1. Started watching an episode of Neighbours.
2. Saw Kyle (Chris Milligan) have a moment with Amy (Zoe Cramond). They almost kissed.
I feel the storyline has moved too fast.
Amy appeared too soon after Georgia (Saskia Hampele) left. I understand Georgia is probably not returning, and Kyle will have to move on someday. But I think they should have waited a month or two to bring in Kyle's next love interest.
3. Started watching an episode of Water Rats.
4. Saw a Hulu ad for a new TV show—Blind Spot. I decided to look at the cast on IMDb, so I could see if there are any Australians.
There is one!
One of the main stars is played by Sullivan Stapleton. I didn't actually recognize his name, unfortunately. I just randomly clicked on names, hoping to find an Aussie.
Despite not recognizing Stapleton's name, I have seen him in stuff before.
He played Josh on Satisfaction.
Oh! And he was on The Secret Life of Us.
I remembered seeing Stapleton on something, looking him up, and seeing that he was on Satisfaction. That's what I had known him from, originally. But today I couldn't remember where I had seen him in next.
Now I know.
I think I remember him. I'm pretty sure Stapleton played the guy that Kelly (Deborah Mailman) met in uni. They both ran for office and were competing at first.
5. Saw that Blind Spot has a large cast. Some of the other cast members might be Australian. I clicked on a few names and didn't get any hits. I also looked out for names I might recognize. I didn't see anything.
6. Wanted to mention that the American show we've been watching lately features an Australian actor.
Sort of. Maybe. I'm not sure, actually.
The show is The Strain. The actor is Jonathan Hyde. Hyde plays a business tycoon on the show, and he also was one of the stars of The Titanic. He played Ismay who, I think, was the owner of the Titanic?
7. Consulted Lord Wiki. He says Ismay was the founder and chairman of the White Star Line.
8. Realized I should get back to Jonathan Hyde and not start obsessing over the Titanic.
I remember reading that Hyde is an Australian-born British actor. I'm not sure about his current ties to Australia. He might have cut them.
9. Consulted Lord Wiki. He shows that Hyde has been doing theater in the UK since the 1970's. This could mean he moved to the UK in the 1970's. Or he might have moved there much earlier than that and didn't start working in the theatre until he was older.
10. Went to Jonathan Hyde's official website.
He looks mean—probably because I've never seen him play a decent person before.
11. Did not get any Australian information on the biography page of Jonathan Hyde's site except for the fact that he PLAYED an Australian on stage. He was Lionel Logue in The King's Speech.
12. Saw that I would have also seen Hyde in Jumanji.
I wonder if he played a villain in that.
13. Felt bad for labeling Ismay as being a bad person.
Was he? I think the musical and movie portrayed him as being a bit awful. But was he really that bad?
14. Consulted Lord Wiki.
He reminded me that Ismay as seen as a villain, because he urged the captain to go faster. I think I remember that from the musical.
There was also some controversy about Ismay getting himself rescued. People were disgusted that he was on the lifeboat—that his place should have been held for a woman or child. Some argue in defense of Ismay, saying he helped women and children get on the raft; then took a place after no other woman and children were around.
15. Gave up on trying to figure out when Hyde left Australia.
16. Changed my mind about giving up. It's good I did, because I found an article.
Hyde did have an Australian life.
He was born in Brisbane, and that's where his family lived. In the 1960's, he attended Geelong Grammar school as a boarding student.
Hyde left for England in 1969.
17. Wanted to mention another actor that has a bit of an Australian background—though probably much less so than Hyde.
While watching Coronation Street last night, I googled the actor who plays Todd Grimshaw. And he was also on two episodes of Doctor Who.
Lord Wiki told me that Bruno Langley had Australian parents. He was born, though, in England.
18. Wondered if Bruno Langley has ever visited Australia.
He might have some Australian cousins.
19. Went back to watching Water Rats. Finally.
20. Saw that Joel Edgerton is a guest star on this episode.
I'll be excited to see him.
21. Recognized one of the criminals on Water Rats.
It turns out it's Peter Kowitz, the guy who played Mel's father on Packed to the Rafters!
22. Saw Joel Edgerton!
He's on the left.
This would be before his The Secret Life of Us days.
23. Could understand Jeff's (Peter Bensley) guilt and regret about not knowing their dead cleaner more.
Ken (Tony Nguyen) dies, and Jeff realizes he knew very little about him. Jeff is bothered by this.
I've felt like this before.
It happened to me this summer. I went to a funeral of someone I knew little about and almost everything in the obituary was news to me.
To my defense, I did TRY to get to know the person when they were alive. I got bits and pieces of information by asking questions.
I tried. But maybe I feel I didn't try enough?
I'm kind of being unfair to myself, though. We can't know everything about a person. This is especially going to be the case of someone we rarely see.
24. Decided maybe we should feel okay with things as long as we had some amount of curiosity about a person. If we know very little about a person who died and never even bothered to care to know; then we should probably feel some shame.
I think it's a bad thing if we completely take someone for granted and have no curiosity or interest in them.
If we have some interest and have made some attempts to get to know the person; then this is probably fine.
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
25. Watched videos from the University of Adelaide for our science curriculum.
The first was done by an associate professor named Rachel Gibson. She sounded very Australian to me.
The second was done by an entertaining man named Mario Ricci. In the middle of watching the video, Jack asked me if he was Australian. I said no. I thought Ricci sounded like he was from England—London maybe. Then we got to the end of the video and saw it too was from the University of Adelaide. I felt stupid for thinking Mario Ricci was not Australian.
HOWEVER, there's a chance I'm not a complete loser at spotting Australian accents. Just because he's teaching in Australia; it doesn't mean he's lived there long enough to pick up an accent. Maybe he's originally from England.
26. Looked at Mario Ricci's University of Adelaide page. There's a possibility that he could have been born and raised in England, but he's been in Australia since at least 1997. That's when he got his Bachelor of Health Sciences.
27. Looked at Mario Ricci's Linkedin page. There's a photo of him. He looks a bit like one of my brother-in-laws.
28. Admitted to myself that I'm probably wrong about Mario Ricci's accent.
29. Listened again to the Mario Ricci on the video.
Now he sounds very Australian to me. How did I miss it?
30. Wondered if I'll be able to regain faith in myself.
31. Decided to look on the bright side of things.
After watching Ricci's Gibson's, AND Hank Green's video, I think both Jack and I have a fair understanding of epithelial tissue. That's what we were supposed to be studying—not the difference between Australian and English accents.
32. Saw a photo of Nat King Cole.
I actually didn't know who he was, but I thought his face reminded me of someone else's face. Except the other person's face was female and caucasian.
Then I realized I was thinking of Adrienne Pickering.
Here: you can compare too. Tell me what you think. Nat King Cole and Adrienne Pickering.
Does anyone else see a resemblance? Or am I the only one?
33. Went to the Triple J 2014 list.
Today I'm going to listen to the 48th song, which is "Delete" by DMA's.
It's interesting that their name has an apostrophe.
It makes me want to say, DMA's WHAT?
What is theirs?
What belongs to them? What do they own?
34. Started watching the video for "Delete".
35. Liked the sound.
It's like someone singing in the shower. I mean there's not a shower. That's not what I'm saying.
It's just that the acoustics have a bathroom quality to them.
36. Liked the video and the song. It's one of the few songs on the Triple J 2014 list that has pleased me.
37. Googled to see if DMA's have ever sang on Like a Version. I like that show.
I couldn't find anything with them singing, but I did find that another group covered "Delete".
38. Started listening to "Sticky Fingers" cover of "Delete"
I like it.
It's a lovely song.
39. Saw that I encountered a Sticky Finger song previously while exploring the Triple J 2014 list.
Their song "Gold Snafu" is #20 on the list.
40. Wanted to marry the song "Delete". Or at least go on a date. Maybe have a one night stand?
41. Looked at the lyrics of "Delete". Nothing really calls strongly out to me. But still. I love the song.
42. Decided to listen to the song one more time.
Here's a cover by Will Hearn. I think he has a great voice.
43. Saw that my next backstage Neighbours video is the one about shaving Stefan Dennis's hair. I almost watched that a week or so ago but then realized I was on the wrong place.
The head-shaving video isn't after the video I watched yesterday. What comes after that is the Damien Fotiou videos. But I already watched those. I think that's how I was introduced to the Neighbours backstage videos in the first place.
44. Did not understand what Stefan was referring to when he said his hair was like the Alan Dale haircut.
I mean I know who Alan Dale is. But I guess I'm not very familar with Alan Dale's hair history.
45. Thought about how Stefan Dennis seems so different from Paul Robinson. It's not just that one is a soap opera actor, and the other is a business tycoon. There's a difference in...mannerisms? Maybe overall spirit?
It's interesting to see actors who seem very different from their characters.
I am used to seeing different accents and stuff like that.
I don't know if I can explain this well.
BUT...another Neighbours actor who seems very different from their character is Ariel Kaplan. Imogen seems quite tense and uptight. Kaplan seems kind of giggly.
46. Thought of a Neighbours actor who reminds me of their character. That would be Ryan Moloney. He seems very similar to Toadie; though one is a lawyer and the other is an actor.
47. Thought that Daniel Robinson is similar to Tim Phillips. They both have an upbeat kind of spirit; though Daniel's happiness is more along the hippy road, and Tim Phillip's spirit is more silly and fun-loving.
48. Thought that Karl Kennedy reminded me a lot of Alan Fletcher.
49. Decided the fact that Gale from the Hunger Games is played by the Aussie actor Liam Hemsworth gives me an excuse to say I love "Gale's Song" by the Lumineers.
I think it's one of my favorite songs right now.
I love when this happens. I'll be sitting there, wanting to mention something on my blog. Then I'll think, but I really shouldn't. It has nothing to do with Australia. It's great when I realize there IS a connection.
50. Wanted to say that I realize I COULD just have a blog about every single thing and not push myself to come up with Australia connections.
The problem is, I think that type of blogging becomes overwhelming. And for someone like me, it becomes somewhat compulsive. I can get into a habit of feeling I must report on everything that happens in my life.
For example, I usually write only about my Australia-related dreams. Things might get crazy if I wrote about ALL of my dreams.
51. Wanted to say that I understand a lot of this blog is about other things besides Australia...like Ismay on the Titanic. But it's like I need and want the train of thought to originate with something Australian.
Ismay might not be Australian, but the actor who played him in the James Cameron movie was Australian.
Do you see what I mean?
Am I making any sense?
