1. Saw a brief glimpse of Stephen Peacocke in the Me Before You trailer.
17. Googled and saw Nicholas does not play Josh. He plays Stingray.
50. Realized this movie doesn't have too much club scene stuff.
It's mostly about an Arabic lesbian who keeps her sexuality a secret from her parents.
51. Thought that E (Mandahla Rose) is not very likable. She's cold towards Matt, even on his birthday. She makes a rude comment about his weight. We also learn she cheated on her girlfriend.
I think she's supposed to be unlikeable, though. It's one of those types of stories. The only other story, I can think of offhand, that's also like that is The Wimpy Kid.
52. Tried to think of other movies or TV shows that have a difficult-to-like protagonist.
53. Couldn't really think of any.
Maybe Sawyer on Lost. Then he slowly grows more likable.
54. Understood that no character is going to be universally liked.
I think some characters are written to be likable, but they rub certain people the wrong way.
I'm thinking more about characters that are purposely written with strong weaknesses.
55. Wondered if hard-to-like characters are the same as anti-hero characters.
I get confused about the whole anti-hero thing.
56. Decided that maybe it's wrong to label E as an unlikeable character.
I might be acting egocentric here.
For me, her actions and attitude are unlikeable. My sympathies are with Matt. Someone else might watch the film and think E is very easy to relate to. They might be annoyed by Matt.
57. Liked that the movie has pretty scenes of Australia.
58. Stopped watching the movie for today.
I shall hopefully watch more tomorrow.
I enjoyed the trailer; though it was the type that showed so much, I'm not sure why I'd ever need to see the movie.
I read the Me Before You book sample on my iPhone. I didn't like it at first, but then I started to like it. I didn't buy it...probably just out of cheapness.
I'm kind of feeling guilty for all the samples I'm reading, and then not buying. With nonfiction, I think it's okay because I usually get bored with nonfiction books after awhile. So it's not just about being cheap.
2. Decided I shouldn't give myself a hard time about it. Is there that much difference between reading samples and getting books from the library? Neither are illegal, and I don't think they're unethical. Yes, I'm denying the author some money, but I'm also denying myself the many remaining chapters of the book. It works out.
It's not like I'm never giving financial support to writers. I DID buy Big Little Lies and I bought The Rosie Project. Those were my splurges, because they're full-priced. Then I've also bought bargain books. Sometimes I feel good buying those because they're written by Indie authors. I know what it's like to struggle as one of those.
3. Thought about how I'm not just reading samples to be cheap. Because if I want to, I can just use our library. They have a program where you can download digital books.
The thing is, I really like reading bits and pieces of things, especially with nonfiction. For example, this week I read a couple chapters about Kevin Rudd, and I also read a few chapters of Andrew Fraser's book. I liked what I read, but I think I would have gotten bored if I tried the books in their entirety.
4. Surfed around YouTube, looked at my subscriptions, and clicked on the official Neighbours channel. I haven't been THERE in a long time.
Anyway....
I saw that both Tim Phillips and Harley Bonner have left the show.
5. Started watching Tim Phillip's goodbye video. He and Ariel Kaplan talk about how they're filming Imogen (Kaplan) and Daniel's (Phillips) last scene together. Are they breaking up? Did they already break up? Or is Kaplan leaving the show as well?
6. Saw that there's been a wedding. Was it Imogen and Daniel's?
7. Learned that it IS their wedding and the couple is driving off together.
8. Wondered what Kaplan and Phillips will be doing with their life now?
And...will they miss being on Neighbours?
9. Thought about how I like Tim Phillip's sense of humor.
I remember liking him in the past as well.
Maybe he should do more comedy.
10. Wondered how much of the comedy in the video comes from Phillips himself. I imagine some of it is scripted and not ad-libbed. But does Phillips come up with the ideas, or does someone else do it?
11. Started to watch video of Kip Gamblin filming an emotional scene.
I think someone has died, but I'm not sure who.
In the other video, Phillips and Kaplan referred to Terese (Rebekah Elmaloglou) grieving about something.
12. Learned that a character played by Terry Donovan is the one who died.
13. Googled and was reminded that Donovan played Elmaloglou's father-in-law. I'm not sure that they were that close, though. So maybe Kaplan and Phillips had been referring to another death...or loss.
14. Learned there's been an explosion, so there were probably multiple deaths.
Yesterday I watched a major fire tragedy on Coronation Street. It was TRAUMATIC...but also a bit repetitive, because they also had a fire tragedy in 2013. If they lived in a bushfire area, it would make more sense. But they don't.
15. Saw from this video description that it's Josh (Harley Bonner) that died. Wow! I didn't expect that.
16. Started watching the video and saw that Josh is played by another actor. Did they replace Harley Bonner? Or is this a joke?
Well, I can see the death scene is a joke. Elmaloglou and this not-Harley-Bonner guy (Ben Nicholas) are being silly. But is Nicholas standing in for Bonner as a joke, or did he take Bonner's job?
17. Googled and saw Nicholas does not play Josh. He plays Stingray.
18. Learned from Lord Wiki that it's a past tense thing. Stingray died.
Maybe Ben Nicholas was just visiting. Or maybe he has a backstage job on the show these days?
19. Looked at Nicholas on IMDb. It doesn't look like he's doing Neighbours work. I guess he was just having a visit.
20. Had another talk with Tim about going to Australia this summer. He was excited, because he saw a Premium Economy deal.
I predicted that this would happen—the idea of a cheap trip to Australia would blossom into expensive plans.
Though I would prefer to go on Premium Class rather than Economy; sometimes I wonder if it's worth the huge jump in price.
The thing is, being in a higher class doesn't guarantee a happy and comfortable trip.
On our way back from Disney World, Tim upgraded us to first class on American Airlines. I did not have a good time, mostly because I'm a germaphobic and have a vomit phobia, The flight attendant handed out drinks by touching the rim of the glass where I'd put my mouth. This bothered me a lot, because who knows what else she's touched. Then the woman in front of us vomited, and that was traumatic for me. Being in first class didn't protect me from people with motion sickness and it didn't protect me from flight attendants who are lacking in hygiene skills.
All that being said, though, once we started looking at Premium Economy, the thought of taking economy was kind of difficult. Tim likes having seats that can go further back. I like that we can use the business class toilets and don't have to share with the masses. But I told Tim I didn't know if we had the money to do both that and Japan within a year or two. Tim seemed to agree with me.
I then realized that the Premium Economy sale isn't really what would make the difference between what we'd pay in 2016 and what we paid in 2013. What would make the difference is the weakened Australian dollar.
For now, we have concluded that we're going to go to Japan sometime in the next couple of years. If we're in a good financial place and see a good deal, we'll go to Australia months or a few years after Japan. If there's not a good deal, I'll wait until my fiftieth birthday. Whether we fly Premium economy or regular economy, hopefully no one close by will vomit, and hopefully the flight attendants will have good hygiene skills.
21. Believed that whatever class we're in, Qantas is likely to be better than American Airlines.
I just remembered that not only did we have the flight attendant lacking in hygiene, we had problems with the vegetarian meal. Tim called up in advance to order the special meal and the person on the phone said there would be no meal service. Then later we found out we were given the wrong information. There was a meal, but it was too late to order it. We weren't too late, because we waited too long. We were too late because American Airlines gave us the wrong information. Did they try to fix things? No. All we got was a half-assed apology.
22. Went back to watching the Neighbours video—the one about Josh dying.
23. Stopped watching the video. I'm having a hard time getting into it. Instead I'm going to Google and find out what happened to Josh. I'm morbidly curious.
24. Learned from Lord Wiki that Josh fell from a falling column in a hotel disaster. Daniel too was trapped by the column, and Josh sacrificed his life to save Daniel.
25. Watched part of an episode of Water Rats outside.
I love that Hulu and Netflix lets you watch your shows on the go. Although you have to be in a place that has a decent connection.
26. Looked up a guest star on the show, because he looked familar to me. It's Daniel Rigney. I don't think I've seen him in anything else besides The Island of Dr. Moreau. Unfortunately, Rigney died when he was only thirty-one. He had a brain hemorrhage. I think that's the same as an aneurysm. Or an aneurysm might cause a hemorrhage. I guess there could be other causes, though I can't think of any besides injury.
27. Googled and learned brain hemorrhages can also be caused by tumors, high blood pressure, bleeding disorders, and other things.
28. Wanted to say that I probably did NOT recognize Rigney from The Island of Dr. Moreau. It's been about twenty years since I've seen that. He probably just looks like another actor.
29. Finished watching The Water Rats episode. It was exciting, and it also had a fun little ghost scene.
The episode reminded me a little bit of the Sherlock episode we watched this weekend. Both shows involved hidden bombs and the criminal using bystanders to pass on his message. Though the villain in Sherlock utilized bystanders more often.
30. Saw that although Home and Away is pretty much gone from Hulu, they do have two episodes remaining that I could watch—episode #181 and #182. For 181, it says I can resume watching the episode. This would mean I've started to watch the episode.
31. Thought that I hadn't started the episode, but I had. I checked earlier today, on my phone, to see if Home and Away was gone. I saw there were two episodes there, so I clicked on one. I watched around a second.
32. Wondered why these two episodes of Home and Away are still remaining.
33. Watched a little bit.
I thought Tank (Reece Milne) was Evie's (Philippa Northeast) ex-boyfriend, but it looks like he was someone she met more recently. It looks like she's actually interested in him. So, what happened to Josh (Jackson Gallagher)? Well, I know he gets injured eventually. But did Evie dump him for Tank? Is she still with Josh, but having an affair?
34. Did some reading. I guess Josh and Evie broke up, and then she went out with Tank. That's the impression I'm getting.
On a happy note, Evie and Josh eventually get back together, and Josh proposes to Evie.
35. Wondered if Josh knows that Evie kissed his brother Andy (Tai Hara). Or is that a deep dark secret they're keeping?
36. Realized the sentence, I just read, about the proposal has the answer. I didn't read it carefully enough. Josh DOES find out about Andy; though it doesn't say what his reaction was.
37. Learned, from this article, that Matt (Alec Snow) is now the prime suspect in Charlotte's murder.
I also learned that the new Dylan character is played by Jeremy Lindsay Taylor, the actor from Underbelly, Puberty Blues, and Sea Patrol.
38. Started to watch All About E.
I'm doubting I'm going to like it at all.
It's about the club scene. I strongly disliked the last club movie I watched.
39. Looked up the name of the club film. It's One Perfect Day. Yeah.I really did not enjoy that one at all.
40. Decided that one of the guys in the movie reminds me of Bing Bong from Inside Out.
I guess that's one positive thing. I really love Inside Out.
41. Learned the Bing Bong character is named Matt, and he's played by an actor named Brett Rogers.
In the movie, Matt is Irish. I don't know if Brett Rogers is as well.
42. Saw that Brett Rogers has a website.
43. Learned, from his bio page, that Rogers graduated from NIDA.
The page says, Brett is currently starring in the Australian feature film All About E playing Matt, a role which saw him transform into an overweight, irish, redhead.
I'm assuming that means Rogers is not Irish. I'm also guessing he's not usually overweight and that he doesn't have red hair. There's a photo of him on the page, and he looks quite different than his Bing Bong character in the movie.
44. Guessed that Rogers is gay like his character in the movie, because otherwise wouldn't they have mentioned that as something he transformed into? Then again, it's not like the article is going to list every single thing about Rogers that makes him different from Matt.
45. Learned that Rogers is originally from Tasmania and that he helps with drama classes for intellectually disabled adults.
46. Saw that Rogers is available as an acting tutor.
47. Started to realize I like this movie more than I liked One Perfect Day.
48. Learned from the movie that there's a traditional Arab alcoholic drink called Arak. It's anise-flavored.
49. Saw that Arak is made with grapes, and then, during a second distillation, it's mixed with aniseed.
I'm assuming that means Rogers is not Irish. I'm also guessing he's not usually overweight and that he doesn't have red hair. There's a photo of him on the page, and he looks quite different than his Bing Bong character in the movie.
44. Guessed that Rogers is gay like his character in the movie, because otherwise wouldn't they have mentioned that as something he transformed into? Then again, it's not like the article is going to list every single thing about Rogers that makes him different from Matt.
45. Learned that Rogers is originally from Tasmania and that he helps with drama classes for intellectually disabled adults.
46. Saw that Rogers is available as an acting tutor.
47. Started to realize I like this movie more than I liked One Perfect Day.
48. Learned from the movie that there's a traditional Arab alcoholic drink called Arak. It's anise-flavored.
49. Saw that Arak is made with grapes, and then, during a second distillation, it's mixed with aniseed.
50. Realized this movie doesn't have too much club scene stuff.
It's mostly about an Arabic lesbian who keeps her sexuality a secret from her parents.
51. Thought that E (Mandahla Rose) is not very likable. She's cold towards Matt, even on his birthday. She makes a rude comment about his weight. We also learn she cheated on her girlfriend.
I think she's supposed to be unlikeable, though. It's one of those types of stories. The only other story, I can think of offhand, that's also like that is The Wimpy Kid.
52. Tried to think of other movies or TV shows that have a difficult-to-like protagonist.
53. Couldn't really think of any.
Maybe Sawyer on Lost. Then he slowly grows more likable.
54. Understood that no character is going to be universally liked.
I think some characters are written to be likable, but they rub certain people the wrong way.
I'm thinking more about characters that are purposely written with strong weaknesses.
55. Wondered if hard-to-like characters are the same as anti-hero characters.
I get confused about the whole anti-hero thing.
56. Decided that maybe it's wrong to label E as an unlikeable character.
I might be acting egocentric here.
For me, her actions and attitude are unlikeable. My sympathies are with Matt. Someone else might watch the film and think E is very easy to relate to. They might be annoyed by Matt.
57. Liked that the movie has pretty scenes of Australia.
58. Stopped watching the movie for today.
I shall hopefully watch more tomorrow.
Read my novel: The Dead are Online