Archive for comics
les mille et une vie de Marjane Satrapi [cover]
Posted in Books, pictures with tags BD, comics, cover, French culture, Iran, Islamic Republic of Iran, Libé, Liberation, Marjane Satrapi, obituary, Persepolis, Résistance, theocracy, Woman Life Liberty on June 22, 2026 by xi'an
mort d’une résistante [درگذشت مرجان ساتراپی، مبارز مقاومت]
Posted in Books, Kids, Travel with tags bande dessinée, banned books, BD, book censoring, Cannes film festival, comics, compulsory veiling laws, Farsi, Iran, Islamic Republic of Iran, Mahsa Amini, Marjane Satrapi, Persepolis, Persian music, Special Jury Prize, tar, theocracy, US politics, Woman Life Liberty on June 5, 2026 by xi'an
Today, the Iranian-French BD writer Marjane Satrapi (1969-2026) died. She is the author of the monumental Persépolis (originaly written in French) denouncing the Islamic Republic theocracy, seen through the eyes of a young girl. (A book eerily banned from some US school libraries as Islamic literature!) She also adapted the books into a film, winning Special Jury Prize in 2007 from the Cannes Film Festival. I also loved her Poulet aux Prunes (Chicken with Plums), following a tar player dying from sadness when loosing his beloved instrument after an argument with his wife. (Tragic premonition: Satrapi’s family announced that she died of sadness from loosing her husband, Mattias Ripa…) More recently, she also coordinated the collective book Femme, Vie, Liberté (Woman, Life, Freedom) in support of the Iranian revolts following the killing of Mahsa Amini.
पर्वत [cover]
Posted in Books, Kids, Mountains, pictures, Travel with tags पर्वत, comics, cover, Devanagari, Gorillaz, Hindi, India languages, indie rock, LP cover, new album, Sanskrit, virtual band, wikipedia on April 7, 2026 by xi'an
eliminating the impossible [xkcd]
Posted in Books, Kids, pictures, Statistics with tags comics, deduction, evidence, induction, Sherlock Holmes, truth, understanding uncertainty, webcomic, xkcd on March 17, 2026 by xi'an
a journal of the invasion year
Posted in Books, Kids, Mountains, pictures, Running, Travel, University life, Wines with tags Apple TV, BD, Black Plague, book reviews, comics, COVID-19, cuisine, Daniel Defoe, fish roe, galette des rois, Journal of the Plague Year, murderbot, mystery novel, pancakes, restaurant, Russian invasion, Stand Up To Trump, tarama, Tokyo, trail running, training, Trump administration, Ukraine, whodunnit on January 24, 2026 by xi'an
Read The Backcountry Rescue Squad at America’s Busiest National Park, a New Yorker long article about a non-profit called BUSAR, for Backcountry Unit Search and Rescue, handling complex search and rescue operations in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park (or Smokies). As usual with the New Yorker articles, very engaging and well-written! (Which is why I keep reading the journal from the day I discovered it at Ann & George Casella’s home.) Following a visit to the House of Japan in Paris for the Isao Takahata exhibit, 
where its maps were displayed in the entrance hall, I also read the (French) BD Tokyo Sanpo (sanpo meaning a leisurely stroll or walk) by Florent Chavouet, a travel graphical diary (from a map-addict, like me!) of a yearlong stay in Tokyo that is highly original and beautifully drawn, but practically useless as a travel guide since it was written in 2006. And does not include the most popular districts of Tokyo. (Some of the comments are unpleasant and insensitive to cultural differences, though!)
Cooked buckwheat pancakes in muffin trays, while roasting almonds for butter. Turned out edible esp. with leftover tarama (fish roe) jars bought for the Xmas break, if not particularly nice-looking. And avoided most of the office galette des rois parties plaguing the first weeks of January! (Which would have been detrimental to my current training program, starting with a 95km week over the break.)
Watched with some (moderate) expectations the Apple TV Murderbot, inspired from the fantastic Murderbot diaries by Martha Wells, which did not meet said expectations! The humans in the team sounded and acted too idiotically. And the special effects were quite lame. (But checking the synopsis of the original All Systems Red showed a closed proximity between the book and the show, meaning my own memory units may have been corrupted!)
