beauty and the Beast
It may be a Disney movie, but the message within the film is simply wonderful. Sometime in the 1700’s, a young woman named Belle is seen as bizarre in her town, as she enjoys books and other things that aren’t fitting for her gender. This is especially apparent when Gaston, a man who lusts after her, informs her that women should not be reading.
Belle’s father gets kidnapped by a beast in the forest. Belle discovers this and offers herself in exchange for her father. The beast lives in a castle, where a magic rose is wilting, signifying the amount of time he has left to get someone to love him and lift his spell. Eventually, Belle falls in love with the beast and is able to see past his gruff exterior. Later in the movie, Gaston attempts to kill the beast, where he himself falls victim to this very idea. The beast’s curse is lifted, and the pair live happily ever after. The movie’s plot explains; “It’s what’s on the inside that counts.”
Number 3: When Harry Met Sally
This film was one of the first to raise the question; “Can men and women ever be just friends?” It follows two lovers (Billy Crystal as Harry and Meg Ryan as Sally) from the moment they meet on a cross-country trip and onward through twelve or so years of chance encounters. They argue that men and women can and can’t be friends, during which they stroll through failed relationships and broken philosophies. The pair wind up having sex following a rough breakup, and during a New Year’s Eve party that same year, fall in love and get married three months later.
Number 2: Silver Linings Playbook
This ironic film, written and directed by David O. Russel, follows a man named Pat (Bradley Cooper) who is recovering from bipolar disorder. Following his release from a mental institution in Baltimore, he attempts to make amends with his ex-wife. He had found her months prior in the shower with another man and nearly beat him to death during their old wedding song.
Pat meets a girl named Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence) during a dinner night with a friend and his wife. He’s intrigued by her, as she suffers from depression. The pair form a strange friendship based upon their disorders. Pat hopes this relationship will aid his quest in winning back his ex-wife.
In a twist of fate, Pat falls in love with the widowed Tiffany. The end of the movie displays that both parties have taken off their wedding rings.
Number 1: Juno
This forward-thinking film follows teenager Juno MacGuff, played by Ellen Page, during her unexpected pregnancy. The father is her admirer, and longtime friend Paulie Bleeker (Michael Cera). This romantic comedy displays a variety of subjects, including the trials of adult life on a young individual. Juno navigates through choices of abortion (which she later rejects) and decides on putting the baby up for adoption. The couple she chooses seems perfect at first, the father sharing interest in rock bands much like she does. Later on in the film, the father (Jason Bateman) named Mike, confesses feelings for Juno and divorces his wife. This then prompts Juno to confess her feelings for Paulie. She goes into labor and gives birth to a baby boy. The end of the movie shows Juno and Paulie singing together, followed by a loving kiss.
This list of the top 10 indy films is for films that anybody could make. You see their budgets are sometimes in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, but so what? because these films could have been made for much less.
If you disagree with any of these films being ranked here, you better comment it out on social media.
The Top 10 Indy Films That You Could Have Made For A Few Dollars:
1. Kids. (Pictured on the right side of image up above) I’m putting it right at the top despite the actual $1.5 million budget. Why? This is the ultimate Indy film. Everything about the esthetic, cast, writing and locations showed viewers that even teenagers interested in film could go out and shoot a film just like this. Any 16-year-old sitting on a couch watching this film with friends saw that they too could make a big full-length film, if this was what a film could be. A lot of the films on this list, despite being cheap to make, required some experience, some intelligence, some special skill like writing to have achieved. Kids doesn’t seem to have required anything. Kids became very successful and launched writer Harmony Korine and several of the young cast into long acting careers. It was the first film directed by Larry Clark, and got a lot of attention — or hype — for its controversial subject matter.
It was filmed on city streets, parks, a public pool, a house, apartments and a club. The production may have had something to it the large budget, but it seems minimal when watching the film. The camera is hand held, and this was something mainstream audiences hadn’t really seen before in 1995.
2. Swingers. (Pictured at left) Results! Anyone — or maybe any GUY — around in 1996 or the few years after that will probably remember how much of an important movie this was. Other films of the time were more popular, grossed more, and maybe were more guys “favorite film” (although a lot of guys listed Swingers as their favorite), but guys recommended this film to each other, and when they talked about it, there was a special meaning to it.
It was filmed in locations you could easily shoot in: apartments, bars, a car on the highway, a trailer, a diner, a casino. The story didn’t have a traditional hollywood plot, but it definitely took you somewhere, and took you somewhere different from where you started from, and whatever the message is, it’s seemed worthy.
3. Buffalo 66. (Pictured center) Somber, sober, absorbing. Christina Ricci is at her most beautiful blonde, voluptuous, sensitive self here as she reacts to the tension and simple complexity of the states of mind traveled through with actor and director Vincent Gallo.
The cast is small: 4 or 5 main characters. The locations: a dance studio, driving around in a small car, a hotel, a house, a restaurant. The script does not have a lot of dialogue. Again, the arc is not a traditional Hollywood one, but some of the scenes are unforgettable and it definitely takes you somewhere.
4. Blair Witch Project. (Pictured background) How many of you were waiting for me to write that. This film exploded when it was screened in art house cinemas and then exploded in mainstream movie theaters. A lot of its success came, like Kids, from the hype surrounding it. It made $250 million: Yes, $250,000,000, and cost $35,000 to make, but you could see how you could make this film for nothing over a weekend with minor adjustments. It also resulted in a sequel film and a lot of associated products.
It was shot on a cheap (and low-quality) video camera bought from Wallmart (and returned after use — there WERE no phone cameras at that time). The settings: houses, trailer parks, the woods. The script: there was one, but most of the film was improvisation done by the three main characters. Like Kids, this film shows anyone they can make a film.
5. Clerks. A story about some people in a town. Watching this film anywhere in the world, you may think “it’s just like normal life.” This film was made for $25,000 by Jay and Silent Bob. It was picked up quickly by Miramax chief Harvey Weinstein who saw something in it that would make it succeed with a wide audience. Like Woody Allen, there is a lot of dialogue. Everything is done with dialogue. And it is funny. The jokes, because the film is level of the common man, are jokes that could be made about most people’s lives and social circles. People laughed out loud at this film, and you’re never going to fail if a film does that. It appealed to a certain demographic as well — like Kids and Swingers — and was kind of in the vein of a lot of TV shows and pop culture things at the time.
Clerks was filmed in a basement and a convenience store. There were no stars or outstanding beauties (as there were in Jay and Silent Bob’s later films). Did I mention it was successful despite being in black & white?
6. Run Lola Run: For those of you who say, yeah, you can do drama, documentary-style, and horror with indy, but not action films because they require too much special costs, here’s a high-intensity, high-suspense, blood-pumping movie that gets its “action” from the premise and the execution of the premise. Lola has a very limited amount of time to get something done or something she cares about will be endangered. Not only is the plot an action-based one (or action-demanding: that is, to execute it action is required), but the character is creativity-based. She must solve how to get through each obstacle to continue the plot.
7. The Celebration. (It was called “Festen” in Danish.) A 1998 film about a group of family members who congregate at a house on a father’s birthday. Family conflict and various relationships are the subject of the film. The budget of this film was $1.3 million, but how they spent that much on a small cast of people in a house I don’t know. You could shoot this for nothing.
This was the first film shot under the Dogma 95 set of 10 rules which strictened the indy requirements of film-making. Dogme 95 was proposed by Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg (Celebratio is Vinterberg’s). The rules supported film-making that was cheap and stressed story, acting and theme.
8. Shadows. In 1959 the successful film and tv actor John Cassavettes, who had taken the money he’d made and opened up a theater and put out ads for limited time free membership, made a film that had been worked out organically at the theater called “Shadows.” The subject was one most of Hollywood wouldn’t have touched in 1959 (pre-civil rights movement): a black young woman starts dating white men, and what this means within her family.
Filmed on streets and in buildings, the premise and its demands keep getting intensified throughout the film. Cassavettes made several other pictures in this way. Using actors from his theater and “scripts” that had been worked out organically there.
At this point I don’t care what the other films are. The important ones are noted already.
9. My Own Private Idaho. Unforgettable scenes and based somewhat on some of Shakespeare’s better and more famous plays (those that revolve around the young king Henry IV), this film cost $2.6 million dollars. It has a star cast and was produced professionally. I would have enjoyed it just as much if it had no stars and was shot on a handheld video camera (so long as the stars were as magnetic as Phoenix, Reeves and the others). This film has a great script and some interesting happenings, some great shots and videography, some great acting, memorable characters and situations. This is a film not every kid could produce because it succeeds based on a lot of quality elements, but for those indy writer-filmmakers out there it may be an inspiration for what great writing and film-making can be in the independent — and alternative — genres.
It was shot in a lot of locations, both in America and in Italy, so you’d need at least the price of a few plane tickets to shoot something like it. Locations include motels, tenements, hotels, a city park, long prairie roads, and Roman outdoor architecture.
10. A bunch of films that you don’t need to watch if you know the ones already listed. For example, Withnail and I, a British film about some interesting characters who get into some interesting situations in the country. If the other films in this list hadn’t been made, I might cite this one. Slacker, a 1991 dialogue and normal-life film that preceded Clerks. Some other great films but maybe not seminal: Last Life In The Universe, Love & Pop, Lost in Translation, Drugstore Cowboy, Fargo.
11. Breathless. Yeah, I want to mention Breathless by Jean Luc Goddard. A lot of his films could be shot by anyone. This early one influenced us a ton.
12. Naked. I want to include this one too. Because it’s carried off excellent. Very deep and real characters, very good writing, and some laugh-out-loud humor. Cost almost $2 million to make but shot in houses, streets, empty buildings at night, and a lot of the dialogue is improvised.
A few characters and shot in city streets, apartments, cars driving down the road.
The films I listed aren’t the MOST SUCCESSFUL Indy films or the Cheapest Successful Indy Films That Succeeded. They are the films that anybody could have made.
Let’s start with an example that will show us editing the code and seeing the edit on our live website:
Let’s make some changes to the way our “Profile” page looks. Let’s put the words “The Speaker” somewhere on the page, just to see ourselves effect the code.
(You need FTP.)
Step 1: Copy the entire buddypress\bp-templates\bp-legacy\buddypress\ folder over to your computer.
(Clarification: go into html (root), then into wp-content, then into plugins, then into buddypress, then into bp-legagy, then copy that “buddypress” folder you see onto your harddrive.)
Step 2: put a copy of that folder into your theme (the theme you want to run on your website). You just paste the “buddypress” folder right into your theme.
Now you can edit the files in the “buddypress” folder that is in your theme folder. This is called “overload.” The buddypress plugin files aren’t altered because they’re still in your plugin folder. But buddypress is going to look in your theme first for files and if it finds one that’s the same (and follows the same path from folder to folder to file) it will load the version in your theme, “overloading” its default file.
So we can now edit our “profile” page without messing up buddypress’s code. Let’s do that.
Go to YourTheme/buddypress/members\single\and open the “profile” file. Type in “The Speaker” somewhere (make sure it’s not within php). A good place is right under <div class=”profile”> .
Save it where it is. Reload your profile page and you should see it display.
We have successfully edited BuddyPress code without messing up the BuddyPress plugin.
Movies bring in some major bucks in 2015 with some of the highest grossing films of all time releasing this year alone. So here’s the question, can you guess which movies have brought in the most of all time?
5. Furious 7
Perhaps the most surprising entry of the top 5 but Furious 7 managed to gross a massive $1,516,246,709 at the worldwide box office. Seven entries into a series it’s difficult to keep the audience interested but evidently there’s a reason ‘See you Again’ is never off the radio.
4. The Avengers
Let it be known that the comic book movie will never be forgotten as many say it has with the 2012 movie ‘The Avengers’ raking in $1,519,479,547 at the worldwide box office. Many film commentators say it is little more than a passing fad, but it’s a fad that is bringing in over a billion dollars with each successive entry.
3. Jurassic World
Jurassic World is one of the biggest surprises of the year. Many thought that it would make tonnes at the box office, but no one had ever expected it would gather a total of $1,665,193,850 at the worldwide box office. At least we now know the winning formula. Chris Pratt + Dinosaurs = A major amount of profit.
2. Titanic
In 1997 Titanic took the title as the highest grossing film of all time taking a total of $2,207,615,668 at the worldwide box office. Titanic, one of our greatest modern tragedies combined with a story of star-crossed lovers seems to be the formula that James Cameron envisioned to create an absolute smash hit.
1. Avatar
As if James Cameron was tired of being the most profitable film maker in Hollywood of all time in 2009 he released Avatar. Despite that it is in many ways a retelling of the classic ‘Pocahontas’ story it’s impossible to argue with the colossal $2,783,918,982 that it brought in. Think about how many islands that kind of money could buy.
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