Favorites! black & white film? language to listen to? language to speak? smell? piece of music? taste? fabric?

Black and White film: this is a tie between Nosferatu (the German original from the ‘20’s) and Metropolis. Both were pioneers in their aesthetic and use of light.

Language to listen to: eh, that’s a tough one. I really love Swedish because it sounds like they sing with the ups and down in tone. I also like German, especially how they handle expressions of surprise (they can sound really enthusiastic in the way they stress their words).

Language to speak: English. It’s the language in which I am the most fluent. I am a native Spanish speaker but I haven’t spoken the language regularly in a decade and a half, so there are many words (especially words that I only started using later in life) that I do not know in Spanish. I always say that if I ever move back to a Spanish speaking country, I will speak the equivalent of Sumerian (you know, something terribly outdated). When I do visit, I am often asked where I am from. I get side eyes when I tell people “right from this town”. I started studying English (at a bilingual school) when I was four years old. So, by now, it’s the language that comes more naturally. Even though, as you’ve heard in my interviews, I have a heavy Latin accent.

Smell: uh, another one where I have many contenders. For the past couple of years, my favorite smell is a certain incense that is made by an Emirati perfum maker, Yas. I can only buy it when I am in Dubai or Abu Dhabi (where I was working last year). I have had friends come over right after I finished burning some and say that they believed this fragance to be the incense equivalent of Chanel. I have to agree.

Piece of Music: for classical music, Eric Satie’s Gymnopedie Nr. 3 interpreted by Jean Yves Thibaudet. I absolutely, absolutely love Jean Yves (at the risk of coming out as a total snob, yes, we are on first name basis although we are not intimate friends or anything; just crossed paths a few times through my work). 

For pop music, there is just so much I love but if I must give one answer, it would probably be either Hand in Glove, Bigmouth Strikes Again, Half a Person or There’s a Light that Never Goes Out. All of them are Smiths songs.

Taste: cherries, probably. And dulce de leche (although not together. One NEVER EVER mixes dulce de leche with fruits. it is an abomination in the eyes of the food gods).

Fabric: that’s easy: silk. I could dress in silk exclusively.

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