I'm Making a List

I've started making a list of biography subjects.

If I have a strong interest in someone the night before, or morning of, my writing day, I'll write about that person. Otherwise, I'll use random.org to pick.

So far, on the list, I have....

A young film maker—David Ludlow

A film composer—Peter Best

A singer-Dami Im

A politician-Scott Ludlam.

AND...five actors—Ryan Corr, Rhys Muldoon, Alicia Gardiner, Dan Wylie, and Claire Holt.

I'm not sure when I'm going to start doing these posts. It will probably be after we go on the cruise, but depending on my mood, and other things, I might write one before.

We shall see....


Edited to Add: I quickly realized I have too many men on the list and not enough women. Lately I've been trying to be sensitive to the fact that I (and other people) tend to give too much preference to white males.  I want to make an effort to change that in myself. SO...I added many women to the list.  I have to admit that my list is still racially biased, but gender-wise, I managed to fix it up a bit.

So new names: Ursula Yovich, Rachel Perkins, Tanya Plibersek, Annastacia Palaszczuk, Rebecca White, Claire Moore, Sharon Bird, Julie Owens, Melissa Parke, Teresa Palmer, Odessa Young, Rosemary Myers, Maeve Dermody, Lizzy Gardiner, Jo Porter, Pamela Rabe, Caroline Brazier, and Elana Katz Chernin.

Most of the women on the list are either from the current front bench shadow ministry thing, or they're actresses. Then there's a few producers, a composer, a costume designer, etc.

My rule is to always have 70% women and/or nonwhite people on the list.

Some white men and others who are against things like affirmative action might hate my updated list. They might see it as being racist and sexist.

The thing I believe is, when you naturally have racial and gender biases, you sometimes have to purposely act biased in the opposite direction to counteract that.

When I started making my list with no such self-imposed rules, six out of nine of the names were white males.

So...


How would our world change if we knew for sure there was life after death, and we could easily talk to our dearly-departed loved (or hated!!!??) ones with the Internet?   The Dead are Online  

Biography Posts, Comments, and Other Stuff

I miss blogging.

I miss being obsessed with Australia.

There's a part of me that really wants to get back into it.

I don't feel I chose to become obsessed with Australia. But I do think it's pretty much my choice whether to drop the whole thing, slowly fade away from the whole thing, or dive back into it.

Right now, I'm thinking I'd like to do the latter.

I'm considering going back to doing biography posts. Why those?

A) They're fun to write. I like the stuff that I learn. I love watching various video clips.

B) They're my most popular posts. I prefer writing things that people are actually going to read.

C) They can be very therapeutic for me. BECAUSE... they're pretty much half about the celebrity-subject and half about me. They push me to think about my life, my opinions, etc.

D) I'm a writer, and really haven't been writing lately. I haven't really been doing anything creative. I'm not writing novels. I'm rarely blogging.  I'm not even really writing much on Twitter lately.  When I think about this, I feel like I'm failing myself.

And now here are reasons I fear going back to writing biography posts.

A) They're very time-consuming.  But since I have been allotted more free time than most humans  receive, what I'm really saying here is I am LAZY.

B) I have a new cat (Annie), and she's quite needy for attention.  I still can manage to get stuff done, but I have to understand that I'll be interrupted a lot by a cat who wants to play.  Still...When I first started this blog, my human child was six-years-old and needed much more attention than he does now.  If I can manage to blog with a human child, I can manage to blog with a feline one.

C) In reference to the C above, I worry sometimes that I'll reveal too much about myself.  Sometimes this blog becomes a confessional.  I don't mind so much about strangers learning things about me. I do worry about my family reading.  And that's kind of nuts, because I used to long so badly for my family to read my blog. I still do want them to read but only for the fact that it would indicate that they care and think about me. BUT, that being said, I feel that on the rare occasion that a certain member of my family does read my blog, it seems to be because he's concerned about my behavior. (Although, to his credit, I think there have been times where he maybe read for other reasons).

If my family did read my blog, I'd want it to be because they think I'm a fascinating writer, wonderful person, and they want to know what's up with me.  I don't want them to read it to figure out why I was crying one day, why I was moody, or to see if I've bitched about them after a fight.

Just as a note:
  I'm NOT often crying, moody, having fights, etc.  Usually, I'm quite content and peaceful.  But like most people, I have days where I struggle to handle life, relationships, etc.

Other stuff....

I received an insulting comment on my blog yesterday. It was much more funny than offensive.  I mean it wasn't hilarious, but it was pretty benign compared to other stuff I've seen and encountered.  I was about to respond to the comment but then decided against it. Though it was benign, it was also rude, and I figure I shouldn't give attention to rude behavior.

I think attention SHOULD be given to constructive criticism...probably.  I guess it depends on the circumstances. But this particular comment was more troll-like.

The last time I responded to a negative-comment, it turned into a whole lengthy dialogue. The negativity turned into civility.  Hey! I probably should have included it in my last post, about enemies turning into friends. We didn't actually turn into friends, but it was a nice example of a negative encounter turning...sort of positive.

Anyway...that person didn't seem to be trolling me. I think he was trying to provide some tough-love, constructive criticism. Personally, I think he was misunderstanding me, and projecting anger he had towards other people onto me.  But still....

I shouldn't blame him for that, because I probably do the same to people.

ACTUALLY, I probably do that in my biography posts.  I read something about someone and go on a tangent because it reminds me of someone or something in my own life.  And sometimes I might be reading into things that aren't exactly there.

What else?

In terms of Australia, I'm not doing a whole lot lately.

I dreamed about Julian McMahon last night. I guess that counts for something.

I emailed two of my Australian friends this week.

On Twitter, I have my trends-thing set on Australia.  Every morning, I look at each of the things on the list and try to learn a tiny bit about it. Usually, it's a sports thing, though, and I'm not really into sports things.

I have this music-rule/habit.  I have a huge collection of various photos saved on my computer that I use for my screensaver, and desktop.  I use the initial-morning desktop photo to decide what Spotify music list I listen to for the day.  If there's an Australian photo, I listen to my Aussie music list. That happened this morning, so I'm listening to Australian music today.

Every day I look at photos from my Flickr people.  A few of them are Australian. The most prolific poster has a lot of Darwin photos. I might want to go there someday.

Soon we are going on a family cruise, and I'm hoping we encounter some Australians. I wanted the cruise director to be Australian, but I don't think that's going to be the case. Maybe one of our waiters will be Australian?

Oh...one of the things I thought about the other day.

I sometimes feel my Australia thing is completely over because I haven't had a huge desire lately to visit Australia. We have plans to visit for my 50th birthday, but I can't say I'm over eager to go at this point. I'm more eager to go elsewhere...like back to Japan or Europe.

So when I think in those terms, I feel this whole Australia thing is over or me, and I should just face that.

BUT I think I do have a strong interest in other aspects of Australia. I still like the whole culture aspect...especially popular culture.  I'm interested in the music, books, actors, TV shows, etc.

I imagine people asking, if you're interested in the culture of Australia, why the hell would you not be super eager to actually go to Australia?

The answer is I can get a lot of the culture right here with the Internet.  I don't have access to all Aussie TV shows, and that's highly frustrating sometimes.  But I can get a fair bit.  I can see what Australians are talking about on Twitter. I can listen to a huge variety of Australian music.  I can download Aussie books.

Speaking of books.  I just remembered. I'm reading an Australian novel.  It's called Lost and Found by Brooke Davis.  I can't say I'm a fan yet, but maybe it will grow on me.

Anyway, back to visiting Australia.  It's not that I don't want to go, really. It's more that it's so expensive, and the plane ride is so damn long. Plus, there are other places I want to visit. There are too many places I want to go. Yet at the same time, I want to just stay home and be lazy.Traveling is exciting and fun, but it really stresses me out.

And now...

Back to the subject of biography posts.

I jump around too much. I know.

Who should I write about first?  That's a rhetorical question.  You don't have to answer.

Ryan Corr is the first name that pops into my head. He's been my favorite Australian actor lately.  But...writing about someone I like that much can end up leading to disappointment. What if I learn something I don't like. I think I once read that he was arrested for drug-use. I could read something about that which makes me feel sympathetic towards him. Or I might read something that makes me lose respect for him.

I just checked to make sure my imagination didn't create the drug thing. It's bad enough to spread false info. I don't want to be the one actually starting it. But yeah. There was a heroin thing in the news.

I'll save reading the article to when I (maybe someday) write about Ryan Corr.

This morning I looked at Julian McMahon's filmography to see what he's up to.  I saw that he's executive producer on two upcoming movies by a young director named David Ludlow.  One of the movies is a science fiction thriller that sounds interesting to me—Escape from Delirium.

I like writing about up and coming/struggling artistic people, so maybe I'll write about Ludlow.

A part of me sometimes pesters the other part of me to do a post about Julian McMahon, but I've had too many dreams about that guy.  It would just feel too weird.

Another idea....

One of my other favorite Australians is...

Shit. I forgot his name.

How the hell could someone be one of my favorite Australians, and I can't think of his name?

What I DO remember is he was Joseph in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, and was on Neighbours.

I'm going to have to Google....

Jason Donovan!

Yeah. I like him.

I listened to him singing Joseph songs this week, and like usual, I got all warm and fuzzy inside.

I remember writing about Donovan in the past but am not sure I did an actual whole biography post about him.  Did I?

Searching my blog....

I DID do a post.  It was back in 2009.

Okay, so I'll scratch that off the potential list.

I'm sure, in the next few weeks, I'll find other people that interest me.  



How would our world change if we knew for sure there was life after death, and it was easy for our dearly-departed to talk to us via the Internet?   

The Dead are Online, a novel by Dina Roberts