Mahabote

This is part 1 of Mahabote.

Unlike Western or Vedic astrology, which require three pieces of birth information for accurate analysis (your birth date, time and location), Mahabote only needs to know your birthdate. With just your birthdate, a seasoned Burmese astrologer can deduce many predictions about your personality, current situation and immediate future.

Mahabote

The 8 ANIMALS OF THE BURMESE ZODIAC 

The Mahabote Zodiac has 8 animal signs, all corresponding to one of the 7 days of the week (Wednesday is represented twice in the zodiac). The Number 8 is thus considered an auspicious number in Myanmar and it is believed to represent a state where all the cosmic energies are in perfect balance. The eight animal signs also represent the 8 cardinal and secondary directions of the compass; and each of the eight houses is ruled by one of the eight astrological planets.

So how do you know which Burmese animal sign are you? First you need to work out which day of the week you were born. This can easily be looked up if you own a 1000-year calendar. Alternatively, simply Google "Day of Birth" and you will find many websites that will calculate your day of birth for free.

Monday's Child Is The Tiger 

"Monday's Child is fair of face"! Perhaps this phrase can be traced back to Mahabote! If you are born on Monday, you are considered a Tiger and your ruling planet is the Moon. As with all Tigers, you command a forceful personality and will work hard for everything you have in life. At work, you have the tendency to focus on details and like to succeed on your own merits.

Like Tigers in the wild, you work best alone. You are the sort of person who needs your own space to thrive. With the Moon as your ruling planet, you are blessed with inner powers of divination, intuition and spirituality. It is thought that girls born on Monday capture the feminine essence of the Moon Goddess and are believed to make excellent wives and bear many children. Monday people are typically more in touch with their inner self than those born on any other day of the week. These are people who have a special connection with the Gods.

As a Monday person, your ruling direction is East. This means that good news for you comes from the East - and on years when the East is afflicted, you are also afflicted. Invite the image of the Tiger into your home and place him in the East of your home to strengthen your Life Force. Ensure that the Tiger is in a sitting position - and not hunting position.

Famous people born on Monday: Kristen Stewart, Selena Gomez, President Barrack Obama, Prince William, Leonardo diCaprio, Mark Zuckerberg, Jodie Foster, Michael Douglas, Sam Worthington.

Tuesday's Child Is The Lion 

If you were born on Tuesday, then your animal sign is the mighty Lion and your ruling planet is Mars. The Lion is the King of the Jungle, a rightful and fearless leader. You are very brave and will tackle any challenge given to you! And more often than not, you will win! As a Lion, you will come across as strong-willed person with decidedly strong opinions on everything including politics, religion, and entertainment! You will have a clear view of what is right or wrong.

With Mars as your parent planet, you will possess a strong sense of justice and powerful fighting instincts. Mars people often see themselves as Noble warriors, always championing some kind of honorable cause. They cannot bear to see the underdog being trampled on. Justice must prevail. At work, these people often rise to become leaders, or turn into loud disgruntled workers when they do not get their way! 

As leaders they are never afraid of anything and consider compromise as a weakness. Hence Tuesday people thrive when they live in a world of "black and white" and thus make excellent lawyers, union leaders and district attorneys!

If you are born on Tuesday then the Southeast is your lucky direction. You should invite the image of a benevolent Lion in the Southeast. Make sure he looks happy, well fed, and preferably in a languishing position. Do not invite a lion who looks like he's ready to attack!

Famous people born on Tuesday: Natalie Portman, Sergey Brin, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner, Justin Bieber, Paris Hilton. Tom Cruise. Peter Jackson, Jason Bateman, Ben Stiller, Mel Gibson, Martin Scorsese, Ben Affleck, Ashton Kutcher. This ends part 1 of Mahabote. You can continue to read Part 2 at the next post.

Movie Snowflower And The Secret Fan

This is Part 2 of Movie Snowflower And The Secret Fan

 Florence Sloan is an ardent feng shui believer. She has three 'Tigers' in her life so her boutique is named 'Tigerjade'! Florence has feng shuied her husband Harry Sloans MGM office in Century City to the last inch with crystals, amethyst boulder, water features and an amber lion, doubtless in tribute to Leo the Lion, the lucky mascot and symbol of MGM. She had Harry changed his office number with a new one, replacing the many '4's with '8's which is a lucky number. So it is surely not surprising that Snow Flower and the Secret Fan contains subtle feng shui elements. 

Movie Snowflower And The Secret Fan

The fan itself in feng shui means 'warding off bad vibes and keeping sentiments pure' - a perfect medium for the two girlfriends to communicate...

Florence and Wendi wanted the movie to come onto the screen in an alive, contemporary fashion that would be relevant to today's audiences and cut across cultures. It must have been good feng shui as by coincidence, the much-lauded Chinese American director Wayne Wang had actually read 'Snow Flower and the Secret Fan' and was fascinated with the material before his agent brought him to meet the two female producers! 

Wayne Wang had adapted Amy Tan's novel 'The Joy Luck Club' so sensitively into an entertaining and blockbuster film, so he was the natural choice for 'Snow Flower and the Secret Fan', more so as his grandmother had bound feet!

The film opens in 19th century China when two 7-year old girls were matched, based on their horoscope, as 'laotong' or literally 'old sames', bound together for eternity. Isolated by their families they furtively communicated by a secret language called Nu Shu, written and passed along in the folds of a white silk fan.

In a parallel story set in today's Shanghai, the laotong's modern descendants Nina and Sophia struggle to maintain the intimacy of their childhood friendship in the face of demanding careers, complicated love lives and a relentless evolving Shanghai.

The two modern women must understand the secret of their ancestral connection, hidden from them in the folds of the antique white silk fan or risk losing one another forever. What unfolds are two stories, generations apart, but everlasting in their notion of friendship, hope and love.

Says Florence, "The New China is evolving at a speed most can't comprehend so we felt it would be interesting to juxtapose who women lived nearly two centuries ago with how they are living now. We focus on parallels, not differences.

"Today we don't talk about 'laotong' but we have best friends. We don't have our feet bound but we are bound by circumstances, like marriage, family, career, children, economic situation and state of the world."

Nina and Sophia (the modern counterparts played by Korean actress Gianna Jun and Li Bing Bing) see themselves reflected in Snow Flower and Lily. In the bad old days, Chinese women were subjected to the starkest injustices, from foot binding to arranged marriages, extreme isolation and the archetypal wicked mother-in-law. Today, the modern miss must brace herself for a bitchy boss, back-stabbing office colleagues and keeping up with the Joneses with the latest must-haves.

Florence explains, "Once Chinese women sacrificed personal dreams and independence for family, marriage and social hierarchy. Today, women are bombarded with too many choices! We wanted to fuse these two worlds, so we developed an unconventional screenplay that showed deep connections between the two eras. The screenplay shows how much has changed... but also how some things remain the same.

We lead different lives but still have great friendships, we share secrets and we struggle with jealousy, loneliness, competition and misunderstanding." The fact Florence Sloan and Wendi Murdoch named their production company 'Big Feet' says a lot about the freedom that comes with unbounded feet!

Prior to establishing Big Feet Production in which Florence Sloan was co-creator, producer and CEO, she wrote children's books while living in London. There she met Harry Sloan. This is her second marriage and they now live in one of Los Angeles more upmarket suburbs in a mansion once owned by Janet Jackson. They have four children. Florence's sons Christopher and Alexander are in their twenties. Harry Sloan's new company Global Eagle Acquisitions, launched in February this year, sounds wonderful and must have had input from Florence!

A philanthropist, Florence Sloan sits on the board of many charities, including The Los Angeles County Museum of Arts, Facing History and Ourselves and American Ballet Theatre.

Both Florence and Wendi plan to produce more Chinese oriented movies. As Florence points out, "In China, 'big feet' also means 'taking the first step' so it is all systems go!" This ends part 2 of Movie Snowflower And The Secret Fan.

Florence Sloan

This is Part 1 of 2 of Florence Sloan

Florence Sloan has been charming Hollywood insiders since she moved to sunny California after marrying Sloan in 2001. Florence is a Malaysian born beauty, highly educated, tall and has a bff relationship with Wendi Deng Murdoch. Both have been dubbed 'Charming Chinese Capitalists' and also 'Exotic Eastern Entrepreneurs'.

At the Cannes film festival premiere of Secret fan, the ladies wore Christian Dior Couture, and dripping diamonds they made their presence felt with their respective husbands in tow, looking lovingly at them with approval and pride. No one was left in any doubt that in their marriages they wield both influence and indulgence!

Florence Sloan

They met at a party in Los Angeles 11 years ago. Both being Chinese women married to powerful 'ang mo' titans involved in the communications and entertainment industries, the duo struck up an instant friendship. Says Florence, "We live at opposite ends of America. I am based in Los Angeles, while Wendi lives in New York. But we see each other at least once a month." Usually at Hamasaku restaurant in LA.

Both women can be described as 'beautiful and brainy'. But while Wendi came from a humble background, Florence was born with a golden spoon in her mouth. Her father is well known Malaysian tycoon and property developer Tan Sri Low Keng Huat who built Malaysia's first shopping mall Ampang Park, while mum is charity fund-raiser Puan Sri Molly Low.
 
"I was born in Malaysia and when we got our independence from Britain, the medium of instruction in schools was changed to Malay. My parents wanted me proficient in English. As I was the eldest, I was sent to boarding school in England at 11 as an experiment! My formative years were in England, but I came back to Malaysia often.
 
I studied at City University London where I obtained my BA in Law with honors. However I married at 21, so I never really practiced. I have always loved the creative process and have a great passion for movies. What really made us decide to produce this movie, and I think I can speak for Wendi, was the storyline of 'Snow Flower and the Secret Fan" by Lisa See, first published in 2005. The story drew us together and we decided we were going to make this great epic, inspiring movie."
 
The theme of friendship rested and saved in old and modern settings is the core sentiment of the movie. This friendship between two women is a theme that struck a chord with Florence and Wends as it resonated their own friendship.
 
The catalyst for the film project was best-selling author Amy Tan (The Joy luck Club, The Kitchen God's Wife) who gave the book to her friend, Wendi Murdoch. At that time, the book was little known and often passed from friend to friend.
 
"Amy introduced me to Lisa See as I enjoyed her book," recalls Wendi Murdoch. "I fell in love with Snow Flower, Lily and the story of how a deep friendship helped two Chinese women cope with the intense challenges of their lives. I grew up poor in a small town in China so I can relate personally to the main characters, but more than that, I found the theme of the book to be universal and timeless."

"No matter who you are or where you come from, everyone appreciates real friendship and what it can bring to our life." - Wendi Deng Murdoch 

Florence too recalls her reaction to the book. "The book evoked so many emotions in me. I am Chinese but I was born and grew up in Malaysia. I have always been fascinated by family histories. Lisa's stories evoked so much admiration for the endurance and strength of Snow Flower and Lily and their everlasting friendship. This is a story that really shows that the term 'best friend' really means something. It means through thick and thin, no matter what happens, you will always be there. It is about what we do for each other in times of crisis and I find that very beautiful" 

The author of Snow Flower and the Secret Fan saw something in Florence and Wendi that won her trust. Says Lisa See, "I love that they had read my book with their girlfriends and had a deep connection to it on the level of female friendship. From the beginning, we were talking about the important elements of the story that people connect to. They really wanted to hold to the emotional heart of the story."

Rupert Murdoch read 22 versions of the script, Florence Sloan called on her knowledge of law to peruse contracts, while Wendi charmed potential partners over dinner. The neophyte producers worked handson, serving cups of tea to the crew, roughing it out in 'ulu' winter shoot, these millionairesses had no trailers but drank hot coffee by the roadsides of Chinese villages. Their designer outfits were left in Shanghai. This ends Part 1 of 2 of Florence Sloan. You can read Part 2 at the next post.

Rupert Murdoch Net Worth

First look at the 30 to 40 years pillar - notice it is an all Yin earth pillar. For her, the element earth is excellent for her because she is very strong water. These are the years between 30 and 40 - when she will get a qualification, get a great career, get married and have children. The double yin earth bring great happiness, but earth brings power, recognition and very high rank. All this is predicted in her chart and she got them all as soon as she married. If it had not been Murdoch, she would still have got power and recognition!

Rupert Murdoch Net Worth

 
She is currently in the 40 to 50 years luck pillar. This is a Yang Earth/Fire Pillar so this is the critical Pillar of interest to us. This Pillar indicates that through the ten years from 40 onwards she now has yang earth (denoting power) and yang fire (denoting wealth).
 
The element of fire indicates wealth and look, she has a whole lot of fire starting from 45 years of age right through to 65. And even after that comes earth, which brings her power. Followed by wood, which continues to be good for her. Her power luck started at age 40 and some direct yang fire indicating wealth will start coming to her at age 45 years!

What this suggests is that around the age of 45 years, Wendi Deng will become very wealthy indeed, and it will be in her own right, indicating that is the likely age when she will inherit money!

We can only deduce that Wendi will inherit her husband's wealth (directly and also what is held in trust for her two daughters - (also heiresses to the Murdoch Billions) when she turns 45 years. That will be in 2013 the year of the Snake. Note the Snake is Wendi Deng's secret friend. That is a great year for her! The Snake is also of the FIRE element, so the Snake, represents wealth! 

Now let's look at Rupert Murdoch's chart. How likely is it that the current scandal will prove too much for him? Will he indeed succumb to the stresses and strains of keeping his business empire together? How long can he keep going? There is no doubt Wendi Deng will continue to be fiercely protective of him... she has the glint of determination in her eyes. She is a Monkey, clever, shrewd and a very strategic thinker!
 
Rupert Murdoch was born on the 11th March 1931, time of birth unknown. Here is his chart, but once again ignore the HOUR pillar. Rupert Murdoch was born a Metal Sheep so no wonder he is such an excellent businessman, so excellent at transforming every development into hugely successful enterprise. Of all the Zodiac signs, the Sheep male make the best dealmakers and the best business strategists. His element is Earth, so he represents power for Wendi Deng.

Rupert's SELF ELEMENT is weak Yin Wood and he needs plenty of water! The Water element will make him strong and energetic. Water fuels his growth and his energy levels; hence Wendi Deng's strong water chi energy is simply excellent for him! It is no mean feat that at his age he has fathered two beautiful children with her! But metal and fire are his unfavourable elements. Metal brings destruction of wood and in this case can cause great harm to his livelihood i.e. his business. But fire could exhaust him - and cause great strains to his health and energy. It might cause him to succumb...

So now let's look at his luck pillars to see where he is at right now. He is already nearing 80 years, so we can see the luck pillars have run out... not a good sign. If you look at the 72 to 82 years luck pillar you will see it is Yang Horse fire. Until the age of 77 years, it was water which nurtured him, but from then until now, he has been getting weaker... and it is possible that he might not survive through this luck pillar. But even as he grows weaker with fire, his wife grows wealthier with fire... This will end the final Part of Rupert Murdoch Net Worth.