Must Watch, Must Read - Christina Ionno

Favourite Book : The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene

Usually I read a lot of non-fiction and just about every rock star autobiography, but this book fell into my lap at just the right time and unexpectedly helped me power through a tough time I was having in my personal life. It combines some truly inspiring quotes from many philosophers, such as Baltasar Gracian, and it contains examples of powerful figures throughout history expressing similar traits to our own or traits we would like to covet. It can be used as a guide to turn to at any stage in your life for advice on achieving inner strength.

Favourite Film : Her 

I'm a big fan of the director Spike Jonze and his alternate perceptions of reality, but his latest film, "Her," stole my heart. I find it to be a masterpiece. It's a story in the not-so-distant future where a man falls head over heels in love with his artificial intelligence operating system, Samantha. With the sexy, flirty and cool voice of Scarlett Johansson, it's not entirely difficult to believe.  Sounds cold and robotic, but if you're honest with yourself, this is already becoming a near possibility in the ever progressing world of technology our generation is living in. I felt a deep connection to this film and it's twisted, bittersweet and sincere romance. The actors possess such genuine emotions that you almost have to pinch yourself at the end to snap back to reality. Some of the scenarios the couple(s) -- there is another character that falls for her operating system as well -- find themselves in, are ones that we can all relate to. Joaquin Phoenix is astonishing and I find his character to be strangely erotic - key word being 'strangely'.