Friday 28 February 2014

M&M: Victoria Wood's Nice Cup of Tea

Dear reader,

for all of you, who enjoy to drink tea or are interested in tea, I've got this month's documentation:

"Victoria Wood's Nice Cup of Tea" is a BBC production produced in april 2013. In this two part program Victoria Wood follows up the history of tea and why the british love tea so much. The first part is about how tea, which originally came from china, came to great britain. The british eventually wanted to be independant from the chinese. India seemed a good enough substitute, especially since india was a former british colony. But what could the british have to trade with the indian? The answer to that question surprised me a lot and I wasn't expecting it at all.

The second part deals with why tea means so much for the british. Victoria Woods speaks with construction side workers, taxi drivers, the actor Matt Smith (known as the 11th Doctor of "Doctor Who"). Tea helped the british win the war, according to some discussion partners. Towards the end of the second part of this documentary Victoria Wood asks the question, if tea has a future at all, with Starbucks and all the sorts of coffee and coffee mixes. Does tea have a future? What could be the future of tea? By the way also worth a thought why in english they talk about a "nice cup of tea" so often. Why "nice"?

Youtube has got both parts online, at least for now. Here are the links:

part 1:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOwWTFh_y9E (59 minutes)
part 2:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4I47_vXBtU (58:44 minutes)

Until next blog,
sarah

Thursday 27 February 2014

Better be born in a different time?

Dear reader,

from "Sherlock" to "Elementary". Even though I didn't quite like the ending of the first season of "Elementary" that much - apart from the very last scene (bees!) - I did go on watching the second season, as soon as the internet allowed me to. In the 7th episode Sherlock goes to a sobriety meeting. The leader has a question to close the meeting of the day and surprisingly enough Sherlock is the first to say something. It's about crazy thoughts about their disease. Thoughts they know are crazy, but still come up.

Sherlock: "I often wonder if I should have been born in another time." And he goes on in a striking open way, " My senses are unusually-- well, one could even say unnaturally-- keen. And ours is an era of distraction. It's a punishing drumbeat of constant input. This cacophony which follows us into our homes and into our beds and seeps into our souls, for want of a better word. For a long time there was only one poultice for my raw nerve endings, and that was, copious drug use. So in my less prooductive moments, I'm given to wonder if I'd just been born when it was a little quieter out there, would I have even become an addict in the first place? Might I have been more focused? A more fully realized person?"

Someone asks Sherlock, "What, like Ancient Greece?"

Sherlock: "You any idea what passed for dental care in the Hellenic era? No, I'd want some of the wonders of modernity. Just before everything got amplified."

The discussion is interrupted by Sherlock's brother Mycroft, revealing himself with a question. Sherlock is shocked and leaves. Not only Sherlock with his unusual perception is stressed. We mortals are ever more stressed as well and everything around us gets faster and noisier and bigger and brighter. Type into a google images search the words: earth by night. That's how bright the earth is even by night. Does it all have to be that way?

Until next blog,
sarah

Wednesday 26 February 2014

Am I pretty?

Dear reader,

Sherlock Holmes can sometimes get on people's nerves a lot with his analytic ways. Or when he doesn't want to admit that he doesn't have a clue. In "The Sign of Three" (The 2nd episode of the 3rd season of "Sherlock") quite certainly both apply. Sherlock and John are both drunk for John's stag night and play "Who Am I?" For that you get a piece of paper stuck to your forehead and have to guess the name on it. Usually a quite entertaining game. Though probably not with Sherlock. John should have known by now that Sherlock is not the man for trivia and chitchat and doesn't care about what would commonly be considered famous or interesting people.


John: "Am I pretty? This." (John points to the paper on his forehead)
Sherlock: "Beauty is a construct based entirely on childhood impressions, influences and role models."
John: "Yeah, but am I a pretty lady?"
Sherlock: "I don't know who you are, I don't know who you're supposed to be."
John: "You picked the name!"
Sherlock: "But I picked it at random from the papers."
John: "You're not really getting the hang of this game, are you, Sherlock?"


Sherlock is right with his argument though. It's exactly the factors Sherlock lists and more, which make us divide unknown people into nice or unlikeable, intelligent or stupid or any of the other many other pigeon-holes we have. A totally normal reaction. Routine and familiar situations, things and people are what help us making our life easier. We could not constantly react to each situation as if it was totally new to us. Something like real objectivity doesn't exist.

Even Sherlock Holmes' way of thinking is nevertheless not impeccable though. In "The Great Game" (season 1, episode 3 of "Sherlock") John can't believe it at first that Sherlock doesn't know the earth goes around the sun. Detective Inspector Lestrade and other police men also make fun of that. Sherlock doesn't care. His head is important to him and the fact that the earth goes around the sun is not important enough for him to keep it in mind for long. Though at the end of the episode even Sherlock has to admit that a little more knowledge about the solar system would have helped him solve the case faster.


Until next blog,
sarah