Almighty painter

Chapter 272 Champagne and Hustle

A UP host who is a star mother (mother of a child with autism) uploaded a video recording family life.

This mom is raising a seven-year-old autistic baby by herself.

Her child has had emotional interaction deficits since birth and was evaluated by a psychiatrist at Long Island Hospital as a Level [-] autistic patient.

On the current ICD-11 autism grading system, this is the second most severe level.

The external manifestations of babies at this level are medically summarized as having moderate intellectual disability and almost no language ability.

In the past three years, Star Mom has uploaded hundreds of videos on fighting autism.

The average playback volume of each article is not high, the most is played by 1000 people, and the least is only single-digit hits.

Single moms aren't in it for the money, either.

She obviously uses YouTube as a place to talk, recording every moment of her time raising her children to relieve stress and anxiety.

The single mother is a music teacher in a local public school. Her family is neither rich nor poor, just like many ordinary autistic families.

It is also the same state of mind as many autistic parents.

In the past three years, this star mother has completely experienced the four-step process of hope, disappointment, despair, and numbness.

What are the six-year-old golden period therapy, autism intervention supplementary courses, educational Lego toys, playing classical music, playing the violin for children, and even asking a Mormon herbalist to practice.

Reliable and unreliable, all kinds of treatment plans have been tried.

The money is not less, and the improvement is not at all.

Children will always be immersed in their own world like puppets, cutting off all communication.Can't do arithmetic, can't play games, don't want to watch cartoons.

The smile and spirit of the mother in the video also gradually withered over time.

In the beginning of the video, she was talking to the camera about saving money to enroll her child in rehabilitation classes at which hospital. Today, she heard about what therapies are effective for their babies in a discussion group for autistic parents in the community.

Later even Xing Ma herself gave up.

Videos are uploaded less and less frequently.

From uploading a video every few days, to updating once a week, to not necessarily updating the channel once a month.

Until the last uploaded video three months ago, Star Mom opened her hands to the camera with empty eyes——

"It's over. This is her life. Her grandma, grandpa, and my neighbors and colleagues all said so. Maybe the children themselves have accepted this reality earlier than me. I am the only one who refuses to give up. Now ,it's all over."

Since then, there have been no new videos added to this channel.

Until April 4st, the new video titled "IT REALLY WORKS!!! (It really works)" appeared.

In the video, the autistic baby is holding a new version of the "Little Prince" fairy tale book launched by Scholastic Group.

This fairy tale is a bit too profound for a seven-year-old, let alone an autistic patient with moderate intellectual problems.

She shouldn't have been able to understand.

But even though she turned pages very slowly.

But every viewer who played the video realized that the child was actually reading a book.

Xingma's crying voice came from outside the camera.

"My daughter was attracted to illustrated books for the first time in her life. She was really reading. It was the first time in her life that she took the initiative to read. Today is April Fool's Day, but I swear to God, this is not an April Fool's Day joke!"

"IT REALLY WORKS!"

This 21-second video quickly attracted the attention of autism discussion groups on the Internet and continued to spread in family chat groups of people with autism.

On April 4nd, the day of Autism Care Day, it was even posted on Youtube’s special exposure push.

but,

What really made this video go viral was that on the evening of April 4, Sylvester Stallone, a short video fitness influencer and a representative of Hollywood musclemen and tough guys who is as famous as Schwarzenegger, retweeted this video on Twitter .

What many people don't know is.

Stallone, who is out of the camera, is an autistic father. His son Seargeoh has been diagnosed as autistic since he was 3 years old.

"It looks great, maybe I should buy one too." The winner of the Venice Film Festival Lifetime Achievement Award, with more than 5000 million followers on the Internet, commented on Twitter.

moment,

Public opinion really exploded.

In just 48 hours, many influencers and international movie stars reposted the news.

Thursday, November 4.

"The Little Prince" sold 30215 copies, and "Spare Tire" sold 26531 copies.

The sales volume of The Little Prince directly exceeded the daily sales volume of [-] copies, breaking the previous daily sales volume records of children's books and fairy tales held by "Alice in Wonderland" and "The Chocolate Factory".

The sales categories of works such as "Harry Potter", "A Song of Ice and Fire", and "Lord of the Rings" are actually classified in the category of teenage fantasy, not fairy tales.

Therefore, the new version of "The Little Prince" has officially become the fairy tale with the highest daily sales in the UK in history.

Top1!
The sales miracle is still going on.

Friday, April 4.

"The Little Prince" sold 33215 copies, and "Spare Tire" sold 25674 copies.

Saturday, October 4.

"The Little Prince" sold 37521 copies, and "Spare Tire" sold 26509 copies.

It's Sunday, April 4th, the final week of the Easter sale week. "The Little Prince" directly sold 8 copies, while "Spare Tire" only sold 42153 copies.

With 12:0pm on Sunday night, the Easter sales season has officially come to an end.

A new book myth was officially born!

"Spare Tire" sold a total of 151018 copies over the Easter holiday.

The evaluation standard of bestsellers in the British book industry is that the annual sales volume exceeds 15 copies.Prince Harry's personal autobiography sold out in a week.

This phenomenal book monster still maintains its terrifying sales momentum.

It seems that $[-] million in sales this year is an extremely easy goal.

The sales volume of "Spare Tire" is known in the publishing world as a rampant monster in the market.

As for the sales volume of "The Little Prince", the general reaction of the entire book market can be summarized by the morning news headline of "Thames Reader".

"It's like a miracle of the resurrection of Jesus! Look, this Easter holiday, God really came."

"The Little Prince" sold a total of 194321 copies during the entire Easter book season, barely reaching the weekly sales of 20 copies.

You must know that the total printing volume of the first edition of "The Little Prince" was only 30 copies!

Also know that this is just the sales volume of "The Little Prince" in the British Isles.

In addition, there are Canadian, Australian, American, and French-speaking regions, with the least selling tens of thousands of copies.

Actually.

On the one hand, the publishing group has paid five times the wages and bonuses, allowing the printing factories under the Scholastic Group to work overtime during the Easter holiday to print the second batch of 100 million additional copies of "The Little Prince" Target market.

On the other hand, in the last few days of the Easter holiday, all the copies of "The Little Prince" in major physical bookstores have been sold out.

Even the purchase link on the Amazon mall shows that after purchasing now, there is no information on the exact delivery time.

This still cannot stop the popularity of "The Little Prince".

There are even scalpers who resell "The Little Prince"!

There will never be a shortage of rich people in the world who want to spend some money to satisfy their curiosity.

On second-hand flea markets such as Ebay, a new edition of "The Little Prince" was once priced at more than 70 euros.

The first batch of printed books was sold out for more than a week after it went on sale, and the actual number of paid orders was greater than the number of printed books. These two things probably created an unprecedented new miracle in the book publishing industry.

Another even bigger spectacle happened on Goodreads, the world’s largest book rating website.

Like websites such as Imdb and Douban, Goodreads implements an audience scoring system.

The full score is 5 points.

Book review websites are generally more strict than film review websites. Generally, a book with a score of more than 4 points from [-] people is considered a publication with a good reputation.

The two princes are inextricably linked to sales during the Easter holidays.

In terms of praise rate, there is a one-sided slinging situation.

It's not that "The Spare Tire" is not good enough, but that the new version of "The Little Prince" is too strong.

In fact, the general cultural level of Western netizens is not as high as many people imagine.

They also don't like to read those obscure and serious literature.

It can be seen from the fact that the top three with the highest ratings in the "Eternal Best Literary Masterpieces" section of Goodreads are "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone", "The Hunger Games", and "Twilight".

In the comment area of ​​masterpieces like "Ulysses" and "House of Ghosts", a large number of netizens who think they "do not understand at all" scored a point.

And a book like "The Little Prince" with fresh literature and art, moving illustrations, compelling style and no reading threshold is just right.

Originally, "The Little Prince" by the Townsend Mann Group ranked seventh on the overall list with a score of 4.31.

"Spare Tire" currently has 26 people who have rated it, with a total score of 3.91 points, slightly lower than the 4.12 points of "Jobs Biography", which tops the biographical rankings.

It's generally well received.

But compared to "The Little Prince", it's so shabby that it's not even worthy of carrying shoes.

At present, the Scholastic version of "The Little Prince" has a score of 4.87 points, ranking first in the airborne general list.

It is nearly 0.37 points ahead of the second-ranked "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone".

Of course, this is because "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" has 870 million ratings, while "The Little Prince" has just been released, with less than 3 ratings.

On the other hand, it also shows that the sales and word-of-mouth of this book have blossomed.

Even the chairman of Scholastic's board of directors, who was preparing to retire from his position as leader, personally flew from New York to London on a business jet to bring celebratory champagne to the entire Little Prince project team.
-
While the hot sales of "The Little Prince" continued, the other end of the Eurasian continent.

The dragonfly flies low over the lawn, its long wings vibrate at high speed, its yellow-green whiskers blend with the surrounding environment, reflecting the sunlight in the sky.

A few feet away from the water vapor and mist, the amber pupils from the God of Death were staring at it firmly not far away.

The moment it saw the coquettish bitches dancing coquettishly in the grass, the memory of the predator in its bloodline awakened in its body.

The newly grown fat on the buttocks and stomach in the past few days can hardly stop its wild heart, and the muscles and bones that are about to be loosened comfortably by the little brother can't dampen its ambition.

300 million years ago.

Its ancestor, the saber-toothed tiger, jumped up and down in the trees chasing Australopithecus with howls. 4000 years ago on the banks of the Nile River, it was regarded as a mysterious elephant and was worshiped as a god by Egyptians on the altar.

Under the furry tail and round head, the blood of tigers and leopards flows.

It is not a meat doll of a female human cub, it is the biggest king in the entire orphanage!
The Grim Reaper held its head proudly, and faced the glaring afternoon sun without hesitation. Its body slowly collapsed, like a crossbow being tightened. The muscles all over the body were tangled, and the pupils shrank into thin lines. It's like a little leopard of different colors.

At the moment when the beast is about to shoot out like an offline arrow.An annoying claw grabbed the soft flesh at the back of the neck and lifted it up.

"Meow! Meow meow!"

The Grim Reaper watched the little toy he had observed for a long time disappear into the grass, and let out an extremely sad and resentful moan.

Jasmine grabbed Maomao by the hair on the back of her neck and lifted her into the air.

"Awang! The dragonflies and butterflies are flying around in the yard. Why are you always making trouble for them?"

The little girl allowed the big fleshy ball to scratch in the air impotently and furiously, and reprimanded: "Auntie Dean said that if this continues, there will be no flying insects pollinating the wild flowers in the yard."

Do not!
My dragonfly!
That is to say, Mao Mao's nails were just cut off by the big sister who smelled of strawberries yesterday, otherwise, she would rush to Bang Bang to give this vicious little girl two paws.

I'm fluttering dragonflies in the yard well and well, why is this guy old and his grandmother coming to harm me!

Awang is not happy.

Awang was very angry.

Awang wants to bite someone.

Awang chooses——

"Cutting off your claws is to prevent you from scratching and eating. It's dirty. And Sister Sakai said, you already have stomatitis, which is caused by eating too many hard bones. If you continue like this, your gums will bleed a lot Bloody, she specially bought canned cat food for you, and you can only eat this recently."

Jasmine grabbed Awang's nape with one hand, dragged her buttocks with the other, and carried her to the open can next to the concierge's cabin like a big bag.

"promise."

Little girl Jasmine picked up a cat toy with a plastic dragonfly hanging from the end with a fishing line, and lectured: "Sister Sakai also bought a cat teasing stick. If you want to catch dragonflies in the future, you can catch this, but the teacher at school wants us to carry Shelley on our backs." Chapter [-] of "Ode to the West Wind", I can play with you only after I finish my homework. During this time, you have to be good and eat your own cat food, you know!"

The smell of imported grain-free chicken and cheese gold medal cat food is carried in the wind.

Awang licked his nose.

It suddenly felt like it wasn't that angry, so it didn't mean it couldn't choose to forgive the other person temporarily.

It is not too late for a gentleman to take revenge for ten years.

For the sake of cat food, it is not unacceptable to temporarily play with the little girl.

Poor god.

As a stingy old man, A Wang is a rural house cat raised in the yard to catch mice. Eating a piece of pork ribs that others gnawed clean can improve his life.

How can I stand the test of corruption and depravity of specially formulated cheese cat food?

Life in the past few days is like Cinderella wearing a glass slipper, and the earth cat entering the Grand View Garden.

Apart from serving the vicious little girl and playing house, Awang lived happily ever after. He didn't want to stay with old man Wu for almost a second. He was looking forward to being taken to the orphanage by Gu Weijing day and night.

Even the waist and buttocks are quite round.

Jasmine poured the canned cat food into the cat food bowl on one side, and poured another bowl of water, seeing that Awang ate it sweetly with a low eyebrow.

She herself took out the textbook from her schoolbag and read it slowly.

"...

The trumpet of a prophecy! (Wake up the sleeping earth)
Oh Wind, (Ask the West Wind)
If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind? (If winter has come, can spring be far behind?)"

In the yard of the orphanage not far away, there are two side by side easels.

Even when she was painting seriously, the girl, whose appearance and manners were as elegant as ever, listened to the childlike voice of Shelley's English poems, while the tip of the charcoal pen was making smooth drafts on the canvas.

The theme of the Singapore Art Exhibition is "The Hustle and bustle of the world".

The posed models in the static studio are neither "human" enough nor "busy" enough.

Gradually, Ms. Sakai Katsuko, who has learned how to integrate her works into realistic emotions, decided to paint outdoor scenery paintings.

There are no fixed themes in mind.

Take a few strands of the breeze from the various states of the world, and blow them into your brush.

Do whatever you want.

Draw as you think.

The scene of the little girl Jasmine reading a poem to the cat clearly touched Shengzi's gentle state of mind, and she drew the line on the drawing board quickly with a charcoal pencil.

He hesitated for a moment.

The girl gently pinched the charcoal stick again, and wrote a few short short songs on the blank space of the canvas.

"In the mist, under the shade of the locust tree, a girl is teaching the cat to read Shelley's poems - Katsuko Sakai."

Katsuko hummed softly with Japanese's unique long-short phonological foot, and read the sentence.

This short song is adapted from the representative poem "Spring Rain - Under the watermelon vine, a child is teaching the cat to do the spin dance" in the 1820 Edo poet Kobayashi Icha's famous haiku collection "Icha, Cat and Four Seasons".

Katsuko Sakai adapted it casually, matching the scene in front of him, which is very interesting.

"what are you saying?"

Gu Weijing heard the shallow chant from Shengzi's mouth.

He didn't understand Japanese very well, so he asked curiously.

"A wandering sentence that I changed at random, do you want to listen to it?"

Katsuko Sakai translated the tanka into English and sang it softly again.

"Pretty beautiful, very nice to hear."

The rhymes of Latin and Sino-Tibetan languages ​​are completely different.

But after all, the entire Japanese culture is borrowed from the Eastern Xia culture, and Gu Weijing can barely hear the three-point style combined by these words and images.

Sakai Katsuko is a literary girl with a very delicate mind, and it is not surprising that she can do this.

"A girl is teaching the cat to read Shelley's poems, and a girl is teaching the cat...to read Shelley's poems." Miss Shengzi sang these words several times in her mouth, her lilac-colored eyes became brighter and brighter , "Gu Jun, Jasmine is reading poems to Awang—this is the hustle and bustle of the world in my eyes."

"This is the theme of the first exhibited painting at the Singapore Art Exhibition."

Miss Katsuko seemed to suddenly make up her mind.

"You don't plan to go to Yangon Port?" Gu Weijing raised his eyebrows.

Sakai Katsuko originally planned to go to the beach again in a few days.

Yangon Port is one of the busiest and most noisy places in the city.

If the muddy Golden Triangle can be summed up by the words "purgatory on earth".

Yangon Port is neither bright nor so chaotic. It is more comfortable to describe it as "hustle and bustle in the world".

The same people, in the same noise of talking, cursing, laughing and murmuring, are cut into completely different worldly situations.

There are emerald treasure ships floating, container passenger ships laden with rice and fabric shirts, private sailboats hoisting their sails to chase the sunrise.

There is only one street between the well-dressed businessman and the beggar sleeping on the street. The naked and dark upper body laborer carrying rice and the bikini girl who also exposed a large area of ​​skin and applied self-tanning cream on her body are waiting for the yacht. Passed by on the fork trail.

The whistle sounded day and night.

This is where Sakai Katsuko originally selected the site for the Singapore art exhibition.

After Mrs. Sakai heard about her daughter's plan to visit the wells in Yangon, she was still thinking about whether to contact the security team to strengthen the security team.

Unexpectedly, Sakai Katsuko changed her mind so quickly.

"The theme of 'hustle and bustle of the world' is a bit too stereotyped to go to the port to paint the various scenes of the market. I think the idea of ​​​​this theme is actually better now. It is less tacky and more Zen."

Gu Weijing touched his chin and commented.

For submissions similar to life in the market, the organizing committee will definitely receive [-] or [-] works, not to mention three to five hundred.

After seeing a lot, no matter how good the painting is, it will not be novel.

"Hmm, I thought so too."

Articles are made naturally, and wonderful pens are occasionally obtained.

Same goes for painting.

Sakai Katsuko looked at the composition of the picture where she captured Jasmine and the cat sitting side by side on the steps of the concierge.

No matter how you look at it or like it for a while, you can't be satisfied.

"Is it my illusion? I suddenly discovered that my sketching technique seems to be—" Katsuko Sakai stared at the sketch in charcoal on the drawing board in front of her, and said softly.

At this time, Gu Weijing also discovered the difference between the expressive power of Miss Sakai's sketches and the previous ones.

"—The sketching technique seems to have improved a lot!"

The two said in tacit agreement almost in unison.

The sketches in front of you on the drawing board are dynamic and detailed.

Although it is only a rough outline of the subject, the handling of form, texture, space and light is very appropriate.

Katsuko Sakai's pen sketches for the Shwedagon Pagoda were also exquisite, but lacked the vivid vitality of the sketches at this time.

Gu Weijing threw a calligraphy and painting appraisal technique on it.

[Girl and Cat Reading Poetry·Draft]

[Sketch technique: lv.5 professional painter · second level (16/10000)]

"Congratulations. This is not an illusion. You have somewhat grasped the art of brushstrokes. This is the starting point of a sketch master." Gu Weijing sighed.

Sakai Katsuko has been stuck in the bottleneck of the Lv.4 professional painter's first-level field for a long time.

Painting pays attention to fate, like climbing a snow-capped mountain.

One level of mountain is one level of barrier.

Every time a giant pass is conquered, it will usher in a painting stage of rapid growth in techniques.

Professor Lin Tao believes that Gu Weijing lacks sufficient artistic accumulation, so his way of practice is to read "Tianyu Liufang" and draw wisteria flowers.

Bashu, Milan, Paris, Provence, Florence...

Katsuko Sakai has traveled all over the world since she was a child, visiting various masters, visiting famous art cities all over the world, and even wandering to such a remote place as Yangon.

When she entered the field of oil painting, the most important thing she lacked was the accumulation of art and culture. Instead, she lacked the nourishment of the fresh breath of life outside of museums and art galleries.

The emotion of painting and the techniques of painting are two completely different artistic routes.

However, the novel painting experience that broke the barrier between the inner heart and the painting also eliminated the bottleneck that hindered the improvement of her skills for Ms. Katsuko.

especially,
Sakai Katsuko has been practicing extra diligently recently.

Amidst the voice of little girl Jasmine reading poetry, it was a matter of course to raise her painting skills to the second level of her profession.

(End of this chapter)