fresh teas! [for teaholics]

Here are some new teas I sampled this summer, when visiting a few tea shops here (Paris) and there (Montréal):

• Yakushima black tea, a subtle Japanese tea from a producer of sencha on this far-south subtropical island off Kyushu
• Dong Ding oolong, named after the mountain in Taiwan where these tea bushes grow, also most subtle
• Jejudo green tea, from Jeju island, Korea
• Wakocha Zarai tea, again from Kuyshu, wakocha meaning black tea in Japanese, although the colour is almost red, surprisingly sweet
• Dattan sobacha,  a grilled buckwheat (soba!) tea from Hokkaido, with the added perk of eating the buckwheat afterwards!
• Sannenbancha, a dark light Japanese tea roasted over cedar wood, tasting (obviously) woody and vaguely licorice, sannen meaning three years in Japanese, as the bush is left to grow for three years before leave and [mostly] stems are collected. (Actually the full name of this tea is kuki sannen bancha, with kuki meaning twig).

a journal of the plaid [shirt] year

Read The priory of the orange tree, bought in one of the many Montréal bookstores [where I could have purchased many more books!] This fantasy novel was a Goodread fantasy recommended read, plus a NYT best-seller and nominated for some fantasy award, but I am quite surprised by the enthusiastic support. Indeed, I found the book had a very shallow and predictable scenario, with most of the tropes of the genre (e.g., ninja-like fighters, heroes uncovering long-lost magical artefacts, , super-evil entity about to return to life/power, a few predestined characters saving the Universe). Unrealistic events, all-too-convenient coincidences, with little efforts put in the construction of the world, of the magical rules, or of the political structure there. The second half was particularly bad.

Enjoyed very much my week in the Plateau part of Montréal, with the green spots in from of every house, the density of shops (and not only restaurants), and the fantastic network of BiXi stations that made travelling around so easy and essentially free! (Glad I brought my 661 helmet from home, even though it attracted many questions during the conference!). And lived essentially on (Saint-Viateur) bagels and (Kinton) ramens. With a funny linguistic incident when I ordered a bagel [which I pronounced bah-gael in the Parisian way] in a bakery and was offered a baguette!

Watched The Chase, an improbable but funny Korean film about a grumpy old man uncovering a serial killer, helped by a former cop escaped from a psychiatric facility. Given that the heroes were mostly senior citizens, this made for a welcome major change from the series I usually watched. Also came by chance upon the 2003 Japanese anime Tokyo Godfathers, which I found amazing, despite my rare foray into anime! A most unconventional Christmas movie, to watch in July or any other month.

a [delayed] journal of the plague and pestilence year

Read a short story, An Unatural Life, which I found a highly original take on the legal rights of humanoid robots, when a robot on the mining moon Europa stands accused of murder. His (its?) case is taken by a young lawyer, despite her misgivings, and she gradually builds a case. The ending is not fully satisfactory but the fundamental questions behind the story are deep enough for me to recommend the story. And finally gave up on Susanna Clarke’s Piranesi, as I could not proceed through the artificiality of the universe construct. (Some friends reported similar defeats!)

Made numerous raspberry purées, as the bushes in our garden deliver non-stop! And further clafoutis and Sonoran tortillas, as well. Also enjoyed an Afghan dinner in Paris, with an incredibly tasty rice dish. (Maybe made better by a week of quasi fasting, following a much less enjoyable experience in a Noirmoutier restaurant..!)

Watched some episodes of Tomorrow, yet another Korean TV drama merging the current era and the afterlife, with an unexciting general thread but some interesting digs into the 1950-1953 Korean War and into the fate of the comfort women enslaved during WW II (in the sense of them being the first occurrences in TV series for me). And Lucid Dream, a Japanese SF movie about entering others’ dreams, à la Interception, but quite poor in its scenario and its acting.

a journal of the plague and pestilence year [back to 1980]

Read Havoc in its third year, best surprise of the [book] year so far! I picked this book from the exchange box in Warwick, presumably before COVID-19, but only started reading it on my last trip. While it starts as a murder mystery set during the reign of King Charles I, in an unspecified Northern city in England, it quickly turns into a more sinister tale of fanaticism and religious hate, as Puritanism engulfs the country, soon to lead to Charles I’s execution… The story is centred around the coroner in charge of the murder inquiry, mostly if vainly trying to escape taking side in the growing divide between fanatics and their victims, a most human figure with doubts and defects hindering his decisions. When this fails, the story becomes more allegorical and less realistic, the coroner turning into a Christesque figure. This book reminded me of the fabulous Instance at the Fingerpost by Ian Pears, which takes place thirty years later in Cambridge.

Cooked cherries in clafoutis from our tree for a week, before birds cleaned it dry.

Watched Taxi Driver, (모범택시) a Korean TV series (inspired from the cartoon The Deluxe Taxi) that I found most disturbing in its ambiguity about vigilante justice, hence interesting to a point, and the surprising movie 26 years, also based on a graphic novel, as it is about children of victims of the1980 Gwangju massacre, who are seeking to assassinate the former and responsible Korean president Chun Doo-hwan. (Who actually died only last year.) The film is quite interesting for this historical foray in not such a distant past. (The massacre took part on the same year as Solidarność was created and repressed, which I remember much more clearly, I am afraid.) And for being produced by crowdfunding, as usual investors were afraid of the political contents. The last 12 minutes of the film actually list all 15,000⁺ donors! The scenario is imperfect, despite characters being well constructed, and the final, never-ending, scene is a drag. Since the former president was still alive 26 years later, the story was doomed from the start, unless falling into alternate reality as in Inglorious Basterds…

hometown cha cha math

In the Korean and highly popular TV series Hometown cha-cha-cha, the main character Hong Du-sik is skilled in an unrealistic number of abilities, including maths. With a maths olympiad gold medal (which is plausible for a country that won 86 of these) and a CSTAT problem resolution during a lunch. Not making much sense from a screen shot… In that respect, the series is catering to gender stereotypes as the other main character Yoon Hye-jin is struggling with similar problems (while finishing dentistry school first). There is also a young kid excelling in maths, while the two young girls in the show are struggling with their studies.