Troye Sivan, Attack of the Clones, Drift, and Fashion Stuff

1. Looked at Australian Twitter trends and saw that one of them is #TROYEonELVIS.

I didn't know what that referred to, so I clicked on it. I learned it refers to an Australian singer and actor named Troye Sivan.

The Elvis bit refers to a TV show called Elvis Duran. Sivan was interviewed on the show.

2. Started to read this article which talks about Sivan being Jewish and gay. They talk about him being culturally Jewish. It's funny, because I was thinking of cultural Judaism recently.

I think most of the religious Jews that I know are very much into the cultural aspects—the idea of being part of a tribe and practicing the traditions of the tribe. I don't think they're very spiritual.  I don't know if they put much thought or energy into the idea of a higher power, spiritual beings, an afterlife, etc.

3. Read more of the article and saw that despite being raised a cultural Jew, Sivan did think about spiritual things. He wondered about heaven and whether he'd get in despite being gay. In the end, he concluded, If there is a heaven, but I can't be myself up there, then maybe I don't want heaven.

Amen to that! That's the way I think of it. Why would I want to go to heaven if it's a place where only certain types of Protestants are welcome, and the God there hates gay people?

I also don't want to go to a heaven ruled by a God who sends people to hell for not believing in Him. A heaven ruled by a vengeful narcissist would be hell to me.

4. Consulted Lord Wiki about Troye Sivan.

Sivan was in the movie X-Men Origins: Wolverine. I don't think I saw that.

5. Learned that Sivan moved to Australia from South Africa when he was two.

He came out to his family when he was fifteen.

Now he's twenty.

6. Decided to watch one of Sivan's music videos—"Wild".

Or I might just mostly listen while I do other things.

7. Liked Sivan's voice more than I thought I would.

I don't know why, but I kind of expected not to like his music.

8. Wondered if maybe I don't like the song, after all.

Well, I don't dislike it, but I also don't love it.

9. Started listening to another Troye Sivan song. This one is called "Happy Little Pill".

10. Went to Attack of the Clones on IMDb. Jack was watching that this morning, and I thought about how it seems I've seen the movie on the filmography of several Australian actors.

11. Saw that some of the film work was done at Fox Studios at Moore Park. Jack and I both guessed that part of the movie must have been made in Australia.

12. Started looking at the cast.

Australian actors I recognize: Jack Thompson, Leanna Walsman, Rose Byrne, Joel Edgerton, Anthony Phelan, and Susie Porter.

13. Surprised that Claudia Karvan is not in the movie. I thought she was.

Maybe she was in one of the other films?

14. Saw that Claudia Karvan was in Revenge of the Sith.

15.  Looked at other actors from Attack of the Clones.

Jack mentioned a Kiwi actor, and I'm guessing he's referring to Jay Laga'aia.

He seemed familar to me and then I saw he was on Water Rats.

He was also on Home and Away.

I feel that New Zealanders who have major roles on popular Australian TV shows are at least honorary Australians.  Another example of an actor like this would be Alan Dale. Yes, he's from New Zealand, but I think of him as being Australian, since he was one of the main stars of Neighbours.

16. Saw that Daniel Logan who plays Boba Fett is also from New Zealand. This might have been who Jack was referring to.

Unlike Jay Laga'aia, Logan hasn't done a lot of Australian work.

17. Saw an advertisement for Amazon's pilot season.

Patriot, the show starring Michael Dorman, is one of the pilots. Then they also have a show called Edge, starring Ryan Kwanten.

18. Started to watch an episode of Farscape.

This episode features the characters that were not in the previous two episodes that I watched. And it also features the other (still living) Crichton (Ben Browder).

19. Saw that this episode has cute animation sequences.

Crichton is in a coma, and he's imagining his friends as Saturday morning cartoon characters.



20. Finished watching the episode. It was cute—had a lot of pop culture references.

I don't think it was one of my favorite episodes, though. It was more cute and silly than thought-provoking.

21. Got ready to watch Drift.

I'm doubting I will like it.

I didn't like the last surfing movie I watched.

22. Hoped to be wrong.

23. Saw that  the movie begins like Poltergeist—static on the television.

Maybe this won't be so bad after all.

Now I just need E. Buzz and a scary clown.

24. Thought that, so far, this movie is better than the other surfing movie.

25. Found the name of the other surfing movie (Newcastle) by clicking on Xavier Samuel's name. He's in both of the movies.

26. Saw that Xavier Samuel is going to play Banjo Patterson in a Waltzing Matilda movie.

27. Saw that the director of Waltzing Matilda is Morgan O'Neil, the same guy who directed Drift.

28. Saw that Xavier Samuel is thirty-two!

I thought he was much younger than that—like a teen star. Well, not a teen but a person in their early twenties who still plays teens onscreen.

29. Thought that the movie has a cool Wizard of Oz styled transition from past to present. The beginning of the movie is in black and white. This kid surfs this really strong wave; then it suddenly transitions to color; and the kid is older...still surfing.  I'm not yet sure how much older.

30. Saw that Sean Keenan, who plays young Andrew in the movie, was on Puberty Blues. He played Gary Hennessy. I'm not sure who that was, but I'm guessing he was one of the sexist pigs.

31. Looked at the cast/characters of Puberty Blues and saw that maybe I'm wrong. Gary was probably one of the sexist pigs in the movie; but, if I remember correctly, he was more sympathetic than the other surfers. He was the one with the asshole, cheating dad (Rodger Corser) and the oblivious mother (Susan Prior)

32. Stopped watching Drift for today. I plan to watch more of it tomorrow.

I think the movie is okay. It's not riveting for me, but I don't think it's completely awful.

33. Figured surfers would appreciate the movie more.

34. Looked at photos of Logie outfits to get inspiration for what I should wear to my niece's upcoming Bat Mitzvah.

I haven't bought a formal-type outfit in a pretty long time.  For my other niece's Bat Mitzvah, I wore hand-me-down dresses. That was fine, but I don't want to re-wear them for the next event.

If I'm going to buy something, I want to buy something I like–something I'm excited to wear.  However, I then have to balance that with finding something that's not going to make my mother and sister scream at me. We're having family photos taken and if I wear the wrong thing, people are going to get very angry.  If I wear the totally "right" thing, I'll end up looking like a dowdy old lady.

No, actually. I'll just look very conservative.

Anyway, I've been thinking I want to get a skirt and blouse rather than a dress.

One thing I've found so far that I like, within the Logie world, is Carrie Bickmore's outfit.  It might be a dress she's wearing, but it looks like it could be a skirt and shirt. I'm thinking of doing a long satin-type skirt like that and some kind of shirt. Hers is lace. I'm not sure I'd go for that. Maybe?

My niece's Bat Mitzvah is a winter thing, so maybe I could do some type of sweater?

35. Found another dress and shirt Logie ensemble. I don't like it.

36. Found the article with the photo, so I could find out who's wearing the outfit I don't like. It's Jessica Rowe.

The article writer didn't like the outfit either.

37. Learned from Google that Jessica Rowe is a news presenter.

38. Tried to imagine my family's reaction if I wear Katy Perry's 2011 Logie outfit.

I actually love it.

I'm a big fan of oddly-matching clothes. I love the green dress with the blue shoes.

I can't say, though, that I like the print on the dress—the butt crack and all that.

39. Started to look at photos from the 2013 Logies.

40. Liked Beck Hewitt's dress, though, it wouldn't work for me. And it especially wouldn't work for a winter Bat Mitzvah.

41. Figured something like that might work with a black cardigan...which I have.

42. Googled and learned that Beck Hewitt is a Home and Away actress.

43. Liked the dress that the little House Husbands girl is wearing. Maybe I can find something like it in an adult size.

44. Started to look at 2012 Logie photos.

45. Liked Samara Weaving's gothic style dress.  I like stuff like that. Though, I don't think I'd be thin enough for that particular dress.

46. Moved onto 2011.

47. Did not see anything there that would help to inspire me.

48. Started to doubt that actresses are helpful when it comes to fashion.

49. Figured I'd probably have better luck watching onscreen fashion rather than the offscreen stuff.

50. Started to look at movie premiere photos. Maybe I'll find something there.

51. Liked Sarah Snook's outfit for the premiere to Holding the Man.

I like all the colors.

52. Liked Isla Fisher's outfit for The Great Gatsby Premiere. Though, I don't think I'd be daring enough to wear something that shows so much of my legs.

What I like is the contrasting patterns.

53. Started to look at an article about best-dressed Australians.  I'll see if I agree with any of the likings.

54. Liked Anna Plunkett's type of style. The article describes it as Inappropriate clashing of colours, prints and textures with a sophisticated twist.  That's totally my type of thing.

As for the three outfits in the photo, I like the middle one the best.

55. Liked Isabella Manfredi's red shoes in the first picture here.

Maybe that's what I'll do for the Bat Mitzvah. I'll wear some kind of black skirt and black top; then pair it with cool red shoes.

56  Wanted to say that shoes are hard for me. BECAUSE a) my feet are narrow, so it can be hard to find shoes that fit. B) My big toes point upward. They hurt when they rub against hard shoes; and poke holes in soft ones. C) I'm horrible at walking in heels.

57. Liked that many of the women on the list were NOT actresses.

58. Changed my mind. Why should I like that?

I like actresses. I'm just not sure I like their style.

Or maybe I do. Maybe I just don't like their red carpet style...generally speaking.

59. Looked at some of my own clothes—the stuff I wore when in Australia.

There's some stuff I wear that makes me feel pretty. Then other stuff I wear makes me feel ugly but comfortable.

For example, this makes me look bad, but it's good airplane clothing.  I actually wore it this week on the plane to and from Disney World.  Well, I wore the same skirt. I might have worn a different shirt.

60. Liked my black hat here. I felt weird wearing it, but I did it, because I have melasma type issues. I was trying to protect my face.

Now I look at the hat and think it looks cool.

It's weird. I rarely like pictures of me when I first see them; then a few years later I like them.

I stopped wearing hats, because I didn't feel they were failing to stop the melasma issues. But now I feel I should go back to it; just for fashion purposes. Though I think I lost that particular hat—either in Australia or Disney World.

61. Liked this dress of mine—though it might not be very flattering.

I still wear it a lot.

62. Thought that my frumpy airplane outfit looked a little less bad in this photo.

That was a different day, though,—a non-airplane day.

63. Liked this outfit, but not the shoes.

I'm bad with shoes.

Well, I do okay with summer, because then I can wear sandals. But for colder weather, I have a hard time finding shoes that are both comfortable, walkable, and stylish.

64. Thought that it looked like I was picking my butt in the above-mentioned photo. I'm not sure there are reasons, otherwise, that my hand would be back there.

65. Thought that I looked absolutely terrible in this outfit. Still, I do like the style of long patterned skirts with t-shirts.  Or maybe I like the idea of it.

66. Mourned the lovely dress from this photo. I left it in Australia for some reason. I forgot why. Maybe it had a hole in it? Or a stain?

67. Wanted to say that the dress in this photo is one of my absolute favorites. Though I don't look very good there. I'm either cold or nervous. Maybe both?

68. Liked my shirt in this photo. I don't think I've worn it for awhile. I wonder what happened to it.

Maybe it's just lost among my other clothes.

69. Thought this printed skirt with t-shirt worked better than the one in the other photo.

I wore it to the Sydney Royal Easter show. I think that's a great place for that kind of outfit.  It's the kind of thing I'd want to wear in Disney World.

70. Thought this outfit looked incredibly unflattering; though it looks less awful in this photo.  Well, because you can only see the top of me.  I have a pretty decent neck and chest. I have a shitty tummy area.

Really. I looked at clothes size recently. I'm a size small chest-wise. I'm large hip-wise; and I'm extra large when it comes to the waist.

Life would be much better if things were the other way around for me!  How nice it would be to have a small waist and large breasts.  I wouldn't want huge breasts, because of the back issues.  But a little bigger might be nice. More importantly, though, I wish my waist was smaller.

I wish I was better proportioned.

71. Wondered if many women could not fit well within one size.

By the way, that's why I decided to do a skirt and shirt rather than a dress. This way I can get a large thing to fit on my bottom, but a smaller thing to fit on my top bits.

That being said, I do have dresses that manage to fit me okay.  I don't know why that happens. A miracle perhaps?

I buy most of my dresses at Goodwill. I usually end up trying on about thirty things; and many end up having to go back on the shelves. Maybe other women are luckier—can try on fewer things, because a larger percentage will work for them.

72. Wanted to confess that the reason my brain is on fashion so much today is one of my sister's asked for fashion advice regarding an upcoming event.  That reminded me of my own event-fashion concerns.

73. Decided to pay extra attention, from now on, to what the characters are wearing from my TV show.

I'm not sure I'll get much help from Farscape.

Maybe I'll see something tomorrow on Drift. It takes place in the 1970's. I do like vintage clothing. Though I think most of the characters in the movie are male.

74. Learned that Elvis Duran is a radio show; not a TV show.

And it's American.

I thought it was Australian.





How would our world change if we knew for sure there was life after death, and it was easy for our dearly-beloved to talk to us via the Internet?   

The Dead are Online, a novel by Dina Roberts