33. Morgan Freeman Got the Golden Ticket

欢迎光临! Welcome!

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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.

08:30

JOHN NEWTON ON THE MANDARIN BLUEPRINT COMMUNITY

I agree it’s a good course overall, I’m definitely learning stuff. It’s just when I see sentences like this: “她吃的那些东西都不知道去哪儿了” I wonder if it’s correct or I just don’t understand the grammar yet. I expect the odd mistake but I’ve seen quite a lot which I would expect to have been fixed in ‘Beta phase’ (free content while members help fix errors). Now the course is costing $30/month so its not cheap. Even discounted to $15/month it’s still more than Netflix and Amazon for example. If I was charging $30/month for a course I would get it professionally proof read first.

14:32

FROM TWITTER

Screenshot of the tweets:

19:30 Props!

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

JOHN HAY ON “PICK A PROP 水“

How about a nice big sponge? Saturated and dripping, you can
have a lot of fun integrating it into your movie scenes.

IJA AMRAHI ON “PICK A PROP 了“

A mountaineer’s ice axe. It looks like this

WILLIAM EDMEADES ON “PICK A PROP 冂“

Adapting onto the ‘glass cover’ suggestion, I’m going with the classic glass museum exhibit housing their precious gem, just like in the movies; a glass container on a pedestal.

WILLIAM EDMEADES ON “PICK A PROP 王“

I went with King from the game Tekken, as his Leopard mask is quite memorable!

WILLIAM EDMEADES ON “PICK A PROP 主“

Going with Armor King (also from the game Tekken), as he was King’s tutor and master! A nice coincidence ?

WILL HENRY ON “PICK A PROP 元“

George Washington the first president of the US

WILLIAM EDMEADES ON “PICK A PROP 因“

Going with a Butterfly, because of ‘The Butterfly Effect’. Cause and Effect on a grand scale!

JULIAN LAFFEY ON “PICK A PROP 亭“

What is a rotating pavilion?

WILL HENRY ON “PICK A PROP 此“

Morgan Freeman

WILLIAM EDMEADES ON “PICK A PROP 钅“

The Golden Ticket from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is another good choice. Perhaps even a gold medal? Or it even could be King Midas (because everything he touched turned to gold). Or Smaug from the movie ‘The Hobbit’? (As he has mountains of gold in his lair)

WILLIAM EDMEADES ON “PICK A PROP 天“

Going with a Satellite Dish as ‘Sky’ is a Broadcasting company here in New Zealand

WILLIAM EDMEADES ON “PICK A PROP 开“

It looks pretty identical to those arches you see at the entrances of Japanese temples, so I’m gonna go with that ?

WILLIAM EDMEADES ON “MAKE A MOVIE 闻“

I kinda like the way the props are put together for this character. It’s almost describing the door/entrance to the nose (nostrils), and it ‘listening’ for different smells.

CHAD RESSLER ON “PICK A PROP 支“

I went with a quill. Tried to incorporate both the meaning and the shape of the character. Plus, a quill is unique yet still a pen so I thought that would help with recall.

CLAYTON LEE ON “PICK A PROP 身“

Martial arts body/training dummy

WILLIAM EDMEADES ON “PICK A PROP 西“

Will Henry brilliantly suggested Kanye West as a prop idea for 西, so that’s what I’m gonna use!
Alternatively, the 覀 component will make a great boombox prop.

WILL HENRY ON “PICK A PROP 夕“

Prop： Owl

31:20 Movies! 

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

IJA AMRAHI ON “MAKE A MOVIE 贵“

For backstory, refer to Chad’s 并 scene.

Actor : Gru of Despicable Me
Set : My home AWAY in another state
Props : Chinese flag, razor blade, seashells.

Gru had also fallen on hard times and was listening to The Mandarin Blueprint podcast. He was intrigued to hear that Fan Bing Bing had her own HGTV show to sell made-up Chinese antiques but failed to pawn them off.

He knew that he could do better. He picked up seashells from the backyard of my “away” home and used razor blades to engrave Chinese characters on the shells.

He then wrapped those shells in a Chinese flag, described it as “authentic, collectible, antique shell currency from China” and tried to sell them on eBay for $1000 (expensive!!!).

He had multiple bids and managed to sell them off for $10000, only to be asked for a refund via PayPal much later after the buyer realized the characters on the shells were all wrong.

He hasn’t been doing his Anki.

34:05

IJA AMRAHI ON “MAKE A MOVIE 闻“

I imagined it being close to the idiom “smelling a rat / smelling something fishy” and my wu-character putting its ear to the neighbor’s door to eavesdrop.

34:55

IJA AMRAHI ON “MAKE A MOVIE 厚“

Actor : Hugh Jackman
Set : The Alfred (my training hospital OUtside the country with a great OUtdoor park)
Props : Factory, Sun prop, Haley Joel Osment

Hugh Jackman was back in Melbourne for a holiday when he was passing by The Alfred. He was surprised that the backyard parking had been converted into a Cheese Toastie factory. But the factory looked a bit dark and dingy, so he took the sun prop and used it to light up the area a bit.

Surprise surprise, the factory employed child labour, and he caught a glimpse of Haley Joel Osment supervising other kids. But as he was devouring his delicious cheese toasties – made using THICK pieces of toast with GENEROUS amount of cheese – RICH in FLAVOUR, he decided to just be …… grate-ful.

36:43

WILLIAM EDMEADES ON “MAKE A MOVIE 回“

I’ve got the Hulk (hu-) in the kitchen of my -ei set. With the following props: Rolling stones mouth (口) and a pig pen (囗).

The Rolling stones mouth is floating around in the kitchen when the Hulk walks in wearing a black leather jacket and dark sunglasses like Arnie from the movie Terminator. Seeing the mouth is not where it should be, Hulk says in a cool voice “I’LL BE BACK“. He promptly RETURNS with a pig pen and places it around the floating Mouth.

37:58

WILLIAM EDMEADES ON “MAKE A MOVIE 回“

Couldn’t decide whether to go with a  movie scene with themes from ‘Superman Returns’ , ‘The Terminator’, or even ‘The Hobbit’ (because Gandalf -returns- when they need him the most).

I eventually decided on the Terminator, but I hope someone else can get some inspiration from the list!

38:27

IJA AMRAHI ON “MAKE A MOVIE 远“

Star Wars – Episode 1

Actor : Yoda
Set : My ANatomy lab
Props : Anakin Skywalker, red carpet

Yoda entered the learning suite of my anatomy lab, inviting Anakin Skywalker to join the force in a galaxy FAR FAR AWAY. Both of them then proceeded to walk on the red carpet towards Yoda’s starfighter.

39:35

IJA AMRAHI ON “MAKE A MOVIE 玩“

Star Wars – Episode 2

Actor : Wall-E
Set : My ANatomy lab
Props : Anakin Skywalker, a king’s crown

Anakin escaped his tedious jedi training class to PLAY Beat Saber with Wall-E at the lobby of my anatomy lab. He won(because Wall-E was pretty stiff) and crowned himself (literally with a crown) as the Beat Sabre king.

40:52

IJA AMRAHI ON “MAKE A MOVIE 园“

Star Wars – Episode 3

Actor : Yoda
Set : My ANatomy lab
Props : Anakin Skywalker, Animal Pen

Yoda was furious upon learning that Anakin skipped his Jedi training and locked him inside an animal pen at the lobby on my anatomy lab. Anakin felt like he’s an animal in the zoo (动物园) but chose to be positive and started planting flowers around him.

42:18

IJA AMRAHI ON “MAKE A MOVIE 完“

Star Wars – Episode 4

Actor : Wall-E
Set : My ANatomy lab
Props : Anakin Skywalker, Roof-shaped hat

There were enough flowers around the Anakin’s pen that he managed to escape without being noticed (like Shawshank). Knowing that his career as a Jedi trainee is now FINISHed, he joined Wall-E as a galactic trash collector, wearing a roof-shaped hat as a form of disguise.

43:50

IJA AMRAHI ON “MAKE A MOVIE 空 “

Actor : Keanu Reeves
Set : Entrance of O&G ward
Props : Construction worker with a yellow hat, a black hole.

Keanu Reeves was not too happy about the condition of the entrance of the ward – there were just too much stuff lying around. He remembered watching Marie Kōngdo on Netflix and started tidying up the area by using the Kōng-Marie method.

With the help of a construction worker, he started decluttering the area. Unfortunately, nothing sparked joy for Keanu, and he threw away all the items into a blackhole on the floor nearby.

The place is now empty.

45:15

WILLIAM EDMEADES ON “MAKE A MOVIE 送“

I’ve got Stephen Hawking (s-) on the football field of my university (-ong), with the props: Kim Jong Un (关) and a Red Carpet (辶).

Me and Stephen are having a casual discussion about the wonders of the universe on my university football field when we both start to feel a little peckish, so we decide to order some pizza and get it delivered. Next thing we know, a long red carpet appears at our feet and we are greeted by none other than Kim Jong Un! He bows and promptly delivers the pizza to us.

46:40 Pronunciation

KIM LE ON “SIMPLE FINAL Ü (YU) QUIZ“

O sounds like awesome! simple enough
U sounds like ‘n(ew)’
I can type two dots on top of U – YU but Y does not sound.
Very good/clear teaching. I got it. Thank you!

47:35 Miscellaneous

WILLIAM EDMEADES ON “IT’S A WORD! 住“

Hey guys! For the last example is it 多长 or 好长? And does the dot above the Pinyin for 长 represent the fifth tone?

William is referring to the following:

A: 你现在住哪儿？
B: 中国
A: 你在中国住了多长时间了？
B: 住了三年了。

51:05

GARTH GRESKIW ON “MOVING FORWARD: THE ROLE OF A TUTOR“

Luke and Phil are great teachers individually – and even better as a team! Yin/Yang bros

52:40

WILLIAM EDMEADES ON “NEW VOCABULARY UNLOCKED! 回去“

I completely agree with Sidney! Even though we’re well into reading sentences, it still amazes me (and my family too) how I can just instinctively KNOW how to pronounce characters and understand sentences! It’s absolutely thrilling, without a doubt ?

53:15

GARTH GRESKIW ON “YOU DID IT!!!“

Love how you use media effects (intriguing photos, Chinese music and singing – always with a bit of your blend of quirky humour)..

53:45

ABIGAIL ON “NEW VOCABULARY UNLOCKED! 几百“

Oh thanks! So shouldn’t it be a top-down word (we’ve only learnt 只 zhǐ so far)? Also, I think it would be helpful to have the pinyin for new words on the new vocabulary unlocked lessons, incase there are any tone change rules? For this word 几百 (Jǐ bǎi) there isn’t a tone change, but in 明白（míngbai) there is.

55:50

ERIC BROWN ON “NEW VOCABULARY UNLOCKED! 女人“

As much as I like the length of the 3rd one, I feel like it has way too many top-down words

56:30

WILLIAM EDMEADES ON “MAKE A MOVIE 行“

Crazy to think that it was only 105 characters ago that you took the training wheels off! The same amount of characters that we spent with them on! Time certainly has flown!