Websites Listed In My Favorite Bathroom Book (Part 4)

It's time to look at another website featured in my favorite bathroom book. Although I'm starting to think I've picked the wrong book. Catriona's Rowntree's book seems to be for wealthy people who have class. I think I need a tourism book for people who are cheap and lacking class.

But anyway...until I get that book, I'll stick with Rowntree's.

Today I'm going to be looking at a resort in Byron Bay called Rae's on Wategos.

One of the first things that comes to my mind when I think of Byron Bay is Bridie Carter. She owns a Thai restaurant there. Or she did. I wonder if it's still open.

I just googled and the top result was my own blog.  I said in my Bridie Carter entry that the restaurant is called Bayside Dining Traditional Thai restaurant. I just Googled that, and was led to this website. The restaurant is not owned by Bridie Carter. Since 2009 it's been owned by John and Mariana Pavlova. Did they buy it from Bridie Carter? Or did I totally pass on the wrong information when writing my Bridie Carter post?  I really hope I didn't.

Anyway....

I should probably start talking about Rae's on Wategos.

There's a photo on the front page, and it's really beautiful.  There's a courtyard with a pool.  I find that sort of thing attractive. I think it's maybe Spanish architecture? I'm not positive. Either way, though, I really like that style.

Two of the slideshow photos are of breasts. I used to really love breasts. Now I'm associating them with mammograms and expensive ultrasounds.

I'm sure I'll get over that soon.

I'm looking at Rae's on Wategos on Google Map. It's in Cape Byron State Conservation Point. If I remember correctly, QuizUp taught me that the eastern most point of Australia is in Byron Bay. And the park is jutting out a bit. I wonder if this is the point that's furthest to the east.

Lord Wiki says it is. That's cool.  Though if stay at Rae's on Wategos, you still have about a twenty-five minute walk to get to the very tip. I don't actually know if you're allowed to go there. Or if it's walkable. Maybe there are high cliffs that are impassable.

There's a fitness center near the edge, though.

I'm asking Lord Wiki about walking to far eastern bit of Cape Byron. He is showing me that there's a lighthouse. And it looks like it's right there at the coast. So I think people can walk there.  Or at least get pretty close.

Now I'm going to read Rae's on Wategos about page. They describe themselves as being a combination of modern luxury and bohemian grandeur. Byron Bay is known for being bohemian, I think.  Does grandeur really fit with bohemian? I don't know.  Or did they just need a noun to go with bohemian?  They could have just said modern, bohemian luxury.  No...that doesn't sound good.

Rae's on Wategos says they have been voted one of the top 25 hotels in the world. This year? Another year? I don't know.

The hotel has seven rooms, so it probably won't feel overcrowded.

They say their decor is first class yet warm and inviting. I wonder if I'd agree with them. It's different for every person, really. What's warm and inviting to one person might not be warm and inviting to someone else.

The resort has absolute beach front. What do they mean by absolute?

I just Googled for an explanation. I see several places declaring that they have it, but I can't find what it means.  Maybe it means they're truly on the beach, and it's very easy to walk to the beach once you open the door from the hotel. There are places that say they're near the beach, but you have to walk a block or two.

Or it could mean every room has a view of the beach?

Now I'm looking at the room page for Rae's on Wategos website.  It's very cool. Each room has a different name and decor style. I like resorts and hotels that do this. I remember my family once went to one in California. Well, we didn't actually stay there. But we visited. Maybe we ate there?

I think my personal favorite here is the Mirabella Penthouse. I'm not sure it looks WARM and inviting to me. But it does look inviting.  By warm, I mean cozy; not temperature wise.

I also like the Batavian Suite.

They should have a Doctor Who Suite that looks like a Tardis! That would make me feel extremely warm and invited.

Oops. I think of myself as not having expensive taste. But I just looked at the prices ,and the Mirabella Penthouse is the second most expensive. It's $1250 a night.  The cheapest is the Garden Suite. It's $550 a night. Even that's much more than what we ever spend per night.

Here's their spa page.  I've had only one spa experience in my life. It wasn't a positive one.  I have an overactive bladder sometimes, and my massage day was one of those times.

I was going to say I don't like strangers touching me. But that's not really true. I used to love getting my hair washed at the beauty salon.

Well...I see on their menu that they have pedicures. I've had those before—maybe two or three times? It was at a nail place rather than a spa. I'm not sure if there'd be a big difference.

Maybe one day I'll end up doing a spa thing and I'll like it. For now, though, it doesn't really appeal to me. If I had a lot of money on hand, I'd rather spend it on something else.

The restaurant at Rae's on Wategos is called Rae's fish cafe. You can eat at the restaurant, or they can arrange a private dining experience for you.  You can also reserve the restaurant for large groups.

The restaurant is kind enough to provide vegetarian options; though I think that's pretty standard for restaurants in Australia. Still...I appreciate it.

It's expensive, as I would have expected. The vegetarian dish—a pasta is $32.   Several of their seafood dishes are $38.

I'm looking at Trip Advisor now. They have a few visitor photos. The food ones don't impress me much—mostly because it's seafood, and I'm not into that. I AM impressed with the scenery. It's beautiful.

Their recent reviews haven't been so good.  Their most recent review is titled "The Worst Meal Money Could Buy". Yikes!

I'm skimming through the reviews. The general idea I'm getting is that people used to like it, but quality has been reduced. And also, the food isn't worth the high price.

If I'm going to pay $32 for a bowl of pasta, I want to be thinking, This is the best pasta I've ever had in my life; not, This is good, but not any better than what we have at home, or what we eat at that neighborhood restaurant for $10.

I think Alice H's review title has wise advice. She says "Come For the Setting and View; Not the Food".  That makes sense.

Sometimes it's worth is to pay high prices for mediocre food, because it's more about the experience and location.  Like eating at the movie theater. The food is way overpriced, but there's something about it that's so appealing. Though it's also smart and wonderful to sneak in your own food.

Here's their wedding page. I think the photos are a bit small. It would be helpful, if when you clicked on the photo, you saw a larger photo. But no such luck.

The Champaign Celebrant's blog has an entry about a wedding at Rae's on Wategos.

The groom is from Wales. Why is that important? Guess what TV show is filmed there!

Simon Peter Taylor, a photographer, has some photos from a Rae's on Wategos wedding.

There's a photo of women standing together wearing different colored dresses. I wonder if they're the bridesmaids.  I like the idea of having the bridesmaids wear different things. I wish I did that. Although maybe I also kind of liked forcing my sisters and sister-in-law to wear the dress that I chose. Among those three, there's one who I feel always gets her way. Where she wants to go, we go. Where she wants to eat, we eat. What she wants to do, we do. So I probably enjoyed my moment of bossiness. Hopefully, though, I wasn't too much of a bridezella.

Here's something kind of fun.  Rae's on Wategos has a page where they list all their celebrity guests. Name-dropping is so tacky, but also incredibly delightful at times.

There's someone on the list named Opera Singer.  Does someone actually call themselves that? Or did Rae's know they had an opera singer on the premises, but forgot their name.

There are a lot of really famous names here; none that really excite me though. Translation=I don't see any actors from Doctor Who.

I was asking myself, which celebrity would thrill me if I was staying at Rae's on Wategos, and I learned they were there. But I think I'd be excited about any celebrity.

I'm not the type of person to scream, grab, and beg for an autograph. But I do sort of like walking past celebrities or seeing them from a distance. It would actually probably be better if it was not one of my favorites, because deep inside I'd want them to become my best friend and/or fall madly in love with me. And when that didn't happen, I'd have to face the facts of reality.  Like how horribly depressing it would be to walk past David Tennant, and realize he's not going to invite me to be his next Tardis companion.

It's more fun and less heartbreaking to walk past celebrities in which I have no infatuation.

Like Kate Winslet. I have no infatuation with her, but it would be fun to run into her.

Or Nicole Kidman.

Donald Sutherland! Although I was once quite infatuated with his son.  I'm over it now.

Rae's on Wategos has a resident artist. His name is David Bromley. That's very cool. I mean not his name. Though that's lovely. I mean it's cool that they have an artist. I'm guessing he does all their artwork, which would include the breasts I mentioned earlier.  The resort website has a few examples of Bromley's work, but we can probably see more on his own website.

The painting on the front page reminds me of a book cover. I'm not sure which one, though.

This drawing of a pig reminds me of Doctor Who. 

I like this pool picture a lot.  It's very sweet. There's a little boy and girl in formal clothes and they're watching the other children swim.

Why do pools always feel so much more inviting when I don't have my swim clothes with me?

I like Bromley's work. He might be my favorite part of Rae's on Wategos...at least going by their website. I'm sure if I stayed there, I'd like many other things.

They have an Instagram page. That's cool, because I felt I wasn't seeing enough pictures on their website. This might help me to get a better feel for the place.

They say this lighthouse is their lighthouse. Does that mean Rae's on Wategos has their own lighthouse. Or is this the general Cape Byron lighthouse?

I just went to Google Images. It's the general lighthouse. I don't fault them for calling it "Ours". It's like me saying, "Our library". We don't own the library, but it's the one close to us and the one that we visit.  And I guess as taxpayers, it sort of belongs to us. In a way.

This photo of Rae's on Watego's Ocean View Penthouse impresses me a lot.  It's amazing. If I was super wealthy and had the money to spend over a thousand dollars for one night, this might be the place I'd want to stay.

If you stay in the Mirabella Penthouse, you get Bromley breasts on your wall.

I think Rae and Bromley are helping me get over my negative breast connotations. I think now when I think of breasts, I'll think of this beautiful resort.

Well, guess what. I have to go because it's time for us to watch Doctor Who. Though I'm still madly in love with the show, I really miss Rose, Jackie, and Mickey. I'm having a hard time dealing with their absence.

Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night and I have insomnia. I start thinking about things that make me angry, and I start feeling awful. Well, because anger isn't an emotion that makes people feel very good. So I was thinking instead of getting angry, I should fill my head with fantasies.  Maybe tonight, if I wake up in the middle of the night, I'll have a fantasy in which I'm hanging out with Rose, Mickey, and Jackie at Rae's on Wategos. We'll all stay together in one of the penthouses. We won't eat at the over-priced mediocre restaurant. Instead we'll buy some cheese and crackers; and some grapes. We'll eat on the beach, or by the pool. Then we'll hear that wonderful sound, the second most wonderful sound in the world.

The Tardis will appear and the Doctor and Rose will be reunited. We'll all hang out and then...

I don't know what happens next.

I'll figure it out when my insomnia hits.

Maybe there'll be a Rae's on Wategos wedding that's interrupted by the Daleks.

Wait...scratch that. I forgot. I hate fan-fiction (or fantasies) that contradict canon. So we'll have to leave out the doctor for now. He'll stay in his own universe. UNLESS...maybe there's a parallel universe Doctor! Why wouldn't there be? He'll show up and Rose will protest. She'll whine, but he's not the real Doctor!

Then Rose's parallel-universe-dad will pop out from inside the resort building, and he and Jackie will talk about how they're not each other's original spouses; but they're getting along fine with each other.

I should probably shut up now.....

The Flags in Our Kitchen

This morning I was looking at the beautiful Aussie flags decorating our kitchen. I made a dark, horrible joke. I said if I really do lose my Aussie obsession because Doctor Who takes over my brain, it's no problem. We can simply cut the flags a bit.  Just remove the Southern Cross. We'll be left with the Union Jack, and it will remind me of Rose Tyler's t-shirt.

That probably won't happen, though. I mean cutting the flags is definitely not going to happen. I'm way too lazy for that type of craft-work.  Plus I'll probably be damned by the ghost of Alfred Deakin, or someone like that.

I doubt I'll lose the Aussie obsession.

Yesterday I was thinking the Australian obsession has always felt so spiritual to me—like it's in my soul. It feels important and wonderful.

The Doctor Who obsession kind of feels like it's bordering on mental illness.

Plus...I had communications with two people from the UK recently. When I tried to respond back to them, it was very hard for me to reply. I mean not in the sense that I couldn't figure out what to say. I mean there were technical difficulties.  So...I think that's the universe trying to tell me something.

A Moody Christmas

Yesterday I started watching A Moody Christmas. So far, I''m enjoying it a lot.

In the first episode, Dan (Ian Meadows) returns home from London to spend Christmas with his family in Australia.  I figured the second episode would be a continuation of the celebration. I know Christmas is one day; but then there's Boxing Day. And sometimes people keep celebrating until New Years.

Anyway, it turns out the show is not about a week in the life of a family during their Christmas holidays. To my surprise, the second episode started off in London again.  It takes place a year after the first episode.  The show is six episodes long, so I'm guessing it will span six years in a family's life. I really like that  concept.

The show has two stars from Offspring—Patrick Brammall and Jane Harber.  Harber plays Cora who seems extremely similar to her Offspring character (Zara).  Brammall plays Dan's brother Sean. He seems very different from his character (Leo) on Offspring.  But then Dan reminds me a bit of Leo. Sean is like a female version of Kat Stewart's character on both Offspring and Tangle. I say that, because Stewart is pretty much playing the same character on both those shows.

I see from IMDb that there's a sequel show to A Moody Christmas.  It's called The Moody's. Maybe it continues from the last year/last episode of the Christmas show. Or not.  Either way...I hope they have it on Hulu eventually.

Third Episode of Tangle

I watched the third episode of Tangle this morning.

I feel less depressed watching it than I did yesterday.

I think the main reason is, the police found the body. So now it's no longer a toy for the teens.  And though they might not be feeling guilty for their callous behavior, I think the teens are at least nervous about their actions being discovered. That gives me a sense of relief.

I'm also starting to like the characters. I like the three main women played by Justine Clarke, Kat Stewart, and Catherine McClements. Kat Stewart's character is wicked but in a sympathetic way. At least for now. They hint to stuff she's done in the past, and maybe when I learn more, I'll find it to be disgusting and awful. I don't know.

The show has a great (AWFUL) villain. That's Ben Mendelsohn's character. He's a total bully and incredibly selfish. Disgusting, really.

I think in a lot of people's real lives....or at least mine...these are the kind of villains we actually encounter. They're not murderers. They're not thieves. They're just assholes.

Actually. Looking at the bright side. I don't think I know anyone that's as bad as Mendelsohn's character. He actually makes the men in my life seem quite decent.

It's So Easy To Get To Queensland

I dreamed about Australia last night.

We decide to go to Queensland.

The wonderful thing about Queensland is that, unlike the rest of Australia, it's close by. We don't have to fly there. All you have to do is walk there.

I start off ahead of Jack and Tim. To get to Queensland, you don't walk on a road. It's more like you walk through buildings—rooms. Each room connects to another room. But then I get to a room where there's not an obvious connection to the next room. I'm confused about what to do next.

Tim and Jack show up, and then some random other man that we don't know. It's like we're all going to share this room together.  

I think the room was a hotel.  

State of Confusion About The Lucky Country

I'm in a state of confusion right now about my feelings towards Australia.

It's not the first time.Although my blog says I'm the weird American who's obsessed with Australia. It's not always true.  Sometimes I'm the weird American who's not-so-obsessed with Australia. Sometimes I'm the weird American who's obsessed with Australia but much more obsessed with other things at the moment. And there have been a few times that I've been the weird American who's secretly feeling kind of antagonistic towards Australia.

Once, one of the latter cases happened just before I started reading Donald Horne's The Lucky Country.  I felt a guilty sense of satisfaction when reading some of his criticisms.

Right now I'm not feeling antagonistic about Australia. It's more like my passion has been overshadowed by other things.

I'm writing all this and wondering what's the big deal anyway. Am I supposed to love Australia and only Australia 100% of the time?  Isn't there room enough in my heart to be passionate about many things at the same time? It's not like I'm married to Australia.

And if I'm feeling more passion and excitement for things not-Australian, it's probably just the fact that Australia has been with me for a pretty long time.  It's less of an obsession now and more simply an important and beloved part of my life.

Again, though...NOW is the operative word.  Tomorrow or next week, I might be totally obsessed with Australia again. A week or so ago, I had a huge desire to visit Australia...SOON.  But often I'm fine with the idea of not returning until my 50th birthday. And other times I'm thinking, what if for my 50th birthday trip, I decide we should go back to London instead of Australia?

Tangled Up in Feelings

I started watching Tangle yesterday.

Like Love My Way, it's quite depressing.

Tangle features teenagers who find a dead body. Instead of reporting it to the police, they monkey around with the body, call him gay several times, steal his keys, and break into his house.

On the positive side, though, it's not one of those novels or shows where all the characters are awful. Justine Clarke's character seems quite decent as well as her sister played by Catherine McClements. And there are a few other characters who I can relate to and like.

The thing is, I've been mildly depressed lately, and I'm wondering if watching this show will make me more depressed. Is it unhealthy to watch it? Or is it helpful to watch it? Maybe it's cathartic?

I don't know.

And what is the point of depressing TV shows in the first place? Is it to remind happy people that they shouldn't be so happy? Is it to make sad people more sad?  Or is it a way to say, It's okay that you're feeling depressed, because the world's a depressing place. And no, it's not your imagination. There's really shitty people in the world who make life miserable for the rest of us.  

OR maybe it's for the people out there who are the real life versions of the teenagers in Tangle. Maybe it's a message to them. Hey, you're okay. Other people have antisocial reactions to dead bodies as well. You're totally not alone.  

Photos From Tourism Australia

I follow Tourism Australia's Instagram Account.

They don't take the photo themselves, but instead borrow photos taken from other people around Australia. It's an honor for the person whose photo is chosen.

My favorite photos are usually the animal ones.  I'm beginning to believe that koalas are especially photogenic—well, if they're awake and not up far away in a tree.

Here's an example of a cute koala.

And here's another one.

One of my favorite photos is this Kangaroo and human selfie. It's hilarious. The photo was taken by a woman named Anna Webb. She's from the UK and won a contest called Mentor Me that has her working in South Australia.

She seems to like taking funny selfies. Here's another one. And another.

The pictures I like least on Instagram— and Tourism Australia has them a fair bit—are photos of white wine. Maybe it's because I don't drink. Maybe if I loved wine, I'd love the photos. But also, I think they're just boring. And why is it almost always white wine? Why not red?

Here's wine in Tasmania.

Here's two glasses of wine in New South Wales.

Here's wine in Western Australia.

Actually, there's not much wine on this account. Maybe it's one of the other accounts I follow that has a lot of wine.

And I think maybe it's about my own prejudices and lack of interest in wine. If people took photos of ice-cream cones amongst the beautiful scenery of Australia, I'd probably love it.

Lisa Chappell

Today I'm going to learn about Lisa Chappell. She might be a Kiwi instead of an Aussie. But since she was one of the stars of a popular Australian TV show, I'm going to consider her sort of-Australian...or at least Australian enough for my blog.

I was going to say she's an honorary Australian. But since I'm not Australian myself, I don't think it's in my jurisdiction to bestow that honor upon anyone.  

Lisa Chappell was on McLeod's Daughters for its first three seasons. Then she decided to leave, and the result was that Claire McLeod and a car fell down a cliff. 

Actors can really cause heartbreak and trauma when they decide to leave a show. Today I was thinking about the Doctor and Rose Tyler. If the Doctor can travel in time, why can't he just go back to the past and be with Rose Tyler before she was sent to a parallel universe. In the past, wouldn't she exist in her original universe. I sat there wondering, why wouldn't that work? What's the big scientific explanation. And then it came to me. There's one simple answer. Billie Piper didn't want to be on Doctor Who anymore.

On Claire McLeod's death certificate, the cause of death shouldn't read "Catastrophic injuries caused by motor vehicle accident". It should read, "Actress decided she didn't want to play the part anymore".

Maybe we're all just characters in TV shows, on a parallel universe, and we die when the actors playing us decide they want to work on other projects.

I've read that one of the reasons Chappell left the show is she felt she was too different from Claire McLeod. It's made me wonder if by too different, she actually means she didn't like Claire. Or she couldn't relate to Claire. Maybe it was a struggle to find her inner Claire.

If I'm, by chance, right about her being unable to relate to Claire, we have that in common. I'm not a big Claire fan. I don't go for that tough, salt-of-the-earth woman.  I might not be interpreting salt-of-the-earth right. But for me it's the type of woman who gets things done; doesn't show much emotion; doesn't take bullshit from others; and is never neurotic. She's a worker, not a dreamer.

I prefer the women like me—.the ones who frequently worry, frequently feel guilty, and are often lost in a daydream.  I remember reading that Chappell likes to daydream. Or at least she does it a lot.

So I think Lisa Chappell is more my type of woman than Claire McLeod.  I look forward to learning about her.  

I'm going to start with her bio page on IMDb.  

They say she was born in New Zealand, on October 18, 1968.  She's about four years older than me.

She was married to a man named Chris Taylor. She met him at her co-star, Rachael Carpani's 21st birthday party. The marriage lasted from 2001-2005.

Chappell is a vegetarian.  That's something we have in common.

What would our world be like if we

knew for sure there 

was life after death, and 

we could easily talk to our 

dearly-departed on the Internet?

The Dead are Online a novel by Dina Roberts 

She studied acting at ACA (Actor's Centre Australia)

Blood donation is an important cause for Chappell, and so is The Humour Foundation— a charity that helps put clowns in children's hospitals.  

She writes. She wrote a children's book. She's written songs. I have one or two on my iTunes. I haven't listened to it in a long time. I wonder if any of her songs are on Spotify.  

Well...not that I can see.

Now I'll look at Chappell's filmography. I'll talk about some stuff  but not everything. If I miss something important to you, please leave a comment about it.

Chappell's first screen thing was a 1987 New Zealand TV show called Gloss. IMDb describes it as the New Zealand answer to Dynasty.  So it was a soap opera. The show was on from 1987-1990, but IMDb lists Chappell as being there for only 1987.  

Lord Wiki says the show has not since been rescreened; nor is it available on DVD.  I'm betting then that I won't find it on YouTube.  

Oh...but Lord Wiki is now telling me about a website called NZ On Screen. They provide NZ content to people worldwide.  That's very cool. Lord Wiki says they've had clips from Gloss on it. I'll see if they have anything now.  

I put Gloss in the search thing, and they have a lot of different choices, including a bio video on Chappell. Maybe I'll watch that later.

They have the first episode of Gloss. I'll watch some of that.

Is that Chappell in the credits?! She looks very different.

This show has very interesting music.

Wait. I think maybe that wasn't Chappell in the beginning. I think she's this blond girl, maybe.  She's here at 4:56, but she was also shown before then. I just didn't think it was her.

I'm still not sure.

Okay, at 5:47, it's definitely her. I know because someone calls her Chelsea, and IMDb told me this is the character she plays. I think she's the same blond girl I saw in the earlier scene. So that would have been Chappell as well.

Wait. She also has blue hair. I'll just back up and see if the blond I saw before also has blue hair.  

Nope. She had blond. HOWEVER...She headed into a hair design place. I'm assuming she went there to get blue streaks in her hair.  

Now my brain is finally kicking into action.

I'm going to move on to the next thing. 

From 1990-1991, Chappell was in thirteen episodes of a police drama called Shark in the Park.  I wonder if shark in the park is some kind of kiwi saying.  

Well, I Googled and didn't find anything about that. It sounds like it should be a saying. He's such a shark in the park. Or don't act like a shark in the park.  What would it mean? I have no idea. But where does that title come from? Why would there be a shark in the park? 

Anyway, Chappell played a character named Tanya. 

The NZ On Screen website has an episode of Shark in the Park but not one of the episodes with Chappell.  I'm seeing the Chappell biography again, though.  I'll probably watch it later, and they might have a clip of Shark in the Park.

In 1993, Chappell was one of the stars of a movie called Desperate Remedies. Lord Wiki says Chappell played a lesbian in the film.  

NZ ON Screen has the trailer and some clips. I'll see if any of them feature Chappell. 

I think I see Chappell in the trailer. She looks very much NOT like Claire McLeod.  I think that's her at :33, but I'm not positive. I think I'm bad at recognizing Lisa Chappell.

I think I saw her at :38.

I keep seeing her. Or what's probably her.

Now I'm watching the first clip which is the beginning of the movie.  

There's a woman in it. I don't think it's Chappell, but I could be wrong.

Here's a scene with Chappell. It begins at 3:00.  Her character is shockingly different from Claire McLeod.

I'm moving ahead now—skipping a few things. And I'm going to stop at 1996 with Jack Brown Genius.  It's a science fiction film. One of the writers is Peter Jackson. 

Lord Wiki says the movie is about an inventor who becomes possessed by a monk.  

NZ On Screen has the trailer. 

There's a woman in the trailer, but I'm not sure if it's Chapell or someone else. 

From 1996-1998, Chappell was on the show City Life.  It was a drama about single people. Lord Wiki says people said it was New Zealand's answer to Melrose Place.  I've heard something like that twice already today. Can New Zealand make a show without it being compared to an American one? 

Well...twice isn't exactly a pattern yet. 

Lord Wiki says the first episode of City Life featured a kiss between two men.  After that happened there was a major drop in people viewing. I think we are to infer that the kiss was to blame.  Or really homophobia is to blame. 

Chappell played a character named Bronwyn Kellett. She's spoiled and runs an art gallery.

I was going to watch some of the first episode; but that particular item is blocked on the NZ On Screen Site. They have a very friendly and encouraging message though. We're sorry but due to licensing restrictions this clip cannot be viewed outside New Zealand. But, most of NZ On Screen's content can be viewed from anywhere: browse and enjoy!

I wonder why some shows are available to everyone around the world and others are not. Who decides these things?

Chappell started working on McLeod's Daughters in 2001. She was on the show for the first three seasons. Her character died in the second to last episode of season three, but she came back as a ghost in the season finale.

Lord Wiki says the show earned Chappell a Logie award for most popular female actor.

After McLeod's Daughters, Chappell appeared in eight episodes of the last season of Stingers.  She played a character named Megan Walsh. Lord Wiki says Walsh joined the police unit and formed a relationship with Church. Is Church one of the main characters?  

Yes. Lord Wiki confirms that. It seems he was the main character in Stingers.  Megan had a thing with him, but then slept with another guy. And then it ends up that she's corrupt.

In 2007, Chappell starred in a short film called Crossbow. It's available on YouTube, so I'll watch it later.  

Lord Wiki has a lot to say about Crossbow, and I don't often see him talking about short films.  

The movie was directed by David Michod, who'd later go on to direct Animal Kingdom. One of the stars is Joel Edgerton. He seems to be becoming quite a big deal lately.

Crossbow won some awards, including best short film at the Melbourne International Film Festival.

I look forward to watching it. I wonder if I'll like it.

In 2009, Chappell started in Coffin Rock. It's a thriller marketed as being produced by the same folks who produced Wolf Creek.  

Chappell plays a woman who's married to a guy with fertility problems. She tries to solve things by sleeping with a younger man.  I guess she thinks he'll just be the sperm donor. But then it turns out he's psychotic and wants to be a part of her life.

Here's the trailer.  

Young psycho stalker guy looks so familar. Who is he?  

It's Sam Parsonon.  IMDb says he's from Bikie Wars: Brothers in Arms.  I just finished watching that today. I didn't recognize Parsonon. But in that show, a lot of the actors were hidden behind facial hair.

What I know Parsonon from is Love My Way. I was actually thinking he might be from that, but I wasn't sure. He played Dylan who was the son of Ben Mendelsohn's character. Dylan might not have been a psycho stalker, but he did seem a bit disturbed at times.  Or maybe not disturbed. I'm starting to remember.....

He did really awful things, mostly on accident. It was kind of pitiful. I think one of the things was he borrowed Frankie's computer, watched porn on it, and ended up accidentally losing Frankie's photos of her recently deceased daughter. It was awful. And I think I despised him for doing it. But it wasn't exactly his fault. I mean he didn't deliberately delete the pictures. But he made a mistake with disastrous results.  

That whole show was so depressing. And I'm off on a total tangent here.

Let me finish watching the trailer.

It looks pretty good. Scary. Creepy. That kind of thing.

It looks like Chappell returned to her native land in 2009. She was on the TV show Cult.  I can't find much about it.

In 2010, Chappell guest-starred on two Australian shows, so I guess she was only back in New Zealand for a short time.

Wait. But then in 2011, she's in a New Zealand TV movie, and the same for 2012.

And the last two things on Chappell's filmography are guest-starring roles in New Zealand TV episodes.

I'm going to take a break; then I'll come back later to do other things.

I'm back!

I think first I'll watch the film about Chappell on NZ On Screen.

Chappell talks about being on Gloss. She says she liked the job so much, she didn't look forward to the weekends. That's very cool. I think it's great when people love their jobs.  

Now Chappell is talking about how her character in Gloss was wealthy, and this was foreign to her because her own family wasn't wealthy. Not only that, she didn't really know of any wealthy people.  Because of this Chappell says she judged her character as being a spoiled, rich bitch. 

Was the character a spoiled rich bitch? Was it only Chappell who stereotyped the character; or did the writers themselves use a stereotype?

Chappell says she had a big appetite and would eat the props. That's pretty funny.  

Now she's talking about Hercules, which I failed to talk about when looking at IMDb. Chappell says she wasn't interested in the show at first, because it seemed to be all about boobs. But then later she joined the show, and it was campy.  She likes fun campy things.

Chappell says she DID like Claire McLeod. Though she feels she was written to be too heroic. Chappell tried to show her as someone that has flaws—has emotional difficulties, puts up walls, etc.

Now she's talking about Cult. Chappell says she has nothing in common with her character on that show. I'm pretty sure I've read something with her saying the same thing about Claire. Maybe Chappell has a hard time relating to a lot of the characters she plays. 

Well, it's probably good that Chappell can't relate to her Cult character. She's a murderer and she tortures people.

Or maybe it's not good. To play a good villain, I imagine it's better if actors can find their dark side. Not that you want them to go out and kill people as research. But I think maybe it's helpful if they can relate to the motivations that lead the character to doing bad things.   

Chappell seems almost snobby towards the characters she plays and maybe a little high on herself. She talks about how she's different from the Cult girl. She says she's a turn the other cheek and forgive and forget kind of person.  That's lovely. But I think I'd be more intrigued by an actress who said, I would never kill or torture anyone, but I've had times in my life where I was furious at someone and unable to forgive them. And I had fantasies of revenge. 

Claire McLeod is not my type of person; but I'm not sure Lisa Chappell is either. That's not saying much, though. As Lisa Chappell is snobby and picky about the character she plays, I'm picky and snobby about people I know...or learn about. I think I prefer fictional people to most real ones.  

Sometimes I remind myself that the fictional people I love were created by REAL people. And maybe I'd like THOSE real people. But I've come to doubt that. If I had a choice of eating lunch with a creator of a fictional person and watching the fictional person on my TV show, I'd probably enjoy the latter much more.

Now I'm going to watch Crossbow, that short film. 

The beginning consists of 35 seconds of neighborhood exterior shots with nothing happening. In film, I think 35 seconds is a pretty long time. I don't understand artsy films and their need to have these long quiet moments.

Next we have 30 seconds of a teen sitting on a bed listening to people have sex.

Chappell plays the mother of the teen who is also one of the adults having sex. I guess that's the theme of this movie—kids being exposed to the sounds of sex.

Joel Edgerton is the dad.

The story is narrated by another kid who lives in the neighborhood.  Or is he really talking about himself but pretending it's a neighbor?

No....I'm getting the idea it's another kid. Well, because he says he wanted to have sex with the woman/mother.  Unless, this is some kind of dark incest thing.

The teen isn't just exposed to sex but also his parents have wild parties. I think, though, that it's less about the sex and parties, and more about the teen being neglected. When I see him, it almost feels like he's invisible in his own house.

Now the teen suddenly has a crossbow. He's turned into Daryl Dixon.  

Oh wow. For the most part, this movie doesn't really impress me. But there's one line that's amazing.  The teen is pointing the crossbow at the cop. The narrator says,  In the few seconds I saw the kid see something in the cop that he wanted. She didn't want to kill him. She really didn't want to kill him. And for the kid, that was probably about as close to love as he had ever gotten.

I think that's beautiful...and incredibly depressing. It's so true, though. As money isn't shared equally in this world, neither is love. Some people get a lot. Some people get hardly enough. Other people get none.

I'm sure a lot of the people starved for love end up deciding to commit suicide. Maybe they'll call up a hotline and for a limited time, they're finally given undivided attention. But what happens when the phone call ends?  If they're still alive the next morning, does it all get better? Who is there to love them when the phone call ends?

The teen is shot and now the mother and father are finally showing him some love and attention.

I think we've created this world in which people have to do extreme things in order to escape the feeling of being either hated or unloved. And if they don't do anything drastic or crazy, the sad shit usually continues.  Well...unless they're like Mickey Smith and jump over to a parallel universe. No, never mind. Jumping to another universe is actually quite drastic. My theory still stands.

Now I'm going to watch a 2011 McLeod's Daughter's reunion interview with Chappell and Bridie Carter. 

The video quality isn't so great. But that's okay.

They talk about their start on the show and how they were taken out into the middle of nowhere. Well, it was somewhere...but far away from other places.

Neither Chappell nor Carter were good at riding horses. They joke about how the producers watched them riding and probably regretted hiring them.

Now they're talking about the death. Chappell says she wanted Claire to die, because Claire would have never left the property otherwise. She was really attached to her home. Yeah. That makes sense. It's not like she would have decided to pack up and move to Sydney.  

Chappell and Bridie snuck a peak at the script and were happy to see the death scene. But then when filming it, they had tears. They say there was a lot of real crying.

When I watch a show that makes me get all choked up and the characters are crying, I often wonder if the actor is really crying.  I mean crying because they're feeling sad about the scene too (rather than forcing tears by remembering the death of their pet bunny rabbit).  If the scene is sad enough to make the viewer cry, isn't it possible that it's sad enough for the actors too? 

And then when there are scenes that involve an actor leaving the show...or the show itself is ending,  I really start to suspect the actors are truly sad. 

Here's one of Lisa Chappell's songs. "When Then is Now".  It's one of the ones I have on my iTunes. It's really pretty, but I think some of the lines are corny.  

Or maybe it's just the chorus that's a bit...something. When my teeth stop hurting and the birds stop hissing and the doubts go missing, I'll be free. There's so many bad things we can complain about, and she talks about teeth pain? It seems so random.  I think The Sound of Music did it better with dogs biting and bees stinging.  

The rest of the lyrics are pretty decent.

The song makes me imagine Chappell suffers from chronic teeth pain.  I don't doubt that's painful. It just seems strange to sing about it. I would probably pick head over teeth. Because head can represent both physical pain and emotional pain. 

And...how often do birds hiss?

This website says parrots hiss.  They do it as a warning. So is Chappell saying she wants parrots to stop using the line of defense? Or is she saying she wants to live in a world in which they don't feel the need to use that line of defense?

Or did she just want hissing so it would rhyme with missing?

Here's another Lisa Chappell song I have on my iTunes. It's called "Love is Now".  I think it's very beautiful, and it makes much more sense to me than the other song.  The basic message is, your life might suck right now, but don't worry. Love is coming.  It's one of those messages that might be bullshit; but when I'm feeling down, I cling to the hope it promises. 

Here's a Twitter page for Lisa Chappell. It might be her account. Or it could be a fake one. I'm not positive. She's only following two people, though, and that's often a sign that someone's a real celebrity.  

Chappell's last Tweet was about the movie Boyhood.  She says, amazing film, I not only feel like my creative tank has been filled but my human being tank has too.  I want to see that movie. And you know what. My human tank probably needs to be refilled. I think it's lacking a bit lately.  Although if my humanity is completely drained, maybe I'll magically turn into something cool like a poison dart frog or tortoise.

I'd love to be a Tasmanian Devil.  Although then I'd probably be dealing with more cancer scares...and ones that don't turn out to be just cysts.

Would it be fun to be a gecko?

A cobra! I would like to be a zoo cobra...well, because I don't want to be biting people. At the zoo, I'd just lie around and watch all the people watching me.

A lot of Chappell's Tweets are photos of animals.

On August 31, She tweeted, When in doubt-leave your house. What kind of doubts? Any doubts? What does that mean? I'm often doubting things. If I had to leave the house every time I was in doubt, I'd never be home. And I like being home.

In August, Chappell was in some type of comedy show. She Tweets about that a lot.

Oh! Chappell wrote the show. It's called Bad Day Insurance.

This blog has a review of the play. It's a very positive review. The blogger says, Lisa Chappell is back with another clever comedy that challenges the mind with large themes perfectly tailored down into a small, intimate hour-long performance that may have you laughing for the duration of the show, but leaves you thinking hard in the days after.

As I've said before, it irks me when people use a second-person viewpoint when writing reviews. I don't like being told how I'm supposed to feel or react. However, I give this reviewer some leeway, because she says it MAY have me laughing. She doesn't make it seem like I need to laugh, and not doing so means I'm not fully human (which can be remedied by watching Boyhood).

The play is science fiction and takes place in the future.  It's about women selling insurance to people. Instead of life insurance, car insurance, or home insurance...it's bad day insurance.

Here we go! Lisa Chapell has her own website.

On this page, she has a showreel.

I don't know what the first scene is from.

I think that's Sally Fletcher in the second scene.

The fourth scene is sad.

On this page of Chappell's site, she has a long list of writing credits.  A few are TV shows and movies. I don't think I saw writing credits on her IMDb filmography, so I'm guessing these are unproduced.

At least some (maybe all?) of her plays are produced. There's a one woman show called Fred.  Here's a review of it. The play sounds really interesting. It involves cannibalism.

This TV show sounds sort of intriguing to me.  Flying High: A pilot who has developed a fear of heights undergoes hypnotherapy before each flight in order to keep his job and unwittingly becomes a drug mule for his hypnotherapist. Although I wonder how they could continue to make it interesting. How would each episode differ from each other?

I love how Chappell describes her screenplays. She says, On screen I’m exploring the fractures of the human heart wrapped up in the arms of magic realism.  Tim Winton's Cloudstreet is like that.

I like magical realism.

Chappell says her plays are usually black comedies. I think I prefer the fractured human heart with magical realism stuff.

Though I like some black comedy.

I like black comedies that have heart. Like BeetleJuice.

I'm not sure if it had a lot of heart, but I also loved Sean of the Dead.

Well....

I wrote this whole post about Chappell and I don't feel I really know much about her at all...at least not what's inside. I bet if I saw one of her plays or movies, I'd understand her much more.

I think writers reveal a lot of themselves in their fiction.

I'm wondering now, do I reveal more about myself in this blog or my novels?

Maybe it's the novels.

Fiction is like farting and blaming the baby's diaper or the dog. You reveal things about yourself and then you hide behind the characters you've created.

Read my novel: The Dead are Online 

Reduce Rather than Quit

I was thinking that my biography posts are getting to be a bit much.

I love doing them, but it gets to a point where it becomes tiresome. And maybe I start feeling repetitive.  I don't know.

I was going to quit doing them. At least for awhile.

But then I was thinking, why not just reduce the amount?

So instead of doing them on a daily basis, maybe I'll move to making it a once a week thing.

Maybe I'll do one biography post a week and one bathroom book post.

Things that Lead Us To Doctor Who

This morning I went on Flickr and saw that someone else had favorited my photo of a Home and Away photo.  The last time this happened, and I went to see who favorited the photo, I ended up spending a long time looking at photos by a man who collects dolls. I wondered if again I'd end up with someone so fascinating.

So....I followed the link to the 2nd person who favorited, and was so excited to see his first picture. It's Doctor Who toys!  And on his photostream, he has four other Doctor Who photos.

I'm so obsessed with Doctor Who right now.

There used to be this guy named Craig who'd either comment on my blog, or he read my blog and we talked on Facebook. He was a big Doctor Who fan, and I loved that about him...though I never watched the show myself.  I wanted to see what the fuss was all about though. I was too lazy to try to find the show and watch it, so instead I bought a few Doctor Who books.

I liked the books, but didn't love them. Let's just say they didn't drag me into the fandom.

A year or so ago, I had a renewed interest because of David Tennant. When David Morrisey was on The Walking Dead, I started watching videos from Blackpool which also feature Tennant. I thought he was adorable. I wanted to watch him in Doctor. Who. I guess the need, though, wasn't dire. Or I was so busy with other shows. It took a long time to go from we-should-watch-Doctor Who to actually watching it.

Actually, it was more about coordinating it with the rest of the family. I kept suggesting it as our family show. Jack wasn't interested. Then he became interested, but wanted to watch it alone. He needed a show to replace Glee.  Jack quit, though, after watching the Charles Dickens episode. Then months later, Tim and I needed a new show, so we finally tried Doctor Who. We were okay with the first couple episodes. Tim slept through the Charles Dickens episode and I was bored. We considered quitting. But we gave it another chance, and I became super obsessed. And now Jack is back to watching as well.

Though I thought David Tennant is adorable, I was avoiding reading about him. I figured he'd be one of those people who are part of a cult phenomena, but aren't fond of it themselves.  I thought he'd be one of those who looked down at the fans. Then I saw a post on Twitter that led me to learn that David Tennant's been a huge fan of Doctor Who since he was a preschooler. And that's what made him want to be an actor.  I totally love that. It warms my heart. It reminds me of Evanna Lynch. She was a huge crazed Harry Potter fan, and then she became one of the stars of the movies.

I think in general...I prefer people who are huge fans of things. The fandom people. They're my peeps.

National Institute Of Dramatic Arts (NIDA)

Today I'm going to learn about NIDA—the National Institute of Dramatic Arts.

Sometimes it seems every Australian actor graduated from there. I know that's not true, though, and recently I've encountered Aussie actors who studied elsewhere. But still. It does seem a lot of actors went to NIDA. I thought it would be interesting to know more about this place.

I think I shall start with Lord Wiki. What does he have to say about NIDA?

He says it's for students of theatre, film, and television.

One thing that just came to my mind—something obvious, but not something I have really considered. Although it seems most Aussie film and television stars studied at NIDA, it doesn't mean that every student of NIDA becomes a successful film, television, or theater star.  I wonder what percentage of people are successful? And by successful I mean they can survive on the money they make from acting. Or they're broke, but they have a ton of fans.

Lord Wiki says NIDA is in Kensington. I'm looking at on Google Maps. It's in the University of New South Wales area. Lord Wiki says the two institutions have a strong relationship. Romantic or platonic?

I just followed a link Lord Wiki provided. It's a list of the top twenty-five drama schools in the world.  NIDA is #8.

You know I think this is biased, though. It's from the Hollywood Reporter. Lord Wiki confirms my assumption that it's an American thing. Right?

Well, so I thought for sure, before looking at the list, that a British school would be number one.  I know you're not supposed to say things like Asians are good at math and science. But I'm going to do it anyway.  I think there's something about British people and acting. Although maybe they're so good at it, they don't need a special, amazing school.

I think America is best at making movies and television shows. I'll give us that. But in terms of acting, I think we come behind the UK and Australia.

I'm looking at the list, though. The top four schools are American. The UK doesn't come in until #5.

Well, maybe I should swallow my words. And my opinions. I wanted to see another viewpoint. I looked at a London acting website. They too say the top acting schools are in the US. Well, they say the two top schools are in America, and the other top three are in the UK.

Right now my favorite actor is David Tennant (of course). Where did he go?

Lord Wiki says it was the Scottish Academy of Music and Drama—now known as the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. So THAT is the best acting school in the world. No arguments allowed.

But NIDA is good too.

Let's get back to that.

Lord Wiki says it was established in 1958 and opened in 1959.  In the beginning. there were twenty-three students and two staff members.  It was small and cozy.

Wow. It's STILL small and cozy. There are only 152 undergraduate students and 12 post-graduates. That seems very small to me. With that size and selectivity, I imagine a pretty high percentage of graduates are successful.

Lord Wiki says the applicant acceptance rate is about 1%.  It's not just actors who are taught at the school. They also teach directors, playwrights, costume designers, and other show business folks.

If I'm understanding things right, a lot of learning takes place through the production of plays. They do a lot of theater.

I'm looking at the alumni of the school. I was wondering if I should list everyone I've heard of. That would be a long list. Then I thought, maybe I should do the opposite—list the actors I've never heard of before. While looking it all over, I came across Josh Gad's name. It sounded familar, but I couldn't place him. I clicked on Lord Wiki's entry about him and realized I definitely know of him.  It's just I don't know him as an Australian actor. Well....because he's not an Australian actor.

Lord Wiki says he did a semester exchange at NIDA.

I wonder if any successful non-Australian actors have done the whole program at NIDA

I just went through Lord Wiki's list. There were a couple of Kiwi actors. But I think they spent enough time in Australia to be considered sort-of Australian.

Now I'm going to look at the NIDA website.

Ah. There's another NIDA—The National Institute of Drug Abuse. That's what I got when I Googled.

But now I'm at the right one.

Their history page says that the founding director of NIDA was a guy named Robert Quentin.  The Australian Dictionary of Biography has a page about him.  He was born and educated in England. See? That's why he was able to bring good acting lessons to Australia. I think it's in their blood.  I bet you could go on The London Underground; randomly select a person; demand they perform a Shakespeare Soliloquy; and they'd totally blow your socks off.  (Note: Person must be a resident of the UK.  Asking a tourist from Canada doesn't count).

Though NIDA is highly selective, they do offer courses to the general public.  This page has information about this past winter holiday program.  It's a bit outdated. I wonder why they haven't replaced it with information about a Spring holiday program. Or maybe they don't have one? Still...they could remove the winter stuff.

Here's a list of general public adult courses.  It's $590 for a five session class. And each session is seven hours.  It sounds pretty intense.

Oh! And I just noticed the classes are offered all over the country. They have ones in Canberra, Brisbane, Hobart, etc. I wonder what the quality is like compared to the classes filled with students who had to audition.

They have a Doctor Who class for teens! That's awesome. It's September 22-September 29; 10-4.  I'm assuming that's the Spring holidays.  So they do have a Spring program.  It's just a matter of their website being slightly disorganized.

This page has a list of their upcoming productions and events.

Wolf in the River looks fairly good to me. It's about a girl who's neglected.  It's an American thing, written by an American and about America. So I guess this will be a case of Australian actors pretending to be Americans.

I wish NIDA provided more information, like who's going to be acting in the play. I'm curious. Or maybe I'll find that on another page.

This page has a list of NIDA's 2013 alumni.  I wonder which of them will become famous.

Just by looking at their faces, the one that appeals to me most is Zoe Jenson.  It's not really about who's attractive. There's a lot of pretty faces. But Jenson looks...interesting. Cute. I'd want to know more about her.

That being said...I usually don't like people based on face alone.  I'm sure I'd like a lot of these actors if I saw them in action. I'm not really a love at first sight kind of person.

Now I'm looking at the writers. It's funny. Their faces are more interesting to me than the actors.  You don't really need an appealing face to be a writer. Though I guess it helps when you're trying to pitch your huge ideas.

I just looked at all the 2013 faces—the directors, actors, writers, costume people, etc. My favorite face is a writer named Fregmonto Strokes.

I'm being very shallow right now. Sorry.

I just looked at the profile of Fremento Strokes. He's a writer, but also a performer. So his face might come in handy.

Besides writing plays and attending the prestigious NIDA, Strokes has worked in the Bhutan, has a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science, a degree in Spanish, and a degree in Visual Arts.  That's quite impressive.

I just Googled Fremento Strokes and found a YouTube video about him photo-bombing Tony Abbott.

Strokes is described as an activist. He bothers people like Tony Abbott and Clive Palmer as an act of protest.  It's a way to get your ideas and feelings noticed without having to behead someone or blow something up.  It might be annoying at times, but annoying is much better than deadly.

I'm looking back at the actor page—seeing if any of these recent alumni will be on TV or film. Theater's fantastic too, of course. It's just not as easily accessible to me. So I pay it less attention.

Anyway....

There's Lauren Pegus.  Not only was she good enough for NIDA, but she was a champion water polo player.

It's kind of not fair. Some people have all the luck. Or all the talent.

I think that's why I kind of fell in love with Rose Tyler. She's just this average woman who worked at a department store in London. Then something amazing happened to her.

I have this big thing for average people lately.

I'm tired of overly talented people.

But that's okay. Lauren Pegus can't help being above average. And I just wanted to mention that she has the lead role in an upcoming movie called True Face.

I think her photo on IMDb is much more appealing than her NIDA one. In the NIDA one she looks like a generic cheerleader; otherwise known as the character who gets killed first in a slasher film. In her IMDb photo, she looks like the girl who defeats the undead maniac. Or she could be the killer. That would be a cool twist. With that idea, I would go with this photo.

Olivia Charalambous is another actress who doesn't look to exciting to me....at least not on her NIDA profile picture.  But she has a website with a show reel, and she looks great.

I think NIDA needs better profile photos of their acting students. Or maybe they use mediocre pictures on purpose. Maybe they do it so new applicants feel less intimidated.

Or maybe it's like one of those rules. Everyone has to look super ugly in their driver's license picture. You have to look sick and scary in your arrest photo. And in your NIDA photo, you have to look mediocre.

Callan Mulvey

Today I'm going to learn about the actor Callan Mulvey.  I'm currently watching him in the mini-series Bikie Wars: Brothers in Arms. And a few weeks ago, I watched him in Rush.

I didn't like Mulvey that much in Rush, but I do like him in Bikie Wars. I don't know what that says about me, since in Rush he played a police officer and in Bikie Wars, he plays a gang member.  It could be just that his character in Bikie Wars is more interesting to me. I thought his character in Rush was a bit blah.

In Rush, Mulvey's character is having an affair with another police officer who happens to be married to someone else. I don't think I was offended by the affair. I can be sympathetic to adultery. Sometimes people find their better match after they've already gone through a wedding ceremony with someone else. It happens. But I think I wasn't on board with the relationship, because it was already in progress when I was invited into the picture. They already had feelings for each other. I think I would have been more into it if I was there before the love blossomed.

It's like with Rose and The Doctor. If the show started with them already knowing each other, they would mean so much less to me. And I probably wouldn't have been crying my eyes out after watching their good-bye scene.

Back to Callan Mulvey.....

I think he might be an international star. I've seen his name in places that led me to think that. Recently. But I forgot where. I've glanced at his filmography briefly in the last few weeks. I saw he was in the movie 300: Rise of an Empire. Maybe that's why he's an international star.

Or maybe he's not an international star. Maybe he's a rising international star and not many people know of him. I have no idea. Hopefully I'll get some bit of an idea as I do my research.

One other thing before I start the research.  Mulvey has a scar on his face. When I was watching Rush I wondered if it was real or a make-up effect. Then in Bikie Wars, I saw that there's a little gap in his beard. I assume that's because of the scar. So that made me conclude the scar is real.  Now I feel stupid for wondering that, though. Why would they put Mulvey through all the trouble of doing scar make-up everyday? Well, I guess they could. But it would make more sense if the scar was actually discussed, and part of the storyline. From what I remember, it wasn't.

Is there a point in adding a scar to someone's face just to make them look more interesting? I doubt it. It seems if you want someone with a scar, you could just find an actor who already has one.

I wonder what's more difficult for make-up artists—creating a scar or hiding one?

On that note, I'm going to start my research.

I'll start with Mulvey's IMDb biography.

They say Mulvey was born in New Zealand, on February 23, 1975. He's a few years younger than me. Since 2010, he's been married to a woman named Rachel Thomas. Here's a photo of the lovely couple. Maybe I'll learn more about her later.

In 2004, Mulvey was severely injured in a car accident. Maybe that's where he got his scar.  Besides that, though, there were other injuries. He lost sight in one eye, and he suffers headaches from the accident. Yikes.

Now I'm going to look at the filmography of Callan Mulvey. I'll talk about some stuff I see, but not everything.

Mulvey's screen career started in 1996. He was one of the stars of the TV show Heartbreak High.  He started on the show in the middle of season 4.

This is really confusing. IMDb has the episodes listed out of order. I'm trying to figure it out. They say episode 4:22 is from 1996; but then episode 4:10 is listed as being from 1997.

I'm just going to forget it and simply say Mulvey was on the show in season 4, season 5, and season 6. He appeared in 112 episodes as the character Bogdan Drazic.

According to this genealogy website, the last name Drazic is most likely to be found in Serbia; though the second most likely place to find it is Australia.

I'm guessing Bogdan Drazic is a Serbian-Australian then.

Lord Wiki says Bogdan Drazic is a student. That's all he says.

I went to a Heartbreak High website, and they don't have much to say about Drazic.

Here's a video clip from the show. I think maybe that's Mulvey in it. But I'm not 100% positive.

Here's another video.  Mulvey doesn't have a scar in it; so I'm guessing he did get it in the 2004 accident.

In 1999, Mulvey ended his work on Heartbreak High. And that year he appeared in a season 2 episode of All Saints.  I wonder what sort of disastrous thing happened to his character. Or was he a doctor? Though he could have been a doctor or nurse with a catastrophe. No...you know what. Doctors and nurses are usually cast regulars rather than guest stars.

I was going to try to watch some of the episode, but I can't find it on YouTube.

Mulvey was in a handful of things in 2001, but I'm skipping most of it, because I can't find a lot of information.

Actually, I might be skipping all of it. Sorry.

I'm going to move onto 2004. Thunderstruck. I think IMDb said that this is the movie Mulvey was filming when he had his car accident. Was it on set? Was the movie involved? Or did he just happen to have that particular job when the accident occurred?

I just looked back at IMDb. They say he was in the accident AFTER he finished filming.

Anyway....

Thunderstruck is a comedy about AC/DC fans.  I was thinking the plot sounds vaguely familiar to me; and then I saw that Scott Worthington is in the movie. Maybe I wrote about the movie when I wrote a post about him.

Here's the trailer. Mulvey can be seen at around :26.

The trailer wasn't very entertaining to me until the end when the guys started singing "Total Eclipse of the Heart". I don't think I saw Mulvey in that scene.

In 2006, Mulvey started working on Home and Away!  I had no idea he was a Home and Away actor. He played Johnny Cooper. Who is Johnny Cooper?

The Back to the Bay site says he's a gang member. And it also sounds like he's a bully. One thing I'm learning from watching The Straits and The Bikie Wars is that some criminals are worse than others. For some, crime is their life, but they don't seem to enjoy hurting others. That doesn't seem to be the case for Johnny Cooper. He sounds like a jerk.

If I'm understanding things right, Johnny Cooper went after Sally a lot—wanted to kill her at some point. I'm assuming they're talking about Sally Fletcher.

Well, actually Johnny Cooper didn't want to kill Sally himself. He felt betrayed by his brother and insisted his brother kill Sally.  But then it seems that maybe later Johnny went after her himself. I'm skimming a lot here.

I'm going to watch one of the episodes...or skip through and find Mulvey.

He's right there in the beginning.

Johnny's brother is now a student at Summer Bay High. He's trying to live a life without crime and Johnny finds him and insists he come back to the gang.

Mulvey was on Home and Away until 2008, but he did other things while on that show.

In 2007, he appeared on three episodes of McLeod's Daughters as a guy named Mitch Wahlberg. This Australian Television website says Mitch is an army-man with a dark secret. Later, it's revealed that he's selling stolen military weapons.

Here's one of the episodes. He appears at 5:05.  Now I can see his scar. I couldn't quite see it in the Home and Away scenes. But he had facial hair that was probably covering it.

It's interesting that in two shows after the 2004 accident, Mulvey plays a criminal. I wonder if the scar has something to do with that. Does a facial scar paint someone as being a tough person; or at least as having a tough life?  If it does, is that only in fiction? Or real life too?

But Mulvey is an actor who got into a car accident. A lot of people get into car accidents...not just certain types of people.

In 2008, Mulvey was on Underbelly. He played Mark Moran. Lord Wiki says Moran was part of the Moran crime family and was involved with the illegal drug trade. He was murdered.

Here's a scene from the show. The woman in the scene with Mulvey looks like someone I saw on Bikie Wars today. And when I saw her on Bikie Wars I thought she looked familar. Now I'm thinking she reminds me of that YouTube star. I forgot her name, but she's Australian and was really into The Law of Attraction. She was featured on Oprah when Oprah visited Australia.

Well, Lord Wiki says the woman in the scene I just watched is Madeline West. He doesn't say anything about her being in Bikie Wars. I think I'm imagining things.

I'm guessing neither actress is also the Law of Attraction YouTube star.

2008 is also the same year that Mulvey started working on Rush.  On this show, instead of playing a criminal, Mulvey played a person who fights crime.

Here's a scene from the show. Well, actually...it's a fan made video. One of those montage things.

In 2011, Mulvey was in the movie The Hunter. That's the one based on the Julia Leigh novel.

Mulvey's character in the movie was Rival Hunter. I'm not sure if that role was substantial or not.

Here's the trailer. I'll see if I can see Mulvey.

I didn't see him.

2012 was the year Mulvey was in the Bikie Wars. It's about a big fight that happened on Father's Day in 1984. I have one more episode left. The fight has just began. I'm guessing in the last episode, we'll see death and destruction. Lord Wiki has a lot to say about it, but I think I'll wait until I'm done watching to read it.

I just read one thing, though. One of the gangs in The Bikie Wars is an American one. I mean they're not Americans. They're Australians. But they're part of a gang (The Bandidos) that started in America What I didn't know, and Lord Wiki just told me, is that The Bandidos started in Texas.

I'm tempted to read more. But I'm going to try to wait. I'm curious, though, about what happens to Mulvey's character (Snoddy). Does he survive the fight?

I'm not going to look.

Also in 2012, Mulvey was in the movie Zero Dark Thirty. Tim saw that and liked it.

Mulvey isn't the only Aussie in the film. Joel Edgerton is in it too.

It has a huge cast. I can't really tell who are the main stars. Maybe Lord Wiki will help me get an idea.

Lord Wiki lists Edgerton has one of the main stars but not Mulvey.

Here's the trailer. I'll see if I can see Mulvey.

I think Mulvey quickly walks by at :59. I think he's the guy on the right. MAYBE. I could be wrong.

In 2013, Mulvey was in a movie I'm surprised I didn't hear of before. It's called The Turning, and it's a collection of short films based on Tim Winton's short stories.  The movie has a lot of names that are familar to me—Rose Byrne, Cate Blanchett, Hugo Weaving, Miranda Otto, Richard Roxburgh, Myles Pollard, Dan Wylie, and Susie Porter.

Here's a trailer for the film.  It looks good. I wonder how many stories are in it.

I'm looking at the official website now.

Mulvey is the star of a segment called Aquifer  A music teacher sees something on the news that causes him to leave the house without telling his wife. He goes to his hometown to face some secret.

For this year (2014) Mulvey's filmography has four things listed— 300: Rise of an Empire, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Miss Meadows, and Kill Me Three Times.

In 300: Rise of an Empire, Mulvey played someone named Skyllias. Is that a real person?

Well, it seems it's a mythological person. I think what I was really wondering is whether it was a character invented by the movie, or not.  But this website has a story about Greek swimmers named Skyllias and Hydna.

I'm going to watch the trailer.  I think maybe I see Mulvey at :47. He has a mask on, so it's hard to tell.

In Captain America, Mulvey played Jack Rollins. Lord Wiki's cousin has a page about him.  I'm trying to figure out if he's one of the good guys or bad ones.  I think he's bad, because Lord Wiki's cousin says he infiltrated Shield. And from what I know, Shield is good.  Okay yeah. Rollins is part of something called HYDRA, and HYDRA is a terrorist organization.

Here's the trailer from the movie. I want to see it one day. I saw the first one, and I tend to like Marvel movies. Although we probably won't see it anytime soon. We're too busy with Doctor Who.

Miss Meadows hasn't been released yet. It's coming in November. It stars Katie Holmes as a teacher who moonlights as a vigilante.

Mulvey appears at :23. I think he might be a villain...maybe one targeted by Miss Meadows.

From the plot description, I thought it sounded like a dark comedy. But the trailer makes it look very much like a dark drama.

It might have been the sexist part of me that pictured a comedy. If it was a man vigilante, I would have probably assumed drama. But when it's a female—a teacher...I expect it to be cute and funny.

Kill Me Three Times is an American-Australian film featuring Simon Pegg. So I guess it's also kind of a British film.  It's an action movie that takes place in a Western Australian beach town. Or at least it's filmed in Western Australia.

I don't see a trailer for it. Maybe there's not one available yet? It's coming out in December, though. Don't they usually have trailers for movies more than three months ahead of time?

Oh well.

Mulvey has two upcoming films on his filmography. One is Home. It's an American movie.

And then there's Batman Vs. Superman. That one's due to come out in 2016. There's no character listed for Mulvey. But when I was searching for something else earlier, I saw glimpses of articles regarding rumors that Mulvey would play the Joker.

Here's one of the articles about the rumor. It sounds like the only basis for it is that Mulvey happens to come from the same country as Heath Ledger, the last Joker.

I am done with the filmography.

Now I'll see what Lord Wiki has to say about Mulvey.

He says Mulvey has Maori and Scottish heritage. That's pretty cool.

He moved to Sydney when he was eight.

Lord Wiki disagrees with IMDb about when the accident happens. He says it occurred in 2003 rather than 2004. I wonder who's right and who's wrong.

Lord Wiki says it was a head on collision, and that Mulvey was trapped in the vehicle for over an hour.  I thought he just had a cut on his face from the accident, but it sounds like his face was severely injured. Wow. It's a medical miracle that he just has that small scar.  I mean in terms of visible injuries. IMDb said Mulvey is blind in one eye. And I'm guessing he might also suffer from pain.

His knee and ankle were also injured.

Here's an article about the car accident.  They say it happened in Byron Bay on New Years Eve after shooting for Thunderstruck had been finished.  Since it happened on New Years Eve, that could explain why there's confusion about which year it took place. It could have begun in 2003 and continued into 2004.

The story is kind of uplifting. Well, it's actually somewhat sad. But knowing what comes next is uplifting. In the article, they talk about Mulvey taking some time to be ready to make a public appearance. It seems he was nervous about it. Now look at him, though. His film career is doing great.  His face may have gotten messed up, but somehow those plastic surgeons managed to make him still look awesome. Or maybe he looks even better than he would have without the accident. Scars can be pretty sexy... even if they typecast men as being of the dangerous bad boy sort.

This website has a gallery of actors and actresses who have scars. The first is Tina Fey. I never knew about that.

Shit. Her story's really awful. When she was very young, a stranger came over and cut her face.

Harrison Ford has a chin scar from a car accident. He's not usually a criminal in movies. But he does usually play adventurous types.  A scar doesn't have to say YOU are dangerous. It can also say you're the type to be brave enough to face danger.

Here's another article about Mulvey's accident. Reading stuff like that is oddly comforting to me. The reason is, I'm really scared of car accidents. I like hearing stories of people surviving. Surviving and thriving.

I think now I'll watch a video interview with Mulvey. It's about 300: Rise of an Empire.

Mulvey is wearing a lot of rings.

He talks about physical training, and how for the movie, it wasn't about looking a certain way. It was about being able to move well. I like that.  I like when fitness is more about being healthy, strong, and active rather than fitting into some kind of ideal appearance.

Well, I can't find much else that interests me. So I think I'll stop here.


Read my novel: The Dead are Online 

Suzannah Bayes-Morton

Today I'm going to learn about Suzannah Bayes-Morton. She's an actress on the show I've been watching—The Straits.

The Straits is about a crime family that lives in North Queensland. What I see in this show that I haven't really seen in other Australian shows is a multi-racial cast.  The other Australian TV shows I've watched have mostly white characters.

I'm not sure what to make of the fact that I finally see a show with a lot of characters who aren't white, and they're criminals.

To be fair, there are definitely other shows in Australia with criminal protagonists, and the protagonists are caucasian. So Australian television isn't giving me the message that only non-white people are criminals. But it might be nice for there to be a show about a non-white family that is not made up of criminals.

And maybe there is a show. Or there has been a show. I'm not a complete encyclopedia about Australian television.

Looking at the more positive side...Even though the Montebello family in The Straits do illegal things, they're not evil. And actually the character who seems lowest on the morality scale is the father in the family; and he's white.

Suzannah Bayes-Morton plays Sissi on the show. From what I understand, Sissi knows what her family does, but she doesn't seem to like it. And at one point, she even considers leaving it all. She definitely has strong morals.  I don't think she gets her own hands dirty.  Nor does she applaud the dirty hands of her siblings and/or any of their employees.

Anyway, that's enough of my rambling for now. I shall start my learning about Bayes-Morton with IMDb.

She doesn't have much of a bio on IMDb. Not everyone does. And her IMDb filmography is quite short. I'm kind of glad. I actually thought about skipping my post today. It's a stressful day for me. But on the other hand, doing these posts help me keep my mind off of things. I'm not sure, though, if I'm up to writing about someone with an overwhelming career. Overwhelming usually equals successful. So it's kind of like I'm saying I'm glad Suzannah Bayes-Morton isn't that successful. Maybe it's true...just for selfish reasons. After I write this post, she can fatten up her filmography as much as she wants. And that's what should happen. From what I see on The Staits, she's quite talented.

So anyway...let me shut up and look at the filmography.

The first screen thing she has on there is Wilfred.  When I think of that show, it makes me wonder. What's wrong with all those people who like that show? Or is it me that has the problem? Is there an inherent problem in my soul that causes me to miss the beauty and wonder that is Wilfred? I don't know.

Bayes-Morton was in one episode of the show in season one. She played someone named Jane. That was in 2007.

In 2008, she was in a movie called The Tumbler.

I'm watching the trailer now. It's about gold, the outback, and the military.

I didn't see Bayes-Morton, so I guess she's not one of the main stars.

Also in 2008, Bayes-Morton guest-starred on a season 11 episode of All Saints.  I think that's the season I watched.

I just read the description of the episode. I actually kind of remember it. They bring a prisoner to the hospital to treat him—a maximum security guy. Or maybe the doctors go to the prison to treat him there?

I'm going to skim through the episode and see if I can find Bayes-Morton.

I think that's her in the beginning. She's a suicide patient. It's hard to see her face. She has an oxygen mask on.

Wait. Maybe it's not her. Now I see her face.  Yeah...it's not her.

Now I see her! She's at 4:55. She's in the patient waiting area making sounds of distress. Then she collapses.

I kind of remember this, but I don't remember the outcome.

Oh! Now I remember. Uh...not because my memory kicked in. But I'm re-watching the scenes. Bayes-Mortin is having these horrible abdominal pains, has pelvic bleeding, and she's nauseated. The doctors run a bunch of tests and make the guess that she has an ectopic pregnancy.

Then they leave, another doctor comes back, and says she's fine.  She was just stressed. Stress caused all her pain. Yeah. Right. That's the scene I'm watching now. And you know what...maybe my memory IS kicking in a bit, because I AM remembering the scenes after that. I think maybe it turns out that the doctor who sends her home ends up being a fake doctor.

The sad thing is, I know that in reality it need not be a FAKE doctor who sends a severely ill patient home with a clean bill of health.

Back to the filmography....

2012 is the year that Bayes-Morton was on The Straits. There are only ten episodes. I'm not sure if it's a series that wasn't blessed with a second season. Or is it a mini-series? I'm leaning towards the latter, just because it had ten episodes. I think TV shows usually have more episodes than that. Even shows with short seasons. For example. Offspring has a short season, but it has 13 episodes.

The last thing on Bayes-Morton filmography is a Star Wars parody called Death Star PR. I wrote about another Star Wars parody type thing a few weeks ago, and was wondering if this is the same one. I don't think it is.

Here's one of the episodes. It's short—only ten minutes.

I'm not sure I'm in the mood to watch the whole thing. I might skip ahead to the Bayes-Morton scenes.

Bayes-Morton appears after the scrolling Star Wars message thing.  She's jovial. It's strange seeing her that way, because on The Straits, and on the episode of All Saints she was quite somber.  Well, of course...you don't go through an ectopic pregnancy with a big smile on your face.

Now she's looking serious. She looks more like the Bayes-Morton that's familar to me.

There was a guy who looked familiar to me. Then I realized (with IMDb's help) that he's from Rush! He's the guy that got bit by the monkey.

Well, I'm done with the filmography.  It ends in 2012. Does that mean Bayes-Morton's career has stalled.  Has she given up? Has the film/TV industry given up on her? Or maybe she's busy doing theater? Mothering? Writing a novel...perhaps?

Does she have a loud Internet presence or a quiet one?

I shall soon try to find out.

Well, I Googled and I'm seeing stuff. So, that's good.

I'm going to start with this article.

Bayes-Morton was 29 in 2012, so now she's probably 31.

She went to Dickson college, and a drama class is what sparked her interest in acting.

If this is the right Dickson College, it's located in the ACT.

Wait...Dickson. I think we've been there before. Is that where we ate at all the restaurants?  I mean not at the school, but the suburb.

I'm looking at the area on Google Maps. I think it is the suburb. I'm not positive, though.

After Dickson, Bayes-Morton attended the Victorian College of the Arts. That's in Melbourne. I wonder why she chose that city over Sydney or staying in Canberra.

The article talks about The Straits, and there's something I didn't know. The four kids in the family (including Sissi) are all adopted. I didn't know that. On the episode I watched today, one of the sons mentioned that they weren't the father's biological son. I thought he meant that he was a stepson.

Other little fact about Bayes-Morton: She lived in Berlin for awhile. Her husband is a chef.

She's Papua New Guinean.

Oh! And here she talks about preferring Melbourne over Sydney.  She didn't like the traffic in Sydney. She likes the diverse culture and the arty people in Melbourne.  I guess that makes up for Melbourne traffic. I imagine it's not that much better than Sydney. Or am I wrong?

Bayes-Morton does have another career field outside of acting. She works in disability care and youth work. So maybe she's returned to that?

Here's Bayes-Morton's Facebook page. She hasn't updated since December 2013. Her last post was a link to a list of international shows to binge-watch.  The Straits is on there.

Oh no. I see another post which tells me I was wrong about The Straits. They WERE hoping for a second season. Well, that sucks. Bayes-Morton says they tried to convince the ABC to let them do more episodes. The ABC said no. It's a shame.

Maybe the show is something that's more liked by Americans. Well, there was that list on the website of shows to binge-watch. I'm pretty sure it's an American website. And on Hulu, people can comment about the episodes. There's a fair bit of comments from American viewers who are very enthusiastic about the show.

From her Facebook page, I get the idea that Bayes-Mortin is kind and down-to-earth. She seems nice. And she has links to work that her friends and colleagues have done. For example, she links to a Facebook page for a film project made by a crew member of The Straits. I like when people support each other.

Bayes-Morton has a thing called an iPhoneagram.  You can sign in using your Instagram account. I guess it's like an alternative to Instagram, but supported by Instagram? Or it supports Instagram. Whatever.

I'm going to look at some of her photos.

Ah! Wait. Now I've found the Instagram page. She has one. I think the iPhone thing is just an alternate way of accessing Instagram.

Anyway....

Her most recent photo is from this month, and it's of two toddlers. Maybe hers?

Bayes-Morton wants a kite. I hope she gets one.

She made breakfast for Rainbow Lorikeets. I envy her for that.

She has two photos from a place called Shuk Cafe. Here's one of them.  Are those scones? They look more like American biscuits; the kind you get at KFC.

Do Australian KFC's have biscuits? If so, do they call them something else? Because wouldn't that get confusing?

I looked up Shuk Cafe and ended up finding a place in Bondi. Is Bayes-Mortin living there now. Did she change her mind about Sydney traffic?

The picture caption on Bayes-Morton's Instagram says something about Dine at Mine Camp Quality. Here's a website about that.

They raise money to help kids with cancer. They do this by having people host meals, and then the guests pay a donation fee.

Bayes-Mortin has a lot of children in her Instagram photo. I'm not sure if some of them are hers; or if they're maybe nieces and nephews?

I think I'm going to end this here. I need to start getting ready for the doctor appointment.

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