Let’s just not call it the Vanity Fair questionnaire for now.
Your most marked characteristic?
I am a whiner. I am conscious that it’s a little annoying but I have the weakness to believe there is always a hint of humor in my constant complaining.
The quality you most like in a man?
Self-confidence.
The quality you most like in a woman?
Discretion.
What do you most value in your friends?
Constance. I don’t have to remind them constantly how important they are to me. I can disappear for months and our friendship remains intact.
What is your principle defect?
Funnily enough it also happens to be my most marked characteristic.
What is your favorite occupation?
Writing silly little things without any time constraint.
What is your dream of happiness?
Serenity as in not wondering what’s next, not being afraid of it or even better not care. Basically happiness would be a day without caffeine.
What to your mind would be the greatest of misfortunes?
Regrets. Looking back at my life, thinking that I abandoned my dreams out of fear.
What would you like to be?
A peaceful kind of Rodolphe B. I think he has a lot of traits I would have enjoyed to have, like an artistic sensibility, but he is too hungry for me.
In what country would you like to live?
I deeply love the United States….. mostly because that’s where I had sex for the first time.
What is your favorite color?
Bleu Marine. Navy married with something charcoal. I find it discreetly elegant.
What is your favorite flower?
I care very little about flowers.
What is your favorite bird?
If all the birds were eliminated from the surface of the earth, I would probably not notice it before a few months.
Who are your favorite prose writers?
You know strangely Brett Easton Ellis was one of the biggest influences in my life. His books are what drew me to the United States. In his writing, I found exactly what I was longing for: freedom, relative promiscuity and a disrespectful cynical tone.
Who are your favorite poets?
I am obsessed by this poem of José Agustín Goytisolo titled the “Good wolf”.
Who is your favorite hero of fiction?
Tintin. He never panicks. He is young, elegant and curious.
Who are your favorite heroines of fiction?
I feel for women a bit the same way than for flowers …and to some extent birds.
Who are your favorite composers?
Satie and gainsbourg.
Who are your favorite painters?
I had to think 2 minutes to the answer so let’s assume I don’t really know anything about painting.
Who are your heroes in real life?
Greg H. because I don’t know him yet and...Mike G. because he is amazingly self-confident.
Who are your favorite heroines of history?
Pamela Harriman and Catherine of Medicis: they were so busy putting their print on the World, they probably never had any happy moment. Most of the women I met in my life were total brutes.
What are your favorite names?
James. I feel it’s distinguished, it sounds like an all-boy school, like Eton. It sounds like sex in dorms.
What is it you most dislike?
People that are impolite, who give their opinion without being asked or manipulate your own politeness to obtain things from you.
What historical figures do you most despise?
Edward VIII, what a fool and a self-centered little f**ck.
What event in military history do you most admire?
This thing that Hannibal did with the elephants…like he pushed them through the Alpes or something. I’d like to say congratulation to both the elephants and Hannibal. Each time I see a mountain with snow on it, I think of them all.
What reform do you most admire?
When we stopped persecuting the Protestants (did we ever?). Burning people for their faith seems so déclassé.
What talent would you most like to possess?
I’d love to play piano. I feel I’d be much less dependent on other people. I could rely on myself to stay busy and I’d probably have a lot of success at parties.
How would you like to die?
Anything but suicide would feel like success to me.
What is your present state of mind?
I am hesitant to answer truly to that question so let’s skip it.
To what faults do you feel most indulgent?
Self-righteousness and lack of tact. People are so self-righteous and tactless around me that I had to develop some form of indulgence because if not I could not have kept any social life.
What is your motto?
After all I did not do so poorly.
I also like that poem.
Posted by: LL | Wednesday, December 27, 2006 at 03:31 PM
We don't hear nearly enough about Tintin these days.
Posted by: Max | Wednesday, December 27, 2006 at 07:47 PM