Experimented With Home-made Bubble Tea As The Bubble Tea Here Is Ridiculously Expensive And Just Isn't

Experimented with home-made bubble tea as the bubble tea here is ridiculously expensive and just isn't quite the same (China's KFC boba milk tea will be sorely missed and forever remembered).

Overall it turned out well. I made the mistake of preparing the pearls overnight and refrigerating them, which made them all clumpy and stuck together, but taste-wise the tea turned out to be quite good. Cost-wise it's definitely cheaper to do it myself, as the current prices just aren't worth it.

Next on my agenda are home-made ramen and sushi, as they're more budget friendly when prepared by myself.

Sometimes there are artists who's music you'll listen to and be like meh, whatever. But then they'll release that one song that completely changes your perception and you look at them in a new light (looking at bearwolfs Valkyrie)

The new Patsanki/Пацанки season is out and as usual I have mixed feelings. For those that don't know, this is a russian reality tv show (there's also a Ukrainian one called Від пацанки до панянки translated as from Tomboy to Lady) about young girls that have a variety of issues and they usually come from difficult circumstances and harsh environments. They then join the project "Пацанки " where they spend several weeks learning and "getting better" as they transform from tomboys to "ladies", with one girl being eliminated each week.

On one hand, it's good that they're trying to help as these girls also receive practical and psychological help as they resolve their issues, but on the other hand publicly broadcasting the personal struggles and issues of these girls for all of the internet and the viewers to see seems wrong, almost exploitative. I get that it's a reality project, but it seems odd and dubious to me. Some of the earlier seasons featured a lot of controversial topics and sensitive things so this show is not lighthearted. This season they're apparently sent to an island??? And there's a new host, someone that I never even thought that would host this show, so who even knows what will happen at this point.

I only just now realized that there is a season 5 of bungo stray dogs and that I completely missed out on it because I was too busy with my exams, then busy preparing for China and then actually being busy in China when it first came out, and now being busy with uni.

Peking Opera: The makeup

A while ago I wrote about the different types of opera in China, but one of the things that struck out was that the stage makeup is not only used for dramatic effect, but each color, each stroke is purposeful with each own meaning.

The official term is 京剧脸谱 (Jīngjù liǎnpǔ), meaning Peking Opera Mask, with the styles varying depending on the role. Here I'll breakdown some common styles and what they mean!

Colors

Originally only red, white and black were used but they have expanded to include many more.

Red: Generally, this color has a positive meaning, used to symbolize loyalty and bravery, although it can sometimes be used to depict a bad person masquerading as a good person.

Black: Black also had a generally positive meaning, used to depict selfless and incorruptible characters, but it may also be used to depict ghosts and unpleasant characters.

White: This color is reserved for arrogant and sinister characters, and can also be used for elderly people or monks or eunuchs.

Gold: Gold is for generals,sages, Gods and these type of characters.

Purple: Purple is used for upright and calm characters or to depict ugly characters.

Yellow: This is used for brave and fierce characters.

Blue: Blue is for strong and brave characters.

Silver: This is usually for Gods and monsters.

Green: Violent and stubborn characters are depicted using green.

*There appears to be a few meanings for most colors, so deciphering whether a character is good or bad may be context based.

It's important to note that the makeup styles vary for each characters. As a quick refresher, we have 4: 生 (shēng),旦 (dàn) 净 (Jìng), 丑 (chǒu), which leads me to my next point.

生 (shēng) & 旦 (dàn)

Both of these characters usually require minimal makeup (compared to 净&丑, with their style being called 俊扮 (Jùn bàn), or handsome.

The application method is pretty standard, with painting the face with a light powder/base and drawing on the eyebrows and the mouth. The types of colors used are also significant, as darker and more vibrant colors are used for younger and healthy people, whereas lighter colors can be used for older characters or to reflect poor health, as wrinkles and shadows to show old age are actually very rarely used.

The makeup on the actors below is the usual style, painted face with the lips, eyebrows and eyeshadow done for emphasis. In contrast to the colorful 净 and 丑, they are sometimes also referred to as 素面 (sùmiàn) or 洁面 (jiémiàn), meaning plain or clean faces.

Face Paintstyles

These are the makeup used for 净 (Jìng) & 丑 (chǒu), which are noticeably different from the 生 (shēng) & 旦 (dàn) style.

It's important to note that each style can have it's own variations as specific characters may follow a particular style, but include their own special features and characterstics.

Full-Face 整脸 (Zhěng liǎn): There is one color used as the main color for the entire face, with the details added depending on the character that is being portrayed, like the actors below.

Three-tile face 三块瓦脸 (Sān kuài wǎ liǎn): This style outlines the eyebrows, eyes and nose, exaggerating the features. It uses one color as a base and then uses black color to highlight the features, diving the face into the forehead, right cheek and left cheek. Hence the name, "three-tile face".

Cross door face 十字门脸 (Shízì ménliǎn): This style has a paint line running from the forehead to the nose tip. There is also a horizontal paint line connecting two of the eyes, which creates a cross.

Crooked face 歪脸 (Wāi liǎn): This style is usually used to depict ugly characters. Like the name, the makeup is crooked with asymmetric lines and patterns.

White powder face 白粉脸 (Báifěn liǎn): As white is the color used primarily for villians, this style is mainly used to show villians and antagonists. The method includes a white powder/base, with black outlines of the eyebrows, nose and eyes.

Six-point face 六分脸 (Liù fēn liǎn): This style has a pillar pattern on the forehead, with the under-eye area painted with just one color. The color below the eyes covers around 1/6 of the face, which is how it gets its' "six-point" name.

Monk face 僧脸 (Sēng liǎn): Monk Face like the name suggests is used for Buddhist monks, with a halo or nine dots on the forehead denoting the Buddhist character. The nose is doted with a split mouth, and white being the most common color used.

Eunuch face 太监脸 (Tàijiàn liǎn): This style depicts eunuchs in the role of villains, with short thick eyebrows pointed at the bottom and even more pointed at the top. They also usually have a halo on the top, with red and white being some of the most common colors used.

Yuanbao face 元宝脸 (Yuánbǎo liǎn): This style has different colors on the forehead and the face, with the face below the eyebrows drawn into a pattern and a part of the forehead left unpainted, or painted pink, which resembles an ingot (元宝).

Pictographic face 象形脸 (Xiàngxíng liǎn): The pictographic style is quite interesting as it's flexible in it's style. This style is used for magical dieties, monsters, using pictographic patterns of birds and animals to create the styles. Sun Wukong is a good example of this, featured below.

Clown face 丑角脸 (Chǒujiǎo liǎn): The clown is an important role in the Peking opera, with the makeup styles having their own variations based on the character. This style usually has a white block on the nose and the nose bridge, with outlines to make it look more comical

Little demon face 小妖脸 (Xiǎo yāo liǎn): This is a general style for various antagonists and generals and military officials. It's quite flexible as it uses animal and nature patterns to create the style.

Hero face 英雄脸 (Yīngxióng liǎn): This style actually has no particular style funnily enough. The stroke patterns and colors vary depending on the character but the lines are rubbed on using hands rather than makeup brushes, with the colors usually being subtle and simple (as simple as stage makeup can get)

Broken flower face 碎花脸 (Suì huā liǎn): This style has one main color with fragmented lines, giving it a broken look. The lines can vary, so all kinds of interesting patterns can form.

Immortal Diety face 神仙脸 (Shénxiān liǎn): The name is quite self-explanatory, used for various dieties with gold and silver being used to highlight the characters importance.

pomegranate tree in 怡园yiyuan, suzhou, jiangsu province of china by Rtkiycs