What can I say? Chandler is Chandler — he does the thing he does, and he does it well, but I’m not sure I feel like reading the remaining novel in the volume, The Long Good-bye, right now. Apparently, a lot of people see this as the least of Chandler’s novels, something of a denouement to his career, and I’ll admit the novel seems a bit shorter and simpler than some of his others. But that doesn’t mean it’s not worth a read. Chandler maintains, here, his ability to empathize with characters, while depicting the world they live in (and …
Month: January 2012
Ruler of the Your Own World (네 멋대로 해라) — The Halfway Point
During my first few years in Korea, I asked Koreans I knew what was the best South Korean-made TV show they’d ever seen. I would hear different answers from different people, but one consistent answer I got from people who cared about and consumed a lot of movies, films, and books, was the recommendation that I check out 네 멋대로 해라, a TV program that aired back in summer/fall 2002 (and which, in English, got titled Ruler of Your Own World.) Somehow, though, my other (very brief) experiences with Korean TV dramas kept me skeptical. I don’t care for the kind …
Classic Beer Style Series #6: Belgian Ale
The old Classic Beer Styles Series books are a mixed bag: some, like Smoked Beers (by Ray Daniels and Geoff Larson), and I have to say, while Pierre Rajotte’s Belgian Ale entry into the series was probably useful at the time it was published, it’s dated and one is better off checking out the Belgian Brewing series for a more practical and up-to-date look at brewing these beers. That’s not to fault Rajotte — but his book is the product of a different time. (Notably, at one point he explains who it was once common to be able to buy beer …
It Says Something…
Miss Jiwaku told me about a news report regarding a Canadian who had murdered his girlfriend three years ago (but had pretended she’d drowned accidentally, pursuing a tennis ball), fled the country, gotten religion, but finally returned to Korea to turn himself in. He claimed he’d murdered her because he was afraid she was going to kill him. Okay, so…? “Do you know him?” she asked, and mentioned that he’d been in Korea from 2001 until the time of the murder (in 2009), and had worked as an instructor at “a university in Jeolla Province.” I arrived in Jeolla Province …
British Brewday: Wonmisan Brunner (Northern Brown, v.2)
I decided it was time to get brewing today, so I quickly updated a recipe that Miss Jiwaku really enjoyed — my original Northern Brown recipe — to include things I have on hand. And since it’s a Northern Brown ale, I thought I’d name it in honor of John Brunner, a British author many consider the “godfather of cyberpunk.” Not that my ale is cyberpunky, but it is brun, and English, and (hopefully) cool. Usually, I do double-batches, but there are a few reasons why I decided to do this beer as a no-sparge brew. For one thing, English …