Wow. I can’t believe I was nominated for this award. Thank you so much Jia from Film & Nuance for this nomination. I really enjoy reading your blog and am glad to see you enjoy my blog as much as I do yours.
The Liebster Award is an online award for bloggers to gain more support, recognition and just to get to know the person behind the blogger. It also helps others to discover new blogs and to build a sense of community in the blogging world.
How does the Liebster Award Work? Here are the rules:
- Thank the blogger(s) who nominated you
- Answer the 11 questions the blogger gives you
- Nominate 11 bloggers that you think are deserving of the award but more importantly help to promote newer bloggers with fewer followers.
- Let the bloggers know you nominated them
- Give them 11 questions of your own
Well, I’m really excited about this. Thank you again for nominating me for this award Jia. Now, let’s get to answering your questions.
1.What is your favourite hobby other than blogging(if it already is)? And why do you love it so much?
Well, I have a couple favorite hobbies to be honest. And I can’t choose between all of them because I enjoy them all equally. But two of them do go hand in hand. My favorite hobbies are reading, writing, playing video games, and coloring. I really enjoy reading because I love stories, love being introduced to characters whose hearts bleed on the page, and just love seeing how a story develops. I just love being placed in a whole new world with no idea what I’m getting myself into. I love reading because I can go to a whole other place entirely without leaving the comforts of my home. And the same can be said with writing because reading and writing sort of go hand in hand with each other. But with writing, I also enjoy doing it because I love being able to express my own thoughts and feelings as well as seeing my writing improve. I love writing because I’m able to tell my own stories, create my own characters with a unique mindset of their own. I enjoy video games because they are very immersive. In a video game, you play as a character with their own personality who interacts with the environment around them. Usually with this character, there is some sort of story and conflict you have to deal with. But those aren’t the only type of video games you can play too. There are some video games where you create your own character and are placed in an environment where you have to deal with surviving and completing missions in order to gain experience and gain more abilities. I enjoy these video games as well because they allow the player to choose their own destination and broaden their imagination. I love video games because each one is different and I feel like when I play them, I’m seeing a different type of story unfold. I love video games because I love immersing myself in a completely different world and seeing the results of my character’s actions unfold. Lastly, I enjoy coloring too. I enjoy coloring whenever I get the chance to do it because it’s relaxing. Whenever I feel like I’m stressed out or am having a particular rough day, I feel like coloring helps me get out of that state of mind and put me in a more peaceful place where only positive thinking is allowed.
An example of one of the many coloring pages I’ve completed.
Not to say I don’t enjoy blogging on WordPress. Because I wanted to talk about other hobbies outside of my blog that you might’ve not known about already (though I have a post about coloring on my blog and I blog about books and video games a lot).
2.What are your top 3 movies of all time? And your worst 3?
Well, I feel like my answers to this question could potentially get people mad at me. You’ll see in a minute why. Okay, so I’d have to say my three favorite films would be all of the Harry Potter movies, The Hunger Games Catching Fire, and Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. Harry Potter, both the books and movies as a series are a big part of my life. If you don’t know this already, I’m a big fan of the series. Since middle school, I’ve been really into the series, reading the books whenever I get the chance and watching the movies to relieve the moments from the books that were included in the films. I enjoy Catching Fire because I enjoyed reading the series quite a bit, but out of all of the books and movies in the series/trilogy, Catching Fire was my favorite. I enjoyed watching it on the screen just as much as I enjoyed reading it, watching as Katniss once again enters the games she thought she’d never have to be a part of again. And Beauty & the Beast is one of my favorite Disney films because the main character Belle is a character I feel like I can strongly relate to.
Now for my three least favorite films, time to deal with some mad people. I would have to say my least three favorite films are Forrest Gump, Finding Nemo, and Inkheart. Now, I don’t dislike these films completely, just don’t like them as much as other people might. With Forrest Gump, I thought the story was interesting. My problem with it is that I felt like the movie was too long and I didn’t find it quite as funny as most people think it is. I just had a hard time sitting through it and just didn’t see the appeal of it like everyone else and don’t plan on watching it ever again unless I feel the need to give it another chance. With Finding Nemo, I did enjoy it the first time I watched it. My problem with it stems from the one daycare I went to whenever I was in elementary school. Whenever Finding Nemo first came out and I saw it for the first time, I really enjoyed it. But whenever it came out on video, our daycare got it and all of the kids at daycare kept asking for us to watch it. Every. Single. Day. Now, I know that doesn’t bother some people, but I’m one of those people who just can’t watch the same thing every day over and over again. Because whatever it is I’m watching loses its appeal to me then. And that’s what happened with Finding Nemo. I enjoyed it the first couple times I watched it, but then its charm wore off on me after seeing it for the twelfth time in a row. And I haven’t really watched it since those days because even though I know the chance of me still disliking it are slim, I still have no interest in watching it because of the amount of times I’d seen it when I was younger. Inkheart is a movie based off of the book by Cornelia Funke, which is a book I really enjoy reading. It had been made into a movie whenever I was in high school and I was really excited when I found out it was being made until a film. Until I saw the trailer and realized how much of the book isn’t actually in the film. But I still saw it anyway, hoping against hope that it wasn’t going to be a complete disappointment. And it was good, not overtly horrible, but it still wasn’t as good as the book. They took out so much from the book that I get sad thinking about how much better the film could’ve been if they’d just stuck to the way Cornelia Funke wrote the story. So I was more disappointed with Inkheart than anything, even though I do find the movie to be somewhat okay and find myself watching it from time to time.
3.If you had a chance to rewind life to any point in your life, would you? If yes, then to which point in your life? If no, why not?
I’m going to have to say no on this one. Because while there are some moments in my life I wish I never had to live, I wouldn’t be the same person I am today. I’ve gone through so much in the 23 years I’ve been alive and I feel like I wouldn’t be the same person I am today if I hadn’t gone through all of those struggles, dealt with all of those personal things. So while I do sometimes wish I didn’t have to deal with certain things in my life, I’m glad I did. Because I wouldn’t be the person I am today without having to deal with all of those hardships.
4.Name your most anticipated 2016 movies?
While Whiskey Tango Foxtrot is already in theaters here in the United States, I still have yet to go and see it. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot is centered around a reporter named Kim Barker (played by Tina Fey) who takes an assignment in Kabul, Afghanistan. While there, she finds herself in the middle of a war zone and meets a fellow journalist who takes her under her wing. I want to go and see it one day because it looks like a film I’d be interested in and because Tina Fey is a great actress. It also has to do with journalists going to report in war zones, which is something I’ve heard of happening but have never actually seen.
I would go into the details of the plot of The Jungle Book, but if you’ve ever seen Disney’s version then you already know the premise of this film. Despite that this movie is a remake, I want to see it because it looks like it’ll be a very promising film. I want to see it not only because I enjoyed The Jungle Book as a kid, but because the cast in the film is full of names I don’t recognize.
Since I’ve already seen the other two films in this series (though, I’ve not read the books yet), I might as well see this. Yes, I know it’s already released, but I want to see it since I’ve seen the others already, though the second film didn’t excite me quite as much as Divergent.
And lastly, I also want to see The Forest. Another movie that’s already in theaters since January this year, this film is a type of movie I’d want to see because it looks scary and looks like something I’d enjoy.
I’m sorry all of the movies I’ve chosen that I’m excited about for this year are movies that have already been released. But these are the movies that have come out this year that I’m really excited about seeing.
5. Recall your favourite childhood memory or a particular instance where you felt overjoyed?
I don’t have a particular favorite childhood memory. I have a lot of moments from my childhood I enjoyed, such as whenever I first discovered my love for video games and all of the moments I spent time with my family. Most of my time with my family I particularly enjoyed was whenever we would go to visit my grandmother in Pennsylvania and see my aunt, uncle and cousin in Boston. So to answer this question, I don’t have a particular childhood memory or instance where I felt overjoyed.
6.If you could be any character from any movie/tv series/book, who would you be? And why?
Luna Lovegood from the Harry Potter series is one of my absolutely favorite characters. She is an odd duck who gets picked on by her peers, but is still friendly and nice to people, even when they treat her badly. She is someone who doesn’t care too much about society’s standards, but cares enough about the people she calls friends. She’s someone I would want to be because she’s one of the few people who believes Harry when he says Voldemort is back in Order of the Phoenix and is the type of friend I would love to have in my corner. She is a unique personality, which is something I strive to be.
7. Would you rather lead a safe, conventional and routine life or a life bound only by your own rules? Why?
I would probably want to lead a life that’s bound to my own rules, whatever those rules may be. There’s nothing wrong with a safe, conventional and routine life. It’s just that I have certain morals that I stand by and I would want to make sure I follow those. And if living a safe life interfered with my own conscious, then I would have to break out of that life. I also want to follow my own path in the world, wherever that may take me. I don’t want to follow society’s standards of what I should be doing with my future, I want to do what’s the best for me. Even if it means not leading a safe, conventional life.
8. What are the collectibles (e.g. posters, toys, figurines, plushies etc.)/ objects do you have and are most proud of? It could be movie/book related or anything really.
When my sister and I were little, we would collect these teenie beanie babies from McDonald’s. And we really loved them quite a lot. We would play with them, snuggle with them and just have them around with us. They are some of the nicest plushies I own and I’m proud that I was able to get so many of them and hope to one day pass them on whenever I have children of my own.
9. Walking in the park or walking in the city?
Walking in the park would be nice because you’d have lots of pretty trees and nature surrounding you. Unlike with the city, you wouldn’t have to deal with the hustle and bustle of everyday life and could enjoy the peace and quiet.
10. If you could be fluent in one other language, what would it be?
Hmmmm… tricky, tricky question. There are multiple languages I’m interested in learning. I tried French in college and while that didn’t work out so well, I want to try learning French again. But I’m also interested in learning Japanese and Hungarian as well. I want to learn Japanese because I’m really interested in their food and think it’d be cool to go there someday. Plus I watch Japanese anime from time to time so it’d be a whole lot easier if I knew Japanese so I wouldn’t have to worry about subtitles too much. And I want to learn Hungarian because my mother’s side of the family is Hungarian. So I think it would be nice to learn some of my family’s language so I can better understand my family ancestry.
11. Why did you start blogging?
I started blogging in July 2015 because after I graduated college, I wanted to get back into the habit of writing again and wanted to gain more writing experience by writing in a format I knew I’d enjoy. I experimented with blogging during the blogging class I took at Columbia College when I wrote my blog Healthy Body Peace of Mind and discovered how much I enjoyed it. But with this blog, I wanted to do something different. Instead of focusing on heart health, I wanted to write about topics I enjoyed, such as writing about books and video games. I then quickly realized I enjoy sharing my personal writing with my followers too, which is how I decided to post some of my fictional pieces. And that is how Vook: Books + Video Games was born.
The eleven blogs I want to nominate for this award are:
A Drip of Truth A Drop of Lies
And here are the 11 questions for the bloggers I’ve nominated:
1. What inspired you to create your blog?
2. What is your favorite book? And what book did you read that you think is overrated and why?
3. What is your favorite animal? How did you come to love that animal?
4. What books are you looking forward to reading this year?
5. What are your thoughts on video games? Why do you see video games in this way?
6. What is the biggest challenge you’ve experienced since creating your blog? How did you overcome that challenge?
7. Recall one of your favorite places to travel. What do you enjoy about this place and what are some of your favorite memories that you’ve created there?
8. What are some of your writing habits?
9. Are you a morning person or a night owl? Why?
10. What are some of your favorite television shows, both from your childhood and currently? Why did you enjoy the shows you watched as a child and why do you like the shows you watch now?
11. What is your dream job? What are you doing now to one day get that job?
I look forward to seeing the blogs I’ve nominated respond to these questions.
Rainy Day's Books, Video Games and Other Writings 