Friday, 18 November 2011

Daily Exercise Tips

These days many of us follow a sedentary lifestyle that invites several health problems, which include obesity, hypertension and stress. Exercising has always been promoted as a key to a healthy and fit life. Performing exercises on a daily basis, not only helps to improve your health but also boosts self confidence and relieves stress. Exercising is a wonderful way of re-energizing your body and soul. So, have you finally decided to make exercising a part of your daily routine and want some daily exercise tips? Then, here are some simple tips for a daily exercise routine.

Daily Exercise and Workout Tips
  • It is not compulsory to join a gym for exercising. You can go for simple exercises that do not require special equipment, such as brisk walking, and running and jogging.
  • Include a variety of exercises so that you do not get bored with your daily exercise routine.
  • Always have a pair of dumbbells and a Swiss ball, so that you can perform various exercises at home.
  • You should wear a comfortable outfit while exercising. These include comfortable and properly fitted footwear and loose clothes.
  • Turn on the music every time you exercise. Listen to some good workout songs that will keep you entertained.
  • Keep a record of exercises that you have performed. For example, note down the number of push ups or sit-ups you performed. This will help you to increase the number of repetitions gradually.
  • Never overdo and see that you exercise for 30 to 60 minutes daily.
  • If you prefer working out at home, then take help of workout videos and learn the exact steps to perform various exercises.
  • You can take a break from your workout once a week.
  • Instead of drinking diet soft drinks or cold drinks, drink water. This will avoid the consumption of excess calories.
  • Always perform warm up exercises before you start your workout.
  • You should perform all types of exercises that will target all the muscles of your body.
  • If you are working out at the gym, make sure you have learn't a proper method to use the gym equipment. You may end up hurting yourself if you are unaware of the proper technique.
  • Concentrate on your breathing while performing the exercises. You should breathe out on muscle contraction and breathe in on muscle relaxation.
  • Aerobic exercises are fun and you can perform this exercise when you get bored with your monotonous exercise routine.
  • Exercise with a friend or family member to add fun and alleviate boredom.
  • Along with the cardiovascular exercises, include strength training exercises in your daily workout program, since they benefit a lot.
  • Bring a change in your workout program after every 4 weeks to avoid hitting a workout plateau.
Daily Exercise Tips for Weight Loss
  • Watch what you eat! To lose weight you need to burn more calories that you eat. So spend more energy than what you consume.
  • Do not jump on crash and fad diets and follow a healthy diet plan. Change your eating habits and increase the consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables.
  • Measure your height and find out your ideal weight, this will help you to set your goals. You should lose a minimum of one pound per week.
  • Stay away from junk and greasy foods. Also decrease the intake of high carbohydrate food products like pasta, white bread and potato.
  • Make yourself aware of the calories in different food items, this will help you to restrict the calorie intake.
  • Try different types of exercises if you get bored with the same old exercise routine.
  • Set your goals! But see that the goals are realistic and you do not starve or over exert yourself.
  • Never compare yourself with others, because everybody has different requirements and each one of us loses weight with different speeds.
  • You should sleep for eight hours to give good rest to your body.
  • Have small and frequent meals. Do not skip breakfast and follow the age old rule, "Breakfast like a king, lunch like a common man and dinner like a beggar!"
  • Increase the intake of dietary fiber as they help to absorb fats in the body.
  • Drinking water is must for good weight loss, so drink a minimum 8 glasses of water daily.
  • Activeness is key to weight loss! Avoid using elevators and climb the stairs. Walk to the store nearby, burn calories and save fuel. If you have a pet, take it with you for a walk.
Well, the list of daily exercise tips is quite long and these were some of the important ones. It is always wise to consult a physical trainer who will help you design your workout plan. Make exercising a daily requirement for your body and this will surely keep you healthy and fit. Good Luck!

Female Bodybuilding Tips

Popularity of bodybuilding among women has increased manifold in recent years. Although previously, bodybuilding was considered to be a man's domain, women today do not hesitate to enroll in a bodybuilding program. When it comes to female bodybuilding, it is often said, that women should focus more on developing their upper body as they have naturally strong legs. Here are some proven female bodybuilding tips that can help you to put on muscles without compromising on your health.

Exercises

Simple bodybuilding exercises for women are similar to those recommended for men. However, women need to concentrate more on those exercises that increase the upper body strength. Strength training exercises such as the use of dumb bells or push ups, help build up muscles. Weight training exercises strengthen the muscles whereas cardiovascular exercises help you lose excess fat.

Supplements

There are a number of bodybuilding supplements for women that do not cause any side effects and are safe and suitable for women. One such popular supplement is creatine monohydrate, that has tremendous nutritional value. Calcium body supplements designed for women, keep their bones healthy and strong. Maintaining the strength and stability of bones is extremely beneficial when it comes to bodybuilding. Even vitamin B body supplements are very useful to the body as they positively affect the skin, hair and the eyes. These supplements accelerate the metabolism of the proteins, carbs and fats. Protein bodybuilding supplements are available in powder form and can be easily mixed with a shake or a drink to promote health and fitness. These supplements allow your muscles to grow bigger. Whey protein is another supplement that helps in bodybuilding. It is very useful for bodybuilders as it promotes muscle growth. Whey protein is available in liquid form which helps you consume high amounts of protein. L-Glutine is another essential bodybuilding supplement that should be included in your diet. It is an amino acid and found naturally in the body. It carries out a number of functions including muscle preservation and protein synthesis.

Diet

A proper diet is as important as performing bodybuilding exercises, to get the desired results. Protein is one of the most important nutrients to build muscles. A diet to augment female bodybuilding must be rich in proteins. Foods such as fruits, vegetables, fish and chicken, are a great source of protein. It is advised to have a heavy breakfast as it increases metabolism. The routine of having 3 meals a day should be stopped. It is essential to eat a meal every 3 hours as the body requires nutrients regularly to repair and buildup muscle tissue. Female bodybuilding nutrition mainly involves the intake of proteins and carbohydrates. Protein is a vital nutrient to maintain metabolism and reduce fat.

Workouts

Female bodybuilding workouts which incorporate cardio exercises, are considered to be the best. Cardio workouts like running on a treadmill, should be a part of your bodybuilding program. Squats are a good way to burn calories. Other exercises that provide effective results are deadlift, bent-over barbel row and bench press. For your biceps, you need to include standing barbel curls, preacher curls and incline curls. Workouts such as hamstring curls, leg presses and calve raises, strengthen the legs. These are some female bodybuilding workouts that must be included in your training routine. Joining a workout program that covers training, nutrition and supplements, can also be beneficial for women to develop a well toned body.

These are some of the female bodybuilding tips that have been recommended by female bodybuilders and will help you accomplish your bodybuilding goals.

Apple Computer History

Apple. Quite a funny and unusual name for a multi-billion dollar corporation, isn't it? Yeah, I guess it is an odd-sounding name after all. But then as Shakespeare said, "What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet". So ideally speaking, based on this argument, Apple Computers could easily have been Mango Machines, Coconut Corporation, or for that matter, even Eggy Enterprises! So why Apple? Were the company founders ardent fans of Newton?

Well, that they may have been, but the truth is, the company got its name through an interesting incident involving the company founders Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and of course, an apple. Both of them had a special liking for apples (for various reasons) and had decided that if they weren't able to come up with a better company name by the end of the day, they would go ahead and name the company Apple Computers. Well, they couldn't think of any, and so on April 1, 1976, a company by the name of Apple Computers was officially born. Let us now go back in time and have a look at the annals of Apple computer history.

Apple Computer History - A Flashback Into Time

Let us have a look at the various milestones and developments that became important chapters in the history of Apple Computers.
  • Company Foundation: Both the co-founders, Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs met in the early part of 1970 when Steve Jobs took a summer job at the same company where Wozniak was working. After a bit of persuasion from Jobs' side to start a company of their own, Wozniak agreed, and Apple Computers formally took shape on April 1, 1976.
  • Apple I: The Apple I was the first computer that rolled out of Apple Computers in the later part of 1976. It had an initial price of $666.66, it used a cassette tape and had about 4KB of RAM. A regular television and a keyboard were the only additional accessories that were required to operate this computer.
  • Apple II: The Apple II was the next version of the Apple Computer. It was launched in 1977 and was a huge commercial success. This model featured a monitor, an inbuilt floppy disk drive, an integrated computer keyboard, and random access memory which was expandable up to 48KB. Since 1977, a series of Apple II computers were introduced such as the Apple II Plus, Apple IIe, Apple IIc, Apple IIGS, etc. Each series had certain technological advancements over its predecessors. Production of the Apple II was finally discontinued around 1993.
  • Apple III: The Apple III was another advanced version of the Apple II which was released in the early 1980s. However, it was not an improvement over the previous models of the Apple II. Instead, the Apple III turned out to be a setback for Apple Computers and therefore, was discontinued after 1983.
  • Macintosh: The Macintosh series of Apple computers was launched in the year 1984. It was the first personal computer to sport a graphical user interface (GUI). The floppy drive size had changed from the 5 inch model to the 3.5 inch model. It was powered by an 8MHz Motorola 68000 microprocessor chip and had a random access memory (RAM) capacity of 128KB. This model was known as the Macintosh 128K. It was succeeded by a model known as Macintosh 512K which had a RAM capacity of 512KB.
  • Macintosh Portable: This computer was the first portable Macintosh machine that was developed by Apple Computers. It was powered by a 16MHz Motorola 68000 chip and had 1MB of RAM which could be expanded to 5MB. It featured a standard 1.44MB floppy disk drive. However, with a weight of approx 8 kilograms, it was not exactly 'portable' in the true sense of the term.
  • PowerBook: The PowerBook series of laptop computers were produced by Apple from 1991 onwards. They were supposed to be a much improved version of the Macintosh Portable. The PowerBook 100, PowerBook 140 and PowerBook 170 were some of the models which were released in the year 1991. As further technological advancements took place, the PowerBook 190 and PowerBook 5300 were subsequently released around the years 1995 and 1996 respectively. The PowerBook G3 and PowerBook G4 were the last new models in the PowerBook series of Apple laptops, and were launched around 1998 and 2001 respectively.
  • Power Mac: This series of desktop computers was initially launched in 1994. The different models which were released as part of this series included the Power Mac 6100, 7100, 6200, 7200, 8100, 8500, 9500, 9600, etc. The Power Mac G3, G4 and G5 were the last models in this series of Apple computers before the series was discontinued in 2006.
  • MacBook Pro: The MacBook Pro was the laptop model which succeeded the PowerBook G4. It was first launched in 2006 and through several new releases and modified versions, is still available in today's market. These machines were powered by state-of-the-art Intel processors and the hardware configuration was tremendously improved to match worldwide standards. And with RAM up to 8GB and storage capacity up to 500GB, what a journey it has been from the start. This made these Apple computers compete with their worldwide competitors, and naturally sales surged.
This was a brief overview regarding Apple computer history. There are Apple computer stores all over the globe now, with a great support and after sales process in place. If you're interested in other Apple products and gadgets, you might want to take a look at Apple iPhones and Apple iPods. As I sign off, I leave you with some additional information on the history of Macintosh computers for your benefit.

Airline Job Opportunities

The airline sector... well, I apologize to call it as a 'sector', because it is no more just a sector or an area. Rather, it has evolved as an 'industry' over the years. The reason behind this is the rise in global economy, business opportunities and moreover growth in the tourism industry. Many small airline companies have stepped into this business and have contributed to growth of the airline industry. Airlines, today have eased the activity of traveling to places which were once inaccessible or took several days to be reached by a ship. Such destinations have now come closer and can be touched within hours. Moreover, the world-class facilities that airlines provide, have made them a reliable mode of overseas as well as internal transport.

This article deals with some of the airline job opportunities. Read on to know about them...

Job Opportunities in the Airline Industry

There are many job opportunities in the airline industry, the only thing is that whether you are ready for them! The airline jobs demand long working hours in the peak season, hard work and patience for development.

Cabin Crew: The most 'in demand' job in the airline industry is the cabin crew. The most important work of a cabin crew personnel is to take care of the passengers, answering to their queries and cater to their needs, serving snacks, drinks and meals to the passengers, applying first aid if situation arises etc. To become a qualified cabin crew, you need to obtain a certification for it. For this, you can join institutes that conduct the courses for air hostesses and flight stewards. These courses train and groom you for the airline industry and the duration of such courses is normally 1 year or sometimes more than that. The eligibility criteria for such courses is a higher certificate secondary or an equivalent. Most people think that cabin crew jobs are mostly meant for women and men do not have enough opportunities in it! However, I would partly agree to it, as each and every airline requires flight captains and therefore, there are ample career opportunities for men too.

Ticketing Executives: Another important job in the airline industry is the ticketing executive job. This job mainly deals with preparing itineraries for the passenger, creating PNRs (Passenger Name Record), issuing PTA (Prepaid Ticket Advice) and issuing tickets. But, doing all this is not possible unless you are properly trained in it and have the knowledge of airline codes, city codes, airport codes, ticketing rules and regulations, fare calculation procedure and techniques, usage of PAT (Passenger Air Tariff) etc. However, if you wish to pursue career as a ticketing executive, you need to complete at least a foundation ticketing course, conducted by IATA (International Air Transport Association). This is a six month course and the eligibility criteria is to have a higher secondary certificate or an equivalent. You can surf through the Internet to find out an IATA recognized institute in your city conducting courses for ticketing.

Domestic Pilots: Well, another highly paid jobs in the airline industry are the pilot jobs. Although their pay scales are high, they have to work for long hours and are considered to be highly responsible staff members. There are many flying schools that offer courses to become authorized and well-trained pilots. However, these courses are quite expensive and therefore one cannot find many people going for this career option.

Airport Jobs: Another good career option in the airlines industry is the airport jobs. Airports are huge and busy places and the airport authorities continuously require to recruit staff for efficient work at the airports. Career options at an airport are immigration officers, guest relation executives, lobby managers, custom officers, air traffic controller etc. Airlines too recruit people and send them at their airport offices to assist people for ticket reservations, cancellations, refunds, to handle customer complaints and ensure better customer service. To pursue a career in any of the airport jobs, you need to undergo proper airport training and know all the important procedures pertaining to your job.

These are some of the most common airline jobs. Hopefully you must have got an idea of the several career opportunities that you can avail while working for airlines. So go ahead and wish you a prosperous career!

Washington National Cathedral Reopens After Earthquake

The Washington National Cathedral reopened today, 10 weeks after a 5.8 magnitude earthquake shook Virgina and left cracks in the landmark.

The damage mostly occurred in the higher parts of the cathedral, which at 300 feet, is the tallest building in Washington D.C.

“What has happened over the past 10 weeks is workers have been stabilizing the building to reopen,” spokesman Richard Weinberg told ABCNews.com.

Safety measures will still be in place until all repairs are complete, including netting on the ceiling and a safety barrier on the perimeter of the building.

Weinberg said the cathedral still needs to replace the tower’s limestone pinnacles, which weigh a few tons each.

The pinnacles have been secured and have no bearing on the structural integrity of the cathedral, according to the Cathedral’s web site, however they do help to balance the weight of the building and counter the force of wind.

Canada's Loch Ness Monster Caught on Tape?

A possible sighting of Canada’s version of the Loch Ness monster at a lake in British Columbia has stirred up the legend of the sea creature long-rumored to reside there.

A man visiting British Colombia’s Lake Okanagan claims he filmed video of what could only be the elusive monster, known to locals asOgopogo. The 30-second video shows two long ripples in the water in a seemingly deserted area of the lake.

“It was not going with the waves,” Richard Huls, who captured the scene on camera during a visit to a local winery, told the Vancouver Sun. “It was not a wave, obviously, just a darker color. The size and the fact that they were not parallel with the waves made me think it had to be something else.”

Ogopogo is the Canadian version of Scotland’s famous Loch Ness monster. The first recorded sighting of the alleged creature in Loch Ness was nearly 1,500 years ago when a giant beast is said to have leaped out of a lake near Inverness, Scotland, to eat a local farmer. Since then, the legend has taken on a life of its own through first-person accounts of those who claim to have seen it and in public imagination.As with Loch Ness, the Ogopogo phenomenon dates back hundreds of years and is believed to have its origins in native Canadian Indian folklore with a creature called N’ha-a-itk. The locals would not cross the area of the lake where they thought the monster resided without an offering to feed the monster if attacked.

Ogopogo is most commonly described as a 40- to 50-foot-long sea serpent. There have reportedly been thousands of sightings of the monster through the years, including a marathon swimmer in 2000 who claimed he saw two large creatures in Ogopogo’s likeness swimming with him at times. The lake has been searched and no concrete evidence of the monster has turned up. Still, the legend of the lake monster lives on.

So, is the latest video just a ripple in the water or something more? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section.

Ex-Porn Star Reads to School Kids

Former porn star Sasha Grey took her talents a less adult audience by visiting Emerson Elementary School and reading a book to students, which caused the school to receive several complaints and at first deny Grey’s visit, TMZ reported.

“We have several celebrities who read to our students each year,” a spokesperson for the school told TMZ. “The actress you indicated was not present.”

But photographs uncovered by the entertainment website and a tweet by the actress told a different story.

“Spent the am with Read Across America Compton, reading to the sweetest 1st and 3rd grade students @ Emerson Elementary,” Grey tweeted.

A spokesperson for Read Across America told ABCNews.com that Grey was not affiliated with the program.

Grey responded to the backlash from her visit Friday by telling the entertainment site: “I believe education is a universal right. I committed to this program with the understanding that people would have their own opinions about what I have done, who I am and what I represent.”

The ex-porn star, who made her last adult film two years ago, most recently appeared on the television series “Entourage” playing herself.

Copper sword stolen from statue at Lincoln's Tomb

Copper thieves have struck at Abraham Lincoln's burial site in Springfield, Ill.

An employee recently noticed that a copper statue atop the tomb was missing a 3-foot-long sword. The statue is of a Civil War artillery officer.

The sword was allegedly taken sometime between September and early November. It was broken at the handle.

Dave Blanchette is spokesman for the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency. He tells the (Springfield) State Journal-Register (http://bit.ly/sxWgJm ) that the theft is believed to be the first to state property stolen at the Lincoln Tomb Historic Site since the same sword was stolen more than a century ago.

State officials plan to repair the statue.

A guard used to be stationed at the tomb overnight, but Blanchette says the position was cut amid budget problems.

Republicans vow to stop Iranian nuclear bomb

Republican candidates vowed on Saturday to stop Iran from developing an atomic bomb if they became president but differed over how to do it in a debate that tested their knowledge of world hotspots.

The economy has been the No. 1 issue for the 2012 campaign, so the CBS News/National Journal debate was a rare opportunity to hear the candidates explain how they would handle the job as commander in chief.

The candidates made no major stumbles at the 90-minute gathering, but their deep differences were reflected, such as how quickly to bring U.S. troops home from Afghanistan, whetherPakistan deserves U.S. assistance, and if waterboarding should be brought back for terrorism suspects.

None of the eight candidates has much foreign policy experience, save for former U.S. Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman, but they all criticized Democratic President Barack Obama, whom they want to replace in the 2012 election.

Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney laid out in stark terms what he would do about Iran's alleged pursuit of nuclear weapons.

Romney said he would pursue tough economic sanctions and make clear the United States would be willing to go to war to stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon.

"Look, one thing you can know and that is if we re-elect Barack Obama, Iran will have a nuclear weapon. And if we elect Mitt Romney, if you elect me as the next president, they will not have a nuclear weapon," he said.

The U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, reported on Tuesday that Iran appeared to have worked on designing an atomic bomb and may still be conducting secret research related to building such weapons. Iran says its nuclear ambitions are limited to peaceful electricity generation.

Businessman Herman Cain, happy to be talking about something other than sexual harassment allegations that have dogged him recently, said the only way to stop Iran from a nuclear weapon was through economic means, squeezing Tehran through sanctions and boosting Iran's opposition movement.

Former U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Newt Gingrich, who came to Spartanburg riding a new wave of support as the conservative alternative to the more moderate Romney, declared he would launch covert operations within Iran in order to be able to deny them later.

Texas Governor Rick Perry might have been the biggest winner at the Wofford College debate simply by surviving it with no major stumbles, after he famously forgot one of the three government agencies he would eliminate at the previous debate on Wednesday.

When CBS News moderator Scott Pelley said he had thought a lot about Perry's answer that night, Perry drew laughs from the audience with the droll reply, "I have too."

PAKISTAN AID

Perry was asked how he would handle nuclear-armed Pakistan, a rebellious U.S. ally angered by the secret mission that killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden last May. Perry said he would look at whether to eliminate U.S. aid to Pakistan.

"They don't deserve our foreign aid that they're getting, because they're not being honest with us. American soldiers' lives are being put at jeopardy because of that country," Perry said.

While Gingrich said the idea "makes perfect sense," longshot candidate Rick Santorum, a former U.S. senator, was adamantly opposed.

"Pakistan is a nuclear power," Santorum said. "We cannot be indecisive about whether Pakistan is our friend. They must be a friend."

On Afghanistan, Romney quibbled with Obama's decision to bring thousands of U.S. troops home from Afghanistan next September instead of December 2012, while Huntsman said flatly it was time to bring them home now in order to use the money to rebuild the U.S. economy.

"I don't want to be nation building in Afghanistan when this nation so desperately needs to be built," Huntsman said.

There was a split over whether to reinstitute the use on terrorism suspects of waterboarding, a stimulated drowning technique that critics call torture.

Romney, U.S. Representative Michele Bachmann and others said they would support waterboarding because they believed it had elicited valuable intelligence in the past, while Huntsman and Representative Ron Paul called it counterproductive and immoral.

Kirsten Dunst on Lars von Trier & Feeling Free

From vampire to cheerleader to Marie Antoinette, at the ripe old age of 29 Kirsten Dunst has had quite the varied career during her 17 years onscreen. And yet, it’s her role in Lars Von Trier’s newest film, Melancholia, that finally reveals just how much the actress is capable of.

Dunst plays Justine, a bride overcome with inexplicable hopelessness, and manages to show a wide range of emotion and despair with little more than a quick glance. It’s an intense performance with a lot of sharp edges, but it’s a performance that Dunst inhabits fully. While Melancholia‘s sure to bring Dunst accolades during awards season, she’ll be busy filming a slew of new films, including The Bachelorette and the anticipated adaptation of On the Road. We caught up with Dunst to ask her about what films inspire her and the most difficult aspect of filming a Von Trier movie.

ELLE: It’s an intense film about the end of the world. Do you anyone who had a surprising reactions to this movie?
DUNST: Yeah, my friend Leslye Headland, who directed me in The Bachelorette, was smiling at the end of the movie—beaming—like she just got the best Christmas present. I was pretty surprised.

ELLE: Wow—
DUNST: Yeah, it’s intense. It stays with you.

ELLE: Yes, I feel like a lot of his movies stay with you in the best way. What was it like getting involved with this?
DUNST:
I just knew ‘Lars is doing a movie, do you want to be a part of it?’ I didn’t know the history of the film prior to the movie because it just wasn’t an option. I was supposed to Skype with Lars the next day and I knew that he was really interested in me for the part. It was literally the easiest process for something so incredible. There are people who you have to audition for and do this and do that. Meanwhile I get the Lars Von Trier film over Skype. It’s hilarious to me, but he knows what he wants and I appreciate that in people.

ELLE: What was it like working with Lars, especially after having such an easy audition process?
DUNST: He was in a good place when he made our film. He has his actors—they do their own thing. When he needs to direct, he does so brilliantly. He’s so good at expressing and putting emotions in a way that they’re understood on a deeper level than a lot of people know how to express. I don’t even know how to express those in words the way he does. I do my preparation before a film and then you kind of just put that aside and you’re in the moment of what you’re doing. I feel like doing that work gives you that internal life.
ELLE: What was it like have Charlotte Gainsbourg as your onscreen sister? You don’t get to see siblings very often as the main relationship onscreen.
DUNST: You don’t get to see girls together onscreen. I love the dumbest movies because they have a bunch of girls in them together. I’ve been a big fan of Charlotte’s for a while, and I also love her music. She’s easy to fall in love with as a girlfriend or a sister. She’s a really great actress so it was easy for us to both do what we need to do and support each other. That was no problem.

ELLE: You’re very hard on her later in the film.
DUNST: Yeah, so mean. It was uncomfortable. It was uncomfortable for me because it’s so not in my natural nature. But then also this entire film—you would really go to places that you would never go to. Later you see it on film and you go ‘Whoa, I went there and now I have to watch it on the big screen,’ which is a totally different thing than when you’re doing it intimately in Sweden somewhere. I don’t even think of people watching the movie, when I’m making the movie, so that’s weird. My voice sounded different, towards the end of the movie I was weird. A weird lady.

ELLE: You’re still so young, but you’ve been doing this a long time. Is acting less precious now, do you feel freer as an actress?
DUNST: I definitely feel freer in my acting for sure and also, I’m not afraid of a movie not doing well. I think that you always hope that things work out, but if I had a good time and I experienced what I wanted to experience, or got something out of it that was special or different, that’s my experience. If it comes together, great. And if it doesn’t then you tried something different. I hope I keep getting the opportunity to take those chances and that I never have to conform or whatever. I don’t think I would be good at that.

ELLE: Are there movies you look to when you pick a role?
DUNST: I’ve thought that before and then I was like ‘I’m never going to find this.’ For a while I was obsessed with that movie Repulsion. I was like ‘I want to do a movie like that.’ But I’ll never look like that, and I’ll never be that cool. It’ll be like kind of hokey. It’s hard to like things you’ve seen in the past because cinema is different.

ELLE: Is it ever difficult to deal with a director’s film aesthetic, while shooting? Lars has that very natural aesthetic in his films, even when the world is ending.
DUNST: It’s that whole kind of acting where it’s like “Be unaware of the camera!” But clearly I’m aware of the camera. Lars doesn’t want you to know where the camera is, but you know where the camera is. It’s right there. I understand you want us to act normally, but there are going to be times that you’re going to be happy that I found the camera. The whole naturalistic thing is more difficult.