Showing posts with label Desperate Housewives. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Desperate Housewives. Show all posts

Walking in Sydney, Dishonesty, Old Photos, and Jenna Rosenow

1. Dreamed that I'm walking alone in Sydney, with the idea that Tim and Jack can meet me later. Some people look towards me and laugh. I wonder, to myself, if they're laughing at me; and if so, why? I look down at my clothes to make sure I didn't forget to put on a whole outfit—that I'm not half naked. Everything is there. I'm wearing contrasting patterns. I wonder if they were laughing at that.

I keep walking. I realize I'm walking north, and that I always walk in that direction. I decide I should turn east and go towards Bondi. First, though, I continue on the street I was walking on. I pass a nice little bathroom.  It's just there—a small room, not inside any shop.  I go into a store. I overhear people talking about buying flour. Someone asks where they bought it, and the other person says, in a bakery. I am wondering, if I speak to anyone, should I talk with an Australian accent or American one? I'm wondering if I even have it in me anymore to go Australian.

I start walking towards the exit, but then realize I haven't paid for what I was carrying. I go to the shopkeeper and say, I almost walked out without paying.

I think I was carrying flour, and it was one of those sudden dream changes thing. One second I'm overhearing a conversation about flour, and the next it's in my hand. I don't remember picking up anything to buy.

2. Started watching an episode of Neighbours.

3. Liked that Sonya (Eve Morey) and Naomi (Morgana O'Reilly) have a friendly conversation.

I really do have a weakness for enemies becoming friends.

I wonder why.

4. Started to watch an episode of Packed to the Rafters.

5. Learned that twitching is another word for bird-watching.

Cabo (George Houvardas) starts dating a girl who doesn't drink alcohol and doesn't eat read meat. His roommates are skeptical about the relationship lasting. Cabo has hope, but the bird-watching thing is the last straw.

I don't drink alcohol, and I don't eat any meat. I don't do any official bird-watching, but I do love birds.

I don't think Cabo and his roommates would be fond of someone like me.

6. Remembered that season one of Packed to the Rafters had a negative portrayal of a vegetarian.

7. Could relate to Nathan (Angus McLaren) and Chel (Gillian Jones) talking to Tom (John Howard). He's a con artist, and tends to lie. He tells people what they want to hear.

I don't have a con artist in my life, but I do have a couple of people who tell me things, and I sometimes doubt they're telling the truth.  I guess it's because I've caught them in lies in the past. Or they too often have convenient reasons for things. Sometimes the reasons make sense, and I can imagine they might be telling the truth. Other times it sounds like complete bullshit.

8. Thought about Tom pretending that he does remember Chel from the past. He's trying to avoid hurting her, probably. I think he's also trying to look like less of an ass.

I've had times where I feel hurt by something. I confront the person who I feel has hurt me, and they come up with all these excuses. Or not really excuses. It's more denial. It's about getting me to think my perception and/or memory is wrong.

Sometimes this type of lying is done to make someone hurt less, but I think more often it's done in an attempt, by the accused, to not be labeled as guilty.

9. Thought of times where one of these people has apologized rather than try to rewrite history.  I appreciate that much more than the lying.

10. Decided one of the hardest things is not knowing if someone is lying or not. It leaves me with a feeling of doubt. I doubt them, and I doubt my own perception of things.

I'm left quite confused.

11. Heard Nathan's anesthesiologist try to reassure Nathan by saying, If it's any consolation, I'm not nervous at all. We're not expecting any problems.

Personally, that would probably make me more nervous. The main reason is, I'm superstitious.  I have this idea that if someone feels nothing can go wrong, it will go wrong.  I think I'd also be bothered by the over-confidence of the doctor. How often, when things go wrong in surgery, was it expected?

12. Did feel the doctor was quite nice, though. He asked Nathan if he was nervous, and when Nathan said yes, he didn't act dismissive. He told Nathan it was normal to feel this way.

13. Thought what the doctor said was much better than saying something like, There's no need to worry. Everything will be fine.

14. Decided the best thing to do with people I feel are being dishonest is let them have their truth, and I'll have my own. There's usually no way for me to prove that they're lying, and they have no absolute way to prove they're telling the truth.

It's a waste of time to argue, usually.

15. Related to Nikki's post about not liking her passport photo and feeling down about that. She much preferred the one she had when she was younger. I have often felt down about aging and not being beautiful anymore.

But yesterday I decided to look at a family photo book. I wanted to admire my youthful beauty. I've had this idea that I was very beautiful in the past, and now I've grown ugly.

Well, guess what? I looked at me as a child, teen, and young adult. In many of them I was ugly! I made a weird face, or I wore unflattering clothes. Sometimes my smile looked faked and forced.  There were very few pictures where I looked attractive.

Was I upset about this? No, it actually made me feel better about things. It kind of gave me some peace.

I think I've had this idea in my head that I was this great beauty in my teens, twenties, and thirties, and I didn't fully appreciate it.  Or those were the good old days, and now it's all ended for me.

Now I'm thinking that, in the past, I was somewhat pretty but not amazingly beautiful. And I think these days, I'm kind of the same. I'm not some kind of horrible ogre. If I try to stand up straight, brush my hair, put on some decent clothes, and the camera doesn't catch me making an awkward face; I look somewhat pretty.

16. Started to watch another episode of Packed to the Rafters.

17. Amused by Nathan's mindset.

He's given one of his kidneys to his grandmother.  He tells his mother that he's decided all the stupid things in his past were the kidney's fault, not his own. And now he's gotten rid of it.

I guess organ donation could be used as some type of cleansing ritual.

18. Thought that scene with Julie (Rebecca Gibney) and Dave (Eric Thomson) visiting Tom in prison was very representative of real life.

Dave is skeptical about his father, and at one point, decides he didn't want anything to do with him. Then he decides to give his dad a second chance. He visits with his wife and new baby. Julie is quite weary, and a bit uptight with Tom. After the visit, Dave gives Julie a hard time about her giving Tom a hard time. She defends herself, saying they need to be careful with Tom and careful about how much they reveal to Tom. He's a prisoner. They shouldn't trust him too much. Dave acts offended about this.

That's the rule about our partners and their family. They can complain. But when we add to the complaints they get defensive.  It kind of works in the family member's favor, though.  Let's say Tim gets mad at his sister, brother, or mom. He bitches. Then I bitch even more about them. Tim gets annoyed at me for being negative about his family. Then he becomes much less mad at his family member. By being a bitch, I actually help Tim's family relations.

Tim, on the other hand, is much more diplomatic. Or he tries to be.  I bitch about certain family members that he adores. He defends them or laughs at them as if their behavior is actually adorable charming, and comedic. I get even more angry and upset, because I feel Tim is not on my side. I'm now mad at my family member AND Tim—feeling that the both of them are on one side and I'm on the other.

19. Thought about how there is a balance with all this. There are times that Tim gets mad at my family member with me. Sometimes he goes far enough that I feel he is on my side but not too far that I feel I need to be mad at him and defend my family member.

There are times where I can tell he is totally not on my side but is faking it in order to be a good husband.  That's nice. I appreciate that he's trying, but it works better when he truly is on my side—when we're angry together.

It's not good when he is angry at my family member, and I'm not. This rarely happens, though. I make the mistake more often. I might speak out against one of his family members when he is not at all mad at them. This puts me in the position of being the bad guy in the story. I need to be better at not doing this.

20. Thought that partners can sometimes be helpful in defending family members IF the angry person feels their partner is usually on their side regarding this person.

If I have a family member that usually makes me angry, and Tim usually adores them; his defending them will usually make me more angry at the family member and also make me feel distant from Tim.

If there's a family member that has often angered both of us, if Tim defends the family member, I'm more open to listening to his viewpoint. I know, for the most part, we're on the same page.

So with Julie and Dave, it might eventually help that Dave knows that Julie shares his weariness about Tom. If one day, Dave is mad at Tom; and Julie defends Tom; he might be willing to listen to her viewpoint. Why? Because he knows, deep inside, that they're on the same page.

21. Wondered how Dave would have reacted if, during the visit to the prison, Julie was very warm with Tom and then later talked to Dave about how wonderful Tom is. Dave would probably get defensive and be negative about Tom.

Like I said, it's a major balancing act.

Disclaimer: Wanted to say that although I sometimes bitch about my family members and my in-laws, I love all of them.

22. Went to the Triple J 2014 list.

Today I'm going to listen to the 29th song which is "Somebody's Talking" by The Preatures.

23. Started to watch the video for "Somebody's Talking"

There's surfing, and an almost-empty club.  Maybe it's an RSL club?

24. Saw underwater ocean shots of a woman on a surfboard.

Seeing stuff like that makes me expect a shark to appear.

25. Didn't like the song very much.

26. Started watching a Neighbours backstage video. This one stars Jenna Rosenow who plays Amber.

There's some funny stuff with Tim Phillips. He's a funny guy. At least I think so.

27. Thought that Jenna Rosenow seems serious. Or she kind of seems like the person who can easily do a practical joke, because she can keep a straight face.

From the video, she seems like someone who might joke sometimes, but doesn't often laugh.

Would that be defined as a dry sense of humor?

28. Looked up dry humor. Lord Wiki says it's a form of humor where one jokes around while keeping a calm or sincere facial expression.

So I was right about that.

29. Wondered if Jenna Rosenow is like that usually.

Or maybe she was in a dry humor mood just for that particular video.

30. Started watching part two of the Jenna Rosenow video.

31. Amused because Tim Phillips got confused and thought by dating Amber he was joining the Willis family. Jenna Rosenow has to correct him and tell him they're the Turners, not the Willis's

32. Saw Jenna Rosenow laugh for the first time in the video. Tim Phillips made a silly comment about Paige's (Olympia Valance) name. That apparently amused her.

33. Went to Jenna Rosenow's Instagram.

Her most recent photo is from three days ago. There are two other girls in the picture. They both look kind of familar, but I'm guessing they look like other people I've seen.

Or I guess they could be actresses too, and I'm seen them in some movie or TV show.

34. Saw a photo of donuts and chocolate.

Yum.

Rosenow ate at some restaurant with her boyfriend Chris Milligan.

35. Saw that the restaurant is called Mr Miyagi

I just watched a  video yesterday that argues that Daniel was the bully in The Karate Kid.  I don't think I'll ever be able to think about that movie in the same way again.

36. Saw photo of Rosenow and Morgana O'Reilly being pregnant together. According to people commenting on the photo, O'Reilly is pregnant in real life. Did I know that?  I don't think I did.

37. Saw a very cute photo of Jenna Rosenow's grandma with a cat.

38. Liked Rosenow's post about binge watching. It says, I hate watching an episode a week, I'm more of a season a day kind of person.

I'm somewhere in the middle.

I don't like doing an episode a week, but I don't think I can handle a season in a day.

I'm more of a season in a week type of person.

But like a reasonable season. I'm not going to watch a whole season of Neighbours in a week.

39. Laughed at Rosenow's post about almond milk. WTF is almond milk. Almonds aint even got titties.

40. Reminded by this post that Rosenow is a Harry Potter fan. The fact is mentioned on her Instagram bio. I was going to mention it, but got sidetracked.

I miss my Harry Potter fandom days, and my Doctor Who love as well.

I feel like I've abandoned it. Or maybe they abandoned me.

41. Imagined that somewhere in my brain I have a cemetery for past fandoms.

There are so many of them.

Just recently I read an article about Desperate Housewives. That would be in my cemetery.  I miss it.

42. Wondered if my Harry Potter love will return when the new movies come out.

43. Wanted to note that Jenna Rosenow has a LOT of dog photos.

 I think she likes dogs as much as she likes Harry Potter. Actually she probably likes dogs more. She doesn't actually have many Harry Potter photos.

44. Found a Harry Potter photo.  Rosenow is wearing a Harry Potter t-shirt.  She looks beautiful in the photo.

She looks beautiful in many photos.

The girl aint ugly.

45. Thought that Rosenow looks a bit like Meg Ryan in the Harry Potter photo.

46. Liked what's said in this post.  Sometimes I'm hungry. Other times I'm asleep.

I can relate to that, usually.

47. Saw Jenna Rosenow in an igloo. Did she actually make that?

I remember when I was young, living in Madison Wisconsin. I wanted to build an igloo. I probably tried, but I don't think it ever worked out.

48. Saw that Jenna Rosenow pet a tiger at Dreamworld. I think I'd be too scared. Jack and I just watched a video that talked about tigers killing people.

Then again, dogs kill people too and I pet dogs sometimes.




Read my novel: The Dead are Online 

Cuckoo Nest, Cosby Sweater, Heel Face Turn, and Upward Inflection

1. Started watching an episode of Neighbours.

2. Saw that Toadie (Ryan Moloney) had started a secret bank account to protect himself and his children in case Sonya (Eve Moloney) went back into her scary drug habits.

Sonya told him this was fine; that she wasn't mad; and he did a good thing by protecting his children. I couldn't tell if she really meant this or not.

Well, I think she meant it with her brain—logically speaking. But I think her feelings were probably hurt.

I personally think he did the right thing.

It's lovely to have someone's full trust in us; but if we have a rocky past, sometimes it's good for them to have some sort of insurance against bad things happening.

I think if someone had a serious substance abuse problem in their past; it's always possible that it might return.

3. Started watching an episode of Farscape.

4. Felt very determined, because as I was playing a QuizUp question about the word determined, Zhaan (Virginia Hey) said something about being determined.

5. Looked at the plot of the next episode of Farscape I'm going to watch.
 "Won't Get Fooled Again" sounds very similar to one of the Charmed episodes.  In both episodes, one of the characters is tricked into believing their fantastic adventures never happened.  In Charmed, Prue is led to believe that she's a delusional patient living in a mental hospital rather than a powerful witch.

6. Found the name of the Charmed episode, thanks to Lord Wiki. It's "Brain Drain".

The Farscape episode actually aired first—August 2000. The Charmed one aired in November 2001.

7. Went to the TV Tropes website to see if there are any other TV shows with this premise.

TV Tropes labels the trope as Cuckoo Nest. They describe it as, a character is convinced that they are in an insane asylum (a Bedlam House is a popular choice), where they are told that the events of the series are actually hallucinations.

I'm not sure yet if the Farscape episode involves an insane asylum, I shall see soon.

8. Saw Twelve Monkeys listed as a film that uses the Cuckoo Nest trope.  I think that's a good example.

9. Saw that the Lost episode "Dave" had the Cuckoo Nest trope. I totally forgot about that!

10. Went to the Triple J 2014 list.

I'm on the third song now, and that's "Cosby Sweater" by the Hilltop Hoods. That group is somewhat familar to me.  Well, I've heard a few of their songs, at least.

I'm eager to hear the lyrics to "Cosby Sweater". I wonder if the song talks about the rape stuff.

11. Started watching the video to "Cosby Sweater".

The beginning just has people wearing Cosby-type sweaters.

12. Saw that actually not everyone in the video is wearing Cosby-type sweaters.

There's a girl wearing a sweater-dress and a guy wearing a jacket.

The jacket guy might be the Hilltop Hoods singer/rapper.

13. Failed to understand the lyrics. The guy raps too fast for my ears.

I like the sound of it, though.

14. Heard references to other celebrities, including Oprah and her car give-away thing.

15. Realized I was hearing the name Bobby Fisher—the chess player. I kept thinking they were saying Barbara Fisher, which is the name of one of our family members.

16. Finished watching the video. The basic idea I get from the song is that this guy feels like a winner (like Bobby Fisher) because he wears a Cosby Sweater.

17. Started to look at the lyrics to the song.

It has a lot of pop culture references, which I tend to enjoy.

There's stuff about Tom Cruise jumping on the couch.

18. Started to think that there are references to the rape stuff. I can't tell if I'm imagining it. I'm really bad at deciphering poetry and song lyrics.

But here are the lines that make me wonder:

They're not awakened, stare a lot and vacant  That could about be the drugged rape victims.

Till they're gathering they no longer matter like a black hole. That could be saying that his female victims won't matter until they gang up together to fight him. One person speaking out against a celebrity abuser isn't likely to bring the celebrity down. Many speaking out against them is a different story.

Imma get drunk and dance like your uncle 
Till I'm all hands like your uncle, Could be referring to molestation.

When I'm spitting venom I'm as generous as Oprah You get a scar, you get a scar, you get a scar.  Could be referring to emotional scars that happen from sexual misconduct.

I won't beat around the bush like a seventies porn I'll make you wish that you'd never been born and it's all good  Well, if you're raped by Cliff Huxtable, there could come a time where you wish you were never born.

19. Figured either the whole song is about the rape stuff and I'm stating the obvious here. OR the song had nothing to do with the rape stuff, and I'm totally over-interpreting.

20. Started watching Farscape—the "Won't Get Fooled Again" episode.

21. Saw that Crichton (Ben Browder) is not in a mental hospital—at least not yet.

The story he's getting is that his space ship thing crashed, and he's been in a coma for a week.

His nurse looks exactly like Aeryn (Claudia Black).

22. Liked this episode so far.

I think I have a soft spot for these kinds of stories—the ones that make us question reality and sanity. On the other hand, they make me emotionally stressed. I get very eager for the character's experiences to be validated. I need to hear that the character really did go on these fantastic adventures, and that they're not delusional.

23. Thought that Scorpius (Wayne Pygram) reminds me of Ben from Lost. They're both very evil but also not so evil and sometimes helpful. Ben turned actually kind of good in the end. I wonder if the same will happen with Scorpius.

24. Read more stuff on the TV Trope website.  Both Ben Linus and Scorpius are listed under the Heel Face Turn Trope.  These are bad characters that eventually turn good.  Crais (Lani John Topu), from Farscape is another example.  Others include: Dalek Caan and Dalek Sec from Doctor Who; Cole From Charmed; Sawyer from Lost, and various Harry Potter characters.

I like when bad characters turn good.

25. Wondered about good characters who turn bad. I'm sure there are some of them.

I can't think of any offhand.

26. Saw that TV Tropes has a name for this too. They call it Face-Heel Turn.  They say it has to be someone who was truly good and then something happened to make them evil. It doesn't include people who were evil all along and just pretending to be good.

27. Saw that Anakin Skywalker is an example. Yeah! I guess that's a huge one. I don't know why I didn't think of it.

Also, there's Magneto and Mystique from X-Men, and Michael and (maybe) Claire on Lost;

28. Saw that many characters on their list are ones that only went temporarily bad.

Then again, Anakin Skywalker's evil isn't permanent either.

It's probably very rare for a good character to turn evil and then stay evil.  There's probably redemption, or at least remorse, somewhere down the line.

29. Realized that I'm an inconsistent mess when it comes to writing down actors' names with their characters.

I really started doing it in hopes that people searching for these actors will come to my blog. Sorry. Yeah. It's a traffic thing. It's not like I want a huge amount of traffic, but I'd like a moderate amount.  I have a small bit of hope that putting actors' names in my blog will help.

Of course, I don't randomly name drop just to bring actor-fans to my blog. But if I'm talking about a character, my feeling is, why not add the actor's name as well?  Plus, if someone's a fan of the actor, or at least interested in them, they might like to know what I'm saying about the character the actor has played.  Maybe? Probably not.  I don't know.

On the other hand, I'm lazy and don't feel motivated enough to write down the name of every actor of every character I mentioned. So then I made this rule for myself. I'll only write down Australian actors, since this is an Australian blog. Screw the others.

But recently I've had the urge to skip over Australian actors acting in American TV shows I've mentioned. And today I realized I've been writing Ben Browder's name, and he's American.  Plus, I know I've mentioned several Kiwi actors.

So, maybe my real rule is to talk about the actors appearing in Australian TV shows, whether they're Australian or not. And if an Australian is in an American TV show, I may or may not name them.

30. Decided the American TV show is not much of an issue; because I don't often talk about American TV shows on this blog. It's just that Farscape is often reminding me of Lost and Charmed, and both of those shows happened to have an Australian actor playing one of the main characters.

31. Wondered if maybe I do talk about American TV shows a fair bit on this blog. Well, it's probably not a lot, but I don't think it's incredibly rare.

But most of them don't have Australian actors.

The Walking Dead and Bates Motel don't have any.

True Blood had one.

Modern Family doesn't have any, but they did have strange allusions to Australia-related things. And then I guess they had some Aussie actors when they did the Australia episode.

I don't think The Big Bang Theory or How I Met Your Mother has any.

And American Horror Story. That's my other American show. I don't think that has any Australians either.

32. Remembered Ugly Betty and Torchwood. Those both had Alan Dale. Although he was only in one episode of Torchwood.

Oh! And Alan Dale was in Lost as well. I forgot about that.

33. Saw that Lord Wiki classifies Dale as a Kiwi actor not an Aussie.

I knew he was born in New Zealand, but I wasn't sure if he had made himself Australian, or not.

34. Tried to remember the name of the Australian character on Desperate Housewives. AND...I just remembered there was an Australian character on Ugly Betty.  Coincidentally, both characters were romantically involved with a character played by Vanessa Williams.

35. Found the Australian actor on Desperate Housewives. It's Charles Mesure.

Mesure was born in England, but grew up in Sydney.

36. Saw that Grant Bowler is the guy who played the Australian on Ugly Betty.  He was born in New Zealand, but Lord Wiki says he did his growing up time in Australia.

37.  Learned from Lord Wiki that Grant Bowler was on True Blood.  I think that's something I already knew but then forgot. But anyway, that means Ryan Kwanten isn't the only Aussie on True Blood.

38. Started to watch the two-part Neighbours backstage video featuring Ariel Kaplan.

39. Learned that Kaplan and her castmates are filming a dinner scene at seven in the morning.

40. Got the sense that Kaplan is less serious and intense than Imogen.

41. Started watching part two of the video.

42. Learned that all the actors on Neighbours have their own little chair area in the green room.  Though I guess it would be only the main actors—probably not the ones who appear a few times a month.

How about the ones who have an intense role for a week or two—like Adrienne Pickering? Did she have a spot in the green room?

43. Wondered if all TV/movie sets call the actor's break room the green room. Or is that just a Neighbours thing?

44. Looked up Green Room. It has a broad definition—a place for actors to wait, rest, hang out, etc.

Though from what Lord Wiki says, it seems to be a theater thing.

Is it also often used for movies and TV? Or is Neighbours special in that way?

45. Decided that Kaplan has a highly energetic and bubbly type of personality.

She also sometimes does that Australian thing of making every sentence sound like a question.

Not every Australian does it, and not every person who does it is Australian. But I do associate it with Australians a fair bit.

46. Found Adam Hills video about the Australian accent and the question thing.  I think I watched it before—a long time ago.

47. Thought that maybe Hills got his history stuff wrong. I'm not sure.

He talks about Cook coming to Botany Bay, thinking it was shit, but then deciding to check around the corner for better things.

I might be wrong, but I'm pretty sure it was Arthur Phillips who went looking for better things. Well, I KNOW he did that.  But maybe Cook did as well?  I'm not sure.

Yeah. I know. Adam Hills is just doing comedy. He probably doesn't need to be 100% factually correct.

48. Consulted Lord Wiki. He seems to agree with me. Cook found Botany Bay. Eighteen years later, Arthur Phillip and the prisoners arrived. Phillip wasn't impressed with Botany Bay and eventually found his way to Port Jackson.

49. Started to read an article about the question thing; or as the article refers to it—the "upward inflection".

Some people believe it started in California with the whole Valley Girl thing.

Other people believe in began in Australia. The article says that there's a belief that it slipped into the UK in 1986 with the airing of Neighbours.

50. Finished reading the article. Basically, there are a lot of different theories about how it began, and no one knows the definite answer.

Also, there are different beliefs about it's purpose and what it conveys. Some say it's a sign of meekness, while others say people in dominant positions use it more.  Some say say it's used to make sure the listener is still paying attention. The article says that lately this is a concern for people, because often the people around us are playing on their phones and not looking at us when we speak.

51. Thought about the dominance thing. The article says; Liberman suggests that uptalk is a way to assert dominance. He points to a 2005 study by Winnie Cheng and Martin Warren, who highlighted that speakers in dominant positions (the chair of a meeting, or an academic supervisor) use uptalk between three and seven times as often as the people they're talking to.

My guess, though, is that it's not about someone feeling dominant. I think it's more likely to be an insecure person who is put into a position of dominance. For example: a nervous professor meeting his new students.

52. Concluded that there are four probable reasons for the upward inflection A) habit B) naturally mimicking other people. I think I've heard Tim and Jack picking it up when we're in Australia; though later they drop it. C) insecurity/nervousness D) trying to make sure listeners are still paying attention.

53. Wondered if I do the upward inflection thing.

I don't think I do it often.

But I might do it sometimes.

On rare occasions, maybe?

54. Realized I do it in my writing sometimes!  Like when I'm writing posts? And I put a question mark where there's not really a question?

In my writing, it IS about insecurity.

I do it when I'm not fully sure about something.

55. Decided to watch another episode of Farscape.

56. Saw that this episode has a time warp storyline.

Aeryn leaves for a day and comes back as an old lady.

57. Learned that Aeryn was gone for only an hour, not a whole day.

58. Thought of the Doctor Who episodes "The Girl in the Fireplace" and The Girl Who Waited".  Both those episodes have characters that end up on an alternate time track.

59. Confused. Now I'm hearing that Aeryn was gone for a day.

Day? Hour? I guess that part doesn't matter too much.

The more important thing is Aeryn is old and gray now, and she has a grandchild.

60. Wondered about the random new guy on Moya.

Are we supposed to know him?

It reminds me of that episode of Torchwood. There's suddenly a new guy that everyone knows, and it turns out he put a spell on them to believe they knew him for a long time.  Is that the case with the guy on Moya?

61. Saw from IMDb that the mystery guy is named Spark (Paul Goddard). He appeared in two episodes of season one, so he's not completely new.

I don't remember him.

62. Consulted Lord Wiki's cousin.

He's helping my memory.

Spark's the guy that Crichton met when they were both imprisoned by Scorpius.

I remember him now.

I'm just not sure why and how he suddenly appeared on Moya again.

63. Decided to name the spiders in my bathroom after Farscape characters.

The small one is going to be Moya; and the tiny one will be Scorpius.

64. Realized this episode is also like the Weeping Angel episodes of Doctor Who and also Matt Smith's last episode, The Time of the Doctor.

They're just various episodes where characters age at a different rate than other characters.

65. Decided that although Doctor Who is fun, adorable, and great at provoking strong emotions; Farscape has better writing; and it's much more logical.

Farscape makes sense to me most of the time. With Doctor Who, I was often completely confused. And it seemed like sometimes they were really stretching things in order to push the storyline in a certain direction.

For example, in "The Angels Take Manhattan",  the big question is why does the Eleventh Doctor consider the good-bye to  Rory and Amy to be permanent? He time travels, so why can't he just visit them somewhere, sometime. Some excuse was given. I don't even remember what it was, but it sounded very flimsy to me.

And then there's "Blink" and that whole confusing videotape thing.

The video has the answer to pretty much everything confusing on Doctor Who.  Time is a big bowl of wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff.  If there's ANYTHING on Doctor Who that doesn't make sense to you; or you don't understand the logic of that...that's the answer you're supposed to remember.

66. Wondered what would be worse in a time warp—to be the person who lives a long life while the other people don't age or the one who sees their loved one reach old age in a time span of a few hours or days.

67. Tried to apply it to my family; and it made me feel that it would definitely be better to be the one who ages.  It would be really depressing to wake up tomorrow and find Jack, Tim, or someone else in my family is a very old, and they've had this whole life I don't know about.  But with the other way, I get to have this whole other long life; and then come back to be with my young family, knowing that they have their whole life ahead of them.


Read my novel: The Dead are Online 


Death on House Husbands

Yesterday, while watching House Husbands, I endured yet another Aussie TV character death.  And it's the fourth character I've seen that's died as a pedestrian being struck down by a car. It makes me wonder if this type of accident is one of the biggest concerns in Australia.

I've seen it mentioned in the news. Unfortunately, it happens to real life people as well as fictional ones. But I also see drownings, car accidents, murder, cancer, lost in the outback, and crocodile incidents. Why is the hit-by-a-car thing so often used?

Well, I guess four times is not incredibly often. Although that's just what I've seen so far. Who knows how many other Aussie characters have died in that way.

The episode on House Husbands was odd. Gemma (Julia Morris) and Abi (Natalie Saleeba) are heading to an awards event. Abi struggles, in the backseat, to get changed out of her work clothes and into her dress. With concern, Gemma frantically begs Abi to get her seatbelt on.

I got the sense that they were going to crash, but they didn't.

They arrive safe and sound at the award ceremony.

I thought it was a bit odd. You know the whole thing about if a gun is shown, it has to be shot by the end of the play. Or however that saying goes.... So why would they have the scene about the seatbelt and then have no car accident?

Then later, Abi and Gemma leave the event and take Nicola (Leah de Niese) with them. While they drove through Melbourne, I nervously looked at their seat belts. Although the characters seemed to be in a light-hearted mood, there was an ominous feeling. Then Nicola gets out of the car to retrieve a washing machine left on someone's curb. She steps back into the street, and that's it for her.

But why did they have that scene with the seat belts?  I'm tempted to believe it was some tacky promotional thing. Maybe they advertised that there'd be a heart-breaking death on House Husbands, and so the show wanted to keep the viewers guessing. They did that on Desperate Housewives—promised the viewers a death, and then throughout the episode, they put various characters in danger.

The other thing I'm thinking is that the episode had a sprinkle of spirituality. Perhaps we're supposed to believe that Gemma had some type of premonition. Maybe she sensed something bad was going to happen to one of her friends, and that made her more safety conscious.

Anyway....

When writing this post, I learned that Leah de Niese's birthday is February 22.  That's my sister's birthday as well. And like de Niese's character, my sister was hit by a car.  Fortunately, my sister survived. I think it would be lovely if an Aussie TV character one day survived being hit by a car. The series can show the struggles of having comas, head injuries, and all that.  Though Neighbours did a fairly decent brain injury storyline that I saw recently.

Maybe this is one of my complaints. I think Aussie TV has done their fair share of showing characters having to deal with a sudden tragic death.  It is somewhat lovely, inspiring, and touching to see how people manage to go on after such a horrible thing. But maybe there needs to also be more storylines about other types of struggles...like dealing with a severe chronic illness and/or injuries that cause long-term hardship.

Well, Aussie TV probably DOES have this. I've probably just not run into those episodes yet.



Andrew Peacock on Statcounter

According to Statcounter, a lot of people are coming to my Andrew Peacock post.

Does anyone out there know why?

Well, I'm sure a lot of people out there know why—especially the people who are visiting my Andrew Peacock post. But I'm wondering if there is anyone out there who can tell me why.

I do see one recent article about Peacock.  It's about someone named Susan Renouf and an advertisement that almost ruined Peacock's career.

I should probably read it. Maybe it will give me some clues.

Okay. Susan was the wife of Andrew Peacock. I probably wrote about that in my Andrew Peacock post. Unfortunately, I rarely remember what I've learned during my research posts.

What happened is Susan Peacock agreed to be in an ad for bedroom sheets.  I guess there was something a bit sensual about it, and certain people were outraged. Andrew Peacock was embarrassed.

This outrage is being compared to the recent outrage towards Tony Abbott honoring Prince Phillip.

The bedroom commercial kind of reminds me of an episode of Ugly Betty. Betty's sister was dating a politician (played by Ralph Macchio!) She did something sexy. I forgot what.

No. Wait. Maybe I'm thinking of the wrong show. I'm thinking now that it actually happened on Desperate Housewives. Gabrielle was dating or engaged to a politician. She did something sexy, and he was embarrassed and mad about it.

Actually. Maybe it happened on both shows.

Speaking of Andrews...I vaguely remember ANOTHER Andrew mentioning the bedroom ad to me. Or did I dream that?   Either way, I'm not sure I knew it had anything to do with Andrew Peacock. Nor do I remember why he mentioned it to me.


Guess What!

The first thing I should say is I have mental issues.

I've been wanting to return to blogging, but I couldn't because I made up silly rules about when I could return.

Then a month or so ago, I decided to get back to another type of writing. Novels!

The thing is, if you want to be a novelist in this day and age, you probably need a blog so you can promote your work.

I already had a blog, but I had this rule about not writing in the blog.

So yeah.  Problem there.

This morning I thought, maybe I can return to my blog.  I'll flip a coin and see if it's meant to be. I didn't flip real coins.  I flipped virtual coins on random.org.   (I think that website is actually an enabler for my mental issues).

I flipped Australian coins, of course. Heads meant I can return to blog, and tails meant I could not. I got tails.

No blogging. I was disappointed.

Hours later I felt compelled to break my own rules. So here I am.

Now that I think of it though, I should have had it reversed. Since it's between Queen Elizabeth and kangaroos on the coin, the kangaroos should have been yes. I like the Queen (probably not as much as Menzies did) but I like kangaroos better.  So kangaroos should have carried the answer I wanted.  Not the Queen.  

I can think to myself, I am being a naughty girl and not listening to answers given to me by random.org.  Or I can say I read the answers the wrong way.

I have so much to say.  It's a shame I'm wasting it on my mental issues.

So what else?

I'm very much into Home and Away.  I watch at least one episode a day, sometimes two.  I'm watching old episodes though, from 1989.  I really wish I could find other people who are currently watching the old shows.  It's lonely to be watching a show on your own. I want to be able to talk about Donald Fisher and Bobbie....

I love nice Roo, and sometimes get scared she's going to turn back into evil Roo.

I adore....crap, forgot this name.  It's Carly's old boyfriend.

Okay, I had to look it up. Matt!

He's such a nice guy.

I have a thing for nice people.

I have a major thing for people who were once mean and then turned nice—like Roo and Donald Fisher.

Sometimes I like Martin and Lance, though they get on my nerves sometimes.  The guy who plays Lance is now some kind of meditation guru in Los Angeles.  I thought that was interesting.

I also watch Neighbours.  I don't love it as much as Home and Away.  I'm kind of bored by it and divide my attention by playing QuizUp while watching.  Which by the way, I am top of the world in Australia.  I apologize for my bragging.    

A week or so ago, I was actually going to quit watching Neighbours. Then I had a vivid crazy dream about Stefan Dennis.  So I felt it was a sign telling me to get back to watching.

I think there were zombies in the dream.

Or was that another dream?

Later I might have to go back to my dream journal and copy/paste it here.

There was something about him being a pilot...which he is on the show.   

Anyway, I shall talk about my novel now.  Don't worry. I'm not going to beg you to buy it yet.  It's not ready.  I still have to edit.

But there's some Aussie stuff in it.  The funny thing is, I ended up having three expats in the story.   My Aussie character is going to school in Florida. Then I have characters in Sydney, but the point of view character is actually from America.  She's married to an Aussie and lives in Parramatta.

I also had a character living in Halls Gap, but she's sadly on the cutting room floor.  She, though, was actually an Australian living in Australia.

The expat thing can be a wish fulfillment thing.  I wanted to be an expat.  It didn't work out, so I'm living vicariously through my characters.  I think it also allows me some leeway in terms of language.  If I mess up and make the Aussie say something too American, I can use the excuse...well, she's living in America. It makes sense that she's picking up some of our lingo. And though the American lives in Australia, she probably still speaks a bit of American.  Right?  

Other Australian connections in my novel:  I named one of my characters Eugene Ramsey after Ramsey street in Neighbours

I named another character after the Home and Away actress that plays Morag. Cornelia Francis.  I took just the Cornelia, though, and left the Francis. 

I am bursting with so much to say, all of it's pretty trivial. And you're probably thinking....she should have listened to the Queen Elizabeth coins.  

Sorry.

We were really into Desperate Housewives.  It was hard to say good-bye.  Ugly Betty was our rebound show, and the awesome thing is we ended up loving that even more.  In both those shows, Vanessa Williams plays a bitch. And in each show she dates an Australian character played by an actor who's not really Australian.  I thought that was funny.

Or well, maybe they are Australian but not born in Australia.

I'm going to go look that up.

I am very wrong. Charles Mesure played the Aussie in Desperate Housewives.  He was born in England, but moved to Australia when he was 5. So he's definitely Australian.

Then the other actor's Grant Bowler. I just looked him up.  He was born in New Zealand but moved to Australia when he was young.

I think I'm a horrible purist deep in my heart, and I have this belief that if you weren't born in Australia, you're not really Australian.

That's horrible and pathetic, seeing that I wanted to move to Australia and become Australian.

I'm very ashamed that I have this viewpoint, and I definitely need to continue working on changing it.

There was another Kiwi-Australian on Ugly Betty.  Jim Robinson from Neighbours! Alan Dale.   He was on Lost as well.  Lord Wiki seems to be telling me that he did not move to Australia during his childhood.

I heard Modern Family is having an Aussie episode.  We haven't been watching this season but plan to catch up eventually. I think I've mentioned before that noticed Modern Family often makes random Aussie references.  Maybe one of the creators is like me and really obsessed.

Anyway, I shall shut up now.

Tomorrow I might wake up with a blogging hangover and then disappear for many months.

Or maybe I'll be feel happy and confident about blogging and get back into it.

I don't know.

We'll see how I feel in the morning.

I hope all of you are well.  And if you're not well, I hope you get better.... or at least not get worse.  

Oh wait!  One more thing.  I totally forgot.  I have one other thing to brag about.  My blog was mentioned on this website called Junkee.   I think it's the biggest honor my blog has received.  I was so happy but also sad since I wasn't blogging anymore. I never heard of this website, but after they mentioned my blog, I became a fan.  I look at it often.  And I don't just mean the article with the link to my blog.

I've grown to hate bragging, but I'm getting the idea I'll have to do it if I ever want to be a writer who actually makes real money.  

Hopefully I won't become one of those people who do it excessively.  I've been on Twitter and have lost some respect for certain celebrities I adored because they keep bragging.

Truth be told, I don't have much to brag about, so I probably won't NEED to do it too much.

Maybe I'll balance it with negative stuff about myself.

Here's something: I fart a lot. Jack's making videos and said I could stay in the room with him while he records. But then he nicely asked me to please refrain from farting.

So that's me. I'm a farting girl who knows a lot of Australian trivia and was once mentioned on a very awesome website.

I'll shut up now.  For real.

I may be back tomorrow.   










Ryan Kwanten

Ryan Kwanten is on one of my favorite TV Shows. True Blood.

I'm a little less in love with that show then I was a few weeks ago.

Because....

A) It's been overshadowed in my heart by another Vampire story.

B) I wasn't pleased with the season finale. I'm worried it's going to end up like Nip/Tuck...have two amazing first seasons, and then turn into total crap.

On True Blood, Kwanten has a southern accent. When I would watch him, he'd remind me so much of someone I used to know. Who? I didn't know. I figured it was someone I knew in high school or college; but I couldn't figure out who exactly it was.

One day I watched Kwanten on YouTube. I wanted to see what he was like as an Australian. And yeah....not hard to guess, but of course, I found him much more appealing as an Aussie. I decided maybe I might have a very mild crush on him. (mild crush= I find him appealing, but I'm not having fantasies or anything. Mild crushes though can always grow into big crushes).

Then sometime later, Tim and I were watching Bill Maher. They showed a photo of George W. Bush.

Guess who Bush looked like?

Ryan Kwanten in True Blood! I then realized it hadn't been an old classmate that Kwanten reminded me of. He reminded me of our ex-president.

Shit.

Well, of course any elements of a crush quickly vanished.

I just thought of something though. I wonder if the Bush element is purposeful at all. Maybe Kwanten used Bush as a model for the role. I mean the physical resemblance is there, but I think it goes deeper than that.

Anyway, I guess I should start my research.

Baby Ryan was born on 28 November 1976. When that mild crush first appeared, I was very relieved to see he was born only four years after me. Lately, the objects of my mild crushes are embarrassingly young. I mean it's not embarrassing for them....more for me. I need to grow up and crush on people like.... Pierce Bronson.

I think Obama is pretty sexy, and he's older than me.

No. I need an Australian.

Hugo Weaving! That would work. And he's way older than me.

Back to Kwanten. He was born in Sydney. He has Belgian ancestors.

It seems his career blossomed in 1997. He starred in Home and Away as a lifeguard. He was on the show until 2004. He was adored by his fans. He became a sex symbol.

There's some contradictory information here. In one place, Lord Wiki says Kwanten was on Home and Away until 2004. In another place, he says Kwanten quit in 2002. Maybe IMDb will clear that up. I'll consult them later.

Actually, Lord Wiki's post is really short. I guess I'll go to IMDb now.

His first TV appearance was in A Country Practice. He guest-starred on a two part episode in 1992. Kwanten would have been about sixteen then.

In 1994, Kwanten had a part in a movie called Signal One. It was directed by Rod Stewart. But I just checked. It's not Rod Stewart the singer guy.

Kwanten was featured in two episodes of G.P. One was in 1993, and the other was in 1994. I'm guessing the episodes were probably close together though. Maybe one was in December 1993, and the other was in January 1994. Or maybe I'm totally wrong.

I'm going to skip over some stuff. Sorry.

I'll stop in 1995. He did a series called Echo Point. I can't tell if this was one of those miniseries, or a series that failed and disappeared. It looks like it was on for only one year.

YouTube has some stuff from Echo Point, but I'm not sure if Kwanten will be in it.

Hey! That's Becky! From McLeod's Daughters! She's another person I've had a mild crush on! She's so damn adorable.

In 1997, Kwanten did twenty-six episodes of Spellbinder: Land of the Dragon That's a lot of episodes. It's a fairly substantial part. Well, the show actually lasted twenty-six episodes. So, Kwanten was in every episode. It looks like he was one of the main stars. Most of the cast seems to have Asian names. It looks like it's some kind of fantasy show involving Asian mythology.

It was a Saturday morning kid's show. It sounds good. It's about a sister and brother who travel to different worlds. It sounds a bit like Sliders; and there was an earlier show like that. I think it was called something like Other World.

Ah. Here it is on TV.com It was called Otherworld.

Spellbinder was filmed partly in China, so Kwanten got to do some traveling. That would probably be exciting.

Here's some scenes from the show. Kwanten appears in a blue shirt at around 3:46. He looks so different...very young. You know who he reminds me of? The older brother on The Wonder Years.

IMDb puts Kwanten's Home and Away years between 1998 and 2002.

He was only in sixteen episodes. Really? That sure doesn't seem like a lot. Am I missing something here?

Oh. I think I've cleared up the 2004 thing. Lord Wiki has an entry on Kwanten's character...Vinnie Patterson. The character (played by a different actor) made a guest appearance in 2004. I guess maybe they needed him for a funeral or something. I'm just assuming it had to be a case where it wouldn't make sense for his character NOT to be there.

Here's some scenes with Kwanten on the show. The picture quality is not so great, and Kwanten still reminds me of The Wonder Years guy.

In 2002, Kwanten made the move that a lot of Australian actors make. He came to America.

His first American appearance was a TV movie called The Junction Boys. It's about a coach at Texas A and M University. I have a friend that went there. She was a very dedicated and spirited fan of her school.

Oh wow. This is interesting. The trivia page says it was filmed mostly in Australia. Ah. So maybe Kwanten didn't move before this movie. It is an American movie though. I wonder why they went to Australia to film it. Most of the characters are played by Australians using fake Texas accents. That's pretty funny.

I guess Kwanten was still in Australia in 2003. He did a movie called Liquid Bridge. He was the star. He plays a surfer whose goals are hindered by his father who had been seriously injured in a surfing accident.

Part of the movie was filmed in Manly....one of our favorite places in Sydney.

Okay, I think THIS show might have been Kwanten's first in America. It was called The Handler. It was filmed in Los Angeles. There were only sixteen episodes. Kwanten appeared in one of them.Link
Around that same time, he also appeared in the TV show Tru Calling. This starred Eliza Dushka from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Ah. A vampire connection!

I'm guessing 2003 was rough for Kwanten. He was in a new country. I'm guessing he struggled somewhat to find work.

In 2004, he was in a movie called American Brown. It looks like a small independent thing. Kwanten is listed fairly low in the credits, so I doubt he had a huge role.

Here's the trailer for the film. Maybe Kwanten will be in it. Oh! He IS in the trailer...immediately. Maybe he does have a big role. He has that Texas accent again.

I think he's actually the star of the movie.

I'm still seeing Wonder Years brother, and I'm not seeing much of George W. Bush yet.

Also in 2004, we have Summerland. It lasted for twenty-six episodes, and it looks like Kwanten was one of the stars. It was created by Lori Loughlin from Full House. And she starred in it.

Well, this is exciting. I just started watching a scene on YouTube. The show is American, but Kwanten has an Australian accent. An Australian playing an Australian on American TV. That's a novel concept.

Okay, in this show I'm starting to see a little bit of Bush. And that surprised me. I would expect that only when he's doing the Southern accent.

In 2006, Kwanten was in a horse movie called Flicka. That sounds vaguely familar to me. I haven't seen it. I don't usually do horse movies. I've never been much of a horse-girl. I'm more of a shark girl. Although I did go through a dolphin stage once.

Part of Flicka was filmed in Wyoming. I'd like to go there someday.

Youtube has some bloopers from the film. Maybe Kwanten will be in it. Yeah. He's in it. He has a pretty big part starting at 1:35. I don't really get what's so funny though.

In 2007, Kwanten starred in a horror movie called Dead Silence. It was about a ventriloquist. I actually sort of remember that. I mean I never saw it, but I might have seen the trailer for it.

Speaking of horror movies, last night I saw the last 20-30 minutes of Freddy Vs. Jason. It was actually somewhat entertaining. I thought it was a little rude that they left Michael Myers out of it though.

Dead Silence was made by the guy who does the Saw Movies. I've never seen any of those. Are they any good? Oh, the guy has a collaborator for the Saw movies, and this Dead Silence thing. And the collaborator is Australian. I'll add him to my list.

Here's the trailer for Dead Silence. Yeah. I think I've seen that. It looks interesting, but not something I'd rush out to see.

Kwanten did a few guest star appearances on TV. I won't go into that.

He did a movie with The Six Sense's little sick ghost girl. This was called Don't Fade Away. It's about a music manager person who has to return home to take care of his dying father. Here's the trailer.

Beau Bridges plays the dad. I liked him when he was on Desperate Housewives. That was a beautiful episode.

Okay. NOW we get to the show I love. True Blood. It's brilliant...or at least it was brilliant until the last twenty minutes of the last season finale. There's a lot of argument out there about which is better...True Blood or Twilight. I personally love both. I saw the movie Twilight first. I will say I liked the TV show of True Blood MUCH better. Then I read the Twilight books. I probably like the books as much as I like the True Blood TV show. Now I just have to read the novels that True Blood is based on, and make that comparison.

There's some interesting similarities between the two stories....I mean besides the fact that they're both about vampires. I'm not sure if these similarities are coincidences, or if one creative person accidentally copied the other creative person.


I just checked my bookshelf (of books I soon plan to read) Charlene Harris' first Sookie Stackhouse novel was published in 2001. Stephanie Meyer didn't have the dream that inspired her Twilight novels until 2003. Meyer claims to not be a vampire-fiction fan. So I'm going to believe she didn't read the Stackhouse novel.

I'd like to believe it is all a coincidence.

I like to believe writers like Meyers, Harris, and Rowling are channeling stories from some other world that us earthlings all need to hear. Kind of like there are flood and virgin birth stories in various world religions.

Anyway, here are some of the similarities/coincidences that I've noticed.

A) Both Twilight and True Blood involve a character who can hear the thoughts of others. The characters in each fall in love with an individual whose mind they can't read. In Twilight, it's a vampire with the power. In True Blood, it's a human.

B) Both stories have a love triangle between a human, a vampire, and a shapeshifter.

C) Both stories involve a human with supernatural friends. In each of the stories, this human is not quite like other humans. There's something special and powerful about her.

D) In both stories there seems to be animosity between the shapeshifters and vampires.


Ryan Kwanten (no, I didn't forget about him) plays the brother of Sookie Stackhouse...True Blood's mind reader. She's in a relationship with a vampire. Kwanten himself goes on all kinds of adventures...including joining an anti-vampire church.

Here's a Kwanten scene in True Blood.

And here's another scene that he's in. It's one of my favorite scenes in the show, and features my favorite character. Godric. I am RARELY a love (or crush) at first site person. But when Godric first appeared on that show, my little heart stopped. Okay, and this is an example of me wanting to rob the cradle. The actor who plays Godric was born in 1989. Shit. That's horrible. He might not even be twenty yet. Okay, but in my defense....the character he plays is thousands of years old.

The vampire in the scene, with the Elvis accent, is British in real life. I love all these fake accents. Anna Paquin is especially delicious.

Godric (who actually doesn't appear until 2:48) in the video is a lot like the character of Carlyle in Twilight. See? More similarities....

This post is so long. It's already past two o'clock. And I haven't even really talked about Kwanten much. Should I say oh well...oops. Good-bye. Or should I continue?

I guess I should continue.

As for upcoming projects, Kwanten will be in that animated movie I've mentioned in other posts. Guardians of Ga'Hoole. A bunch of Australian people are in it. It's based on a series of books...actually written by an American. I'm not sure why the movie has so many Australians in it. Well, it was filmed in Australia. That might explain why.

Kwanten is also going to be in an upcoming Australian project called Griff the Invisible.

Here's an interview about Kwanten in Women's Health. I'm not sure if it's American, or Australian.

He's asked about the difference between American and Australian women. He says, Australian women tend to tell it like it is—even if it's the brutal, honest truth. I think American women usually break it to you a little easier. There's a softer side to them.


Well, that's not something I've observed. Maybe American women are nicer to him because he's Australian, and that's different and exciting. The first time we went to Australia, I thought Australians were SO incredibly friendly. My Australian friend said when she lived in America, Americans were so friendly. I finally concluded that we each might have gotten special attention because we came from elsewhere.

Kwanten says the biggest mistake women do in dating is they say I love you way too early. Oops. Is that what I do wrong?

I'm joking. Although I don't think it matters much when it is said. If the feeling is mutual, the words are delightful. If the feelings aren't very mutual, the words are awkward and painful. Two people might fall in love on the first date. The words won't hurt them then. Although I'm sure that's rare.

Kwanten says his most embarrassing dating moment was when he went to go pick a girl up at her house. Her father answered. Kwanten forgot the girl's name. Oops. That story makes me feel better because something like that actually happened to me this morning. I was going to share the story with you guys, but it is really really awful. And I don't want to lose any love. Maybe one day I'll be brave enough to tell it.

Kwanten works out a lot. He doesn't do much dieting....loves chocolate. He's good at Scrabble.

Here's an interview with Kwanten at the Emmy's. He looks SO different here...and kind of in a good way. He reminds me of some other actor. I can't think of who. Maybe Charlie on Lost?

Well, here's some celebrity gossip from NY Daily News. Apparently, Lindsay Lohan has a crush on Kwanten. Would she feel differently if she noticed his resemblance to George W. Bush?

Oh! Speaking of celebrity gossip...Here's another Twilight and True Blood coincidence. With both of these, the actors portraying the human-vampire couple fell in love in real life.

On that note, I'm going to quit. If I keep going, I have a feeling it's mostly going to be celebrity gossip stuff. Too much of that isn't good for our health. Right?

Let's be honest here. This post was really just a good excuse for me to talk about my vampire obsessions. Really. How often can I combine my Australia and Vampire obsession? I got to take advantage of the rare opportunities.

The Girls of Drover Run

We are totally into McLeod's Daughters. The three of us (sometimes 4 of us) watch it every night. It has become a family tradition.

Like with any TV show, that includes multiple characters, there is the tendency to wonder "Which character am I most like?" 

Or maybe that's just me? Probably not, though, since there ARE multiple quizzes online.

Which Lostie are you? Which Charmed one are you? Which Desperate Housewife are you?

So, which girl on Drovers Run am I? Which one are you?

There's:

Claire-Very serious. Workaholic. Full of pride. Doesn't like to accept help. Strong morals. Set in her ways. Not very warm. Rough exterior. Very capable.

Tess-Outgoing. Friendly. Spiritual. Nosy. Pushy. Questions everything. Tries to change things. Wants to save the world. Often makes a fool of herself.

Jodi-Lazy. Hates working. Spoiled. Often puts her foot in her mouth. Cute. Fun. Full of life.

Becky-Heroic. Brave. Strong. Thoughtful. Caring. Helpful.

I wish I was like Becky. I think Becky is incredibly awesome. I have a bit of a girl-crush on Becky. But I'm not like Becky. Unfortunately.

I'm not really like Jodi...at least not on a regular basis.

Tim thinks I'm like Claire. And I don't completely disagree. There are times when I feel like a Claire. I guess it's with certain people. Certain people bring out my inner Claire.

Usually, though, I feel like a total Tess. I can be a bit shy...at times. But other times, I'm outgoing. I'm usually friendly. I think? I'm pushy about my beliefs. I'm definitely spiritual. And the big thing is I'm incredibly nosy.

There was one episode in which Tess reminded me so much of myself. There was some bad history in their neighbor's family; a skeleton in the closet that no one talked about. Tess brought it up at dinner and persisted on pursuing the conversation, despite the people looking uncomfortable. Then later she couldn't just let it go. She had to call up the family and offer her apologies. When her apology was not met with welcome and warmth, she brought over flowers. She would not give up.

This is so much like something I would do.

I think the thing about Tess is she hates to be disliked. And this is like me. Some people can do the old Her loss! I don't care if she doesn't like me. 

I can't. Well, I try. But it BUGS me when people dislike me. And instead of backing away, I go all Tess on them.

I have some Claires in my life. And nothing makes me bring out my inner Tess more than being around these Claires. If these people toned down their inner Claires, I would probably end up toning down my inner Tess.

Anyway.....

In other Drover Run news.....The actress who plays Claire (Lisa Chapelle) reminded me so much of someone and I couldn't figure out who. Tonight, I finally figured it out.

Liesel from the Sound of Music!!!!

Compare the pictures!!!









Okay, actually the pictures are not that good. I couldn't find any good ones. But go see for yourself. Watch McLeod's Daughters and then watch Sound of Music. And no, not just to compare the two actresses. They're both awesome shows to watch. Pity thee who does not know the joy of Christopher Plummer singing "Edelweiss" to his estranged family.


The Dead are Online a novel by Dina Roberts