A little while ago I asked you if you had any questions for me. Well, it appears as if some of you did. A few more than I was expecting in fact!
As promised, I’ve answered every single one of them. Aren’t I good? Whether I’ve answered them honestly is a totally different subject. I never said that I would. Right?
What inspires you to get out of bed everyday? (From Scott)
The cheesy answer – That today’s going to bring something better than yesterday. The realistic answer – On a weekday, very little! On a weekend, the knowledge that I have two whole days to have my way with.
Ryan Gosling, Tom Hardy, Michael Fassbender… Sleep with, marry, chuck off a cliff? (From Scott)
Sleep with – Ryan Gosling (I can’t justify keeping him to myself.)
Marry – Tom Hardy (I am smitten by him!)
Chuck Off a Cliff – Michael Fassbender (But I really don’t want to! Scott, you are a mean question master.) What’s your favorite movie? (From Nostra)
Very tricky question. There are a lot of films I love and I’m betting the answer to this would change on an almost daily basis. But I think I have to go with Gladiator. I remember Gladiator as the first film I ever bought on DVD. I’d never seen those fabled DVD Extras until I saw them here and was blown away. Look at all the behind the films stuff they did! Having the film on DVD also meant it was ridiculously easy to watch it at the drop of a hat. Which I did. It was the first film score I fell in love with. Probably started off my obsession with film scores. There’s nothing I would change in Gladiator. It is a perfect film, to me. And my favourite of all time.
What category/genre of film do you love? What type of films do you hate? (From Chris)
I love them all! Is that an answer? No? Ok then. If I had to put one film genre above all else it would be sci-fi and fantasy. See what I did there? Yes, I cheated a little. But they’re often put together. Why do I love this genre? It’s film magic that happens when you see a top-notch sci-fi or fantasy film. There’s so much thought and creativity that needs to go into them. To get a decent one that is. It’s a genre where it’s incredibly easy to cobble together an atrociously bad film. But getting it right, is tricky.
I don’t know whether I actually hate any type of film. I will watch and have watched absolutely anything and everything. I do dislike films that take themselves too seriously. If they’re too pompous and know it all. Where it’s all pretentious. Film for me is about fun and enjoyment.
Who are your favourite actors and actresses? (From Vinnieh)
Again, I find this question a little hard to answer. Whenever I sit and think about it, I end up just drawing a blank! But here goes…
Actors – Gary Oldman, Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Daniel Craig, Bill Murray, Ryan Gosling, Vincent Cassel, Bryan Cranston, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Eric Bana, Christian Bale, Jake Gyllenhaal.
Actresses – Angelina Jolie, Natalie Portman, Alison Brie, Kate Winslet, Emma Stone, Julia Stiles, Jennifer Connelly, Christina Hendricks, Elisabeth Moss.
As a photography expert, what camera would you recommend I buy for taking stills and some video on holiday? (From Pete)
Without a doubt, the Panasonic TZ18. I adore the whole TZ series of cameras from Panasonic. They are a bit pricey, especially the newer models. But you can’t go wrong with one of these. When you’re on holiday you want to just be able to take good photos without having to worry about the mechanics of taking a good photos. Which is why I’d choose this camera. They have incredible zooms on them. Superzoom! They’re not huge so carrying one around with you while on holiday is no problem. The quality of the images and video are amazing. Video especially. Panasonic have done wonders in that department.
As you’re keen on photography, which movie you consider the MOST beautiful you’ve ever seen? From visual standpoint that is. (From Ruth)
This is a really hard question. There are so many films I’ve seen where I can pick out a certain scene that will blow me away, just by how it looks. But those are isolated scenes. Thinking of just one film that is just beautiful? I think that has to go to Tarsem Singh’s The Fall. It isn’t the best film in the world, but visually, it blows me away. You can see there has been so much care in every single scene. Everything from the colour palettes to the framing of them. I am just wowed by it every single time I see it.
But, as I can never just choose one, I’ve picked a few screen caps from some of my favourite films that I can think of and chucked them together here:
Who are your favourite cinematographers? (From gEORGE)
You know what? I have no idea. I can pick out films that I love the look of and I’ll make a note of the cinematographer when watching the credits, but I can’t name any off the top of my head.
What inspired you to get into web design? (From Eric)
Funny story. (Or more than likely, really not.) Back when I was just 15 years old I wanted to learn more about computermabobs. So, one long summer I sat down and created my own website. I taught myself everything I needed to know by way of trial and error. It was a steep learning curve, but I really enjoyed it. The website was well received and was online for just over 10 years. I never really thought of it as a career though. Always a hobby I enjoyed that I indulged myself with on my weekends. I decided to make a full-time move into web design after I spent 1 year’s worth of IT consultancy followed by 6 months of computer programming. Neither really stuck and I wanted to see if I could make a go of this web design thing. And I did. I got a great first job as a web designer and had an incredibly inspirational manager who really pushed me further with my design.
What kind of music do you listen to? (From Eric)
Almost everything. A bit chunk of music I listen to is from the movies. From film scores to soundtracks. Mostly scores. Favourite film score composers are Hans Zimmer, Harry Gregson-Williams, Mark Mancina, Patrick Doyle, James Newton Howard and Brian Tyler, to name a handful.
My all time favourite band is the Foo Fighters. Dave Grohl is my hero. I’ve only ever seen them live a couple of times, but I’ve got every single one of their albums and just love them. My taste is pretty eclectic and I also love Ladyhawke, Garbage, Muse (more of their earlier stuff), Metric, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Linkin Park, Queens of the Stoneage, No Doubt, The Black Keys, Flight of the Conchords, She & Him, Daft Punk, Bloc Party, The National, Wolfmother, The Prodigy and anything from the 80s! Thanks to my very good friend, Mel, I’ve been really getting into the likes of Ladytron, Nine Inch Nails and Bat for Lashes.
Where do you see yourself (personally, professionally, and bloggingly) in the next 5 years? (personal) (From Jen)
Personally – Happy, secure, hopefully near marriage! I know it’s a sad thing to say, but seriously, I’m getting old. And worried.
Professionally – Have a successful freelance web design company going strong. Strong enough that I don’t have to be working like a dog. I can dream!
Bloggingly – Love to still have this place where I can blog. I can’t imagine not blogging. But maybe, it’ll have a lick of paint in 5 years time.
Like Queen Latifah’s character in Last Holiday, if you found out that you only have three weeks to live, what would be your last holiday? (From Jen)
It’s funny you should ask this question because I think my last holiday would have to be Hawaii. I’ve wanted to go there for such a long time. It’s got everything I could ever want out of a holiday. Stunning beaches, rainforests and everyone speaks English! I’d want my last 3 weeks of life to be as full of life as possible.
If you could act in any movie, which movie and character would you be? (From Jen)
I’d love to be Mia Torretto (Jordana Brewster’s character) in the Fast & Furious franchise – just to get to drive the cars that she does! Or Rachel Weisz’s Evelyn in The Mummy. That one’s down to the whole action/adventure/Brendan Fraser aspect.
What regrets you have? If none, how do you live your life without it? (From Lisa)
I like to believe I have no regrets. More the fact that I don’t believe you should have any regrets in your life. There’s no point in having them because there’s nothing you can do about them.
Having regrets are reminders of mistakes you think you made. And honestly, life is too short to spent time thinking about them. Think of your regrets as mini learning curves. You did that then, learn from it and move on.
In reality though, it’s hard not to think, “What if…”.
Have you ever robbed a bank? (From Fogs)
Now that would be telling. But … as I have to. Nope. Possibly.
That’s all the questions answered. Hope I’ve answered them the way you hoped for me to.
I may even do another round of this some time in the future…
Ooo, my second featuring in a blog. If that makes any sense whatsoever ๐
You’re doing well. Where’s your next blog where you’ll get mentioned?
A blog about women who leave glitter everywhere they go.
That should be YOUR blog!
You wanna chuck Fassy off a cliff?? Why?? Agree w/ Hardy though, so adorable, you should check out Rocknrolla if you haven’t already.
YAY on Gladiator! I bought the DVD AND the Blu-ray, probably will get the box set eventually, ahah.
Somehow I knew you’d say The Fall as most beautiful movie, that’d be my answer too! It’s an odd movie but oh, sooo gorgeous in a surreal kind of way.
I don’t really, but Scott posed an impossible question! How could I choose?! Hardy has won me over completely. Such a sweetheart! Haven’t seen RocknRolla, will keep an eye out for it ๐
I need to get the Gladiator boxset. Relive it in it’s blu-ray glory.
I was actually torn between The Fall and Tree of Life. I really didn’t like/get Tree of Life, but it was stunning. Beautiful cinematography. But … the enjoyment factor played into my decision so ended up choosing The Fall. Tarsem Singh knows how to make a feast for your eyes.
And Lee Pace ain’t bad to look at either. Man I wish he’s cast in more films instead of, I dunno Channing Tatum!
No, he definitely is not. Why on EARTH did he have to go and do Marmaduke!?
That was awesome and thanks for the advice on a camera! Just going to look at the TZ18 now! Speaking of Foo Fighters, will you be attending Reading Festival for their Sunday headline slot? It’s going to be sooooooooooooo gooooood!
Unfortunately, I’m not much of a festival person. Can’t deal with all the camping malarkey! Too old for it ๐ I will settle for tuning in on t’internet. I have never seen anyone handle a 100,000 crowd like Dave Grohl.
Are you going?
Wow, designed a website in high school? Impressive! So ahead of the technology curve! Tks for answering my question. You are right, even our hardships should be learning experiences. If we don’t choose to learn from them, we’d never grow.
Like that I’m considered ahead of the curve there! I was called on to do our Sixth Form Intranet. The teachers sorta loved me for it! I did get away with a few things because I was “involved with the school community”… hehe.
Nice to see answers to these questions and getting to know you a bit better ๐
Although Gladiator wasn’t the first DVD I bought (no idea which one it was) I do remember I bought it abroad, in Norway to be exact. Unfortunately when I got home I found out it wasn’t complete as the DVD with extra’s was missing, still it’s one of the few DVD’s I vividly remember buying. Awesome movie.
Ooof…back in the day when you had to be careful about regions. Seems like such a long time ago!
HAHA Great answers matey!! Poor Mr Fassbender!!
I really didn’t want to chuck him off the cliff. You are a tough question keeper Mr. Lawlor!
Love that images with the shots from various films – there’s some beautiful images contained within. I love Black Swan and one of the reasons its so great is because of images like the one featured.
Still haven’t seen Tree of Life but that shot is amazing!
I adored the lighting used in Black Swan. It was almost effortless and yet, framed shots so beautifully.
Tree of Life is a heavy film. Beautiful, but I just couldn’t get into it, nor behind it.
Nice to know a little bit of you ๐ I once took a basic web design course when I was in college, but not I can’t really remember them. I wouldn’t mind being a web designer tho (but not much time these days really).
So true about regrets! Can’t really move forward if you have one.
Nice that you love She & Him, I love them too!
I also like to take pictures without worrying the technique as well, I was recommended to have nikon P7000. It is quite nice though.
Time is always a problem! Never enough hours in the day, that’s for sure.
I saw She & Him live a couple years ago and LOVED it. Zooey has such an amazing and powerful voice.
Awesome! Somehow I had a feeling you would have great taste in music. You mentioned a few of my favorites, including The National who I can’t get enough of.
That’s funny about your web design history. I actually did the same thing — I ran a music reviews website in high school, and even had a good 30-40 contributors going at one time. I was going to go to college for web design but I realized I was always a terrible designer and just liked to do things behind the scenes. I guess that’s how I ended up doing SEO/online marketing. ๐
Fun post, Jaina! Thanks for sharing your answers.
Phew! I’ve never really thought of my music taste to be great! Usually it’s just seen as a bit random and odd! Thank you! You’ve made my day, Eric!
Funny how life works out sometimes, eh? Even better when you end up doing something you’re passionate about.
I loved reading all of these answers Jaina! How fun to see this post. ha. Couldn’t help but laugh at Fogs’ question. totally random. hahaha
Fogs… sometimes, he just can’t help himself! HA!
Such awesome post! Love your choices in the most beautiful films – I love the images you chose from Black Swan and Hanna. I also like The National – their albums could be the only ones I own and I would never get bored with their music.
I adored the symmetry they used in Hanna, especially in among the shots of her breakout scene. Beautiful! A little underrated in my eyes.
The National have some beautiful songs, but most of the time, they get me a little teary!
Thanks for the answer to my question, I think I would watch anything too. Nice to know a little more about you! This is a cool concept by the way ( :
The visuals of Rome were astonishing I remember from my cinema visit to see Gladiator. I was very impressed by everything about it, acting, story, music, you name it. A number of stars from the world of sport love that movie and find it inspiring actually: http://bit.ly/ieTCl
I like that attitude of not having regrets, good advice
Very jealous that you saw Gladiator in the cinema. I would LOVE to see it in the cinema.
Going to check out that video during my lunch break, the comments have me cracking up!
May do some more q&a’s further down the line… it was fun!