I'd like to meet:
Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and journalist. His distinctive writing style is characterized by economy and understatement and had a significant influence on the development of twentieth century fiction writing. Hemingway's protagonists are typically stoics, often seen as projections of his own character—men who must show "grace under pressure." Many of his works are considered classics in the canon of American literature.
Hemingway, nicknamed "Papa," was part of the 1920s expatriate community in Paris, as described in his memoir A Moveable Feast, and was known as part of "the Lost Generation," a name he popularized. He led a turbulent social life, was married four times, and allegedly had various romantic relationships during his lifetime. Hemingway received the Pulitzer Prize in 1953 for The Old Man and the Sea. He received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954, although he said he would have been "happy–happier...if the prize had been given to that beautiful writer Isak Dinesen," referring to Danish writer Karen Blixen. In 1961, at age 61, he committed suicide, as his father did before him.
Music:
Tool is an American progressive rock band, formed in 1990 in Los Angeles, California, when drummer Danny Carey joined the rehearsal of his neighbor, singer Maynard James Keenan, guitarist Adam Jones and bassist Paul d'Amour, when nobody else would show up. His decision proved to be a stroke of luck when the band turned out to become a highly successful act, "introducing dark, vaguely underground metal to the preening pretentiousness of art rock"— most notably due to their influential second album, Ænima (1996).
They have gained appreciation and critical praise for a complex and ever-evolving sound, that ranges from "slam and bang" heavy metal on their first release to more progressive influenced songwriting on Lateralus (2001) which "in another era [...] would have been considered progressive rock, ten tons of impressive pretension." Their overall sound has been described as "grinding, post-Jane's Addiction heavy metal" as well as "a primal sound as distinct as it is disturbing"— most simplified categorizations of the band's genre are often dismissed. They are known for addressing philosophical and spiritual issues in their lyrics, such as evolution and Jungian psychology ("Forty Six & 2"), organized religion ("Opiate") and transcendence ("Lateralus"), as well as for songs that feature "complex rhythm changes, haunting vocals, and an onslaught of changes in dynamics" which often result in a greater-than-average track length.
Their music has been influenced by King Crimson, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Rush, Meshuggah, and early Yes, among several others. In turn, Tool's music has been deemed influential by critics and fellow artists alike.
Movies:
David Keith Lynch (born January 20, 1946, in Missoula, Montana) is an American filmmaker.
Lynch's films are known for their elements of surrealism, their nightmarish and dreamlike sequences, their stark and strange images, and their meticulously crafted audio. Often his work explores the seedy underside of small-town U.S.A. (e.g. Blue Velvet and the Twin Peaks television series) or sprawling metropolises (Lost Highway, Mulholland Drive). Due to his peculiar style and focus on the American psyche, comedian Mel Brooks once called Lynch "Jimmy Stewart from Mars."
Over a lengthy career, Lynch has developed a consistent approach to narrative and visual style that has become instantly recognizable to audiences worldwide. Although not a box office giant, he is a consistent favorite of film critics and has maintained a strong cult following.
Stanley Kubrick was an American film director and producer, generally considered one of the most innovative and influential filmmakers of his generation. Born in The Bronx in New York City to Jewish parents of Austro-Romanian and Polish origin, he became interested in photography at a young age, and after graduating high school he obtained a job with the primarily photographic magazine Look, first working freelance and eventually becoming a full-time staff member. He made his foray into filmmaking by directing several promotional and documentary shorts for RKO Pictures, most of which were financed and made solely by Kubrick himself.
Kubrick was born on July 26, 1928 at the Lying-In Hospital in Manhattan, New York City, United States, the first child of Jacques Kubrick and his wife Gertrude (née Perveler). His sister, Barbara, was born in 1934. Jacques, whose parents had been Jewish immigrants of Austro-Romanian and Polish origin, was a successful doctor. At Stanley's birth, the Kubricks lived in an apartment at 2160 Clinton Avenue in The Bronx.
Kubrick's father taught him chess at age twelve, and the game would remain a lifelong obsession. At thirteen Jacques Kubrick bought his son a Graflex camera, triggering Kubrick's fascination with still photography. At this time, he also became interested in jazz, and attempted a brief career as a drummer.
Stanley Kubrick grew up in the Bronx, New York City as the first child of a well-to-do family.Kubrick attended William Howard Taft High School from 1941 to 1945. (Chanteuse Eydie Gorme was a schoolmate.) He was a poor student with a meager grade average of 67. When he graduated from high school in 1945, colleges were flooded with soldiers returning from service in the Second World War, and Kubrick's poor grades eliminated his hopes of attending a post-secondary school. Later in life, Kubrick would speak of his education and of education in general with disdain, and maintained that nothing in school interested him.
While in high school, Kubrick was chosen to be the official school photographer for a year. Eventually he sought job opportunities on his own and by the time of his graduation he had sold a series of pictures to New York's Look magazine. To supplement his income, Kubrick played "chess for quarters" in Washington Square Park and various Manhattan chess clubs. Kubrick also registered for night courses at the City College to improve his grade average. He worked as a freelancer for Look, becoming an apprentice photographer in 1946 and later a full-time staff member.
During his years at Look, Kubrick married Toba Metz and they moved to Greenwich Village. During this time Kubrick began frequenting film screenings at the Museum of Modern Art and cinemas all over New York City. He was particularly inspired by the complex and fluid camera movements of Max Ophüls, whose films influenced Kubrick's later visual style.
Many of his photographs of this early period (1945-1950) have been published in the book "Drama and Shadows" (2005, Phaidon Press).
Oliver Stone , known simply as Oliver Stone, is a three-time Academy Award-winning American film director and screenwriter.
Stone was born in New York City. His father was Jewish and his mother a Roman Catholic of French birth. He was raised an Episcopalian as a compromise. His parents divorced when he was in high school, and only then did Stone learn of his father's extramarital affairs with the wives of several family friends.
Stone attended The Hill School, Yale University and New York University. He attended Yale, dropping out after one year. He then taught English at the Free Pacific Institute in South Vietnam for six months after which he worked as a merchant marine, and traveled to Oregon and Mexico, before returning to Yale, where he dropped out a second time.
A veteran of the Vietnam conflict, Stone served with the United States Army from April 1967 to November 1968. He specifically requested combat duty and was assigned to the 25th Infantry Division and the 1st Cavalry Division, and was wounded twice in action. His personal awards include the Bronze Star with "V" device for valor for "extraordinary acts of courage under fire", and the Purple Heart with one Oak Leaf Cluster.
He has made three films about Vietnam —Platoon (1986), Born on the Fourth of July (1989), and Heaven & Earth (1993). He has called these films a trilogy, though they each deal with different aspects of the war. Platoon is a semi-autobiographical film about Stone's experience in combat. Born on the Fourth of July is based on the autobiography of Ron Kovic. Heaven & Earth is a true story of a Vietnamese girl whose life is drastically affected by the war.
Stone has won three Academy Awards. His first "Oscar" was for Best Adapted Screenplay for Midnight Express (1978). He won Academy Awards for Directing Platoon and Born on the Fourth of July, Other films whose screenplays he participated in are Conan the Barbarian (1982), Scarface (1983), Year of the Dragon (1985), 8 Million Ways to Die (1986) and Evita (1996). In addition, he has written or taken part in the writing of every film he has directed, except for U Turn (1997). The very first film that he directed professionally was the obscure horror picture Seizure (1974).
A distinct feature in Oliver Stone's movies is the use of a multitude of different cameras and film formats, from VHS to 8mm film to 70mm film. He sometimes uses several formats in a single scene, as in JFK (1991) and Natural Born Killers (1994).
