What with all the surveys I've done since I started blogging, it's always been in the back of my mind to actually create my own survey of questions that I'd actually ask someone I was trying to get to know. I don't really care what kind of toothpaste someone uses, what they wear to bed, etc., that you see on a lot of surveys that float around the Net.
So here's my Survey for Educated Grown-Ups - feel free to spread it around.
MOVIES
Three movies everyone should see someday
Citizen Kane, Lord of the Rings, The Shawshank Redemption
Guilty pleasure movie (a movie you shouldn't like, but do)
Xanadu
Most memorable Oscar moment
Anna Paquin's reaction to winning Best Supporting Actress for The Piano - she looked like she was going to pass out from hyperventilating!
Favorite movie to cheer you up
Love Actually
Movies that make you cry
A Beautiful Mind, Return of the King, Ben Hur
Favorite musical
Rent
Favorite foreign-language film
Tampopo
Scariest horror movie
Angel Heart
Favorite documentary/docudrama
Gandhi
Most disturbing movie of all time
Muholland Drive
Favorite action movie
Gladiator
Favorite James Bond movie
From Russia with Love
Star Wars or Star Trek?
Star Trek
Favorite Sci-Fi movie
Aliens
MUSIC
Favorite modern musical artist (still actively performing)
Porcupine Tree
Favorite classic musical artist (deceased)
Jeff Buckley
Vocalist you would actually want to hear sing the national anthem
Freddie Mercury
Which song(s) make you think about someone you love?
Everything by Lifehouse
What was the first album you bought/heard growing up?
Da Doo Run Run by Shaun Cassidy (hey, I'm older than most of you)
Three most-played songs on iTunes/iPod
Prodigal and Lazarus by Porcupine Tree, Day for Night by Spock's Beard
Three albums last played on iTunes/iPod
Ten by Pearl Jam, The Ladder by Yes, Nevermind by Nirvana
BOOKS
Books on your current reading list (read or about to read)
Book of Shadows, Pagan Polyamory, House of M, and Wicca by Scott Cunningham
Favorite Shakespeare piece
Twelfth Night
Favorite comic book or cartoon strip
Sandman by Neil Gaiman
Which book did you love/hate in high school?
Loved Silas Marner by George Eliot, hated The Odyssey by Homer
Favorite fictional character
Sherlock Holmes
Favorite animated character
Wolverine
ART
Favorite visual artist
John Singer Sargent
Museums you have visited
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, American Museum of Natural History, Guggenheim (NY), the Louvre, the British Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Houston Museum of Fine Art, Houston Museum of Contemporary Arts, Houston Museum of Natural Science, Columbus Museum of Art
If you were a professional artist, what kind of artist would you be?
A glass sculptor
Favorite type of live performance event
Broadway shows
Best concert / play / show that you have actually attended
Linda Eder’s debut run of Jekyll & Hyde in Houston
FAVORITES
Favorite clothing brand
Mossimo from Target seems to fit me the best, but for couture I like Dolce & Gabbana
Favorite item of clothing you own
My orange beaded diaphanous dress - never worn it in public though
What colors look best on you?
Black, dark red, dark brown, earth tones, cream
If you could have any animal as a pet, what would it be?
A winged horse
If you had to spend a million dollars without tax implications, what would you buy?
An apartment in Manhattan
Favorite beverage
Diet Mountain Dew
Favorite American president in history
George Washington
Famous person - alive or dead - that you would have lunch with
Kate Winslet
FUTURE & PAST
Where do you want to retire to?
Santa Cruz, California
What worries you the most about the future?
Terrorists
Major turning point(s) in your life and how things might have turned out differently
In 1991, I was a finalist for a job at the Sacramento Bee. They flew me out to Sacramento for a week-long tryout, but I didn't get it. If I had, I'd probably be living in California now. Also, the fire in April 2005 was obviously a turning point - if it didn’t happen, I'd probably still be married. Finally, a big turning point was meeting Tara - if I didn't, I'd probably still be in Houston.
Describe the best or worst day of your life so far
The worst day in recent memory was in February 2006 when my first job offer in New York was rescinded two days after it was extended. The best day was Oct. 14, 2005 - the day I met my new family for the first time.
What did you want to grow up to be? Why didn't you become that?
An oceanographer - didn't have the opportunity and lost interest.
Your idea of a perfect day yet to come
Visiting Glastonbury in England, participating in a ceremony at the Chalice Well in the morning, then climbing up to the Tor on a perfectly cool, breezy day, seeing a cricket match in the afternoon and taking a private tour of Stonehenge at dusk.
