100,000 Pageview Special: A Q&A With Graham Badenhausen

Hey guys! I have left you guys waiting for a little while for this special. Well, here it is guys! I really enjoy all you guys do for this blog and I am very happy we have finally received our first "big" milestone. I couldn't have done it without you guys! We are also inching closer to our next big milestone, so I can't wait to do that for you guys! So, this is for you guys!

So, for today's milestone special, I have fellow music blogger, Graham Badenhausen here to answer some questions with me! I have completely picked these questions out of my head, and also some questions that helped me get to know Graham a little more! My answers will be highlighted in blue, and Graham's will be in orange, for you're reference. So, let's get going guys!


1. What is/are your favorite music genre(s) and why?

Jack's Answer: My favorite music genre has pretty much always been pop. I enjoy the different experimental sounds we hear with pop everyday. I enjoy the diversity in the genre and I like to hear something new once in a while, without leaving the safety of my favorite genre. I also like other genres such as R&B and country, but pop is mainly my favorite.

Graham's Answer: My favorite music genre happens to be pop. I enjoy some other genres like R&B, country, hip hop, and more, but pop just appeals to me the most. It's what you usually hear on the radio, so that is probably why.


2. What is your favorite movie/television genre(s) and why?

Jack's Answer: I love comedy movies and television. I really don't enjoy anything other than that. I like comedy, because I love to laugh, and they are fairly easy to process, as all you have to do is relax and enjoy and just laugh at the hilarious parts, instead of putting so much focus into it.

Graham's Answer: Action and comedy are my two favorites. If I had to choose one, it would probably be comedy because you don't necessarily need to process a lot of information. You can just sit back and laugh at the jokes. This is going to sound really generic, but I like action because I like when stuff is going on.


3. What is your favorite movie and why?

Jack's Answer: This will be weird, and it's not even a comedy. I have loved Finding Nemo my whole entire life, it has definitely been my favorite movie since I was basically one year old. I have so many Nemo themed things it's not even funny. I have pillows, sheets, pool toys, and stuffed animals, as well as various books. I don't technically use any of them anymore, but I have watched it at least a hundred times and I will always love it.

Graham's Answer: I can't choose between two movies for my favorite. The title goes to either Pitch Perfect 2 or The Blind Side. Pitch Perfect 2 is just hilarious and I love the music as well. The Blind Side is just a really inspirational and action-packed true story.


4. What is your favorite television show and why?

Jack's Answer: I don't necessarily have a favorite television show. I love cartoons, haha. SpongeBob SquarePants has pretty much been my favorite show since first or second grade, and I have pretty much every home video release of it. I enjoy the show, as it is funny and I just love animation. I also enjoy various ABC comedies, like Modern Family and Blackish, that I watch as well, but SpongeBob SquarePants is just so lit, I can't even deal. Haha.

Graham's Answer: My favorite television show right now is The Walking Dead, which some of you may know. I can't really explain why for this one, but there is suspense, action, and the show keeps things moving along with an interesting plot. 


5. How old are you? When is your next birthday?

Jack's Answer: I am 14 at the moment. My birthday is April 24th, and I will be 15 then, even though I don't really want to be 15.

Graham's Answer: I am 12 right now. My birthday is March 10th, which is coming up, so I will be 13.


6. What grade are you in at school?

Jack's Answer: I am in 9th grade at school, so a freshman.

Graham's Answer: I am in 7th grade. I can't really develop a sentence about that.


7. What is your favorite school subject and why?

Jack's Answer: This year, I am enjoying my English class, but I'm not exactly sure why. I really just have been cruising through that class this year.

Graham's Answer: My favorite school subject is math. It's really hard this year in high level algebra, but my brain is just good with numbers. It's just an interesting way to process information I like learning new concepts as well.


8. What is your least favorite school subject and why?

Jack's Answer: I don't really like math this year as much, just because I'm not entirely good at understanding every concept, even though I still get pretty good grades. It's not too hard so far, but it's starting to get a little bit harder in my Geometry class.

Graham's Answer: My least favorite school subject is definitely social studies. The thing is that we learn about things from 200 years ago that no one cares about. Then reaching that and writing an essay on it is very hard. Plus, I don't like my teacher this year.


9. Do you play any sports? If so, at what level?

Jack's Answer: We have three sports levels at our high school. There is modified for 7th and 8th graders, junior varsity for 9th and 10th graders, and varsity for 11th and 12th graders. I play soccer at the varsity level, although I had to quit this past year due to leg injuries for the first time since first grade. I also coached my little brother's basketball team this past season, so that may count, sort of.

Graham's Answer: For level, we don't have varsity yet in 7th grade. I play soccer year-round and baseball in the spring and summer. I ski in the winter every weekend at a mountain called Stratton, as we have a condo there. I used to do racing, but now I just ski for fun. I've done track for the past two years, but I don't know if I'm doing it this year because it's kind of boring.


10. Is school generally easy-going for you? Do you get good grades?

Jack's Answer: Yes. I have always loved school, and I am an honors student at school, which means I take more advanced courses compared to the regular ones. I have one of the highest averages each quarter of the year. In fact, last school year, I won "Most Outstanding 8th Grade Boy", so that was very good for me. I also have tons of work, like a massive research project for English and Social Studies, which is called National History Day, which I just finished. I did a website on the Korean War this year. I didn't really enjoy the topic, as it was pretty boring. We get judged on that in 8th, 9th, and 10th grade at a museum for regional competition to see if we come in 1st or 2nd place, to move on to states competition, and if we win there, we move on to national competition in Washington D.C., so it's kind of a big deal if we win. That is actually coming up on March 4th for me.

Graham's Answer: Usually, everything works out and it is pretty easy. It's more the amount of work that's tough, not so much the difficulty. My grades are definitely good, as I usually get straight A's every semester. We have four semesters, though, and not two, as I believe most schools have that.


11. Do you like school events, such as dances?

Jack's Answer: I loved my junior high dances. People do go out in our grade, as we are in high school now, and I did have a date to one of my 7th grade dances. However, I didn't go to my first Homecoming this year, as I felt like it was kind of a waste of time and money for some reason, and I kind of regret it.

Graham's Answer: I do like and attend school events. People go out in our grade, but there aren't necessarily school dances. They have these things at school, three a year, for every grade. They call them "Teen Canteens". There is food, basketball in the gym, music in the cafeteria, games like ping pong in the halls, and much more. They're fun, as I attend them with my friends.


12. What do you enjoy doing with your friends?

Jack's Answer: Well, I lost my best friend this past year over ridiculousness, so now I have a small circle of like four or five friends, and we sadly don't do much. I used to go to the movies and have sleepovers with my best friend, but that clearly doesn't happen anymore.

Graham's Answer: I enjoy doing stuff like going over to friend's houses, having sleepovers, going into town, and sometimes going to the movies. I usually go to town on Fridays, but after I got to town, I leave to ski in Vermont at Stratton and stay until Sunday. So, I can't really hang out with friends on winter weekends, unless we either don't go one week, or they come with me, which happens sometimes. I live in New Jersey, so it takes me three and a half hours to get there. 


13. Are you the jealous type?

Jack's Answer: Yes, I am definitely the jealous type. I do get jealous if my friends talk to people and grow closer to them, but that's not really an issue for me, due to my small circle of friends. I may get jealous if a crush is with someone else, but I haven't really had many crushes. 

Graham's Answer: Honestly, yes, I do get jealous (like Nick Jonas :P). If someone starts dating someone I have a crush on, that could be something, or, maybe if someone I don't like or find annoying starts talking to one of my friends. I usually do a good job of hiding it, though.


14. Do you have any talents unknown to some people?

Jack's Answer: I like to sing, and no one has heard me, as I kind of have stage fright when it comes to that. Many people actually don't know I have a blog, but they know I like music, so that is all that comes to mind for me.

Graham's Answer: This is pretty funny, because blogging is the first thing that comes to my mind when I say this. Most of my friends don't really know about my blog or that I'm super into music, really. If they do, they don't really care all that much. That is all I can really think of. 


15. What is your favorite food?

Jack's Answer: I love to cook my own food, and I am a vegetarian, besides bacon every once in a while, haha. I really love making my homemade cheese and kale ravioli, because it is really good.

Graham's Answer: My favorite food is bacon (another one!). That was a DJ Khaled and Nick Jonas reference. That's actually half just a joke and half right. My real favorite food is just pizza. I like it with bacon (yes!) and olives.


16. What are some of your pet peeves?

Jack's Answer: I hate when people chew with their mouths open and smack their lips rather loudly. It annoys me when I'm trying to concentrate on something or even talk. I also hate when people ignore me when I'm talking to them, as it is very rude, as well as when people talk bad about me behind my back (I absolutely hate these kinds of people!). So, yeah, those are some of my main pet peeves.

Graham's Answer: I find it really annoying when people in school are walking really slow and talking with their friends, who take up the whole hallway. I have to find some way around them, but I usually can't. So, then I end up being late for class. I have many more pet peeves, but that is the only one I can recall at the moment.


17. Do you have have any celebrity crushes? If not, any real ones?

Jack's Answer: I don't recall any celebrity crushes, but I have in the past kind of liked Selena Gomez. I am not naming any of my real crushes, so yeah.

Graham's Answer: Oh gosh, haha. There's no way I'm naming anyone I like at school (even though you wouldn't even know who they were). I'll name my celebrity crushes. They are Selena Gomez, who you all know and Emily Kinney, who plays Beth Greene on The Walking Dead. Don't ask why.


18. Are you competitive? If so, what drives you to be?

Jack's Answer: Eh. It depends on what I'm doing. Not really much to say here. 

Graham's Answer: I'm really only competitive if there's a prize or I care about something. Those two things I just mentioned are what drives me to be competitive. If the competition affects me, I am.


19. What social media app is your favorite and why?

Jack's Answer: I like Facebook a lot and I enjoy making Funimates from time to time. I like Snapchat a lot as well, but Instagram is sort of fading on me. I like to interact with friends when they're not around, so that's a cool thing about it. I also stalk people from time to time, haha.

Graham's Answer: My favorite social media app happens to be what I'm typing this on, Instagram. Usually, social media apps are popular for a little while, and then they fade away. Instagram and Snapchat seem to be the two that stick with people. I use Snapchat, but I'm not a huge fan of it, as it's all about streaks and everyone saying "snr" and "100 @_____." On Instagram, you can see people's photos forever (and stalk them), while commenting normally. I can't really explain. 


20. What is your favorite color? 

Jack's Answer: I like a teal kind of color. I have always liked that color because it's a blend of my two favorite colors, blue and green.

Graham's Answer: Light green is my favorite color, I don't know why, but it's just interesting.


21. Do you have any siblings? If so, how old are they? How big is your immediate family?

Jack's Answer: I have two younger brothers, one is 9 years old and the other is 13 years old. I have a mother and a father too, haha. So, I have five people in my immediate family.

Graham's Answer: I have a 10 year-old brother and a 13 year-old chocolate lab (if that counts). Then, my mom and dad, plus me, so four, or five if you include my dog.


22. What is your favorite holiday and why?

Jack's Answer: I love the winter holiday spirit, so Christmas is definitely my favorite holiday. My mom makes so many kinds of cookies, and I enjoy making them with her, and they really are good. I also love choosing gifts for my friends and family, and I also anticipate receiving things on my Christmas List in return.

Graham's Answer: My favorite holiday is Christmas. We have a long break from school and teachers usually don't give us work over the break. I also get many presents that are pretty much everything I want every year. I give, even though I don't necessarily like to. I'm so greedy.


23. What is your favorite thing about blogging?

Jack's Answer: I enjoy music so much, and I really like sharing my opinions with others. My favorite way to do that is through my personal chart, The Hot 45 Chart, out weekly. I also like providing entertainment for my viewers and I just really enjoy working with numbers and statistics as well, which are incorporated into my charts, so that is also a really fun part of blogging.

Graham's Answer: My favorite thing about blogging is sharing and explaining my opinions. I definitely prefer that over typing up my own charts. Entrant previews are probably my most favorite part, just because I like being able to explain what I like and dislike about a song and afterwards seeing if others agree with me or not.


24. Who/what is your favorite artist/band of all time and why?

Jack's Answer: You all probably know by now that I love Taylor Swift. I enjoy her musical diversity between country and pop and she really is a talented, as well as kind, giving back to some charity. I enjoy most of her old country songs, like Mine, Love Story, Picture To Burn, The Story Of Us, and Fearless. I also enjoy her newer pop songs like Blank Space, Shake It Off, Bad Blood, Wildest Dreams, and Style. So, yeah. I also have a Tumblr account dedicated to her. I really enjoy her personality and I really admire her as a role model. I know a lot about her and I wish to see her in concert on her next tour, so I hope she releases that surprise album soon. Her instrumentals in her music are also really nice to listen to, so yeah, that is why she is my favorite artists.

Graham's Answer: My favorite band of all time is Maroon 5. Currently, they're not as I feel like they are turning into "the Adam Levine band", but they are definitely my favorite band of all time. They have put out some phenomenal music, such as This Love, Payphone, One More Night, Sugar, She Will Be Loved, Misery, Daylight, Maps, and many more songs that I am not going to list. They are very original and see music in a very creative way. Adam Levine has incredible vocals and there is just magic created with all of the instruments and singing.


So, that's it guys! Thank you, Graham for participating in this post, and I will see you guys in my next post! Thanks guys!


Love you guys and live life to the fullest!

~ Jack and Graham :)