Thanks to our friends over at Broadway.Tv (Click there to watch the video interview), I was able to interview none other than Miss Julia Stiles for CollegeCandy’s “5 Questions We Ask Everyone.” Julia and Bill Pullman are co-starring in the Broadway show “Oleanna,” a play about tension between a college student, Carol (Stiles) and her professor (portrayed by Bill Pullman). Though Julia is familiar with the stage, this is her Broadway debut (and she is unfamiliar with wooing her professors…).

I met with Broadway.Tv in the press room for Oleanna where cameras and reporters interviewed Julia, Bill and director Doug Hughes, firing questions about the intricate plotlines and the dynamic relationship between the two characters. “Oleanna” only has two actors on stage for the entire play and the high drama between the two characters was a primary focus for all the reporters. Both Stiles and Hughes likened the performance to “a sporting event,” noting that working on the play is so powerful, the emotions are akin to an adrenaline rush.

I was able to sit down with Julia and chat with her one-on-one and capture her insights on the play, college and… Sesame Street?

5 Questions We Ask Everyone:

1. What’s the most trouble you’ve ever gotten into?
The most trouble I’ve gotten into? Oh my God. Well you know, I’m very good at… not getting caught. It’s not that I’ve not gotten into trouble, I’m just good at not getting caught.

2. What are some things you can’t live without?
Running and swimming. I love exercise. It helps me blow off steam, helps to calm down.

3. What’s your motto/advice you live by?
I wish I had a motto. I don’t know. It’s like one of those things I’ll think of later.

4. What’s your favorite song to belt out at the bar/in the car/for karaoke?
I’m obsessed with “I Feel it All” by Feist and of course “1, 2, 3 ,4″. I just saw that she did that for Sesame Street. It’s really awesome.

5. Ten years from now you will be….
I’d love to be still working, acting, doing what I love. You know what’s funny? I can’t even think beyond March, until this play closes. Read More »

Strong women are hard to find – at least, they are in movies and TV. The roles offered to women in mainstream entertainment tend to fall into an alarmingly narrow range: victim, wet dream, and killer bitch, with a long-suffering wife or girlfriend thrown occasionally into the mix. These parts are not only far from aspirational, they have little or nothing to do with the realities of the women who watch them.

Now, here’s the good news. Though they’re not easy to come by, great female characters do exist: tough, smart, funny, complicated women, who give normal girls something to shoot for, or at least allow us to indulge in some quality couch time without sacrificing our souls to the dark altar of the Chick Flick.

Here, a roundup of recent favorites.

4. Veronica Mars, Veronica Mars

Veronica Mars – the sharp, sarcastic teen detective at the center of the WB’s much-beloved (and cancelled) series by the same name – triumphed over her show’s painfully cute premise to become one of the best female characters in recent years, due in large part to a fantastic performance by Kristin Bell. The writing didn’t hurt, either; Veronica worked several startlingly dark cases, including her own date rape, but she was never portrayed as a victim, and the show’s witty, self-aware dialogue kept it from dissolving into melodrama. Read More »

Of course I’m all for doing whatever makes you happy. If not having sex makes you happy, then by all means keep on not having sex. But you probably shouldn’t waste your time convincing me to join you in not having sex; after all, I don’t try to convince you to have sex.

In a recent New York Times article titled “Students of Virginity,” about college students who choose to abstain from sex, one founder of the Harvard abstinence club said, “We wanted to make abstinence look fun; interesting.” OK, I understand how abstaining from sex can be safer than actually having sex. But abstinence is fun? I wasn’t aware.

Choosing to abstain from sex until marriage is a personal choice you make, and I’m not quite sure I understand the need for abstainers to work on convincing others that their way is best. On Valentine’s Day 2007, members of the True Love Revolution sent out valentines to freshman girls saying, “Why wait? Because you’re worth it.” Read More »

Today, April 2, eighteen beautiful Angolan women will gather in Luanda to compete in a very special pageant. They will hail from the eighteen diverse provinces of Angola yet are sure to have at least one commonality—they have all been maimed in landmine accidents. Even more unique, the winner takes home a prosthetic leg from a leading Orthopedic clinic.

Several of the contestants are profiled on the pageant’s website. Their stories speak for themselves.

Miss BENGUELA: An unemployed 32 year old widow and mother of three. She sells tomatoes when she can get them. Her landmine accident occurred while she was tending fields—at the age of eight.

Miss BIÉ: A 30 year old unemployed single mother of four who dreams of being a nurse. While tending fields at the age of 15 a landmine exploded.

Miss CUANDO CUBANGO: A 30 year old single mother of two who dreams of becoming an economist. A landmine went off while she was tending fields at the age of twelve.

Miss CUANZA SUL: A 25 year old who ran into a landmine while escaping an attack from soldiers at the age of 15. She dreams of becoming a nurse. Read More »