Hi guys–

Just wanted to introduce myself. I’m an aspiring TV/film writer, Houston-born and bred but now blazing my trail through the delicious smog and green juice of Los Angeles. California livin’. I don’t know what else to say, but I watched a video series of people talking about things they love, so I thought it would be a nice introductory post to do the same:

1. Potatoes in all forms

• Regular or sweet; fries of every shape and degree of sogginess; hashbrowns, breakfast potatoes; mashed, creamed (as my grandma would say), baked, au gratin or what have you… I. LOVE. POTATOES. Their existence is evidence that God is real, that He loves us all (especially me), and wants us to be happy.

2. Ballroom Dancing

• When I think back on my childhood, this was probably my first real obsession. Every year on PBS on New Year’s Eve, they would show back-to-back ballroom dance competitions and I became infatuated with the sport. Yes, sport. It is a sport. That was my New Year’s tradition every single year until they stopped airing the competitions and I was certain death was near. One year, one of my best friends even sat on the phone with me and watched with me on her TV, because she knew I wasn’t going to do anything else. What a great friend. When YouTube became a thing and I had videos and videos of dances to sift through, you better believe I was at my computer siftin’ away. I’m partial to International Latin and American Rhythm because, you know, hips and stuff. It’s a lot more fun. But Int’l Standard and American Smooth are just as lovely, and the dancers just as worthy of the highest praise for their skill and athleticism. I took a few classes at UMiami but stopped because I kept getting paired with weird dudes with really bad breath and it was unbearable. I probably should’ve stuck with it, because I could’ve joined the competition team, which turned out to be pretty good. I did take a lot of salsa classes and actually got pretty high up, but I didn’t want to get too good. One of my dreams is to be on Dancing with the Stars, and I don’t want to mess up my chances by being to good at it already, you know? I will also definitely be a star one day, so… this is all a lot more than just hypothetical.

3. Horror/disturbing cinema

• I feel weird saying I love the horror genre, because like most sane individuals I don’t necessarily enjoy watching scared people being attacked by killers or ghosts or their own minds. It’s more so the cathartic aspect of it. I have two favorites. The first (and by favorite here, I mean one of the best I’ve seen) is Martyrs. It’s a French film (the French really know how to do horror) that I couldn’t stop thinking about after I watched it, I think mostly because of the “point” of the film (or the fact that there was a point at all). Whatever lies beyond after death has always drawn the curiosity of man since time immemorial, and Martyrs deals with that curiosity in twisted, bloody, heartbreaking fashion. My other favorite (and by favorite here, I mean the one I’ve watched the most), is The Others. I still think it has the best ending of any movie ever, even though after re-watching it a few times as an adult, I realize it’s not that great of a movie. It’s still suspenseful and creepy and Nicole Kidman is stunning, so whatever. I love slow burn movies. The Omen (original) is another one of my favorites. Let the suspense build up, sheesh!

4. Chinese cinema

• Keeping with the cinematic chain of thought here, I’m a fan of Chinese films, and I owe my fandom specifically to Zhang Yimou and Gong Li. The first Chinese film I ever saw was Raise the Red Lantern. In one of my undergrad film courses at UMiami, our professor used RRL as an example for literally every point he made in class. I was like, “Let me watch this damn movie and it better be amazing OR ELSE!” I never had to figure out or else what though, because that movie did not disappoint. I loved it. Curse of the Golden Flower was the second film in their series of collaborations that I watched and it instantly became one of my favorites ever. When I tell you that movie is visually stunning–the sets, the costumes, every component of its staging is magnificent and, let’s be honest, I love a good, ol’ fashioned family drama. Farewell, My Concubine and 2046 are some of my other favorites. Pretty much any film where I can watch Gong Li sneer with a slightly psychotic undertone.

5. Bookstores

• If anyone were to ever ask me the very boring question of what my idea of a perfect date is, I would promptly tell them, “Take me to Barnes & Noble.” That’s all. I mean, extra points if you buy the books, but it’s not really a requirement. Walk with me. Talk with me about the books. I love books. I love the smell of bookstores. I love all of the possibilities. Growing up, I always wanted to go to Border’s (when there was a Border’s). I thought I was so sophisticated, because all the other kids went to Barnes & Noble when Border’s was so much better. Well, only one still stands today so I guess I was wrong, but back then you couldn’t tell me my trips to Border’s with my grandma weren’t the best times ever. But I’m not a bookstore snob; like potatoes, I love them in all shapes, sizes and forms.

6. Lions, tigers and other big cats

• They’re just my favorite animals, and I’m not entirely sure why. I definitely like the look of them collectively, with their manes, spots, stripes or what have you. I think more than anything, big cats emit a sense of royal dignity that I admire. The way they carry themselves, hunt for their prey–they’re kings and queens of their environment and just super cool.

7. Houston, TX

• I struggled a bit with this one. I didn’t know if I specifically loved only Houston or if I loved Texas as a whole. I concluded that I don’t think I’ve been to that many different cities in Texas to know it as a whole, but I do know Houston. It’s as much a part of me as my skin, and it will always be home. I think more than anything it’s that I could never say I’m anything other than a Texan. If I’d stayed in Miami after graduation I would still never be a Floridian, same as how I will never be a Californian even though I plan to live here for quite some time. Screwston is my home. Frenchy’s chicken and Shipley Donuts are home. The Houston Rodeo is home. Third Ward is home. The bayou is home. Sometimes you end up being born in such an influential city and in such a beautifully Black section of it, that you couldn’t get out of it if you tried. That’s what Houston is to me.

8. Beyonce

• That’s my neighbor, y’all! Okay, besides the fact that Beyonce is also from Third Ward and is Texas’ finest export, she is one of my biggest, most consistent inspirations. She’s obviously one of my favorite musicians/entertainers of all time (the other two being Michael Jackson and Etta James), but when it comes to who has influenced me the most as a fellow artist, as a woman, and as a Black woman, she takes the crown. I don’t think I need to really go in depth, because her greatness certainly isn’t veiled in any way. She is the greatest female entertainer, in my opinion, of all time. There is no other woman, alive or dead, who has her vocal chops and ability to put on an athletic live performance well. No one. She inspires me to be my most fabulous self at all times. When I get home from work, tired and beat down and wanting nothing more than to lay on the couch and go into a coma, I think “WWBD?” WHAT WOULD BEYONCE DO, MAN? WOULD SHE LAY DOWN AND GO TO SLEEP OR WOULD SHE GET UP AND PUT IN THAT WORK? Then I promptly get my butt up and hit them squats. She works so incredibly hard, is so generous without asking for her generosity to be publicized, and is now comfortable being who she really is. I love it. Give me more. I will never tire of you.

9. Trap music

• It has the best beats.

10. Window shopping for houses

• I’ve been obsessed with houses for most of my life. I would say real estate, but it’s really just nice houses I’m into. I look at and/or tour different houses and imagine myself living in them, or how one experience would be different, better or more interesting than another. I’m constantly on theagencyre.com and that is where I found my dream home. I can’t tell you which one it is, but just know that it’s mine as soon as I gather the couple million dollars I will need for purchase. That’s probably why they haven’t been able to sell it yet–the universe is waiting on me to get my act together.

Honorable Mentions:

11. Beijing opera and Kabuki theatre

• I’m basically an East Asian culture slut. I discovered Beijing Opera while watching Farewell, My Concubine. Kabuki Theater I discovered on my trip to Japan in high school when my host sister took me to a show. Both are exceedingly beautiful art forms that combine many different aspects of live performance, including instrumentals, vocals, mime, and dance.

12. Any time period but the present

• I think it may be due to the fact that I’m a Cancer and Cancerians are generally nostalgic but I find myself intrigued by every time period except the one in which I live. I love reading about Ancient Greece, Rome and Egypt. In fact, if UMiami offered a degree in Egyptology, I would’ve promptly applied and wasted all of my free tuition money. Not that Egyptology isn’t a worthwhile career choice. It’s just quite specific. Anyway, I often wonder what it would be like to live in any of those time periods or even the ’20s. If I could go back just one day (ONLY one… one is more than enough to be Black in the ’20s) I would, just to know… to feel the rhythm of the times and to see if it matches what’s in my head, in books I’ve read or movies I’ve watched. I’m also a new fan of science fiction, and am enraptured by the future and what it could possibly hold. If I could travel to the future for one day (ONLY one… it might be terrifying), I definitely would, especially considering how far technology has advanced since I was born. It’d be a sight to see.

Welp, that’s me. Hope I didn’t bore you to insanity.

-EMB