1. Started watching Patrick on Netflix.
2. Saw an actress that looks like Saskia Burmeister, but I don't see her in the credits. I guess it's not her.
3. Thought about globalization, because that's what we're going to be doing in world history today.
In terms of cultural globalization, I personally think it's mainly a very good thing. The only drawback is that it's dominated by American culture. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with American culture. I actually think it's quite wonderful. It's just I don't think any country should be dominating the world so much.
SO....
I think we should all do our part by bringing other cultures into our lives. Americans should especially do this since then, there will be more give and take.
I feel I do my part by watching a lot of Australian television; and now movies. I listen to Australian music, and have read many Australian books. I also buy Australian food sometimes. Then almost every night, I watch a British soap opera.
I feel very hopeful for Americans, because Hulu has a huge amount of foreign content—SO much anime!
4. Thought of my Utah friend who watches Korean TV shows. She's doing her part.
5. Thought of people I know who are massive consumers of Japanese culture.
6. Felt that every time we do something non-American, we're doing our part to help American culture not overly dominate the world.
It's fine to watch The Walking Dead, but then maybe also watch Wentworth or House Husbands.
It's fine to grab McDonalds for lunch but then maybe pick up some Thai food for dinner.
7. Did not feel it's bad if we lose all the individual cultures and become one. It's just different.
And a little sad.
It's kind of why sometimes I think of going to Australia and wonder, what the hell is the point? In a way, the only point is to see the Platypus, because they're not in any zoos here.
Do I want to hear Australian accents? I can watch an Australian TV show.
Do I want to eat Australian candy? I can order it from a store in the US, and I can find some stuff at my local grocery store.
Do I want to see Australian trees? Well, there are plenty in California. It's much cheaper to get a plane ticket there.
Do I want to see kangaroos? We can drive just ten minutes to our local zoo.
8. Remembered another reason to go to Australia.
I like to see the wild parrots.
We can see Australian parrots here in the US, but it's different seeing them wild and free.
Really. I think I go to Australia for the parrots.
9. Thought about how I also love being in Australia, simply for the major immersion experience. Yeah. I can buy Australian food and hear Australian accents if I click on a certain website. It's different, though, when you're surrounded by Australia stuff.
ALTHOUGH are we fully surrounded by Australia stuff when we're in Australia? Often we turn on the TV and see an American show playing. Turn on the radio, and we're likely to hear an American or British singer. Look up at the news playing on the TV, in the shop, and we're likely see a report about an American shooting incident.
10. Enjoyed what I've seen of Patrick so far.
It's very melodramatic, but I think that's fine. It's what it's supposed to be.
11. Liked that the movie has a gothic feel but then there are modern things like a nurse updating social media on a Mac computer. Although that might be common in horror movies these days. I don't watch a lot of them.
I have watched American Horror Story. I guess that too combines modern with gothic horror—at least the Murder House and Coven seasons.
12. Recognized one of the Patrick actresses as being from Satisfaction.
The thing is I KNEW there was a Satisfaction actress on Patrick, because I saw it on IMDb. And I've been looking at this woman for about five minutes. But it took me that long to see the woman I knew from Satisfaction.
Am I making any sense to anyone?
Anyway, the actress is Peta Sergeant. I think, on Satisfaction, she played the lesbian trying to get pregnant.
13. Thought that one of the actors on Patrick was a bit stilted.
I'm guessing it's a case of bad acting, and not part of the storyline. But maybe I'm wrong.
14. Thought that Doctor Roget (Charles Dance), in the movie, reminds me of very rigid, skeptical atheists—the type who would ignore any evidence that might suggest supernatural causes. Or they work very hard to try to prove that there's a scientific, unmiraculous explanation.
Nurse Kathy (Sharni Vinson) has communicated with comatose patient Patrick (Jackson Gallagher) by asking him to spit once for yes and twice for no. Yes, it can be a coincidence that he spits right after each of her questions. But in a way, isn't that coincidence more outlandish than the idea that he has some sort of consciousness?
Doctor Roget refuses to take the nurse seriously, and "proves" Patrick is mindless by making a dead frog jump. Yes, you can make a dead thing move with electrical impulses. But all that proves is you can make a dead thing move with electrical impulses. It doesn't disprove a patient in the hospital is experiencing consciousness. It doesn't even prove the frog isn't experiencing some type of consciousness while dead.
Let's say there is no life after death or consciousness outside of what can be measured by brain waves.
Could it be possible the brain wave detecting machine made a mistake in the past? Is it possible that certain brain wave activity isn't measurable? Is it possible that a brain could be experiencing no-activity, but then later awaken?
I'm just saying that the doctor could at least give the nurse's idea a chance.
15. Remember that Doctor Roget actually did examine Patrick, and Kathy tried to show him the spitting thing.
So, that was good of him.
My theory is that Patrick can turn off his brain waves to trick the doctor. It's quite plausible, seeing that he's telekinetic.
16. Thought that the doctor's attitude reminded me of the Crash Course we watched yesterday about Animal Behavior. There's that mindset that everything an animal does is only for the sake of eating and reproducing. It's so incredibly soulless.
17. Wanted Patrick not to be evil.
I want it to be a story of a decent man with psychic powers who's trapped in a coma and being kept prisoner at a hospital.
It's okay if he does bad things to get attention or to try to save himself. I'm also okay with him doing bad things, because he's suffering from major emotional instability.
I don't want it to be a story about a purely evil man.
I worry that might be the case, though, because the tagline of the movie is Evil Awakens.
Moral ambiguity is much more interesting to me than pure evil.
18. Had hope that when they say Evil awakens, they mean partially evil, and not 100% evil.
19. Faced the facts.
Patrick is pretty bad.
He's already killed two people.
And as for moral ambiguity. Maybe it's overrated.
Everyone is probably a mixture of good and evil. No one is purely good or purely evil. So...probably everyone has moral ambiguity.
I guess what I'd want is for Patrick to be half and half—half good and half evil. Or maybe even a little more good than evil. Instead, I'm guessing he's about 80% evil and 20% good.
I think he has some amount of feelings for Nurse Kathy, but I don't think it's a healthy, giving type of love. I think it's a suffocating, controlling, abusive type of love.
20. Learned that Patrick killed only one person—at least that we've been shown.
Still. Killing one person is bad enough....especially if it's for sinister reasons.
21. Thought that the movie had a great line. The only thing more dangerous than his hate is his love.
22. Realized I might be wrong.
Patrick might have killed two people.
I forgot that he has the power to control other people. So if we think there's another murderer, it still might be Patrick.
23. Thought Patrick does a good job of the hopelessness thing.
There's the sense that there's no way to defeat Patrick—kind of that claustrophobic feeling.
There's no escaping.
24. Finished watching Patrick.
I thought it was pretty good as far as horror movies go.
I might have liked it more if Patrick was less powerful. I can buy the whole telekinetic thing, but I think he should have limits to his power. It seemed to me that he was doing too much at once. He seemed omnipotent, which I think made things less interesting.
25. Had questions in my mind after watching the movie, which I guess is a good thing. Maybe?
One of the questions is whether Patrick was born bad. In flashbacks, his mother called him a perv. She was mean to him. Is this because he WAS a perv, and she couldn't handle having a creepy child. Or did he become a creepy, evil child because his mother was emotionally abusive?
Maybe it was a combination of both things—disturbed child stresses out mother; she becomes abusive; and that makes him more disturbed.
26. Had another question, but now I've forgotten it.
27. Remembered the question.
How did Patrick become telekinetic? He didn't seem to have powers in the flashback unless I missed something.
I think he electrocuted his parents, so maybe that event did something to his brain.
OR did Dr. Roget cause the telekinesis with all his experimentation?
28. Learned from Lord Wiki that Patrick got a pretty high rating on Rotten Tomatoes (83).
29. Did not feel scared, but I worry that tonight I will.
Well, it is night, actually.
But later...when I'm trying to sleep, I might get scared.
2. Saw an actress that looks like Saskia Burmeister, but I don't see her in the credits. I guess it's not her.
3. Thought about globalization, because that's what we're going to be doing in world history today.
In terms of cultural globalization, I personally think it's mainly a very good thing. The only drawback is that it's dominated by American culture. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with American culture. I actually think it's quite wonderful. It's just I don't think any country should be dominating the world so much.
SO....
I think we should all do our part by bringing other cultures into our lives. Americans should especially do this since then, there will be more give and take.
I feel I do my part by watching a lot of Australian television; and now movies. I listen to Australian music, and have read many Australian books. I also buy Australian food sometimes. Then almost every night, I watch a British soap opera.
I feel very hopeful for Americans, because Hulu has a huge amount of foreign content—SO much anime!
4. Thought of my Utah friend who watches Korean TV shows. She's doing her part.
5. Thought of people I know who are massive consumers of Japanese culture.
6. Felt that every time we do something non-American, we're doing our part to help American culture not overly dominate the world.
It's fine to watch The Walking Dead, but then maybe also watch Wentworth or House Husbands.
It's fine to grab McDonalds for lunch but then maybe pick up some Thai food for dinner.
7. Did not feel it's bad if we lose all the individual cultures and become one. It's just different.
And a little sad.
It's kind of why sometimes I think of going to Australia and wonder, what the hell is the point? In a way, the only point is to see the Platypus, because they're not in any zoos here.
Do I want to hear Australian accents? I can watch an Australian TV show.
Do I want to eat Australian candy? I can order it from a store in the US, and I can find some stuff at my local grocery store.
Do I want to see Australian trees? Well, there are plenty in California. It's much cheaper to get a plane ticket there.
Do I want to see kangaroos? We can drive just ten minutes to our local zoo.
8. Remembered another reason to go to Australia.
I like to see the wild parrots.
We can see Australian parrots here in the US, but it's different seeing them wild and free.
Really. I think I go to Australia for the parrots.
9. Thought about how I also love being in Australia, simply for the major immersion experience. Yeah. I can buy Australian food and hear Australian accents if I click on a certain website. It's different, though, when you're surrounded by Australia stuff.
ALTHOUGH are we fully surrounded by Australia stuff when we're in Australia? Often we turn on the TV and see an American show playing. Turn on the radio, and we're likely to hear an American or British singer. Look up at the news playing on the TV, in the shop, and we're likely see a report about an American shooting incident.
10. Enjoyed what I've seen of Patrick so far.
It's very melodramatic, but I think that's fine. It's what it's supposed to be.
11. Liked that the movie has a gothic feel but then there are modern things like a nurse updating social media on a Mac computer. Although that might be common in horror movies these days. I don't watch a lot of them.
I have watched American Horror Story. I guess that too combines modern with gothic horror—at least the Murder House and Coven seasons.
12. Recognized one of the Patrick actresses as being from Satisfaction.
The thing is I KNEW there was a Satisfaction actress on Patrick, because I saw it on IMDb. And I've been looking at this woman for about five minutes. But it took me that long to see the woman I knew from Satisfaction.
Am I making any sense to anyone?
Anyway, the actress is Peta Sergeant. I think, on Satisfaction, she played the lesbian trying to get pregnant.
13. Thought that one of the actors on Patrick was a bit stilted.
I'm guessing it's a case of bad acting, and not part of the storyline. But maybe I'm wrong.
14. Thought that Doctor Roget (Charles Dance), in the movie, reminds me of very rigid, skeptical atheists—the type who would ignore any evidence that might suggest supernatural causes. Or they work very hard to try to prove that there's a scientific, unmiraculous explanation.
Nurse Kathy (Sharni Vinson) has communicated with comatose patient Patrick (Jackson Gallagher) by asking him to spit once for yes and twice for no. Yes, it can be a coincidence that he spits right after each of her questions. But in a way, isn't that coincidence more outlandish than the idea that he has some sort of consciousness?
Doctor Roget refuses to take the nurse seriously, and "proves" Patrick is mindless by making a dead frog jump. Yes, you can make a dead thing move with electrical impulses. But all that proves is you can make a dead thing move with electrical impulses. It doesn't disprove a patient in the hospital is experiencing consciousness. It doesn't even prove the frog isn't experiencing some type of consciousness while dead.
Let's say there is no life after death or consciousness outside of what can be measured by brain waves.
Could it be possible the brain wave detecting machine made a mistake in the past? Is it possible that certain brain wave activity isn't measurable? Is it possible that a brain could be experiencing no-activity, but then later awaken?
I'm just saying that the doctor could at least give the nurse's idea a chance.
15. Remember that Doctor Roget actually did examine Patrick, and Kathy tried to show him the spitting thing.
So, that was good of him.
My theory is that Patrick can turn off his brain waves to trick the doctor. It's quite plausible, seeing that he's telekinetic.
16. Thought that the doctor's attitude reminded me of the Crash Course we watched yesterday about Animal Behavior. There's that mindset that everything an animal does is only for the sake of eating and reproducing. It's so incredibly soulless.
17. Wanted Patrick not to be evil.
I want it to be a story of a decent man with psychic powers who's trapped in a coma and being kept prisoner at a hospital.
It's okay if he does bad things to get attention or to try to save himself. I'm also okay with him doing bad things, because he's suffering from major emotional instability.
I don't want it to be a story about a purely evil man.
I worry that might be the case, though, because the tagline of the movie is Evil Awakens.
Moral ambiguity is much more interesting to me than pure evil.
18. Had hope that when they say Evil awakens, they mean partially evil, and not 100% evil.
19. Faced the facts.
Patrick is pretty bad.
He's already killed two people.
And as for moral ambiguity. Maybe it's overrated.
Everyone is probably a mixture of good and evil. No one is purely good or purely evil. So...probably everyone has moral ambiguity.
I guess what I'd want is for Patrick to be half and half—half good and half evil. Or maybe even a little more good than evil. Instead, I'm guessing he's about 80% evil and 20% good.
I think he has some amount of feelings for Nurse Kathy, but I don't think it's a healthy, giving type of love. I think it's a suffocating, controlling, abusive type of love.
20. Learned that Patrick killed only one person—at least that we've been shown.
Still. Killing one person is bad enough....especially if it's for sinister reasons.
21. Thought that the movie had a great line. The only thing more dangerous than his hate is his love.
22. Realized I might be wrong.
Patrick might have killed two people.
I forgot that he has the power to control other people. So if we think there's another murderer, it still might be Patrick.
23. Thought Patrick does a good job of the hopelessness thing.
There's the sense that there's no way to defeat Patrick—kind of that claustrophobic feeling.
There's no escaping.
24. Finished watching Patrick.
I thought it was pretty good as far as horror movies go.
I might have liked it more if Patrick was less powerful. I can buy the whole telekinetic thing, but I think he should have limits to his power. It seemed to me that he was doing too much at once. He seemed omnipotent, which I think made things less interesting.
25. Had questions in my mind after watching the movie, which I guess is a good thing. Maybe?
One of the questions is whether Patrick was born bad. In flashbacks, his mother called him a perv. She was mean to him. Is this because he WAS a perv, and she couldn't handle having a creepy child. Or did he become a creepy, evil child because his mother was emotionally abusive?
Maybe it was a combination of both things—disturbed child stresses out mother; she becomes abusive; and that makes him more disturbed.
26. Had another question, but now I've forgotten it.
27. Remembered the question.
How did Patrick become telekinetic? He didn't seem to have powers in the flashback unless I missed something.
I think he electrocuted his parents, so maybe that event did something to his brain.
OR did Dr. Roget cause the telekinesis with all his experimentation?
28. Learned from Lord Wiki that Patrick got a pretty high rating on Rotten Tomatoes (83).
29. Did not feel scared, but I worry that tonight I will.
Well, it is night, actually.
But later...when I'm trying to sleep, I might get scared.
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
30. Went to Random.org to find out what I plan to be watching on Thursday.
It's The Efficiency Expert.
I think that's the one with Anthony Hopkins.
31. Saw that Dan Wylie is in the movie. It's from 1992, so he'll be quite young.
What's the youngest I've seen Wylie?
32. Looked at Dan Wylie's filmography.
I would have seen him in Muriel's Wedding; though I don't remember him.
The Efficiency Expert is actually his first screen thing.
33. Saw that Randall Berger is in the film.
I remember writing about him.
He's an American-Australian; I saw him in Come in Spinner.
34. Saw a sort-of contradiction while reading this post.
In #23, I talked about how Patrick does a good job with the hopelessness thing—no escape.
Then in #24 I talked about how Patrick was too powerful.
(By the way, there was a time space between those two items. I'm not sure how long. It took me pretty much the whole day to watch the movie, with housework, homeschooling, and other stuff in-between)
Anyway, I still agree with both things I said.
I think Patrick could have been less omnipotent and still remained a suffocating threat. The guy can watch people from far away. He can possess people, and he can move objects.
He can kill you without being in the room with you. I think that's enough to make anyone feel extremely controlled and trapped.
I just think it would be good if he had a weakness, and that would be that he can't do two things at once.
35. Concluded that I liked the movie, but I might have liked it more if Patrick wasn't so damn good at multi-tasking.