1. Dreamed about characters from Rake. I'm on the streets of a city somewhere. I witness Cleaver Greene and Melissa Partridge talking. Cleaver is trying to get Melissa to agree to being in a relationship with him. I'm tempted to go over and bud in—say something to convince them to become a couple. But I realize this would be somewhat foolish since they're fictional characters.
2. Considered that I might not download more of Adina West's Dark Child series. I like her writing, and I'm somewhat enjoying the story. But certain things are turning me off—things too typical to the paranormal romance genre. A lot of people like this genre, so they would probably be fine with the series following the genre. But I'm really tired of it and wanted something different than the usual paranormal romance book.
So...the two typical things in the book? One is a protagonist who is resistant to believing in a supernatural world despite all the evidence. They under-react to all the very weird stuff. I'd love to see a protagonist who is quick to believe in the supernatural—one who's read so many paranormal novels herself. I think it would be fun to have a protagonist who goes on a first date with someone. He doesn't order a meal, and she automatically assumes he's a vampire.
The thing that annoyed me most about The Dark Child, though, is that Kat, the protagonist, has super appealing blood. It feels like a rip off of Twilight and The Southern Vampire Mysteries, because, there too, the non-vampire characters have blood that's hard to resist. When I read that in the Dark Child book last night, I got the feeling that book three would be the last in the series I read.
3. Would like to see a vampire book where the human has really stinky blood—so stinky that it makes the vampires nauseated. But despite her stinky blood, he still loves her.
4. Looked at the filmography of Kate Box. She plays Cleaver Greene's assistant on Rake.
She also played Germaine Greer in Magazine Wars: The Birth of Cleo. It would be interesting to see her in that role.
And...she was on Offspring. I don't think I remember her.
Oh! Wait. I think I know who she was. Her character name was Alice Havel. Havel sounded familar to me, because I couldn't place it. But now I remember. Chris Havel from the first season. Kate Box must have played his wife. Or was it ex-wife? Now I can't remember if they were divorced or not.
Maybe separated?
5. Started to watch an episode of Neighbours.
6. Thought it was nice of Josh (Harley Bonner) to show empathy towards Danni (Laura McIntosh), and offer to listen if she needs to talk. Both of them behaved badly, caused grievous harm to someone, and feel regret over it.
7. Heard the evil creepy Nick (Damien Fotiou) use a phrase that annoys me. His niece Imogen (Ariel Kaplan) asks him if he's proud of the new cancer center named after him. Nick says no, it makes him humble.
I really can't stand when people say they feel humble when they've received a lot of attention or an award. Humble is what happens when you realize there are so many people more talented than you. Or you realize the vastness of the universe and how insignificant you are.
When someone has a huge honor bestowed upon them, and say they feel humble, my interpretation is that they're narcissists, and they're bending over backwards to hide that fact.
8. Wanted to say that I feel humble when I realize how many other blogs there are and that these other blogs receive lots of comments and a ton more visitors than I do. I do NOT feel humble on the rare day that I get a lot of visitors to my blog.
9. Read the Batty Tales blog post in which they visit The Australia Zoo. They were slightly disappointed about not seeing the Irwin family but not as disappointed as a child they overheard on the playground.
I think I've also read another blog post where a family was a bit disappointed about not seeing the Irwins. And really. If we went to the Australia Zoo, I think we'd feel incomplete if we didn't see Bindi, Robert, or their mom walking about.
I'm thinking the Irwin family should remedy that by living at the zoo and having a house made of glass. Why not turn themselves into an exhibit?
To be fair, it could be the type of exhibit where those on display can escape to a private area when needed.
Maybe it could just be their kitchen on display. Tourists could watch them eat their brekkie.
There would be no microphones. Tourists would hear the Irwins only if they talked really loud or yelled.
10. Figured the Irwins probably do live in the zoo but in a private area.
11. Read article in which Bindi Irwin says they live in the middle of the zoo.
12. Changed my mind about my idea. Because maybe the excitement of The Australia zoo is the idea of MAYBE seeing Bindi.
It's like the difference between going to Disney World and thinking you might run into Mickey Mouse; versus knowing that if you stand in a 45-minute line or get a fast pass you will definitely see Mickey.
Which one is more exciting?
13. Loved Neighbours scene were Josh called out Imogen on her hypocrisy.
Imogen is mad at Josh for talking to Danni, since Danni killed the father of their friend. Josh reminds Imogen that when it was him that committed the crime, she had said, good people make bad decisions.
Imogen infers that it's different, because Josh didn't kill Chris. His bad decision didn't result in a death. Josh points out that it could have resulted in a death. Really, it was just good fortune that prevented a death from happening.
Josh also asks Imogen if she's never glanced down at a text while driving. She doesn't give him an answer, which makes me think the answer is yes.
It's one thing to be angry at someone for making a bad decision that we've never made. It's another thing to villainize someone who's made the same bad decision as us, but they've been unlucky enough to have a worse outcome.
14. Felt happy, because from the conclusion of this Neighbour's episode and the preview for the next episode; it looks like Nick's evil plan is going to be discovered. Soon! I hope.
I want everyone on Ramsey Street to hate Nick, and I want Georgia (Saskia Hampele) to be showered with adoration for being the first one in town to see Nick as being an evil shithead.
15. Started watching Eagle and Evans.
I don't think it's the type of thing I'm going to like a lot, but hopefully I'll be wrong.
16. Confused about Eagle and Evans. There's some really annoying canned laugh. Well, at least I think it's canned laughter. I can't tell if it's canned laughter, or if the laughter is part of the show—part of the story. The show is about two guys who work on a variety show. So it might be laughter that's heard from the fictional studio audience of the variety show.
17. Confused.
Very confused.
Too confused to be amused.
18. Liked seeing black swans on Eagle and Evans.
At least I'm getting some joy from the show.
19. Amused, and even laughed at a scene from Eagle and Evans. Maybe this show will be better than I expected.
In the scene, the two characters (Craig Eagle and Dailan Evans) try to have a conversation, but it's hard because one of them keeps correcting the other's grammar.
The thing is, I think maybe the one correcting the grammar doesn't actually understand grammar. Either that, or he is using some kind of extremely outdated rule system. He's saying things like think should be thunk.
I guess the joke is that the annoying know-it-all is actually pretty ignorant.
20. Liked a speech on Eagle and Evans. The two characters talk to a guy who plans to appear on their show. They tell him that some people come on the show to entertain the audience. They say other guests come on the show and are less interested in entertaining and more interested in themselves.
They use the show as a sales campaign.
It reminds me of people on Twitter who hardly Tweet anything besides self-promotional crap.
21. Figured people who overly promote themselves on Twitter are also the type of people who would say they feel humbled when getting an award.
22. Recommended Rake to Tim. I think he'd love the show, and he expressed interest. But I don't know if he'll ever watch it. He already has a lot of TV shows, and these days, he seems to use most of his free time to play his video game.
23. Finished the first episode of Eagle and Evans. A few parts made me smile. A few parts made me laugh. But as a whole, I found the show to be silly and not in a good way.
24. Felt a bit hopeless about my relationship with Australian comedy. We don't have a really good track record.
It's a relationship that hangs by a thread.
25. Started watching another episode of Eagle and Evans.
Maybe the show will grow on me.
26. Thought the squash sketch was mildly funny on Eagle and Evans.
27. Enjoyed the daycare sketch.
It involved a daycare worker drawing on a child's painting. Then at open house, when the parents of the child, admire the painting, the daycare worker insists on telling them that it's she who deserves the credit.
No, it's not funny when I try to explain it. I know. Sorry.
I guess I could kind of relate to it.
Well, not relate. But it's a subject interesting to me.
When I got my teaching degree, my graduate school was very big on adults not helping children with their artwork. Nor did they want adults to do art in front of the children. I think it was because it might intimidate and limit the child? Or sometimes the children become more interested in having the adult draw things for them than actually spending time doing their own art.
Later, though, I would sometimes draw with Jack, and I don't think my own work detracted from his.
I think it's wrong for an adult to insist on helping a child draw or to push them to draw in a certain way. It's probably destructive to intrude on a child's work. But I don't think it's a bad thing to draw in front of children.
28. Wondered if I might have misinterpreted my graduate school's philosophy. It makes so little sense to me now.
29. Wondered if what the school meant is that teachers shouldn't start the art activity by showing a sample of adult work. That might intimidate and/or limit the children. But would it be so bad if the adult did their own work at the same time as the children?
I don't think so.
30. Wanted to say that for the most part I liked the art philosophy and guidelines I learned at the school. I especially liked their stance against cookie-cutter art. For the most part, art was about letting children express themselves. It wasn't about skills or producing a product that adults could easily identify and admire.
31. Amused by chocolate pudding sketch, and it's just a guy singing while cooking.
Sometimes simple things make me laugh.
Well, I'm not laughing hysterically.
But it did make me smile and have a tiny chuckle.
32. Started to stop disliking Eagle and Evans.
Another show in which I disliked the first episode and liked the rest of the series was John Safran's Race Relations.
And see, that's one of my excuses about sticking with whole seasons of TV shows rather than quitting after the first episode. There's always the chance the show will grow on me. I'm not sure if it's more because I grow used to the humor, or if the show improves. Or maybe it's just the subsequent episodes are a better match for me.
33. Remembered that I also didn't like the first few episodes of the third season of The Secret Life of Us. But then I ended up liking the season.
34. Started watching another episode of Neighbours.
35. Hoped that Karl (Alan Fletcher) will stop Nick from getting away with his evil crazy bullshit.
In the last episode: Paul collapses at a restaurant. Everyone freaks out, and someone calls an ambulance. Nick tries to have that stopped. He fails.
In this episode, Paul is in the hospital. Blood tests are requested, and Nick tries to put a stop to that. He then says all blood work should go to him and him only.
Oh, and earlier, Karl had mentioned having other oncologists working on Paul's case, and Nick got very defensive.
Really. Someone needs to get suspicious. Soon.
36. Loved quote from Paul. It's amazing what nearly dying does for your popularity.
I imagine that's quite true in many circumstances.
37. Felt glee as I watched Karl tell Nick Paul doesn't have cancer.
Nick's response?
It was a miracle.
A miracle from God? No a Nick-Miracle. He saved Paul from his (non-existent) cancer.
I hope he doesn't get away with that for long. I hope people quickly learn that he faked Paul's cancer.
38. Annoyed.
Karl is falling for Nick's trickery.
39. Liked Georgia's outfit, especially the yellow shoes.
40. Thought that Nick is not going to get away with his lie about curing Paul of cancer. Doctors and scientists are going to want to replicate Nick's miracle drug treatment.
41. Saw that Nick is probably going to get caught sooner than I expected.
Georgia is being a very good detective!
42. Started watching another episode of Neighbours. Of course!
I haven't been this excited about a soap opera storyline since the Tyrone and Kirsty court case on Coronation Street.
43. Felt sad for Georgia, because no one is believing her truth. They think she's the bad one.
It's like when no one believed Harry Potter about Voldemort being back.
It's hard when the truth is on your side, and almost everyone is standing against you.
44. Felt happy again. Although Naomi (Morgana O'Reilly) Karl, and Paul rejected Georgia's accusations to her face. Behind her back, Naomi and Karl are considering that she might be right.
45. Disgusted with Nick. He accuses Georgia of having psychological problems.
Yes. If someone hates you for the horrible things you did, that means they suffer from a mental illness.
46. Thought Paul was quite poised and calm about Nick poisoning him with chemotherapy. I think I'd be crying and yelling. I'd be throwing things across the room.
But maybe the anger will come later for Paul.
I mean he IS upset but not horribly so.
He seems more...slightly annoyed? It's like how someone would act if they were served the wrong soup at a restaurant. Or the way my family acts when we realize the people who came after us to the restaurant have already been served, and we're still waiting.
47. Felt sorry for Nick when he got suspended from the hospital and then confessed to his sister that he did poison Paul.
Shit.
I hate when I feel pity for evil people.
2. Considered that I might not download more of Adina West's Dark Child series. I like her writing, and I'm somewhat enjoying the story. But certain things are turning me off—things too typical to the paranormal romance genre. A lot of people like this genre, so they would probably be fine with the series following the genre. But I'm really tired of it and wanted something different than the usual paranormal romance book.
So...the two typical things in the book? One is a protagonist who is resistant to believing in a supernatural world despite all the evidence. They under-react to all the very weird stuff. I'd love to see a protagonist who is quick to believe in the supernatural—one who's read so many paranormal novels herself. I think it would be fun to have a protagonist who goes on a first date with someone. He doesn't order a meal, and she automatically assumes he's a vampire.
The thing that annoyed me most about The Dark Child, though, is that Kat, the protagonist, has super appealing blood. It feels like a rip off of Twilight and The Southern Vampire Mysteries, because, there too, the non-vampire characters have blood that's hard to resist. When I read that in the Dark Child book last night, I got the feeling that book three would be the last in the series I read.
3. Would like to see a vampire book where the human has really stinky blood—so stinky that it makes the vampires nauseated. But despite her stinky blood, he still loves her.
4. Looked at the filmography of Kate Box. She plays Cleaver Greene's assistant on Rake.
She also played Germaine Greer in Magazine Wars: The Birth of Cleo. It would be interesting to see her in that role.
And...she was on Offspring. I don't think I remember her.
Oh! Wait. I think I know who she was. Her character name was Alice Havel. Havel sounded familar to me, because I couldn't place it. But now I remember. Chris Havel from the first season. Kate Box must have played his wife. Or was it ex-wife? Now I can't remember if they were divorced or not.
Maybe separated?
5. Started to watch an episode of Neighbours.
6. Thought it was nice of Josh (Harley Bonner) to show empathy towards Danni (Laura McIntosh), and offer to listen if she needs to talk. Both of them behaved badly, caused grievous harm to someone, and feel regret over it.
7. Heard the evil creepy Nick (Damien Fotiou) use a phrase that annoys me. His niece Imogen (Ariel Kaplan) asks him if he's proud of the new cancer center named after him. Nick says no, it makes him humble.
I really can't stand when people say they feel humble when they've received a lot of attention or an award. Humble is what happens when you realize there are so many people more talented than you. Or you realize the vastness of the universe and how insignificant you are.
When someone has a huge honor bestowed upon them, and say they feel humble, my interpretation is that they're narcissists, and they're bending over backwards to hide that fact.
8. Wanted to say that I feel humble when I realize how many other blogs there are and that these other blogs receive lots of comments and a ton more visitors than I do. I do NOT feel humble on the rare day that I get a lot of visitors to my blog.
9. Read the Batty Tales blog post in which they visit The Australia Zoo. They were slightly disappointed about not seeing the Irwin family but not as disappointed as a child they overheard on the playground.
I think I've also read another blog post where a family was a bit disappointed about not seeing the Irwins. And really. If we went to the Australia Zoo, I think we'd feel incomplete if we didn't see Bindi, Robert, or their mom walking about.
I'm thinking the Irwin family should remedy that by living at the zoo and having a house made of glass. Why not turn themselves into an exhibit?
To be fair, it could be the type of exhibit where those on display can escape to a private area when needed.
Maybe it could just be their kitchen on display. Tourists could watch them eat their brekkie.
There would be no microphones. Tourists would hear the Irwins only if they talked really loud or yelled.
10. Figured the Irwins probably do live in the zoo but in a private area.
11. Read article in which Bindi Irwin says they live in the middle of the zoo.
12. Changed my mind about my idea. Because maybe the excitement of The Australia zoo is the idea of MAYBE seeing Bindi.
It's like the difference between going to Disney World and thinking you might run into Mickey Mouse; versus knowing that if you stand in a 45-minute line or get a fast pass you will definitely see Mickey.
Which one is more exciting?
13. Loved Neighbours scene were Josh called out Imogen on her hypocrisy.
Imogen is mad at Josh for talking to Danni, since Danni killed the father of their friend. Josh reminds Imogen that when it was him that committed the crime, she had said, good people make bad decisions.
Imogen infers that it's different, because Josh didn't kill Chris. His bad decision didn't result in a death. Josh points out that it could have resulted in a death. Really, it was just good fortune that prevented a death from happening.
Josh also asks Imogen if she's never glanced down at a text while driving. She doesn't give him an answer, which makes me think the answer is yes.
It's one thing to be angry at someone for making a bad decision that we've never made. It's another thing to villainize someone who's made the same bad decision as us, but they've been unlucky enough to have a worse outcome.
14. Felt happy, because from the conclusion of this Neighbour's episode and the preview for the next episode; it looks like Nick's evil plan is going to be discovered. Soon! I hope.
I want everyone on Ramsey Street to hate Nick, and I want Georgia (Saskia Hampele) to be showered with adoration for being the first one in town to see Nick as being an evil shithead.
15. Started watching Eagle and Evans.
I don't think it's the type of thing I'm going to like a lot, but hopefully I'll be wrong.
16. Confused about Eagle and Evans. There's some really annoying canned laugh. Well, at least I think it's canned laughter. I can't tell if it's canned laughter, or if the laughter is part of the show—part of the story. The show is about two guys who work on a variety show. So it might be laughter that's heard from the fictional studio audience of the variety show.
17. Confused.
Very confused.
Too confused to be amused.
18. Liked seeing black swans on Eagle and Evans.
At least I'm getting some joy from the show.
19. Amused, and even laughed at a scene from Eagle and Evans. Maybe this show will be better than I expected.
In the scene, the two characters (Craig Eagle and Dailan Evans) try to have a conversation, but it's hard because one of them keeps correcting the other's grammar.
The thing is, I think maybe the one correcting the grammar doesn't actually understand grammar. Either that, or he is using some kind of extremely outdated rule system. He's saying things like think should be thunk.
I guess the joke is that the annoying know-it-all is actually pretty ignorant.
20. Liked a speech on Eagle and Evans. The two characters talk to a guy who plans to appear on their show. They tell him that some people come on the show to entertain the audience. They say other guests come on the show and are less interested in entertaining and more interested in themselves.
They use the show as a sales campaign.
It reminds me of people on Twitter who hardly Tweet anything besides self-promotional crap.
21. Figured people who overly promote themselves on Twitter are also the type of people who would say they feel humbled when getting an award.
22. Recommended Rake to Tim. I think he'd love the show, and he expressed interest. But I don't know if he'll ever watch it. He already has a lot of TV shows, and these days, he seems to use most of his free time to play his video game.
23. Finished the first episode of Eagle and Evans. A few parts made me smile. A few parts made me laugh. But as a whole, I found the show to be silly and not in a good way.
24. Felt a bit hopeless about my relationship with Australian comedy. We don't have a really good track record.
It's a relationship that hangs by a thread.
25. Started watching another episode of Eagle and Evans.
Maybe the show will grow on me.
26. Thought the squash sketch was mildly funny on Eagle and Evans.
27. Enjoyed the daycare sketch.
It involved a daycare worker drawing on a child's painting. Then at open house, when the parents of the child, admire the painting, the daycare worker insists on telling them that it's she who deserves the credit.
No, it's not funny when I try to explain it. I know. Sorry.
I guess I could kind of relate to it.
Well, not relate. But it's a subject interesting to me.
When I got my teaching degree, my graduate school was very big on adults not helping children with their artwork. Nor did they want adults to do art in front of the children. I think it was because it might intimidate and limit the child? Or sometimes the children become more interested in having the adult draw things for them than actually spending time doing their own art.
Later, though, I would sometimes draw with Jack, and I don't think my own work detracted from his.
I think it's wrong for an adult to insist on helping a child draw or to push them to draw in a certain way. It's probably destructive to intrude on a child's work. But I don't think it's a bad thing to draw in front of children.
28. Wondered if I might have misinterpreted my graduate school's philosophy. It makes so little sense to me now.
29. Wondered if what the school meant is that teachers shouldn't start the art activity by showing a sample of adult work. That might intimidate and/or limit the children. But would it be so bad if the adult did their own work at the same time as the children?
I don't think so.
30. Wanted to say that for the most part I liked the art philosophy and guidelines I learned at the school. I especially liked their stance against cookie-cutter art. For the most part, art was about letting children express themselves. It wasn't about skills or producing a product that adults could easily identify and admire.
31. Amused by chocolate pudding sketch, and it's just a guy singing while cooking.
Sometimes simple things make me laugh.
Well, I'm not laughing hysterically.
But it did make me smile and have a tiny chuckle.
32. Started to stop disliking Eagle and Evans.
Another show in which I disliked the first episode and liked the rest of the series was John Safran's Race Relations.
And see, that's one of my excuses about sticking with whole seasons of TV shows rather than quitting after the first episode. There's always the chance the show will grow on me. I'm not sure if it's more because I grow used to the humor, or if the show improves. Or maybe it's just the subsequent episodes are a better match for me.
33. Remembered that I also didn't like the first few episodes of the third season of The Secret Life of Us. But then I ended up liking the season.
34. Started watching another episode of Neighbours.
35. Hoped that Karl (Alan Fletcher) will stop Nick from getting away with his evil crazy bullshit.
In the last episode: Paul collapses at a restaurant. Everyone freaks out, and someone calls an ambulance. Nick tries to have that stopped. He fails.
In this episode, Paul is in the hospital. Blood tests are requested, and Nick tries to put a stop to that. He then says all blood work should go to him and him only.
Oh, and earlier, Karl had mentioned having other oncologists working on Paul's case, and Nick got very defensive.
Really. Someone needs to get suspicious. Soon.
36. Loved quote from Paul. It's amazing what nearly dying does for your popularity.
I imagine that's quite true in many circumstances.
37. Felt glee as I watched Karl tell Nick Paul doesn't have cancer.
Nick's response?
It was a miracle.
A miracle from God? No a Nick-Miracle. He saved Paul from his (non-existent) cancer.
I hope he doesn't get away with that for long. I hope people quickly learn that he faked Paul's cancer.
38. Annoyed.
Karl is falling for Nick's trickery.
39. Liked Georgia's outfit, especially the yellow shoes.
40. Thought that Nick is not going to get away with his lie about curing Paul of cancer. Doctors and scientists are going to want to replicate Nick's miracle drug treatment.
41. Saw that Nick is probably going to get caught sooner than I expected.
Georgia is being a very good detective!
42. Started watching another episode of Neighbours. Of course!
I haven't been this excited about a soap opera storyline since the Tyrone and Kirsty court case on Coronation Street.
43. Felt sad for Georgia, because no one is believing her truth. They think she's the bad one.
It's like when no one believed Harry Potter about Voldemort being back.
It's hard when the truth is on your side, and almost everyone is standing against you.
44. Felt happy again. Although Naomi (Morgana O'Reilly) Karl, and Paul rejected Georgia's accusations to her face. Behind her back, Naomi and Karl are considering that she might be right.
45. Disgusted with Nick. He accuses Georgia of having psychological problems.
Yes. If someone hates you for the horrible things you did, that means they suffer from a mental illness.
46. Thought Paul was quite poised and calm about Nick poisoning him with chemotherapy. I think I'd be crying and yelling. I'd be throwing things across the room.
But maybe the anger will come later for Paul.
I mean he IS upset but not horribly so.
He seems more...slightly annoyed? It's like how someone would act if they were served the wrong soup at a restaurant. Or the way my family acts when we realize the people who came after us to the restaurant have already been served, and we're still waiting.
47. Felt sorry for Nick when he got suspended from the hospital and then confessed to his sister that he did poison Paul.
Shit.
I hate when I feel pity for evil people.
