Costas Mandylor, Invitations, Teresa Palmer, and Opening Titles

1. Had a sudden feeling/idea that I dreamed about Costas Mandylor last night.

I don't remember much, but I think maybe I watched an interview about him, and I was thinking about Saw.

This happens to me sometimes. I remember my dreams and write them down.Then later I'll remember something else.

Although usually I remember the dream in the morning or in the middle of the night, and I simply forget to write it down.

With the Costas Mandylor dream, I didn't remember anything about it until just now.

2. Thought about how yesterday I looked at an article about horror movies in the 2000's. Saw was mentioned, so that's probably why I dreamed about Mandylor.

3. Looked at Mandylor on IMDb, and saw that he has a LOT of projects in 2016 and one in 2017.

He looks very busy.

4. Saw that Mandylor is going to be in a movie with Jim Hanks, Tom Hanks brother. They look very much alike.

We've been watching Tom Hank's son, Colin, in Fargo. He too has a strong resemblance to his father.

5. Started to watch an episode of Home and Away.

John (Shane Withington) and Marilyn (Emily Symons) are telling Jett (Will McDonald) that they plan to move with him to military school.

Well, they're not going to go to school with him, but they'll live nearby.

I'm wondering how Jett's going to feel about that. Grateful?  Suffocated?

He was sad about leaving them, but maybe that was an act.

Sometimes it's nice to have family nearby, and sometimes it's not.

Although on the days I feel annoyed and suffocated, I do sometimes wonder if being geographically distant would make any different. There'd still be email and texts. There would still be pressure to attend family gatherings, except then it would involve a long drive or an airplane ride.

6. Wondered.

If we did move to Australia back when I wanted to move, how often would we be pressured to return?

In my plans, we'd come back once a year for Thanksgiving and the other winter holidays; and then we'd also come back for big things like Bat Mitzvahs.  But I have a feeling there'd be pressure for us to attend regular birthday parties, extracurricular performances, charity walks, and other small events.
Now to be fair, by pressure, I just mean an invitation. For me, an invitation IS pressure because I don't know how people are secretly feeling or reacting to my no. I don't know if the message behind the invitation is, We'd like you to come, but no hard feelings if you don't. OR is it, You should come. If you opt out, you better have a damn good excuse.  And whether you have an excuse or not, we're going to hold a secret grudge and bitch about you behind your back.

7. Liked that Hannah's (Cassie Howarth) bikini top and bottom don't match.  

I really love outfits like that.

8. Saw that Matt (Alec Snow) is hurt that he wasn't personally invited to Leah (Ada Nicodemou) and Zac's (Charlie Clausen) engagement party.

Here's the problem.

I can relate to those feelings as well.

It's a lose-lose situation.

Being invited to things gives me anxiety but NOT being invited hurts my feelings.

That being said, it's rare that I'm not invited to things.

No, I'm not trying to say I'm super popular. Everyone invites me to EVERYTHING.

I'm just saying that within my family, it is very rare that I hear of a family thing I'd like to attend, but I haven't received an invitation. In fact, I can't remember a time that it's happened.

The only thing I can VAGUELY remember is an incident with Tim and his friend Tabitha. It was something like they made plans in front of me to do something. I think it involved hanging out in the pool.  I think they talked about it with Jack but didn't ask me to come along. Or something like that. As I said, the memories are vague.  I was also hypersensitive at that time in my life, particularly when it came to Tim and Tabitha, so that's probably why I felt hurt when not specifically included.

In situations like that, it's hard to know if it's simply assumed by the others you're going to be included, or if you've been neglected.

On Home and Away, Matt feels neglected, but in reality, it was just assumed he'd be included.

9. Thought of things I've seen where it definitely seems like neglect.

I'll give a fictional example.

Let's say Shelly, Amber, and Wanda are together.  They're all sitting at the pool, dangling their feet in the water. Then Wanda says, Hey Shelly. Let's go inside and play Mario Bros. 

It seems extremely likely that Wanda is either purposely or accidentally neglecting Amber. Either way, it's awful.

10. Thought about how, although I'm not often left out of family events, I am sometimes left out of family news. That's actually kind of happening now.

I'm not really hurt. But I'm left wondering, are they not telling me because they're secretly mad? Or at they not telling me simply because they assume I'll hear it from someone else....which I did.

OR they could just be busy with the news and not keeping track of who they've told and not told.

11. Saw that a new character is being introduced today—Charlotte (Erika Heynatz).

It's funny, because, very recently, I saw Charlotte mentioned. She's involved in the big spoiler I saw about Denny (Jessica Grace Smith).

12. Thought that Erika Heynatz looks a bit like Natasha Henstridge.

13. Finished watching the episode.

14. Started watching the rest of Kill Me Three Times.

15. Started to dislike this movie less than I expected to.

I don't like it, really. But I also don't feel it's complete crap.

I find it mildly entertaining and interesting.

16. Started to like the movie a little bit.

It's kind of clever.  It's pretty much about people having evil/criminal schemes, and they're interfering with other people's evil/criminal schemes.

17. Saw Teresa Palmer and Simon Pegg in a scene together; then I realized that I've seen both of them in zombie films.

Actually, besides this movie, the only full movies I've watched of them are zombie films.

I saw Pegg in Sean of the Dead, and Palmer in Warm Bodies.

18. Looked at Palmer's filmography and saw that, like Costas Mandylor, her career has been very active lately.

I look at the IMDb app on my phone everyday.  They have the top 100 most popular stars (according to IMDB user interest).  Palmer is one of three Australian women that's on the list. The other two are Alycia Debnam Carey and Margot Robbie.

There might be another one or two that I've forgotten. Well...and also the list changes everyday. Or the list has the POTENTIAL to change everyday. I've been looking at it for the past few weeks, and usually the same people are on the list.

19. Saw that Palmer does not have a Home and Away, Neighbours, or Jonathan-Shiff-teen-show background.

I think that's kind of rare.

20.  Saw that Palmer is one of the stars of Mel Gibson's upcoming World War II movie.  It's called Hacksaw Ridge, and has many Aussie actors—Hugo Weaving, Rachel Griffiths, Richard Roxburgh, Ryan Corr, Firass Dirani, Ben Mingay, and probably others.

21. Saw that I missed Luke Bracey.  He's the one I mentioned the other day—the one from Point Break.

By the way, Teresa Palmer is in Point Break as well.

22. Thought back to when I was a teenager and loved slasher films.

I think a part of that me is still alive, because I'm kind of enjoying all the blood in this movie.

There's lots of it.

The thing is, though, I didn't think I liked the blood and violence of slasher films. I liked the characters and storylines. But maybe that's like the people who say they read Playboy for the articles.

Well, I think YOU can like the storylines and characters of horror films and the articles in Playboy.

23. Didn't think I'm a huge fan of violence.

Well, and it's not like I'm totally loving all the blood in this film. I'm not watching it in some kind of state of ecstasy.

One thing is, it's not very gruesome. There are no organs falling out of people. It's mostly blood gushing everywhere. Lots of blood! It's more Halloween party than than gritty, depressing realism.

24. Finished watching the movie.

I liked it in the end.

It was kind of fun.

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

It's Felony, starring that guy from The Secret Life of Us.

I forgot his name.

26. Used IMDb to get his name.

Joel Edgerton!

The movie is listed as being American-Australian.

I'm not sure what's American about it.

The director is Matthew Saville. He's Australian, or at least he's done a ton of work in Australia. He's the director of Please Like Me and the miniseries Cloudstreet. He's also directed episodes of The Slap, The Secret Life of Us, Tangle, and other stuff.

Joel Edgerton wrote the screenplay.

27. Googled one of the production companies involved in the film—Benaroya.  It's listed as being in Los Angeles. So that might be why it's considered part American.

The company is owned by Michael Beneroya, who is producing an upcoming adaptation to Stephen King's Cell.

28. Saw that another one of the production companies involved with the film is Goalpost Pictures.  They're involved with the upcoming Aussie science fiction show Cleverman. I saw an article about that yesterday.  It looks pretty exciting.

 29. Started to look at the cast.

The Australian actors that are familar to me: Jai Courtney, John Brumpton, Tracy Mann, Melissa George,  and Vanessa Downing.

I actually don't really know who John Brumpton is. I've seen him at least once in IMDb credits, but when I'm watching the show/movie, I don't know which person is him.

I'm pretty sure he was in the cast list of Killing Time.

30. Saw Brumpton was in many episodes of Killing Time.

I have no idea who he was.

31. Saw that Brumpton was in the first season of Tangle.

I don't remember him in that.

32. Saw that the music for Felony was done by Bryony Marks, the woman who did the music for Tangle.

As I've mentioned before, we recently watched 11:22:63.  The opening credits for that reminded me somewhat of the opening credits for Tangle—both the music and graphics.

33. Saw that someone has uploaded the opening credits of Tangle to YouTube.  

And here's the 11:22:63 one.

I love both of them.

34. Looked at Tangle on IMDb to see if they list the creators of the opening titles.

They do.

It's two people—Andy Canny and Donna McCrum.

Canny is usually an editor. McCrum has done other title designs—The Slap, and the movie Paper Planes.

35. Saw that Canny was an editor for The Slap.

36. Saw that I'm stupid.

I didn't look closely enough.

I looked only at Canny's first IMDb category, which is editing.

I just scrolled down and saw that he HAS done other title-designing stuff.  Like McCrum, he also did the opening titles for The Slap and Paper Planes.

37. Saw that Canny and McCrum wrote and directed a documentary together called Sistagirl.

It's about a transgender community in the Tiwi Islands.

38. Started to read an article about the Sistagirls.

The documentary is about a photographer visiting the Sistagirls.

So documentary filmmakers followed a photographer who followed some transgender people.

Was anyone around documenting/following the filmmakers?

39.  Learned that there are around fifty transgender people living in the Tiwi islands. Or there are fifty women who were originally men.  I'm not sure if there are men who were originally female. Well, I'm sure there are, but I don't think they're part of the Sistagirls.

40. Tried to remember how I got from Felony to McCrum and Canny.

I guess I'll see when I proofread later.

41. Googled Andy Canny and Donna McCrum, and came across a company called Plus Films.

42. Remembered how I got onto the subject of McCrum and Canny.

My mind really jumps around a lot, sometimes.

43. Saw that Plus Films has projects that I didn't see on McCrum's or Canny's filmographies, so I'm guessing they have other people working for them.

But yeah.

There's Offspring, Puberty Blues, Wonderland, and other things.

44. Saw you can watch their work on the site.

I watched some of Offspring's credits.  Like Tangle, it's very creative.

It gave me some Proudman family love-tingles.

45. Watched their Puberty Blues sample.

It's very plane. There's just a wave.  I'm guessing there's more to it?  I don't remember it being so...nothing.

Maybe Plus Films only did the background graphic, so that's all they're displaying.

46. Watched some of the Puberty Blues credits on YouTube.

The only thing missing from the Plus Films sample is the credits/names.

I think it makes a difference.

47.  Started to watch the Wonderland credits.

That might be my all time favorite when it comes to Aussie credits, because I LOVE the song.

48. Watched the opening titles for a film called The Turning.  It has some interesting sand effects.

49. Watched the opening titles for The Slap.

It's impressive.

50. Had a homeschooling idea.

One of the classes we struggle with is art. Jack's not a big art history or art museum person. Neither am I.  I do think it's important that people know at least a little bit about the classics. But I want to push the idea that visual art doesn't have to be all about old paintings and sculptures.  It can be architecture, fashion, graphic design, interior design, animation, book illustrations, etc.

Now I'm thinking movie and TV titles are great examples of art as well.  Maybe we can watch and learn a little bit about that.

Read my novel: The Dead are Online 

Kakadu, Killing Time, Scooter, and Seasons

1. Had a dream about Lost in Kakadu, the Australian romance novel I've been reading lately.

In the book, Mackenzie and Abi are lost in the bush after being in a plane crash. For the first several chapters, they stay near the plane and learn to live off the land and the few supplies they have. Then the two venture off, trying to find civilization.  

In my dream, the book has been made into a movie, and I'm watching it with Tim and someone else.  

Mackenzie and Abi are on some kind of plateau.They've been carrying around the head of Mackenzie's dead lover. Mackenzie decides he needs to give his boyfriend a proper good-bye, and plans to leave Abi behind for awhile. Abi's not happy about this, and I don't blame her. It would be one thing if Mackenzie was leaving her for a life and death emergency, but this isn't one.  

Then there's a scene with Mackenzie showing up at someone's house. He's dressed like an over-the-top adventurer traveler. The people at the house seems to be his parents, and he seems to be trying to reconcile with them.  

I begin to realize that this scene is supposed to take place long after he left Kakadu. Abi has been rescued too, but she's still mad at Mackenzie.  

At some point while watching the movie, Tim, and the other person, watching with us, wonder about the size of Kakadu. I tell them it's eight thousand miles. They're surprised by this and say it makes Kakadu seem quite scary.  

I feel dishonest leading them to believe I've known this fact for a long time. I confess that I learned it very recently.  

At some other point, while watching the movie, I am hoping that the book has a different and better ending then the movie.  

2.Thought that the dream was one of the most elaborate dreams about a book I've had.

I think I dream more about TV Shows and movies than books.

3. Looked at my dream from a month ago (as I do most mornings). I saw that I had dreamed about Kakadu.

I was wondering if the dream was inspired by reading the book. But then I remembered that no, it's not the case. I randomly dreamed about Kakadu. Then that inspired me to look for a book about Kakadu on iBooks. That's how I found Lost in Kakadu.

It's interesting to me that, exactly a month later, I had a dream about the book. 

Maybe Kakadu is calling to me.  

4. Started watching an episode of Home and Away.

5. Saw an article ranking the worst TV shows of 2016.  

Unfortunately, Heartbeat, starring Melissa George and Don Hany is #5 on the list.

Ouch. 

The show's score on IMDb isn't so bad, though. They have a 6.8.

6. Saw, on Home and Away, that Ricky (Bonnie Sveen) is not at all happy about Brax's (Stephen Peacocke) escape-from-prison plan.   

I don't blame her.  

I think Brax is being selfish and stupid.

I still don't know what he expects from Ricky. Is she expected to become a fugitive with him? Or is she to stay at home, and once in awhile, he'll sneak in a visit?

7. Thought that although being in prison isn't fun for Brax; for Ricky, visiting him there is probably easier than living the life of a fugitive.

8. Saw that Ricky is okay with the idea of being a fugitive.

I wish I could see that as romantic, but really, I just see it as being very stressful.  

Maybe it would be fun without an infant. I don't know....

9. Listened to my Australian music Spotify list while putting laundry away.

I enjoyed that.

Highlights for me were "How Deep is Your Love" by the Bee Gees, A cover of "Reckless" by Tom E. Lewis, and Missy Higgin's "Scar".

The Bee Gees song reminds me of my childhood, but I can't manage to get specifics. I associate it with my dad, for some reason. And I kind of picture it playing while we're all at the pool.

It took me some moments to place "Reckless". The song sounded familiar to me, but I didn't know what it was. Then I figured it out. I associate that song with Puberty Blues. I think they played it on a promo for the show.

10. Looked at the entire cast of Killing Time. I'm going to start watching that soon. I thought of listing the actors familiar to me, but I'm lazy, and it's overwhelming. There are a lot of guest stars.

Instead I'll just do the first episode. Or I mean, I'll do the episodes as I watch them rather than all at once.

So....

There's David Wenham.  He's the star.

I saw Colin Friels name, and knew I've seen him in something before. But I couldn't remember what it was. I had to click on his name, and then I saw he's from Water Rats.

There's Diana Glen who I know from Satisfaction and The Secret Life of Us.

There's something else as well, but I can't remember.

11. Clicked on her name and saw it was The Slap.

I can't remember who she played.

Maybe it was the wife of the slapper?

Yeah...I think it was.

12. Saw Bethany Whitmore.

I vaguely remembered her and was reminded by IMDb, she's from Mental. She also did the voice of young Mary in Mary and Max. 

13. Saw Kate Jenkinson's name.

Like Dan Wylie, she shows up in almost everything.

14. Saw Martin Sharpe's name and remembered that he's Scooter from Scooter: Secret Agent.

It's going to be awesome seeing him not being Scooter. I mean not that there's something wrong with Scooter. It's just that it was such a silly, dorky role.  If he's different in Killing Time, it might be interesting to see.

15. Thought of Reef Ireland, who is also in the cast of Killing Time. I know he was in Puberty Blues.  I think maybe he was also the guy from Wentworth,  

16. Saw that Ireland was also in Tangle.

I don't really remember him in that. 

17. Saw Steve Mouzakis. I know him from The Secret Life of Us.

And...just remembered that he was in The Slap. 

18. Wondered if Killing Time is based on a true story, so I Googled Wenham's character, Andrew Fraser.

There really is an Andrew Fraser.

He's a lawyer who went to jail for some kind of cocaine offense.

I'll learn more when I watch the show.  

19. Started watching Killing Time. 

20. Thought, that if it weren't for mean, violent fellow prisoners, prison wouldn't be so bad. At least that's the impression I get from TV and movies.

21. Thought that this movie is good at making people look ugly.

Diane Glen and David Wenham look awful. They remind me of me when I try to take a selfie with my iPhone.

22. Wondered if the unattractiveness is done with lighting or a lack of make-up.

Maybe it's a mix of both?

23. Wondered how much my appearance would improve with good lighting and professional make-up.

Well, I don't think it would make much of a difference on my iPhone. I almost always look awful when I take photos on that. But sometimes I look pretty okay with other types of camera photos.

I'm not sure what the iPhone issue is. I know it's not universal, because I've seen plenty of iPhone selfies where other people look quite good. 

24. Saw that the movie has flashbacked to when Andrew Fraser (Wenham) was a lawyer rather than a prisoner.

He looks handsomer and happier.

25. Figured the beginning prison part was just an intro, and most of the series will be about how he ended up in prison.

26. Remembered that season two of Rake ended up with Cleaver Greene (Richard Roxburgh) in prison. 

I miss that show.

27. Thought Sally (Louise Crawford) looked familar. I clicked on her IMDb filmography and saw she was on City Homicide.

I'm confused, because I thought the actress on City Homicide was also the one on The Secret Life of Us, but I don't see The Secret Life of Us on Crawford's filmography.

I guess I'm confusing her with someone else.

28. Found the actress I'm thinking of. It's Nadine Garner.

Both Garner and Crawford are blond, but I remember only one blond woman on the show.

I'm confused.

29. Saw Scooter the secret agent not being Scooter the secret agent.

That's Kate Jenkinson next to him.

They both have pretty small roles in the episode...well, at least so far.   

But I have only eight minutes left.

30. Finished watching the first episode of The Killing Time. 

31. Saw that the director of Killing Time, Peter Andrikidis, also directed Bikie Wars: Brothers in Arms.

Andrikidis seems to do a lot of crime stuff. He's directed episodes of The Straits, Underbelly, Water Rats, Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries, etc.

He's also directed episodes of Farscape.  

32. Decided to honor my Kakadu dreams by looking at Kakadu photos on Flickr.  

33. Looked at an arial view of Kakadu.

It looks pretty vast. 

34. Found it hard to link to the photo, because the address was so long. I think it's because I was looking via search.

So...instead I'm going to look at the album in which the photo came.  

The album belongs to someone named Catherine Marshall, and it's of Kakadu during the wet season. 

35. Read a website  about the wet season in Kakadu. 

They say the rain time and amount can be unpredictable, but if I'm understanding things right, the main rain time is January to March.  Though they confuse me, because they say the temperature drops at that time. I thought January would be one of the hottest months.

36. Went to the Parks Australia website. They have information about the six seasons of Kakadu.  

37. Saw that December through March is the monsoon season. And it is hot.  

April has the big wind storms.

May through mid-June is cooler, but humid.  

In the middle of June, it gets even colder. That lasts through mid-August.  

Then it gets dry and hot until October.  

Then there's a pre-monsoon season.  

38. Saw that I can get Kakadu on my weather ap.

It says it's 84 degrees, and it's only 8:00 in the morning.  It's supposed to get up to 100 today.  Yikes!

It's going to be in the upper nineties, and above, for the next several days.  

Despite it being the season for the big windy storms, there are no signs of storms, and at least for today, the wind seems pretty calm.  It goes well with the first website I looked at: the weather is unpredictable. 

39. Started to look at Catherine Marshall's photos.   

40. Liked the colors in this photo—the sky, clouds, trees, and dirt. 

41. Liked the shades of green in this photo. 

42. Could imagine Abi and Mackenzie from Lost in Kakadu hanging out in this photo.  

43. Thought the wild boar in this photo was interesting looking.  

44. Hoped that I never get lost in Kakadu.

45. Wondered if it would be worse to get lost in Kakadu or the Tasmanian wilderness.

Then I decided that's a stupid question.

I imagine both are awful.

Read my online novel: The Dead are Online

Doctor Blake Guest Stars, Denial, Casey Braxton, and Gene Alberts

1. Saw, from Statcounter, that more people than usual are going to my Geoff Paine post.

I Googled to see what was up with that—hoping something bad hadn't happened to him.

Fortunately, it seems all is okay.

I think there's interest in Paine because he recently guest-starred on The Doctor Blake Mysteries.

2. Saw that Paine played Noel Foster. There's also a Valerie Foster on the episode, and she's played by Diana Glen.

Another name I recognize in the credits is Robert van Mackelenberg. I've been watching Mackelenberg lately in Wicked Science.  He plays the science teacher. In the episode yesterday, he was fired...by a clone of the school principal.

3.  Saw that Anna McGahan guest-starred in this episode, and her character has also appeared in another episode.

I wonder if she'll be in more.

Oh! And Rodger Corser is in the episode too.

I recognize a lot of names in the credits of the episode. It's just I don't know who's a regular cast member and who's a guest-star.

4. Thought that The Doctor Blake Mysteries sounds fun...at least in terms of actor appearances. I hope Hulu or Netflix has it someday.

5. Started watching an episode of Wicked Science.

6. Liked the way that Dina (Saskia Burmeister) handled Bianca's (Anya Trybala) question about what was going on with Toby.

Bianca can see something's going on with Toby—that there's some kind of secret.

Instead of continuing to deny it, Dena tells her that yes, something is going on, but it's up to Toby to tell her.

If someone's suspicious about something, it can be kind of cruel to keep denying that anything is happening. Doing so might make them feel delusional and/or paranoid.

7. Thought about when someone asks us what's wrong and we say "nothing" even though there's something obviously wrong.

It would probably be better to say something like Yeah, I'm a little down right now, but it's not something I want to talk about at the moment. 

Although sometimes we might say nothing is wrong, because we ourselves are in denial about there being something wrong.

8. Remembered times that someone thought that I was upset about something, but I really wasn't.

I think this is something that tends to happen with email and texting.

9. Started watching an episode of Home and Away.

10. Felt disgusted with Brax (Stephen Peacocke).

He's being an ass about his friend Ash (George Mason) getting together with Denny (Jessica Grace Smith).

What kind of friend tries to forbid his friend from dating someone?

Well, if Friend A was in a relationship with the someone in the past, I can understand there being hard feelings about Friend B dating the someone.  Even then, though, I think people should try to be open-minded and forgiving.

This isn't the case with Brax and Denny, though. I have no idea what the case is—something to do with Denny being hurt in the past. Her man Casey died.  That hurt her. (Of course!)  Brax doesn't want her to get hurt again.

So, should she date someone immortal?

Well....

There's also the fact that Ash has been in jail. He has a criminal past.

Yes, I can understand people being judgmental about that. But Brax has been in prison too!

11. Learned, from dialogue on the show, that Casey died because someone was trying to get back at Brax.

That doesn't make me more sympathetic towards Brax.  Not that I'd say it was his fault that Casey died. But it's bad enough that he was an indirect cause of Denny losing her love. Now he wants to be the DIRECT cause of her losing another?

12. Learned from Lord Wiki that Casey was played by Lincoln Younes. That name sounds sort of familiar to me.

Casey's last airdate was September 16, 2014.  That's not very long ago.  I thought he had been dead for a few years, not a few months.

13. Looked at the date of the episode I'm watching today. It's April 1, 2015.  So, Casey died about seven months prior to that.

I'm wondering, though, if the appearance was a flashback or spirit visit kind of thing.

14. Learned from Lord Wiki that Younes was on Tangle. So that's why the name sounds familiar.

15. Learned that Casey is Brax's brother. Well, Brax is really Brax's last name—Braxton.  Casey was Casey Braxton.

16. Learned that Casey did die in September 2014.

17. Saw that Saskia Burmeister was on Home and Away—involved with Casey somehow.

I might have already known that about her. I forget.

18. Learned that Sasha (Demi Harman) once had feelings for Casey. The feelings, though, weren't mutual. Poor Sasha.

19. Learned that Casey was in a car accident caused by Josh (Jackson Gallagher) and Andy (Tai Hara). He was paralyzed.

Ah! Karma. Andy might have caused someone to be paralyzed. Then in the future his girlfriend becomes paralyzed.

20. Learned from Lord Wiki that Younes played Romeo on Tangle.  I remember him. He's the son of Roo Stewart, actually.

The original Roo....

21. Went to the Tropfest website.

Today I'm going to watch a 2010 Tropfest finalist film called "Stakeout".

22. Started watching the film.

23 Saw that the movie is about police officers who also happen to be Star Wars fans.

24. Realized I definitely have some police-prejudice.

I'm watching the film, thinking it's cute. But then I find myself thinking, these guys won't be so cute when a black teenager comes along for them to harass and murder.

25. Relieved to see that no innocent civilians were killed in the film.

It was sweet and cute.

I need to remember that not all police are bad. It's probably a small minority that does awful things.

26. Felt that, although some of my prejudice comes from what I've seen in the news, my prejudice feelings were probably increased yesterday from our government class. We learned about due process in the US, and ways that police will try to trick people into confessing without a lawyer.

What we read and saw made the police look very bad to me. It's like our government has created laws to make things as fair as possible, and the police find ways to circumvent the law.

I'm sure it's not all bad bad, though. I'm sure there are many police officers who truly care about people and want to help.  Like Katarina (Pia Miller) on Home and Away.  She told Nate why she had wanted to be a police officer.  When her dad died, her brothers went astray. She decided she wanted to help people....

I forgot how she wanted to help people.

I guess she wanted to help them stay away from crime.

27. Saw, from IMDb, that, in 2010, there were two short films called "Stakeout".

It got me a bit confused for a moment.

28. Saw that Jonathan Lee Jones, who plays one of the cops in the film, was recently in a horror movie called Hidden Peaks.

29. Watched the trailer for Hidden Peaks.

It's a horror movie with a first-person viewpoint.

It looks pretty good, actually...at least in terms of the visual effects, make-up, and cinematography.

Recently I saw news of a first person zombie film coming out. I got the sense that they were doing something innovative.  But I guess I was wrong. First person horror has been done before. Though maybe the other movie is the first ZOMBIE film that's first person.

30. Saw that there's a whole list of first person horror movies. But most of them (or all?) are found footage.

I'm not sure that's the case for Hidden Peaks. It didn't look like it.  I thought it more looked like a video game, but one that you're watching instead of playing.

31. Saw that the other cop in the movie was played by Tom Sheldrick. Sheldrick also wrote the film.

32. Went to the website of Gene Alberts, the director of "Stakeout".

33. Looked at some of Gene Albert's photography.

 Some of it was done in the U.S.

This picture has an American stop sign.

34. Started to watch Gene Albert's film "Painting with Light at Cockatoo Island", but the sound in it bothers me.

35. Had a dream flash when writing the above sentence. This is happening to me more and more often.

Is it common? Does it happen to other people?

It's these random memory flashes of past dreams I've had.

Certain things almost always bring them on—specifically flossing my teeth or clipping my toenails. I have no idea why!  I don't think I've had dreams about flossing or toenails.

36. Saw that Gene Alberts also designs book covers.

I'm pretty sure I've read one of the books shown on his side. It's called Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking. 

37. Checked my Goodreads shelf to see if I was thinking of the right book.

I am.

The cover on Goodreads is different, though, from the one on Albert's website.

I'm guessing maybe he designed the Australian cover?

Or the book might have multiple covers.

38. Saw that Gene Alberts was involved in couch-sitting.

His profile page says he's not accepting guests. Maybe he was a traveler rather than a host. Or maybe he's not accepting guests temporarily?

39. Saw that Gene Alberts is not into astrology.  He says, If you believe in star signs please keep it to yourself - for me its just effective cold reading and universal commonalities (everyone is in their head at times, is adaptable, is looking for love on some level, somewhat of an independent person but who also values friendship, seeks adventure, etc. give me a break)

Yeah. That's pretty much how I see it. Though I think it can be fun sometimes to imagine there might be truth to it.

At one time, I was really into numerology.  I think that's because my number fit me really well, and I could see other people in my life fitting with their number. Though it's probably one of those things where if I assigned other numbers to my family, I might see that fitting as well.

40. Thought about it, and decided that's not really true.

I think for the most part, my family DOES fit their numbers.

The biggest exception would probably be my older sister. She's a five, and totally does not seem like a five to me.  My dad, though, very much fits his eight. My mom and I both fit well with seven.  Tim fits well with one. My younger sister is a nine, and that fits her quite well.

Shit. Now I might end up getting all into this again.

41. Decided that numerology and astrology might be true. Or it could be that any truth we see in it  comes from coincidence.

It's fun, though. I think that's the main thing.

It can, though, get annoying when someone takes it too seriously and seems to see it as fact/science rather than a belief.

It's annoying when people get overly pushy about it.

42. Liked what Gene Alberts says about philosophy discussions. Yes please but no redundant semantics conversations. 

I wonder if he's talking about what I'm imagining he's talking about.

I've had debates/discussions/arguments with a certain person who tend to do this annoying thing. He'll disagree about something. Then when it's looking like I might be the winner in the particular argument, he'll get into semantics.

I wish I could think of an example.

43. Struggled to think of an example, and failed.

Basically, though, it's like the person just wants to WIN...even if they're "winning" based on a technicality.

44. Wondered about what Alberts says regarding girls.

He says he wants, girls to date who have an actual personality and good energy and a sense of humour.

At first, I was thinking, well, that's dumb. Every person has a personality.

But then I realized I HAVE met people that seemed to be lacking one.

What's the deal with that?

They must have a personality. But why don't I see it?  Is it hidden?  Or Is it right there, but I don't recognize it, because it's so different from my own?

45. Had an image in my mind of these no-personality people. They're like the minor characters in Puberty Blues or the victims in horror movies.

It's the people who don't seem to have any interest beyond having sex and getting drunk.

46. Liked that Gene Alberts likes epic ping pong tournaments.

That's cute.

47. Liked that Gene Alberts likes Charlie Kaufman and Spike Jonze.

Tim and I used to love Being John Malkovich and Adaptation. Though I haven't seen much of their recent stuff.

48. Wondered if Kaufman and Jonze collaborated on anything after Adaptation.

49. Saw that they haven't.

It looks like Kaufman has been directing his own stuff lately.

As for Jonze, we did see Where the Wild Things Are a few years ago.

50. Found an article, from 2012, that says Gene Alberts got in trouble for selling alcohol without a license.

I don't understand most of it, but it sounds like he didn't do anything illegal on purpose.

I think maybe he was confused about the rules.

I learned, though, from the article, that Albert's stepfather is Grahame Bond, the guy who played Aunty Jack.

Read my novel: The Dead are Online 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

4. Consulted Lord Wiki about Troye Sivan.

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

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

He came out to his family when he was fifteen.

Now he's twenty.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

12. Started looking at the cast.

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

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

Maybe she was in one of the other films?

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

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

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

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

He was also on Home and Away.

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

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

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

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

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

18. Started to watch an episode of Farscape.

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

19. Saw that this episode has cute animation sequences.

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

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

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

21. Got ready to watch Drift.

I'm doubting I will like it.

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

22. Hoped to be wrong.

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

Maybe this won't be so bad after all.

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

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

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

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

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

28. Saw that Xavier Samuel is thirty-two!

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

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

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

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

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

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

33. Figured surfers would appreciate the movie more.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The article writer didn't like the outfit either.

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

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

I actually love it.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

44. Started to look at 2012 Logie photos.

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

46. Moved onto 2011.

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

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

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

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

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

I like all the colors.

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

What I like is the contrasting patterns.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I still wear it a lot.

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

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

63. Liked this outfit, but not the shoes.

I'm bad with shoes.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Maybe it's just lost among my other clothes.

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

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

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

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

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

I wish I was better proportioned.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And it's American.

I thought it was Australian.

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

The Dead are Online, a novel by Dina Roberts 

Bad People, Love, Adultery, and Worrisome Hugs

1. Started watching an episode of Tangle.

2. Saw Ryan Corr.

His character seems nice.

I don't want him to be a bad person.

I don't like when I like an actor and then I see them playing a scummy person.

It's like Damien Richardson. I first saw him on Neighbours, where yeah...he was a bit scummy. But he was also sympathetic. Then I saw him on City Homicide where he played a very decent person.

I was kind of in the mode of adoring him. And then I saw him on The Secret Life of Us where he plays a scummy rapist...or almost rapist. So that kind of ruined things.

3. Figured I will go back to adoring Damien Richardson when I see him playing someone decent again.

4. Thought this all kind of contradicted with my feelings for Anthony Hopkins. Because with him, I like him best as a sociopathic cannibal.

5. Received an email from a company asking me to link to their jewelry website. Why? Because I once linked to another jewelry website.

In a way, it almost sounded like they were demanding I link to their website. Well, they weren't demanding. But there was this attitude of, we see you linked to this other jewelry website, so we want you to link to ours. I felt like they were saying they deserve fair treatment.

6. Considered emailing the company back and saying I will link to their company on the sidebar if they pay me $200. But the thing is, I don't know if I'd trust any company that sends out emails like that. They sound too desperate.

7. Liked the conversations about falling in love on this episode of Tangle.

Some of the scenes made me think that the sexiest trait in a man is when they're in love.  Real love—like Christine (Catherine McClements) says, the kind where you can't stop thinking about someone.

I like this versus the kind where someone is mildly interested in someone, and what they really want is sex. Or sometimes it's not sex. Sometimes it's just about the attraction not being strong enough.

8. Thought of my college relationship adventures. There were times that I was definitely attracted to someone and definitely hoped for a relationship. Then there were other times where I was attracted to someone but at the same time not attracted.

9. Thought that the sexiness of a man, in love, greatly loses its appeal for me when the person he's pursuing doesn't love him back.

Then it's either sweet and sad; or pathetic—depending on how persistent he is.

If he goes REALLY far in his pursuit, it becomes scary.

10. Thought of Peter and Tina on Coronation Street. Peter's maybe in love with Tina, but I don't find him at all sexy. I could say it's because he's married to another woman. But I do sometimes find extramarital relationships sexy. Or maybe I usually don't. I'm not sure.

On Tangle, I liked Ally (Justine Clarke) with Gabriel (Matt Day) even though she was married to his best friend. But that's probably because Ally's husband Vince (Ben Mendelsohn) was such an ass. He didn't seem to love her, so it seemed so wonderful that another man did. That's different than Peter and Tina, because Carla, Peter's wife, does seem to love him a lot.

11. Decided that with extramarital affairs, if the cheated on spouse doesn't seem to really be in love; then the cheating doesn't feel so bad to me. It's romantic and sexy. If the cheated on spouse is obviously in love; then it's sad.

Another example of this on Coronation Street is with Nick and Leanne.  Leanne has fallen out of love with Nick and loves someone else now. Nick still loves her, so I don't want Leanne with someone else. I want her to fall back in love with Nick.

12. Loved what Christine (Catherine McClements) says about her husband having an affair.

She tells Ally that no, it wasn't a fling. It was real love. And it was the worst thing that ever happened to her. But then the affair resulted in a pregnancy, and that child came to live with them. Christine became the mother, and she says this is the best thing that's happened to her.

It's amazing how bad things sometimes result in very good things.

13. Liked a scene with Ally feeding the hungry.

An old man named Stan (Don Bridges) tells Ally she's pretty and asks for a hug.  She's kind-hearted and open-hearted enough to say yes. It's kind of a tense scene, because you don't know if he's going to try to grab her ass or something.  He doesn't, but he wouldn't let go. He kept hugging. Then someone working with Ally (Todd MacDonald) requests that the man stop hugging Ally.  The man stops, and Ally's co-helper asks if she's okay. She says, Yes! It's the best hug I've had all year.

I wish I could be like that. I'd likely be very hesitant, and then during the hug, I'd be frantically wondering when was the last time the hugger took a shower.  I'm not even sure it would have to be a homeless person to make me uptight like that. I think a hug from any stranger would have me feeling germaphobic.

Although it's not really germaphobic. It's really more like cootie-phobic.

14.  Saw that Don Bridges was recently in an Australian Zombie movie called Plague.

15. Saw the Stan storyline get a little less sweet. Uh...speaking of zombies.....

16. Finished watching the episode.

I liked it. It was less depressing than the previous ones; and also less slow.

17. Saw that Netflix has The Plague.

I'm going to add it to my to- watch list.

18. Decided to look for 2015 movies on Hulu and Netflix.

I didn't look much before, because I didn't expect them to be released yet. But The Plague is from 2015, and that's already on Netflix.

19. Decided I'm just going to look on Netflix now, and later I'll check Hulu.

20. Added Strangerland and Infini to my to-watch list.

21. Started watching Not Suitable for Children.

I'm already unnerved by Ryan Kwanten speaking in an Australian accent.

I don't know what's weirder—hearing Jason Stackhouse being Australian or Rick Grimes being British.

22. Wondered if there's truth to the premise in the movie.

Jonah (Kwanten) ends up with testicular cancer.  Treatment will leave him infertile. He gives a sperm sample that will be frozen for future use; then learns his sperm is unfreezable.

23. Found a website about sperm cryopreservation.

They say that 50% of sperm motility keep that motility after being thawed. If sperm is of poor quality, the motility level will be less than that.

24. Glad to have learned something new today.

25. Wondered how old Ryan Kwanten is.

26. Saw that Kwanten was born in 1976. He's only four years younger than me.

I like when people are close to my age...or older.

Very young people make me feel old.

27. Saw that Ryan Kwanten's birthday is close to mine.

28. Remembered that Toni Collette's birthday is today.

29. Saw that Ryan Corr is not at all close to my age.

I'm seventeen years older than him.

He makes me feel old.

30. Wondered if what Jonah says in the movie is true.

If you don't have a clean medical history, you can't adopt. He says that includes cancer.

That's sad.

It seems unfair.

What if your cancer was mild, and easily treated? You still can't adopt. I understand that cancer has a chance of recurring, but no one is guaranteed to live a long and full life for their children.

31. Tried to find information about adopting in Australia, if you've had cancer.

I can't find anything but did find an article about the issue in the UK.

32. Recognized the actress who plays Marcie in the movie.

I looked her up. It's Susan Prior, and I've seen her on Puberty Blues. But I can't remember who she played.

33. Remembered!

I'm glad, because it would have probably bothered me for most of the night if I hadn't.

She plays the wife of Rodger Corser.  He's cheating on her, and she's kind of naive about the whole thing.

I actually could have figured it out if I looked at the IMDb cast for Puberty Blues.  I could have just matched the last names of the characters.

BUT I'm happy with myself for remembering on my own.

34. Decided that one of the reasons I was able to remember is Prior's character on Not Suitable for Children is similar to the one she played on Puberty Blues.

35. Struggled to think of words to describe the characters.  It's kind of like someone who's a doormat—overly nice and giving.

Is there a word for that?

36. Stopped watching the movie for tonight.

I'm going to watch the rest tomorrow.


Read my novel: The Dead are Online 

Jack Lang, Ribbon Cutting, Australian Movies, and More Australian Movies

1. Dreamed that, I'm excited to see that Hulu has a new Australian TV show. The show is about something like dreaming and/or something supernatural. Hulu is streaming episodes when they're new. So far, there are three episodes.

Later I try to learn more about the show. I'm disappointed to see I was mistaken. The show is not Australian. It's an American show that comes from CBS.

I also dreamed about a tree filled with little koala toy pincher things. It was kind of cool. 

I wonder if those koala things could stick on branches. I guess it would have to be very thin branches.

Maybe they would stick on leaves. It might hurt the tree, though.

I don't know.  

2. Figured it would put pressure on the leaf, and the leaf would then probably fall.

3. Started watching an episode of Underbelly: Razor.

David Roberts is in this one. He plays a right-wing extremist. That might be interesting.

4. Saw that Jack Lang is a character in this episode.

I remember hearing about him, but now I don't remember much. Didn't he have something to with the bridge opening? There was a false opening, I think? But I'm not sure if Lang was the one who caused the false opening, or if he was the one robbed out of doing what was supposed to be the official opening.

5. Consulted Lord Wiki.

He says Jack Lang was the Premier of New South Wales. Like Gough Whitlam, he was dismissed by the Governor. Well, Whitlam was dismissed by the Governor-General. Lang was dismissed by just a Governor. I guess the governor of New South Wales.  

6. Did not see anything about the Harbour Bridge.

I think I have the wrong guy. 

7. Found the bridge stuff.

I didn't have the wrong guy.  

Lord Wiki says that Lang insisted on doing the opening himself, which was for some reason controversial. Apparently, some people felt the Governor should do it.  Then some guy named Francis De Groot came up and cut the ribbon before Lang could do it.  

8. Liked a song played on Underbelly.

I was able to find it quite quickly, fortunately. It's "Missed Me" by the Dresden Dolls. 

It's a fun song...kind of dark.

9. Thought that this episode of Underbelly: Razor is better than the others I've seen so far.

10. Started to watch Rake—season 2; episode five.

11. Did not buy Tim Tams at the grocery store. I realized I'm a bit tired of them.

12. Glad that, not only is Adrienne Pickering back in this season, but she plays a pivotal role.  

I hope she's on for all the remaining episodes.

13. Decided to finish watching Underbelly: Razor, since I have only one more episode left. 

14. Looked at IMDb and saw that the singer I saw singing on Underbelly: Razor was Jessica Mauboy. 

I wish I had recognized her. Then I'd feel impressed with myself.  Now I'm feeling not impressed with myself.

15. Saw the Jack Lang stuff on Underbelly.

They showed the headlines, at least.

I'll keep watching and see if they show the ribbon-cutting fiasco.

16. Saw that David Roberts is the one who plays Francis De Groot. When he first appeared, the show labeled him as a right-wing extremist.  Or at least that's what I think I saw.

17. Saw that the show uses real news footage. Then that's intercut with a reenactment performed at a nightclub.

It's cleverly done.

18. Finished watching Underbelly: Razor. I liked the last two episodes a lot—much more than I liked the first eleven.

19. Went to Random.org to pick my next show.

It's season two of Upper Middle Bogan!

I'm glad about that. I liked the first season a lot.

20. Imagined it's going to be another case of feeling weird seeing some of the actors, because I'm now used to them in other roles.

I now associate Annie Maynard as Jeremy Lindsay's co-worker in Puberty Blues.  And I'm currently watching Robyn Maxwell on Rake.

21. Decided to try and add more Australian movies to my to-watch list.

I'm looking at this movie list from 2013, and checking to see if any are on Netflix.

22. Added two movies from the 2013 list to my list—100 Bloody Acres and Mystery Road.

23. Looked at Google's list of Australian movies of the 1970's. 

Will any of them be on Netflix?  

24. Saw that Hulu has Picnic at Hanging Rock.

Go Hulu! 

I've seen parts of the movie, but I've never watched the whole thing.

25. Saw that Hulu also has Walkabout.

I've read the book, but I don't think I've seen the movie.

26. Saw that Hulu has The Cars that Ate Paris!

I'm so excited that they have some of these classics. Though I might be bored if I actually try watching them. I might like them more in theory than in reality. But who knows....

27. Disappointed that neither Hulu nor Netflix have the 1979 vampire film, Thirst.  

Maybe one of them will have Patrick. 

28. Saw that Hulu-Showtime has 2013 Patrick, but we don't have the Showtime Hulu thing.

Is 2013 Patrick Australian? 

29. Saw that it is Australian, and Rachel Griffiths is one of the stars.  

30. Saw that Netflix has 2013 Patrick. So I'll add it to my list. 

31. Saw that Hulu has The Last Wave—another movie I've wanted to see.

I'm totally loving Hulu right now. This makes up for them losing Neighbours.

Actually, I'm feeling kind of anti-Neighbours now, because one of the stars is looking a bit anorexic. And I'm getting a I'm-proud-to-be-super-thin feeling coming from the photos.  

Though I could be wrong. It might not be an eating disorder thing. It could be a parasite or some kind of viral thing. Maybe an auto-immune thing?  I don't know. Whatever it is, it doesn't look healthy. And it's kind of like the unhealthiness is being flaunted.  Which...uh...I've done before. So maybe I'm just projecting here.

32. Saw that Hulu has My Brilliant Career. 

I can't remember if I've seen that or not.  I read the book, and I'm sure I've seen scenes from the movie.

33. Decided to move onto the 80's.

I fear I won't have much luck here.  I don't think Netflix has a lot of old movies, and I think Hulu tends to have older-old movies....like pre-1980's.

34. Saw that Hulu does have Mad Max 2. Cool! Is that the Tina Turner one?

35. Saw that Netflix has Crocodile Dundee and its sequel.

I saw those when I was a child.  It might be fun to watch them again as an adult....as an adult obsessed with Australia. 

36. Saw that Hulu has Breaker Morant.

37. Saw that there is a sequel to The Howling called the Howling III: the Marsupials.  

And Hulu has it.

That makes me very happy!

38. Saw that it's Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome that has Tina Turner.

I wonder if it matters if I watch the movies out of order.

I think I'll just see what Random.org picks for me. If I watch the third one and like it, I can go back and watch the second.  

39. Moved onto the 1990's.

I already have The Castle on my list.

I've seen Muriel's Wedding.

40. Added Rabbit Proof Fence to my list. It's another one in which I'm not sure I've seen or not. I read the book, and have seen at least some of the scenes. 

41. Saw that Netflix has Strictly Ballroom. I'd love to see that!

42. Saw that Netflix has Sirens. 

I'm adding that to my list. 

43. Learned that Holy Smoke is an Australian movie, and it's available on Netflix.

I didn't know that. I think I thought it was a New Zealand thing.  

44. Learned there's an Australian movie called Love Serenade; and Netflix has it.  

45. Found an Australian movie with Anthony Hopkins. The original title is Spotswood, but you can find it on Netflix as The Efficiency Expert. 

46. Excited about all these movies

47. Saw that The Matrix is considered an Australian movie—or at least a co-Australian movie.

48. Realized it doesn't matter, anyway. Neither Hulu nor Netflix has it.

I wouldn't mind seeing it again. It's been a long time.

49. Found that Netflix has an Australian movie called Love and Other Catastrophes. It has names I recognize, including Matt Day. 

50. Started looking at movies of the 2000's.

My to-watch list is going to be huge.

I've already added 20-30 things.

51. Felt tired of writing all this out, so I think for the rest of this activity, I'm just going to quickly name whatever else I add to the list.

So...it's: 

Nothing yet.

I'm getting the idea that neither Netflix nor Hulu has a lot of films from the early bits of the 21st century.

52. Found something!

I'll try the list again: One Perfect Day, Little Fish, Man Thing, Black Water, Newcastle, In Her Skin,  The Boys are Back, Tomorrow When the War Began, Oranges and sunshine, Griff the Invisible, Glenn Owen Dodds, The Tree, Red Dog, The Snowtown Murders, Sleeping Beauty, The Hunter, A Few Best Men, Burning Man, The Dragon Pearl, 33 Postcards, Wish You Were Here, Not Suitable for Children, Underground, Adore, These Final Hours, Felony, Drift, 52 Tuesdays, Canopy, Kill Me Three Times, The Mule, I Frankenstein, Wyrmwood My Mistress,

52. Thought that some movies might be American movies filmed in Australia. But they have Australian actors, and I'll enjoy seeing them.  

Read my novel: The Dead are Online 

Being Neglectful, Being Pushy, Ed Oxenbould, and Sydney

1. Dreamed I was a somewhat awful person.

I'm staying with my Australian friend Tracey. She leaves to go somewhere. I work hard on my blog. Then, when she returns, she tries to help another woman who was left at home with me. This woman is in some kind of horrible pain; and for some reason, I failed to try to help her because I was too busy with my blog.

I don't actually remember hearing her and ignoring her. But when Tracey returned and was trying to help the woman, I felt guilty for not helping.

2. Dreamed that I have an Australian guy with me who is seeking my help in planning a future trip to the U.S.  I'm quite pleased to have an Australian by my side, and I enjoy showing him off...just to my parents, really. (Don't remember anyone else in this dream)

I try to figure out whether the Australian should go to Disneyland or Disney World. I'm also wondering if it would make sense for him to fly into DFW rather than LAX.  

He's planning to go to Atlantic City, and doesn't seem too thrilled about it. I try to tell him it's actually pretty cool, because you can see the Monopoly Streets. (I think, in the dream, Atlantic City was somewhere out west rather than the north-east).

Later I get a video message from him politely demanding that I make him videos promoting the places I think he should go. He wants me to sell him a plan.  I'm not pleased with this. First, I'm disappointed that it seems we'll no longer be working together in person. Second, I don't like the idea of having to try to sell something.  

3. Wondered if I dislike selling things. I don't mean literally for money...but promoting things.

I like sharing things I like, especially on this blog.  I have hopes that I'll lead more people into liking what I like. But I don't like pressuring people to like something.  I also don't like it when other people try to push me into trying something...even when it's not actually directed at me personally.

The other day I quit reading a Disney Blog, because in a restaurant review, the blogger talked about food that people HAVE to try.

I prefer when people say things like, I'm a huge fan of this. Maybe you'll like it too over saying, You have to try this. You'll totally love it! 

I'm also a believer in the fact that some people might dislike what I love, and they might love what I dislike.

4. Wanted to say that I don't usually quit reading a blog as soon as they get pushy about recommendations.

This one annoyed me, though, because, in the intro post, the woman talked about having unique opinions about Disney things. She presented herself as an off-the-beaten path type person—not always liking what's popular. So I felt, in that case, she should be sensitive to the fact that other people might have their own unique opinions about things and might not like what she's recommending.

Also, the items she was pushing were not off the beaten path at all. They're actually quite popular and well-known among Disney Foodies.

5. Thought about the dream—the one where I'm an awful person.

I don't think I'd ignore a person in medical distress to work on my blog.  But I do think I get uptight sometimes about taking a break from my routine.

I'm the type of person who gives myself daily assignments. It's not easy for me to say to myself, well something very important has come up. I need to spend time on that. It won't kill me to lose an hour of homeschooling or not write a blogpost.

Yeah. It won't kill me. But it will make me anxious and stressed.

6. Felt a need to defend myself. Yes, I'm a bit anal. Yes, it would be bad to ignore someone in acute, severe pain, because I'm busy with my blog. I hope I wouldn't do that in real life.

On the other hand, some people go in the opposite direction and exploit their problems (And sometimes other people's!) to take a break. I wouldn't want to be that type of person.

7. Decided I maybe feel guilty for opting out of a family medical thing. I felt stressed out about losing homeschooling hours. Well, I didn't actually opt out. I just didn't say yes. I didn't give a yes or no. I decided to wait until I was asked again, and when I wasn't, I was kind of relieved, and I didn't feel too bad about not being there. But now I feel I should have been there. Because if it was me in the situation, I'd probably want other people to be there for me.

The good news is someone WAS there for the person in need. So the story is more about me being a bad family member than someone in my family being neglected.

8. Started watching an episode of Underbelly.

9. Saw that Ed Oxenbould, the little boy from Puberty Blues, is in this episode.

Oxenbould is also in the recent American movies The Visit and Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.

In the latter, he's an Australian pretending to be an American who wants to move to Australia.

It reminds me of something I learned yesterday.

We've been watching The Mindy Project. There's a British guy on the show, and I thought he was faking it. I mean I thought the character was pretending to be British in order to impress the girls. But then I found out the actor is actually British.

It made me remember the storyline on Nip/Tuck where there was an American guy pretending to be British. I wanted to find out who the actor was, and I learned he's actually British.  I thought that was pretty funny.

10. Started to watch Rake—season two; episode four.

11. Saw an incident on Rake that fits in well with what I was blabbing on about this morning.

Cleaver Green's (Richard Roxburgh) sort of girlfriend (Robyn Maxwell) has had a death in her family.

Cleaver is informed of the loss and offers to send flowers. He's quite reluctant to actually clear his schedule and be there for her.

I think that's unfortunately kind of like me. Or very much like me.

I'm fairly generous in terms of listening to people via email or text. I'll send gifts, maybe. But I'm lazy when it comes down to getting off my ass and actually being physically there for someone.

12. Looked at the cast for this episode of Rake and thought I saw Ed Oxenbould again. But no. What I saw is BEN Oxenbould. Lord Wiki says Ben is Ed's uncle.

13. Glad to see Barney Meagher (Russell Dykstra) call out his wife Scarlet (Danielle Cormack) on the fact that she's forbidding him to be friends with Cleaver Greene because she slept with Cleaver Greene.

Scarlet is the one who made the mistake.Why should Barney have to be punished for it?

14. Went to Palg1305's Flickr account.

15. Got the idea that the order of the albums changed.

Everything looks different from yesterday.

16. Started to look at Palg1305's Sydney album.

Here's a photo of some construction at Darling Harbour—lots of big cranes.

Flickr says the photo was taken July 2014.

I wonder what was going on over there.

17. Liked the photo of these trees in Manly.

I wonder what kind of trees they are.

Maybe eucalyptus?

I'm embarrassed to admit this, but I don't know Eucalyptus trees on sight. I might be able to point out some in a crowd, but my accuracy rate would probably be about 75%.  Or maybe 35%.

The trees in the photo don't make me think of Eucalyptus trees, except for the fact that they're in Australia.  But...I really don't know.

18. Liked this photo.

I wonder what it is. Some kind of boat dock. There's a sign that says, Welcome to Station.

What station?

It's like having a city with a sign that says, Welcome to City!

It's a bit generic.

19. Thought the trees in this picture looked more Eucalyptus to me.

20. Wondered what percentage of trees in Australia are Eucalyptus.

21. Guessed that the tree in this photo is not Eucalyptus. I think it's one of those fig things.

What is it? Moreton Fig?

22. Googled.

Lord Wiki says it's Moreton Bay Fig.

It's native to Australia.

23. Thought of Water Rats when I saw this photo of Watson's Bay—cliffs to fall from and water to drown in.

24. Thought the ocean looked beautifully blue in this other Watson Bay photo.

25. Liked this photo of the Opera House. I don't know why. There are a zillion Sydney Opera House photos out there. But something about this one is special.  It has a 1970's feel to it.

26. Realized I'm making it sound like there is something particularly special about the 1970's.

It's not really that.

Maybe it's that it reminds me of the old movies they'd show us in elementary school—probably filmed in the 1970's.  You know, the one with the wooden boat floating about, or the Red Balloon thing.

27. Googled and learned The Red Balloon was made in the 1950's.

Oops.

Maybe I should say the picture reminds me of movies I SAW in the 1970's. They were probably filmed way before that.

28. Decided the picture probably reminds me of my old dream. I've talked about it here before. I had it sometime in my childhood—and remember close to nothing about it. But it gave me a good weird feeling when I'd think about it.  Then later, as an adult, I saw photos of Sydney Harbour and it reminded me of the dream.

29. Liked Bec's post about trying to fulfill a happiness challenge on a day she's feeling grumpy and snarky.

It's easy to do self-help, positive thinking type stuff when we're in a good mood. But what about when we're in a bad mood or life is shit?

I do disagree with her feeling she failed at her daily random act of kindness act.  She says:
This is probably a cop-out but in my introverted and selfish state today all I pretty much did was smiled at the bus driver and said thank you at the shops and to people who did stuff for me at work. Lame. I feel like I need to make up for it with something spectacular tomorrow.

I think smiling at someone and thanking people is quite lovely. It's small. But small things add up sometimes.

30. Got texts from my sister and niece.

They're at the Taylor Swift concert. Vance Joy is the opening act.

That's cool! Maybe my sister and niece will become Vance Joy fans.

My sister suggested I add him to our karaoke song list. I had to tell her I did and that we already sang his song twice.


Read my novel: The Dead are Online