Actors, Music Overkill, Living it Up, and Biographical Information

1. Had various dreams related to Australia.

I'm not sure how many I remember.

In one, I find an outside deck that I forgot we had.  It has two bouncy animal-riding toys looking out over the water. One is a koala. I'm happy and excited to remember we have this deck.

In another, I look outside our front yard and realize we have a tree that loses its bark. A lot of bark is just lying there on the ground. I'm wondering if the tree is Australian.

Also: I start to wonder if my family knows that my favorite Australian animals are birds.  I think about how it might be a good idea to make a birthday wish list and mention bird books on there. I consider the possibility that my family might end up buying me a bird book I already have. I feel that's okay, but then I start to have second thoughts. 

2. Started watching an episode of Underbelly

3. Saw that Samuel Johnson is in this episode.

He plays one of those people who puts on gloves and checks bodies for drug smuggling. 

4. Found Warwick in the credits for this episode. I couldn't find him in yesterday's episode even though he was mentioned in the plot synopsis and the episode.

Warwick is played by Matt Passmore. I would have also seen him on Satisfaction. But I don't remember.

5. Thought that Matt Passmore looks a bit like Corey Stoll from the Strain,

6. Felt that Underbelly is giving me more sympathy for the anti-drug business.

I've always hated the certain countries that have such strict laws. I guess it's because I pictured drug smugglers as being either a) desperate or b) framed.  

Underbelly is showing me that sometimes the smugglers are just very greedy and opportunistic. 

In one scene in this episode, a woman nervously risks her life and freedom. She wins the quest and ends up bringing millions of dollars worth of heroin into Australia.

7. Felt that Underbelly has too much music.

I love hearing songs in TV shows, but it seems to me that Underbelly has too many.

Or maybe it has the normal amount, and I'm being picky, because I don't like the show.  

8. Looked at a season of The Walking Dead on Tunefind.  Music-wise, the show is one of my favorites.  

It looks, to me, like most episodes have one or two songs; then the rest is instrumental/score music. Every so often, there are episodes with three or four songs.

9. Decided that maybe tomorrow I'll count the songs on an episode of Underbelly.

If I remember.

10. Felt also that all the songs had the same kind of mood. It's this message of, Look! We're criminals doing bad things while fun upbeat music plays in the background.  I think that type of musical juxtaposition is effective but only if used sparingly.  

11. Went to the Triple J 2014 list.

Today I'm going to listen to the 75th song, which is "Live it Up" by 360, featuring Pez.

I may have listened to something of his before. He sound vaguely familiar. 

12. Looked through songs 1-74 on the 2014 Triple J list. I didn't see 360, but that doesn't guarantee he's not there. I tend to miss things.

13. Started to watch the video for "Live it Up". 

14. Liked the song—at least the way it sounds.

I'm not sure about the message. 

At first I thought it was about seizing the day—enjoying life to the fullest.  But then it started to seem more along the lines of the whole positive attitude thing—if you want something enough, it will come true.

Then I got the idea that this living it up isn't about embracing life but more about embracing the extreme wealth that comes with rare successes. 

15. Thought that song was sort of the opposite of Lorde's "Royals".

If I'm interpreting things correctly. 

16. Looked a the lyrics for "Live it Up"

17. Loved these lines.

And I'm grateful they shot me down or the person I am I would not be now 
Yeah, it ain't good to be bullet proof cause in the end that bullet will be good for you 
When I think of all the things that I wouldn't do now if it wasn't for that one little bullet wound

It's like the conversation on Doctor Who.

Clara Oswald: When did you get to be so wise?

Danny Pink: The same as everyone else. I had a really bad day.

I love that.

I think I'm a big believer in difficult things making us stronger. To a point.

If someone has an extremely bad day, they might commit suicide. Then they won't have a chance to become stronger.

18. Liked this line from the song.  Head up in the clouds where it oughta be cause they say life's ordinary, but it not.

I totally agree, at least with the last part. Life is far from ordinary. It's full of crazy stuff.

I don't think our head should be up in the clouds all the time. But it should be there some of the time.
I think it's good to have fantasies and dreams.

I think it's not a bad thing to be a little bit delusional at times.  It shouldn't go too far, though. Sometimes we need to return to the ground and be realistic about things.

19. Liked the song more without the video.

The lyrics themselves seem more about embracing life.

The video seems to be saying that embracing life is about flying on private jets.

20. Learned from Lord Wiki that the 360 rapper has major eye problems. He's legally blind in one eye and is losing site in the other.

Shit.

21. Returned to the TV Guide feature about new TV shows.

I'm looking for Australians who are going to be on American TV.  

22. Saw that my next show is called The Grinder. It stars Rob Lowe, Fred Savage, and some other people.  Are any of them Australian?

23. Looked at the cast of The Grinder.

I don't see any Australians.

24. Looked at the next show. It's called The Guide to Surviving Life.  It seems to be a pseudo-reality TV type thing.

25. Saw that IMDb doesn't have a cast list for The Guide to Surviving Life yet.

Maybe it will come into existence later.

26. Thought the woman in the picture for the next TV show (Heartbreaker) looked Australian, but I wasn't sure who she was and didn't know whether I was right about her being Australian.

Well, it turns out it's Melissa George, and she's definitely Australian.

27. Saw from TV Guide that Heartbreaker has at least TWO Australians. Don Hany from Offspring is one of the stars of the show.

28. Looked at the credits for Heartbreaker. I don't see any other Australians in the cast, but two is quite impressive.

29. Thought of other American TV shows that had more than one Australian star.

The two that come immediately to mind are Fringe and Without a Trace.

I'm sure there are others.

I'm not including Camp.

30. Wondered if Don Hany has ever done American work before. I know Melissa George has...several times.

31. Saw that, in 2006, Hany had a small role in an American TV movie called The TV Set.

He was also in a movie called Big Top.

32. Saw that Don Hany is going to be appearing in an American TV show about military doctors.

33. Skipped over Heroes Reborn in TV Guide, because I think I already looked at the cast list for that.

I hope I didn't miss any Australians.

34. Saw that the next show is a comedy about a family called Life in Pieces. Dianne Wiest is one of the stars. I remember loving her back in the 80's—Parenthood and Lost Boys.

35. Started to look at the cast list of Life in Pieces.

36. Finished looking through the cast. I didn't find any Australians.

37. Saw that the next show on TV Guide is Limitless. It's about drug-induced superpowers.

The guy in the photo looks like the guy from Happy Endings and FlashForward. I wonder if it's him.

38. Looked at the cast list of the MOVIE Limitless, because the TV Show is based off of that.

This did have an Australian—Abbie Cornish.

39. Saw that the star of Limitless, Jake McDorman, is not the guy from Happy Endings and FlashForward.

Jake McDorman is  also not Australian, but he did appear in an American movie with an Australian—Aquamarine with Claudia Karvan.

40. Found an Australian in Limitless.

It's Lucy Taylor.  I think she appears in only one episode.

She hasn't been on many Australian things. I think she's more of a character actress...or a struggling one.

Well, if someone just does guest-star work, it's hard to know whether this is the kind of work they want to do or if this is the only work they're able to get.  I think it's usually the latter. Though I imagine, in the world of actors, any appearance on a show is a pretty big accomplishment.

41. Saw that Lucy Taylor actually did have a pretty significant role in something. She starred with Alex Dimitriades in a TV movie called Stepfather of the Bridge.

42. Stopped looking at the credits for Limitless, because it was starting to feel limitless. There are a lot of people on that show!

43. Saw from TV Guide that there's a new show called Lucifer. It's about the dark angel.

Maybe I'll try watching that show someday...if it gets good reviews. I like angel mythology.

44. Started looking at the cast of Lucifer.

I'm not seeing any Australians yet, but I do see Kevin Alejandro. We saw him on True Blood and Ugly Betty.

45. Continued to not see any Australians on Lucifer, but I do see another True Blood star. Bailey Noble. She played the surviving half-human/half-fairy girl.

46. Saw that the next show in TV Guide is Minority Report.  I might have looked at the cast list before. I'm not sure.

The movie is based on the Tom Cruise movie.  TV Guide says it takes place ten years after what happened in the movie.

I wonder if it will be any good.

47. Started looking at the cast list for Minority Report.

48. Didn't see any Australians.

There are quite a few Canadians, though!

49. Saw that the show is filmed in Toronto.

I can't say I'm surprised.

50. Wondered if I should skip over the new Muppets, but then I remembered the Muppets always have human characters as well.

51. Looked at the cast of The Muppets.

52. Decided to listen to the Wonderland theme song, while looking at The Muppets cast.

I love that song.

53. Did not see any Australians in The Muppet's cast.

54. Saw that the next show on TV Guide is Of Kings and Prophets. It's a biblical type thing.

There's someone named Simone Kessell on the show.  The name sounds familiar. Maybe she's Australian?

55. Saw that Simone Kessell is a Kiwi, but she's been in a lot of Australian things, including Wonderland.

She's also one of the stars of Underbelly. I saw her today—in the rare moments that I looked up from my QuizUp game.

I'm joking.

Well, I did play a lot of QuizUp. But I also made a conscious effort to watch the show.  I think I remember Kessell.

56. Guessed that Of Kings and Prophets is filmed in South African, because there are a lot of South Africans in the cast. IMDb doesn't have a filming location, though.

57. Consulted Lord Wiki.

He says the show takes place in Israel and is filmed in Cape Town, South Africa.

58. Turned to the next TV show which is Blood and Oil. At the same time, I heard a YouTube commercial for Blood and Oil.

59. Started looking at the cast for Blood and Oil.

60. Did not find any Australians in Blood and Oil.

61. Saw that the next show on TV Guide is called People are Talking. It's about two couples that are friends. It doesn't sound very exciting, but maybe it's one of those shows that's much more exciting than its description.

Some shows are good, because they're simply good and not because they have an intriguing premise.

I need to remember that.

62. Started to look at the cast.

63. Did not find any Australians.

64. Listened to "The Gambler" from Blackpool, as I clicked on the next button on the TV Guide feature. I got to The Player, which is about Las Vegas.  I thought that was quite fitting.

I love when things work out that way.

65. Found an Australian in The Player.

Thank you! I feel like it's been so long. I kept coming up empty.

Anyway, the Australian is Daisy Betts.

If I had a good memory, I'd remember Daisy Betts from Sea Patrol. She appeared in three episodes of season one.

The good news is she comes back for an episode in season two. I'm watching that soon. If I remember, I'll look out for her.

66. Saw that Daisy Betts is one of the several Australians starring in the upcoming science fiction series Childhood's End.

67. Started to notice that some struggling/rising American actors have IMDb biographies like that American actor I once saw on Water Rats. They provide very detailed and personal biographies.

I'm not sure why. Maybe they're hoping that someone will read it, and say, She sounds very interesting. Let's hire her for our TV show! When we're not filming, we can get coffee, and she can tell me more about her life.

Or it could be that these actors are eager to get to the point in their life where they're famous enough that people will want to interview them. So maybe they kind of take it upon themselves to provide an interview before being asked.

68. Decided I'm tired of searching through cast lists.

I'm tired.

I need a break, so I'll continue with this tomorrow.

69. Listened to Vance Joy's "Riptide".

Have I mentioned that I love this song?

70. Wondered about fame and success.

Maybe getting adoration or validation is not the biggest thing.  Maybe it's the idea that if we're famous, people will want to know all about us. Every detail of our lives will be fascinating to the world. They'll want to know what we ate for breakfast; what color socks we wear, who's our favorite comic book character; how we felt when our dog died; who was mean to us in elementary school; the name of our beloved stuffed animal; what's our favorite flavor of Ramen noodles....

We all have stories to tell—even those of us who aren't famous. The problem is there usually aren't that many people who are interested....or good at pretending they're interested.