Chat Room: Julie Costner

By Lance Coleman

Julie Costner
Age: "39 and holding."
Single
Occupation: Self-employed scenic artist

What was your first paying job?
"A lifeguard at the Springbrook Pool."

If you were stranded on a deserted island, what one thing would you take?
"I would take a person who knew survival skills."

If you could do one impulsive thing, unrestricted by cost, what would it be?
"Probably buy up a bunch of old junk and a place to keep it and create a junk carnival for something fun to do in Blount County."

What task or activity have you still not gotten around to doing?
"Painting my toenails, as well as do other projects on paper and canvas."

What’s your favorite television or movie quote?
"Heeeeeerrrr’s Johnny!"

What are you guilty of?
"I’ve not done enough yet."

What is one thing you have always wanted to do but haven’t?
"Take a train ride in a dome car out West and ride a cow. I feel like I want to have a big old party dress on, riding around on a cow."

Do you think there is life on other planets?
"Perhaps there is life we can’t see or understand yet, but I do not think there is another planet with a Wal-Mart on it. Surely that would only be ours."

What is your favorite material possession?
"My photographs."

What are you reading currently?
"The funnies and my horoscope. I enjoy non-fiction or textbook reading. The last big book I read was Carl Sagan’s ‘Cosmos.’ "

Who has been the most influential person in the 20th century?
Computers and music seem to really be influential, so it could be Bill Gates or Elvis Presley. I can’t make up my mind. They seem so cliché, but my only other answer would be Walt Disney."

What was your most embarrassing moment?
"It’s a long story involving a crowd of people and my pants ripping when I was around 14."

Why did you pursue the career you chose?
"I have always been artistic and creative, and I really wanted to be self employed. Opportunities along the way kind of chose me and influenced my direction in television and film. I work on Food City commercials, making food look pretty. I work on St. Mary’s Peyton Manning commercials. Whether low budget or big budget films, I still get calls."

What is one word others often use to describe you and why?
Creative, funny, crazy or different. I follow my own beat, and I really enjoy joking and laughing a lot."

When you were 5 years old, what did you want to be when you grew up?
"Donny Osmond’s wife, and then an archaeologist."

If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
"I would love to be ambidextrous so I could paint and draw with both hands."

What is your passion?
"If you put me in a room full of colors and played my favorite albums I would truly be in heaven. Having said that, I am very passionate about vinyl records,and I would love to be a D.J. or have a radio show. The room full of colors comes from me just loving color in many ways, especially in mixing beautiful colors on a palette."

With whom, living or dead, would you most like to have a long lunch?
"Mae West and preferably on a train. She could do some talking."

What do you hate?
"I hate fears and money, but in another way I have to love them to make changes go further, so I really don’t know what I hate. I hate yellow jackets pretty badly, but I love them like a Buddhist."

What’s your favorite quote?
"‘Get it while you can ‘cause you can’t always get it.’

What is your dream vacation?
"I would enjoy going around the whole entire world a couple of time, so I could go back and do or see the things I didn’t get to do the first time."

Rebels, Tornadoes, Mountaineers or Governors?
"Tornadoes."

What is your all-time favorite movie?
"Best in Show"or "Scrapple."

What is the best book you’ve ever read?
"A very pivotal book for me was ‘The Holographic Universe.’ It was published in the late 1980s or early ‘90s, although I can’t remember who wrote it. It is similar reading to string theory physics in a smaller way."

Would you travel in space?
"No way! I would vomit, and my ears would explode!"