Thaao Penghlis

I was extremely shocked to find out that Thaao Penghlis is Australian. I thought I'd have to try to explain why I was shocked, but it turns out I already wrote a whole post about it. I knew I had mentioned being shocked, but I didn't know I had gone into such detail. So I can skip retelling the story. That will save me some time.

I did remember something extra last night. As I've mentioned before, I felt unloved as a child. It wasn't like in an abusive way. My parents didn't call me awful names, starve me, or lock me in the closet. I wasn't traded out for heroin, or anything. I guess I just felt that I was loved out of obligation only. Looking back, I'm thinking that there were people out there that were fond of me and not just because they felt an obligation to love me. So I think most of my feelings were some kind of delusional self-esteem issue. Anyway, I remember at one point dreaming about Thaao Penghlis. He acted bored by me. You know that feeling when you're with someone, and you can tell they'd rather be anywhere but with you. So I started thinking....crap, even in my dreams, people don't like me.

But that's changed now. I sometimes have dreams where people seem to not like me. But I also have dreams where people give me tons of love. It's funny. Last night and the night before I dreamed about the same friends. In one, I felt very rejected by them. Then in the next night, they were totally loving on me. What's the deal with that?

Anyway, I should probably start talking about Thaao Penghlis. It's WEIRD writing about the guy. I feel like he's an uncle or something....or some long lost family friend. He's been in my life since I was a child. Why? He's on Days of our Lives, the soap opera I've been watching since I was about ten. Actually, he's not on anymore. His character Tony DiMera died. Yeah. I think Tony DiMera has died like five times already. He just keeps coming back. No one on Days of our Lives stays dead.

I have to admit I don't watch the show too much anymore. I probably watch about ten minutes every two weeks or so. If something looks interesting, I'll go onto my favorite Days of our Lives website to catch up on what's been happening.

Holy shit!!! I just checked out the comings and goings page. Guess who's coming back?! SHANE DONOVAN! I'm so excited. Maybe I'll start having to watch the show regularly again.

Charles Shaughnessy played Shane Donovan, and he's one of the few Days of our Lives actors who's had a very successful career outside of the soap opera. Allison Sweeney does that let's-promote-eating-disorders reality TV show. I guess that counts for something too.

I still haven't said much about Penghlis. Oops. Okay, let me get on with the show.

Lord Wiki says that Baby Thaao was born in Sydney, on 15 December 1945. He's a bit older than my parents.

He's of Greek heritage. I knew that. I just didn't realize he was an Australian with Greek heritage. I'm still totally shocked about that. Maybe one day I'll get used to the idea.

His character on Days of our Lives is Italian. Lord Wiki says he got the role because of his dark complexion...despite having a strong Aussie accent. I wonder if he still has the accent. It would be so weird to hear Tony DiMera talking Australian.

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 

I feel I should write about Tony DiMera, the same as I write about other soap opera characters....especially since I actually watch the show. But the task is way too daunting. I just don't understand the Tony DiMera storyline. He's bad; then he's good; then he's bad; but then it ends up it wasn't him. It was his evil twin cousin Andre. And what's the deal with that? Since when do people have identical cousins?

I'll name some of the stuff I remember from the storylines....but I'm not always quite sure if it was Tony or Andre. But I guess they're both played by Thaao, so it's okay.

1. Tony had a thing going on with a woman named Anna. I think this is one of the storylines where he was a good guy....and kind of cool and sexy.

2. He was a serial killer who framed Roman Brady for a bunch of murders. That turned out to be Andre.

3. He made it look like Marlena had killed all these people, but it ended up they were all kidnapped on some weird island place. That was one of the dumbest soap opera storylines ever. That might have been Andre behind it all, not Tony.

4. He was in love with his adopted sister, Kristen. There he was a bit possessive and pathetic.

How many times has he died? Well, Lord Wiki says it was only once. He died in 2009, after being impaled. Ouch. I really thought he had died more times. 

Anyway, I'm laughing right now because Lord Wiki also says that Andre had been impersonating Tony for over twenty years. So all that time, we thought it was Tony.... It was really Andre.

Okay. Here we go. This website explains why I thought Tony had died before. Andre died three times while impersonating Tony. 

 In 1985, it was quicksand. 

 In 1995, he shot himself. 

 In 2004, he was attacked by a tiger and then drugged by Marlena Evans. 

So, there we go. If Penghlis decides he wants to return to Days of our Lives, they can just say it was Andre that was impaled. OR maybe there's a second look-a-like cousin.

The website also says that it was Andre who had the hots for Kristen....not Tony.

I'm going to look at the Penghlis filmography on IMDb now. It's longer than I thought. Although a lot of it is probably one time guest appearances. I usually skip over those, unless it's something that really interests me.

I'll definitely mention the first thing on his filmography. It was a TV show called Hawkins. It was American, so I guess he didn't start his TV career in Australia. I wonder when he moved over. This show was in 1973, so maybe it was around then? I wonder how long he was in America before he got work.

In 1978, Penghlis was in a musical called Slow Dancing in the Big City. Here's a fan made video about the movie. I'm not sure if they'll show Penghlis. This is not one of those montage things. They actually have dialogue, and all that.

Here we go. Penghlis appears at 1:51. I think he's the dance teacher.

In 1979, Penghlis was in The Bell Jar. It's based on the novel by Sylvia Plath. I had heard of it, but didn't know what it was about. IMDb says it's about the 1950's.

Lord Wiki says the book is about a woman's mental illness. He says Plath committed suicide a month after it was published, giving the belief that the book was somewhat autobiographical.

Penghlis played a character named Marco. This Cliff Notes type website says Marco was a sexist asshole in love with his first cousin. He rapes the protagonist and then calls her a slut. Lovely.

I wonder. Is the world full of so much shit because we have so many mentally ill people; or do we have so many mentally ill people, because the world is full of shit?

In 1980, Penghlis was in the TV movie The Silent Lovers. It was about Hollywood in the 1930's. Penghlis played the actor/director Antonio Moreno. Lord Wiki says he was from Spain. His career died down when sound was added to the the movies, because his Spanish accent was so strong. That's sad. I wish we were more open to various accents.

Also in 1980, Penghlis was in the science fiction movie Altered States. I didn't realize Drew Barrymore was in this.

The movie is about a scientists who experiments with hallucinatory drugs.

Here's a scene from the movie. It might have Penghlis.

Well, there was no Penghlis there. It was weird. The imagery was nice, but the music made it feel kind of creepy.

Here's the trailer. Maybe Penghlis will be in that.

Maybe that's him at :39.

It looks like an interesting movie.

In 1981, Penghlis played Victor Cassadine on General Hospital. Here's a scene from that.

That same year, Penghlis started working on Days of our Lives. Lord Wiki says he was on the show from 1981-1985. Then he took a long hiatus. He returned in 1993, and was there until 1995. He left again, and returned in 2002. He was gone from 2005-2007. Then he left again in 2009.

Here's a scene with Penghlis. I think it's a fairly recent one. Lord Wiki just reminded me that the woman in the scene, Leann Hunley also had a bit of a career outside of Days of our Lives.

On Days of our Lives, the characters are always talking aloud to themselves.

Oh, that was a very sweet scene. My heart is warmed. It's all about misunderstandings. How many times do two people love each other, but they keep their distance because they think the other is rejecting them? Then again, how many times do people cling to dead relationships because they fail to accept the other person has rejected them? I like the first scenario much better.

One of my friends had this theory that we should pick the delusional self-esteem boosting theory. Why? Because it will make us feel better. If the object of our affection dumps us, we can imagine he's been told by evil aliens that the world will be destroyed if he doesn't pretend he hates us. That's much better than believing the guy has simply lost interest.

For some reason last night I was thinking about this guy in college. Oh, I know why. I was thinking about something I read regarding dissociative identity disorder, and the United States of Tara. I thought about whether or not it would work to live without being treated....just have many personalities. But then I thought how it might be confusing for other people. And it would totally suck to connect with someone, and then be rejected the next day when they have a new personality. That made me think of this guy in college....Hayden. I forgot his last name. He was actually Australian. Maybe he's the one that planted the Australian seed in my brain.

Anyway, he was this really hot guy....totally out of my league. And he had the awesome accent. He started showing major interest in me, and we had some heavy flirting going on. There was something magical budding between us. One day we went to my room and totally bonded. He seemed so understanding. We liked the same movies. We fooled around a bit. He tried to go farther than I wanted to, but there was nothing too pushy going on. I thought we left on good terms. I was floating in la la land. I thought it was the beginning of something great. But then when I saw him next, he seemed completely uninterested in me. I was all disappointed—hurt and rejected. I probably had some delusional soap opera hopes for a day or so. Then I finally decided the guy was an asshole and had been simply using me....telling me what I wanted to hear, so he could have sex. I've believed that all these years. But then last night, I thought....what if all that time, he just had multiple personalities. Maybe that guy in my room had been my soulmate, and the guy I saw the next day didn't know who the hell I was.

Unlikely. But possible. Who's ever going to prove me wrong? Maybe Hayden himself. He could find this blog by some weird coincidence, read this, and say no, I did not have multiple personalities. I just figured out you were a total freak.

That's one of the worst things in the world, though. I hate when you spend an evening with someone, believing there's really something between you two. Then they don't call. It hurts on so many levels. First your hopes for the future are smashed but also your feelings towards the past. You thought something was great, and then you have to reevaluate all your initial impressions.

It's such a fantastic feeling when they do call the next day....eager to see you again. And then you realize the feeling was mutual. That's awesome.

Now I'm getting all nostalgic. Do you know the first time Tim called me, I wrote in my diary that I was going to marry him. Yeah. Totally delusional there. Hey, but it eventually happened. SO THERE. I had such a huge crush on him. He talked on and on, that guy. I hardly got a word in. But I loved every little moment of that phone call. Then the phone call had to end, and I do NOT think it was by my choice. He told me he'd call again in a few weeks. I was crushed with disappointment. I didn't want to wait that long. But then he ended up calling me much sooner than that....I think maybe the next day. That was a happy moment.

My crush turned into a real relationship when I visited Tim in New York. I spent the weekend with him. I had no idea if the feelings were mutual. To him, I was just an old camp friend coming to visit. To me, he was my potential future husband. At one point, he started holding my hand. I thought that was a good sign but wasn't sure. I thought maybe he was the type to hold the hand of friends.

Well, eventually we kissed and Tim talked about us dating, and all that.

What I'm wondering is when I left New York, did I have any doubts? Did I think maybe this guy had some fun for the weekend, made some promises, and then would never call again? And how soon after did he call or email? I can't remember.

Okay, I'll stop walking down memory lane.

Back to business.

In 1983, Penghlis was in Sadat. It's a bio-pic about an Egyptian leader named Muhammad Anwar al-Sadat.

The IMDb trivia page says Egypt wasn't happy with the movie. They banned movies made by Columbia pictures, and anything featuring Louis Gossett Jr. He's the one who played the title character.

I wonder why the movie was banned. Did the Egyptians like Anwar-al-Sadet, and the movie put him in an unfavorable light? Or did the movie present him in a positive way, and the Egyptians didn't like that?

Well, Lord Wiki says the guy was supportive towards having peace with Israel, and that made him unpopular with the Egyptians.

Lord Wiki says Egyptians say their grief with the film was due to historical inaccuracies. Yeah, I can buy that to a point. It's annoying when films give us the wrong facts. But in those cases, we usually roll our eyes with annoyance. We don't go and ban the whole film.

Some say the movie was rejected out of racism, because an African-American played the title character. Who knows......

Here's the trailer. Well, I can kind of see why they might be offended. It looks like Sadat is the one good guy in Egypt, and the rest of Egyptians are the villains. I don't know if the whole movie is that way, or just the trailer.

In 1985, Penghlis guest-starred on the TV show Hotel. It was a one time thing, but I'm mentioning it because I saw that they have the video on YouTube.

What kind of accent is Penghlis using?

Oh, this is funny. The name of another guest-star looked familar. I looked her up, and she was on Days of our Lives too. She played Kayla Brady but then was later replaced by another actress.

I guess Penghlis is supposed to be Italian.

He's so cute when he rubs his nose at 2:38. The guy is kind of sexy....at least I think so. I welcome him back into my dreams, anytime.

Oh no! There's some naughty business going on here. It seems Mr. Valli loves someone besides his new wife.

Wait. The new wife KNOWS about the arrangement. She's in on it. I didn't see that coming.

I'm betting they're going to fall in love. I'm going to fast forward to see whether I'm right or not.

Now I'm on part 2.

Ah. The wife is giving Penghlis a massage now. The romance is budding.

Oh, poor Monica. She's left out in the cold. But she sure does take the rejection gracefully. That's nice.

In 1986, Penghlis was in the TV movie Under Siege. The movie is about Arab terrorists attacking Americans via airplane. Wow.

It's not to be confused with the Steven Seagal movie that came out in 1992. Some IMDb users talk about how it's banned in the US, because it might give terrorists too many ideas. Actually, no. Wait.   The IMDb people SUSPECT it may have been banned, because they haven't seen it around lately.

Lord Wiki says the United States as a whole does not ban movies. If a movie is banned, it's done by local governments and organizations. But I'm reading about a movie called The Profit. It's a movie that pokes fun of Scientology. If I'm reading this right, the Church of Scientology has managed to prevent distribution of the movie. They claim it was because of a court case. They didn't want the movie influencing the jury.

I don't know. It sounds suspicious to me.

An IMDb user says distributors can't profit from distributing it in the United States. But it seems people are still finding ways to show and see the movie. That's good!

I have no grief with Scientologists for believing in the writings of science fiction author. I think that's actually kind of adorable. But they should really stop being bullies about stuff. That's not cute at all.

In 1988, Penghlis was in an Australian movie! I'm excited to see that. It actually sounds familar to me; Les Patterson Saves the World.

Oh, silly me. It's a Barry Humphries thing. How could I forget that? Well, at least it sounded familar. That's something to be thankful for.

This espionage website has information about the film. There's an evil guy named Mustafa Toul. He's going to do bad things to Les Patterson but then Colonel Richard Godowni saves the day. Godowni is played by Penghlis.

Here's a scene from the movie. It involves a rotating restaurant. I don't know if Penghlis will be in it.

Cute koala.

This is kind of funny.

Penghlis appears at 3:00.

It's a funny scene, but I think it goes on a bit too long. The joke gets old after about a minute.

In 1988, Penghlis was in another Australian project. This was a miniseries called Emma: Queen of the South Seas.

Now from about 1985 to about 1993, Penghlis wasn't doing Days of our Lives. Maybe he spent some of his hiatus in his home country.

This film site says that Emma refers to Emma Coe, a woman who prevented the Samoan islands from being colonized.

From 1988-1990, Penghlis was on Mission Impossible. Wasn't it a remake?

Yeah. Lord Wiki says it was originally on from 1966 to 1973. But it looks like both had some of the same cast. Well, at least they both had Peter Graves.

Jane Badler from V was in the 1980's version.

Here are some clips from an episode of the show.

Penghlis can be seen in the credits part, at least.


Here we are. He appears at 4:48.

I can't look at Peter Graves without thinking of Airplane. And I just remembered that he was in Savannah Smiles.

In 1990, Penghlis was in The Lookalike. I think I saw this. It's with Melissa Gilbert and is about doppelgangers.

I don't remember the exact plot, so I'm getting help from IMDb. Gilbert's daughter died and then later she sees someone who looks a lot like her daughter. Penghlis plays her boss at a clothing store. He believes in weird stuff and thinks something is going on.

I'm reading all the spoilers. From what I see, I like how it turns out. It kind of goes along with something I believe. Sometimes we believe people are mentally ill, because there's something inherently wrong with them. But sometimes they're just reacting to wrong things that have been done to them. Sometimes paranoia is simply that...paranoia. But other times, it's based on fact.

In 1991, Penghlis did a TV movie based on a Sidney Sheldon novel; Memories of Midnight. It's about amnesia. Amnesia is very common in the world of TV movies and soap operas. I wonder how common it is in real life.

From 1992-1993, Penghlis was on Santa Barbara. That show ended in 1993; he got there at the tail end of things.

Penghlis played a mysterious guy named Micah DeAngelis. Lord Wiki is trying to explain the mystery, but I don't really get it. I'm just going to forget about it. I think he was a doctor, maybe? And Micah wasn't his real name. He was faking his identity, and he was the son of some crazy woman. I might be wrong about some of this. Did any of you watch that soap opera?

In 1999, Penghlis did an Australian miniseries called Tribe. It was directed by George Miller. It's about sailors attacked by pirates.

In 2007, Penghlis was in the movie The Mirror. Penghlis plays someone named Nicholas Theophilus, so I guess he's portraying his own ethnicity in this.

In 2009, Penghlis started work on a TV show called Emissary. According to IMDb, it still seems to be on. I can't find much information about it.

Now I'm going to read the Penghlis trivia page on IMDb.

Penghlis moved to New York after high school. That's brave.

He loves archeology, history, and Egyptology. I wonder how he feels about Egypt banning one of his films.

One of Penghlis' personal quotes is Once I only dreamed of the life I'm now living. Maybe I can remind people that the best does exist and can be ours if only we take the time to look for it and work for it.

Yeah. So anyone who is NOT a successful TV star didn't want it enough and/or didn't work hard enough.

I'm thinking of all my struggling friends....court battles, cancer, job losses, disabled children, financial problems, rejections, etc. I guess if they had wished and worked hard enough, they could have been on Days of our Lives instead of dealing with a bunch of crap.

Here's the official Thaao Penghlis website. It looks like it might have information I can use. It looks more thorough then most actor sites I've seen.

Here's a biographical page, and I think there's even more bio stuff on other pages.

Penghlis originally wanted to be an archaeologist, not an actor. Both jobs seem fun and interesting to me.

This is actually quite fascinating. Penghlis worked in immigration. He helped Greek immigrants. He aspired to be the vice-consul for Greece, but then decided he wanted to do something beyond Greekness. So he moved to NYC to work for the United Nations.

While in New York, Penghlis met an acting teacher named Milton Katselas. Katselas inspired Penghlis to become an actor.

Well, this is interesting. We're back on Scientology. Lord Wiki says that Katselas was a Scientologist, and that he introduced actors to the religion. The New York Times had an article about it. I'm kind of skimming, but what I'm seeing is interesting. It shows how people can be so varied in their perceptions. There's some people who felt that his class was merely a recruitment center for Scientology. Some people felt he didn't push his religion at all. Then Jenna Elfman quit the center supposedly because she felt Katselas wasn't commited enough to the church. As they say, you can't please everyone.

After Penghlis decided to be an actor, he quit his job at the UN. He did acting at night and then worked as an antique dealer during the day.

Later he followed Katselas to Los Angeles. This is when we get the birth of the Beverly Hills Playhouse.

The Penghlis page says ABC got many letters of protest when they took his character off the air. They were going to bring him back, but NBC had already hired him for Days of our Lives. It must have felt good to be so wanted.

The website all of a sudden changed from third person to first person. What's the deal with that?

Penghlis says his family thought of him as a black sheep and loser. Sometimes I think that's how my family sees me. However, my rank in the family greatly improved once I married Tim. They all adore him. So he makes me a winner.

Penghlis reminds me of me in that he sees both good and bad about things in his relationship to his family. One good thing is that his parents always allowed him to express emotion. They never told him it wasn't manly to cry. That's awesome.

Penghlis says he grew up without financial wealth and was embarrassed about this. He'd lead people to believe his family had money. But eventually he learned to accept things the way they are.

I like this, though. Penghlis says he later went to Greece and found out his family came from aristocrats. He says... so maybe all the arrogance I've displayed in the past isn't only a cover for insecurity. Maybe deep inside he just KNEW......

Penghlis says that even though his parents had great doubts about him as a child, they're proud of him now. That's lovely....I guess. But it doesn't seem right to me. I think it's better if parents support their kids BEFORE they become successful. But then again, maybe their lack of support is what drove Penghlis to prove himself. What I've learned through my life, though, is that I'd rather have the support of those I love than have career success. I mean it would be great to have both, but I'd prefer the former. And it would bother me if I did become successful with something and then suddenly those who never supported me came out of the woodwork with their praise and support. It would be kind of like that little red hen story.

This page has a copy of an Melbourne interview done with Penghlis in 2008.

He's deeply spiritual and meditates.

I'm spiritual, but I'm not sure how deep I am about it.

This is funny. Penghlis talks about the Days of our Lives storyline on Friends. On the show, a disgruntled writer killed off Joey's character. Penghlis says this isn't far from the truth. He's known actors who've been killed off and put into comas for complaining about the writing. I wonder if he was one of them. His character was killed off repeatedly.

I think I just lost some love for Penghlis. He defends Mel Gibson for saying anti-semitic stuff. The guy was just drunk. Yeah. Okay. Whatever. I don't drink, so I'm not an expert. But from what I understand, I didn't think alcohol made you lie. I thought it lowered your inhibitions, so you'd be more likely to say the stuff you usually kept quiet. Like when people drunk-dial, they don't call the people they don't love. Right? Don't they call the people they secretly love?

This page has a bunch of photos of Penghlis and his family....cousins and everything. I think it's so great that he has these photos. It seems most celebrities have more photos of themselves with other famous people. Penghlis really seems to have a love for his family.

And this page has really old photographs of his family. I love it!

Here are childhood photos. This is the most awesome celebrity website I've ever seen. Really. I wonder if Penghlis did most of this himself.

He was so damn cute as a little boy. And he looks very sexy in that first LA head shot.

Penghlis has a really weird painting in his living room....or his old living room.

Penghlis is really great at uploading photos.

There are excerpts from a book Penghlis has written. I think it's about his travels. I'm not sure if it's been published yet.

And here are some Sydney photos. He went there with some of his co-stars of Days of our Lives.

There's a photo of his childhood school. It's Crown Street Public School.

There's a photo of his family's first home. They lived in Surrey Hills. I think that's the neighborhood in which Jack and I were walking, and he said he wanted to move there.

Here's an interview with Penghlis. It was done on my dad's 60th birthday.

I'm getting the feeling that Penghlis is a bit disgruntled about his work on Days of our Lives. I don't blame him. I get disgruntled from just watching that show. It's close to my heart, because I've been watching it for so long. But it really IS awful. I think it has some of the worst writing I've ever seen. Although it goes back and forth. Sometimes it has really bad writing, and then other times,

 it's okay.

Penghlis didn't quit Days of our Lives to pursue other things. He was fired. That show fires people left and right. And then they're bringing people back all the time. I think that's their trick. They get rid of people and then 10-20 years later, they bring them back, and we get all excited. I guess it's a good way of preventing characters being taken for granted.

Anyway, Penghlis says he got the bad phone call when he was in Cuba. He says in the past the show would call you to give you a pat on the back. But that doesn't happen anymore. Now when they call, you know it's bad news.

Penghlis puts a lot of blame on one particular person, and I may disagree with him about Mel Gibson, but we are on the same page with this one. I think when this guy is working on the show, it's especially awful. I'm sure he's a great guy in his personal life or whatever. He might be one of the nicest people in the world. I just don't think he's a very good soap opera writer. Plus, it's because of him and his damn Passions soap opera that my beloved soap opera went off the air. Another World....now THAT show had great writing.

Oh....it turns out this guy is actually dead. Well, I hope he's at peace. I hate when you have bad feelings about someone and then you find out they're dead. That happened to me with someone I used to work with. We separated on kind of bad terms. I saw her once again, and we were pleasant to each other. But it was kind of weird. Plus, I felt kind of haunted by her opinions. She was so opinionated about parenting and educational stuff. I know she would have HATED that we're homeschooling Jack. She'd be absolutely horrified. I always kind of imagined her learning about our lives and judging me. Then one day I was looking up various people on the internet....I do that every so often. I researched her, and found out she had died. It felt a bit eerie. I have such a mixture of feelings. There's regret. I guess there's a part of me that wishes we would have gotten together, and I could have brought her over to the dark side. Maybe she'd see that homeschooling isn't so awful. There's guilt. I had negative feelings towards someone, and they died a tragic death. Then there's kind of....well paranoia that now she's out there watching me from somewhere.

Anyway, I'm rambling. Let me get back to the interview.

Oh! Marlena is not on Days of our Lives anymore.   Did I know that? Maybe I did. I probably just forgot.

Well, we're going to eat dinner soon. Tim is making grilled cheese which sounds really good to me right now.

I wish Penghlis much success and happiness in his career and life. I'm sure in a few years, Days of our Lives will come back for him...groveling. I hope he gives them a big fat NO WAY. There's better stuff out there for him. I'd love to see him working in more Australian films!

We Lost Our Marbles

This afternoon, Jack decided he wanted to play with his blue marbles from Australia. I think he had been inspired by an episode of his favorite TV show, Arthur.

He looked around his room for them independently as I worked on my blog, I assured him I'd help him in a little bit.

We looked around various places in the house, and Jack became a bit hopeless about the situation....and sad. He asked if we could buy new marbles. I said yes. Why not? They're pretty cheap. When I was half-listening while searching, I think MAYBE Jack said he'd use his own allowance. If he did, I'm pretty proud of him.

Jack wanted to give up the search. I figured it was a good idea. My philosophy regarding stuff lost in the house is you search for awhile; then you give up and hope you run into it someday. It usually happens...often when you're searching for something else.

I decided, though, that I'd check one or two places before giving up. I looked in Jack's bathroom cabinet where we keep a bunch of toys. I dug around a bit, and found a Sydney Swans bag. I opened it up, and there was the little net bag of blue marbles.

There was other fun stuff in there too, including these crazy pop out eyeglasses. Jack had bought those at World Square when we were eating dessert with Fe and her boys.

Just now I had to ask Jack the name of World Square, because I had forgotten. When I was calling to him, I said Sydney instead of Jack. I've never done THAT before. Jack has no siblings, so I don't have multiple kids to mix up in my brain. Well, yeah. I guess instead I'll confuse him with cities in Australia.

Anyway, I found the marbles, the glasses, a Sydney pencil bag with a ruler and eraser, a package of Australia pens, a pressed penny from The Powerhouse Museum, and some other stuff.

There was a little wind-up robot. I'm not sure where we got that.

I just went to get the bag to see what else is in there. There's some Sydney Swan stickers and cards. Then there's a dollar from the Australian Mint, a toy compass, and an empty bag from a place called The Galleria in Waikiki.

Ah....so many memories.

It's kind of funny in one of those weird synchronosity ways.

This past week or two, Jack and I have been playing with this yellow smiley face ball. It's awesome—bounces very well. I was waxing poetic about it, and Jack reminded me it was from Australia. We had bought it in a toy store in Kiama. Then when we play with it, Jack sometimes will use our Sydney Swans hat. He'll wear it or use it as a kind of catcher's mitt. Then he wants his marbles, and I find more Australia stuff.

I also found two camera warranty papers in the Swans bag. It's too bad I didn't find the actual camera. That would have been FUNNY. But that lost camera issue is water under the bridge now. We made our friends come to Hawaii and took new photos of us with them. I was very paranoid about getting those photos up and online before I lost another camera. Still. I lost photos of other friends as well. This just means they're obligated to come visit us in Texas someday.

In other news, I had a lucid dream last night. It was one of those where I was very analytical...I guess metacognitive would be the correct term. I floated out of the bed and through a window. But instead of getting outside, I ended up in a white bathroom. I floated out through a window there and ended up in another white bathroom. This went on repeatedly for awhile. While it was happening, I thought of how I was so aware and lucid. I thought, though, that later how it would feel all fuzzy as I looked back at it. But then I told myself the same would be true of ANY memory...dream or awake stuff. My waking self is now saying that's true. When I think back to our Australia trip, a lot of it feels like a dream.

Anyway, also in the dream, I tried analyzing the symbolism of the white bathrooms. I don't remember if I came up with any brilliant ideas.

I also dreamed yet another dream of Julian McMahon. I don't remember much. There was something like he was going to be at a party at the Holiday Inn. I wanted to go, but there was strong doubts I'd be able to. Then there was this part where I was putting on lipstick and realized I did it right where he could see. I was all embarrassed but then tried to convince myself that maybe I looked sexy while I was doing it. I doubt that's true. I probably make awful faces when I'm putting on make up, and look really ugly.

Oh! I almost forgot. This is weird. In the lucid dream, I finally escaped the bathroom situation. I ended up in the foyer of our house but couldn't get to the front door. It was like this strong mysterious force was stopping me. I finally did get out, and my mom was there waiting for me. She told me that even though I don't remember, I had another baby....I think before Jack. I don't know what THAT means. I guess it could be a past life type thing.

Who knows.

Radha Mitchell

Radha Mitchell is another name I've encountered while looking at other people's filmographies. But again, I can't remember where exactly I've seen her.

Well, Lord Wiki says she was in Pitch Black. That's probably where I saw her name. I've written about that movie twice already. Another thing I've seen her in is Finding Neverland. It's been awhile since I saw that, though. I can't remember who she played. Was it Johnny Depp's wife? Did he have a wife? I think so, but I'm not sure.

Baby Radha was born in Melbourne on 12 November 1973. She's about a year younger than me.

Her name comes from Hinduism. Lord Wiki says that Radha was a childhood friend and then lover of Krishna.

I guess Mitchell's parents were into Hinduism. And it sounds like Mitchell has kept some of this in her life. She does yoga and is vegetarian. Although a lot of people do that who aren't Hindu.

Mitchell's mother was a model, and then later became a designer. Mitchell's father was a filmmaker. I wonder if he made anything interesting.

Mitchell attended St. Michael's Grammar School. It's a Christian school, but they say they don't push religion on anyone, and they welcome other faiths. They say, In addition to being a multicultural community, St Michael's is also multi-faith. We teach the basics of many religions and insist on respect for the beliefs of all members of our community. Our students are encouraged to discern their own spiritual paths. Amen to that! So I bet they'd be welcoming towards a little girl with a Hindu name and family.

Well, that's about all the personal stuff that Lord Wiki provides. I'm going to jump over to Mitchell's filmography on IMDb.

It looks like Mitchell's first screen appearance happened in 1988. That was a bad year for me. Hopefully it was better for Mitchell. She would have been about fifteen then. She did a children's TV show called Sugar and Spice. An IMDb user named Calvertfan provides insight into the show. It's about two young girls who are very different from each other, and there is much love lacking between them. Mitchell played the snobby girl hoping to go to a private school. The other girl wanted to work on a farm. Then they end up having to live together at one of their grandmother's houses. The show takes place in the 1920's, so it provides some historical education.

It sounds good to me. I think I'd like it.

Mitchell's filmography is quiet for awhile. I'm guessing maybe she took the time to finish high school. Then in 1992 and 1993, she appeared on the TV show All Together Now. I didn't recognize the title, but I did recognize the plot description. Rebecca Gibney was in it, so I guess I wrote about it when I researched her. It's the show where a rock star learns he has fifteen year-old twins. Mitchell played someone named Jodi. She was in six episodes. Maybe she played a friend of the twins?

I just found this website with the titles and descriptions of all the episodes of All Together Now. It's really cool. Each episode is named after a song.

Starting in 1994, Mitchell played Catherine O'Brien on Neighbours. She was on the show until 1997.

According to my favorite Neighbours site, Catherine was a vegetarian and very passionate about her animal rights views. A guy named Stonefish became interested in her. He wasn't into the animal rights things, but tried to change, so he could impress her. Stonefish is brothers with Toadfish. He was involved with someone else I wrote about. Who was it?

Okay. He was friends with Billy Robinson who was played by Jesse Spencer. Cool. Maybe one day I'll be able to remember all these characters and connections.

Here's a scene with Mitchell. I think she's the one wearing pink. Is that Stonefish with her, or another guy?

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 

In 1995, Mitchell worked with Gibney again in the TV movie Halifax f.p: My Lovely Girl. It was about murderers being released from mental institutions. Some of them get out and then they kill again. But then other people leave mental hospitals and write amazing novels. It's a hard call. Who should be given freedom, and who should not....

In 1996, Mitchell appeared in a two part episode of Blue Heelers. She played Nerida Davidson.

I was just looking for a video of the episode and instead found some interviews. It turns out I missed a movie earlier. Mitchell is from Rogue. That's why I saw her name recently. I just looked at that movie the other day.

TV.com has a description of the Blue Heelers episode. When I was googling, I saw that Blue Heelers is a nickname for the Australian Cattle Dog. I have a friend who's really into those dogs.

Is the TV show related to that? As far as I can see from Lord Wiki, it doesn't. But maybe I've missed something.

I don't see Nerida mentioned on the episode summary. It was about bushfires, and an escaped prisoner. I'm not sure how she fit into all that.

Wait. Here we go. Nerida is mentioned in description of part 2 of the episode. Nerida was armed and dangerous, and she was holding some of the characters hostage. Wow. I wasn't expecting that. It's later discovered that Nerida and her brother were private school kids wanted to rob a bank, so they could be set for life. Interesting.

Also in 1996, Mitchell was in the movie Love and Other Catastrophes. It's a romantic-comedy about film school students. An IMDb user says the movie has a lesbian storyline. Noralee says, The lesbian couple is treated completely naturally and romantically and is really the most interesting couple. None of the guys even assume the lesbian's straight best friend is gay, as I think would happen in most American films.

I wouldn't assume the straight best friend is gay. But I would wonder if the lesbian has feelings for her. To me, it's hard to understand how someone can love someone as a best friend but not be attracted to them....especially if it's the gender they're into. Well, actually I'm not really attracted to my best friends. But I was very much attracted to my MALE best friend. I wasn't at first. But then we spent so much time together, and slowly I started to love him. I've had other male friends and felt nothing for them. But we weren't super close best friends. I think there's a difference.

I wonder if any studies have been done on this. In best-friend partnerships, where one party is sexually attracted to the other person's gender, does that person usually fall in love? Are there cases where people become best friends, and no one falls in love? Is that possible? Have any of you been super close best friends with someone of a gender you're attracted to and never developed romantic feelings for that person?

Anyway.....

Here's the beginning of the movie. There's some loud sex. Now we have drugs and rock-n-roll. I guess it's one of those movies.

Neither of these women in the car are Mitchell. Lord Wiki is helping me get things straight here. These are the roommates.

Now I'm thinking that one way these friendships can exist without romance is for there to be someone else in the picture. If the lesbian has another girlfriend, there's no reason for her to be crushing on her friend. I guess the romantic feelings towards one's friend would more likely pop up during dry times.

Mitchell plays the lesbian's girlfriend. That scene didn't have her, but this one does. Actually, I think it's a collection of scenes.

Oh! Here's some fun trivia. Mitchell's girlfriend in the movie is played by Helen Garner's daughter.

I like Mitchell's voice and accent. She reminds me a little bit of Emilie de Ravin.

I think someone just took all Mitchell's and Garner's scene and put them in one video. It's fun to watch. They're happy together; then they're fighting; then they're okay. Now I'm watching them break up. The movie has some fun dialogue.

I just realized that Mitchell looks somewhat like an ex-friend of ours....a VERY ex-friend. I'm going to try to forget that.  Otherwise it will be hard for me to like Mitchell.

In 1998, Mitchell was in a New Zealand TV movie called The Chosen. It's not the Chaim Potok one.

Next we have another lesbian movie; High Art. Mitchell plays an aspiring journalist who meets a famous photographer. I guess there's some attraction there. Mitchell's character had been in a relationship with a guy, so she might be bisexual.

Ally Sheedy plays the photographer.

Here's the trailer. Maybe Mitchell's character isn't a lesbian. I'm getting the idea she's doing the loving as a career move.

Mitchell has an American accent in the movie. I just don't get it. Why couldn't her character be Australian? Some of them do live in America, you know.

Maybe Mitchell chooses movies that have connections to previous movies she's been in. Her next movie was also about photography. This was Cleopatra's Second Husband, another American movie.

I don't really understand the plot of this one. There's a guy who's a photographer, and he has a controlling wife. They go to vacation in New York, and let Mitchell and her boyfriend stay at their house. When they return, their house is a mess. Then Mitchell and the boyfriend ask if they can stay, and the photographer guy lets them.

Okay. Whatever.

Here's the trailer.
It doesn't look that great to me. The music in the beginning sounds familar, almost like something from an Australian movie. Does anyone recognize it? I'm thinking either maybe Wake in Fright or Picnic at Hanging Rock.

Mitchell sure does a lot of lesbian stuff. Is she a lesbian in real life, or does she just like playing one on film? In 1999, she was in a lesbian short with Rose McGowan called Sleeping Beauties.

Here's the movie. The fake kid's voice is a little annoying. Couldn't they get someone who was better at sounding like a child? Or maybe that's supposed to add to the humor.

I can hear a little Australian at 2:43. I get so excited when I can hear the Australian accents slipping through.

Oh wait. There's more Australian. Maybe she's not going for the American accent. Awesome. That's even better....an Australian playing an Australian in an American movie. Bonus points to any of them not wrestling a crocodile or chasing after sheep.

The movie is about a woman who does the make-up for dead rock stars. It's not really my thing, so I think I'm going to stop watching it after part one.

Also in 1999, Mitchell was in an Australian movie; Kick. It's about a boy who wants to do ballet. Jack did ballet. He was the only boy in his class. It's kind of sad that ballet is still seen as a girls-only thing. Hopefully that will change someday.

In 2000, Mitchell did the American movie Everything Put Together. It has something to do with pregnancy, and it doesn't look like it's a happy thing. An IMDb user, jimcheva warns, If you are pregnant or just had a child, do NOT go see this film. Really. You simply don't need some of these concepts swimming around your mind. Trust me. I found this film depressing without being cathartic.

I like sad, cathartic films. I don't like depressing ones.

I'm reading other user comments. The movie is about SIDS. That's so horribly sad. I agree with jimcheva. It's not something new parents should see. I was so scared of SIDS when Jack was a baby. I guess all parents are. My sister had this extra nursing book, and I guess I got it from her. I used to be interested in reading medical stuff. I'd read it for fun. Anyway, I read a part about SIDS, and it was so not something I should have read as a parent of a baby. It went into very cold and gruesome details.

Before I had a baby, SIDS seemed like a sad thing....but not the worst thing in the world. Come on, it's just a baby. It's new. How attached could be, anyway? It's not like losing a child you've grown to really know and love. But for some of us, there IS a very strong attachment. It's a love that cannot be compared to any other. It's so intense. I can totally understand why some parents never recover from the loss. It would be incredibly devastating.

Here's the trailer.

Wow. It looks like an amazing movie. I almost want to see it....or maybe I'll just read about it.

I'm reading the various IMDb comments on the film. Chinesebookie-2 says, Her behavior becomes erratic and frightening to her friends. Indeed, her friends turn out to be the fair-weather variety, and Angie becomes isolated in her torment. Yeah. That is so much our world. When life isn't treating us right, neither do many of our friends. Although last night I dreamed about one of my so-called friends....one who did the opposite. She jumped right into my life when I was having problems; then when things were fairly okay again, she abruptly disappeared. There are those who like the drama. I think they're just as bad as the fair-weather friends.

I'm getting that the basic storyline in this movie surrounds a group of happy-go-lucky women. Mitchell is pregnant. Her friends are there for her in her joyful time. The baby dies. She gets sad and goes a bit nuts. Her friends fade away. Maybe they would have stayed if she wore a cute dress to the funeral, shed a few tears, and then moved on with her life. But she had the nerve to react a little more strongly to things. We're not supposed to get that sad about things. It's unattractive. That's why we have anti-depressants.

I'm watching a scene from the movie. Oh. Megan Mullally plays one of the friends. She sounds completely different from how she sounds on Will and Grace.

This is an AMAZING scene. I'm very impressed with this movie. It deals with the grieving mother being asked about her dead baby and wanting to show a photo of him. Blessed are the people out there who take time to show interest in a lost child. From the little I know, it seems many grieving mothers WANT to talk about their child. They want the child to be remembered. They don't want that child forgotten.

Here's another scene. It shows the viewpoints of the friends. They're not simple shallow women. They really just don't know what to do. Should they invite the grieving mother to their child's christening? What about the baby shower? Do you invite the mother who lost her baby? Being there might cause the mother so much pain, but if she's not invited she may feel excluded and alienated. She might feel rejected.

I did know someone in this position once, and she asked for advice. I think what we told her is she should talk to the mother privately and ask how she felt about being invited. It's a hard conversation to have, and who wants to bring that up? But it's not as if the grieving mother isn't already thinking about it. I guess you could just say something like I know it will be difficult for you, and there's absolutely no pressure. I understand if you don't want to come. But I do want you to know that you're invited to the baby shower..... That's better than just sending out the cute frilly invitation. That would be kind of cruel.

I don't get the end of the scene. It looks like they see the grieving mother as some kind of pariah. Do they think her tragedy is contagious?

I wonder if I'd agree with jimcheva. Is the movie not cathartic? I wonder how it ends. To me, just reading about it is somewhat cathartic. Seeing the whole movie might not be; and I definitely am glad I didn't see it when Jack was a baby. But it's cathartic to me in that it deals with the coldness of humanity. Like all humans, I've experienced fair-weather friends. And I've experienced the pressure to stop being sad and put on a happy face. It's cathartic knowing that the filmmakers relate to this, and understand.

It's probably time to move onto another movie. Next we have a lighter film called Cowboys and Angels. It's about a lawyer guy who's left at the alter. Then Mitchell and some other women play his potential new loves.

I started watching a trailer, but it was for the wrong Cowboys and Angels. This one is an Irish movie about a gay guy and his straight friend. It looks kind of fun.

In 2001, Mitchell was in Ten Tiny Love Stories. I'm not sure if it's fiction or nonfiction. It involves women doing monologues in front of their camera, talking about someone they love. I'm leaning towards it being nonfiction, because IMDb doesn't provide character names. The whole movie is available on YouTube....maybe legally. I don't have time to watch the whole thing, but I'll try to get to the Mitchell part.

Oh good! Mitchell's part is in the beginning. This makes my life much easier. Thank you!

Mitchell has a hybrid American-Australian accent. It's cute. I support these accents. I think it's natural to pick up accents when you are so surrounded by it. And I prefer that to someone completely losing their accent.

I had to just rewind. I was writing about her accent and didn't pay attention to what she was saying.

I think I'm starting to have an obsession with accents. Anyone notice?

Mitchell is very beautiful. And here she doesn't look too much like our ex-friend.

I can't say that I'm finding the story overly interesting. I'm a bit bored.

I'm going to move onto the next movie. It's a comedy called Nobody's Baby. Skeet Ulrich plays a guy who comes across a burning car. The only survivor is a baby. And I guess it's about him bonding with the kid.

Here's the trailer. The guys who rescued the baby are criminals. It sounds a bit like Savannah Smiles. I can't believe that's Gary Oldman! How funny.

Here's some scenes from the movie. It's fun to see Oldman. A part with Mitchell begins at around 2:15.

I'm so impressed with Oldman.

The chapstick stuff is funny. It made me laugh.

Lord Wiki says the movie got really awful reviews.

Oh well.

The next movie on the list is When Strangers Appear. It's an Aussie-American-Kiwi movie. Mitchell plays a woman who works at a diner. A man comes in claiming to be in danger from other men. But then the men come and tell her a different story. That sounds intriguing. There's always two sides to every story. Right?

Here's a scene from the movie.

Oh. I thought that guy looked familar. He's from 7th Heaven.

You know, it's easy to hear one person vent about their problems with another. You can be sympathetic towards them, and angry on their behalf. Things get much more complicated when you're caught in the middle....when you hear both sides of the story.

Well, I have a family get-together coming up. I better go get dressed, and stuff. When we return, I'll do some more reading and watching.

Okay. I'm dressed. I have sometime before my parents pick us up.

In 2001, Mitchell was in the TV movie Uprising. I like the song "Uprising".

The TV movie is another story of Jews fighting back during the Nazi days. And it's another movie with Stephen Moyer!

This story deals with the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. Lord Wiki says it was the largest single revolt by Jews during the Holocaust.

Here's a trailer for the film. It looks pretty good. It's weird to see David Schwimmer in a serious role.

We live in a mad mad world, don't we?

People can be so incredibly awful. I guess I should be thankful for those who are just slightly awful...the ones who think they're cute by writing little anti-semitic comments on their blog. At least they're not going out and killing anyone.

Well, I just finished dinner and dessert with my family. We went to an ice-cream place where you get to fill your own ice-cream bowls with ice-cream and various toppings. It was really fun. I didn't like my ice-cream flavor, though, so that diminished the experience a bit.

In 2002, Mitchell was in that Kiefer Sutherland/Anthony LaPaglia movie; Dead Heat. I totally don't remember what it's about.

It's something about horse races. Here's the trailer. I don't remember it. Did I miss this movie when I was writing about LaPaglia?

Mitchell is at about 1:25.

How did I miss this movie? I gotta go back and check....I'm really curious to know where I have failed. Is this a matter of me missing a movie when doing research, or is it a matter of me forgetting something? Which is worse? I don't know.

Well, I just did the checking. It's my memory that's failing. That's a little disturbing, but I feel good knowing I didn't skip the movie on Anthony LaPaglia day. I had watched the trailer and everything. I had mentioned Kiefer Sutherland's voice. But here I'm watching the trailer, and it looks totally new to me. Scary.

Actually, my dad has a thing about forgetting movies that he's seen. Maybe it's a genetic thing. And you know....it's better than forgetting your family members or forgetting how to use the toilet and stuff.

Mitchell was in Phone Booth. I think I remember this one. I didn't see it, but I remember hearing about it. This had Kiefer Sutherland too. So Mitchell worked with him twice in 2002....or at least the movies were released in 2002.

The basic plot of the movie is this. A guy answers a public phone, and it's Kiefer Sutherland on the line. That's pretty cool, because Kiefer Sutherland has an awesome voice. If you're going to be harassed by a psycho on the phone better that it be someone like Sutherland or Jeremy Irons. Anyway, Kiefer Sutherland says that if the guy hangs up, he'll be killed. So the guy (Collin Farrell) has to stay on the line. That sounds like a total nightmare. I hate when people won't let me off the phone. You try to say good-bye, and they keep telling you more things.

The trivia page says that the movie was shot in chronological order. That's cool. I wrote about another movie filmed this way. I don't remember what it was.

Who was Mitchell in the movie?

Okay, she plays the wife. Katie Holmes is the mistress.

Here's the trailer. Well, that's suspenseful. I'm going to have to find the spoilers, so I know what happened. Before I do that, though....I just wonder why Kiefer Sutherland is so interested in Colin Farrell cheating on his wife. What's that all about? Well, maybe the spoilers will explain. Don't worry. I shall not report what I find.

Okay. I read it. I don't quite know what to think.

I better shut up before I say more than I should.

Radha made her own movie. Cool. It's called Four Reasons. She wrote it, directed it, and appeared in it. I can't find much about it, so I'm going to move on for now.

In 2003, Mitchell was in Visitors. I actually remembered this one. It's a horror movie about a girl sailing solo around the world. I was going to say Jessica Watson should avoid this one, and that triggered a memory. I had a bit of deja vu. That helped me remember I had encountered the movie before.

Richard Franklin directed it. I'm guessing I encountered the movie when I wrote about him.

Here's the trailer. I can't find it in English, so we'll have to watch it in German.

Wow. That's intense. It looks scary. And Lord Wiki makes me want to see it. He says it's like The Shining. I like that story. From what Lord Wiki says, it sounds like the movie is one of those that make you wonder....is this a matter of insanity, or some kind of supernatural thing?

In 2004, Mitchell was in Man on Fire with Denzel Washington and Dakota Fanning. I'm trying to understand the plot. I'm getting that Washington plays Fanning's bodyguard. He tries to protect her from being kidnapped.

Mitchell plays Fanning's mother.

Here's the trailer. It looks fan made. Maybe it's not. It bothers me when they have a close up of someone's face, you can see their mouth moving, but you can't hear what they're saying. I think it looks weird. I remember I used to try to avoid doing that when I made my montage movie things.

Finding Neverland came out in 2004. I loved the movie. It was directed by Marc Forster, the same guy who directed Everything Put Together. I noticed this when I was looking at the filmography of that movie. Maybe that's why Everything Put Together looked so good to me. I think this Forster guy has some great insight into things.

Goodness. Just reading the trivia page is making me tear up a bit. You probably have to have seen the movie for it to mean anything. And I'm not going to talk about it because it's a spoiler. But if you HAVE seen the movie, go read it. The stuff that made me have a tear was the first fact thingie under the spoiler warning.

The other thing that got to me....I might be able to explain. It says that in the REAL story of J.M Barrie, it wasn't Peter Davies that inspired Barrie to write Peter Pan. That wasn't his favorite child. Michael was. They say people wonder why he then chose the name Peter for the main character. One theory is that Peter Davies acted very mature for his age. Barrie felt the kid had been robbed of his childhood. So he turned him into a character that had eternal youth. It might not be true, but it's a nice thought.

It reminds me of my novel Thirty Cats, sort of. I might have mentioned this before. I'm having deja vu. But I'll repeat myself. I can't remember which stories I've told, and which I haven't.

Anyway, when I was a preschool teacher I had student named Gabrielle. She never cried. It was heart-breaking. Most kids that age cry very easily. Something goes wrong, and they let the tears fall. They sob. Gabrielle would look like she was about to cry sometimes, but she'd refuse to let the tears fall. It was like what older kids and adults might do. We try not to cry. I think that's unusual in very young children. They're usually lacking in that self-control.

So later I wrote my novel. The main character's name was Gabrielle. One of her character traits was that she cried very easily. She was like me. The littlest things set her off. I don't know. I guess it was my way of trying to make things okay...at least in my imagination.

Mitchell has the last name Barrie in the film, so I'm guessing she did play Barrie's wife. My memories of that relationship are very vague.

Here's the trailer. You can see Mitchell at 1:26.

I think it's one of the most beautiful movies ever.

I have to watch this scene. It's probably not good to watch it, if you haven't seen the movie yet.

Also in 2004, Mitchell was in Melinda and Melinda. It's a Woody Allen movie. I don't think I heard of it before today. I'm totally out of the loop.

I'm reading the plot and it's a bit confusing. I guess the movie is about two versions of the same women....one is a tragic story, and one is a comedy. It sounds kind of cool.

Here's the trailer. Maybe it will help me understand.

I like the lines at 1:25. That made me laugh.

In 2005, Mitchell was in Mozart and the Whale. It's a romance between two people who have Aspergers. That might be interesting. I wonder if people with Aspergers are better off partnering with someone else who has Aspergers. Would they get along well? Or is it better for someone with Aspergers to be with someone who has more social skills?

The movie was written by the same guy who wrote Rainman. I love that movie. But my friend and I were talking about that it kind of adds a stigma to the whole autism thing. I think when people hear the word autistic, they assume it's going be that extreme of a case. It's not always like that.

Here's the trailer. It looks good in some ways. Lord Wiki says the autistic community has given it Kudos. One complaint though is that it perpetuates the idea that people with Aspergers have savant skills. Is it not that common? You know, I've said that we suspect Jack is slightly autistic. If we're correct...and there's no absolute way to say if we're right or wrong....he'd be one that has savant skills. When he was about two, he could find almost every country on the globe. He was like a geography savant. It was amazing.

This autism website says savant abilities occur in 10% of people with autism. That's fairly high. It would be kind of disheartening though to have to keep telling curious people that you don't have any special talent or abilities. No, sorry I can't count the toothpicks. Can you please stop dropping them on the floor.

In 2006, Mitchell was in the horror movie Silent Hill. It's based on a video game. I didn't know that.

Wow. It kind of reminds me of my dreams....but a demented scary version. The movie is about a woman who goes searching for her daughter. The daughter had dreams about a city called Silent Hill.

I have lucid dreams about a city. I don't have a fancy name for it. I just call it Dream City. I haven't been there for awhile. I'd like to go back. Or maybe not. They're not always nice to me there. I feel a bit alienated. But I would like to have more lucid dreams. Maybe I'll just visit somewhere else....NOT Silent Hill, of course.

Mitchell received an AFI nomination for the film.

Here's the trailer.

I have no idea what's going on. Lord Wiki is going to have to help me out.

Okay. I got it. I was confused why the mother would take her child to the place she dreamed about. But I guess she knew of the town? Or was she just a mother who takes that stuff seriously? I think if I had such dreams as a child, my parents would have either ignored it or taken me to a psychiatrist for medication.

I'm reading more.....

The child kept having nightmares. She repeatedly said Silent Hill. The parents did research, and found the town. The mother takes her daughter there, and then weird stuff happens. The girl disappears, and all hell breaks lose.

I skimmed over the whole plot. It seems confusing. Did any of you see it? Did you like it?

The child in the movie is going to play a vampire in Eclipse. Cool.

Also in 2006, Mitchell was in The Half Life of Timofey Berezin. It's another one of those stories where a dying man decides to become a criminal to provide for his family. I read about another movie like this recently. Then Medium had that has a plotline. I'm already tired of it.

In 2007, Mitchell was in Feast of Love with Morgan Freeman. It's a romance. It sounds like it's a montage of love storylines. It reminds me of He's Just Not That Into You. Mitchell plays a woman whose in love with a married man.

Here's the trailer. I love the Morgan Freeman voice over bit. He has an awesome voice too. I also love what he says. There's a belief that Greek Gods invented humans because they were bored. So humans were made. But the Greek Gods were STILL bored. Then they invented love, and they were bored no more. I can totally imagine that being true. Love is painful and confusing...but it's entertaining. Actually, I think it's probably most entertaining WHEN it's painful and confusing. Well, it's not so entertaining when you're the one who got struck by the crazy arrow. But it's entertaining for those watching....you know if you were a character in a book or TV show.

I think that's one of the ways I get by in this world. When I'm in some kind of crazy love thing....like an inappropriate huge crush. And ALL big crushes are inappropriate when you're married. Anyway, I imagine that I'm a character in a chick flick or book. It gives me a light-hearted view of things. I can't really explain it. Let's just say it keeps me sane and prevents me from being depressed.

Anyway, the trailer looks awesome to me. Although it could be a case of the trailer being better than the actual movie. That happens sometimes.

Also in 2007, Mitchell did Rogue. I'm not going to go into that, because I watched the trailer just a few days ago. Mitchell plays the tour guide woman.

In 2008, Mitchell was Henry Poole is here. It's about a disillusioned man who moves back to his old neighborhood. Why? I don't know.

Here's the trailer.

I have to admit it. It looks awesome to me....a little bit corny, maybe. What it's about is a depressed guy who moved into a house. The house has some kind of stain, and people believe it's Jesus. They start congregating around his house, annoying him. But then the stain starts to show healing power.

Lord Wiki says the guy has a terminal illness. Well, that's a good reason to be depressed.

I wouldn't like the movie if it pushed certain beliefs on people. Roger Ebert says it doesn't. He says, It doesn't say that religious beliefs are real. It simply says that belief is real. And it's a warm-hearted love story. I like that. I think belief IS real, and I think it can be a beautiful thing. Whether based on truth or delusion, faith can bring peace and happiness to people...sometimes. There are downsides, of course. But everything has a downside. Like sex. It's fun and it feels good. It makes cute little babies. But sometimes it makes unwanted cute little babies. And sometimes there are yucky diseases passed about.

Yeah. For some, religion gives an excuse for bigotry and war. But there's no need to throw the baby out with the bathtub. For some people, spirituality and religion can be a very good thing.

Mitchell was in The Children of Huang Shi. This is the one that David Wenham is in.

Here's the trailer.

I remembered there being some kind of controversy. Lord Wiki reminded me of what it was. In the true story, the Radha Mitchell character was a Kiwi. In the movie, they made her American. That's a bit pathetic. The weird thing is it's an Australian movie. Maybe they prefer American heroes over New Zealand ones? If they were going to change the nationality, why didn't they make Mitchell Australian. Or if they really wanted an American, why not get an American actor? I'm completely bewildered here.

Next we have What We Take From Each Other. I think it's a short film, and I also think it might be on YouTube. At least there's some short here with the same name.

In this, Mitchell kind of reminds me of Jensen Buchanan on Another World.

That movie really wasn't my kind of thing. Maybe I'm missing the symbolism, and all that.

In 2009, Mitchell did another movie with Morgan Freeman; Thick as Thieves. It's a Russian mob thing. It doesn't interest me. It's getting late. Here's the trailer if you want to watch it. I don't, so I'm not.

Next we have Surrogates with Bruce Willis. It's a science fiction thing. I remember Tim watching it. I think he said it was really dumb. The movie is a futuristic thing where people live their lives via robots. I guess they sit home and control the thing from afar. It sounds a bit like Avatar. Tim didn't like that movie either.

Here's the trailer.

Ah. Here's the twist. It turns out people can die if their surrogate is killed. It's kind of like Nightmare on Elm Street. We're always told that if we die in our dreams, we're safe in bed. Nightmare on Elm Street played around with the idea of that not being true.

The movie looks interesting. I'll have to ask Tim why he didn't like it.

I can't tell if this next movie has already been released or not. It's a 2010 TV movie called The Quickening. To me, it sounds like a horror movie about pregnancy. This blog says it's actually a pilot for a TV show. The blogger is unsure if she'll like it because it's about a woman who is bipolar, and the idea is her medication interferes with her abilities. So I guess she stops taking the drugs. Some people don't like such ideas. I am NOT one of those people. I'm not doubting that some people greatly benefit from psychiatric drugs. But I don't think they're the only answer, and I think for some people, they're a very bad answer. I'd love to ramble on about this, but it's very close to my bedtime.

The last thing on Mitchell's filmography is The Crazies. I thought this would be a light-hearted quirky comedy. But it's horror thing. It's about a town with a poisoned water supply. Uh oh.

The townspeople become psychopaths. That's not good. It sounds a little bit like that other movie....What was it called?

Ah. The Happening. In that movie people weren't homicidal. They were suicidal. But I think they were still somewhat psychopathic.

The Crazies is a remake. George Romero made the original.

Here's the trailer for the old one. And here's the trailer for the new one.

Holy shit. The latter is one of the best horror movie trailers I've ever seen. It looks SCARY. And great choice for the song. I think the creepiest part is at 2:01.

Lord Wiki says the movie is already out. I had no idea. Have any of you seen it? He said it's gotten pretty awesome reviews. That's good. So, it's not just the trailer that's awesome.

I don't know if I want to see it. It looks a bit too scary.

Well, I'm going to watch a Craig Ferguson interview and then I'm going to go to bed. This one happens to be about the Henry Poole movie.

Mitchell is wearing a cute green dress. It's unique.

Mitchell says she wore the dress because she thought Ferguson was Irish. I made the same mistake! Well, I didn't wear a green dress for Ferguson, or anything. But I did think he was Irish.

Oh...well, I might have been somewhat right. Ferguson says his paternal grandmother was Irish. So he's kind of a bit Irish.

Ferguson is too funny.

Now they're talking about spirituality. Mitchell says she's open to the idea of God, but she hasn't had a personal experience.

I'm trying to figure out Mitchell's accent. It's not quite Australian. I'm not sure if it's really American. Who knows.

Mitchell likes to meditate. I don't. It just doesn't work well for me.

I like what Mitchell says about organized religion. She says she likes that people get together to think of something besides their bank account. That's a nice way of looking at it. Although I think sometimes people go to church (or whatever) and think about their bank accounts while they pretend to pray. I usually think of food.

They're talking about Lord Wiki now! Ferguson is a bit critical of him. Mitchell defends him, saying he's usually right. I agree. You can't trust the guy completely. It's good to find someone else to back up what he says. But I think the same can be said for any source. You should never believe in ANYTHING a hundred percent.

I think Mitchell is very much adorable.

Well, I really need to go to bed. So I'm going to quit here.

Andrew Hansen

Andrew Hansen is from The Chasers. I already wrote about them when I wrote about the other guy from The Chasers. Who was it again?

Charles Firth.

My memory is so bad.

I'm honestly not in the mood to write about The Chasers. But it's on the list, so I'll do it. I'm not much in a comedic mood. I've been feeling a bit disgruntled.

Yeah. I'm a disgruntled human.

Part of the reason is I'm on edge waiting for news. If it's bad news, I'm going to be even more unhappy. If it's good news, I'm sure my mood will lift a bit. I'll be relieved, at least.

The other reason is I'm very tired of certain aspects of blogging. I love writing this blog. I love doing the research. I love looking at my Statcounter to see all the people from Australia, and around the world, who are reading. I love watching movie trailers, and bits and pieces of TV shows. It's all fun.

What I'm getting tired of is the way certain people treat me....or maybe how they DON'T treat me. I feel like an absolute nothing sometimes. This has been going on for awhile. It's definitely not something I just noticed recently.

In case anyone has noticed, this is not just an informational blog. This is a personal blog too. There have been many occasions that I've written personal stuff, and it would have been nice to have people respond. Like uh...for example. I once wrote a post about someone, and during the time I wrote that post, I hurt my toe....BADLY. I mentioned hurting my toe. People read the post. They commented on the post. I think only one person wished wellness on my poor toe. What the hell is that all about? I wish I could say it was a case of people missing a sentence. Or it was just a fluke. But that's just one example of MANY. Do I have a bunch of coldhearted people reading my blog? Is that what I attract to myself for some reason? Cause you know, I see other blogs....and they get a lot of sweet supportive comments.

It's not just the sympathetic comments that are lacking on my blog. There's also a lack of comments regarding my happy stuff. Like uh....it would have been nice if people commented on my recent Hawaii post. Glad you're having fun, Dina! Nice photos! We hope you have a safe journey. All that would have been greatly appreciated. The same goes for our winter road trip and trip to Disney World.

And I'm not talking about the people who are one time visitors. They like a particular actor. They come the post about that actor. They read. They click on some links. They go. I have no grief regarding them.

Fortunately, I do have FRIENDS who give me support....usually through email. So my life aint bad. I'm just really tired of the people who come here OFTEN, and act as if I'm just some kind of nonliving informational source. I really don't get it, personally. There are MANY sites out there that provide information about famous Australians. It would be much easier to go there; then people wouldn't have to wade through all my personal stuff.

I'm hoping that.....

A) These people change and realize I'm a human being with a life and feelings.
B) They find other websites to read, and stop visiting mine. We can be free of each other.
C) I learn to just ignore all of it, and put more concentration on the people who DO care.

I'm not really good with C, so maybe some of you can be nice and help either A or B come true. I'd deeply appreciate it.

Anyway, now that I've gotten that off my chest....I do feel a bit better. It's been bothering me for a LONG time. Hopefully I'll get a good news email soon, and then I'll feel even better.

Let's get on with the show.

Andrew Hansen.

Lord Wiki says he was born somewhere on 18 September 1974. He's two years younger than me.

For school, Hansen went to The Hills Grammar School which is in Kenthurst, New South Wales. Lord Wiki says that's a Sydney suburb in the north-west.

I'm looking at Google Maps. It's way more north than I expected. It's about 50 minutes north of the CBD.

It's way out there.

Hansen graduated from the University of Sydney. He got degrees in Australian literature and Australian history. I think those would be fun degrees, although I think I'd prefer learning it on my own. I enjoy this independent learning stuff, although I had fun in college too.

Like Firth, Hansen appeared in that documentary about university students; Uni. YouTube has some of the documentary. You know, I can't remember if I watched it before. I guess I'll watch some of it...again; or for the first time.

The video quality is not so great, but who am I to complain? Some of my YouTube videos have problems like that.

It's kind of too hard for me to watch though, so I'm going to stop.

I'm trying to figure out what to do. This is probably not an IMDb-needed post. I guess I'll stick to Lord Wiki, and watch lots of videos. I might go to some other links.

So, let's see.....

Hansen was on CNNNN. This is the show that pokes fun at American news channels.

Here's a video from that. I didn't laugh....probably because I'm in a bad mood. But I think it had a lot of truths to it. Basically, they're making fun of how the news people treat tragedy. Sometimes it seems to be all about ratings.

And here's another video. Interesting.

Hansen is on The Chaser's War on Everything. He writes for the show. He acts on the show. He sings for the show.

He composed the show's theme music. That's lovely music he's created for us.

On the show, it's been revealed that Hansen is a fan of computer games, Dr. Who, and U2.

In 2006, Hansen won an AFI award for best performance in television comedy. Cool.

I was looking at IMDb to get clarification about the award, and I saw that The Chasers War on Everything is no longer with us. I thought maybe it had become deceased, but I wasn't sure. I guess I should talk about it in the past tense then.

One of the big controversial things that Hansen did was write a song mocking some famous dead people. It was called "The Eulogy Song". I'm going to try and hear the song, or read the lyrics in a minute. I might have already done so in the past, but I can't remember it. So I'll do it again.

Lord Wiki says the message of the song is that we take people with flaws;, and when they die, we glorify them. This is true. I look at what happened with Michael Jackson. It seemed before he died, most people had forgotten him, or they saw him a joke. I don't think there was much love directed his way. Then he died, and it seemed the world was madly in love with him.

I myself have been guilty of not noticing celebrities until they died. I did it with Princess Diana, JFK Jr, Steve Irwin and Heath Ledger. I didn't pay much interest to them before they died. Then they died and I was obsessively reading news reports on them.

I really don't know what to say for myself.

I don't know what to say for any of us.

Maybe it's just the fact that they're everywhere on the news suddenly. It's hard to miss it. You see a report on their lives, and they suddenly seem interesting. First it's their death that's interesting....tragic and scary. Then you start reading about their lives, and find you kind of like them.

As for glorifying the dead...I think it's just human nature. When someone dies, we suddenly remember all the good stuff about them. Sometimes when I'm chronically mad at someone, I'll try to imagine they've died. I imagine the funeral and all the nice things people would say. I have this hope that it will help me see the positive. But honestly....if I'm really angry, I come up empty.

In terms of a song mocking the dead, I don't think I'd support it. It depends really on whether the song mocks the dead person, or the public reaction to it. I think I'd probably be okay with the latter. I think it also depends on how much time has passed, and what the nature of the criticism is. I don't think we should feel compelled to join in the glorification of the dead, but I also don't think we should use the time of mourning to mock the dead. I thought it was very tacky that Germaine Greer wrote nasty things about Steve Irwin right after he died. That's fine that she didn't like him. It's fine for her to share her opinions. But I think her timing was awful. To me, it almost seems like exploitation. Someone has died. Everyone is thinking about him now. I can write nasty things about them, and bring a lot of attention to myself.

I should probably shut up and find the song.

Here it is.

I like the first part....about his grandpa.

I don't find any of it very funny. There's some truths in his insults towards people. I'll give him that. My feeling though is that 99.9% of humans have both good and bad qualities. There's stuff that's shameful about us, and there's stuff that's great about us. I think it's kind of nice that we concentrate on the good when someone dies. We can also remember the negative, but I think it should be presented in a tasteful manner. I think also it should be remembered that some of these dead people left behind grieving parents, spouses, and children. It would be nice if people could show respect regarding that.

I'm tired of reading. I'm really not in the mood for this. I was just thinking. People are going to come to this blog for the first time, via this post, and think I'm a total bitch with high expectations of people and an awful sense of humor. Well, maybe that IS one side of me. But I have some other sides. The better sides come out when I'm not pissed at a lot of people, and worried about scary things.

I think I'm going to watch some videos. Maybe something out there will lighten up my mood. Then I'm going to quit. I think I'll do some cleaning and major exercising. That's therapeutic.

Here's a video about Pauline Hanson. It's pretty clever. So when Pauline Hanson dies, will everyone glorify her? I'm doubting it. I guess we shall see. And it's not like I'm wishing her to die soon, or anything. I may disagree with her on a lot of political stuff, but I see no reason to wish death on people.

Here's a parody of "My Favorite Things". I would probably find it funny if I was in a good mood. But now I'm sitting here thinking....how DARE you make fun of The Sound of Music! That movie is like holy to me. And Christopher Plummer is NOT a bad actor. He's awesome!

I'm going to quit here. Well, first maybe I'll watch this fan video. Maybe I'll like something in it.

The sperm thing is kind of funny. It makes me think of all those people who have these really loud mobile phone conversations in public. And you're kind of FORCED to eavesdrop. You try to read or whatever....but they keep distracting you.

The Dr. Who thing made me laugh, and I don't even watch Dr. Who.

I liked the ten question thing.

The emo thing made me laugh.

And now it's over, and so is this post.




P.S-(adding this a few hours later). I just got a massive amount of happy family emails. We were blessed with VERY good news. So at least I can stop worrying about that particular huge issue. We're all extremely relieved.

P.S II- This post was supposed to be published on April 29, but I'm publishing it today because I just don't want to hold all these bitchy feelings in anymore.

I feel all stressed about publishing my posts out of order. I'm very rigid about it. Maybe this is a good therapeutic step for me. Or maybe I've screwed up the universe (and all it's alternates) by publishing out of order. I hope not!

Read my novel: The Dead are Online