#suete

[lychens]

always forget how much of a following i have here till i post something and yall start interacting hiiiii everyone hiiiiiiiii

#txt #merry christmas n happy holidays throwing u all birdseed & suet to keep u hearty thru the winter

[princecroutons]

Day 1 -> Day 193

#croutons #cat #catblr #cats #cats of tumblr #orange cat #petblr #i forgot how short his hair was in the summer !!!!! #he showed up and ate the peanutbutter suet like a thief

[wlwcatalogue]

Female Queer Icons of Hong Kong // Yam Kim Fai (任劍輝) and Pak Suet Sin (白雪仙)

Photo 1: Promotional photo for 1955 contemporary movie The Model and the Car (玉女香車) (no video available) (Source: LCSD Museum Collection Search Portal)

Photo 4: Photo from Sin Fung Ming Opera Troupe's 1958 trip

Photo 5: Photo from a 1962 newspaper feature on Yam, Pak, and others at their (?) summer villa in Central, Hong Kong

Photo 6: Christmas celebrations with Yam, Pak, and their protégés of the Chor Fung Ming Troupe

Far and away the most iconic duo in Cantonese opera, Yam Kim Fai (任劍輝) and Pak Suet Sin (白雪仙) – commonly referred to simply as Yam-Pak (任白) – were famed for their partnership both on and off the stage… Click below to learn more!

Edit on 28/07/2023: Updated to link to a photo of the entrance to the Hong Kong Heritage Museum’s Pop Culture 60+ exhibit, and to add information regarding Yam and Pak's marriage status.

Iconic? How?

Yam-Pak are the face of Cantonese opera; you can't talk about the latter without mentioning the former. It's to the point where a gigantic picture of them graces the entrance to the Hong Kong Heritage Museum’s permanent exhibition on Hong Kong pop culture’s evolution across the past 60 years (“Hong Kong Pop 60+”) - they are the first thing you see upon entering!

Best known as the originators - with Yam playing the male leads and Pak the female leads - of five masterpieces of Cantonese opera, namely:

1. Princess Cheung Ping (帝女花) 2. The Legend of the Purple Hairpin (紫釵記) 3. The Dream Tryst in the Peony Pavilion (牡丹亭驚夢) 4. The Reincarnation of Lady Plum Blossom (再世紅梅記) 5. Butterfly and Red Pear Blossom (蝶影紅梨記) (Note: Princess Cheung Ping, Purple Hairpin, and Butterfly and Red Pear Blossom were made into abridged movie versions, with the Sin Fung Ming troupe members reprising their roles from the theatre productions. Also, the "Fragrant Sacrifice" (香夭) duet from Princess Cheung Ping (movie clip) is one of - if not the most - famous songs in Cantonese opera.)

Yam and Pak were the leading pair and co-founders of the legendary Sin Fung Ming Opera Troupe (仙鳳鳴劇團; 1956-1961), which is widely held to have pushed Cantonese opera forward as an artform due to Pak and scriptwriter Tong Tik Sang’s (唐滌生) emphasis on poetic libretti and adapting source material from Chinese literature and history. (Note: it has been common practice since the 1930's for Cantonese opera troupes to be founded by key actor(s).)

They were also very active in the Hong Kong film industry in the 1950's, being paired in over 40 movies together across roughly 8 years. One of those – the aforementioned Butterfly and Red Pear Blossom (蝶影紅梨記) – is the sole Cantonese opera movie on the Hong Kong Film Archive’s 100-Must See Hong Kong Movies list (IMDB list / archived version of the official PDF). It's a well-deserved inclusion - check out this beautifully-shot dance scene.

Even their post-retirement activities had a significant effect on the industry! In the early 1960’s, they held auditions for prospective students and provided - for free - systematic, hands-on training to those who passed; Yam and Pak even hired other veterans to teach skills they personally were not as familiar with. Prior to this, apprentices were expected to learn primarily from observing their masters, and to pay handsomely for the privilege. Yam-Pak’s methods proved exceedingly effective: the Chor Fung Ming Opera Troupe (雛鳳鳴劇團; 1963-1992) starring their apprentices reigned supreme in the 1970’s-1980’s. Following this success, Cantonese opera institutes - most notably the major 1900s-era guild, the Chinese Artists Association of Hong Kong (八和會館) - started to offer systematic coaching to young hopefuls in the 1980's.

Okay, so why are they queer icons specifically?

The lazy answer is that they're queer icons because nearly all of Yam's roles were male, so Gender is involved by default, and since most hit Cantonese operas of the time were romances, that means you get to see two female actors performing being in love onscreen (and also on stage, but there aren't any video recordings from back then). So far, so Takarazuka Revue.

Female actors playing male roles in Cantonese opera To give some context, each Cantonese opera performer specialises in one of four major role-types, and Yam was a sung (生) - i.e. an actor specialised in playing standard male roles. Female sung were fairly common in the 1910's-1930's due to women being banned from performing with men during that period, but when the ban lifted in the mid-1930's, many troupes shifted towards cis-casting. Yam was pretty much the only one whose popularity survived the transition. Just take a look at the huge number of Cantonese opera movies produced during the 1950’s-1960’s – you’ll be hard-pressed to find a female sung other than Yam, let alone one with top billing. Happily, thanks to Yam's immense popularity, her profilic film career (over 300 movies!), and the prominence of Sin Fung Ming works in the Cantonese opera canon, there has been a resurgence in female sung which endures to this day. Two noteworthy examples are Yam's protégé Sabrina Lee/ Loong Kim Sang (龍劍笙) - a star in her own right - and Joyce Koi/ Koi Ming Fai (蓋鳴暉), one of the biggest names still active in the industry. (Note: perhaps due to cinema being more "realistic" in nature, Yam's early movies often involved her playing female characters cross-dressing as men, including in some Cantonese opera movies. However, she received increasingly more male roles as her fame grew, and from the mid-1950's onwards she was playing male characters onscreen nearly exclusively-- even in non-Cantonese opera movies! See Photo 1 above.)

What sets Yam and Pak apart is that they were particularly known for their chemistry. Long before Sin Fung Ming's formation in 1956, the advertising copy for their first Cantonese opera movie together - Frolicking with a Pretty Maid in the Wineshop (酒樓戲鳳, 1952) - declared "Only this movie has Yam-Pak flirting on the silver screen" (source - 華僑日報 1952/05/23-26). And indeed, they were popular for their flirtatious duets: their Cantonese opera works invariably contained at least one, and such scenes made it into some of non-Cantonese opera (i.e. "contemporary") movies too. In fact, there are not one but two contemporary movies where Yam and Pak's characters are not paired up and yet still sing a duet together in such a way that their significant other(s) become convinced that the two are in romantically interested in each other - see 1952's Lovesick (為情顛倒) and 1956's The Happy Hall (滿堂吉慶) - a weirdly specific situation which doesn't crop up in the other, non-Yam-Pak movies I have seen.

Speaking of contemporary movies, let's talk about a certain plotline that keeps cropping up in works featuring the both of them and where Yam plays a woman! Six of the eleven movies which fit that criteria involve Yam's character cross-dressing as a man (a common characteristic across Yam's handful of female roles), and Pak's character falling for her. Nothing ever comes of it, of course, but, um. It was certainly a trend. Actually, even their very first movie together - 1951's Lucky Strike (福至心靈) - falls into this category.

Such storylines, and the emphasis on their chemistry, are particularly interesting given that both Yam and Pak remained ostensibly unmarried throughout. This was unusual for female performers of their stature, who tended to wed in their twenties, often to fellow-actors or wealthy men (e.g. Hung Sin Nui/紅線女, Fong Yim Fun/芳艷芬, and Tang Pik Wan/鄧碧雲)... In contrast, by the time Yam-Pak retired from the stage in 1961, they were both over 30 years old and without husbands.

Also, did I mention they were popularly believed to be living together? There doesn't seem to be any conclusive evidence either way... although it's a little strange that separate newspaper pictorials depicting "Yam at home" and "Pak at home" seem to be of the same location... however what is conclusive is that they did spent a lot of time together offstage. Pak has talked about how when they had no guests over, Yam would watch TV by herself while Pak was in the living room (source - p93), and protégé Mandy Fung/ Mui Suet Sze (梅雪詩) has said that Pak would sometimes cook for Yam at home (source - 03:53~). They would also celebrate birthdays, New Year's, and Christmas together (see Photo 6 for an example of the latter).

Shortly after Yam's passing in 1989, Pak set up the Yam Kim Fai and Pak Suet Sin Charitable Foundation (任白慈善基金) to support the arts and provide welfare for the elderly. In 1996, Pak made a large donation to Hong Kong University, resulting in one of the buildings being renamed Yam Pak Building (任白樓) in thanks (source).

Thanks for reading! Please feel free to DM me or send an ask if you have any questions, or are just interested in learning more.

If you made it here, have this bonus piece of trivia - Yam and Pak were also well-acquainted with Hong Kong's preeminent queer icon, Leslie Cheung (張國榮), who was a massive fan of theirs. Sadly there don't seem to be any pictures of them before Yam's passing, but here's one of Pak (centre) having afternoon tea with Cheung (left) and his long-term romantic partner Daffy Tong (唐鶴德) (right) at the Cova cafe in the Pacific Place shopping mall.

#wlw recommendations #sapphic #lgbtq #asian lgbtq #hong kong #theatre #cantonese opera #chinese opera #yam kim fai #leslie cheung #pak suet sin #yampak #yambak #pak sheut sin #bak sheut sin #hong kong queer icons #not me hastily adding tags because i keep forgetting certain ones

[carnivalcarriondiscarded]

when i say that i'm an old soul, i mean that i stand at the window with my hands folded behind my back, watching birds in the yard, then immediately go tell someone when i see a new one. i just Entirely Sincerely said "there're new birds. [bird name]. quite Striking"

#AND IM RIGHT! #very gorgeous very happy to have them here #i spent a solid few minutes tracking down the species #would've been quicker if they werent so far away... #absolutely unprompted #i love birds <3 i love casual birdwatching <3 #honestly id love to go on a genuine birdwatching tour. brochure and binoculars and all #ive done One but it was more casual. still an absolute ton of fun! #birds my beloved <3 #i want to get a hanging suet block #a lot easier to maintain than a legit feeder! which is perfect for me lol #wanna hang it riiiight on the porch... the birdwatching would be Insane... #watch me drag roadkill deer into the yard to attract eagle & raven action-

[stellaluna33]

Another win for the suet pastry. Look at this. Look at this empty, blind-baked crust.

I used NO parchment paper. No pie weights. (I live on the edge) And LOOK AT IT! It didn't puff up in the middle. It didn't shrink. The sides didn't collapse... It only stayed exactly where I put it before I stuck it in the oven. It's PERFECT. 😭

#Food #I am rapidly turning into a Suet Evangelist it would seem #😂 #Ah well! It is what it is! #I just... Cannot get over this. #(I'm making a quiche by the way) #And yes- the paint on the wall next to my stove is blistered because a hot pan got too close to the wall. 😅

[ltwilliammowett]

Plum Duff - Spotted Dick

Something fine from the galley again, my dears. And something sweet, because it's just too warm and every now and then sailors need something sweet to lift their spirits, for example after an exhausting battle or a storm.

And that's what the Plum Duff, also known as Spotted Dick, was for and to lift your spirits here's a recipe from Sandra Oliver’s Saltwater Foodways (Mystic, Connecticut, Mystic Seaport Museum: 1995´ for you. Oh and by the way, this dish has been known since the Middle Ages, but it only became really popular in the middle of the 18th century. So and now to the recipe:

Ingredients

2 cups flour

½ teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon cream of tartar

pinch of salt

¼ cup melted shortening

¼ cup sugar

2/3 cup currants

2/3 cup water

1 pudding bag or cloth

Preparation

Put on a large pot of water and bring to a boil.

Sift together dry ingredients.

Stir in melted shortening, sugar and sultanas. Dip pudding bag or cloth in boiling water and dust generously with flour.

Add the water to the batter and mix well; the batter should be quite thick but not stiff. Pour into the pudding bag, tie the bag shut and leave room for the dough to expand. Or place in a greased pudding mould.

Place the pudding in the boiling water, tying it down with a spoon if necessary so that it does not touch the bottom of the pot.

Boil for four hours in a bag or steam for five hours in a mould.

When it is ready, turn it out of the cloth onto a serving dish. Leave to stand for a moment so that it can set.

Slice and serve with molasses.

Have fun trying it out and enjoy.

#naval history #sailors food #cooking like a sailor #plum duff #spotted dick #mid 18th century #age of sail #a more adapted modern version of the recipe as not everyone is into suet

[alcnfr]

Assorted Eastern Gray Squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis) around and about the place this gray day...

#nature photography #my photography #feedlot #wildlife photography #gray squirrel #backyard nature #squirrel #chickenic table #nature #squirrel house #suet feeder

[welldigger62]

Mornings at the feeder-

We have a problem for many this morning. As the suet piece gets smaller, it keeps moving around as it is pecked at. The best piece seems to be always just out of reach no matter which way you attack it from 😂

I guess I’ll go throw a few loose seeds on the ground to temper the bird frustrations.

Happy Weekend to you humans out there 😃

#michigan #welldigger62 #birds nature #birdwatching #bird feeder #suet #nature #photographers on tumblr #original photography #original photographers

[bijoumikhawal]

something. Interesting to me is when human characters going up against a more powerful being (alien, divine, transformed human, etc) they use the phrase "we're like ants/flies/mice to them", not only to convey their comparative lack of power, but also to convey the disregard the being has for humans. Because it implies that the human norm is to disregard these creatures, or even dislike them, and doesn't really reflect on what that may imply about human cultures where that sentiment is indeed common.

It reminds me about how I was talking to someone at work and mentioned how much the bugs bother me at work because they get on my papers, and I have to smack my clipboard to get them off without squishing them. He immediately said something like "why? Squish them, they're annoying". It baffled me for a second, so I just told him I don't like to have stains on my papers, since that seemed like a reason he'd understand- but really, when I accidentally squish bugs while brushing them off, I feel bad. They aren't hurting me. They don't even comprehend that they're annoying or why.

#cipher talk #I've cried at the sight of dead butterflies and picked up dead birds just so they can decay further away from to road #I like putting up suet cakes and scattering seeds even where I can't see because the birds like them #Even with spiders- which I have a phobia of- I appreciate their function amd don't really want to kill them unless I'm panicking #Whats the word for the idea that humans are the ultimate species and all others are theirs to use as we please without regard? #It's not speciesism- the term I'm thinking of is often used to criticize certain Christian institutions #Tbc this isn't just a Christian issue. Ive met Jewish people and Muslims who think the same kind of nonsense

[just-late-roman-republic-things]

My new favorite Roman men are those guys who escaped being executed for rebellion by claiming they were too gay to be guilty. And Emperor Domitian was like, "You know what, you're right. Carry on."

#it's in Suet. Dom. 10.5 and Dio 67.11.4 #julius calvaster #we don't know the other guy's name #domitian #technically the word is 'impudici' which isn't the same as gay but for the purposes of a joke it's close enough #just roman memes #jlrrt speaks

[marcusagrippa]

you're a gallic chieftain about to push the emperor off a cliff but he gives you this look wyd

#suet aug 79 #octavian

[metautske]

My brain connected unrelated topics at work, as it does, and now I'm curious if some gym bros basically eat suet instead of protein bars. Which then led to, what if Jason tried to fuck with batfam but it backfired.

Jason, cutting up bird suet and telling Dick and Tim its a new after workout snack with a little sticky note saying it isn't vegetarian.

But Dick grew up poor and in the circus and Tim is unhinged. They unironically like it and figure out how to make it better (and meet FDA standards)

And Bruce grabbed it absentmindedly as he walked through the cave like a ghost because he hadn't slept in too many hours but he doesn't have taste buds anymore on account of too much hot coffee.

#jason todd #dick grayson #tim drake #prank fail #is bird suet even safe for human consumption? no idea #bruce wayne #batman

[useless-latin]

Morbonia, -ae, the town of sickness, Suet.

#this was used to tell people to get lost #latin language #suet.

[wlwcatalogue]

Screening Announcement! (Dec 10th & 17th, 2023)

Update as of 6 Dec 2023: There are still decent seats left for the 6pm & 9pm showings on Dec 10th, and for all four screenings on Dec 17th!

If anyone here will be in Hong Kong this December 10th or 17th (both Sundays), and has even a passing interest in Yam Kim Fai and Pak Suet Sin (see my post on them here), queerness in East Asia and/or the 1950��s, or Chinese opera, I strongly urge you to go to one of the eight screenings of the restored version of Butterfly and Red Pear Blossom (蝶影紅梨記)!

Not only is it a great romantic comedy (yes, really), it’s also a very rare opportunity to see a classic Cantonese opera movie – or indeed any black and white Hong Kong movie – with English subtitles and in 4K resolution. For a taster, check out this excellent dance scene (not 4K) and this video from the Hong Kong Film Archive about their restoration efforts!

On top of that, it’ll be showing in the cinema of the storied Sunbeam Theatre (新光戲院), which opened in 1972 and is Hong Kong’s last commercial Cantonese opera theatre. (It must be added that being able to go there will soon become an even rarer opportunity; the venue will sadly be closing in 2025 as heritage is apparently a joke in Hong Kong.)

Here's a quick outline of the story for those who need a bit more convincing:

Penned by the Shakespeare of Cantonese opera, Tong Tik Sang (唐滌生), this retelling of Yuan-dynasty opera Tale of Red Pear Flower (謝金蓮詩酒紅梨花) starts off fairly sober - courtesan So-chau (Pak Suet Sin) and scholar Chiu Yu-chau (Yam Kim Fai) are long-distance lovers, but before they are able to meet in person for the first time, So-chau is forced to fake her death to avoid being sent off to a barbarian warlord. But then it morphs into an unexpected romantic comedy: in her escape, So-chau ends up at a relative’s house… only to find that Chiu will be moving in as a guest there that very night. Unfortunately for her, she’s been forbidden by her uncle from disclosing her identity for fear of disrupting Chiu’s studies, and Chiu is extraordinarily – albeit adorably – dumb. Apart from the two leads being played by women, it’s really easy to read queer themes into how So-chau is desperate with longing and yet unable to directly articulate her desires and identity, permitted only to hint and nudge. (As is the movie as a whole in some ways, since Hong Kong movies of that era were very prudish; even heterosexual kisses weren’t allowed onscreen.) Chiu, kind-hearted but oblivious, echoes the familiar figure of the queer crush. Also, Pak plays So-chau with the thirstiness of a marathon runner who hasn’t had a drop of water since the start of the race, so there’s that to enjoy too :)

Tickets are available on the Cityline website for HK$70 each (linked here – change the language to English by clicking “Eng” in the menu); note that you’ll need to make an account to make a purchase. Dec 10th and Dec 17th will both have four screenings each (12pm, 3pm, 6pm, and 9pm), but seating is very limited so you should definitely buy your ticket sooner rather than later!

#wlw recommendations #asian lgbtq #hong kong #cantonese opera #chinese opera #yam kim fai #pak suet sin #hong kong queer icons #yampak #yambak #pak sheut sin #bak sheut sin #theatre

[c86]

CWS Margarine and Suet window display, c. 1935

#window display #design #margarine #suet #packaging #shopping #food #30s #marketing

[actualmichelle]

An enormous northern flicker landed on one of the sills of our bay window & Vin lost his shit 😂😂😂

#wish I'd gotten a photo #the bird was HUGE #it was pecking aggressively bc a littler bird was eating the suet and it was pissed