1. Dreamed that, I'm hanging out with Hayley cropper from Coronation Street. She's dead, and we talk about this. I talk about how I had seen spoilers regarding her death and anticipated her getting sick. I tell her now I know spoilers about another storyline— one that's so awful; it will make Hayley's storyline seem not so bad in comparison.
We talk about all this in a sort of light way. Hayley tells me she doesn't get spoilers where she is and has no idea what's happening in her old world.
We then ride a bus with many people. Tim is there. Our group leader asks if any of us have recently dreamed about Australia. I raise my hand, because I have. I'm one of three people on the bus with Australia dreams. The problem is, I dreamed about a specific place and now I can't remember the name. For some reason, I see the name as essential to sharing my dream. All I know is, the place was probably somewhere in New South Wales, and that we had visited it on a previous trip.
The leader never asks me about my dream. It's like he's ignoring my raised hand or didn't see it. He doesn't even come to me. I don't push the issue; though it sort of bothers me.
The bus stops because it comes to the end of the road. We're at a body of water. I'm excited to see turtles. There are also ducks and other water birds. Tim hands me a piece of food wrapped in plastic. I think it's for feeding the animals, but Tim tells me it's for us. I get idea there is no food for us to feed the animals. Tim says this is good —that we'll have a more authentic experience. The animals will like us for us rather the food. I'm thinking the animals won't give us the time of day.
At one point Hayley starts singing. I start singing with her. She doesn't seem too pleased that I've joined her. Here or another time, I think about how Hayley isn't as nice as people made her out to be. I decide maybe people acted as if she was so great only because she was dying,
I go off on my own; return to the water animals. Because apparently we had left them. I plan to sing in my own. I decide to sing "Memory" from Cats and use my phone to retrieve the lyrics. They don't look right, and I realize it's a different "Memory".
2. Understood that the reason I dreamed about Hayley is that she was talked about in the episodes I watched last night.
I think the feeding animals bit came from my recent blogging about feeding the magpies.
I'm not sure why u dreamed about the forgotten Australian place or the wrong "Memory" lyrics.
3. Went back to sleep...because it was only four in the morning.
I had more Australia-related dreams.
In one, I'm sitting at a table with Julian McMahon, his sons, and some other people. Julian McMahon isn't as nice and friendly as I'd hope he'd be. I decide to leave and go into the ocean. I swim far out. Then I see shark fins. I hurry back to shore.
I later "wake up" and see a Tweet for me from Julian McMahon via Twitter. He says he played Ben Houston. I see his profile icon has a little checkmark, which makes me think it's real. I plan to Tweet back that I thought it had all been a dream. But then I start to question if Julian McMahon has ever played Ben Houston, and I start to think the Twitter checkmark was the wrong color.
The other dream was very long, complicated, and mixed up, so I won't try to explain it. I'll just say it involved the idea of starting some kind of entertainment group with my co-workers (after we got ourselves fired, maybe). At one point, I considered making some kind of maybe comedy-routine based around my Australia experiences.
4. Read over my dreams and realized I dreamed twice about someone not being as nice as I expected or wanted them to be.
I have no idea what that's about.
I don't think I'm the type of person to have high expectations about someone's niceness.
5. Knew that Julian McMahon played a Ben on Home and Away. I'm pretty sure the last name wasn't Houston, though.
I think it started with an L?
6. Checked.
The name is Ben Lucini.
7. Saw that Julian McMahon was on a show in 2013 called Full Circle.
I don't remember ever hearing of it. That's kind of sad, because I'm pretty sure I looked at Julian McMahon's filmography a couple of months ago—maybe just a few weeks ago. I swear. Hardly anything sticks in my brain.
Still. It's funny how there are so many TV shows these days. It's hard to keep up. I don't imagine this would have happened when I was a kid. I mean not because my memory was better back then, but because it seems there were much less TV choices. I think most of us probably knew of all the TV shows that were out there—at least in our own country.
8. Decided this was probably more true of Americans, because we didn't get much international television. Australians were probably trying to keep up with British TV, their TV, American TV, and other stuff around the world.
9. Saw that Julian McMahon is going to be in another American science fiction show filmed in Victoria.
Like Childhood's End, this one too is going to be on the SyFy channel.
10. Did a bunch of chores; then thought of that TV show that Julian McMahon was in. I couldn't think of the name.
Things go in my brain and then right out again.
11. Thought of how various Australians have said I know more about Australia than most Australians.
It's one of those compliments that actually make me feel bad because I know it's so not true.
Now if I remembered everything I've written in my posts, I think I might be the the #1 world expert on Australia and Australians. Or at least I'd be in the top fifty. Probably.
But with the way my memory fails me, there are probably hundreds of thousands of people who know more about Australia than I do.
12. Saw from Twitter that there was a big storm in Perth.
13. Read an article about the storm and learned it was less intense than expected.
14. Looked at Perth on my weather app. It looks like it's supposed to rain a lot in the afternoon and evening.
15. Saw that it's going to be quite hot in Sydney today.
16. Saw that Melbourne is due to be rainy.
17. Saw that Hobart might have some rain in the morning.
18. Saw that it's raining now in Adelaide, but later the sun will rise and the rain clouds will go away.
19. Loved my weather app.
I tried to bond with my dad over the weather thing, because he's really into weather. But when I tried to text him about it, he cut the conversation short by saying he cares only about the weather when it concerns the safety of his family. It seems he's not interested in having friendly chats about snow and sunrise times in Iceland.
20. Started watching an episode of Wicked Science.
21. Saw Charli Tjoe, from Scooter: Secret Agent in this episode. And from IMdb, I learned she is in many episodes of the series.
22. Saw that Tjoe was actually in the first two episodes. I didn't notice her until now.
23. Finished watching the episode.
24. Started to watch a video about the TV show Full Circle, but it was the wrong show.
25. Started to watch the video about the correct show. I think the Harry Potter guy is in it. And I forgot his name!! See my brain is messing things up again.
26. Found the guy. It's Tom Felton. I don't fault myself on forgetting the actor's name, but I also can't remember the character's name.
I keep thinking "Darius", but I know it's not that.
27. Saw that it's Draco Malfoy.
Hey, at least I got the D right!
28. Wondered if Tom Felton is still making music videos.
Those were really cute.
29. Thought the show looks pretty decent. I liked one or two lines in the promo.
I didn't really understand what it was all about—well, besides relationship problems.
30. Saw from Google News that Malcolm Turnbull is meeting today with Obama.
31. Learned from this article that Turnbull and Obama had a ninety minute meeting and then ate lunch.
Did they continue the meeting at lunch? Or did they just sit there concentrating on chewing their food?
I wonder what they ate.
32. Wondered if Obama or Turnbull have any strong food aversions.
33. Read an article about how a fitness trainer, Michelle Bridges, is giving unhealthy advice to women about post-pregnancy fitness.
She suggested post-natal women should take up jogging to get rid of those pregnancy pounds. Health and fitness experts are saying that's NOT a good idea. It can lead to incontinence, and it's not good for the pelvis.
34. Wondered if Michelle Bridges cares about anything besides getting people to be thinner.
35. Realized I'm being mean and unfair.
It's just she's from one of those Biggest Losers shows, and I hate all that crap.
36. Thought maybe I'm being unfair by assuming the other fitness experts are right. Maybe they're wrong and she's right.
I know there's some debate among fitness professionals about what's good exercise and what's not good.
37. Looked at the Mayo Clinic's advice.
They say if you had an uncomplicated vaginal birth, it's okay to start exercising when you feel ready.
38. Thought if someone was ready the day after birth, they probably have some major issues.
39. Saw that Mayo Clinic suggests starting with low impact exercise such as walking.
40. Saw that there's a whole Australian website pushing women to take care of their pelvic floor while exercising. They suggest not running, jumping, or doing other high impact exercise.
41. Wondered about walking up and down stairs.
I do that a lot.
42. Wondered how many post-natal women find time to exercise.
I don't remember doing it when Jack was an infant, and I had only one child.
What about women who give birth and already have young children? If they find time to exercise, I'd be amazed.
Maybe if they have really good childcare?
43. Thought that for busy women, we probably just kind of hope the calories are slipping out through our breastmilk.
44. Thought if you use artificial milk, maybe you burn a good amount of calories with all the sterilizing and washing work.
45. Looked at the Michelle Bridges Instagram post that brought on the controversy.
I think it's annoying. She says:
Mums have been asking what I've been doing for training. Here's what I did today! Remember! I'm a professional trainer and have been training for 30 years. So! For you please dial this down to 15-20 min of total work.
30 min of 1 min jog 1 minute walk.
26 min 20 second jog 10 sec walk
Enjoy (Heart) and yes a certain someone was with me (Smiley face).
I imagine the baby might have had fun. So that's nice.
But her post is quite braggy. It's also presumptuous in two directions. In some ways, she is assuming all these post-natal women are healthy enough to do 15-20 minutes of total work. There are probably women who are VERY much not ready to do that. And if the pelvic crusaders are right, it's not a good plan for most women.
On the other hand, why does Michelle Bridges make the assumption that none of her followers are as fit as she is; or even more fit? There might be someone reading who has been training for forty years. Or maybe they trained less than thirty years, but they're more fit than Bridges.
31. Felt kind of guilty, because Bridges has another Instagram post that says, Putting another down will not make you feel better...quite the opposite.
I'm kind of putting her down.
It wasn't making me feel bad until I read that post.
32. Saw that ironically Bridges has this comment on the post. Celebrate our unique beautiful differences
I would take a statement like that to mean the world is full of people who are all different from each other. But with Bridges exercise advice, it was more along the lines of, there are two types of women in terms of fitness levels—my advanced level and everyone else's level of being able to exercise 15-20 minutes.
33. Decided not to feel bad about being critical of Michelle Bridges. Yes, it's lovely when we can all get along and say nice things to and about each other. But if we always showed consensus and agreement, there would never be positive change in the world. We'd be very stagnate.
34. Pondered upon another Michelle Bridges post. There are What's in it for me types and who can I be types. Their actions will determine which one.
I think I am both but more often the latter.
There are times, though, that we should remember to exercise the first.
For example, this weekend I offered to help my mom take care of my nephew who we all predicted would be less interested in the basketball game everyone else would be watching.
I wanted to be the helpful daughter and aunt. It was very important to me. My mom said no, thank you. They were fine. The next day I realized I had WANTED to help, because I wanted to spend more time with my nephew. He's adorable.
If I had paid more attention to my wants rather than trying to be a good person; I would have gone over there.
35. Liked Michelle Bridges' stuffed animals photo.
36. Started watching an episode of Home and Away.
37. Didn't like what John Palmer (Shane Withington) said on the episode.
He's arguing with Marilyn (Emily Symons) and declares, I can be romantic! He talks as if romance is a talent and/or accomplishment.
I think romance should be a feeling or a state of being.
38. Decided this goes back to Michelle Bridge's post. I would prefer someone do something romantic, because they're getting something out of it rather than them doing something romantic because they want to make themselves seem the ideal spouse or partner.
Now when I say get something out of it, I mean getting love and happiness. It's a whole other story if they're doing something to get sex or obtain permission for something they want.
Here are three examples.
Boyfriend A: Loves spending time with his girlfriend and loves doing things for her. He surprises her with a picnic. This way he can enjoy a meal with the woman he loves. He gets something out of it.
Boyfriend B: Really wants to attend a concert on Thursday night, but he knows his partner will give him grief since they have a five week old baby at home, and she's exhausted. He buys her an expensive necklace, hoping that in return she says yes.
Boyfriend C: Wants to imagine himself the perfect boyfriend and really wants to impress his hard to impress future in-laws. He serenades his girlfriend at a dinner party. He's more concerned about how his in-laws, coworkers, and friends will perceive his performance than how his girlfriend feels about it.
39. Went to the Tropfest website. Today I'm going to watch a 2008 film called "Smitten".
40. Started watching the film.
It seems to be a romance between elderly people.
41. Saw that it might actually be a love triangle.
42. Stopped liking the woman in the film. Her husband tells her he's finished his carving, and she insults his hobby/talent.
The woman seems to be in love with another man. I kind of pictured a story where a woman isn't given the love and appreciation she needs from her husband, so, deservedly, she seeks it elsewhere. But now that doesn't seem to be the case.
43. Figured out that the movie is definitely not a romance.
It's more like a dark comedy.
44. Saw that I was kind of wrong about it not being a romance.
But still...it's more of a dark comedy.
45. Saw from IMDb that Grey Rogers, the writer and director of the film, has only "Smitten" on his filmography.
46. Saw that the actress in the film, Val Lehman, was one of the stars of Prisoner: Cell Block H.
That was in the 1980's. It seems since then, she's become a sort of character actress. She has guest star appearances in various TV shows.
Though she might also be keeping busy with theater.
47. Saw that one of the actors in the film, Andrew Gilmour, is kind of like an extra/character actor. His last screen role was in 2012. He appeared on Tangle as "Man at Shopping Mall".
I wonder if he had any lines.
48. Learned from Lord Wiki that Val Lehman has won Logies for her work on Prisoner.
49. Went to the official Lal Lehman website.
Lehman toured in something called Grease is the Word. I'm guessing it's a Grease sing-a-long kind of thing.
50. Started to watch a promo for Grease is the Word.
51. Saw that Anthony Callea was also one of the stars.
52. Got the idea that the production wasn't a sing-a-long thing.
I can't really see how it's different from regular Grease.
53. Started to read Lehman's bio page on her website.
She was born in Western Australia but later moved to Melbourne.
54. Learned that in the 1960's and 70's, Lehman, along with her husband and three kids, lived in the UK, Townsville, and Singapore.
55. Learned that Lehman became a single mother. She managed to do the parenting thing and also work on her acting dreams. She started doing theater work; then auditioned for Prisoner.
56. Learned that Lehman went to the UK for a personal appearance tour and ended up staying seven years.
I guess she liked it.
57. Saw that Lehman appeared in a theater production of Stephen King's Misery.
58. Started to watch a video Lehman receiving one of her Logie awards. One of the presenters is Olivia Newton John looking very 1980's.
Lehman mentions that she's proud to be part of a show that's currently showing to 55% of the American market.
So I guess they had the show here. I don't think I knew that.
59. Learned from Lord Wiki that Prisoner was the first Australian program shown on Prime Time US television.
60. Started watching a 2004 interview with Lehman.
61. Thought the interview was very interesting.
Lehman talks about how it was hard to find good roles after Prisoner. It seems she made a lot of her money from making appearances at fan events. She talks about starting a program where actors will get together and appear for money. It kind of sounds like a conference thing.
62. Learned her program idea is called Feast of Stars.
I wonder if it worked out.
63. Learned that Lehman was disappointed, because she had a lack of stage roles coming to her.
It's interesting to read her story. At first it's kind of like a dream come true thing. She managed to land a role in a major TV Show and she won awards for it. I think that a lot of hopeful actresses would love for that to happen for them. But then Lehman's story shows how acting careers really can have major ups and downs.
One year you're on top of the world, and another year you're disappointed not to get the work you want.
64. Thought of how I probably divide artistic type people into the haves and have-nots—the have-nots being people like me who haven't had any real success.
But really, it's not a strict permanent division. Those who have right now may have much less in the future.
I think there are very few celebrities that have strong, flourishing careers that last through many decades.
65. Wished I could give virtual hugs to all the people who were once famous and are now struggling to find work.
Hopefully, they'll find more work or hopefully they can find happiness elsewhere.
3. Went back to sleep...because it was only four in the morning.
I had more Australia-related dreams.
In one, I'm sitting at a table with Julian McMahon, his sons, and some other people. Julian McMahon isn't as nice and friendly as I'd hope he'd be. I decide to leave and go into the ocean. I swim far out. Then I see shark fins. I hurry back to shore.
I later "wake up" and see a Tweet for me from Julian McMahon via Twitter. He says he played Ben Houston. I see his profile icon has a little checkmark, which makes me think it's real. I plan to Tweet back that I thought it had all been a dream. But then I start to question if Julian McMahon has ever played Ben Houston, and I start to think the Twitter checkmark was the wrong color.
The other dream was very long, complicated, and mixed up, so I won't try to explain it. I'll just say it involved the idea of starting some kind of entertainment group with my co-workers (after we got ourselves fired, maybe). At one point, I considered making some kind of maybe comedy-routine based around my Australia experiences.
4. Read over my dreams and realized I dreamed twice about someone not being as nice as I expected or wanted them to be.
I have no idea what that's about.
I don't think I'm the type of person to have high expectations about someone's niceness.
5. Knew that Julian McMahon played a Ben on Home and Away. I'm pretty sure the last name wasn't Houston, though.
I think it started with an L?
6. Checked.
The name is Ben Lucini.
7. Saw that Julian McMahon was on a show in 2013 called Full Circle.
I don't remember ever hearing of it. That's kind of sad, because I'm pretty sure I looked at Julian McMahon's filmography a couple of months ago—maybe just a few weeks ago. I swear. Hardly anything sticks in my brain.
Still. It's funny how there are so many TV shows these days. It's hard to keep up. I don't imagine this would have happened when I was a kid. I mean not because my memory was better back then, but because it seems there were much less TV choices. I think most of us probably knew of all the TV shows that were out there—at least in our own country.
8. Decided this was probably more true of Americans, because we didn't get much international television. Australians were probably trying to keep up with British TV, their TV, American TV, and other stuff around the world.
9. Saw that Julian McMahon is going to be in another American science fiction show filmed in Victoria.
Like Childhood's End, this one too is going to be on the SyFy channel.
10. Did a bunch of chores; then thought of that TV show that Julian McMahon was in. I couldn't think of the name.
Things go in my brain and then right out again.
11. Thought of how various Australians have said I know more about Australia than most Australians.
It's one of those compliments that actually make me feel bad because I know it's so not true.
Now if I remembered everything I've written in my posts, I think I might be the the #1 world expert on Australia and Australians. Or at least I'd be in the top fifty. Probably.
But with the way my memory fails me, there are probably hundreds of thousands of people who know more about Australia than I do.
12. Saw from Twitter that there was a big storm in Perth.
13. Read an article about the storm and learned it was less intense than expected.
14. Looked at Perth on my weather app. It looks like it's supposed to rain a lot in the afternoon and evening.
15. Saw that it's going to be quite hot in Sydney today.
16. Saw that Melbourne is due to be rainy.
17. Saw that Hobart might have some rain in the morning.
18. Saw that it's raining now in Adelaide, but later the sun will rise and the rain clouds will go away.
19. Loved my weather app.
I tried to bond with my dad over the weather thing, because he's really into weather. But when I tried to text him about it, he cut the conversation short by saying he cares only about the weather when it concerns the safety of his family. It seems he's not interested in having friendly chats about snow and sunrise times in Iceland.
20. Started watching an episode of Wicked Science.
21. Saw Charli Tjoe, from Scooter: Secret Agent in this episode. And from IMdb, I learned she is in many episodes of the series.
22. Saw that Tjoe was actually in the first two episodes. I didn't notice her until now.
23. Finished watching the episode.
24. Started to watch a video about the TV show Full Circle, but it was the wrong show.
25. Started to watch the video about the correct show. I think the Harry Potter guy is in it. And I forgot his name!! See my brain is messing things up again.
26. Found the guy. It's Tom Felton. I don't fault myself on forgetting the actor's name, but I also can't remember the character's name.
I keep thinking "Darius", but I know it's not that.
27. Saw that it's Draco Malfoy.
Hey, at least I got the D right!
28. Wondered if Tom Felton is still making music videos.
Those were really cute.
29. Thought the show looks pretty decent. I liked one or two lines in the promo.
I didn't really understand what it was all about—well, besides relationship problems.
30. Saw from Google News that Malcolm Turnbull is meeting today with Obama.
31. Learned from this article that Turnbull and Obama had a ninety minute meeting and then ate lunch.
Did they continue the meeting at lunch? Or did they just sit there concentrating on chewing their food?
I wonder what they ate.
32. Wondered if Obama or Turnbull have any strong food aversions.
33. Read an article about how a fitness trainer, Michelle Bridges, is giving unhealthy advice to women about post-pregnancy fitness.
She suggested post-natal women should take up jogging to get rid of those pregnancy pounds. Health and fitness experts are saying that's NOT a good idea. It can lead to incontinence, and it's not good for the pelvis.
34. Wondered if Michelle Bridges cares about anything besides getting people to be thinner.
35. Realized I'm being mean and unfair.
It's just she's from one of those Biggest Losers shows, and I hate all that crap.
36. Thought maybe I'm being unfair by assuming the other fitness experts are right. Maybe they're wrong and she's right.
I know there's some debate among fitness professionals about what's good exercise and what's not good.
37. Looked at the Mayo Clinic's advice.
They say if you had an uncomplicated vaginal birth, it's okay to start exercising when you feel ready.
38. Thought if someone was ready the day after birth, they probably have some major issues.
39. Saw that Mayo Clinic suggests starting with low impact exercise such as walking.
40. Saw that there's a whole Australian website pushing women to take care of their pelvic floor while exercising. They suggest not running, jumping, or doing other high impact exercise.
41. Wondered about walking up and down stairs.
I do that a lot.
42. Wondered how many post-natal women find time to exercise.
I don't remember doing it when Jack was an infant, and I had only one child.
What about women who give birth and already have young children? If they find time to exercise, I'd be amazed.
Maybe if they have really good childcare?
43. Thought that for busy women, we probably just kind of hope the calories are slipping out through our breastmilk.
44. Thought if you use artificial milk, maybe you burn a good amount of calories with all the sterilizing and washing work.
45. Looked at the Michelle Bridges Instagram post that brought on the controversy.
I think it's annoying. She says:
Mums have been asking what I've been doing for training. Here's what I did today! Remember! I'm a professional trainer and have been training for 30 years. So! For you please dial this down to 15-20 min of total work.
30 min of 1 min jog 1 minute walk.
26 min 20 second jog 10 sec walk
Enjoy (Heart) and yes a certain someone was with me (Smiley face).
I imagine the baby might have had fun. So that's nice.
But her post is quite braggy. It's also presumptuous in two directions. In some ways, she is assuming all these post-natal women are healthy enough to do 15-20 minutes of total work. There are probably women who are VERY much not ready to do that. And if the pelvic crusaders are right, it's not a good plan for most women.
On the other hand, why does Michelle Bridges make the assumption that none of her followers are as fit as she is; or even more fit? There might be someone reading who has been training for forty years. Or maybe they trained less than thirty years, but they're more fit than Bridges.
31. Felt kind of guilty, because Bridges has another Instagram post that says, Putting another down will not make you feel better...quite the opposite.
I'm kind of putting her down.
It wasn't making me feel bad until I read that post.
32. Saw that ironically Bridges has this comment on the post. Celebrate our unique beautiful differences
I would take a statement like that to mean the world is full of people who are all different from each other. But with Bridges exercise advice, it was more along the lines of, there are two types of women in terms of fitness levels—my advanced level and everyone else's level of being able to exercise 15-20 minutes.
33. Decided not to feel bad about being critical of Michelle Bridges. Yes, it's lovely when we can all get along and say nice things to and about each other. But if we always showed consensus and agreement, there would never be positive change in the world. We'd be very stagnate.
34. Pondered upon another Michelle Bridges post. There are What's in it for me types and who can I be types. Their actions will determine which one.
I think I am both but more often the latter.
There are times, though, that we should remember to exercise the first.
For example, this weekend I offered to help my mom take care of my nephew who we all predicted would be less interested in the basketball game everyone else would be watching.
I wanted to be the helpful daughter and aunt. It was very important to me. My mom said no, thank you. They were fine. The next day I realized I had WANTED to help, because I wanted to spend more time with my nephew. He's adorable.
If I had paid more attention to my wants rather than trying to be a good person; I would have gone over there.
35. Liked Michelle Bridges' stuffed animals photo.
36. Started watching an episode of Home and Away.
37. Didn't like what John Palmer (Shane Withington) said on the episode.
He's arguing with Marilyn (Emily Symons) and declares, I can be romantic! He talks as if romance is a talent and/or accomplishment.
I think romance should be a feeling or a state of being.
38. Decided this goes back to Michelle Bridge's post. I would prefer someone do something romantic, because they're getting something out of it rather than them doing something romantic because they want to make themselves seem the ideal spouse or partner.
Now when I say get something out of it, I mean getting love and happiness. It's a whole other story if they're doing something to get sex or obtain permission for something they want.
Here are three examples.
Boyfriend A: Loves spending time with his girlfriend and loves doing things for her. He surprises her with a picnic. This way he can enjoy a meal with the woman he loves. He gets something out of it.
Boyfriend B: Really wants to attend a concert on Thursday night, but he knows his partner will give him grief since they have a five week old baby at home, and she's exhausted. He buys her an expensive necklace, hoping that in return she says yes.
Boyfriend C: Wants to imagine himself the perfect boyfriend and really wants to impress his hard to impress future in-laws. He serenades his girlfriend at a dinner party. He's more concerned about how his in-laws, coworkers, and friends will perceive his performance than how his girlfriend feels about it.
39. Went to the Tropfest website. Today I'm going to watch a 2008 film called "Smitten".
40. Started watching the film.
It seems to be a romance between elderly people.
41. Saw that it might actually be a love triangle.
42. Stopped liking the woman in the film. Her husband tells her he's finished his carving, and she insults his hobby/talent.
The woman seems to be in love with another man. I kind of pictured a story where a woman isn't given the love and appreciation she needs from her husband, so, deservedly, she seeks it elsewhere. But now that doesn't seem to be the case.
43. Figured out that the movie is definitely not a romance.
It's more like a dark comedy.
44. Saw that I was kind of wrong about it not being a romance.
But still...it's more of a dark comedy.
45. Saw from IMDb that Grey Rogers, the writer and director of the film, has only "Smitten" on his filmography.
46. Saw that the actress in the film, Val Lehman, was one of the stars of Prisoner: Cell Block H.
That was in the 1980's. It seems since then, she's become a sort of character actress. She has guest star appearances in various TV shows.
Though she might also be keeping busy with theater.
47. Saw that one of the actors in the film, Andrew Gilmour, is kind of like an extra/character actor. His last screen role was in 2012. He appeared on Tangle as "Man at Shopping Mall".
I wonder if he had any lines.
48. Learned from Lord Wiki that Val Lehman has won Logies for her work on Prisoner.
49. Went to the official Lal Lehman website.
Lehman toured in something called Grease is the Word. I'm guessing it's a Grease sing-a-long kind of thing.
50. Started to watch a promo for Grease is the Word.
51. Saw that Anthony Callea was also one of the stars.
52. Got the idea that the production wasn't a sing-a-long thing.
I can't really see how it's different from regular Grease.
53. Started to read Lehman's bio page on her website.
She was born in Western Australia but later moved to Melbourne.
54. Learned that in the 1960's and 70's, Lehman, along with her husband and three kids, lived in the UK, Townsville, and Singapore.
55. Learned that Lehman became a single mother. She managed to do the parenting thing and also work on her acting dreams. She started doing theater work; then auditioned for Prisoner.
56. Learned that Lehman went to the UK for a personal appearance tour and ended up staying seven years.
I guess she liked it.
57. Saw that Lehman appeared in a theater production of Stephen King's Misery.
58. Started to watch a video Lehman receiving one of her Logie awards. One of the presenters is Olivia Newton John looking very 1980's.
Lehman mentions that she's proud to be part of a show that's currently showing to 55% of the American market.
So I guess they had the show here. I don't think I knew that.
59. Learned from Lord Wiki that Prisoner was the first Australian program shown on Prime Time US television.
60. Started watching a 2004 interview with Lehman.
61. Thought the interview was very interesting.
Lehman talks about how it was hard to find good roles after Prisoner. It seems she made a lot of her money from making appearances at fan events. She talks about starting a program where actors will get together and appear for money. It kind of sounds like a conference thing.
62. Learned her program idea is called Feast of Stars.
I wonder if it worked out.
63. Learned that Lehman was disappointed, because she had a lack of stage roles coming to her.
It's interesting to read her story. At first it's kind of like a dream come true thing. She managed to land a role in a major TV Show and she won awards for it. I think that a lot of hopeful actresses would love for that to happen for them. But then Lehman's story shows how acting careers really can have major ups and downs.
One year you're on top of the world, and another year you're disappointed not to get the work you want.
64. Thought of how I probably divide artistic type people into the haves and have-nots—the have-nots being people like me who haven't had any real success.
But really, it's not a strict permanent division. Those who have right now may have much less in the future.
I think there are very few celebrities that have strong, flourishing careers that last through many decades.
65. Wished I could give virtual hugs to all the people who were once famous and are now struggling to find work.
Hopefully, they'll find more work or hopefully they can find happiness elsewhere.
