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My Current Favorites – [November 2025]: The Lover, The Name of the Rose, and Banned Books
I’ve always loved watching DVDs instead of streaming movies and TV shows. Because only DVDs offer bonus features, including audio commentary with scene-by-scene analysis by the director or screenwriter. This allows you not to miss certain details, learn about behind-the-scenes filming, and above all understand the plot. There are shows like Mad Men where the historical context is so important that I don’t understand some of the characters’ decisions. I was thrilled to have access to the bonus features to better understand this series. Laptops no longer have DVD drives at all, so I had to buy a portable DVD player to plug into my computer (Amazon link). JB set…
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[review] The Dream of the Red Chamber – Bibliothèque de la Pléiade
Today, I’d like to introduce you to the ‘Bibliothèque de la Pléiade’ edition of the novel The Dream of the Red Chamber. Many people don’t have the opportunity to browse these books freely in bookstores, so I took some photos to give you a glimpse of this edition. I’m lucky enough to borrow it from my local library; if that’s not the case for you, know that you can sometimes find second-hand copies online, especially on Amazon or at Fnac. This masterpiece of Chinese literature comes in two volumes, almost 3000 pages printed on bible paper. I was pleasantly surprised to discover black-and-white illustrations, a real plus. The Dream of…
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My Current Favorites – [October 2025]: Illumination, Cashmere Throw, Dream of the Red Chamber
The weather is getting colder, and this month I’m enjoying activities that warm both body and soul. Cashmere Throw Last winter, facing the cold, I had an ambitious idea: making a cashmere throw myself from fabric sold by the meter. I didn’t know where to buy it, how to choose. That’s why I went to see lots of suppliers in Paris, ordered lots of samples online, and it was only in October 2025 that I decided to take the plunge: deciding which cashmere to buy, what color, what weight, what size… 243€ Later, a double-faced cashmere 400g/m leaves Turin and arrives at my place. After 4 hours of sewing (by…
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[Reflection] #25: Career Change, FIRE… When Money Becomes a Means of Liberation
JB and I often receive messages from people who want to switch careers into our fields (JB talked about his career change here , and me here), often with the goal of becoming nomads later. The pattern is always the same: the person has a good salary, but they’re bored or don’t find meaning in their bullshit job. Problem: they earn 60k, but if they switch careers, they become a junior again and can only expect 35k. As soon as salary comes up, the conversation stops dead, it’s always the same. At that point, they explain they have a mortgage to pay, a child, and they don’t know where to…
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[Reflection] #24: Cheap People Cost Us Dear
While tidying up my glue sticks for a DIY project today, I thought back to a story. During a DIY workshop, there were about a dozen of us, and we were sharing one glue stick among four people. It was a pain because we were constantly using glue for this activity. We spent all our time waiting. I thought we didn’t have enough sticks or brushes… until the last day, when we discovered a cabinet full of supplies. We could have each had our own stick from the start! If we’d saved all that waiting time, I think we could have gained an afternoon to learn other techniques. I told…
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Tips: How to Reduce Mental Load at Home Through Delegation
Mental load is on everyone’s lips these days. When I had my niece stay with me for a few days, I realized just how much daily tasks (preparing meals, eating, naptime) literally devoured the day when you have a child. There was hardly any time left for playing and relaxing together. This experience made me think: how can parents who work all week truly enjoy their kids on the weekend when they’re stuck between grocery shopping, cleaning, and meal prep? Note: this article is not NOT sponsored; these are tips I shared on Instagram, and I got questions, so I’m writing an article to explain further To free up time…
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My Current Favorites – [September 2025]: Bibliophilia, Bazi, Jewelry, Bompard
My birthday This year is a milestone year because I’m entering a new decade. To mark the occasion, I received lots of gifts, including experiences here, here , and and there. But the most meaningful gift (which I gave myself) is an exceptional book: a facsimile numbered limited edition of an illuminated manuscript by my idol, William Morris (The Odes of Horace, whose original is kept at the Bodleian Library in Oxford). This is very important to me because I wantedan object that lasts to mark this birthday (something that isn’t a watch or a piece of jewelry). It’s the rarest book in my modest collection of bibliophile books. I…
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[SCAM] Binance: Beware of fake calls
There seems to be a big wave of fake Binance advisor scam attempts. I got a call today, and two of my three brothers were also contacted in recent days, so it seems massive. These two phone numbers are affected, but there are surely many others: 0568143873 , and 0187681322. Update as of November 4, 2025. Another call: 0187681632. Somehow, all or part of Binance’s customer database is out there and is being exploited by scammers. You hear every week about new “data leaks” from large companies or administrations. It’s not so much the data loss that’s critical, but the scam attempts that follow. This example with Binance is a…
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4 Days in London (United Kingdom): Travel Diary
For several years I’ve wanted to go back to London, mainly to visit the Warner Bros Studio Harry Potter. But when we were nomads, spending a month in London seemed way too expensive, while going to London as residents in Lille seems more reasonable now. Despite the proximity to France, this is only my second time in London. The first time, I was an intern in Oslo and spent my Christmas holidays in London with my best friend. The contrast between Oslo and London was striking: compared to Norway, everything seemed affordable and the variety was immense. I brought back lots of English books (which cost a fortune in Oslo…
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My Current Favorites – [August 2025] – Illumination, Charisma, DIY, A Dream within a dream
I spent a whole month in the Paris region cat-sitting for friends while they were on vacation, so I had quite a variety of activities. Illumination I don’t know if I’ve ever told you about my obsession with illumination, but it’s been going on for several years now. I’d wanted to train in illumination for years, but it wasn’t until this year that I was in Paris at the right time and could sign up for Florence Aseult’s illumination workshop. Several participants said that illumination had become an obsession, and it was only by practicing it that I understood why. It’s the first time I’ve seen a repetitive task that…
