LIVE, LEARN, & LOVE SERIES #13. MARY POPPINS (1964 FILM)

LIVE, LEARN, & LOVE

Do you take delight in watching films, listening to pop music, or reading books? For English learners, movies, songs, and books are one of the most wonderful sources to explore the language! You can indulge in your favorite pastime and still learn some expressions, words of wisdom, and oftentimes good lessons while you’re at it.

 

# 13. Mary Poppins (1964) starring Julie Andrews & Dick Van Dyke

 

“Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!”

ð  You might not have heard anyone saying this weird but rhythmical word person, and neither have I. This super long word could be used as a holophrase or an imperative verb? God only knows! In Mary Poppins, this single word was used as "something to say when you have nothing to say," but these jaw-breaking nonsensical syllables certainly have brought you a sense of vivacity for decades.

 

 

“That's a piecrust promise. Easily made, easily broken."

ð  Mary Poppins said it to the children she looks after to describe a promise that is fragile, insincere, or unlikely to be kept, much like a delicate pie crust breaks easily. She used this witty metaphor to call out unreliable, untrustworthy, or "flaky" commitments that are made with good intentions but rarely followed through. It emphasizes the importance of action over words and warns against making others have false expectations, highlighting a need for deliberate, durable commitments.

 

“"Just a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down, in the most delightful way!"

ð  Giving medicines to children, Mary Poppins said the above sentence to let them know that a little bit of fun or a positive outlook makes difficult tasks easier to handle. Yes, it all depends how you look at it!

 

** Jean’s Small Thoughts:

It was the very first time I ever went to the movies with my family. I was just a little girl—not even in elementary school yet—when my parents took my sister and me to see this delightful film. The movie was Mary Poppins, starring Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke, which had been released in 1964.

 

The film opened with a wonderful scene of Mary (played by Julie Andrews) freshening up while perched on a soft, fluffy cloud. I couldn’t take my eyes off the screen as that magical moment unfolded so creatively. It was truly an “époustouflant” experience! Even though I was very young, the breathtaking way the film blended live-action with animation created unforgettable memories for me. To this day, I still find myself humming, “Chim chiminey, chim chiminey, chim chim cher-ee, a sweep is as lucky as lucky can be!” whenever I feel a little low or need encouragement. If anyone feels as though hope is out of reach, why not watch this timeless, joy-filled classic?

NPR Sunday Puzzle: TransformeR

I'm going to give you clues for two four-letter words. Put an "r" between them to complete a common nine-letter word.

Ex. World's Fair / tiny bell sound  —>  EXPORTING

 

1. Penny / friend in war

 

2. Shape of a frisbee / to change, as text

 

3. Take a breather / a variant of "isn't" that isn't considered grammatical

 

4. 18-wheeler / Russia's ___ Mountains

 

5. Jump into water headfirst / lady's partner, informally

 

6. Arrived / word said at the end of a prayer

 

7. To exist / place to swim [city name]

 

8. Sharp part of a wire fence / pointed tools used for punching holes [two words]

 

 

ANSWER KEYS

    1.  cent + r + ally: centrally

    2.  disc + r + edit: discredit

    3.  rest + r + ain’t: restraint

    4.  semi + r + ural: semirural

    5.  dive + r + gent: divergent

    6.  came + r + amen: cameramen

    7.  live + r + pool: Liverpool

    8.  barb + r + awl: bar brawl

LIVE, LEARN, & LOVE SERIES #12. MISERARETE (Japanese song 1979)

LIVE, LEARN, & LOVE

Do you take delight in watching films, listening to pop music, or reading books? For English learners, movies, songs, and books are one of the most wonderful sources to explore the language! You can indulge in your favorite pastime and still learn some expressions, words of wisdom, and oftentimes good lessons while you’re at it.

 

# 12. “女は海” Miserarete (i.e., “Enchanted”)

 (sung by Taiwanese/Japanese singer Judy Ongg in 1979)

 

“I open the window facing the south

 I see alone the color of the sea

 It's so beautiful that it's scary

 It's a mirage in the noon resembling to youth

 

 Wind is blowing from the Aegean

 The woman is a sea

  Uh―　Ah―　Uh―　Ah―

 Sleep inside of me

 Wind is blowing from the Aegean

 The woman is love”

 

-        = The singer gazes out a south-facing window at the sea, which represents her inner emotional world. The sea is “so beautiful that it’s scary,” suggesting that her feelings—especially love and desire—are overwhelming in both their beauty and intensity. The “mirage at noon resembling youth” hints at fleeting passion, nostalgia, or the illusion of eternal youth and romance that can disappear as quickly as it appears.

The recurring line “Wind is blowing from the Aegean” evokes a distant, almost mythical place—symbolizing longing, sensuality, and emotional restlessness. The Aegean becomes a metaphor for a deep, ancient, and powerful current of desire that stirs within her.

 “The woman is a sea” suggests that a woman’s emotional and romantic life could be vast, multi-layered, and not easily contained. This doesn’t necessarily imply infidelity or betrayal in a literal sense; rather, it may express the complexity of desire—the idea that imagination, memory, fantasy, and yearning coexist alongside committed love.

 

 

** Jean’s Small Thoughts:

I can still clearly recall the day, when I was a little girl, that my dad returned from a business trip to Japan. He brought home a few vinyl records featuring some of the country’s most popular singers at the time and showed them to me and my sister. My sister, who adored the handsome singer Saijo Hideki, was thrilled and bounced around excitedly. I, on the other hand, liked the sweet idol Matsuda Seiko, but I couldn’t fully appreciate her songs since Japanese was completely foreign to me.

One album cover especially caught my attention—it showed a beautiful, goddess-like woman gazing downward. My dad told us her name was Judy Ongg as he placed the record on the player. From the very first notes, the introduction instantly captivated ten-year-old me. Even though I couldn’t understand the lyrics, I was enchanted by the melody and by the elegant, goddess-like singer herself. Later, I understood why my dad hadn’t gone into detail about the meaning of the lyrics—I was still just a slightly tomboyish little girl back then. Lol…

You might want to check this out here: Judy Ongg's Miserarete

 (*source from Musiclivrary on Youtube)

LIVE, LEARN, & LOVE SERIES #11. Nobody's Girl (A Memoir of Surviving Abuse and Fighting for Justice) by Virginia Roberts Giuffre

LIVE, LEARN, & LOVE

Do you take delight in watching films, listening to pop music, or reading books? For English learners, movies, songs, and books are one of the most wonderful sources to explore the language! You can indulge in your favorite pastime and still learn some expressions, words of wisdom, and oftentimes good lessons while you’re at it.

 

# 11. Nobody’s Girl: A Memoir of Surviving Abuse and Fighting for Justice (authored by Virginia Roberts Giuffre)

 

“We call them dumb animals, and so they are, for they cannot tell us how they feel, but they do not suffer less because they have no words.” – I thought a lot about that idea: that you can be in pain even if you can’t articulate it.”

-        = Through this sentence, readers could tell how desperately the author wants to get across the idea that forced silence of victims of all different kinds of abuse is not an indication that they are not suffering. They are just hiding pain against their wish in the form of silence, making themselves and others think they are less than nothing.

 

 

“If there were something that was less than nothing, then nothing would not be nothing, it would be something – even though it’s just a very little bit of something………….I longed to be worth something again.”

-        - The author had gone through sexual molestation by her own biological father and a friend of his father’s as a child. She was tossed into the hellish and distorted reality that not only a child but also any other grown-ups should ever experience in life. Aside from having dignity as a human being, she repeatedly hit the bottom of her life. She had gradually become a hopeless person but still tried to hold on to the last drop of hope for being worth something.

 

 

“When children are abused by people they love, as I had been by my father, they start to believe that love and pain, love and betrayal, love and violation all go together. I didn’t know that abuse victims struggle to see red flags because they’ve become desensitized to inappropriate behavior.”

-        - Most people, especially the young ones, find it hard to realize they are being manipulated in the midst of back-to-back turmoil. As the author was also much too overwhelmed to see the danger of her situation. As might be expected of most victims of sexual abuse and child molestations, she also developed some kind of coping mechanism to split herself into two halves: “the obedient body and the walled-off mind”

 

 

“In my mind, I hold a picture of a girl reaching out for help and easily finding it. I picture a woman too, who – having come to terms with her childhood pain – feels that it’s within her power to take action against those who hurt her. If this book moves us even an inch closer to a reality like that – if it helps just one person – I will have achieved my goal.”

-        - After her lifetime of physical and mental torture, the author had summoned all her courage to step forward and speak up through this book to let the world (full of predators and innocent preys) know how things should go and make things rights. She said she would be more than happy if her book could ever make a difference to help innocent abuse survivors to find freedom and thrive for the rest of their lives.  

 

** Jean’s Small Thoughts:

In addition to being horrified by the author's agonizing suffering, I was also incensed at the way a number of infamous individuals—the majority of whom are extremely wealthy and well-educated worldwide—willfully gave up their humanity while reading this book. In order to keep the author informed about their perverse desires, they even led her to feel that she was valuable enough to keep her by saying “She’s a keeper!”

I highly doubt that the author of this memoir, Virginia Giuffre, committed suicide. In order to preserve the voice of the survivors and prevent additional abuse in our society, we must be vigilant in our pursuit of justice.

 

Here I am presenting a piece of poem written by Hans back in 2012.

 

Searching for a Hero in You

by Hans Son

 

Have you seen the face of a lost child before?

Have you felt the torment of a loner to the core?

Who could turn away from their shout unheard?

Who would let go of their pain so absurd?

Tossed in empty space breathing different air,

A soul being chipped away by a group of hostile glare,

His hopeless eyes are hollering at me, “Are you there?”

Before another day comes that resembles his cry of yesterday,

I give him my promise that peace and harmony are already on their way.

Heartless fellows should not be the reason for his restless night.

Invisible bruises inside of him have finally come to light.

No more escaping or succumbing ahead.

Delight in raising his voice and saying goodbye to festered dread.

Words of gratitude or tears of joy are not expected of him now.

A hint of winning smile brought back to his face is to what I take a bow.

Have you seen the face of a friend pushed around before?

Have you touched his wound that is unimaginably sore?

TIME TO PLAY THE SUNDAY PUZZLE from NPR!!! Try to find commonalities between the given words for each question!

I'm going to name three things. You tell me something they all have in common.

Ex. Telephone   Saturn   Tree stump   -->   RINGS

 

1. Face   Needle   Hurricane

 

2. Hospital   Pickup truck   Flower garden

 

3. Pen   Finger   Waiter

 

4. Fireplace   Rustic cabin   Ship's captain

 

5. Geisha   Car engine   Celebrity

 

7. Men's clothing store   Deck of cards   Law firm

 

8. Fish   Map   Butcher

 

9. Tavern   N.F.L.   Room with an open window

 

ANSWER KEYS

    1.  an eye

    2.  beds

    3.  tips

    4.  logs

    5.  fans

    6.  suits

    7.  scales

    8.  a draft

LIVE, LEARN, & LOVE SERIES #10. "LOVE AFFAIR" (1994 FILM)

LIVE, LEARN, & LOVE

Do you take delight in watching films, listening to pop music, or reading books? For English learners, movies, songs, and books are one of the most wonderful sources to explore the language! You can indulge in your favorite pastime and still learn some expressions, words of wisdom, and oftentimes good lessons while you’re at it.

 

# 10. Film “LOVE AFFAIR” (1994)

 

“The trick in life isn't getting what you want, my dear, it's wanting it after you get it".

-        - This quote by the main character Mike’s elderly aunt Ginny is focusing on the film’s message that enduring love takes efforts and intentional work, not just the spark of early passion. The two in love cannot rely on their first impression of each other forever to stay in love.

 

“"I guess I'm happy when I don't want to be anywhere else but where I am."

-       -  Terry McKay (played by Annette Bening) meant to say real happiness comes from feeling content in the present moment. When you don’t wish you were somewhere else or living a different life in different environment, and you can be finally in the moment and feel at ease where you are. She wants to share this sentiment to express a sudden realization of true contentment, presence, and emotional grounding. It signifies one’s ability to let go of restless ambition and anxieties to fully embrace a moment of peace and love in the present.

 

** Jean’s Small Thoughts:

Throughout life, we meet many people and form all kinds of relationships. Some only stay for a short time. They might shake up our world for a moment, but they fade away quickly, like brief seasonal flowers that bloom and disappear without leaving much behind.

A small number, though, walk through life with us. They share our highs and lows and remain by our side without making grand promises, steady and constant like perennial plants. Having even a few of these rare, golden people in our journey is a true gift. If we don’t take each other for granted but rather keep loving them, we can grow old together and cherish that bond until our final days.

How many of you have ever found yourselves in an unexpected romance? Were you sure it was truly love? Or did you only recognize it as love after it had slipped away? Whatever the case, I think we all spend our whole lives trying to understand what it really means to fall in love. I hope you feel loved and be ready to love wherever you are.

WORK SHEET #100 of Dr. Jedidiah's Diary

WORK SHEET #100

Let’s practice some expressions from the episode #100 of Dr. Jedidiah’s Diary

 

    1.   I don’t want to talk politics tonight. This is a joyful get-together where no one is supposed to r______t about the insane politicians. (*meaning “to talk in a noisy, excited, or declamatory manner”)

 

      2.   The edited version of his manuscript was not to his _______________. (*meaning “appealing or enjoyable to someone; to be satisfactory, pleasing, or fits personal tastes and wishes”)

 

    3.   The current governor of Seoul, the capital city of South Korea, has no clues about keeping the city environmentally friendly and healthy at all. His addle-headed ideas and plans to develop the city is quite the opposite of repris__________ing the place back to the state of its original beauty. (*meaning “to restore something to its original, "pristine" state or condition. It is often used in contexts of environmental renewal, historical restoration, or theological returns to earlier traditions”)

 

    4.   I still keep the recorded voice of my dad’s final days. Although he sounds so deli____________ in the recording, I miss the moment that I had been sitting next to him. (*meaning “in an acutely disturbed state of mind resulting from illness or intoxication and characterized by restlessness, illusions, and incoherence of thought and speech”)

 

    5.   Most moms miss those days when they used to pick up their children from school and be all ears to their little kids, ra___________ off how their days were at school. (*meaning “say, perform, or produce something quickly and effortlessly”)

 

    6.   Hes needs to cut down on caffeine intake throughout the day. More than three cups of coffee make him ji____________. (*meaning “nervous or unable to relax”)

 

    7.   It was rich a_____vial soil capable of growing tremendous crops. (*meaning “a fine-grained fertile soil deposited by water flowing over flood plains or in river beds”)

 

    8.   Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. used sit-ins and marches to c_______yze laws in the US. (*meaning “to cause (an action or process) to begin”)

 

    9.   Do you still buy grandpa’s f_______ story about his heroic battle against the enemy in the war zone? (*meaning “an exaggerated, unbelievable, or tall tale, typically used to describe boastful lies or doubtful claims, famously rooted in anglers overstating catch sizes”)

 

    10. M________ birds of different species put aside any differences they have in join forces against a mutual threat. (*meaning “birds’ communal defense behaviour, and as the name suggests, relies on grouping together, often to attack a predator”)

 

    11.  I have just s______ of 60 dollars in my wallet at the moment. (*meaning “just under, almost, or lacking a specific amount, time, or goal”)

 

    12. The bag was full of ______ag from the conference: coupons, samples, pens, etc. (*meaning “free promotional merchandise”)

 

    13. I sent him a package of gifts via air mail, hoping that it wouldn’t end up at Mount St. ______where. (*meaning “humorously to refer to an imaginary, unreachable, or distant place, similar to saying "out in Timbuktu" or "nowhere." It implies something is far away, lost, or non-existent”)