Showing posts with label Game of Thrones. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Game of Thrones. Show all posts

Things I Watched in 2023

Here is my yearly list of things I watched via various streaming platforms...and in one very rare time, at the movie theater.

Red denotes shows or movies I disliked.

Blue denotes shows I especially loved.  Though sometimes I forget the love I felt if a lot of time has passed between watching the show and making the list. The love often fades.  More recent watchings are more likely to be blue.  

Never mind that.  I'm ending that part of my tradition.  It's too hard for me to decide whether or not I simply liked a show or whether I loved it.  

I've divided the shows by location...in terms of where it was set rather than where it was filmed.

Some shows might be listed for multiple places.

If you're interested, here is my list for 2017, 2020, 2021, and 2022 list.

One big thing I almost forgot to mention is I completely changed the way I do my to-watch list.

My old way involved having a limited number of spaces for shows/movies on the list—idea being I needed to finish and cross off a movie or show before adding something new.  

Now I'm using the same method I use for my author's list. There is no limit to the number of things on the list.  And before adding to the list, I don't take time to make sure it's not already on the list. 

I'm fine with things being on the list multiple times. Sometimes I actually purposely add things multiple time, so there will be more of a chance that Random.org will choose it for me. 

I was going to list which seasons of a show I've watched, but I've decided that's going to make the list too clunky and complicated.  I might do it sometimes.

Warning: I might have things wrong about the setting of the Marvel movies we watched.  My memory is muddled.  If any particular experts want to help by correcting me, I would feel appreciative and not offended. 

AUSTRALIA

Neighbours-Having Neighbours return, and be available for me to easily watch, was one of the top best things that happened to me this year. I've been watching the current episodes and slowly making my way through the provided Classic Neighbours episodes.  

All Saints-Every few years, Random.org gifts me with another season of this show.  I feel emotionally attached.  

Deadloch- This was one of the very rare times that Tim and I watched an Australian TV show together.  I almost quit after the first episode, because I misunderstood what it was. I thought it was supposed to be a parody of shows like Broadchurch.  I was picturing like a Naked Gun/Airplane kind of thing.  So watching the first episode, it just felt really off.  Like the show had failed at what it was trying to do.  Then I realized it was more of a drama-comedy-mystery.  Or a drama-mystery with comic relief characters.  After accepting the show for what it was supposed to be, I loved it.  

DENMARK

The Bear Only one episode.  That particular episode gave me a lot of anxiety and dread, because we had plans to go on a trip to Copenhagen, and I was extremely anxious about traveling.  But it all had a happy ending. I ended up having a wonderful time on the trip 

GERMANY

All the Light We Cannot See-Wasn't interested in this when my parents highly recommended it but then became interested when I saw an actor from Dark was one of the stars. 

Unorthodox-Inspired to watch this after watching Shira Haas in Bodies.  And I had also read the book this year and liked that a lot.  

I'm hoping Disney doesn't cave to pressure and that we'll be able to see Haas in the new Captain America movie.  

ISRAEL

Fauda- Currently watching this.  I've read reviews saying it's biased against Palestinians.  From what I've seen so far, it seems much less biased than I would have expected from an Israeli TV show about the conflict. 

I think it shows Palestinians in a very sympathetic way and sometimes shows Israelis in a quite negative way.  Really...all in all, it seems fairly sympathetic towards both sides.  

A pessimistic, judgmental side of me feels some reviewers would see this show as unbiased and fair only if all the the Israelis were shown as completely evil, heartless oppressive colonizers and the Palestinians as angelic, loving, innocent victims.  

ITALY

Mrs. Davies 

A Haunting in Venice- I liked the set design but besides that...didn't really love this one. 

JAPAN

Invasion 

NETHERLANDS

Ted Lasso-I loved that episode.  Though like The Bear's travel episode, this one also gave me anxiety, because of our upcoming trip.  Unlike some people I know, I don't continue to confuse the Danish with the Dutch.  However, it still made me think of our upcoming trip, because of the canal, Europe in general, etc.  

NORWAY-

Thor: Love and Thunder I forget where else it takes place. In the Metaverse? The Multiverse? Another Planet?  

SOUTH KOREA

Uncanny Counter 

Extraordinary Attorney Woo- I tried working on Korean by rewatching one of the episodes repeatedly.  Then I got tired of it and stopped.

Burning-Critics and reviewer people seemed to like this one much more than Tim and I did.  

Business Proposal-Fictional Australians seem to die tragically from being hit by a car while walking, standing, picking up someone else's bulk trash, etc.  Koreans seem to be in danger of losing their parents as children and teens via a car accident.  This is the case for this show, Uncanny Counter, and also Sweet Home.  Are there others I've forgotten?  

I should say that I've watched a teeny tiny fraction of the Korean dramas that are out there.  There may be a more common way for fictional Koreans to die.

UNITED KINGDOM

Black Mirror 

Ted Lasso-The ending gave me a lot of sadness in the same way The Good Place gave me a lot of sadness.  I mean sadness for the same type of reason.  

Invasion

Bodies-I liked this show a lot until I read about the massive differences to the comic book.  I really need to stop trying to compare books with shows.  It messes too much with my head when there are huge changes.  Especially if the changes are enormous.  With the TV series, time travel seemed very much to be the main point of the whole story.  Then I learn that time travel didn't play a part at all in the original material.

Coronation Street-This...and now Neighbours...are my constants.  I don't rely on Random.org to pick it for me.  I try hard to watch it every day that an episode is available to me.  

THE UNITED STATES

Lucifer-I love this show to the point that I sometimes feel stupid for allowing my viewing to be ruled so much by Random.org.  It's sad to consider that it may be twenty years later before I watch season 5.  On the other hand, I think I will feel a huge loss when I finish watching the show.  So, it's kind of nice living my life knowing I still have two seasons left to watch

Nashville- Speaking of....This one took me a long time to get back to.  There were some years between my watching season two and three.  Again, though, it's nice knowing I have more seasons left to watch.

Mythic Quest 

Crown Heights

Bosch

The Peripheral-I liked the idea of this more than the result.  

Only Murders in the Building-I love this show. It brings me a very happy kind of nostalgia to see Steve Martin and Martin Short.  

Parenthood- This was a hate-like show for me.  

It was the most offensive show dealing with autism I have ever seen.  It made my blood boil. It's as if someone took the infamous Autism Speaks promotional video and said, Hey, let's turn this into a TV show. But I liked the other aspects of the show and enjoyed seeing how it actually does connect to the movie. 

Yellow Jackets- I'm not sure where the plane crashed, though. 

This is Us- I love this show...and it's another one where I worry Random.org won't ever pick again for me but at the same time am glad I still have seasons left to watch.  

The Good Doctor

The Last of Us

Law and Order- I watched just a couple of episodes while staying at my parent's house for a few nights. 

The Wire-Rewatched a portion of the first episode when staying with my parents.  They hadn't seen it before, and I had wondered if they might like it.  

Chicago Med- Another show my parents shared with me.  

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend-Rewatched a couple of episodes with my parents.  My staycation at their house  was like a TV show Show and Tell kind of thing. They liked this show more than The Wire.  To be fair, I loved The Wire, but it took me several episodes before I got into it. 

Servent-I'm impressed that this show took a very dark and depressing subject and somehow turned it into a wild, fun, addictive roller coaster.  

Spiderman: No Way Home 

Avengers: Infinity War  

Avengers: EndGame

Bodies Bodies Bodies 

Beef-This was beautiful.  I wanted...needed it to end a certain way.  And it did.  So I was very satisfied with that.  

Werewolf by Night- I think?  Or did it take place elsewhere?  I can't remember.  I Googled and couldn't easily find the answer. 

The Magicians

From- I became somewhat obsessed with this show.  I love it but at the same time I worry it borrows from the worst qualities of Lost (which I love, love, love while at the same time recognizing its flaws) 

Mrs. Davies

13 Reasons Why 

The Brady Bunch- I added a lot of nostalgic stuff to my list...and old stuff I haven't ever watched. 

To really feel old school, I sometimes add these shows by individual seasons. Because in the past, we just watched things as they came along via syndication.  We didn't start with episode 1.  So with The Brady Bunch, I ended up with season 4.  The one with the Hawaii adventure.

The Wilds-I'm not sure where the island is supposed to be.  I forget.  Though I Googled and saw it was filmed in New Zealand.  

I watched this after watching the first season of Yellow Jackets and declared that I preferred it much more to Yellow Jackets.  But then we watched season two of Yellow Jackets and...well now it's about even.

Mario Bros

The Bear

Black Mirror

Invasion

The Afterparty-Tim and I enjoyed this one a lot.  The premise is a lot of fun and well-executed.  

What We Do in the Shadows- I like the storyline about Guillermo's new development 

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia- I liked this show but much less than Tim does.  But I watched only the first season.  Maybe if I watch more seasons, it will grow on me more.  

Ratched-I liked this, but I I have problems with sympathetic character who we know are doomed to become villains. I had the same feelings about Bates Motel.

A Knock at the Cabin

Haunted Mansion- I liked this much more than I expected to.  

Totally Killer

The Blackening

Renfield

Loki 

American Horror Story: Hotel- Tim often rewatches shows that I haven't seen yet.  This was one of the rare times that I rewatched a show that he hadn't seen yet.  

Upload 

Leave the World Behind

Unorthodox-

Barbie-We watched this a few nights ago, and I loved, loved, loved, loved, loved it.

The Fall of the House of Usher-This is what we're currently watching.  So far, neither Tim nor I are loving it.  But hopefully we will grow to like it as we get further in.  

The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special-(eta) Tim and I watched this one Christmas Eve.  We both loved the songs and are wanting to listen to more music from the heroic Kevin Bacon and Old 97's.

 I had some confusion—some annoyed-confusion—over whether we were dealing with A) A Kevin Bacon from a universe in which The Avengers and other Marvel characters are real people known for saving the world B) A universe where The Avengers exist as fictional characters.  C)A universe in which Marvel Characters exist but are unknown by regular people.  

Kevin Bacon's initial reaction gave me the sense that it was the third option which didn't sit well with me.  BUT...thinking about it...even if we lived in a world where people with super human abilities existed and are known of by the general public, it wouldn't mean these people would be commonplace.  And if some unusual beings came to our door, we might assume they were people in costume.  

Party Down (eta) The existence of this show scares me, because it has quite a few well-known actors and seems fairly well-liked.  Yet I've never heard of it.  

And I'm someone who spends a lot of time on IMDb.  

No, I don't think something supernatural is going on.  It's just...for me...evidence...that there's way too much content out there.  It's impossible to keep up.  That would be okay...except I have major FOMO when it comes to TV shows.  

The Other Two (eta)

LOCATION UNKNOWN 

The Menu-I found aspects of this offensive but also found it somewhat interesting and entertaining.  

From

NOT EARTH 

The 100 - Watched season 2.  It had been a long time since I watched season 2, so it took me awhile to get into it and to care about the characters again.  But once I did, I enjoyed it.  

Avengers: Endgame

Solo: A Star Wars Story 

Foundation-Tim offered to rewatch with me, because he liked it a lot.  I was unable to get into it, I dropped out.

Black Mirror-

The Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special 

MULTIVERSE

(I struggled labeling this, because technically speaking all fiction happens in not-our-universe

Spiderman: No Way Home 

Avengers: Infinity War (I think?  I kind of forget, actually) 

Spiderman: Across the Spiderverse-I would have probably liked this more if I had seen the first movie, before going to the theater to watch this. Speaking of, I think this was actually the one time that Tim and I saw a movie at an actual theater this year.  Jack had invited us to go.  I think movie-going has become something we do only when it offers us a chance to go on a field trip with our child. 

Loki

MYSTICAL PLACE 

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever- I liked the ending with the song much more than I liked the rest of the movie. 

House of Dragon-Tim and I had to really struggle to get ourselves to like this. We managed to sort of like it by the end but not enough to want to watch any future seasons of it.  

I can imagine that for huge fans of the Westeros universe, the show might have been satisfying.  But for me, it didn't ease my longing for Game of Thrones.  It just made me feel confused and frustrated.  The characters are just too distant from the GOT characters.

It's like...would a show about the great-great-great-great-great grandparents of Monica and Ross satisfy people who miss watching Friends?

Thor Raganok 

The Magicians 

Mario Bros 

Dungeons and Dragons-This movie does a good job of being accessible to those of us who never played the game.

Lost-I totally forgot I watched this (season 3) until looking at my records.  Which is strange, because I'm actually playing around with writing a novel about a fan of Lost

By playing around I mean I'm doing research, taking notes, creating character and family bios, etc. with no huge desire to actually write the novel.  

I'm having fun with the journey, though.  If I think about it as a waste of time, I tell myself it's similar to playing Minecraft or Sims.  It's just about having fun with my imagination and my love of researching.  

Yes, I'd rather have a finished product, and I'd want that finished product to be read and liked by others.  But if it's not read and if I don't even write it...that's all okay too.  

Thor: Love and Thunder-I'm struggling here, trying to remember if it would also fit into the multiverse.  Maybe all The Avengers movies do?  

The Santa Clauses- See? Tim Allen was not fired from Disney for not being Woke enough or too white. I've never actually seen the movies.  But I liked the show. A little bit.  It was corny but enjoyable.

ONLINE

The Peripheral 

Upload 

MULTIPLE LOCATIONS

How to be a Tyrant-One of the few documentaries I watched 

Lost-

Invasion

Behind the Attraction-Another documentary.  We watched only...I think two episodes?  I liked it at first but then I felt it got old after awhile. It was probably less about the subject matter and more about the format?   

Well....

That's it for now.  I will probably add shows/movies that I watch in the last few weeks.  


Read my novel: The Dead are Online 


You Totally Deserve It But I Still Feel Bad For You

Tim and I were chatting this morning, and the conversation led me to a realization.

I mentioned an article that I read in which a man made the wrong choices, used his platform to promote those choice, got sick, regretted their choices, and then died.  I said I felt no sympathy for him.   

But then I realized it wasn't true.

I DO feel some sympathy for him.

But...at the same time, I don't regret what happened to him. I feel he totally deserves what happened to him, and I'm glad Karma showed a strong display of her power.

I think I've been confused all my life, because I've had these two seemingly conflicting feelings.  A) feeling sympathy for someone B) Feeling satisfied when Karma kicks someone's ass. 

But now I'm going to try to be okay with having both these feelings. I'm going to try to be okay with the sympathy feelings and not worry about being too soft or weak. I'm going to be okay with my I-love-Karma feelings and not worry that I'm an evil, cold-hearted villain.

I am okay with bad things happening to people who make bad choices especially if they are awful about it.  The example I gave Tim is someone smoking and being obnoxious about it.  They purposely smoke in people's faces. They break non-smoking rules. They're combative about it.  They encouraged and led other people to start smoking.  If a person like this gets lung cancer, I will feel sympathy for their physical and emotional pain.  But I won't think it's wrong that this happened to them.  

It's not only about people making the wrong health/safety choices.  Sometimes it's about someone saying something that is hurtful towards me—insulting, rude, judgmental, ignorant, etc.  Or they acted in a way that was hurtful.  When Karma seems to respond by giving them a little pinch...or a big pinch, I'm okay with being okay with Karma's doings.  But I'm also okay with feeling sympathy and concern for the person. And I'm okay with going back and forth between feeling: I want to be there for this person and support them and: this person was shit towards me when I was going through something similar, so why should I be there for them?  


I was looking through my photos
to find one that might fit with the post. I
decided to use one of my test result screenshots.
My plan was to jokingly say that
in case you read my post
and think I'm evil, this test proves you wrong.
(I picked this one sort of randomly)
But then I realized the result for
this particular test is super-fitting. 
I actually made an Arya-type list
a few months ago.
I didn't plan to actually kill anyone.
It was more like a
wish list.  
Oh. Okay. I found the list.
I made it last October and 
it's actually called 
"My Arya List" 
They're all political figures, btw.
As my dad would probably see it:
a display of my "Trump Derangement Syndrome"
Just as I'm super proud of my probable autism "disorder"
I'm also very proud of having a strong case of TDS



Read my novel: The Dead are Online 

Thursday Update

I've been meaning to mention, and now I'm finally remembering to....

Another thing on my current watch-list is Schitt's Creek

It's my second time watching it. I love that show SO much.

I watch it with our Alexa Echo, which we have near our sink.  I watch, a little bit at a time, while I put dishes away, wash my water bottle, or feed the cats.

I alternate between Schitt's Creek and listening to various news reports on Alexa. And with the news, I alternate between the BBC (British) CBC (Canadian) and SBS (Australian).

And yes, I also get American news.

I read the Washington Post in the morning with Annie on my lap. 

Anyway, back to Schitt's Creek.  I'm currently on episode 7 of season 4. I'm surprised I've already gotten that far, because I watch only a little bit a day. Maybe a third or half an episode?

My plan, though, is to keep rewatching and rewatching until I'm fully vaccinated. OR...well, maybe when I'm fully vaccinated, I will stop going back to the beginning. I think it would be best if I get to the end of the series. Then I'll say good-bye. until the next pandemic comes along.

What else?

I'm really into Broadchurch now.  

Tonight we'll be watching the first season finale.

I'm wondering how the first season will end and what will happen in the next two seasons. Will it take them three seasons to figure out the murderer? Or will they find the murderer this season, and the next two seasons will be about the court case and all that?

Oh! Maybe it will be a serial killer?

Oops. I just realized I gave Tim the wrong information about the shame woman from Game of Thrones. I told him she (Susan Brown) played the reporter in Broadchurch. But now I see she plays Grandma Liz.

Edited to add: 10/3/22- Rereading this post, and I'm feeling SHAME for my mistake.  Susan Brown didn't play the shame woman on Game of Thrones. She played the Septa of Winterfell.  I know this only, because we've seen watched Ted Lasso which stars the actual Shame-woman (Hannah Waddingham)

I was thinking, last night, of all the Broadchurch actors from various other shows/franchises.  

From Game of Thrones, there's Brown, David Bradley, and Jacob Anderson.

From Harry Potter, there's David Tennant, David Bradley, and Alfred Enoch. Though I can't remember actually seeing Enoch in the show. I just remember seeing his face and name when looking at IMDb.

From the Crown, there's Olivia Coleman and Andrew Buchan. 

From Doctor Who, there's David Tennant, Jodie Whittaker, David Bradley, and Arthur Darvill

I know I'm missing at least one person from somewhere. I remember looking at IMDb and seeing an actor in one of those shows, but I didn't remember their character.

It was either Harry Potter or Game of Thrones. Or...both.  

Here we go. Carolyn Pickles- who is the woman I mistakingly thought was Shame-Woman on Game of Thrones-was in Harry Potter. She played Charity Burgage.

I don't know who that is.  

Okay. Googled.

She was a professor  that was kidnapped and murdered by Voldemort before the Deathly Hollows. I think I vaguely remember that.

Speaking of Harry Potter, after reading a few more chapters, I opted to return the Robert Galbraith book. In lieu of that, I'm now reading Untamed Shore by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. 

It's good so far.

I recently read her other book Mexican Gothic and liked that a lot. 

This morning, on YouTube, I watched a video from The Daily Show about the whole unity thing.

The whole thing makes me so angry.

It makes me wonder if Biden has had a lack of experience dealing with manipulative, hypocritical, selfish people.

Well, now that I write that out, it sounds a bit nuts. He works with politicians. At least some of them have had to be manipulative, hypocritical, and selfish.

BUT sometimes people deal with these types of people not realizing that they are these types of people. 

In my book, unity involves compromise. And with compromise, both sides give in a little. 

Well, actually with politics...the losing side should have to give in more. 

When the winning side says unity, it doesn't mean...Hey, we're going to put away OUR agenda and let you put in your agenda...because we want your side to get everything they want

I think it's more along the lines of , We're going to put through our agenda, but if we get along...maybe we'll listen and consider your positions and maybe even put some of them into action.  

Personally, I'm not at all interested in having unity with Trumplicans. And sadly, most Republicans these days are Trumplicans. 

I want unity with the people who are against Trumplicans and Trumpism. 

Now I'm fine having unity with Trumplicans outside of politics. My family started a new rule of no political discussions, and we've all been getting along much better. It's impossible for us to unite on subjects like Trump, Impeachment, BLM protests, antisemitism, etc. But we get along pretty well when we're talking about TV shows, pets, family happenings, etc.  

In other news...

I'm still liking Shameless a lot. I think the Joan Cusack storyline is very sad. 

Some of the show is very pre-MeToo. They go with the trope of women lying about assault, and there's also a teenage girl (Laura Wiggins) sexually harassing an adult man (William H Macy). 

I think these are the storylines we tend to get when men are dominating the writer's rooms. 

I wonder what is the motivation behind these types of storylines. Is it male writers exorcising their personal anger? And if it's anger, does that anger come from their personal traumas? Or is it anger they've built up from seeing the women-are-liars-and-aggressors storylines in other TV shows, movies, books, etc. 

Is it fantasy? Older men wishing teenage girls would proposition them?

Is it a way to appease some of the guilt for their own experiences or fantasies?  Yes. I had sex with a fifteen year old. But it's not my fault. She was so sexy, and she kept flirting with me! What was I supposed to do?  

I have zero doubts that flirtatious, hyper-sexual teenager girls exist and that they sometimes target older men.

BUT...I think in the real world women are much more often the victim of men. I think there are more incidents of women being harassed and assaulted by men than men being falsely accused of crime.

And I think there are more incidents of children and teenagers being groomed by sexual predators to become victims than children and teenagers sexually harassing disinterested men trying to mind their own business.

I think shows like Shameless, and other shows in the pre-MeToo era, present a picture that is the opposite of reality.    

Hopefully that is changing a lot, because I think this false picture is one of the reasons that female victims are so often doubted when they speak up about abuse.  

 



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

The Dead are Online, a novel by Dina Roberts 

Small Parts and Big Parts

Last night I dreamed...

I hear that Julian McMahon is in a production of Death of a Salesman. I start to watch a trailer on TV.  I don't see him in the beginning, so I make the assumption he has a small part. Then moments later, I see he doesn't actually have a small part. He has the main part. He plays Willy Loman.

I was trying to figure out the meaning of the dream this morning.Then I realized it's the opposite of what happened to me with Bloodline.  I just finished watching season two. Since Ben Mendelsohn won an award for the show, I figured somehow his character would be in it a large amount. He wasn't. He was hardly on the show at all.

I'm wondering if he won the award for season one and not season two. That would make more sense. He was in season one much more.

I just looked at the Emmy website.  Mendelsohn won for 2016. Lord Wiki says that's for television programming from June 1, 2015 to May 31, 2016.  When was Bloodline?

Well...according to IMDb, the first season wouldn't have made the cut. It's dated as March 20, 2015.

Season two made the deadline by four days! Yikes.

Mendelsohn beat out two guys from Game of Thrones—Peter Dinklage and Kit Harrington. I was going to argue that those guys were in their show much more than Mendelsohn was in his. But I'm rethinking that. The thing with Game of Thrones is there are SO many characters.  Each actor probably doesn't have that much screen time.

I think the difference, though, with Game of Thrones is that Dinklage and Harrington, compared to their costars, do have a lot of screen time. In contrast, Mendelsohn seemed to have much less screen time than many of his co-stars.

Some might argue it's not about quantity. It's about quality. I agree.

I think Mendelsohn is a fantastic actor and deserving of many acting awards. I can't say, though, that there was anything in his performance for season two that really wowed me.  I was actually much more impressed with Owen Teague, who played Mendelsohn's son. If it had been up to me, I would have given Teague the Emmy.

I definitely wouldn't have hesitated to give Mendelsohn the Emmy for season one of Bloodline.  His performance was superb in that.


Read my novel: The Dead are Online   



Parenting, Savannah Smiles Nostalgia, Mixed Messages, and Daytime

1. Continued watching The Boys are Back on Netflix.

2. Saw Joe (Clive Owen) check his texts while driving.

He's really lax when it comes to safety.

2. Saw things in Joe that reminded me of myself.

First, there's the easygoing parent bit. He does chores himself rather than pushing his kids to help. I tend to be like that.

Second. He is insecure about his parenting and is sometimes swayed by other people's criticisms. I'm like that too.

Sometimes I have to work out whether I'm doing something because I feel it's right; or if I'm doing it because someone else, or a parenting book, said I should.

3. Saw Artie running after his Dad's car.  It made me think of Savannah Smiles.  I was trying to remember when Savannah ran after a car. But no, I think it was a flashback in the beginning of the film. A Young Alvie was running.

Or did I dream all this?

4. Found a website with Savannah Smiles online. Maybe an illegal one?

I skipped through the beginning, and didn't see the scene. But maybe it's later in the movie.

I think it was a sad thing with sad music, maybe.

5. Confused by Harry's (George MacKay) behavior in the The Boys are Back.

He insists that his father go on a road trip. He'll stay home and take care of Artie (Nicholas McAnulty).

While he's in care of his brother and the house, some teenagers come and cause trouble. They insist on being let in, and then they trash the house. It's a big mess.  Harry leaves and go back to England. Now Joe and Artie have flown all the way from Australia to England to see Harry. Harry doesn't want to see or talk to them. Why?

I can't figure out if he feels ashamed for what happened to the house and ashamed that he wasn't able to succeed in taking care of things. Or is he mad at his father for leaving them alone, even though he's the one that insisted his father leave?

6. Finished watching The Boys are Back.

I thought it was pretty good.  Harry's feelings and motivations confused me a bit. I'm getting the idea that when he told his father he was okay babysitting, he really didn't mean it. I think that was a bit unfair of him.

The kid had a hard life, though. His dad got another woman pregnant; then left the country. So, Henry felt abandoned.Then his mother got pregnant, and Henry felt unwanted in that little family unit.

I think divorce and custody issues are hard enough; but when it's a continent that separates the two parents...OYE.

7. Went to Random.org to pick my next thing to watch.

It's Rabbit Proof Fence...which I might have seen before. I'm not sure.

I'll start watching that on Sunday.

8. Started watching an episode of Upper Middle Bogan.

9. Saw that this episode has multiple references to American stuff.  When it's her night to pick the family TV show, Edwina (Lara Robinson) chooses a documentary about Obamacare. Brianna (Madeline Jevic) invents a lie about superglue being a fad in Los Angeles. And Game of Thrones is mentioned.

10. Liked the messages of the episode—surprises sometimes cause more stress than joy; and good gifts don't need to be overly expensive.

There was also a subplot about Instagram addiction and the need to distinguish between what should be public and private.

11. Heard the song "Daytime" by Jack Dolgen. I knew I used it in one of our Australian 2013 trip videos, but I couldn't remember which one.  I'm pretty sure it was for a Sydney-day, but I'm not positive.

Maybe it was our last day in Sydney?

12. Found the video, and I was right!  It's our last day in Sydney.

13.  Saw that the video includes a dramatic Tasmanian Devil fight.

14. Saw Jack running around Alf Stewart from Home and Away.

15. Went to palg1305's Flickr account.

Tonight I'm going to look at his Byron Bay album.

16. Thought that the sea and sky in this photo looks lovely.

17. Liked this beach photo.

There's a tree branch that sort of looks like an animal.

18. Thought the scenery in this photo was beautiful.

Byron Bay is quite pretty, and palg1305 did a good job capturing it.

19. Thought this sunset photo is dreamlike.

20. Saw a close-up photo of a person...finally!  Though I can't see her face. I wonder if it's someone palg1305 knows. Or did he sneak a photo of a stranger?



Eddie Perfect

Hello!

Today I'm going to be learning about Eddie Perfect. He played Mick on Offspring. I don't know much else about him. I think he sings; maybe comedic songs.  He did a funny song on Offspring in the first season.  It's called "Six at Best", and it was an apology song for his girlfriend (Billie) in regards to him having sex with her sister.

It's a great song. I loved it. It was a touching moment between the characters, and the lyrics were a great tribute to the little fun details of the show.

"Six at Best" is probably what I like best about Mick. What I like least is his behavior and attitude in the later seasons.

In season four, Mick's music career blossoms. He starts becoming famous. That's good for him. What's unfortunate, is Billie's (his wife now) life goes in the opposite direction. Her real estate business has some major failures. She tries to be supportive of her husband's good fortune, but she gets depressed and her self-esteem sinks. This leads to Billie having sex with an old friend.

Mick eventually leaves her for this, which I think is incredibly unfair and ridiculous. Did he not forget that he had sex with Billie's own sister? I know what Gandhi says about an eye for an eye making the whole world blind. But that's for violence. When it comes to infidelity,  I say if one person does it and is pardoned, then their partner gets a free pass. Now that doesn't mean I think a person should seek out adultery just for the sake of revenge.  But if there comes a time that an opportunity presents itself, whether it be for love, infatuation, or some sort of mental weakened state...well, then I think the person has a right to go for it.

My feeling is that Mick made himself out to be the righteous victim, because it gave him the "right" to leave Billie. I think he wanted to be the dedicated husband—the man who becomes famous but stands by his pathetic wife.  Then when she had sex with another man, he imagined he had an excuse to leave her. Did he not remember having sex with Billie's sister?

I don't know. Maybe he was waiting for Billie to sing him an apology song.

Anyway....

Now I shall start learning about Eddie Perfect, the man behind the Mick.

I'll start with his biography on IMDb.  They don't have much to say about Perfect—nothing personal. They just say he's an actor and a writer, and they list the highlights of his career.

I guess I shall move onto the Eddie Perfect filmography.

I wonder if Eddie Perfect is his real...birth name. I imagine his last name might have brought on a bit of teasing.

The filmography is quite short.  When that's the case, I don't follow my usual practice of skipping one time guest appearances on TV shows. I do the skipping, because many filmographies are incredibly overwhelming.  This isn't the case with Eddie Perfect.

His first screen thing was in 2002. He played someone named Stumpy on the show Stingers.  The episode was in the fifth season. My favorite Australian television website says the episode was about teenage drug manufacturers.  I was thinking maybe Stumpy was one of the teenagers, but I'm pretty sure Eddie Perfect is close to my age. Maybe a little younger. Maybe a little older.  Either way...I certainly wasn't a teenager in 2002, so I'm guessing that's also the case for Perfect as well.

I just noticed that Perfect was in multiple one time guest appearances in 2002. Well, actually...just three. Still. That's multiple, right. It's not a total exaggeration.

Next on the list is Blue Heelers.   Perfect was in the 17th episode of the 9th season.  This time his character had a first and last name: Mark Lalor.  That name kind of sounds familiar to me.

You know...one day I misspelled familiar, as I often do. I accidentally clicked Add to Dictionary; so now I'm plagued by that mistake.  I spell it as familar, and the dictionary doesn't correct me. Fortunately, I sometimes manage to correct the mistake on my own.

The Australian television website disagrees with IMDb about the episode being the 17th episode. They say it's the 16th.

There's no information here about Mark Lalor—what he's all about. But there is something fun. Another guest star on the show was Kat Stewart.  Kat Stewart played Billie on Offspring.  I wonder if this is the first time the two actors met each other.

The episode is on YouTube. I'll skim through to see if I can find the Offspring actors.

Kat Stewart appears at about 4:31.  She's a lawyer.  She's pretty sweet and timid—different from her character on Offspring and Tangle.

Eddie Perfect appears at 10:03. Stewart plays his lawyer.  I have to say he DOES look very young. He could actually pass as a teen. So maybe he was one of the teen drug manufacturers on Stingers.

Wait. Maybe that's not Eddie Perfect. They're calling him Mr. Hart.  Perfect plays Mark Lalor. But it LOOKS like Eddie Perfect.

I'm so confused.

No...they just called him Mark. Maybe they weren't calling him Mr. Hart. Maybe they were just talking about Mr. Hart.

Who is Mr. Hart?

I don't know.

I should probably move on.

The third guest appearance was on MDA. I think that's the show with the guy I was mildly obsessed with a few months ago. And now I can't remember his name.  Jason...something.  Neighbours. Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat.   Why can't I remember his name! This is so annoying.

Well, I had to get IMDb's help for that. It's Jason Donovan. My brain wasn't even close to formulating that.

Oh well.

Anyway...Eddie Perfect appeared in the 18th episode of the 1st season.  He played a guy named Nigel Newland.

The episode is on YouTube. I'll watch some of it.

Where are you Nigel Newland?

So far...I'm not seeing Nigel or Jason Donovan.

Okay. Now I see Donovan.

I'll keep searching for Nigel.

Here we go. I think I found Eddie Perfect at 27:59.  Again, he looks very young. I guess that makes sense since both shows were made in 2002.  I would say Perfect looks to be about 19-20.  Eight years later, he was on Offspring.  I suppose Mick could have been in his late 20's rather than the mid to late 30's I was imagining.  Maybe I'm not good at judging ages.

Or he could be one of those people who still look like teenagers when they're in their mid to late 20's.

Hopefully, sometime today, I'll find out Perfect's age. I'm curious.

Also, in 2002, Perfect was in a miniseries called Bootleg.  He played an unknown TV studio manager, so I'm guessing it was a small part.

Lord Wiki says it was a BBC thing for children. But it was filmed in Melbourne.  So, it was a mixture of British and Australian.

In 2004, Perfect guest-starred on two episodes of Kath and Kim.  In the third season, he played Brett's co-worker.   The Australian television website says that Brett started to volunteer at a computer store. So maybe Perfect's character worked at the store as well.

I found one of the episodes on YouTube.  By the way, if anyone is reading this post years from now, it's unlikely any of these episode links will be still working.  TV episodes are usually taken down after awhile.  But for now, it's here and I'm going to take a look at it.

Perfect appears at 12:06.  He doesn't have any lines; at least not in that scene.

Well...and I skimmed through the rest of the episode. I didn't see him again.

In this part of the filmography, there's nothing until Offspring in 2010.  But earlier, I took a secret peak at Perfect's "As Himself" filmography, and there was some stuff there.

I'm going to take another look.

I'm not going to go into detail.  I'm too lazy. There's a few things between 2005-2010, including four appearances on Spick and Specks.   Since that show's about music, and I know Eddie Perfect can sing; I'm guessing he was working on his music career between 2004 and 2010.  I'll hopefully learn more about that later.

As for Offspring, IMDb says Perfect was on for 58 episodes. He was on a lot in the first four seasons, but in only five episodes of the last one.  This was when Mick was off in London...or something like that.

I'm guessing Mick went off to London because Perfect was working on other things. But I could be wrong.

Recently, Perfect appeared on the TV show It's a Date. I thought it sounded familiar, and that's probably because Sibylla Budd was on it as well. I think I looked into the show when I wrote a post about her.

Actually, now I'm seeing a ton of names I recognize in the credits: Dan Wylie, Eve Lazzaro, Justine Clarke, Kate Richie, Deborah Mailman, Lachy Hulme, Susie Porter, Kat Stewart, Rove McManus, Bridie Carter, Asher keddie....

Lord Wiki says the show has had two seasons— eight episodes each. He probably told me all this when I wrote about Sibylla Budd. But he has to repeat things a lot with me, because I have such memory failure. What's funny is my family makes jokes about me having an amazing memory. That's because the one thing I do remember is fights; or people offending me. I remember that stuff for years. But on balance, I also tend to have a strong memory for people being nice to me. For example, if someone gives me a compliment, in many cases, I'll remember it for a long time.

Besides that...my memory sucks.

Anyway.  I should get back to Eddie Perfect.  Or actually, It's a Date.  Well...Eddie Perfect ON It's a Date.  Lord Wiki says he was on the 6th episode of the 2nd season. Deborah Mailman was on that episode as well.  In the episode, a woman joins Perfect on a search for his dog.

The last thing on Perfect's filmography is South Pacific. The musical. That's going to be released sometime this year.  Perfect plays Luther Billis.

Here's a video of a guy named Gary Maracheck being Luther Billis.  The only problem is I'm not sure which person on the stage is Billis. I thought seeing the video would give me an idea of what Perfect would be doing. But it's not really helping.

Now I'm going to see what Lord Wiki has to say about Eddie Perfect.  Unfortunately he doesn't provide a year of birth. I was hoping to find out Perfect's age.

I was right, though.  Before Offspring, Perfect was working on musical stuff.  In 2008, he wrote a musical about Shane Warne, the cricketeer guy.  It won a 2009 Helpmann award.

Here's a song from the musical.  Perfect didn't just write the musical. He sings in it as well. I guess that should be expected.

I like the song. It's fun. I just checked Spotify. They have the album. I added some of the songs to my massive Aussie music list.  I also have a musical list. I suppose I could add some of the songs to that list as well.

Ah! I think I have some age information here. Lord Wiki says that Perfect attended St. Bede's College in Mentone, Victoria. And he was dux of the school in 1995. I think dux is the same as valedictorian. That happens when you're seventeen or eighteen.  Right?  So I'm going to guess then that Perfect was around the age of eighteen in 1995.  He was probably born in 1977, or around that time. Now he'd be in his thirties  In 2002, when he was looking like he was about nineteen, he would have been twenty-five.

But I might be wrong. He might have been one of those people who graduated high school when they're sixteen.

Where is Mentone Victoria? Is it part of Melbourne?

From what I see on Google Maps, it's about 30 minutes away from the Melbourne CBD.  And it's about 20 minutes from Dandenong. I'm still not sure if it's a Melbourne suburb. What does Lord Wiki say?

He says, yes. It is a suburb.

For his acting education, Perfect went to the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA). It seems to me that most Aussie actors go either there or NIDA.  Is there an acting school in Melbourne?

From Google, I can see there are acting schools. That should be expected. All cities probably have acting schools. But I'm wondering if any are as prestigious as WAAPA or NIDA.

This article has a list of what they see as being the best acting schools. WAAPA is mentioned.  Then there are several schools in Sydney. I guess if an Australian person wants to become an actor, Sydney is probably the best place to go.

Melbourne does have the Victorian College of the Arts. Lord Wiki has a list of their alumni. Anyone I know?  (not personally, of course).

Sybilla Budd and Gillian Armstrong.

That's about it.

Eddie Perfect was featured on an anti-John Howard record called Rock Against Howard. That's John Howard the Prime Minister, not John Howard the actor. I wonder if anyone is against John Howard the actor? Probably. But probably not enough to create an album about it.

Perfect's song for the album is called "John Howard's Bitches". I tried to find it on YouTube but couldn't. But while looking, I found this song of his about the Family First political party. It's called "Gay People Shouldn't Get Married". '

It's a lovely song, but I like it less than "Six at Best".  Maybe if I listened to it multiple times, it would grow on me.

Perfect played Alexander Downer in Keating the Musical. I've heard of that musical before.

I guess the general idea is that before appearing on Offspring, Perfect was doing a lot of political comedy music.

As for personal stuff...Lord Wiki says Perfect is married to a woman named Lucy Cochran. Together, they have two young daughters.

Here's an interview with Perfect.  The first question is whether he prefers acting or music. He says he feels lucky he gets to do both.  But then he says he does prefer writing over performing.

He prefers performing in front of a live audience rather than a camera.

His favorite storyline on Offspring was the one involving Mick's brother Andrew. This is when Billie and Mick asked Andrew to be the biological father of their child. I forgot what happened with that, though.  I know it didn't work out. But why?

They ask if Perfect believes Billie and Mick belong together. Perfect says he doesn't know. I feel the same. I don't really like them together. Yet I also don't like them apart. Does that make any sense? Is it rational? Probably not.  Maybe it's the case for some people, though. Maybe they belong with someone who's not actually very good for them. Or maybe Mick isn't really bad for Billie. I didn't like how he treated her in season 4. Yeah. But no relationship is perfect. We all make mistakes. We're all unfair at times.

The last question is about Perfect's future plans. He's writing stuff and wants to write more stuff. He wants to do another musical. I wonder if it will be political. Or maybe it will be another sports star kind of thing.

Here's another interview.  The writer describes Perfect's hair as blond meringue.  That's kind of funny.  I wonder what dessert my hair would be.  The other day I might have described it as dry overcooked brownies. Stale cookies might work as well.

There's an age given here.  At the time of the article (2013) Perfect was 35.  So that would make his birth year 1978.  That's close to 1977. And it could still be 1977, if his birthday is towards the end of the year.

Perfect says he doesn't like long interviews. Why?  He seems to think his life is boring.  The Doctor says he's never met anyone who's not important. We're all important. And I bet we're also all interesting. That's not to say I haven't met people who bored me. But it could have been they were talking about the wrong things...and to the wrong person.

And I think maybe we have times in our life that are more interesting than others. I was thinking the other day that if people asked me about my life, currently there wouldn't be much to tell.  I feel the main focus of my life is my TV shows. And my blog. I guess I could talk about our travels. I'm not sure there's much story in that, though. But I do have a lot of interesting things from the past.  At least I think they're interesting.  I got some drama.

I guess I still have drama, really. Subtle stuff, though. And my TV shows overshadows it.

But yeah. I bet Eddie Perfect does have an interesting life. If he doesn't? Well, it sucks that I'm wasting my time writing a post about him.

Perfect and his interviewer eat roasted pig's face together.  I've never heard of that before.

It seems they're eating this pig, because Perfect has created a play about the death of a baby animal.  It's called The Beast, and it's about people wanting to eat an ethically butchered animal.  Then they realize they'll have to kill the animal themselves. It's not a musical.

Eddie Perfect is Eddie Perfect's real name.  The interviewer says the family tree is like reading the cast of characters for a jolly sitcom. There's a Percy Perfect, a John Perfect, and a Judy Perfect.  Tom Perfect is Eddie Perfect's father. He came to Australia from England. So that would mean Eddie Perfect is second generation Australian. Right?

Like me, Perfect is a middle child. He has an older sister and a younger one.

Perfect could play the piano by ear at the age of five. Impressive!  His music teacher didn't think so, though. She wanted him to read the music. When she realized he was playing by ear, she stopped playing for him. Then Perfect lost interest.  Come on! How is that not interesting?

Fortunately, Perfect went back to music in his teens. It was a guitar that first enticed him, but he also returned to the piano.

When Perfect was twelve, his parents homeschooled him. Well, actually they travel-schooled him. They traveled around Australia in a van.  That's pretty awesome.

On the road trip, the family sang musical stuff together.  In my childhood road trips we listened to John Denver, Air Supply, Kenny Rogers, Peter, Paul and Mary....and some other stuff.

If anyone reading this remembers the music they listened to on their childhood road trips, please share...If you want. I'd love to know.

There's some education stuff here that Lord Wiki didn't mention.  Perfect planned to be a visual artist.  He went to RMIT, and it seems the professors weren't impressed with his work.  Then he went to the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music with plans to be an opera singer.  That's interesting. I wouldn't have expected that.

Now this part sounds like Dance Academy. Although it would be more like Singing Academy.  After the second year, students were accessed to see if they'd get into the performing stream thing.  If they didn't get into that, they were put into music therapy, composition, or music education. Perfect wanted the performing thing, and he thought he got into it.

He didn't.

That's sad.

But it makes me happy.

I like hearing about people failing and then later succeeding.

I was about to say it gives me hope. But I think I'm past that stage now. I am very doubtful that I'm ever going to be successful. Still...that's okay. I'm having a nice life anyway.

After Perfect's failure at the music school, he had a success with getting into WAAPA.  See, that's the thing for the lucky people. They have a failure followed by a success. I just have failure after failure after failure.

Now there's more talk about The Beast play. It was inspired by a dinner party that Perfect and his wife attended.  There was a desire to witness a respectful butchering of an animal; and things didn't go exactly as planned.  Perfect says the play is about....the distinction between the things people do that are good and the things people do in the cause of making themselves look good. It’s about people who wear their particular causes as a badge of honour. 

Unfortunately, I think the play is describing people like me. I mean not that the play is unfortunate. I mean it's unfortunate that I'm the way I am.  I start off actually caring...about the cause. But then it evolves into carrying about what people think.  For example, grocery bags. I started using reusable ones because I know plastic bags are bad for the environment.  Lately we keep forgetting to bring our reusable bags. I feel bad about that, but it's more that I hate that I've failed to be a good person and not that I'm actually worried about plastic bags polluting our oceans.

I'm not total shit, though. The other day I cut up those plastic things that keep soda cans together. Actually, no. Now that I think of it... I did it out of habit, because I know it's the correct thing to do. I didn't do it because I was imagining poor animals trapped.  But on a previous occasion, I cut the plastic because I worried about the animals.

Yeah. I start off with causes, then they become, as Perfect says, badges of honor. Or they're simply habits.

Then again...if you're doing something that's better for the planet and/or things living on the planet; it's probably a good thing no matter what your reasons.

I love what Perfect says here.  He's asked if the play has given him a stronger stand on his feelings toward animal welfare.  He says that he's not sure.  I don’t think I could have written this play if I was clear about it. 

Yeah. It's confusing. Really confusing. Is Sea World evil or not evil? Zoos? Circuses? I know some treat elephants horribly. But are they all bad?  Is it bad that I'd love a pet Tasmanian Devil? I mean I'd never actually have one. But is it bad that I even desire one?  Is it bad that I'm vegetarian, but still love the smell of bacon?  What does it mean that I'm not disgusted or bothered by the graphic descriptions, in this article, about the dead pig they're eating?

Here it says that Perfect plans to write a musical about colonial life in Australia. That was in 2013. I wonder if he's finished that.

Perfect says although Shane Warne The Musical was a critical success, it was a financial failure. A lot of people lost money over it.

Now I'm thinking...if I had a choice between doing something that's financially successful or critically successful, what would I pick?

I don't know.

Well....I think I'd actually probably want the financial success, as long as I didn't totally hate the project and it wasn't something that made me feel ashamed.

Now I think I'll watch some Eddie Perfect music stuff on YouTube.

Here's a song called "Juice Bar Girl". It's a love song about him wanting to chop up and juice the girl who works at the juice bar.  I wonder if the folks at Terminus ever considered that.  They probably didn't have a juicer. But if they did?

The song has fun lyrics.

Here's a song called "Don't Kill Yourself".  It's an upbeat anti-suicide song.

I love the lyrics.  Perfect asks, Don't you want to find out what happens to the little dwarf guy on Game of Thrones?

Well, I don't watch that show. But I definitely want to know whose going to be chosen to play the 13th doctor. And where is Ryan Murphy going to set the fifth season of American Horror Story? Will Rick, Glen, Daryl, or Carl ever be killed on The Walking Dead?

I like comedy that deals with serious subjects. What's nice about this song is it's not really making fun of suicide. I think the point is actually to encourage people not to kill themselves, but it's done in a light-hearted way.  It's not just trying to be shocking and offensive. They actually show the suicide hotline on the screen.

I don't usually mind the other type of dark comedy, though—the kind that mocks sacred cows. Sometimes I think it's more about whether something is funny or not and less about whether it's offensive or not.

The other day my dad sent all of us a joke about drunk driving. I thought it was a bit odd, because drunk driving caused a huge personal trauma/drama in our family.  That was over two decades ago, though, and maybe my dad felt we'd be able to laugh at it by now. I didn't laugh.  But I'm not sure if I was offended, or if I just didn't find the joke funny.

What makes us hear a joke and say, That's really not funny?  Is it because the joke simply wasn't funny, and all we can feel is offense? Is it not funny because it's about something that's affected us personally? Or are there certain subjects that should never be included in humor?

I scolded Tim recently about making a joke about something serious. Then later I was a total hypocrite and made some slightly humor-filled remarks about the same subject.  I said maybe it was about timing. Sometimes you just need to wait a little. For me, he said it a bit too soon. And I was in a tense mood about it at the time.  SO...I was a bit of a bitch.

Here's Eddie Perfect's Twitter account. His last Tweet was 24 minutes ago. That's very recent.   He says something to @Lin_Manuel about Big Bird getting his deposit back.

Who is Lin_Manuel?

Well, he or she has 53 thousand followers; so I guess he or she is famous.

I Googled. It's a man. He's an American rapper, lyricist, and actor. He wrote a Broadway play called The Heights.  So he's in the same career path as Eddie Perfect. I wonder if they're friends or if Perfect is a fan. Or...a Twitter follower.  I guess he could be all three. You can be friends with someone and also be their fan and follower.

I can't find the Tweet that Perfect was responding to.

I'm not going to dwell on it too long.

Here's a funny exchange. It happened on December 23. Someone named Kate Leaver asks, how was the rest of your nap?  Perfect Tweets back, That's cryptic. I'm not much of a napper, so I'm not sure what you mean.... Then Kate says she had the wrong Eddie.

I'm easily amused by mistakes like that.  I mean I'm not hysterically laughing right now. But it did lighten my soul a bit. I do laugh hysterically at stuff like auto-correct mistakes.

I like to judge people's Twitter accounts, and I'm going to do that now. I give Eddie Perfect an A+. He's interactive, and he doesn't just stick to talking with fellow celebrities.  I see hardly any self-promotion. He talks about a wide variety of subjects. He seems well-rounded and not self-absorbed.

He actually seems quite wonderful. But as I said in the recent past, I'm going to be careful not to idolize anyone. Someone can be horribly evil, and still manage to look wonderful on Twitter. And some of those people on Twitter that seem so incredibly self-absorbed...in real life, they might be super nice.

All I know is Eddie Perfect has a great Twitter personality. Hopefully his real life persona matches that. But we can never know for sure.

Now I'm looking at Eddie Perfect's Instagram account.  His most recent post is of a little girl wearing a Frozen shirt. I'm guessing it's one of Perfect's daughters.  Perfect says Merry Christmas and happy birthday to Frozen.

I guess Frozen came out last Christmas?

Well, according to IMDb, here it came out in late November.  In Australia, it came out December 26. Is that December 26 Australia-time or December 26 USA time?

Either way. It doesn't matter too much. Perfect probably celebrates birthdays the way my family does. It's not a day thing. It's a week thing. Sometimes longer.  And I know other people celebrate it that way as well.

Here's a photo of Perfect and his daughters at the Paddington movie. I didn't know it already came out.  Maybe it's the opposite of Frozen.  Maybe it's out in Australia, but not here yet.

Yep. According to IMDb, it's already out in a lot of countries. It's not coming here until January 16.

I hope it's good. I want to see it. We saw a trailer for it. It was a good trailer. It wasn't the type that gives away the whole movie. It just showed one scene. Jack was laughing hysterically.  I think more movies should do that—just show one good scene from the movie that makes us want to watch more.

There are two photos here that illustrate one of Perfect's own personal causes.  It's saving old theaters from destruction.  One photo is of a Green politician holding a piece of a building. I don't fully understand the caption. Greens MP Sue Pennicuik with some of the Palace Theatre's original hand-worked Edwardian plaster interior. This was ripped out ILLEGALLY and in SECRET by Jinshan Investments ahead of an inspection that would determine The Palace's undoubted heritage status. Salvaged from a dumpster, by opportunistic criminals trying to destroy a theatre so there's nothing to preserve;

So are the bad guys the ones who ripped out the plaster? Or are they the ones who salvaged it from the dumpster?  I would think salvaging something from a dumpster is a good thing.  I wonder how the piece went from the criminals to the Green politician?

Maybe bad people threw the Edwardian plaster in the dumpster; then people found the plaster and were going to exploit it for their own use. Then some other people came along and saved the plaster.

The other photo is of Perfect and another guy holding up a poster about saving the theaters.

I'm guessing this is cause that Perfect truly cares about and not just one he has to make himself look good.

Here's another photo of a Perfect daughter wearing Frozen-themed clothing. There's also a beautiful garden in the photo. A Perfect garden!

Actually, it might not be a Perfect garden. They might have taken the photo at a friend's house. Or they might have trespassed on a random person's property.

Here's a photo of Perfect and a dinosaur. It was taken in a place called Cabazon. I had to Google that. It's in California.  So, a couple of months ago, Perfect was in America.

Here's a Halloween photo.  Perfect says, I know there's a "bah humbug" about Halloween, but it's become a thing on our street. This is Kitty and Lottie with their neighbours Claire and Alita.

It reminds me of Jews avoiding Christmas like the plague. Well...guess what. We plan to celebrate Christmas next year. We've already bought a tree, lights, and stockings.

I think if you want to celebrate something you should celebrate it and not worry about the origins and/or whether it "belongs" to another culture.

The only thing tricky about Halloween is the trick or treating. If not all Australians are onboard, it might be awkward and a bit imposing to ring people's doorbells and demand candy. But I'm guessing there are certain neighborhoods where it is becoming common practice.  Plus, if people don't want to participate, they can do what we do here. You just keep your lights off. You make your house look unwelcoming.  Here I think it's usually less about being anti-Halloween and more about you're out doing your own trick or treating. Or you're at a party.

Really, though. I think the Australian attitude towards America is very much like the Jewish attitude towards Christmas. I think I've rambled on and on about this in the past. I'll skip repeating myself...at least for now. This post is long enough.

Here's a photo of something melting. Maybe ice-cream. Perfect says, This image says more about my life than a million words.  Then someone in comments says, Are you having a meltdown??? You can call me if you need to talk!  That's very sweet.  Sweet like the ice-cream.  Really, though. It's nice that this follower (friend?) was thoughtful enough to consider that Perfect was using a light-hearted Instagram post  to reveal something serious. That might not be the case...but who knows. I like that this person offered himself as a listener.

He could be a stalker. That would be less nice. Then again, I might still appreciate his attempt to show a caring attitude.

I just went from adoring Eddie Perfect to being very envious of Eddie Perfect. He has rainbow lorikeets at his bird feeder!  That would be a dream come true for me.  But still. I do appreciate what we have. We have beautiful birds at our bird feeder...when the squirrels aren't hogging the thing.  I love all the birds, but yesterday I was slightly crushing on the bright red cardinal.  Today, we had a bunch of big black birds. They weren't actually on the feeder. They'd probably break it. But they were on the tree that holds the feeder.

I love our bird feeder. Buying it was one of the best decisions I've made in life. Although if the bird flu spreads to wild birds in America, and we catch it by handling the feeder...I'll likely take back that sentiment.

Six months ago, Perfect and his family were in Italy.  Here's a photo from that.  I'm guessing the adult female in the photo is Perfect's wife.

I wonder if they were in Italy for business, or just for the fun of it.

They also went to London.

Eddie Perfect has a ton of fantastic photos and interesting captions. But I think I'm going to end this post, and get back to doing my other stuff.  It's close to dinner time here.


Read my novel: The Dead are Online 


Science Fiction and Fantasy in Australia

After writing yesterday's post, I consulted Lord Wiki about Australian science fiction shows.

He mentioned the part-American-part-Australian Farscape. I added that to my to-watch list.

Then he said that most science fiction and/or fantasy shows in Australia are made for teens and children. This reminded me of an email I received from someone in Australia. He read my novel The Dead Are Online, and was confused about the targeted age group. The book has some sex scenes, which would make it for adults. But then it has supernatural elements. Believing in the supernatural is childish. So who is this book for?

When I read that email I was pretty offended and annoyed. Plus, I thought he was very wrong. A lot of adults enjoy science fiction and fantasy. It's definitely not a kids-only thing.

But for a few moments after reading what Lord Wiki said about Australian science fiction shows, I thought maybe the general Australian mindset matches the one of the guy who read my novel. Maybe it's fine for kids to watch things like H20: Just Add Water, Ocean Girl, and Mirror Mirror.  But it's not seen as something that should appeal to adults. Or if there are some childish adults out there who want to watch fantasy, they have to use the excuse that they think it's important to watch television with one's child. 

That's all wrong, though.

Because I quickly remembered that though there's not a lot of science fiction/fantasy television coming out of Australia, there are a lot of novels. As far as I can see, Australia is not lacking when it comes to science fiction and fantasy writers.  There's Damien Broderick, Isobelle Carmody, Garth Nix, K.E Mills, Jay Caselburg, and several others. 

I'm not sure if the writers I just listed fully prove my point, because I think a couple of them write science fiction and/or fantasy geared towards teens.  That being said—because of Harry Potter, these days, there's much less stigma for adults who choose to read young adult and children's books.  And I do think that there are Aussie authors writing science fiction and fantasy books that can be found in the general-adult section rather than the juvenile section of the bookstore/library.

As for television, even though Australia isn't making a lot of science fiction/fantasy that's not geared towards kids, it doesn't mean Australians aren't watching the stuff. I imagine a lot of them watch imports from the US and UK.

So maybe the only people lacking an interest in science fiction/fantasy are the creators of Australian television.  

The Sydney Morning Herald has an article about Australian television viewing in 2013. They report that the anniversary special of Doctor Who did quite well; and, actually, a Doctor Who promotional picture is the main photo for the article.

The article also says, though, that not many Australians watched the five best dramas of the year, which includes The Walking Dead and Games of Thrones.  

I'm not sure how it was decided these were the best shows of the year. The writer's opinion? Maybe it's based on awards? A poll? 

Anyway....the two theories the writer of the article provides is that A) Australians are going through a very nationalistic phase and are trying to stick to watching Aussie-produced programing and B) those so-called best dramas are shows you get with paid-TV, and a lot of Australians aren't wanting to pay extra.  

What if there are nationalistic Australians who also happen to be huge science fiction fans?  Huh? What about that? I think someone in Australia should make a Doctor Who spin off that takes place in Australia. That would be very cool. 

I have some questions for anyone reading this who's willing to comment and answer.

1. Do you like science fiction and/or fantasy?

2. Are you and adult or not-an-adult yet?  If you are not an adult yet and like science fiction and/or fantasy, do you imagine you'll continue liking it into adulthood? Or is it something you imagine you'll give up?

3. If you don't like science fiction and/or fantasy, do you see it as an interest that's childish or just something you're not personally interested in?  

4. If you're an Australian fan of science fiction and/or fantasy, do you wish there were more Australian science fiction and/or fantasy programs on television? Or are you fine watching the imports from the US, Australia, and other places?  

5. What are your favorite TV shows? Do you like anything science fiction and/or fantasy? Do most of your favorite shows come from your own country or elsewhere?


Read my novel: The Dead are online