My Sibling The Mythical Being! discussion

Hey guys! There is actually a surprising number of references to real-life stuff in Sienna Mercer's books (MSTV more than MBTW, but there might be a couple in that series too), so I thought I'd make this discussion for us to spot and record as many as we can! It'll be interesting to see how these things many of us may be familiar with are represented in Sienna Mercer's writing, then once we've spotted them, I thought it'd be fun for us to discuss whether we've read/seen/heard of any of these things and what we thought of them.

Please don't post any major spoilers for either of the series in this discussion, but if you do want to make a spoilery point, you can hide it in spoiler tags like this < spoiler > insert spoiler here < / spoiler > except without the spaces. Thanks and have fun!

Off the top of my head these are the ones I remember:

In Switched (MSTV #1) Olivia reads The Horla by Guy de Maupassant, and Ivy later says it's 'killer'. We talked more about this in the Switched discussion, but in short I read it a couple of months ago and quite enjoyed it.

In Lucky Break (MSTV #7) Camilla directs a sci-fi adaptation of Romeo and Juliet, which I thought was awesome because I love Shakespeare and this is one of my favourites of his plays. When trying to convince everyone this would be a good idea Camilla also references Forbidden Planet (a 1950s sci-fi adaptation of The Tempest). I haven't seen this yet but I'm planning to watch it soon - if Camilla likes it I'm sure I will!

Actually while looking for those in the book I just found two more:

Olivia left the dressing room and walked into the huge backstage space that had tons of props from previous productions, like a giant tree that a person could fit into, from the musical Into the Woods.
Olivia pushed her way past a group of girl doing vocal exercises to sit down on a Victorian sofa from The Importance of Being Earnest and started from the top.

I've never seen Into the Woods but I think they made a film remake recently...? I read The Importance of Being Earnest recently, which I really liked, except I thought the ending was really disappointing.

In Spooktacular (MSTV #17) at the Halloween party there are some references to The Hunger Games here:

...Olivia followed her twin around the edges of the dancefloor, passing witches and wizards, orcs and elves, and three Katnisses from The Hunger Games. "There are a lot of great costumes here" she said as she passed a perfect Peeta.

I've never read Hunger Games but I've watched the first film and this reference amused me when I read Spooktacular. That's all I can think of right now but I'm sure there's many more!

This is a great discussion! I love how many real things Sienna Mercer manages to slip into the books. Often pop culture references can feel strange and forced but I think most of the MSTV/MBTW ones are well done.

I recently re-read Lucky Break and found a couple of things in that. Of course there is Romeo and Juliet and the other things which you mentioned. But also on page 110 Olivia mentioned that Ivy read Jane Austen:

"Ivy is the best writer on the school newspaper. She's in all advanced classes and has read lots of the classic literature books I wish I had, like Jane Austen"

Aunt Rebecca goes on to tell the girls that their mum read Jane Austen as well. Later on in the book a couple of songs are mentioned, Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head and American Pie and then the nursery rhyme Itsy Bitsy Spider.

This is a great excuse to re-read all the books yet again (as if I need one, lol). I'm on a hunt for pop culture references!

Thanks! I know, this is a really fun thing to look out for as we read the books. You found some cool references - Lucky Break seems to have a lot in it. Looking forward to seeing what other ones we can find!

I've just found one in Fangtastic (MSTV #2):

"I swear I've tried," Ivy answered, pulling off a sheer black sweater to reveal a grey baby tee with an illustration of Edgar Allen Poe's face on it.

The couple of Poe's poems I've read I thought were cool and they definitely have a spooky feel about them which I'm sure is why Ivy's into them.

I also just watched Forbidden Planet, which I mentioned in an earlier comment. I quite enjoyed it but didn't think it was amazing. The whole aliens and robots thing did remind me a lot of Camilla though. I wonder if this film was Sienna Mercer's actual inspiration for Camilla's sci-fi Shakespeare play, and then she credited it through Camilla saying it was awesome. That'd be really cool.

I love Edgar Allan Poe so that reference is awesome! Nice find.

Found a couple more references...

From Secrets and Spies (MSTV #15):

From the garnet brooch pinned to her velvet black beret to the black-and-white silk Charlie Chaplin outfit she wore, Camilla was definitely dressed up.

I just opened the book and found this so i'm not exactly sure what's happening, but I think it's some kind of opening party for (view spoiler)[Charles's museum exhibit (hide spoiler)]. If you look up what Charlie Chaplin wore though it seems more like Camilla was dressing up for some kind of fancy dress party! Always the eccentric. :D

Also there's this one from Spooktacular (MSTV #17):

Ivy shrugged. "They'll probably think you're something from Star Wars."

Plus Ivy compares herself a lot to Sherlock Holmes in this book. Weird that we haven't found any in Brother the Werewolf yet, isn't it?

I just googled pictures of Charlie Chaplin and I can totally imagine Camilla wearing something like that!

Do you know who Ivy was talking to when she said they'll think you're something from Star Wars?

Yeah, she was talking to Reiko who'd come as a droid from a Japanese manga comic she loves. :)

Oh cool, thanks!

Here's a pop-culture reference from Cry Wolf (MBTW#1) I found:

Riley rolled her eyes at him but didn't bother to reply. Instead, she looked past him to his bandmates. "Do you guys know 'Back in Black'?"
Huh, Daniel thought. Who knew Riley listened to AC/DC?

I didn't recognize the name of this song at first but if you listen to it I'm sure most people would recognize the intro. It's a pretty cool song, and I can imagine Riley and In Sheep's Clothing doing an awesome cover of it. Only wish we could see it!

Just found another one in Howl-oween (MBTW#3):

Justin raised one eyebrow and took in Daniel's outfit - a grey zip hoodie hanging open over a vintage Rolling Stones T-shirt and faded jeans.

I don't really know anything about the Rolling Stones except that they're a classic rock band, but it's really cool isn't it that Sienna Mercer occasionally slips in these references to help you contextualise the characters. Like this may not mean much to me but if you're a huge Rolling Stones fan you might remember this and like Daniel better for it, just like I remember Camilla's reference to an obscure sci-fi Shakespeare remake movie because I love Shakespeare and science fiction - and I definitely have more affection for Camilla because that was included!

I found a couple in Tail Spin (MBTW #4):

"Do you really need to choreograph this process, bro?" Daniel sighed, leaning against the next locker. "Can't you just put the books in the backpack and quit acting like a contestant on Dancing With the Stars?"

Dancing with the Stars is the American version of Strictly Come Dancing where celebrities are partnered with professional dance partners and learn to dance while competing against each other.

Winifred Peters arrives on a 'pink Vespa scooter' which after googling I have discovered to be an Italian brand of scooter manufactured by Piaggio. If you look up pictures it's quite iconic. Although I didn't recognise the name I've seen one before.

In Star Style (MSTV #8), Charles Vega mentioned a dancer by the name of 'Mata Hari':

‘I wanted to risk doing something small on my own,’ Lillian replied. ‘A little independent film where I get to be full director for the first time.’
‘What’s it about?’ Brendan asked, with his mouth full.
Lillian smiled. ‘It’s a documentary-drama about a dancer who was executed during World War I for being a spy.’
‘Ooh,’ replied Ivy. ‘Sounds cool.’
‘I know about her,’ Mr Vega finally broke his silence. ‘Mata Hari, right? She turned out to be innocent, in the end.’
‘That’s right,’ Lillian said, clearly impressed. ‘The script has gone through so many revisions, making sure we get all the history correct.’

Mata Hari is actually a real person and according to Wikipedia: Margaretha Geertruida "Margreet" MacLeod (née Zelle; 7 August 1876 – 15 October 1917), better known by the stage name Mata Hari, was a Dutch exotic dancer and courtesan who was convicted of being a spy for Germany during World War I and executed by firing squad in France.
There's also two movies about her both titled 'Mata Hari' and was released in 1931, and the other in 1985.

Ps How do you insert an image?

Two of Ivy's favorite band, Killer Bee(MSTV #8 Star Style) and Pall Bearer(MSTV #11 Flying Solo), are actually real life bands. According to Wikipedia:
(about Pall Bearer)
Pallbearer is an American melodic doom metal band from Little Rock, Arkansas, United States, formed in 2008. They first released a three-song demo in 2010, releasing their first full length Sorrow and Extinction in 2012. Sorrow and Extinction was awarded Best New Music status by Pitchfork and was cited amongst the best albums of the year by Spin and NPR. Their 2014 album, Foundations of Burden, was also awarded Best New Music status by Pitchfork.

(about Killer Bee)
Killer Bee is a Swedish-Canadian rock band formed in the 1990s by songwriters Anders "LA" Rönnblom and Brian "Bee" Frank. The band has since released five studio albums and five singles and had a No. 1 hit single "Take Me Home" that topped the charts for many weeks in Scandinavia. Former Europe guitarist Kee Marcello produced and played on the band's third album World Order Revolution (1997). Since 1990, Killer Bee has toured Sweden, Norway, Austria, Switzerland and Germany and performed on some of the biggest festival stages in Europe as artists such as Oasis, R.E.M., Elton John, Rod Stewart, Peter Frampton, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant and Megadeth.

Though to be frank, i assume that the two bands mentioned in the books are based/adapted on the real life bands. Reason i'm saying this is because in Flying Solo, two of Pall Bearer's songs('Welcome to My Frightmare' and 'I Hate You') and the lead singer's cat(Zombie Gray) are fiction. In Star Style, the Killer Bee's members(James, Joe and John) are also fiction, whereas the real life Killer Bee's members are Brian “Bee” Frank, Anders "LA" Rönnblom, Shawn Duncan, André Hägglund, Chris Sjöström and Denny DeMarchi.

I've always just thought Sienna Mercer made up those bands, like you S!X but that's interesting that they may have been based on real ones. Awesome research!

From some reason I always imagine the Killer Bees to be based on the Jonas Brothers?! Hopefully that doesn't ruin them for anybody, lol. I guess it's the alliterative names reminding me of them all having the same surname.... I don't know. Is this just me being weird or have any of you guys ever thought they seem similar?

@Daisy I never thought of that before. Maybe the Killer Bees are the Jonas Bros disguising as a rock band(?!)

Haha, totally!

Wow the Mata Hari story is so interesting! I only just made the connection between one of Ivy's favourite bands being called Pall Bearer and a pallbearer being the people who carry the coffin or casket into the venue where the funeral is being held, probably should have noticed that before. Nice finds S!X.

I found a few references in Switched (MSTV #1):-

First up, on page 117 Olivia mentions "that old Dracula movie - you know, the black-and-white one with that Bela guy" which I believe is the 1931 version in which Dracula is played by Bela Lugosi. I watched a trailer and I couldn't stop laughing, it looks hilariously bad.

On page 129 Sophia had some ideas for the All Hallows Ball including having a cutout of "that short old guy who was Grampa on The Munsters" that people could have their picture taken with. I'd never heard of it before but after a bit of research (thank you google!) can now tell you it's an American TV show that aired its first episode in 1964. It's about a family where the dad looks like Frankenstein's monster, the mom and Grandpa are vampires, the son is a werewolf and the niece is a normal girl. Sounds interesting, anyone ever seen any of it?

On page 178 the maths teacher, Mr Langel, was telling the class how to calculate a rectangle's surface area and he started doing an impression of the Count from Sesame Street. Now this brings back memories! I managed to find an old clip on YouTube of the count: https://youtu.be/_Unv07MOp5c?t=36m50s

And the last one I spotted was on page 232 where Sophia is described as wearing "a beautiful black-and-white dress that looked like something from an Audrey Hepburn movie." Audrey Hepburn was an actress who lived from 1929 to 1993 and starred in a number of films including Breakfast at Tiffany's.

Somehow I totally missed your first comment on this thread, S!X (message 14) until now... not sure how that happened! Mata Hari's story is certainly a sad one. I bet Lillian's adaptation would be really beautiful. I don't think we ever heard any more about her going ahead with it or anything later, does anyone else remember?

More great finds, Sophie! I honestly had no idea here were this many pop-culture references in MSTV. And I agree, that Dracula movie looks ridiculous. :D

The Munsters is a cool one. Do you think there's a possibility that that inspired Sienna Mercer to write Sister the Vamp and Bro the Werewolf? With one of them being human, it does seem kind of similar.

I've never seen any Audrey Hepburn movies but just from photos I can totally imagine Sophia with that classy, put-together but simplistic look for the ball. It kinda feels like we're getting to know Sienna Mercer and what she must have been thinking about as she wrote certain parts by looking at all these references. I love that she put them in. <3

Not sure if this really counts but in Tail Spin (MBTW#4) Winifred Peters arrives at the hospital fundraiser in a 'pink Vespa scooter'. These are real things - very similar to a moped by the looks of them. Winifred Peters is so awesomely quirky!

See message 13 Daisy ;)

Oops, sorry! We've found so many now it's hard to keep track! :D

I just found quite a few in Switched (MSTV#1) during my most recent re-read, here they are:

When Ivy is telling Olivia about vampires she says, "My face never gets gross and bumpy like those hacks on Buffy."

When Olivia is showing the All Hallows Ball committee her decorations: 'She'd saved the best idea for last:a bunch of old vampire movie posters she'd found on eBay.'

About Mr Vega: 'he resembled a pale Antonio Banderas' (I can kinda see this...?)

When the Beasts bring Toby Decker to the All Hallows Ball: '"We brought our decoration - our human!" the boy said, bouncing up and down on his heels excitedly. "You know, like an hors d'oeuvre," he continued with a guffaw. "That means snack."' Not sure if this one really counts but it is the real life name for appetiser or starter in French. How this Beast knows it I don't know!

Here are some I've found in Fangtastic (MSTV#2):

When Mr Colton is briefing the media studies students for their movie project: '"You can pick any topic you choose, as long as it's appropriate. That means," he said, looking fierce, "no footage of me dancing and singing Do the Dudley from my 1989 appearance on Star Search."' Do the Dudley doesn't seem to be a real thing, but Star Search was a real TV show.

Mr Abbott is practising 'the Li Ching' on page 67, apparently an obscure martial art. This may refer to Li Ching-Yuen, famous for supposedly living over 200 years, who was a martial artist.

While making his media studies film Garrick says: "And Charlotte might just win an Academy Award for Best Victim." Obviously there is no Best Victim award, but the Academy Awards, otherwise known as the Oscars, are real.

And finally, Ivy shares this fact about Franklin Grove Middle School with Serena Star: "in 1924, US President Calvin Coolidge accidentally dropped his favourite pocket watch in -" (Serena interrupts her here) Calvin Coolidge was the 30th US president, serving from 1923 - 1929.

Here are some from Re-Vamped! (MSTV #3):

Mr Abbot says Ivy and Olivia look exactly alike and Ivy replies "Like Superman and Clark Kent!"

When the school finds out that Ivy and Olivia are twins, someone shouts out "Have you ever met the Olsen twins?" Mary-Kate Olsen and Ashley Olsen are American fashion designers and former child actresses.

eBay is mentioned again in this book when Brendan tells Ivy that someone is selling photos of her and Olivia on there.

In the article Ivy and Olivia find on their biological mother it mentions Robert Frost;

'In recent years Susannah turned her attention to writing poetry, citing Robert Frost's poem, Acquainted with the Night, excerpted here, as an inspiration:

I have been one acquainted with the night.
I have walked out in rain - and back in rain.
I have outwalked the furthest city light.'

Oh my gosh, I love that poem! I remember discovering it through Sister the Vamp, and now Robert Frost is one of my favourite poets. All those references are super interesting - I'm always surprised at how many there are!

Here are a couple from Vampalicious! (MSTV #4):

When Olivia is telling Camilla that she found her biological dad...

Camilla read her face. "I knew it!" she squealed. "It's a celebrity! I always thought you two had George Clooney's lips!"
"Nope," Olivia shook her head coyly. "Even better."
"Antonio Banderas?" Camilla whispered in awe.

This is the second mention of Antonio Banderas and the first of George Clooney, as far as I know. Then on page 49 it sounds to me as if Camilla is describing Parent Trap.

"Have you ever seen that old movie about the identical twins who switch places?" [...] "There's this one part I keep thinking about. In order not to get separated again, these sisters have to get their parents back together. They have to make them fall in love again."

What do you think?

Yessss I've always thought that was a reference to The Parent Trap. My favourite film!!

Here's some I spotted in Take Two (MSTV#5):

On page 15, Ivy's ring tone is said to be the first riffs of the musical The Phantom of the Opera. You can listen to it here - is this song freaky or what?! I can imagine Ivy liking it. :D

On page 32: "Yes, sir," Camilla squeaked, looking like Goldilocks facing off with the biggest bear. I can kind of picture Camilla looking like Goldilocks, with the curly hair and faraway look. <3

When Olivia denies she likes Jackson: "Is that . . . is your nose . . ." Ivy was peering at Olivia's face. "Is your nose growing, Pinocchio?" If you didn't know, Pinocchio is a popular character best known for the fact that his nose grew when he lied.

There may be more I missed, but this is all I've got right now!

This is clearly out of topic, but did you guys know there is a MSTV wiki? Olivia Abbott, Ivy Vega, and there's many more such as Karl Lazar/Charles Vega, Susannah Kendall, etc. Simply type 'My Sister the vampire wiki' on google. Though, there are some inaccuracies and Olivia's wiki page is filled with more infos than the others.
Taken from MSTV #8 (Star Style):
Ivy sighed. ‘Not if you have the Hounds of Hell after you.’ When Brendan raised an eyebrow Ivy explained, ‘Amy Teller and the head of the studio that made The Groves have decided I’m the next big thing.’

The hound of hell/hellhound is a supernatural dog in folklore. A wide variety of ominous or hellish supernatural dogs occur in mythologies around the world. Features that have been attributed to hellhounds include mangled black fur, glowing red eyes, super strength or speed, ghostly or phantom characteristics, and a foul odor. (taken from wiki)

Oh, my pom poms!’ Olivia squealed. ‘That’s Serendipity Fashion! And that’s Kevin Greene! We’re on Rodeo Drive!’ She knew Ivy wouldn’t be as excited, but she was glad to see her sister still smiling.

There are some mentions of Serendipity Fashion on the internet, one being Serendipity Fashion. Though, i doubt Sienna Mercer is referencing from this. On the other hand, Rodeo Drive is a two-mile-long street, primarily in Beverly Hills, California, with its southern segment in the City of Los Angeles.(taken from wiki) I am sure Sienna Mercer referenced from this.

After they’d met in the lobby, Ivy and Olivia had been shown to the backstage area while the adults headed for the audience. They’d passed a dozen B-list celebs, including the tanned guy from Shop Hopping and the dog-training lady from Barking Mad.

Barking Mad is a real television program. (According to wiki) Hosted by Mark Evans and Philippa Forrester, the Barking Mad team of experts attempts to solve behavioral problems in dogs, cats and ot
her pets. Using training techniques and advising the owners on commands and methods of keeping control, pets and owners learn new behaviors.

Jessica’s eyes lit up and she dismissed her hangers-on. Ivy’s spidey-sense tingled. She’s up to something.

Spidey-sense is a reference to the one and only SpiderMan.

I don't know why but I find it funny that the Serendipity Fashion you linked specialises in Mother of the Bride fashion. As someone who is not very interested in fashion that seems extraordinarily specific to me, haha.

It's also amusing that Ivy refers to Amy and the head of the studio as hounds of hell.

I've always thought it was cool there was a MSTV Wiki but have never really taken the time to look around it before. Barking Mad sounds so weird! Somebody should tell whoever the woman is that trains the dog that she's in a book, lol.

From Date with Destiny (MSTV #10) Charles says to Vincenzo, "I embarrassed you? I believe you embarrassed yourself by turning up looking like you were going to a fancy-dress party as Peter Cushing."

Ivy and Olivia didn't know who that was, and neither did I until I looked it up. Peter Cushing is an english actor who lived from 1913 – 1994 and is probably best know for playing Grand Moff Tarkin in the first Star Wars film. His acting career included over 100 films though including many horror and vampire productions. He played vampire hunter Van Helsing in the 1958 adaptation of Dracula.

Wow, that's cool. I'm a Star Wars fan and I didn't pick up on that! Curious that Charles accuses Vincenzo of dressing like a vampire hunter, not a vampire. Or maybe Peter Cushing also played vampires if he was in many vampire movies.

I spotted a couple more in Date With Destiny...

Sophia says on page 23: "I can't as much as go on Twitter without seeing another update from some fabulous film set that Jackson has posted." I believe it's in Stake Out (MSTV#12) that the MSTV-universe versions of Twitter come in (at least, that's what I saw them as) - BirdChirp and BatSqueak. Maybe SM switched to those because of copyright reasons, or in effort not to make the book seem dated in the future? (I don't know why this is interesting lol, anything MSTV is worth discussing to me!)

On page 34 Ivy says Olivia is the Yin to her Yang. These are terms from Chinese philosophy, literally meaning "sunny side" and "shady side". It describes how opposites can complement one another and be interdependent on eachother. Cute!

The beep on Horatio's car is a snippet from the "Lacrimosa" passage of Mozart's Requiem. You can listen to it here: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xjf9ig Dramatic!

From page 141: She hurried into the house,wanting to catch up with Olivia right away, and find out why their grandparents' house had suddenly become Fort Knox. Fort Knox is an army post in the USA, famous for its high security due to the fact that it stores a large part of the country's gold reserves. I think I've heard of this but never knew what it was before. The things you learn from MSTV, eh?

At Tessa and Alex's wedding reception, the band were reportedly playing an upbeat version of Beethoven's Symphony No. 5, which you can check out here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4T3D5... I found an upbeat version here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=leVFy... It's so funny to imagine the vampires all dancing to this!

They did their first dance to another Beethoven song, Moonlight Sonata: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Tr0o...

As the other guests danced, we see Vincenzo dancing with the Queen "like he was performing an act in the Nutcracker." The Nutcracker is one of the most successful ballet shows ever.

As a side note, I have now discovered that Ctrl + F (searching a web page for particular words) is super useful on this thread to make sure I'm not repeating a reference we've already spotted before!