So I have been planning my Jane Austen 29th birthday party for a few years, and I did not let the Coronavirus get in the way. We had the party and it was a lot of fun. Even though the party has passed, I am still going to share all the things we did and how I put it together.
So I love piñatas! I mean who doesn’t like hitting paper mache with a bat and getting a reward?
Besides me loving piñatas, I had four little girls planning on coming and wanted to make sure I had some things for them as well. When I was doing my party planning I spotted a homemade teapot piñata on Almost Unschoolers. I thought to myself, I could totally do that-I have made piñatas before, I mean it was a donkey not a teapot, but I’m sure it wouldn’t be too difficult.
And I thought with today being Cinco de Mayo, I thought what better day than today to blend my culture with Jane Austen. So here we go:
Supplies:
1 Cup of Flour
2 Cups of Water
1/2 tbsp of Salt
Newspaper
Plastic Bag
Balloon
Gesso or paint
Paintbrush
Glue
Crepe Paper
Cardstock
Scissors
Cup or Bowl for Balloon to rest in
Candy or Teabags
Fake Flower (optional)
Hot Glue Gun
Directions:
Lie a plastic bag on the table.
Blow a balloon up and set on a cup or bowl in order to apply the paper mache.
In a large bowl combine flour, water, and salt-whisking to remove any lumps.
Cut newspaper into strips, about 2 inches wide and 4 inches long.
Dip paper into flour mixture and cover balloon. I recommend doing two layers, letting it dry, and repeating another two layers.
After all is dry, carefully pop the balloon and throw it away.
Paint paper mache with white paint or gesso.
After the paint or gesso has dried, begin covering the piñata in crepe paper strips (I found it easiest to paint the glue on and work bottom to top). Be sure to cut each strip so it has a fringe look.
Fill piñata with candy or teabags (or both).
Using cardstock, create handle, lid, and spout. When making the spout, take the cardstock and create a funnel, cutting the paper down until it is the right size.
Hot glue the pieces on and the fake flower to the lid.
Here we are after I gessoed it:
Then when I added the crepe paper and cardstock:
Candy and tea bags inside:
And of course the finished product:
At the party!
Now piñatas aren’t hard or expensive to make they just take time. I only spent $7 on this as I already had the water, flour, newspaper, and fake flower. The cardstock was $1, the assorted candy $4, and the Stash teabags $2.
I’ve been having so much fun sharing all these things with you, I can’t wait to continue with all the other party plans!
So I’m not a huge fan of the remake. You probably recall seeing this:
But there are a few films that I truly enjoy that are not the orginal. Such as The Shop Around the Corner and You’ve Got Mail. But this is probably by far, my favorite disney remake ever.
So this film came out in the ’90s and is based on The Jungle Book novel by Rudyard Kipling and the Disney film The Jungle Book (1967). It is similar to the cartoon except it is live action and tells the story of an older Mowgli. Actually, this is what Disney’s Tarzan was based on. While Tarzan is not an almost exact scene by scene ripoff, like Atlantis is ofthe film Stargate, it is still extremely close.
Anyways, so the film starts off in the Victorian period with a group of English people going through India. They have many Indian guides helping them, one of which is Mowgli’s father Nathoo. Mowgli is one of the few children who is with the group, and his best friend is his wolf cub, Grey Brother. Mowgli soon meets one of the other kids there, Katherine “Kitty” Brydon, daughter of Colonel Geoffrey Brydon who is in charge of the trek and played by none other than the very handsome, Sam Neil.
Mowgli gives Kitty a flower to show his interest in her and Kitty gives him her mother’s bracelet. But the two’s friendship gets cut short as Shere Khan ramapages throughout the jungle. In this version of the film, Shere Khan is king of the jungle (as Khan means leader/king), and he watches the jungle for balance. When he finds somene killing for fun instead of food he takes them out. As he is going after one specific person, others get in the way and die. He kills Nathoo, and in the shuffle to escape Mowgli amd his wolf get left behind.
Mowgli is befriended by the animals of the jungle as Bagheera, the panther, takes him to the wolves to be raised by them. He also befriends Baloo the bear and a variety of other animals.
Twenty years into the future, Mowgli is a man and runs with the different animals of the jungle. They are even able to comunicate with each other. In the story there are a group of monkeys, Rhesus macaque, who are the foot soldiers of the lord of all apes, King Louie (an orangutan). They are called the Bandar-log an they steal Kitty’s bracelet for King Louie’s treasury.
Mowgli is enraged and follows them to get his bracelet back. He finds the city of the monkeys where King Louie rules. He goes in and demands his bracelet back. King Louie agrees to give him the bracelet back, if he can fight the snake Kaa and win. Mowgli pulls out a jeweled dagger and uses it to fight against Kaa. And wins the appreciation of all the apes
Meanwhile, Kitty is a woman now, back in India and engaged to Captain William Boone, played by the very sexy Cary Elwes.
Unfortunately, Boone, while being hot, is a cruel, sadistic, gold-digging, ladder climbing, hunter. 😦 Oh well. One day Kitty and co. are out in the jungle painting and hanging out when she runs right into you-know-who…Mowgli.
Mowgli is all dressed up, part of his trophies from winning against Kaa, and play-attacks/play-saves Kitty from Baloo. But she takes off.
Mowgli follows the group into the city, sneaking into Kitty’s room. Her screams rouse her bf and the guards, but before they come after him, she recognizes the bracelet he’s wearing as her own. The guards chase Mowgli throughout the town and he ends up getting thrown in jail
Kitty frees Mowgli and she and Dr. Julius Plumford (John Cleese) try to help re-civilize him. (This scene is just like Tarzan, especially the projection of images).
Mowgli begins to be able to talk amd act like those around him, but does not feel at home with the aristocrats, that is except for Kitty. He starts falling for her again, even though she is already spoken for. Mowgli also tells Kitty how he survived all these years and introduces her to all of his animal friends and tells her of the rules of the jungle.
Meanwhile Boone and his friends are eager to find the famed City of Gold (Monkey city) but don’t know the way. Everyone who has ever tried to find it has never returned. Boone decides to get Mowgli to help him find it.
Boone convinces Kitty to give him a day to hang out with Mowgli, apologizing for having been so mean. He brings Mowgli to his hunting trophy room, but after Mowgli sees that he doesn’t keep the jungle law, he refuses to help him out at all.
There is a ball, and Mowgli is excited to be there with Kitty. Unfortunately, that is when he hears the announcement of their engagement and hears of the plans they have for India. Mowgli decides to leave the city as he could never belong there, and decides to spend the rest of his life in the jungle.
But unbeknowest to him, Boone has other plans for Mowgli. He and his minions try to capture him, but Mowgli is saved by Baloo. Unfortunately, Baloo’s intervention causes him to be shot. Mowgli rushes to the city to get Dr. Plumford, but finds out that he and recently unengaged Kitty are headed for England.
While Mowgli chases after them, Kitty, her father, and the doctor are ambushed by William’s men. Mowgli is able to save the Doctor and sends him to help Baloo, and continues after the Brydons. He agrees to help Boone if Boone will ensure the safety of the Brydons.
The next day, Mowgli is able to get rid of one henchman, by tricking him into some quicksand. He also sends Kitty’s dad to safety on an elephant.
The other henchman is disposed of by more of Mowgli’s knowledge of the jungle. Soon all that is left is Mowgli, Kitty, Boone, and Boone’s remaining minoin. However, as they have finally reached the Monkey City, his minoins accidentally sets off a booby trap and finds himself a goner.
Only Boone, Kitty, and Mowgli make it to the treasure. Boone and Mowgli fight, but Mowgli wins and takes off with Kitty. Boone starts filling his pockets and bags with gold, not realizing that he still has Kaa to deal with.
Shere Khan confronts Mowgli and Kitty as they exit. Khan still does not trust Mowgli, and the two stare at each other a long time before Khan is stared down and leaves in submission – the fulfillment of a dream Mowgli had where he, already a ‘half-tiger’ in spirit, would stare Shere Khan eye to eye and become a ‘whole tiger’.
Shere Khan recognizes that Mowgli another creature of the jungle and allows him to live. Mowgli and Kitty reunite with their friends and family, including Geoffrey and Baloo, both cured by Plumford. Kitty and Mowgli are now together (just like Tarzan and Jane)
I just love this movie and thought it was amazing. It is far better than the animated sequel as it doesn’t retell te orginal story too much, and still keeps all the elements of it when going in a new direction.
For more on both versions of The Jungle Book, go to Snakes on a Post
So I haven’t really talked a lot about my family on here. I tend to try and stay away from making posts about people I know as if they ever read this I don’t want them getting upset with me. So I have two older siblings, Paige and Holly. Now I love Sleeping Beauty a lot, in fact Aurora is my favorite princess (second to Princess Leia). I wanted to be her (and was for two Halloweens) and used to act it out every year. Now I don’t know if my sister Paige was trying to be mean to me or create a bond between the three of us girls (when I was a little girl I always thought it was the first one), but she would tell me that I couldn’t be Aurora I had to be Merryweather. Paige was to be the leader Flora, Holly Fauna, and I had to be Merryweather. Now as a kid I hadn’t having to be be her, but you know what, the older I get the more I realize what an awesome character she is. She is smart, caring, sassy, and just plain hilarious. And she sounds just like me.
Like wanting to turn the people you hate into a toad? I agree, let’s take them out.
She’s not afraid to speak her mind and give her opinion on things, although sometimes it bites her in the butt.
Plus you gotta love Merryweather for the fact that she’s the smartest of the three fairies. First of all she saves Aurora’s life.
And then saves it again
“Flora: I’ll turn her into a flower.
Merryweather: Maleficent?
Flora: [chuckles] No, no, dear. The princess.
Fauna: Oh, she’d make a lovely flower.
Flora: Don’t you see? A flower can’t prick its finger.
Merryweather: It hasn’t any.
Fauna: That’s right.
Flora: She’ll be perfectly safe. Merryweather: Until Maleficent sends a frost.
Flora: [laughs, then stops abruptly] Yes… oh dear.”
Plus she is the only one who actually knows how to do any thing without her wand.
[preparing for Aurora’s birthday party]
Merryweather: But, I never baked a *fancy* cake.
Flora: Oh, you won’t have to, dear!
Fauna: *I’m* going to bake the cake!
Merryweather: You?
Flora: Oh, she’s always wanted to, dear, and this is her last chance.
Merryweather: [doubtfully] Well…
Fauna: I’m going to make it 15 layers with pink and blue forget-me-nots.
Fauna: And *I’m* making the dress.
Merryweather: But you can’t sew! And she’s *never* cooked!”
Yep Merryweather’s been doing it all.
Plus Merryweather doesn’t care whether or not Aurora marries a prince, she just wants her to be happy.
“Merryweather: [irked] Ooh, I don’t see why she has to marry any old… prince!”
What horror movie countdown would be complete without the film Frankenstein?
Frankenstein is an amazing film that tells the story of when one man tries to be more than he is; messing with things beyond what he understands, and it is full of gothic-y goodness. It is based on the novel, Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley (FYI: A much better writer than her boring husband)
Edward Van Sloan: How do you do? Mr. Carl Laemmle feels it would be a little unkind to present this picture without just a word of friendly warning. We’re about to unfold the story of Frankenstein, a man of science who sought to create a man after his own image without reckoning upon God. It is one of the strangest tales ever told. It deals with the two great mysteries of creation: life and death. I think it will thrill you. It may shock you. It might even horrify you. So if any of you feel that you do not care to subject your nerves to such a strain, now is your chance to, uh… Well, we’ve warned you.
I have always loved this film, but I enjoy The Bride of Frankensteinevenmore. I will get to it later.
This movie is terrifying as we see Dr. Frankenstein becoming consumed with creating his being/his creation. He won’t listen to anyone else and his behavior frightens his friends, family, and fiancé.
Henry Frankenstein: Crazy, am I? We’ll see whether I’m crazy or not.
Let me just clarify for everyone out there that the name Frankenstein alludes to Victor Frankenstein, the mad doctor who creates the Monster. For some reason they changed his name in this film to Henry, while making his best friend Victor (while in the book his friend’s name is Henry. Why? Go figure.) The Monster is never called by a name other than Monster, Creature, or something similar. It’s like The Creature from the Black Lagoon or The Thing from Another World, no proper names are given. People call it Frankenstein and while that isn’t technically correct, Frankenstein did create him so I will accept Frankenstein Jr.
Dr. Frankenstein is helped out in his experiments by a hunchback named Fritz
Not Igor, FRITZ!
The hunchback named Igor who helps mad scientists isn’t from the original Frankenstein, but comes from one of the sequels, Son of Frankenstein, where his name was Ygor; later translated to Igor. So that’s a fun bit of trivia for you, Fritz is the first Frankenstein minion/employee not Igor.
Anyways, Fritz is the one who makes the mistake of stealing the criminal brain.
From Clueless
So while in the novel, Shelley never tells us how the creature is brought to life, as Frankenstein never wanted to share the details of the experiment for fear that someone would create their own living dead. With nothing to go off of, the writers and directors decided to use lightening, and therefore changed film culture and film history as this has been referenced and parodied in so many films and TV shows.
“Henry Frankenstein: Look! It’s moving. It’s alive. It’s alive… It’s alive, it’s moving, it’s alive, it’s alive, it’s alive, it’s alive, IT’S ALIVE! Victor Moritz: Henry – In the name of God! Henry Frankenstein: Oh, in the name of God! Now I know what it feels like to be God!”
Frankenstein is so intent on proving everyone wrong, so focused on completing everything that he never stops to think whether he should do this. This is an interesting question posed; how far is too far?
Frankenstein does in fact create his creature:
The monster is played by the very amazing Boris Karloff; an extraordinary actor. He almost didn’t play this part as they originally offered it to Bela Lugosi who turned it down. I’m glad it was Karloff, because as much as I love Lugosi, no one could have done this better.
The green makeup that is such a part of the Frankenstein figure was used because it gave Karloff a deadlike pallor of skin. Now it has become such a strong part of culture, we see the green-skinned, bolted monster every October.
After the Monster is created, we see that he is an innocent creature. He is afraid of fire and tries to attack Fritz who brings a torch by him. All involved fear for their lives and chain the Creature up in the dungeon. Frankenstein and his friend Victor leave and discuss the best way to euthanize him. Unbeknownst to them Fritz is stupidly taunting the creature with a torch; causing the Monster to reach out and kill him.
When Victor and Frankenstein return; they see Fritz’s dead body on the floor, and have to run away from the Monster as he tries to attack them too. Frankenstein prepares a shot of something to kill him, and Victor gives it him as Frankenstein can’t kill his creation. With all his problems solved, Frankenstein leaves to prepare for his wedding, and Victor begins to dissect the Creature. Unfortunately, it turns out that the chemical didn’t kill the Monster, but only knocked him out. He kills Victor and then escapes, running amuck in the countryside.
The creature runs into a little girl, who is nice and shows him the flowers she is picking.
She shows him how flowers float in the river, which Frankenstein’s monster, not understanding, mimics using the little girl. Thinking that if he tosses the girl in the water she will float; he ends up drowning her.
“Little Maria: See how mine floats. [the Monster picks her up] No, you’re hurting me! No!”
The farmer finds his daughter’s floating corpse and goes to pieces. He starts hunting down the monster; searching everywhere to find the fiend.
Dr. Frankenstein, meanwhile, is happily preparing for his wedding and is not even thinking about what he has done and destroyed. His happiness (and denial) ends when he is brought news of Victor’s death. He goes out searching for the monster along with the peasants who have their torches and pitchforks at the ready.
Grab your torches and sharpen your pitchforks!
Eventually Frankenstein tracks the monster down and is prepared to destroy him.
However, the Monster knocks him out and carries him off to the windmill where he throws him off. Luckily, Dr. Frankenstein is caught by a vane and saved from death. There some peasants carry him home while others destroy the mill and kill the monster.
Or do they?
Dr. Frankenstein gets home, where we see that he is safe and sound and in the arms of his dear Elizabeth.
After I had watched this film a gazillion times, as it is an October staple (although really anytime I am in the mood), I read the novel and found it to be much more horrifying than the movie. In the book Frankenstein’s creative isn’t this bumbling creature, completely innocent and not able to understand everything; but a criminal mastermind. Having learned to read and talk before he died; he is able to after some time remember how to do this and begins becoming more “human”. The one thing that he never seems to regain is compassion, kindness, etc; all the caring emotions that make us who we are. He has no empathy or sympathy, believing that he was shown nothing but hatred and cruelty so he must show this to all.
What they take from this and use in the sequel, The Bride of Frankenstein, is his want of a mate; his desire to have one like him to spend his life with. He threatens to destroy everyone that Frankenstein holds dear if Frankenstein does not give in to his demands. Frankenstein goes through a constant struggle with himself; knowing that he cannot risk creating another creature being made and mating along with the first. (What do they made undead children?) He realizes his mistakes at creating such a thing far too late, and when the monster’s plan is rejected, he kills all Frankenstein holds dear. In the novel the Creature is a true psychopath fully aware of the crimes he is committing. Not only is the Creature a serial killer, but he has become so intelligent that he is able to plant evidence so that people think someone else is the murderer. He kills Frankenstein’s brother William, and plants a locket on William’s nanny so that she is also killed. Then he kills Henry, Frankenstein’s friend, planting evidence so Frankenstein is arrested. He also kills Elizabeth, Frankenstein’s wife, making it seem once again that Frankenstein is the killer. With all those that he loves dead, Baron Frankenstein, Dr. Frankenstein’s father dies as well. After everything is gone from him; Frankenstein devotes his life to hunting down what he created and destroying it.
It’s a great book and movie. I suggest both reading it and watching the film.
I almost forgot to mention this. Unlike The Mummy, Dracula, or The Wolfman; Frankenstein has never had a major motion, globally shown, sent to all theaters, remake in recent times, the last one was Kenneth Branagh’s production in 1994 (you know the film he made and cheated on his wife Emma Thompson with Helena Bonham Carter. That’s okay, she traded up with the faithful Greg Wise). However that is all about to change as Guillermo del Toro is planning one, and hoping that it will be coming out soon. To read more up on it go here. We shall have to wait and see what happens and how it turns out. (Note from 2023: Spoiler alert it has yet to happen.)
Here’s poster I made for my cover page on facebook in honor or Halloween. Hope ya love it.
janeaustenrunsmylife 