Shanghai Girls by Lisa See

Shanghai Girls by Lisa See
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book covers 20 years of the life of these 2 sisters, Pearl and May. Pearl -born in the year of the dragon and oldest of the 2, and May -a sheep and the baby of the family. The hardship they had to deal with over the 20 years from their lives in China to America during WWII. These 20 years covers from 1937 to the late 1950s up and past the second Word War.

As the oldest sister in my family, I felt the pain Pearl does and yelled at her many times for something dumb that she should not of done or something she should of done. I have lived through mine and see simarler ones that I know at one point I may of done the same. I see why she does some of the things she does for I can see her point, but I still know that she shouldn't have done when it comes to those points. I am also born in the year of the dragon and study the zodiacs, so I understand what is expected of the people burn in the year of the dragon. So I knew what to look for in curtain people when she called them by their zodiac.

There are points when she backs down and I yell at her to stand her ground but, I have done the same. So I understand her, I felt the pain/grudge for I know the feeling of backing down on something that you are good or would like to be good at, so that your little sister will be happy. If you could not tell, I also have a little sister that I have back down on things so that she could have what she wants and now that I am older I will fight for her to have that. For those who follow the Chinese zodiac, my sister is a monkey.

I feel that the author got the feelings between the sister as true as one can get! Older sister vs the younger sister, story as old as time and can be spot on or very wrong. The feelings that sister have for each other is hard to explain, you hate their guts but you will give them the moon if they ask. When reading the this book there were times that you would see the green eye monster come out of Pearl but then seeing that herself she would fix that and say something that you would think, "gee, I guess she work that out and things are okay between them with out letting May know she felt that way." But those feelings may "go away" they are never truly gone. Those feelings run so deep that you forget them and when something ells happens it just builds.

Being that this story is written in a 1st person the view we see is Pearl's, and her feelings on every matter. Even the fate that has been dealt to her. There were MANY parts that my heart bleeds for May for the things she had to do as well, seen from the eyes of her sister. And it isn't till the end of the book that we get to see May and what she feels on the things that she has had to do and how she herself sacrificed so that they could live on with a good life.

As I was reading this book, I could see my monkey sister and me in this life and many times throughout the book I would stop and think that this little sheep has to have some hidden strength that she hides, for my sister is the same way. I put the front that I have every thing under control but really it is all I can do from falling and that is times when I reach out my own sister and lean on her for her strength I am not sure she knows she has.

After reading this book I feel like I may know my monkey sister better, I see her in another way and I hope that after she reads this she will feel the same for her dragon sister for there are many things that Pearl and I both have felt, and made the feelings that much more real.

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House Plant - Prometheus

Not to long ago, -before this year's first frost- a lady I clean for gave me this plant they called Prometheus. It had a fall and looked a little worse for wear, but was still alive and needed a good home. For it was getting to heavy for them to bring in every winter and there was a bug/animal living in it and did not want it in their house.

Now, I have sucker written ALL over my face! I saw the plant and thought that it would look nice in my house. I thought, "I have 3 cats, they would get what ever thing lived in it!" But just encase, I left it out in the mud room/glassed in porch, where it was out of the house and protected from the frost. Which happened the night I took it home. (Talk about timing!) And there it sat til a few days ago when I had it placed in my room.

Since Prometheus has been sitting happily in front of my window, I have been battling cats who think it would be fun to chew on the leaves -not that they are ever feed enough food! And the urge to dig in it!! (By the way this plant is poisonous to eat for pet and humans.) But I sit by guarding Prometheus, making sure he will live to my next move!

As I sit by I wondered what type of plant it was, I had my guesses and thought to see if I could find it! My guesses that it was a palm of sort was off, the guesses that it was in the same family as another one of my plants that my mother killed, wrong. They were all wrong. The only one that was right was that it is a tropical plant of some kind. So I went from there. After searching all over gflora.com I looked in my houseplant book and saw a VERY small picture of a plant that "might" be it but still not finding it by the name in the book. So, I looked under one that I knew would be on there, philodendron. At the bottom of the page I saw Prometheus under the name "Philodendron bipinnatifidum (selloum)."

So there, I had a name of this unknown plant from the Araceae family but not enough info on how big this plant will get and what it likes. So I looked over google for this philodendron. I found this beautiful picture showing what my plant SHOULD look like!




 

But mine looks far from this......

Yeah, it has a long way to go before it gets back to its fulness that it had before it's dramatic fall. Well, I have something I get to strive to do with this lovely plant, Prometheus!

So on ward I went to find out how to keep this plant alive, that is when I read that this plant is poisonous to eat for pet and humans if eaten, and for some people may cause skin irritation or allergic reaction. For me, I can rule out the last part; I have handled the leaves to try to keep them out of the way of my cats. Wiki had little to say other then its history and its common use as a landscaping plant in Florida. It also said that this plant may take Approximately 15–20 years before it begins to have flowers on it, being it is potted. But the site I found most helpful to my quest was davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/37036/. There I found its other names, Tree Philodendron, Cut-leaf Philodendron, and Selloum. (the one in my book was Splitleaf Philodendron)  I also saw that it is a shrub, and can get as tall as 15 feet high and wide, I then recalled that I have seen this plant in Florida before. To give you an idea on size it is talking about......

 

THIS plant is the sad little thing I have sitting in my HOUSE!

Back to the idea of it having flowers I went looking for them, hoping that it would be like a Hibiscuses' flower. No such luck....

Words could not explained how I felt about this.....

At first I thought this was a bad joke, but as I read on blueboard.com, botanicalgarden.ubc.ca, and centerofthewebb.ecrater.com, this is the real flower that blooms in the summer at the base (it seems). So this... weird looking flower will be the flower that my dear plant Prometheus will someday have. (If he lives that long) 

To top that off, these flowers also produce heat when it blooms....

Tying a Tie

I have seen people in movies a hundred times tying a tie and then having the wife tie it becouse they failed at it. My younger brother also found out that he LOVED to wear them and learned how to tie them when going on future interviews. Well, one day I help my mom tie my dad's tie never tying one before but doing it with out much trubles.

Since I am planing on being Maka from Soul Eater, I was in need of a tie and went on a man hunt for the tie. I did find one. (But I got a pattern to make one if it came down to it.)

But when I was looking for this tie I found that there are more ways on tying a tie then I ever thought, some really unique and they each have a name. Yeah, I thought I knew how to tie a tie. I only ever hard, "THIS is how you tie a tie!" Making me think MOST people tie ties like that, I guess. But I thought there could be others who tie ties slightly different, like how I am "Suppose to" do a math problem one way but I in reality did it in another way that got the same answer! I really never gave it much thought that there are many ways to tie a tie for what shirt you are wearing that day, like how women chose a purse to go with their clothes.

The two of the three main tie tying ways are the Windsor, and the Half-Windsor.

Windsor
http://www.cheap-neckties.com

http://briteties.com/halfwindsor.ivnu

 

An other main one is the Four-in-Hand.

http://a-la-louche.typepad.fr/tie_knot/2008/06/how-to-tie-a--8.html

No matter where I go I find these three at the top of every list! There are many others out there as well such as the Shell, Atlantic, Onassis, Pratt, Italian, and MANY more can be found in may forms!
There are webpages, blogs, videos, and -believe it or not, an app for you phone or tablet. I would of never thought about an app but this is the modern world that which we live in, there are apps for every thing! And as weird as it may be there is a song called, How to Tie a Tie. No joke!

If you would like to see the sites that I looked through and the links to all that plus movies and apps they fallow below. Good luck on your tie tying!

Webpages (Some with videos on it)
Briteties.com
a-la-louche.typepad.fr
www.wearjack.com
www.cheap-neckties.com
www.medliorate.com

Fellow Bloggers
cool4urs.blogspot.com
www.visualinformation.info

App
How To Tie A Tie

Making a Tie

So as I move on in my costume making for Halloween (that is fast approaching) I now find myself wanting to make the tie being that all the ties I am now finding are in the UK and would have to be shipped to the US. -_- So I thought, "why not make one? How hard could it be?" So I went looking around to see!

http://www.samhober.com/necktie/howtomakeanecktie.htm

 From the site listed above it looks REALY simple! (But lets see how truly simple it is when I have to sew it. <_<) But if you go there and look there is NO pattern nor does it help much in the sewing department.

http://compactbydesign.com/2009/06/16/788/
&
http://www.purlbee.com/fathers-day-ties/

These two sites do help were the other one lacks but, I am picky and I like the other style more then this one. But I could use it and change it to my likings! But I have a general idea with about how much I should buy in fabrics and thread.

http://studioshirtssydney.blogspot.com/2011/04/making-tie-at-home-something-shirt.html

This blog not at all helpful in finding out how much one needs to make this and the "making" the pattern is not very helpful am makes it look harder then it should be.

http://275-267.deviantart.com/art/Tie-Making-Tutorial-119851133

Deviant Art has a VERY simple how to make a tie from scratch! It dosen't tell you how much fabric you need or any thing else that would be needed to make the tie but it help in the idea how how to make your own!

http://sevenfoldties.reflexblue.org/six_fold/stepbystep.php

THIS site I feel is the most helpful that I have found out of the others, but I wounder on their sewing skills when I saw a pucker after they were done sewing.

Then it never falls! Youtube! If this is the first time reading a pattern or thinking you need a refreshers course on what every little thing in the pattern means the video called Simplicity Pattern 4762 is a wonderfully done video!!! This is the way I would make a tie, I am not big on hand sewing something that I know I could do in half the time and better on a machine. You don't have to use a Simplicity pattern, you could use others, Butterwick, or some other brand that is on sale or is cheaper.

Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog - review

Okay, so I was at a friends place playing Settlers of Catan -great game and worth the price! Before we started we watched "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog." I admit, I never heard of it till that night when I was informed that this was made and put onto the internet all during the Writer's Strike. Joss Whedon (writer for Buffy, Angel, Firefly, and movies like Avengers and Serenity.) and his family wrote this movie.

Encase you missed that, great shows wear stopped and some shows that had high hopes never got off the ground, same for movies and such. Heroes' 2nd season was cut short because of that and ended up with a poor story line.

But back to Dr. Horrible, It was not what I was thinking when my friend was explaining it to me. At first I thought it might be some lame job or just all around not my cup of tea, but I was wrong.

Things that make a good movie for me is mostly the DIALOG. (if you read the one about 2 good movies you might of noticed that when I talk about them) After comes, "how many people do I know in here?" The MORE I know the more I like it, and usually the newer it is the less I know. X_x The rest after that is up for grabs.

The dialog was okay but the lyrics for the songs were fun and nerdy, making it great in my opinion! The music was also kind of nice, even though I felt like the repeated the same notes a lot. I would of liked a bit more of a verity on the music but I still loved the songs, also keeping in mind that Writer's Strike was happening as well.

I MY WORD! I know SO many people in it and was looking for more in this 45min internet movie! I was very psyched! Which, each actor/actress surprised me that they could sing, the only one I was not surprised of was Neil Patrick Harris, via the Muppet Movie. And I was doubly happy when I knew Miss Day and my friend did not. ^_^

Simon Helberg, Neil Patrick Harris, Nathan Fillion, and Felicia Day

Encase you do not recognize them you could IMDB them or watch, Big Bang Theory, Firefly/Serenity, How I Meet Your Mother, and The Guild. All are big named but the Guild, that is a Youtube.com series.

Also both Firefly/Serenity and The Guild have comics about them, and ONLY Firefly/Serenity had one season. All very nerdy! 8D

2 Movies Worth Watching

After a long day of cleaning for work and home and what not, I finally sat down to eat and watch some movies as my brake. In between the thoughts of  "what should I eat" and "what should I put in to go with my food" I was thinking about movies I loved when I was a kind in the 90's and what I haven't seen in some time because of reasons that come up and drown me in it...

So, as I was thinking on what I should watch I decided on Ever After: a Cinderella Story. I just bought this movie at a pawn shop and remember loving it long ago when it was on the TV every other day. Then after that I thought about Princess Bride another fave for me. When watching them I noticed that this movies go together like peanut-butter & jelly, and just as different.

So starting with the first movie I watched the other night going to the second one I will explain this idea.

In short, Ever After was BRILLIANTLY beautiful! The dialogue was fully thought out. I found myself trying to remember the dialogue between the characters. Some of my favorite was between Di Vinci and the Prince, one when they are by the lack and he talks of love and the other was after Danell runs off. Some other wonderful lines appear between the to lovers as well.

The actor/actress were casted well, they all knew who they were and how they should react to the statement of the other people and the things going around them. Even the smaller cast-members were in the flow of things and knew who they were. Farmer #2 was not just a farmer but he was John Doe the farmer and was married to Jane, and 2 dogs and they lived on a farm and came to town every Tuesday to sell there crops... That is were I find the best of actors, when they can take a small character and give them a WHOLE biography just for their 5 seconds of fame! It may not be much but it brakes or makes a BEAUTIFUL movie.

There were several spots were I thought the movie SHOULD end. I don't know what gave me the idea that this movie was going to end in this areas or why. Was I thinking, "when will this movie be over?" and that made me think the movie should end there or was I think at the age, "this movie would be even better with sad ending?" With that as my last thought it make me worry of what my mental stages were as a child. I know I have always liked sadder things when it came to songs, plays and movies; like Romeo & Juliet, Tristan & Isolde, the Long Goodbye and I Miss You. Was I even then, found of these things? No wonder I have depression, when children think of sad things would be better then happy things and death being the ideal why to go. (o.o)

The places I thought would be good endings was when Danell runs and falls, gets up and runs some more, I thought it would be a great cliffhanger. By the way, the movie IS almost over at this point. The other spot was were Da Vinci told the prince, "you do not deserve her." Leaving it with the, 'this is you fault dimwit, if you loved her it would never matter' feel. The third spot was when Danell got home and was crying on the door step only, wet and hurt. There were others that I thought would be good to as a child from this point on but I think they are not necessary to talk I still think this are some decent spots to end, really. But the why it did end was good for an up lifting movie with a good message at the end, "The point gentlemen, is that they lived."

Going farther into this movie you see a young woman who has a brain and speaks out with what is on it in a time were that was frowned upon. She has a hunger to learn, to were there was nowhere for her except for the books she can find. She hungers for love and approval but does not change who she is for it. She is what I wanted to be as a child, strong and smart, beautiful and graceful in all that she does. She does not wait for her prince charming to save her and saves herself. This is just a brief description of her and her role in the movie, a STRONG female character for all young girls to look up to who lives each day to the fullest!

Here is another movie, it takes place along the same timeline but in another world. Were as the last one was serious with a few laughs, this one is based on laughs!

This movie also has well thought out dialogue, witty and smart. "As You Wish," I don't think anyone will ever forget the meaning of those tree words. I find it brilliant that "I Love You" and "As You Wish" are both three little words that since this movie now means the same. It is as beautiful as when Hon Solo replied, "I Know" to Lea's, "I  Love You."

This movie was made for both Guys and Gals. I know MANY guys that love this movie and will not ague with me if I put it in. Were as "Ever After" is geared to women both are great date movies for me. One for smart-wit and the other one for funny-wit.

Were as the last one as a strong female role this one is week, and is waiting for her love to help her cross a mud puddle. But deep down everyone wants to be pampered and waited on and a man to show how much he loves her buy braving the odds and saving her through it all. It is a cliche that they used in this movie. Only this movie would not hold so much love for it unless all the funny, witty lines that show up and make me laugh every time I watch it.

The lines that I think made the movie are classic lines like "As You Wish" and the whole scene were Billy Crystal's character's wife comes out and says. "I not a witch, I am your WIFE!" and "Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die." and the notable "Inconceivable" All of these are memorable lines given over and over, but it is not the lines that made the movie it was why they were said. When someone says one of these lines to their day-to-day life and the people in the conversation share a moment of the movie, either the scene or the movie over all. It binds people in their nerdness of the movie.

The cast was a beautiful mash up of many people who's names no-one can soon for get, Cary Elwes, Billy Crystal, Andre the Giant  to list a few along with there many others! Each member played a part in the funny movie. Where it was needed each one said their lines with all seriousness to it making those lines funny.

Oh how I could rant on about the movies! But I came on to write a blog not an essay. Maybe in the near future I will turn this into an essay. But for now I will leave you with this.

Shakespeare's The Tempest

 A littler over 5 years I was in the play by the beloved, sick mined Shakespeare as Ariel. I loved it, not so much the costume or set but the fact that I was in this play as Ariel was what made it wonderful for me and all the laughs I shared with the cast. Ariel so happens to be one of the biggest parts in the play next to Prospero in Tempest. This was also one of my big brakes into the threatre back home.

Now, I have been in this city for a good 3 years trying to find the time to become involved with the theatre troupes here but sadly I never had the time till this year. And THIS was the show I chose over the others that were going on. I didn't plan on reviving the role of Ariel again, but part of me loved the idea to play that part again. Instead I got one of the smallest part (Shakespeare LOVED small parts, I swear), Ceres. Although this was a blessing for me; this has been a very busy summer.

Encase you have not read the last play written by Shakespeare, in short it is about revenge and forgiveness.

In more detail, Prospero who has been stranded on an island with his young daughter for many years till he notices the king's ship with his brother who plotted to kill him before he came to this island to escape and takes his revenge on them with a tempest. Fairing for their lives they abandon the ship and the ship's crew and passengers are then split in many groups around the island as Prospero commands Ariel (his spirit) to tournament some and help others. Wile his young daughter, Miranda finds love with the king's son as the king believes him to be drowned. And all the while this is going on Caliban, an orphan of the island adopted by Prospero, who plots to kill him with the help of two members of the king's own court as Prospero's brother and the brother of the king plot to kill the king and those who would tell others of there deed.

I strongly URGE you to read it for yourself! The first time I read this play I thought, "this will be cool" I was not so passionate about it then as I am now. It was my first Shakespeare and when I saw that it was going to be at the park I decided that there was no better time to tryout then for this show that I loved. And now I love it even more with how this one was done!

The first one I did 5 years ago, was done in the time period and the set was a black shadow in the back leaving the actors the color in the show. I was strict Shakespeare show, no words were changed and none were cut out. This show is a strong male cast, like most shows in that time. (Of-curse not alloying women to play in the theater would affect that.)

There are 4 spots for women, the daughter, and the 3 goddess. The rest were for the men. This version though we had the 4 women, and made Ariel and Caliban, the Spirit and the "misshapen naïve". These two were also played by females, me being one. We left the lines alone with "he" and "him", becoming more of an "it". As the others were played by guys.

Now to the one I just finished over the weekend, this one was very lade back not so, "This has to be!" The one that just closed was leaning on the steam-punk side (with what small theatre budgets allowed). We had 2 cane-swords and a grungy Caliban with steam-punkie spirits, or the Hocus Pocus sisters.

The set was a tropical paradise, every one and thing was bright and colorful. We changed some of the people and it help the story to become (I think) even better. The King Alonso's brother Sebastian became Sabina, the king's sister and Trinculo was changed to a women. Any and all pronouns geared towards Ariel were changed to "her". To my surprise I liked it done like this so that Sabina and Antonio were lovers and that Trinculo would have a sexual tensions with Stephano. All this was done with only changing the pronouns, nothing ells was changed, okay so some lines were cut to help with the flow of the story but they were fluffy stuff.

So now after reading it again for the hundredth time with the ideas that were placed into my head I can see myself doing different versions with this same scrip.

One of which was having Sebastian be the gay lover to Antonio. Changing the time and place or making it a "true" steam-punk version.

Another way is putting it into the Endo Era making some of them samurais with names that would be well placed in syllables count and time period.

Now, with two versions of the Tempest and two different characters played, I hope that once again I will be able to preform this play again but under another character so that each one will have there own life for others to see! There is not a big audience in my head to they need to be let out every so often. ^_^



PS: To read this for free and to find cool historic facts about the play go to this web site www.william-shakespeare.info