I’m really serious about trying to absorb some more French culture. I was embarrassed on Parliament Hill when an American asked me who the French Canada Day festivities host was – I really had no idea. I think a French celebrity could live next door to me and I’d never be the wiser.

Comics

Centerpointe Library has a pretty great stack of French comics, so I’ve been voraciously chewing through them on my weekly visits. A real highlight I’ve stumbled across is the “Gardiens Du Maser” series by Massimiliano Frezzatto (an Italian publishing a French comic being read by a Canadian – international!). The art is spectacular, and while the story points sometimes get away from me (one of the characters speaks with a lisp – so double the difficulty of an already abstract psych-sci-fi series), there’s just so much packed into every page that you can’t help but get caught up in all the detail. One of the main characters is brilliant – a reluctant backpack robot who doesn’t want to be brought along on adventures. He reminded me of C3P0 stuck to Chewie’s back in Empire, but much less of a twit. Tons of action and weird technology and incredible designs. Totally in love. I heard there’s a Prequel and an English translation available that I might try to find.

TV

During the heat wave, while we were hiding out in our basement, we flipped on the TV and channel surfed through the french channels where we stumbled on Les Chefs. It’s fantastic! The show is basically a direct ripoff of the format of Top Chef or Hell’s Kitchen, except everyone is super competent and they’re all actually nice to eachother. Even at the end of the show, when they ruthlessly eliminate a player, they give them a frying pan and a bunch of hugs. I can hear Gordon Ramsay cursing all of this civility! In the last episode we watched, we learned how to make gourmet Pogos, and what to do with Mini-bébé-bok-choy (which sounds hilarious when you say it over and over). We intend to watch the rest of the series online when we get a chance over our vacation. Great show!

I still can’t name any French celebrities, but I can at least find a good place to eat Pogos and Bok-choy in Quebec.