002. Mulan (100 things: characters)

002. Mulan

Films: Disney’s Mulan, Hua Mulan

Actress who portrays her: Ming-Na, Zhao Wei

Memorable Quotes (Disney’s Mulan):

“My, what beautiful blossoms we have this year. But look, this one’s late. But I’ll bet that when it blooms, it will be the most beautiful of all.” (Fa Zhou)

“The flower that blooms in adversity is the most rare and beautiful of all.” (The Emperor of China)

Memorable Quotes (Hua Mulan):

“Today we will stain the battlefield with our blood. Behind us is our homeland. If we have to bleed out our last drop of blood, if we have to become bleached bones in this desert, we must defend it to the death! We must let the Rourans know we Wei warriors will never surrender and will never compromise! Soldiers may rebel against me, generals may leave me for dead, but I, Hua Mulan, will never betray my country!” (Hua Mulan)

The story of Mulan is long, old and varied. If you look to the Disney animation you will find many discrepancies against the original story, which was in fact a poem. I don’t remember much about it but I once looked at a translation in school. We were studying Snow White and Mulan as examples of women in Disney, so that we could write a report on how women were represented in this form of media. It was an interesting task to say the least and it is the very first time I saw Mulan.

If you don’t know the story of Mulan it is brief, she goes to war (pretending to be a boy) so that her old and frail father doesn’t need to. As it turns out she ends up being something of a lifeline for the war.

The Mulan in Disney and the Mulan in the 2009 film known both as Mulan and Hua Mulan couldn’t be more different and yet they are similar.

They both want to honour their family and do what is right. They both know that their father will die if he goes to war and so they take his place.

Mulan is a brave and fearless woman, although she’s not fearless, but she pushes through her fears in order to do something she knows she must. That’s what I love the most about Mulan. She’s from a world where men go to war and women stay at home and yet somehow she still manages to push into a world she’s traditionally not meant for. She battles forward as a woman and she proves that women can be just as powerful, if not more so, than men.

If ever you needed a role model of a woman, of someone who puts their fears to one side in order to live and experience and to save someone they love, then Mulan is that person.

The Disney animated film may glorify the whole story whereas Hua Mulan shows the true nature of such battles and the danger that Mulan and her fellow warriors are in. But they both show this beautiful woman who deserves a lot of praise, not just for doing what she does, but for being who she is.

I especially relate to the Disney Mulan because at one point in the film she’s expected to be this ideal woman, this woman that tradition says must exist and if she’s not that person then she will not bring her family honour. She sings the song Reflection, which I will always hold dear, and I have a feeling many of you may feel similarly.

Look at me
I will never pass for a perfect bride
Or a perfect daughter
Can it be
I’m not meant to play this part?
Now I see
That if I were truly to be myself
I would break my fam’ly’s heart

Who is that girl I see
Staring straight
Back at me?
Why is my reflection someone
I don’t know?
Somehow I cannot hide
Who I am
Though I’ve tried
When will my reflection show
Who I am inside?

It’s just Mulan, who is lost and unsure that I most relate to because I think we can all feel that way sometimes. We’re not all brave, we’re not all strong and we can’t all be the person we are inside. It’s a sad fact, but it’s something that I think makes Mulan one of the greatest Disney women of all time. She may not be a Princess, she may not have a wicked stepmother, but she can kick ass as well as the next Disney girl. Except maybe Rapunzel from Tangled, but that’s another story for another day.

002. Sewing an animal (100 things: smile)

002. Sewing an animal

The other day I bought a kit to sew a cow, it’s an awesome cow and my intention when buying it was to use the template to then attempt to make other animals. It worked. Sort of.

Here is my cow (sewn from a kit).

And here is my duckuin (because it was supposed to be a penguin, but it looks a little like a duck).

001. Bridget Vreeland, Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants (100 Things: character)

Bridget “Bee” Vreeland

Books: The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants, Second Summer of the Sisterhood, Girls In Pants, Forever In Blue, Sisterhood Everlasting, 3 Willows (The Sisterhood Grows – cameo)

Author: Ann Brashares (novel), Delia Ephron (screenplay), Elizabeth Chandler (screenplay)

Films: The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants, The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants 2

Actress who portrays her: Blake Lively/Ashley Hale (young Bridget)

Family: Franz (father), Marly (mother, deceased), Perry (twin brother), Greta Randolph (grandmother)

Love Interest: Eric Richman

 

Memorable Quotes (by Bridget):

“The thought of a shower under a ceiling makes me claustrophobic…I think I wasn’t made for houses.”

“I have fallen in love with a dirt floor.”

“It happened just how I always imagined it would. So why do I feel this way, Lena? How can something that’s supposed to make you feel so complete end up leaving you so empty? I just wish so much I could talk to my mom. I need her. And that scares me.”

 

Memorable Quotes (about Bridget):

“Single-minded till the point of recklessness.”

“You are brightness, Bee. You are hope. No matter how far down you get, you’ll always have it. That’s what makes you different from your mother.”

 

Most of the time I can’t decide which Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants girl I like the most and for reasons I shan’t disclose, I’m currently a huge fan of Tibby. However, I start my 100 fictional characters I admire list with none other than Bridget Vreeland. She’s wild and independent, she’s stunning and crazy, but she’s also extremely vulnerable.

I admire Bridget in ways I can’t even begin to describe. She has been through a lot in her fictional life and that’s before we even reach the point in which her story begins (in the books/films). It’s not a secret that Bridget’s mother committed suicide and is something which is focused on throughout the whole series. It’s something which affects Bridget nearly every single day of her life and had it not happened I imagine she would be a very different person to the Bridget that we know and love.

She’s a football (soccer) buff and actually she’s very intelligent, though that isn’t the first thing people notice about her. It’s her hair. Blake Lively was a fantastic casting choice for the role because she has the hair and she has the height that makes Bridget who she is. Not to mention her stunning looks. She also has the ability to explore Bridget’s vulnerability whilst being the wild and crazy girl that she is.

The thing that I admire most about Bridget is her desire to live and to live well. She doesn’t do things by halves and despite very down moments in her existence, she still manages to do that. She’s a girl of poles – sometimes she’s up and sometimes she’s down, sometimes she’s bouncing around hyper and sometimes she can’t even get out of bed. But she doesn’t waste her life. There are days she may waste with her low moods, but the ones that she lives, she lives well. She’s not afraid to go out there and experience boys and life and anything she can grasp hold of. She likes to run and sometimes I wish that I could run because she does it when she needs to get away from life.

You know that feeling where you can’t quite explain just how important someone is in your life? I feel like that about Bridget. She’s been there in my world for several years and I don’t regret a moment. Who she is is someone to aspire to, her depression aside, I can’t think of anyone I’d like to be like more.

001. Random Internet Funnies (100 Things: smile)

001. Random Internet Funnies

Every single day on the internet something new is posted by someone, somewhere, which makes someone laugh. Last night I came upon a folder of pictures on a friends’ Facebook and I had quite a giggle. Here are a few of my favourites. I have a feeling these are the things that make a lot of people smile. The first was one I had saved in my pictures file so I’m not sure of its origins. I particularly like the last one!

Alphathon: I’ve been back to the year 1998.

1998, gosh, that was the year I started secondary school. It was the year that S Club 7 came into my life. I was a very different person back then, with hopes and dreams and this idea that secondary school would be the greatest thing. I was sad at having to say goodbye to so many of my great primary school friends and it’s still sad, really, that they’re not in my life anymore. I also had to say goodbye to a little girl from reception class who I really liked, we were good friends because as the oldest students we had to look after the youngest ones.

I was 11. That was pre-everything. It was before any of the worries that come with growing up. Things weren’t as they are now. I wasn’t a victim of bullying, I didn’t foresee myself getting depression, I didn’t see any of this.

Back then I wanted to be a mechanic.

I would go home at lunchtime because my sister went home, so they allowed me too as well. Generally those who were in year 7 weren’t allowed, but I was. I’ll always remember that little card that was my going home pass.

I met lots of new people, I got to sit next to people I didn’t really know very well. I got to learn what it was like to be in different classes to the rest of your form. Every lesson we were in the same classes for that first year, or at least part of it, but technology we were all mixed up. That was scary, we didn’t understand, but it worked out okay. Except that it was in that technology class where the bullying started…

It’s like another life ago. Another world where I didn’t mind standing up on a stage and performing, as long as my parents weren’t there to watch.

What a life.

 

Apologies to my fellow bloggeroos for being sooo delayed in finishing and for also not blogging to a suitable standard on these last 4 blogs. Unfortunately I have to leave, literally now, to go and work my abs or whatever they say about going to the gym. I’m scared and excited all at the same time. There’s this machine which will be really useful for building my archery muscles/strength.

 

Alphathon: Yesterday All My Troubles Seemed So Far Away

Yesterday I had a (mostly) really good day. Here’s why:

1. I didn’t do very much and that was nice, it’s nice to have a rest when you’ve had what appears to be a busy week. I watched my television programmes, I ate food, it was great.

2. Chatting to wonderful people – I got to chat to the Katyos, I’ve been a little on the edge of the world recently in that respect, so it was nice to catch up. I also chatted to a guy called Harley who is my Skins writing buddy. He sent some hilarious messages to the fictional Skins accounts on Twitter, made me chuckle.

3. I went to an old friend’s house and we chatted and played my Desperate Housewives game (which I kept winning) and it was generally a really good evening. I’m so glad I’ve reconnected with her. Even though neither of us is too bothered about seeing them regularly we might be meeting up with another couple of people we used to be friends with too.

 

Alphathon: Forget me not!

What’s the most important thing I’ve forgotten? Well, I’m not sure about things from the past or things of importance from years gone by. But I do believe I have forgotten some very important things of late.

 

1. I almost forgot to blog before I go to the gym (for my induction, first ever time at a gym properly!) which meant I wouldn’t have blogged before 4.30 which isn’t good.

2. I forgot to send Katyo’s birthday card off early enough so now she won’t get it. I’ve been so wrapped up in who knows where of late that I haven’t even thought about details like getting it there sooner than soon. That’s pretty important, I feel, because it’s an epic fail.

 

It would seem I don’t have much I’ve forgotten recently, either that or, I’ve forgotten it.

 

Alphathon: Words!

I’m a huge fan of words, any word really, well, there will be words I dislike and words I like more than others.

 

I really dislike some slang words, for example: meh, chuddy (chewing gum). Leccie (electricity), and words like that which sound really quite common.

 

I find language fascinating though, I once read a book called Much Ado about English and it was amazing, there were so many stories about words that have changed meaning over the years and words which have pretty much stayed the same. There are so many different aspects to language and it’s so amazing, really, how words were created and have developed over the years.

 

I’m not sure what my favourite words are but I quite like words like Inspiration, Motivation, there’s something fulfilling about them. I quite like old sounding words such as huzzah and the whole ye olde.

 

Sometimes I like to write in ‘posh’ sentences and generally I like to write in full sentences, then other times I like to sound like I’m in the Jane Austen era.

 

I really quite like the word one as in one does love to run and jump in the garden on this fine day. Haha. I just love words, so much.

 

I even have some favourite French words, for example, moi-meme which means myself. That’s my favourite French word anyway. I quite like Il Pleut (It’s raining).

Alphathon: Van Bond

Well, maybe not.

The choices for today’s blog weren’t really inspiring me enough, sorry Katy and Katy but star signs are something I no longer care much for and I hardly ever win anything. So I’m going with my own theme Van Gogh – your artistic ability.

I saw a Van Gogh at the National Gallery in London, it was the most amazing thing ever. I’ve checked it off my list of things to do before I die.

I’m not quite in the same leagues as the famous painters or artists, but I have done a few things I’m proud of over the years.

Here are a couple of pictures I drew in the last few weeks.

 

 

My original intention for today’s blog was to draw Katy and Katy…but for some reason the picture of Katy P I chose wouldn’t play ball and she ended up looking alien shaped so I didn’t finish or even really started that one. As for Katy S, well, she SMILES TOO MUCH. That’s right, smiles too much. I struggle to draw teeth without them looking wrong and yet I only found one picture of Katy where she wasn’t smiling. It wasn’t an easy one to attempt to draw either. It really isn’t very good and looks odd as the image was close up so there’s no hair, or chin, so apologies…

The final picture I will share is one that I am utterly proud of and it’s lived on my bedroom wall. I drew it for GCSE art (which was the only GCSE I got an A for), it is of Paul from S Club 7 – note that he has neither teeth nor eyes in this. Wooo. Seriously, those seem to be the things I struggle with the most.

Check out the other girls’ blogs, I bet they’re as awesome as usual. Links on the right.

Alphathon: Usually/Unusually

Katy asked us to complete the sentence ‘Unusually, I don’t…’ so here it is…with a slight twist.

 

Usually/Unusually

Usually I don’t sing in public,

Or dance among my peers.

Usually I don’t tell people,

How it is I feel.

 

Usually I don’t take big risks,

Like approaching those I don’t know.

Usually I don’t want to go outside,

Especially if I’m feeling low.

 

Usually I don’t make snap decisions,

I analyse my world a great deal.

Usually I like to press bruises,

Before they’ve even healed.

 

Usually I wish I could do more,

But never find the time.

Usually I hope more than doing,

Look up instead of climb.

 

Unusually I don’t do the things,

That others usually do.

I have a little question,

Do you usually do them too?

 

 

So world, you know what to do, links on the right…