Author: enternity1030

Monsters!

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This summer, a movie called “Monster University” was fairly popular. I watched it with my friends, my family three times in total. And I still love it.

Monsters University is a 2013 American 3D computer-animated comedy film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures.It was directed by Dan Scanlon and produced by Kori Rae.

If you have seen the “Monsters Inc.” you would then be really familiar with the two main characters – the one-eyed goblin Mike and the fuzzy blue scare-master Sully.

“Monsters University” told the story of the two monsters as students attending Scare U. The movie began with a brief prologue of Mike as a young monster. He studied hard and finally got accepted into his dream school – the MU. Mike believed in everything said in the books but lacked talent. Sully, on the other hand, got the gift of scaring ability. The story mainly showed how these two monsters learned from each other in order to achieve their goals and eventually became friends from enemies.

My personal favorite part from the movie is how different types of monsters have their own features and all their expressions are vividly portrayed.

The movie is both comical and meaningful. From the movie, people can not only find amusement, but can also discover some life lessons, such as how to communicate and treat others appreciation and honesty.

However, I am not really trying to dig out the very profound meanings from this movie, because it is still produced as an entertainment cartoon. I just found that each monster kind of represents different kind of people.

Well, human beings do look better.

No Name Woman.

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This summer I read a story about the old traditional Chinese family back to the 1920s. It was called “No Name Woman,” extracted from the book “Woman Warrior“written by Maxine Hong Kingston. I was really shocked by the situation that Kingston portrays about her family.

The story is mainly about an American-Chinese family story in which Kingston’s aunt died in the family well after her child’s birth. Several years after her father and uncles sailed for America, “the Gold Mountain.” In 1924, her mother noticed that her husband’s sister was pregnant. Nobody said anything about the unacceptable activity, but the villagers had been counting and planning to raid their house. The villagers were violent and crazy. They were crying and tearing rice. “They also threw mud and rocks at the house,” the mother told the child. Even the animals were attacked and screamed their deaths. The villagers encircled them with horrific faces. They broke the doors and their knives dripped with the blood of the animals.

As a family, they stood together in the middle of their house. When the men came back, the family would build more wings to enclose the courtyard. However, the villagers pushed through both wings to get the aunt. They ripped up her clothes and shoes and broke her combs. After all they ruined the house and left with sugar and oranges to bless themselves. The aunt gave birth in the pigsty that night and the next morning she was found the baby “plugging up the family well.” The father denied his sister and the mother told the child not to humiliate the family by doing the same thing as his/her aunt.

As the story goes on, Kingston begins to have her own thoughts and finally thinks that her aunt’s story actually represents lots of old Chinese immigrants. She imagines all the past her aunt has been suffering until her death which she thinks might be what the old Chinese world is like back to the 1920s. She describes the world of her aunt which “at peace, they could act like gods, not ghosts.”(Kingston, “No Name Woman”) She regards the old Chinese world as her “no-name” aunt, who could not be defined and identified.

The end of the story is Kingston’s reflection about her aunt’s story. She said, “people who can comfort the dead can also chase after them to hurt them further – a reverse ancestor worship.”(Kingston, “No Name Woman”) I can feel Kingston’s confusion and struggle about what a real Chinese world was like in the old times and she spent her life trying to discover the truth of the society.

And after reading this story, I became more curious about the history of old Chinese immigrants. And I just want to know more about my family history, probably there is also a “no-name woman or man” in my family.
Who knows?

The Monkees.

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VH1 documentary Behind the Music featured a 1960s band, “The Monkees” in the year 2000.

The show portrayed a profile of the Monkees starting with interviews with band members to tell the story of their rise from “pretend” band to bona fide pop stars, ones who sold 35 million records in 1967 alone.

The story began with the excitement of Monkees’ fans. They were screaming and so eager to break a fence to hug their stars.

Then following with archival footage and some stills, the story went back to the fall of 1965, when Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider, a pair of producers from Columbia Pictures, came up with an idea for a television series about a rock group.

Inspired by Richard Lester‘s groundbreaking comedies with the Beatles, A Hard Day’s Night and Help!, Rafelson and Schneider imagined a situation comedy in which a four-piece band had wacky adventures every week and occasionally burst into song.

The production began with The Monkees in early 1966 on NBC with fairly high popularity. The group contained four members – Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork and each of them was unique.

Later on they decided to form a real band instead of the comic actor-musicians. At their peak in 1967, the band outsold both the Beatles and Rolling Stones.

The show ended with each member’s life after the era of “Monkees” and their high point revival in 1986 in L.A.

The whole story brought the audience back to the 1960s which would be mostly favored by elder people, but it also provided the younger a sense of older generation’s life.

It could not be more comfortable to sit down and enjoy the past glory through the Monkees’ music.

Spirits of music.

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During this summer, I met a subway musician at the Times Square Station, NYC.
It was a really, really hot afternoon and the air was just sticky and burning beneath the ground, especially in the subway.

His name was Peter Joseph Paul, a one-man-band, who played in the subway station with his music despite of the heat.


As a New york born musician, Peter formed his high-tech one-man-band and began performing in the Times Square subway station in 2007. And since then, he began to play at the station every Sunday evening from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m.

Using the latest technology and electronics, Peter plays complex drum beats with his two feet, sings and plays guitar, all at the same time.

Sponsored by MUNY(Music Under New York), Peter is also an accomplished audio engineer, arranger, producer and songwriter. And his musical career started when he was 12.

(Picture from starnow.com)

“I write approximately 1-5 songs daily,” Peter said. “I have been writing for over 30 years.”

So far Peter has published two CDs  with his own songs – “Energy” and “Sum Night.” And the  next CD will be a masterpiece composed of many new styles of songs and more instrumentation, according to Peter.

“I don’t push my CDs on people,” Peter said. “If people like you, they will come up and ask you.”

During my visit, I met lots of underground musicians from all over the world and played various instruments. All of performances were exciting and enjoyable.

They are just the spirits of music who fill the subway stations with joy.

Small room, big art.

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(Over the summer, I visited a small art studio called “Mascot” at the East Village in New York City. Within a small room, the artist was creating great art.)

The compelling window display is only an intro of this remarkable studio.

The real beauty is revealed behind the door, inside a small room of 250 square ft. with colorful portraits of animals and natural landscapes hanging on the walls.

Since 1982, Mascot Studio has been a landmark in the East Village, which was originally a painting space, and is now established at its present storefront location at 328 East Ninth Street.

For the past 25 years, the studio has continued to offer the variety of artworks from different artists and also personal service to the custom framing.

Peter McCaffrey, the owner of the studio, made the ambience of the room even more like home. The works speak out that McCaffrey was born to be an artist.

He demonstrates the insight of art through his own life experience.

Born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1956, Peter McCaffrey studied at the State Universities of New York at Buffalo and Farmingdale, and received his Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree from the School of Visual Arts in New York City in 1979.

Unlike other galleries or studios, Mascot is particularly known for its eye-catching window displays which invite the passerby to enter the store’s charming ambience.

The studio not only exhibits and sells paintings, but also provides an unusual selection of custom moldings, vintage frames and mirrors, prints and photography.

The theme of nature and the animal world becomes one of the attractive highlights of the studio, which embodies original drawings and paintings by McCaffrey and other artists, mostly from the neighborhood.

The spiritual works of animals, however, became one of the most essential parts of the studio.

Something special about Mascot is its unique “Annual Dog Show.”
Starting in 1999, Peter McCaffrey has curated the “Annual Dog Show” in honor of our canine friends, and opens during the week of the Westminster Kennel Club Show here in New York in February.

The idea was inspired by Anne Watkins, a watercolor painter whose works were posted in the magazine “The Bark – Dog is My Co-Pilot.”

Watkins’ works focus on animals, especially dogs’ portraits. She works from life, using watercolor to capture and represent animals’ daily moments.

Within such a small space, people come in and visit the works including paintings, photographs and sometimes sculptures, a full collection of artists’ visions on dogs.

The last Dog Show was held at Madison Square Garden on Valentine’s Day. The show was opened to everyone and there were also works for sale.

Mascot Studio has remained unique as an artist-run business settled in the Big Apple.
Summer days are quiet for the studio, but it never slows down for McCaffrey.

“It is not easy being an artist in NY these days,” McCaffrey said. “The cost of living is high here, so many artists have moved to the outer boroughs.”

The East Village is still a very diverse neighborhood with rare and expensive studio spaces.

“Commercial rents like my studio/store are not regulated so I feel my days are numbered,” said McCaffrey. “Making a living only on one’s work is difficult.”

However, this artistic heart would will be knocked down from of the tough conditions.

“It is part of my nature to want to keep making art,” McCaffrey said. “And it is very satisfying when I am in that ‘zone’ of creativity, It is like meditation which takes practice and discipline.”

Now I See You.

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“One-two-three, turn; One-two-three turn.”

Following the beat, I watched myself in the mirror as someone else.

She turned slowly with caution and every movement she did seemed so fragile. She stepped forwards and then backwards so skillfully, as if nobody could trace her pace. Her face, however, was a little nervous. Everything was perfect except one thing – confidence.

Then the music ceased.

I walked closer to the mirror and tried to touch the person in it. But I couldn’t see her anymore. She faded away with my curiosity and hope. At that moment, I assured myself that one day I would find her back. And since then, she became my dream.

I was six.

A year later I went back to that dance studio with a group of kids who were much older than me.

I gripped my mother’s hands and I could clearly feel myself shaking with fear.

The first dancing class of my life was vividly impressed in my mind. I was the youngest dancer in my class, but the most talented, my teacher Ms. Li told me. I hurt so bad when the teacher stood on my both knees in order to stretch my legs. I hated Li.

Since then, my spare time was filled with dancing and Saturday’s schedules changed into a regular pattern with two hours dancing class in the afternoon.

I cried every single time before I stepped into the classroom to see Ms. Li. I was frightened by her serious face and the intolerable pain she gave me. But I would always dry my eyes completely and then turned to the studio happily like nothing had happened.

I endured all the pain and after class, I would always spent some extra hours practicing at home.

God, I wish I could be a dancer in the future. I did love dancing.

Two years later, I was surprised to see my great improvement.

“Thank you all for these unforgettable three years. You are all wonderful dancers. Now it’s time for you to put on these ballet shoes and be a beautiful swan. Don’t forget to think about yourself when you dance. Use your heart to dance, not your body. ”

Ms. Li sobbed a little when she left and gave me a smile and I swear that was the warmest smile I had ever seen. I didn’t hate her anymore.

I put on my pink ballet shoes. It took me half an hour to tie them well before I could actually stand up with them.

I was shocked. The person in the mirror was incredibly gorgeous. It hurt a little bit when I stood with my toes but all the pain vanished as I started to dance.

The music pushed me into a fantasy in which I was able to touch my dream. I spun around like an innocent swan.

I danced and danced, for a long time.

That was the most beautiful eight years in my life.

After attending high school, I could not dance as much as I did before. But the joy of dancing has never disappeared.

I am not going to be a professional dancer anyways, but dancing is still my dream.

Dancing was the only way I can communicate with my soul and whenever I feel upset, dancing would comfort me and helped me to forget the pain.

I learned a lot from my experience of dancing. I challenged myself and struggled to present perfection.

Dancing taught me about life. Dancing provided me confidence and leads me to realize that dream was not always unreachable.

Putting on my pink ballet shoes, I took a deep breath and said to myself,

“One-two-three, turn; One-two-three turn.”

Following the beat, I am trying to find myself in the mirror and suddenly a confident smile emerged.

Now I see you.