47. Yoko Ono Discovers The Meaning Of Life

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The Mandarin Blueprint Podcast focuses primarily on The Mandarin Blueprint Method online curriculum. Creators Luke Neale & Phil Crimmins answer questions and comments, discuss topics related to China and Mandarin learning, and have special guests.

03:59 Props!

This blog post explains the theory behind props and Chinese character components.

WILLIAM EDMEADES ON “PICK A PROP 夭“

FrancisM, a talented Filipino Rapper who left this world too early

WILLIAM EDMEADES ON “PICK A PROP 立“

To me it looks like a birthday cake, so I’m going with the classic “The cake is a lie” cake from the game Portal.

WILLIAM EDMEADES ON “PICK A PROP 立“

It also (under certain fonts anyway), looks like the top of those old British lampposts!

WILLIAM EDMEADES ON “PICK A PROP 音“

A musical instrument of choice should be fine. It could also be a school bell or an air horn.

WILLIAM EDMEADES ON “PICK A PROP 穴“

A jackhammer!

WILLIAM EDMEADES ON “PICK A PROP 亲“

A bonzai tree!

MEL ON “PICK A PROP 只“

Looks like Earth zooming through space. ONLY one of our system’s EIGHT planets to call home.

CONNOR GRIFFITH ON “PICK A PROP 首“

Any of the heads in jars from Futurama. Or the head of my actor in a jar.

NATALIA BEREZINA ON “PICK A PROP 虽“

Frogs eat insects, so I went with a frog

CONNOR GRIFFITH ON “PICK A PROP 其“

I’m using the monster from The Thing.

WILLIAM EDMEADES ON “PICK A PROP 乃“

Since 乃 kinda looks like 刀 but with a kink, I’m going with Cloud Strife’s iconic sword from the game Final Fantasy VII as that was a giant blade with a couple of holes at the base.

CHAD RESSLER ON “PICK A PROP 首“

Red Skull: The Head of Hydra in Captain America

WILLIAM EDMEADES ON “PICK A PROP 尸“

Going with an axe

WILLIAM EDMEADES ON “PICK A PROP 七“

A giant pair of fuzzy dice, like the one’s you hang from a rear-view mirror

WILLIAM EDMEADES ON “PICK A PROP 户“

Bank Teller Window reminds me of the days I used to play RuneScape, endless hours spent at the bank deposing random stuff I accumulated on my adventures haha. Easy to imagine a real-life version of one of those bankers.

CHAD RESSLER ON “PICK A PROP 直“

The “Giant Oversized Pen That Requires Two Hands” from the movie Cat in the Hat with Mike Myers.

WILLIAM EDMEADES ON “PICK A PROP 欠“

The Godfather, I can imagine a lot of people OWE him favours, because of his “offers that they can’t refuse”.

PAUL TOMASOVIC ON “PICK A PROP 氵“

Kind of reminds me of the sprinkler heads that you see in lawns shooting out drops of water

WILLIAM EDMEADES ON “PICK A PROP 亡“

If someone/thing is perished, it could also be known as being ERASED, so I’m going with the lead singer of the Eraserheads, Ely Buendia!

16:56 Actors! 

This blog post explains the theory behind actors and Pinyin Initials.

GREGG REED ON “CASTING CALL CU- 32/55“

Captain Underpants

MAKAI ALLBERT ON “CASTING CALL ZU- 42/55“

Zoro from one piece

19:26 Movies! 

This blog post explains the theory behind Movie Scenes and learning characters.

GREGG REED ON “MAKE A MOVIE 吗“

Polygraph Test

20:21

CHAD RESSLER ON “MAKE A MOVIE 见“

Location: Grandma’s House (Backyard)
Actor: Janice (Stepmom)
Props: Eye of Sauron and Human Legs

I’m visiting with my Dad and Stepmom in the backyard of my Grandma’s house. The Eye of Sauron is looming in the distance and has it’s eye fixed on our house. Suddenly, there is a large gust of wind and my stepmom Janice is pulled into the Eye of Sauron and all we can see are her legs all distorted sticking out from below the Eye and then they sky becomes black as night. Light appears and, then, Mike Wazowski descends from the sky shouting “Did you SEE that transformation”.

22:38

IJA AMRAHI ON “MAKE A MOVIE 户“

Hulk in my bathroom?

This scene has a double entendre of “making a deposit” ?

22:57

WILLIAM EDMEADES ON “MAKE A MOVIE 意“

Actor: Yoko Ono (y-)
Set: Childhood home bathroom
Props: Giant Stereo Speaker (音), Heart (心)

Yoko is standing in the bathroom with a heart still beating in her hand. She places it on the ground, picks up a nearby speaker and slams it onto the heart, causing the number 42 to be splattered in blood all over the walls. She suddenly realises the MEANING of life, the universe and everything!

25:13

IJA AMRAHI ON “MAKE A MOVIE 所“

Keyword: All
Actor: Spongebob
Set: My Other house
Props: Bank teller window, Food scale

Backstory :
For 诉 (to accuse)，Spongebob was accused of altering the recipe of Krabby Patty and he had to hold a rally to prove his innocence with a megaphone, a food scale (to measure all ingredients perfectly) and a drop of secret formula from Krusty Krab.

For 所, Spongebob was feeling dejected, he had given his all and still the citizens of Bikini Bottom didn’t believe him.

He carried his food scale and walked up to a bank teller in my bedroom and said that he wanted to pawn off all his equipment.

The bank teller asked “ALL of these?”

Spongebob nodded.

And he went on with his life, spectacularly churning out glorious amount of Internet memes for a living.

26:54

WILLIAM EDMEADES ON “MAKE A MOVIE 站“

Actor: My cousin Jake (zh-)
Set: Bathroom of my Aunty Ann’s house (-an)
Props: Famous “Portal” cake (立), and a giant Liquid Soap Dispenser (占)

It’s Open Mic Night in the bathroom of my Aunt Ann’s house, and my cousin Jake decides to take the stage. He grabs a giant soap dispenser off the sink and very Seinfeld-ly says “Soap huh? Soap’s pretty weird right?” But (unlike Seinfeld) before he could finish, he got boo-ed off the stage with cake being thrown at him.

28:07

ZACH MORGAN ON “MAKE A MOVIE 息“

I like your scene, and I also have an external heart as my prop. What if as you are doing CPR, a heart comes shooting out of your actor’s giant nose, allowing her to breath again? Kind of gross, but maybe that will help you remember that component. Hope this is helpful!

To Erin on “Make a Movie 息”: 

I have my actress outside the entrance of my null final, and her nose grows to a giant size. So much so that she can no longer breathe.

She then falls to the ground, and grabs her chest. I have to perform heart massage (CPR) to revive her and get her breath back.

My prop for 心 is a heart, but I haven’t used a literal external heart in this scene. Do you think that will confuse my brain in the future ?

29:37

ZACH MORGAN ON “MAKE A MOVIE 己“

I have my actress in the living room of my childhood home. She is trying to cast a fishing line across the room into a cardboard box that is laying on it’s side. As she swings the rod backwards, she catches the hook on herSELF, and when she tries to cast the line she pulls herSELF over, tumbling forward into the box.

30:43

WILLIAM EDMEADES ON “MAKE A MOVIE 呢“

Actor: Nicholas Cage (n-)
Set: Roof of my -e set
Props: Rolling Stones Mouth (口), Axe (尸), and a giant pair of Fuzzy Dice (七)

Rolling Stones Mouth and Nicholas Cage are on the roof of my -e set. Nick is doing a bunch crazy faces (kinda like you see in those memes) while menacingly clutching the Axe in one hand and the Dice in the other. “Join me! Or the Dice gets it!” he says. The Mouth is crying hysterically coz it doesn’t want to join the dark side but it also wants to keep his precious dice out of harms reach.
“Hurry up!”, Nick says again “WHAT’S THE ANSWER?!?”

31:48

WILLIAM EDMEADES ON “MAKE A MOVIE 甘“

Actor: my Grandad (g-).
Set: Outside the entrance of my aunty ANn’s house (-an).
Props: Cup of Tea (廿), and a razor blade (一).

Grandad and I were having a nice chat on the front steps of my -an set. While he was looking I slipped a razor blade into his tea. Unfazed, he drinks it anyway. I was surprised that he was still WILLING to drink the tea after what I put in it! When I asked him why, he just chuckled and said that’s what they used to eat during the war!

33:37

WILLIAM EDMEADES ON “MAKE A MOVIE 花“

Actor: Hulk (hu-)
Set: outside the entrance of my -a set
Props: Optimus Prime (化), and a Rose (艹).

Optimus Prime and the Hulk were battling it out outside of my -a set when all of a sudden Hulk stops and says “Woah woah woah, why are we fighting? Please accept my apologies” and picks the most beautiful rose from a nearby bush and offers it to Optimus who promptly blushes and accepts it.

35:14

CHAD RESSLER ON “MAKE A MOVIE 直“

Location: Childhood Home (Kitchen)
Actor: Joey (Brother-In-Law)
Props: Razor Blade, Eye of Sauron, Cross

I am with my brother in law in the kitchen of my childhood home where the Eye of Sauron now stands. My brother in law was recently converted to Christianity and is railing against the demonic Eye. Dressed as a Knight’s Templar, he rushes up to the Eye of Sauron slicing through the bottom while stabbing it through the middle with a Christian Cross. The entire time he is doing this, he is shouting the last part of Isaiah 40:3, “make STRAIGHT in the desert a highway for our God”.

36:52 Miscellaneous 

KENNETH MORGAN ON “MAKE A MOVIE 上“

I’m a bit confused here. In the divination character, the drop was a downwards sloping line. Here we have a horizontal line which seems to make it a completely different character since that particular line is more like a razor blade. When we use the magic wand prop is it always a horizontal line or can it also be a downward sloping line?

39:37

SIDNEY GREEN ON “NEW VOCABULARY UNLOCKED! 发生“

Why has the position of the了 changed in these two sentences?
这儿附近发生了什么？and 发生什么了？

42:18

CORA ASHLEY ON “PROBLEM INITIAL X & SIMPLE FINAL I (YI): 习 XÍ“

OMG! Thank you. The tongue position makes all the difference in the world. My pronunciation has been the biggest obstacle for me in actually attempting to speak Chinese to someone other than myself in the mirror. I’m a new student but already your course is really helping me gain confidence to actually speak to people in public.

43:24

CONNOR GRIFFITH ON “你喜欢做什么“

My spirits were a bit low today, but after being able to read that with relative ease that injected some energy into my veins. I was even able to get an understanding of it with the native speed (still a bit too fast, but I’ve begun to see the light at the end of the tunnel now). These conversations and opinion pieces really keep a person motivated.