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maltatoday | SUNDAY • 9 MARCH 2025 4 ALMANAC My essentials RACHELLE DEGUARA Multidisciplinary artist After practising activism and art for the last 10 years, I decided to read a performing arts degree focusing on dramaturgy, light design and movement making. Currently, I am practising as a freelance multidisciplinary artist 1. Book 2. Film 3. TV 4. Music 5. Place I know this is going to seem rather macabre but I just love requiems. I have quite a collection of them on CDs. Of course, I now never listen to CDs, they're obsolete but I still hear them on Spotify. Difficult to decide which one I'd want at my funeral: Verdi's is a bit too operat- ic, though awe inspiring, so I think it will be Mozart's or Faure's. It's a difficult choice… but I think the Mo- zart one wins. Note to who- ever does the organising: I want the full mass. MY favourite place is the El At- eneo Grand Splendid in Buenos Aires, Argentina, which start- ed as a theatre in 1919. It had a brief stint as a cinema before architect Fernando Manzone transformed it into the stun- ning bookstore it is today in 2000. I visited it in 2018, and I'm still enchanted by just visit- ing the memory of me browsing the books and looking at the ar- chitecture – a transcendental experience THE Compass of Pleasure by neuroscientist David Linden. It maps out the brain's rela- tionship with pleasure and addiction. It made me under- stand what happens in the brain when addictions and in- tractable habits present them- selves and that addicts are not weak, defective human beings lacking willpower. They are people with chemically defi- cient brains. I picked it up to further my knowledge of how neurobiology can help theatre makers/choreographers en- gage better with an audience when exploring the subject of pleasure vis-à-vis pain. LA Classe Operaia Va In Paradiso (1971) by Elio Petri. It made me question my father's relationship with trade unions when he used to work at the Malta Dock- yard. I watched it when I was around 17, and it was a point of realisation that you couldn't have environmental rights without fundamental human rights first. I remem- ber my priorities changed af- ter I watched that film. THE Dhru Purohit Podcast of Spotify. He interviews people from the wellness, medicine and mindset fields and up until now, I learned from the podcast how to eat intuitive- ly, exercise without causing stress on my body, meditate, care for myself according to my menstrual cycle, have more energy, and ask the right questions when I'm at the doc- tor's office. Other content I frequent is Bis-Serjeta's blog, Maya Dimitrijevic's TikTok, Jon Malia's podcast, Sandra's Gauci ABS news and Mark Camilleri's blog. Recently I discovered Matthew Vella's blog, and I subscribed. Compiled by Laura Calleja suggestions by email lcalleja@mediatoday.com 4 5 1 2 3 MaltaToday is supported by Arts Council Malta