It is almost certainly the case that time behaved differently at the Big Bang singularity to how it does now, and that it is not possible to define a time "before the Big Bang". Defining a time before the universe would be nonsensical anyway because time is a part of the universe, not external to it.
Black Hole Fun
If it's possible to have a favourite astronomical object, I'm sure black holes would be fairly high on everyone's list. You can't escape from one, you can't know what's inside one, and they're invisible - what could possibly be more terrifying and exciting to talk about?