It's extremely likely that Mia Wasikowska is an actress. I say this based on where she is on the list. I don't really recognize her name, though. When I look at the upcoming days on the list, I recognize many of them. I've seen them on film/TV credits when I researched other people. But I don't think I've seen Wasikowska lately. I could be wrong, though. My memory isn't always impressive.
Well, Lord Wiki says she's from the new Alice in Wonderland. She plays Alice. She also played Sophie in In-Treatment. I'm not sure if I remember her, or not. I got into only one of the storylines. It was the girl who had cancer. That might have been Sophie, but I don't think so. Lord Wiki says Sophie attempted suicide. I didn't see the beginning of the cancer storyline, but I don't think there was a suicide attempt in there.
Baby Mia was born in Canberra, on 14 October 1989. That's cool. I don't find many celebrities that were born there.
It looks like Wasikowska has art in her genes. Mommy Wasikowska is a photographer, and Daddy (who is NOT a Wasikowska) is a painter and collagist. I like making collages.
For some reason, Mia ended up with her mother's last name. The name comes from Poland.
Like me, Wasikowska is a middle child. She has an older sister, and a younger brother.
The family did international traveling when Wasikowska was young. When she was eight, they spent a year in Poland. I wonder if she enjoyed that.
From ages 9-14, Wasikowska was really into ballet. At one time, she was doing it for thirty-five hours a week. Yikes! That would average out to five hours a day. How could someone manage that?
Anyway, she left that road ,because it was giving her self-esteem issues regarding her body. Well, Lord Wiki mentions pressure regarding physical perfection. I'm guessing that's body image, but it could also refer to physical ability.
This article in The New York Times says that in the white middle class population, eating disorders effect about 1/100 people. In classical ballet dancers, it's 1/5. That's pretty scary. Although Wasikowska moved into the direction of film. I'm not sure that industry is much better in promoting healthy body images and eating habits.
That's about it for Lord Wiki. I'm going to jump on over to IMDb to get the filmography stuff.
Wasikowska's first professional screen appearance seems to be All Saints. In 2004 and 2005, she played Lily Watson. According to IMDb, she was only in two episodes. In their brief episode summary, TV.com mentions an underage prostitute. Maybe this was Wasikowska's character?
YouTube has the episode. I'm not sure if I'll end up watching the part with Wasikowska, or not.
Someone was injured in a plastic factory...some kind of chemical explosion, maybe.
There's a woman whose husband died at the hospital. She's trying to get information from the doctors, and they're being awfully evasive. I'd be absolutely furious if I was that woman.
Now they're showing a meeting regarding this dead guy. They say he was self-medicating for depression with mercury. Really? I've never heard of that.
I'm googling and seeing more stuff about mercury CAUSING depression.
There's some belief that there's a connection.
I didn't see Wasikowska in that part. I'm going to watch part 2....No Wasikowska there either. I'm going to watch part 3.
What happened is a doctor had to guess about how much medicine to give the mercury-depressed guy. I'm not sure why. I missed that. Maybe it was some kind of computer shutdown? Anyway, he gave the patient double the amount of medicine. The doctor feels very guilty for what he did and accepts the blame. The other people in the meeting are trying to convince him that it was an honest and innocent mistake.
This is compelling drama.
But where is Wasikowska? Maybe I have the wrong episode.
There IS a young woman that's been shown....she works in the hospital? I'm wondering if that could be Wasikowska. But she would have been only 14-15 when she did the show. Why would someone that age be working in a hospital?
Now I'm onto part 4. Someone named Erica is missing. I hope they find her.
Oh! I really admire this doctor....the one that accidentally killed the patient. Everyone has told him he MUST not talk to the wife. She wanted to know what happened, and they refused to tell her. The doctor ignored what the others told him and went to go talk to her. It might not be the best thing to do legally, but I think it IS the best thing to do morally.
The wife is freaking out a bit. I guess that's understandable. But she's acting all surprised and saying they killed her husband. I thought she already suspected that there was some kind of medical mistake.
Now I'm onto part 5.
This is so horribly sad. The reason the deceased husband had been depressed is that he blamed himself for his son's death. The last time they had seen each other was in the midst of a huge fight; then the son drove away, and got killed. The husband/father was depressed, and he broke away from his wife. I hate hearing things like that. I hate big fights. But then if someone gets in a fight and then drives away in anger....they're as much to blame. Not only are they endangering themselves, but they're also endangering anyone on the road.
This is a horribly sad episode.
I really like the guy wearing light blue. I think he's a nurse? He's the one who's lost Erica. I don't know why I like him. Maybe he reminds me of someone.
Now I'm on to part 6. I think it's the last one....still no Wasikowska. Either she comes in at the very end, or I've watched the wrong episode.
Yeah. I think I watched the wrong episode.
Oh well. It was good at least....although very depressing.
Let's move on. I don't have the heart to try to continue my search for Wasikowska on All Saints. I think I'm going to skip it.
In 2006, Wasikowska was in the Australian movie Suburban Mayhem. I don't think I've heard of it. It's about a young woman who has her father murdered. It sounds disturbing. Wasikowska doesn't play the murderous daughter. She plays Lilya. Maybe a friend?
Here's the trailer. It doesn't look appealing to me. Maybe I'm missing something. It depresses me to think that there's people that awful in the world....trashy and heartless. It's not all that bad to be trashy, but you add heartless to the mix, and it's just no good. At least, I don't think so. Maybe the murderous girl DOES have a heart, and they're just not showing it in the trailer.
I just want to mention that there's some film shorts in Wasikowska's filmography. I'm skipping those. I usually skip these, unless I can easily find the movies on YouTube.
Anyway....
In 2007, Wasikowska appeared in the movie September. It's a drama that takes place in the late 1960's. The basic storyline involves a friendship between a black child and a white child.
The Australian Screen website provides some clips. I'm not sure if Wasikowska will be in them. I don't think she has a big role in the film.
I'm watching the last scene provided even though Wasikowska is not in it. It's sad. I think it takes place when the two kids have grown up. The black man works for the white man. He comes to the white man and says he's heard that black people are now getting paid wages. The white man says yes, this is true. But he can't afford to pay him. If he pays him, he can no longer give him free food and board.
I don't know.
It could be true. It's hard to judge situations like that. Is it a fair trade....no wages, but you get free food and board? What kind of living arrangements are provided? And how does that compare to the lifestyle of the white people who own the place? Are they living in luxury while their workers are not paid and living in deprivation?
When the white guy says he can't pay the black guy, does he mean if I pay you, we'll lose the property and be financially destitute. Or if he pays him, will they have just cut back on some extravagances?
The other question: Will this post ever have anything to do with Wasikowska? Well, hopefully eventually....it will.
Wasikowska was in Rogue. I've seen that. It's the movie with the big mean crocodile.
Here's the trailer. Is that Wasikowska at :38? Or maybe she's the girl at :47. Or maybe they're both her. I'm confused. I can't tell if those are two different girls or not.
I think they're probably the same.
Here we go. I found one of the shorts. This one is from 2008. It's called I Love Sarah Jane. Wasikowska plays the title character.
The movie won awards from two American film festivals, and one French one.
Oh! There's a zombie here. That's pretty exciting.
This is a post-apocalyptic thing.
I think that's Wasikowska at 4:14.
It's a world without adults....kind of like Lord of the Flies.
I think the best part of the film is the news report in the background. It's fun to hear them talking about the zombies.
The boy in the film....the one in love with Sarah....he's sweet.
Wow. This is getting kind of good. The zombie stuff has my interest. The ending is gruesome, but it's pretty cool.
All right. Now I'm onto In Treatment. I guess Wasikowska was in the first season, the same one that featured Melissa George.
Now I see the girl with cancer. She was played by Alison Pill, who is not Australian. She's Canadian. Well, I figured I should probably check.
For the TV show, both George and Wasikowska got AFI nominations, under the international category. They lost to Toni Collette.
This psychotherapy blog goes into great detail about the show. Sophie comes in to see the doctor Paul because she's been in an accident. Then I guess later, it's uncovered that it was a suicide attempt.
Someone on YouTube has done some kind of psychoanalysis of the Sophie episodes. This might be interesting.
The guy narrating the video says that Sophie's treatment was successful. So we should watch the video to see why. Uh....isn't a fictional show? Maybe that's why it was successful. The writers could simply choose for it to be that way.
I'm excited because I'm hearing her Australian accent. It's still there....at least a little bit. I can hear it slightly at about 1:18...and then at 1:23.
In one part, Paul reassures Sophie that everyone thinks of death. A social worker had previously asked her if she thought of death, trying to prove Sophie had caused her own accident. I think that's one of the kindest things a doctor can do...reassure someone that they're normal. I have a feeling doctors these days are more likely to do the opposite, convince people that they're abnormal.
I've had this experience twice. One was with Jack's former pediatric dentist. Jack used to be horribly terrified of medical professionals. When he was three, we had a dentist appointment. My mom came with for support. Jack cried a lot. The dentist and the hygienists were very nervous and impatient with him. My mom asked if Jack's behavior was normal. The dentist said it was okay, I think. But then he added that if Jack was still acting like this when he was four, then we need to worry. What the hell? How many people out there are scared of dentists? I think even many adults are scared. I also think it's ridiculous for a medical professional to judge a child as normal or abnormal based on a short interaction....especially when that interaction involves a relative stranger monkeying with your mouth.
This week I went to the doctor for my annual pelvic exam. So, I get nervous during these things. My body tenses up. The doctor or nurse practitioner asks me to relax, and that makes me even more nervous. This past week, I had problems like always. It took a minute or two for them to get the whatever inside of me. What is it? I forgot the name of the instrument. Anyway, they struggled a bit and then from my viewpoint, things went okay. I think once they're in, I'm able to relax. It's just that initial probing that gets to me. I think the whole thing lasted about 3-5 minutes.
After it was done, the nurse practitioner made some comment about me taking a Valium next time. I think she was joking...at least partly. I forced out a chuckle. Whatever. I can imagine that being necessary if the test had turned out impossible, or if I was screaming and crying, and they had to hold me down. But I don't think I was really that awful.
Then she asked me why I was like that. She asked me if I had been sexually abused as a child. As far as I can remember, I hadn't been. But with these questions, I was starting to feel there was something really wrong with me. I felt guilty. I felt weird. I felt like a failure.
Later I talked to a friend about it....the one who is usually kind enough to assure me that I'm normal. Then I googled nervousness during pelvic exams. To me, it looked like it's not that unusual.
Why did the nurse practitioner have to be that way? How is her attitude helping either of us? She made some comment about how things would have gone much quicker, if I relaxed. Well, shit. Do we always have to be in such a rush? Did I diminish her life by making the test take five minutes rather than one minute?
Does this woman really believe she's going to make me feel better about things by treating me this way? I think next time, I'm going to be even MORE nervous....and now I have all these angry feelings associated with it. It would have been much better if she just said, Hey, don't worry. Many women get very nervous about these things.
I'm rambling. What can I say? This blog is my therapy. Why? Because if I went to a professional therapist, they'd probably end up making me feel a thousand times worse about myself.
Shit. And now I just got an email with unsettling news. It makes my issues seem small in comparison.
Well, hopefully it will end up being nothing.
Anyway, I'll watch more of the video.
I can relate to some of the stuff. Paul suggests that Sophie wanted her mother to call, so Sophie would have an excuse to be angry. I find myself doing this at times. I think there's a part of me that wants someone to do something angry-worth. But I think it's when certain people have already done things to hurt me. I guess I want to be hurt even more, so I can feel my anger is righteous. Maybe it's less confusing that way? If someone does something hurtful and then they change for the better....I guess I distrust their motives.
When I'm so angry at someone, I start to dislike them. I just get into that mode. If they continue to do annoying/hurtful things, I'm less confused. So I look out for things to make me angry. But then eventually my relationship with the person improves (usually) and I stop doing that. It's usually a temporary state. I may still notice the annoying/hurtful things, but I pay much less attention to them.
Well, I'm done watching that video. I don't think I want to watch anymore. I'm a bit stressed now...emotionally.
I wanted to see if Sophie was the patient with the eating disorder. She is. I'm reading the psychotherapy blog again. It makes me feel somewhat relieved. I read so much stuff about people who have eating disorders and how their family was incredibly concerned and helpful. The blogger says, Paul asks if her father took seriously when he was told that she was anorexic. She says no, that her father likes how she looks, tells her that she could be a model. This very much reminds me of my experience. When I was rapidly losing weight, there was very little concern from the people in my life. Instead, I received mucho kudos. Certain people (like my parents) were extremely proud. Later when I recovered and tried to talk to them about it, they didn't take me at all seriously. After a lot of crying and discussion, they seemed to be maybe taking me somewhat seriously. I don't know. Then they went back to old behaviors. Even now, they act all proud if they perceive I've lost any weight.
I don't get it.
But at least I know I'm not alone....even though Sophie is a fictional character.
Also in 2008, Wasikowska was in Defiance. I think Tim saw this. He raved about it. It's about Jewish brothers in the Nazi days.
Here's the trailer. I think that's Wasikowska at :45.
Lord Wiki says the movie is about something called the Bielski partisans. They were Jewish people who saved other Jewish people from getting killed by the Nazis. There's some controversy though, because they acted somewhat like bushrangers. In order to save themselves, they would commit crimes against the local Polish people; and there's belief that there was rape and violence within the group.
The movie probably polished out some of the controversial stuff.
But from what I'm reading, it seemed mostly to be a good thing. What can you do when people are trying to kill you and your family? I think most people would try to protect themselves, and in doing so, it's not always easy to make the right moral choices.
And as for the rapes, in every group, you get nasty folks.
I just went downstairs to talk to Tim about the movie. He defended it, and I think I'm on his side. He said they did show some of the rapes.... or at least the attempts. Like I said, in any group of people, you're going to have bad apples. You're not going to end up with a group of 100% heroic and decent folks.
When I asked Tim about the crimes against the Polish, he asked which Polish people? Was it innocent people living in the town, or were these Polish people who had tried to harm the Jewish people. There's a difference.
I'm against terrorism. To me, this is killing/hurting people associated with those who have caused you harm. The people themselves are innocent, but you kill them to prove a point. You hope that by scaring people and making them feel powerless, you can have any of your demands fulfilled.
But I think self-defense is a different story. In self-defense, you cause harm in order to protect yourself. In the best situation, nothing occurs to make such actions needed. Everyone stays safe and happy. In the second best situation, self-defense actions are taken, and no one is hurt beyond what is needed. I'm trying to think of an example..... How about someone is at a store, and it's robbed. The storekeeper wrestles the gun away and shoots the robber. The robber loses an eye, and has to wear a patch for the rest of his life. It all works out well. And maybe it's a bit worse. Maybe he dies. But the robber kind of asked for it, by robbing the store.
Things don't always work out so well. Let's say in trying to save his own ass, the shopkeeper wrestles the gun. But he doesn't have good aim, and he ends up killing the robber, the robber's brother, and a customer. This is not quite ideal. But can we blame someone for trying to save themselves?
I guess what I'm trying to say is that maybe the Bieski people weren't perfect. But I think maybe they did the best they could under the circumstances.
I'd probably have to read much more to get a full understanding. But from the little I've seen, I'd say for the most part these people were heroes. Although some of the world is not happy with the Jews unless they turn the other cheek, lay down, and die.
In 2009, Wasikowska was in That Evening Sun. It's about a farmer in Tennessee. For her work in the film, Wasikowska was been nominated for an Independent Spirit Award.
Here's the trailer.
Who's that woman at :35. She kind of reminds me of Amanda Plummer, but I don't think that's her. I didn't see her name in the credits.
Oh! She's from True Blood. I should have recognized her. She plays Arlene.
Lord Wiki makes the story sound pretty good. I couldn't really get what was going on by the trailer alone. Anyway, the old man was sent to a nursing home but then he escapes back to his farm. He refuses to leave.
I'm getting some kind of theme today. It's people behaving badly, but they're kind of forced into the situation. We started with that All Saints doctor. Yeah. He killed a patient, but he did the best he could do in the circumstances. We have Jews acting controversially to save themselves. And now we have a farmer who doesn't want to rot in a nursing home.
Desperate times call for desperate measures. It's just we all have different definitions of what is desperate.
The next movie on the list is Amelia. It's about Amelia Earhart. Wasikowska doesn't play Earhart. That job goes to Hillary Swank. Wasikowska plays Elinor Smith. Lord Wiki says she was another female aviator.
Here's the trailer. Hillary Swank as Amelia Earhart reminds me of Cate Blanchett as Katherine Hepburn. Maybe it's a similar accent? But something in both performances is unappealing to me. It sounds fake to me. I don't know, I guess people did talk to that way back then. I'm probably perceiving things out of ignorance.
This year we've had The Kids are all Right. It's been at film festivals but won't be widely released in the US until July. The plot involves artificial insemination.
Here's the trailer. Oh. It's about lesbian moms. I guess the kids want to find out who their father is. And one of the kids is played by Wasikowska. I had a dream about gay parenting last night. We were at a store, I think. There was a talking toy. It sounded weird to us....like the recorded voice was not the right one. Then the toy said something about having two mommies or two daddies. We realized someone had changed the toy to support gay parenting.
I'm just thinking....
There are those who say it's not healthy for children to grow up with gay parents. And to some degree they might have a point. There's probably a lot of stress involved, having two moms or two dads. But you know why? Society gives them grief! If society became more accepting, than it wouldn't be an issue.
I think usually the hardest part about being different is not the difference itself. It's the way people perceive and treat you.
Well....the trailer looks heartwarming. It showed so much, though, I don't think I'll ever need to see the movie.
There are things I like about it and then there are things that annoy me. It IS nice to see more and more homosexual relationships in mainstream movies and TV shows. That's a great step. But it seems the movie is slightly applying that a father is necessary. The guy in the trailer seems like a decent guy. The kids would probably benefit from having him in their lives. But I know of families who would be much better off if Daddy stayed far far away. Can a family not be whole with two moms? Is a male absolutely necessary? And I won't be sexist. The same can be asked of two fathers raising children. Are the children missing out by not having a female adult living with them?
Sometimes children in such families might be missing out. But I think often they're not. Again, I think probably the hardest part about being a gay parent....or a single parent....is the way society treats these families. If there was more support, I think things would be much easier for them.
Okay. Alice in Wonderland. For personal and complex reasons, we're not big fans of Tim Burton remakes in this family. Uh...don't ask.
We do like the original Disney version of Alice. It used to be one of Jack's obsessions.
I'm going to watch the trailer.
It looks incredibly creepy....especially the cat bit. Johnny Depp looks absolutely terrifying.
Yeah. Whatever. I'll stick to the cartoon.
The trivia page says that Burton didn't feel an emotional connection to the story. It seemed to be just a girl having one crazy encounter after enough. So he tried to add an emotional framework to the story. I'll admit I agree with him here. I have felt there's something lacking in the story. I've seen the original Disney version (or most of it), and I've read the book. It's never as good as I expect it to be. I love the symbolism of the story...falling down a rabbit hole, chasing after a white rabbit, growing big and small, causing a flood with one's own tears. I like the songs. But the story seems to be missing something. It feels cold to me. I wonder if Burton was able to rectify that.
I haven't read many reviews of the movie. Was it liked?
I'm looking at the Rotten Tomato site. I've heard of it before, but have never used it. I guess they provide a consensus of opinions?
Alice in Wonderland's score is 52%. That doesn't seem too impressive. I'm looking at the scores for movies out right now. Many of the movies have received low scores. Avatar has the highest at 82%. The lowest score is Bounty Hunter. That got an 8%.
Wasikowska has two upcoming movies. One is Restless. It's a Gus Van Sant movie. What's he famous for again? I saw My Own Private Idaho way back when. But isn't he well-known for something more recent?
I'm looking at his filmography. He did Milk recently. That was a pretty big deal. I guess his big movie though was Good Will Hunting. Entertainment Weekly says that Restless is about a dying girl who falls in love with a morbid teenager. I was about to say something sarcastic about all the movies out there that involve dying people in romances. But there really ARE a lot of people in that situation. Fatal diseases aren't exactly rare. I wish they were.
I absolutely hate premature death....passionately.
I'm in a bad mood. I don't know if it's due to Wasikowska's name being hard for me to spell, the bad news I got in the email, or difficult feelings this blog post has brought up. I guess it's a combination of the three.
Wasikowska is going to be in Jane Eyre. I can't say I've loved all the classic literature I've read. But I did like that book. I think I've even read it more than once.
Here's a Mia Wasikowska website. It may have something I can use. Well, no. Actually, it doesn't. The two pages I was interested in (quotes and fun facts) are missing. Oh well. But still. Fans of Wasikowska might enjoy the site. There are photos and stuff.
I hate scary news. I really do. I'm scared, and I feel hopeless. Even if this turns out to be a false alarm, I know more bad news is going to come eventually. I feel the world is full of one health scare after another. As soon as you feel relief for one, another pops up. And I'm scared eventually my good luck is going to end. One day, I'm not going to get the news that brings relief. That's so incredibly depressing.
And I'm really not trying to be vague and evasive about all this. It's just stuff I'm not at liberty to talk about in detail.
I'm going to try to think positively. Life is full of worries. They can really get you down. That's why chocolate was invented.
Anyway.....
Here's an interview with Wasikowska. It's regarding Alice in Wonderland.
She kind of reminds me of Gwyneth Paltrow.
Wasikowska says something that I read on IMDb. In the movie, Alice is supposed to be nineteen. Wasikowska says she's different from when she first came to wonderland when she was seven. So is this a sequel?
Wasikowska says she was a fan of both Tim Burton movies and the Alice in Wonderland books. That's good.
She said Johnny Depp was nice to work with.
Wasikowska is very positive about everything. I think it's that type of interview. It's upbeat, but you don't know if it's 100% honest. It's somewhat political.
It's not that I put the blame on Wasikowska. I don't expert her to diss her co-stars, director, or the books. And I'd think she was rude to do so. It's just these questions are a bit....What should I say? Loaded? They're kind of worthless, because there's only one appropriate answer. Although I guess it wouldn't have been too awful if she admitted to never reading the books. That might not have been too shocking.
Here's a Letterman interview. It's more interesting. Letterman points out that Mia has the same name as Mia Farrow, and he says she kind of looks like her. She does! She has the same haircut. I think it's very cute.
Wasikowska says both her parents are photographers. Lord Wiki had said the dad was a collagist. Well, maybe he's a collagist, AND a photographer.
As a child, Wasikowska want camping. I wonder if they have lots of photographs of the family camping.
Wasikowska says Canberra has a population of about 300,000 people. I wonder if she's right or not. I'll go check.
Well, Lord Wiki says she is. That's pretty impressive. I don't know the population of my city.
Let me go check.....
Okay. Fort Worth has about 700,000 people.
This is funny. Letterman is asking all these questions about Parliament, and he asks her who the Prime Minister of Canada is. Wasikowska ignores the mistake and just answers Kevin Rudd. I wonder if she knows who the Prime Minister of Canada is.
I don't.
But I'm going to find out right now.....
It's Stephen Harper.
Okay, so Wasikowska knows the population of Canberra, and she knows that Kevin Rudd is her Prime Minister. She doesn't know about Harold Holt disappearing into the ocean. Lettermen knew about it, though. It's funny how we all know some things, but not other things. No one can know everything, so we all have to have a learning gap somewhere. I wrote about all this a few weeks ago on my unschooling blog.
Wasikowska says she celebrated Halloween with the Obamas. The Obama girls had wanted a Tim Burton type party. They had Johnny Depp dressed as the Mad Hatter, Wasikowska did Alice, and Michelle Obama was Cat Woman. That's pretty funny. I wonder what Obama and the kids dressed up as.
This article says that Obama just wore regular clothes. I wonder why he didn't wear a costume.
Anyway, I think that's it for now.
Well, Lord Wiki says she's from the new Alice in Wonderland. She plays Alice. She also played Sophie in In-Treatment. I'm not sure if I remember her, or not. I got into only one of the storylines. It was the girl who had cancer. That might have been Sophie, but I don't think so. Lord Wiki says Sophie attempted suicide. I didn't see the beginning of the cancer storyline, but I don't think there was a suicide attempt in there.
Baby Mia was born in Canberra, on 14 October 1989. That's cool. I don't find many celebrities that were born there.
It looks like Wasikowska has art in her genes. Mommy Wasikowska is a photographer, and Daddy (who is NOT a Wasikowska) is a painter and collagist. I like making collages.
For some reason, Mia ended up with her mother's last name. The name comes from Poland.
Like me, Wasikowska is a middle child. She has an older sister, and a younger brother.
The family did international traveling when Wasikowska was young. When she was eight, they spent a year in Poland. I wonder if she enjoyed that.
From ages 9-14, Wasikowska was really into ballet. At one time, she was doing it for thirty-five hours a week. Yikes! That would average out to five hours a day. How could someone manage that?
Anyway, she left that road ,because it was giving her self-esteem issues regarding her body. Well, Lord Wiki mentions pressure regarding physical perfection. I'm guessing that's body image, but it could also refer to physical ability.
This article in The New York Times says that in the white middle class population, eating disorders effect about 1/100 people. In classical ballet dancers, it's 1/5. That's pretty scary. Although Wasikowska moved into the direction of film. I'm not sure that industry is much better in promoting healthy body images and eating habits.
That's about it for Lord Wiki. I'm going to jump on over to IMDb to get the filmography stuff.
Wasikowska's first professional screen appearance seems to be All Saints. In 2004 and 2005, she played Lily Watson. According to IMDb, she was only in two episodes. In their brief episode summary, TV.com mentions an underage prostitute. Maybe this was Wasikowska's character?
YouTube has the episode. I'm not sure if I'll end up watching the part with Wasikowska, or not.
Someone was injured in a plastic factory...some kind of chemical explosion, maybe.
There's a woman whose husband died at the hospital. She's trying to get information from the doctors, and they're being awfully evasive. I'd be absolutely furious if I was that woman.
Now they're showing a meeting regarding this dead guy. They say he was self-medicating for depression with mercury. Really? I've never heard of that.
I'm googling and seeing more stuff about mercury CAUSING depression.
There's some belief that there's a connection.
I didn't see Wasikowska in that part. I'm going to watch part 2....No Wasikowska there either. I'm going to watch part 3.
What happened is a doctor had to guess about how much medicine to give the mercury-depressed guy. I'm not sure why. I missed that. Maybe it was some kind of computer shutdown? Anyway, he gave the patient double the amount of medicine. The doctor feels very guilty for what he did and accepts the blame. The other people in the meeting are trying to convince him that it was an honest and innocent mistake.
This is compelling drama.
But where is Wasikowska? Maybe I have the wrong episode.
There IS a young woman that's been shown....she works in the hospital? I'm wondering if that could be Wasikowska. But she would have been only 14-15 when she did the show. Why would someone that age be working in a hospital?
Now I'm onto part 4. Someone named Erica is missing. I hope they find her.
Oh! I really admire this doctor....the one that accidentally killed the patient. Everyone has told him he MUST not talk to the wife. She wanted to know what happened, and they refused to tell her. The doctor ignored what the others told him and went to go talk to her. It might not be the best thing to do legally, but I think it IS the best thing to do morally.
The wife is freaking out a bit. I guess that's understandable. But she's acting all surprised and saying they killed her husband. I thought she already suspected that there was some kind of medical mistake.
Now I'm onto part 5.
This is so horribly sad. The reason the deceased husband had been depressed is that he blamed himself for his son's death. The last time they had seen each other was in the midst of a huge fight; then the son drove away, and got killed. The husband/father was depressed, and he broke away from his wife. I hate hearing things like that. I hate big fights. But then if someone gets in a fight and then drives away in anger....they're as much to blame. Not only are they endangering themselves, but they're also endangering anyone on the road.
This is a horribly sad episode.
I really like the guy wearing light blue. I think he's a nurse? He's the one who's lost Erica. I don't know why I like him. Maybe he reminds me of someone.
Now I'm on to part 6. I think it's the last one....still no Wasikowska. Either she comes in at the very end, or I've watched the wrong episode.
Yeah. I think I watched the wrong episode.
Oh well. It was good at least....although very depressing.
Let's move on. I don't have the heart to try to continue my search for Wasikowska on All Saints. I think I'm going to skip it.
In 2006, Wasikowska was in the Australian movie Suburban Mayhem. I don't think I've heard of it. It's about a young woman who has her father murdered. It sounds disturbing. Wasikowska doesn't play the murderous daughter. She plays Lilya. Maybe a friend?
Here's the trailer. It doesn't look appealing to me. Maybe I'm missing something. It depresses me to think that there's people that awful in the world....trashy and heartless. It's not all that bad to be trashy, but you add heartless to the mix, and it's just no good. At least, I don't think so. Maybe the murderous girl DOES have a heart, and they're just not showing it in the trailer.
I just want to mention that there's some film shorts in Wasikowska's filmography. I'm skipping those. I usually skip these, unless I can easily find the movies on YouTube.
Anyway....
In 2007, Wasikowska appeared in the movie September. It's a drama that takes place in the late 1960's. The basic storyline involves a friendship between a black child and a white child.
The Australian Screen website provides some clips. I'm not sure if Wasikowska will be in them. I don't think she has a big role in the film.
I'm watching the last scene provided even though Wasikowska is not in it. It's sad. I think it takes place when the two kids have grown up. The black man works for the white man. He comes to the white man and says he's heard that black people are now getting paid wages. The white man says yes, this is true. But he can't afford to pay him. If he pays him, he can no longer give him free food and board.
I don't know.
It could be true. It's hard to judge situations like that. Is it a fair trade....no wages, but you get free food and board? What kind of living arrangements are provided? And how does that compare to the lifestyle of the white people who own the place? Are they living in luxury while their workers are not paid and living in deprivation?
When the white guy says he can't pay the black guy, does he mean if I pay you, we'll lose the property and be financially destitute. Or if he pays him, will they have just cut back on some extravagances?
The other question: Will this post ever have anything to do with Wasikowska? Well, hopefully eventually....it will.
Wasikowska was in Rogue. I've seen that. It's the movie with the big mean crocodile.
Here's the trailer. Is that Wasikowska at :38? Or maybe she's the girl at :47. Or maybe they're both her. I'm confused. I can't tell if those are two different girls or not.
I think they're probably the same.
Here we go. I found one of the shorts. This one is from 2008. It's called I Love Sarah Jane. Wasikowska plays the title character.
The movie won awards from two American film festivals, and one French one.
Oh! There's a zombie here. That's pretty exciting.
This is a post-apocalyptic thing.
I think that's Wasikowska at 4:14.
It's a world without adults....kind of like Lord of the Flies.
I think the best part of the film is the news report in the background. It's fun to hear them talking about the zombies.
The boy in the film....the one in love with Sarah....he's sweet.
Wow. This is getting kind of good. The zombie stuff has my interest. The ending is gruesome, but it's pretty cool.
All right. Now I'm onto In Treatment. I guess Wasikowska was in the first season, the same one that featured Melissa George.
Now I see the girl with cancer. She was played by Alison Pill, who is not Australian. She's Canadian. Well, I figured I should probably check.
For the TV show, both George and Wasikowska got AFI nominations, under the international category. They lost to Toni Collette.
This psychotherapy blog goes into great detail about the show. Sophie comes in to see the doctor Paul because she's been in an accident. Then I guess later, it's uncovered that it was a suicide attempt.
Someone on YouTube has done some kind of psychoanalysis of the Sophie episodes. This might be interesting.
The guy narrating the video says that Sophie's treatment was successful. So we should watch the video to see why. Uh....isn't a fictional show? Maybe that's why it was successful. The writers could simply choose for it to be that way.
I'm excited because I'm hearing her Australian accent. It's still there....at least a little bit. I can hear it slightly at about 1:18...and then at 1:23.
In one part, Paul reassures Sophie that everyone thinks of death. A social worker had previously asked her if she thought of death, trying to prove Sophie had caused her own accident. I think that's one of the kindest things a doctor can do...reassure someone that they're normal. I have a feeling doctors these days are more likely to do the opposite, convince people that they're abnormal.
I've had this experience twice. One was with Jack's former pediatric dentist. Jack used to be horribly terrified of medical professionals. When he was three, we had a dentist appointment. My mom came with for support. Jack cried a lot. The dentist and the hygienists were very nervous and impatient with him. My mom asked if Jack's behavior was normal. The dentist said it was okay, I think. But then he added that if Jack was still acting like this when he was four, then we need to worry. What the hell? How many people out there are scared of dentists? I think even many adults are scared. I also think it's ridiculous for a medical professional to judge a child as normal or abnormal based on a short interaction....especially when that interaction involves a relative stranger monkeying with your mouth.
This week I went to the doctor for my annual pelvic exam. So, I get nervous during these things. My body tenses up. The doctor or nurse practitioner asks me to relax, and that makes me even more nervous. This past week, I had problems like always. It took a minute or two for them to get the whatever inside of me. What is it? I forgot the name of the instrument. Anyway, they struggled a bit and then from my viewpoint, things went okay. I think once they're in, I'm able to relax. It's just that initial probing that gets to me. I think the whole thing lasted about 3-5 minutes.
After it was done, the nurse practitioner made some comment about me taking a Valium next time. I think she was joking...at least partly. I forced out a chuckle. Whatever. I can imagine that being necessary if the test had turned out impossible, or if I was screaming and crying, and they had to hold me down. But I don't think I was really that awful.
Then she asked me why I was like that. She asked me if I had been sexually abused as a child. As far as I can remember, I hadn't been. But with these questions, I was starting to feel there was something really wrong with me. I felt guilty. I felt weird. I felt like a failure.
Later I talked to a friend about it....the one who is usually kind enough to assure me that I'm normal. Then I googled nervousness during pelvic exams. To me, it looked like it's not that unusual.
Why did the nurse practitioner have to be that way? How is her attitude helping either of us? She made some comment about how things would have gone much quicker, if I relaxed. Well, shit. Do we always have to be in such a rush? Did I diminish her life by making the test take five minutes rather than one minute?
Does this woman really believe she's going to make me feel better about things by treating me this way? I think next time, I'm going to be even MORE nervous....and now I have all these angry feelings associated with it. It would have been much better if she just said, Hey, don't worry. Many women get very nervous about these things.
I'm rambling. What can I say? This blog is my therapy. Why? Because if I went to a professional therapist, they'd probably end up making me feel a thousand times worse about myself.
Shit. And now I just got an email with unsettling news. It makes my issues seem small in comparison.
Well, hopefully it will end up being nothing.
Anyway, I'll watch more of the video.
I can relate to some of the stuff. Paul suggests that Sophie wanted her mother to call, so Sophie would have an excuse to be angry. I find myself doing this at times. I think there's a part of me that wants someone to do something angry-worth. But I think it's when certain people have already done things to hurt me. I guess I want to be hurt even more, so I can feel my anger is righteous. Maybe it's less confusing that way? If someone does something hurtful and then they change for the better....I guess I distrust their motives.
When I'm so angry at someone, I start to dislike them. I just get into that mode. If they continue to do annoying/hurtful things, I'm less confused. So I look out for things to make me angry. But then eventually my relationship with the person improves (usually) and I stop doing that. It's usually a temporary state. I may still notice the annoying/hurtful things, but I pay much less attention to them.
Well, I'm done watching that video. I don't think I want to watch anymore. I'm a bit stressed now...emotionally.
I wanted to see if Sophie was the patient with the eating disorder. She is. I'm reading the psychotherapy blog again. It makes me feel somewhat relieved. I read so much stuff about people who have eating disorders and how their family was incredibly concerned and helpful. The blogger says, Paul asks if her father took seriously when he was told that she was anorexic. She says no, that her father likes how she looks, tells her that she could be a model. This very much reminds me of my experience. When I was rapidly losing weight, there was very little concern from the people in my life. Instead, I received mucho kudos. Certain people (like my parents) were extremely proud. Later when I recovered and tried to talk to them about it, they didn't take me at all seriously. After a lot of crying and discussion, they seemed to be maybe taking me somewhat seriously. I don't know. Then they went back to old behaviors. Even now, they act all proud if they perceive I've lost any weight.
I don't get it.
But at least I know I'm not alone....even though Sophie is a fictional character.
Also in 2008, Wasikowska was in Defiance. I think Tim saw this. He raved about it. It's about Jewish brothers in the Nazi days.
Here's the trailer. I think that's Wasikowska at :45.
Lord Wiki says the movie is about something called the Bielski partisans. They were Jewish people who saved other Jewish people from getting killed by the Nazis. There's some controversy though, because they acted somewhat like bushrangers. In order to save themselves, they would commit crimes against the local Polish people; and there's belief that there was rape and violence within the group.
The movie probably polished out some of the controversial stuff.
But from what I'm reading, it seemed mostly to be a good thing. What can you do when people are trying to kill you and your family? I think most people would try to protect themselves, and in doing so, it's not always easy to make the right moral choices.
And as for the rapes, in every group, you get nasty folks.
I just went downstairs to talk to Tim about the movie. He defended it, and I think I'm on his side. He said they did show some of the rapes.... or at least the attempts. Like I said, in any group of people, you're going to have bad apples. You're not going to end up with a group of 100% heroic and decent folks.
When I asked Tim about the crimes against the Polish, he asked which Polish people? Was it innocent people living in the town, or were these Polish people who had tried to harm the Jewish people. There's a difference.
I'm against terrorism. To me, this is killing/hurting people associated with those who have caused you harm. The people themselves are innocent, but you kill them to prove a point. You hope that by scaring people and making them feel powerless, you can have any of your demands fulfilled.
But I think self-defense is a different story. In self-defense, you cause harm in order to protect yourself. In the best situation, nothing occurs to make such actions needed. Everyone stays safe and happy. In the second best situation, self-defense actions are taken, and no one is hurt beyond what is needed. I'm trying to think of an example..... How about someone is at a store, and it's robbed. The storekeeper wrestles the gun away and shoots the robber. The robber loses an eye, and has to wear a patch for the rest of his life. It all works out well. And maybe it's a bit worse. Maybe he dies. But the robber kind of asked for it, by robbing the store.
Things don't always work out so well. Let's say in trying to save his own ass, the shopkeeper wrestles the gun. But he doesn't have good aim, and he ends up killing the robber, the robber's brother, and a customer. This is not quite ideal. But can we blame someone for trying to save themselves?
I guess what I'm trying to say is that maybe the Bieski people weren't perfect. But I think maybe they did the best they could under the circumstances.
I'd probably have to read much more to get a full understanding. But from the little I've seen, I'd say for the most part these people were heroes. Although some of the world is not happy with the Jews unless they turn the other cheek, lay down, and die.
In 2009, Wasikowska was in That Evening Sun. It's about a farmer in Tennessee. For her work in the film, Wasikowska was been nominated for an Independent Spirit Award.
Here's the trailer.
Who's that woman at :35. She kind of reminds me of Amanda Plummer, but I don't think that's her. I didn't see her name in the credits.
Oh! She's from True Blood. I should have recognized her. She plays Arlene.
Lord Wiki makes the story sound pretty good. I couldn't really get what was going on by the trailer alone. Anyway, the old man was sent to a nursing home but then he escapes back to his farm. He refuses to leave.
I'm getting some kind of theme today. It's people behaving badly, but they're kind of forced into the situation. We started with that All Saints doctor. Yeah. He killed a patient, but he did the best he could do in the circumstances. We have Jews acting controversially to save themselves. And now we have a farmer who doesn't want to rot in a nursing home.
Desperate times call for desperate measures. It's just we all have different definitions of what is desperate.
The next movie on the list is Amelia. It's about Amelia Earhart. Wasikowska doesn't play Earhart. That job goes to Hillary Swank. Wasikowska plays Elinor Smith. Lord Wiki says she was another female aviator.
Here's the trailer. Hillary Swank as Amelia Earhart reminds me of Cate Blanchett as Katherine Hepburn. Maybe it's a similar accent? But something in both performances is unappealing to me. It sounds fake to me. I don't know, I guess people did talk to that way back then. I'm probably perceiving things out of ignorance.
This year we've had The Kids are all Right. It's been at film festivals but won't be widely released in the US until July. The plot involves artificial insemination.
Here's the trailer. Oh. It's about lesbian moms. I guess the kids want to find out who their father is. And one of the kids is played by Wasikowska. I had a dream about gay parenting last night. We were at a store, I think. There was a talking toy. It sounded weird to us....like the recorded voice was not the right one. Then the toy said something about having two mommies or two daddies. We realized someone had changed the toy to support gay parenting.
I'm just thinking....
There are those who say it's not healthy for children to grow up with gay parents. And to some degree they might have a point. There's probably a lot of stress involved, having two moms or two dads. But you know why? Society gives them grief! If society became more accepting, than it wouldn't be an issue.
I think usually the hardest part about being different is not the difference itself. It's the way people perceive and treat you.
Well....the trailer looks heartwarming. It showed so much, though, I don't think I'll ever need to see the movie.
There are things I like about it and then there are things that annoy me. It IS nice to see more and more homosexual relationships in mainstream movies and TV shows. That's a great step. But it seems the movie is slightly applying that a father is necessary. The guy in the trailer seems like a decent guy. The kids would probably benefit from having him in their lives. But I know of families who would be much better off if Daddy stayed far far away. Can a family not be whole with two moms? Is a male absolutely necessary? And I won't be sexist. The same can be asked of two fathers raising children. Are the children missing out by not having a female adult living with them?
Sometimes children in such families might be missing out. But I think often they're not. Again, I think probably the hardest part about being a gay parent....or a single parent....is the way society treats these families. If there was more support, I think things would be much easier for them.
Okay. Alice in Wonderland. For personal and complex reasons, we're not big fans of Tim Burton remakes in this family. Uh...don't ask.
We do like the original Disney version of Alice. It used to be one of Jack's obsessions.
I'm going to watch the trailer.
It looks incredibly creepy....especially the cat bit. Johnny Depp looks absolutely terrifying.
Yeah. Whatever. I'll stick to the cartoon.
The trivia page says that Burton didn't feel an emotional connection to the story. It seemed to be just a girl having one crazy encounter after enough. So he tried to add an emotional framework to the story. I'll admit I agree with him here. I have felt there's something lacking in the story. I've seen the original Disney version (or most of it), and I've read the book. It's never as good as I expect it to be. I love the symbolism of the story...falling down a rabbit hole, chasing after a white rabbit, growing big and small, causing a flood with one's own tears. I like the songs. But the story seems to be missing something. It feels cold to me. I wonder if Burton was able to rectify that.
I haven't read many reviews of the movie. Was it liked?
I'm looking at the Rotten Tomato site. I've heard of it before, but have never used it. I guess they provide a consensus of opinions?
Alice in Wonderland's score is 52%. That doesn't seem too impressive. I'm looking at the scores for movies out right now. Many of the movies have received low scores. Avatar has the highest at 82%. The lowest score is Bounty Hunter. That got an 8%.
Wasikowska has two upcoming movies. One is Restless. It's a Gus Van Sant movie. What's he famous for again? I saw My Own Private Idaho way back when. But isn't he well-known for something more recent?
I'm looking at his filmography. He did Milk recently. That was a pretty big deal. I guess his big movie though was Good Will Hunting. Entertainment Weekly says that Restless is about a dying girl who falls in love with a morbid teenager. I was about to say something sarcastic about all the movies out there that involve dying people in romances. But there really ARE a lot of people in that situation. Fatal diseases aren't exactly rare. I wish they were.
I absolutely hate premature death....passionately.
I'm in a bad mood. I don't know if it's due to Wasikowska's name being hard for me to spell, the bad news I got in the email, or difficult feelings this blog post has brought up. I guess it's a combination of the three.
Wasikowska is going to be in Jane Eyre. I can't say I've loved all the classic literature I've read. But I did like that book. I think I've even read it more than once.
Here's a Mia Wasikowska website. It may have something I can use. Well, no. Actually, it doesn't. The two pages I was interested in (quotes and fun facts) are missing. Oh well. But still. Fans of Wasikowska might enjoy the site. There are photos and stuff.
I hate scary news. I really do. I'm scared, and I feel hopeless. Even if this turns out to be a false alarm, I know more bad news is going to come eventually. I feel the world is full of one health scare after another. As soon as you feel relief for one, another pops up. And I'm scared eventually my good luck is going to end. One day, I'm not going to get the news that brings relief. That's so incredibly depressing.
And I'm really not trying to be vague and evasive about all this. It's just stuff I'm not at liberty to talk about in detail.
I'm going to try to think positively. Life is full of worries. They can really get you down. That's why chocolate was invented.
Anyway.....
Here's an interview with Wasikowska. It's regarding Alice in Wonderland.
She kind of reminds me of Gwyneth Paltrow.
Wasikowska says something that I read on IMDb. In the movie, Alice is supposed to be nineteen. Wasikowska says she's different from when she first came to wonderland when she was seven. So is this a sequel?
Wasikowska says she was a fan of both Tim Burton movies and the Alice in Wonderland books. That's good.
She said Johnny Depp was nice to work with.
Wasikowska is very positive about everything. I think it's that type of interview. It's upbeat, but you don't know if it's 100% honest. It's somewhat political.
It's not that I put the blame on Wasikowska. I don't expert her to diss her co-stars, director, or the books. And I'd think she was rude to do so. It's just these questions are a bit....What should I say? Loaded? They're kind of worthless, because there's only one appropriate answer. Although I guess it wouldn't have been too awful if she admitted to never reading the books. That might not have been too shocking.
Here's a Letterman interview. It's more interesting. Letterman points out that Mia has the same name as Mia Farrow, and he says she kind of looks like her. She does! She has the same haircut. I think it's very cute.
Wasikowska says both her parents are photographers. Lord Wiki had said the dad was a collagist. Well, maybe he's a collagist, AND a photographer.
As a child, Wasikowska want camping. I wonder if they have lots of photographs of the family camping.
Wasikowska says Canberra has a population of about 300,000 people. I wonder if she's right or not. I'll go check.
Well, Lord Wiki says she is. That's pretty impressive. I don't know the population of my city.
Let me go check.....
Okay. Fort Worth has about 700,000 people.
This is funny. Letterman is asking all these questions about Parliament, and he asks her who the Prime Minister of Canada is. Wasikowska ignores the mistake and just answers Kevin Rudd. I wonder if she knows who the Prime Minister of Canada is.
I don't.
But I'm going to find out right now.....
It's Stephen Harper.
Okay, so Wasikowska knows the population of Canberra, and she knows that Kevin Rudd is her Prime Minister. She doesn't know about Harold Holt disappearing into the ocean. Lettermen knew about it, though. It's funny how we all know some things, but not other things. No one can know everything, so we all have to have a learning gap somewhere. I wrote about all this a few weeks ago on my unschooling blog.
Wasikowska says she celebrated Halloween with the Obamas. The Obama girls had wanted a Tim Burton type party. They had Johnny Depp dressed as the Mad Hatter, Wasikowska did Alice, and Michelle Obama was Cat Woman. That's pretty funny. I wonder what Obama and the kids dressed up as.
This article says that Obama just wore regular clothes. I wonder why he didn't wear a costume.
Anyway, I think that's it for now.
No comments:
Post a Comment