Airplanes, Days of our Lives, Alan Fletcher, and Jakubenko

1. Amused by Qantas add I just saw.

It says something like, Watch a movie; eat; a meal; sleep; and you're there.  

They make it sound so easy!

I imagine it might be like that for some people.

For someone like me, it's more like: Struggle to decide what movie to watch; finally decide on something; watch some of the movie; worry you picked the wrong movie; quit the movie and start another one; get tired; start falling asleep; wake up when you realize your meal is coming; eat the meal; plan to go to sleep; get up to pee; sit in chair and wait to fall asleep; fail to fall asleep; try listening to music; worry that you'll never sleep and you'll be walking around Sydney like a zombie in the morning; almost start falling asleep; realize you have to pee again; go to pee: get back to your seat; feel lonely; look at your travel companions. They're fast asleep, and it seems everyone else is too...except the young mother and father with the toddler; Decide that having insomnia on a plane isn't fun, but it's easier than taking care of a toddler on one.

2. Started watching an episode of Neighbours.

I'm very tired of the Dimato storyline.

Please let it end soon.

3. Wanted to say I am enjoying the storyline about Amber's baby. It's typical soap opera stuff, but what can I say? I like it.

4. Thought about how I wouldn't like the baby storyline if it was on an American soap opera...for example, Days of our Lives.

Days of our Lives would have drag it on and on. Amber (Jenna Rosenow) wouldn't tell Daniel (Tim Phillips) that the baby might be Josh's. He'd find out from someone else.  They would get a paternity test, and Paige (Olympia Valance) would sneak in and falsify the results. The real identity of the father wouldn't be found out until way after the baby was born. Daniel and Amber would break up for at least a year; then finally get back together.  The main thing keeping them apart would be Imogen. She'd be so desperate for Daniel that she'd do wicked conniving things.

Oh, and also we'd find out that someone has been acting strange, because it's not really them. It's their evil twin. And someone would come back from the dead. Probably Matt. It would turn out he didn't die from his injuries. It was a whole set up, so he could go undercover and catch Dimato.

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 




5.  Started to watch an episode of Packed to the Rafters.

There's a fun song playing as Ted (Michael Caton) gets ready in the bathroom.

I'm going to try to find out what it is.

6. Found the song. It's called "Little Arrows" and it's sung by someone named Leapy Lee.

7. Learned from Lord Wiki that "Little Arrows" was a popular song in 1968.

Lord Wiki mentions the UK, U.S, and Canada. I'm guessing maybe it was popular in Australia too?

8. Pleased to see a Cockatoo on Packed to the Rafters. You know I don't think I've ever seen a parrot on an Australian TV show...not a wild one, at least.  I wish they showed them more often, but maybe it's difficult to do so.

9. Liked the story about lesbian mothers on Packed to the Rafters. It shows how decent people can suffer from mild homophobia, not because they're evil but simply because they're new to it all and a bit ignorant and clumsy.

10. Started to think that the homophobia on Packed to the Rafters is a little more than mild. Maybe it's more in the moderate range.

Ted's not happy to find out that his girlfriend's daughter's partner is a woman. At one point he tries to be supportive by telling Marjory (Kate Fitzpatrick) that we can't help the way our kids turn out. In return, she tells him she thinks her daughter turned out fine.

Later, Ted says to his daughter Julie (Rebecca Gibney). Gay kids. I guess it's like the measles. Someone has to get them. You're just grateful it's not you.

So, Ted isn't the type to hate homosexuals, but he sees homosexuality as being like a disease.

11. Decided to read more about Neighbour's Alan Fletcher. I wanted to yesterday, but it was getting late.

12. Saw from IMDb that Fletcher was born in 1957.  He's almost sixty.

13. Saw that Fletcher has been on some American things, including Days of our Lives!

IMDb says he was on an episode in 2010. He played Nick Fallon. That name actually sounds familar to me.

14. Wondered if I watched Days of our Lives in 2010.

No, I don't think so. I think I stopped watching the show regularly many years ago. Actually, I think it's been five years or so since I've even watched an episode. That kind of makes me sad in a way. The show played such a big part of my childhood and teen years.

15. Consulted Lord Wiki about Nick Fallon. He was actually a regular character; a young one, though.

I have two possibilities in my head. The first is that IMDb has made a mistake. They do that sometimes. Maybe they were thinking of another Alan Fletcher.  The second is that maybe Alan Fletcher played Nick in a flash-forward scene. Maybe they wanted to show Nick when he was older.

Also, IMDb says credit only for Fletcher's Days of our Lives credit. I'm not quite sure what that means.

16. Looked at IMDb's explanation.  They say,  We need a screen capture or video of the person’s face on-screen. If you cannot provide this then the entry may be given the (credit only) attribute.

So maybe this means Fletcher's name was in the credits, but IMDb couldn't find his face.

17. Saw that Alan Fletcher started on Neighbours in 1987, but he didn't play Karl Kennedy at first. He played a guy named Greg Cooper.

He started playing Karl in 1994. He's been on the show for a very long time!

18. Learned from the Perfect Blend site that Greg Cooper was a mechanic.

19. Started to watch video of Greg Cooper. Jim Robinson (Alan Dale is in the scene)

Ah! Two Alans!

20. Saw that there's some tension between Jim Robinson and Greg Cooper.

21. Learned that Greg Cooper blamed himself for his brother's death.

22. Learned from Lord Wiki that Fletcher has a band called Waiting Room.

23. Started to watch a video of Waiting Room performing.

24. Listened to Fletcher singing "Like a Bridge Over Troubled Water" on a reality TV contest show.

25. Started to watch a Neighbours backstage video. This one stars Aaron Jakubenko who played Robbo.

I have no idea who that is.

But I really love the name Jakubenko.  It's a fun name.

26. Thought this video was cool, because it shows the make-up artists creating a red fight mark on Jakubenko's face.

27. Liked Robbo's shoes.


28. Saw from IMDb that Jakubenko is going to be on a 2016 TV series called The Shannara Chronicles.

Lord Wiki says it's based on a Terry Brooks novel, and it was filmed in New Zealand.

29. Saw that Emilia Burns from The Elephant Princess is one of the stars of The Shannara Chronicles.

30. Felt this blog post was quite lacking...but I'm tired.  So, oh well.