Media Round Up: Tea and Gardens
Feb. 28th, 2023 04:25 pmNoodles Rhapsody (2022), ep 3-12—Finished this little documentary. Each episode focuses on a specific Chinese city and features a noodle dish from that city and two creators from that city. The episodes are only 20 minutes long so they are not very in depth but I enjoyed learning about cities and dishes that I didn’t know much about to start with.
New Life Begins (2022), ep 21-27 — This arc is really harrowing, so I watched very very slowly.
The Well written by Jake Wyatt, art by Choo— I liked this YA graphic novel about a teen girl who has to fulfill wishes after stealing coins from a wishing well. But it's darker and grittier than I expected, and more so than I generally like.
A Coup of Tea by Casey Blair— This book is about a princess who chooses to abdicate and builds a new life for herself serving tea. I had some minor complaints. I always have a harder time caring about characters who start out without a lot of connections to other people. I also wanted more sensory details. Please actually tell me what the teacups look like! I was also hoping for a stronger critique of monarchy. I still found this book charming and went on to read the second one.
Tea Set and Match by Casey Blair— This is the sequel to A Coup of Tea. Our former princess is forced to enter a tea contest. I enjoyed the description of the elaborate competition show pieces. Also this book has a mischievous baby dragon! I can't figure out why I don't like these books more, I don’t dislike them but they seem like books I should love. I continued to have the problems of there not being enough sensory details or critique of monarchy. But there's so many things in here that seem to be directly targeted at me that should outweigh all that.
Fruitful Sites: Garden Culture in Ming Dynasty China by Craig Clunas—This book starts off really strong with an introduction explaining how the idea of the unchanging "Chinese garden" carries a lot of water for Orientalism. The book then argues that Chinese gardens changed a lot over the course of the Ming Dynasty. Early Ming gardens were more focused on production while later gardens were a site of conspicuous consumption and grew fewer plants with valuable products. The book has lots of details about what kinds of plants were grown as well which is the kind of thing I find useful for fic writing. I really enjoyed reading it!
New Life Begins (2022), ep 21-27 — This arc is really harrowing, so I watched very very slowly.
content note
pregnancy, birth, postpartum depression; implied marital rape, domestic abuse; suicide attempt; forced use of contraceptivesThe Well written by Jake Wyatt, art by Choo— I liked this YA graphic novel about a teen girl who has to fulfill wishes after stealing coins from a wishing well. But it's darker and grittier than I expected, and more so than I generally like.
A Coup of Tea by Casey Blair— This book is about a princess who chooses to abdicate and builds a new life for herself serving tea. I had some minor complaints. I always have a harder time caring about characters who start out without a lot of connections to other people. I also wanted more sensory details. Please actually tell me what the teacups look like! I was also hoping for a stronger critique of monarchy. I still found this book charming and went on to read the second one.
Tea Set and Match by Casey Blair— This is the sequel to A Coup of Tea. Our former princess is forced to enter a tea contest. I enjoyed the description of the elaborate competition show pieces. Also this book has a mischievous baby dragon! I can't figure out why I don't like these books more, I don’t dislike them but they seem like books I should love. I continued to have the problems of there not being enough sensory details or critique of monarchy. But there's so many things in here that seem to be directly targeted at me that should outweigh all that.
Fruitful Sites: Garden Culture in Ming Dynasty China by Craig Clunas—This book starts off really strong with an introduction explaining how the idea of the unchanging "Chinese garden" carries a lot of water for Orientalism. The book then argues that Chinese gardens changed a lot over the course of the Ming Dynasty. Early Ming gardens were more focused on production while later gardens were a site of conspicuous consumption and grew fewer plants with valuable products. The book has lots of details about what kinds of plants were grown as well which is the kind of thing I find useful for fic writing. I really enjoyed reading it!
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