Yahoo!7 Answers Australia

In the coming weeks, we will have the opportunity to speak with none other than Australian Tennis legend and Wimbledon Champion, Pat Cash. And we’re giving you the chance to ask him a question!

He has a long history as one of Australia’s most successful and acclaimed athletes. As a junior in 1981, he was ranked the top player in the world. By 1982 he had won the junior titles at both Wimbledon and the US Open, also winning singles titles in Melbourne the same year. The youngest to play in a Davis Cup final in 1983, saw him beat his opponent, Swedish player Joakim Nystrom, and win the Cup. His first foray into the men’s singles at Wimbledon in 1984 saw him reach the semis but fall in 3 sets to tennis great John McEnroe, likewise at the US Open, going down in 5 sets to Ivan Lendl.

Pat’s career continued from strength to strength; and in 1987, saw him defeat Ivan Lendl, who was at the time #1 in the world, to claim the Men’s Singles title at Wimbledon!

Pat continues to play in various tournaments today and has setup the Pat Cash Tennis Academy, as well as supporting and working with several notable charities around the world.

To submit your question, just head to Yahoo!7 Answers via the link below:

• If you could ask Australian tennis legend, Pat Cash, one question – what would you ask and why?

It’s that easy! Be sure to check back regularly to see if your question was the one asked!

Kate
Community Manager

Meet the newest kid on the Home and Away block – Matylda Buckzo!

Matylda joins Seven’s award-winning drama playing “Mink”, as sister to Luke Mitchell’s character, Romeo Smith. Her feisty and mischievous character will cause waves in the Bay.

She recently sat down with Home and Away’s Online Producer – Tania:

Matylda, known as ‘Tyl’ to her friends, actually auditioned for a different part, so she was surprised when she was asked to read for the part of Mink. “I immediately felt really comfortable with her character, she’s very feisty, and mischievous,” she laughed. “I don’t go to quite the same lengths as Mink, but when she pesters Xavier, that’s like me I can be a bit cheeky too…but inside she has a heart of gold.”

You can read the rest of the interview here.

Matylda is asking you, the Answers community, the following:

• If you could be any character on Home and Away, who would it be and why?

Have you ever dreamed of being on Home and Away? What character would you want to be?

Kate
Community Manager

Did you have a dream career when you were a kid? Perhaps it was to be a fireman and drive around in one of those big, red trucks. Maybe you wanted to be a teacher just like your favourite at school. Or maybe you idolised Madonna and wanted to be a singer just like her.

When you get a bit older you might realise that being a fireman is all about physical hard work and not necessarily just about driving around in a cool truck. Or perhaps you decide you’re not patient enough to be a teacher and start to understand that only very few singers actually make a living from the music business.

Luke Mitchell’s childhood dreams were definitely a polar opposite to his adult reality. Growing up, this Home and Away star wanted to be a professional tennis player but as time went by he realised he didn’t want to do that anymore. Now, he’s just joined the hit Aussie soap to play ‘Romeo Smith’.

How about you? Did you have a childhood dream that’s completely different to your adult reality? Luke is asking you, the Yahoo!7 Answers community, what did you want to do when you were growing up and how does that compare to what you’re doing now? Tell us in the comments section below.

We’ve got Luke asking the question below on video! Luke Mitchell from Home and Away asks a question @ Yahoo!7 Video

So tell us, what did you want to do when you were growing up? How does that compare to now?

Caitlin
Community Manager

Bono manages to use his celebrity to tackle serious issues

An interesting topic came up this week from the Canadian Answers team. They featured a celebrity question from Montreal based Associated Press reporter Amy Luft. She is asked the community What would it take to make people under 30 more interested in serious news issues than in celebrity gossip?

Many of the young people who have answered so far disagree with this statement. Adrymustdie says “I’m under 30 and detest celebrity gossip” and Jo confirms: “your stereotyping by saying people under 30. I am 18, and could care less about celebrity news!! I find it such a joke”

Perhaps it’s not just young people who are more interested in celebrity gossip? Having a look in the Celebrities subcategory (one out of the eleven Entertainment and Music subcategories), there are well over 700,000 resolved questions discussing things such as Who do you think is better Selena Gomez or Demi Lovato? and Do you think Kyle Sandilands should be sacked?

On the other hand, in the News & Events category, there are 400,000 resolved questions on everything from Will you stop buying clothes from Bonds & King Gee now they won’t be Australian made? and How will the Australian government stimulus package help?

Interestingly though, the most popular question in News & Events is from Bono, who asked What can we do to make povery history? 3 years ago. He got a phenomenal 26,000 answers to his question and, while he is a celebrity, his question also demonstrates that perhaps people do care about current events more than we think. It also confirms that combining the power of celebrity with serious news is definitely one way to get attention for the cause. On the flipside, the most answered celebrity question was What will you remember most about Michael Jackson? with 6,416 answers.

In fact, most of the News & Events questions have more answers, and those answers are well written and intelligent responses to some of the world’s biggest issues. It begs the question, do we actually care about more serious news issues but just don’t know what to do about them? Perhaps places like Answers is one of the few places where we get the opportunity to voice our opinions about important issues like World Poverty and is also a place where we can get advice about the more confusing aspects of serious news?

What do you think? Do you think we care more about celebrity gossip than serious news? And if so, how can we get more people to care about the big things in life?

Caitlin
Community Manager

You may have noticed we’ve had a few Home and Away stars asking questions on Answers. The most recent is Samara Weaving, whose plays Indigo and is part of a new family in town, the Walkers.

Samara is 17 years old and you may have seen her on BBC’s Australian soap opera Out of the Blue playing Kirsten Mulroney. Although she’s Hugo Weaving’s niece, she hasn’t grown up around the entertainment industry and actually spent many years living overseas because of her father’s job. She lived in Singapore, Fiji and Indonesia as well as Australia and she particularly loved Singapore because it’s so clean (gum is illegal there) and there is no winter.

There are heaps of questions about Home and Away on Yahoo!7 Answers. From questions about upcoming storylines to favourite couple discussions and queries about the music in the show. Well instead of you asking questions about Home and Away, Samara wants to ask you a question. She wants to know:  If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be and why?

To see Samara in her role as Indigo, check out the Yahoo!7 TV Home and Away site where you can catch up with all the episodes online and get behind the scenes footage and interviews.

We’d also like to know, which Home and Away star would you like us to feature on Answers?

Caitlin
Community Manager

As we mentioned earlier this week, recently the Yahoo!7 Answers team got the opportunity to meet Robert Knepper, the villainous T-Bag in Prison Break. He was in Australia promoting season 4 of Prison Break which includes all 22 episodes of the final series as well as a unseen footage and the final 2 hour movie length special that concludes the story.

While Robert wanted to ask the community a question (answer his question: Who is your favourite TV or film villain of all time and what makes him or her fearful?), we also asked him some questions on your behalf. You might remember a few weeks ago we asked you what you would like to ask Robert Knepper. We chose some of the best questions and have it all on video!

Ever wanted to know what it was like filming Prison Break or what the funniest thing that happened on set was? Or perhaps you’re more interested how Robert became an actor and what advice he has for young children with stars in their eyes. Perhaps you’d like to know how people react to his scary character when he goes out in public?

The question that I particularly wanted to know is what it was like wearing the fake hand? Was it uncomfortable or did it become like a glove that he could forget he was wearing. Here is Robert’s particularly amusing answer:

So to see all the answers to his questions, check out our official video page. Don’t know about you but hearing all about the behind the scenes info of Prison Break makes me even more excited about watching that last episode! How do you think it will end?

Caitlin
Community Manager

Last week, the Yahoo!7 Answers team had the pleasure of meeting Robert Knepper, the actor who plays the villainous Theodore ‘T-Bag’ Bagwell on Prison Break. He was lovely, nothing like his character and was a real pleasure to interview.

To celebrate the DVD release of season 4 of Prison Break, (out July 15th from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment), Robert Knepper wants to ask you, the Answers community, a question.

He wants to know: Who is your favourite TV or film villain of all time and what makes him or her fearful?

Check out Robert asking the question below.

Also you may remember, we asked you what you wanted to ask Robert in the interview. Stay tuned later in the week for the full interview!

Caitlin
Community Manager

“How can you eat delicious, fresh food at home on a tight budget?”– Jamie Oliver

Having a little less in your pocket should not mean you scrimp on healthy food, or so says chef extraordinaire, Jamie Oliver. In posing his question to the Yahoo!7 Answers community, Jamie reaches out with a dilemma that so many of us face: can we shop, prepare, cook and eat in smarter ways?

Jamie Oliver is known as the man who successfully taught British school children about healthy eating. He believes that cheap doesn’t have to mean fatty, salty or processed. Fresh, tasty and healthy doesn’t have to mean expensive. But if you have tips on what this means in practical terms, why not answer Jamie’s question and share your knowledge with the community?

Answers itself is a hive of amazing cooking know-how, based around the Food and Drink category.

Is it healthy to eat broccoli raw? Nikita thinks so. According to her medical sources, “not only is this cruciferous vegetable high in vitamin C and fiber, it’s also a rich source of compounds known as glucosinolates which are broken down in the body to form sulforaphane. Sulforaphane has been demonstrated in numerous studies to have potent anti-cancer properties.”

On a slightly less serious note, Aurora asks for some tips on how to bake bread. T?R is on hand to offer some of his 25 years of experience with dough: “Kneading, letting it prove well and getting the mix just right. Use fresh yeast, not dried, and a good quality bread flour. Strong flour means it has lots of gluten.”

Est wants to know how to make quiche. David J offers a great way to combine bacon and mushroom with a little bit of Swiss cheese!

Yum, don’t know about you but I’m getting hungry!

Ever since Prison Break began four seasons ago, we’ve been glued to our screens watching the drama unfold. Who was the girl that was being held captive; why do the brothers have different surnames, do you think Sarah will return? All these Prison Break questions and over 13,000 more have been discussed on Answers since the series began.

Well now is your chance to get some Answers from a member of the cast himself! Next week, we’re going to be interviewing Robert Knepper who plays the villainous T-Bag.

We’re asking you, the Answers community, what you’d like to ask him. Have you always wondered how he manages to portray such a dastardly villainous character? Or perhaps you want to know about being on set and how certain scenes are filmed? We’ll choose the best questions from you, the community, and ask them on your behalf next week when we interview Robert.

So tell us – If you could ask Robert Knepper (T-Bag from Prison Break) anything, what would it be?

Caitlin
Community Manager

Last week, we had a chat with Lynne McGranger who plays Irene on Home and Away. This bubbly actress gave some great answers to your questions in this interview.

The wonderful thing about Yahoo!7 Answers is the conversation with celebrities isn’t one way, she also has the opportunity to ask you guys a question. After a bit of thought, Lynne explained that the environment has been on her mind recently. As she said:

It’s becoming more and more apparent that we all need to work together to help save the environment. After all, out of small things, big things grow! At my place we’re recycling water and using energy efficient light bulbs. I’m wondering what you’re doing in your home to help save the planet?

This is her question: What simple things have you done to make your home more environmentally friendly?

We think it’s a great question. With the global financial crisis, fluctuating unemployment predictions and swine flu, some of us have become a bit forgetful about the environment.

Here are some of the best suggestions so far, such as Doug M’s idea:

I am removing every plant from my garden that is not native to the district, starting with those that pose a threat to the native bushland (agapanthus, cotoneaster, sweet pittospurum, mirror plant, etc., etc.)

Jeetee suggests:

Save water by not flushing toilet constantly. the old saying if it’s yellow let it mellow if it’s brown flush it down..

Deeza07:

We use vinegar and bicarb to clean most surfaces. Vinegar kills germs and is a fantastic cleaner – great for bathrooms, floors, sinks, etc.

Whome?:

Use the first cycle of washing machine water (with suds) for the garden.

Well done, those suggestions are easy ways to make a difference! And if you haven’t answered yet or want to pick up some ideas for saving the environment, check out the question here – What simple things have you done to make your home more environmentally friendly?

Remember, every little bit helps!

Caitlin
Community Manager