Immersive Experiences, Unhelpful Advice, Cliffhanger Series Finales, and Needing IMDb Assistance

1. Started watching an episode of Home and Away.

2. Wondered about the Anzac trench replica used in the show.

The Summer Bay students are being forced to sleep there overnight. The experience includes hearing gunshots and/or other explosives and being hit with falling dirt things.  

I Googled and saw that one of these trenches was made in Melbourne for 2015 Anzac.  

The Summer Bay kids are supposed to be in Canberra, though. Or they're on their way back from Canberra. Melbourne would be quite out of their way.  

3. Found an article about a trench replica in Western Australia. 

4. Could imagine that if they have one of these replicas in Western Australia and Melbourne, it seems likely they'd also have one in the ACT or New South Wales.

5. Thought that Roo (Georgie Parker) said the wrong thing to Maddie (Kassandra Clementi).

Maddie is trying to decide if she should return home with her mother (Kathryn Hartman) instead of continuing to live with Roo.  

Maddie says something very sweet. You and Mr. Stewart have done so much for me. And I know that if I leave, I'm going to hurt you. I'm just really confused. 

Roo replies, You have to do what you think is the right thing.  

I think that's incredibly unhelpful.

It seems to me that the main thing holding Maddie back is the fear of hurting Roo. What Roo said isn't going to make things any easier for her.

I think what Roo should have said is, Yes. It's going to hurt when you leave. We love you. We'll miss you. But if you want to be with your mother, I completely support this. I want you to be happy.  

6. Wondered if I've ever made one of Jack's tough decisions even tougher by saying the wrong thing.  

Probably.

I say Roo said the wrong thing, but I understand why she did it. When we're hurting, the stuff that comes out of our mouth is sometimes not very helpful or supportive.  

7. Thought it was generous of Alf (Ray Meagher) to have a health-related collapse.

The Summer Bay High kids weren't really gaining any insight from the trenches replica activity.

But now they're all bonding together to help Alf.  

Seriously, though. I think museums, replicas, and reenactments can give minimal insight into what people experienced in the past.  I don't think there's anyway we can come fully understand other people's trauma and drama without experiencing it ourselves.  

Personally, I think if there's anything that can give us a somewhat close understanding, it's TV shows, novels, films, and theater. 

8. Realized I could be wrong about this. Maybe it's different for other people.

I'll use The Holocaust for an example. For me, I'm going to get more insight and emotional connection from movies like Schindler's List and Europa Europa. Walking through a museum and seeing artifacts is going to touch me much less. But with other people, it might be the opposite.

And maybe for some of the Summer Bay High students, the replica/reenactment was having an effect on their psyche. Maybe they didn't need Alf's medical collapse to make the experience more meaningful.  

9. Started to watch the last episode of Tangle.

10. Stopped watching the episode before getting past the recap and did other things.

One of these things included reading part of a sample of a Paul Kelly Book—The Triumph and Demise.  It's about the Rudd and Gillard drama. So far, I like it. I'm definitely going to finish the sample, and maybe I'll actually buy the whole book. It will probably depend on how much it costs.

I'm going to have to REALLY love the book to want to spend more than eight dollars on it. And I doubt I'd love it that much, because I don't usually love nonfiction that much.  

It might end up being one of those books where reading the sample is satisfying enough for me. I had that yesterday with another nonfiction book—about the Americas.  It was sort of interesting, and I'm glad I read the sample. But I don't think I'd want to read a whole book about it.  

11. Felt I needed to clarify that the Paul Kelly who wrote the book isn't the singer.

At least I don't think he is.  

12. Checked. He's not.

I'm sure I've checked on this before.

It's just sometimes I doubt myself.

13. Went back to Tangle.

14. Wondered who Ally (Justine Clarke) is going to end up with at the end of the episode—the best friend of her deceased husband (Matt Day) or the brother of her deceased husband (Kick Gurry).  

I have no idea who it's going to be, and it could actually be neither. 

I like that I have this uncertainty.  

I think it makes the show more exciting.  

15. Didn't know who I wanted Ally to end up with. I think the brother is the better man. I think he'd treat Ally better than the friend would.

However, I feel Ally is more in love with the friend. She has more chemistry with him. And that makes a difference.

Sometimes settling is not about going with someone who isn't decent enough.It's about going with someone you're not truly in love with.

16. Wondered if it's better, in the end, to choose the person you love less but treats you well over the person you're madly in love with but doesn't treat you the way you'd like.  

I don't know.

The problem is, if you choose a person for how they treat you and not for how much you love them, you might not end up treating THEM so well. The relationship might be very uneven, and the less-loved person might be taken for granted.  

17. Liked scene with Christine (Catherine McClements) bitching out her psychologist.

Christine does this, because she feels the psychologist gave her bad advice—advice that went against her own instincts and advice she feels ended up causing major problems for her family.  

I don't know if I agree that the advice was bad or not, but, at the very least, I feel the psychologist was annoyingly condescending.

The thing is,  I resent some people for advice they gave me in life, and there's a part of me that would like to bitch them out. Most of this annoying and hurtful advice comes from people who don't know or refuse to try to understand the full story.  

It's unlikely I'll ever bitch them out, but it was cathartic to see Christine doing it. 

18. Heard Christine bitch out Nat (Kat Stewart) for being a selfish parent—putting her needs before her child.

That's another thing I'd like to bitch out—selfish parents. 

I don't think parents should be selfless. Definitely not. They don't need to be martyrs all the time.It's just sad that there are parents who usually put their own interests and ego ahead of their children's needs and wants. They rarely make sacrifices, big or small, for their children.  

That being said, I'm not sure Nat is that kind of parent. I think she was in the past. And in the present, she's an actress who has a bit of an ego. That probably makes her selfish to some extent.  I'm not sure how bad she is as a parent now, though.  I know she's not perfect, but I don't know if she's absolutely horrible.

19. Saw the ending of Tangle.

Not only did it lack a happy ending—or at least a temporarily moment-of-peace ending; it was downright troublesome.  It seems like a cliffhanger, which makes me think the creators of the show did not expect it to be the last episode.

20. Thought that if TV show writers are not 100% sure their show is going to be renewed, they should end on a slightly positive or, at least, hopeful note.  I think most viewers are intelligent enough to know there's not going to be a happy ending for these people. Heck, there's never a happy ending for ANYONE.  But most people are lucky enough to have moments of contentment. There's no reason to end a series on the day the shit totally hits the fan. End the series on the day AFTER the shit hits the fan...with the inference that one day shit will hit the fan again.  

21. Went to the Tropfest website.

Today I'm going to watch a 2010 finalist film called "Nick and Shauna".

Pia Miranda is one of the stars, and also a producer.  I can see that from the icon picture, and the small amount of credit information that's on the film's Tropfest page.

There's a guy in the picture who looks familar to me, but I'm not sure who he is.

I'll find out later.

22. Started watching the film.

23. Had an idea of who the guy is.

I'm pretty sure he was in the last season of The Secret Life of Us. He played the brother of Jane Harber.

24. Recognized another actor.

I don't remember his name, but I think he was one of the stars of Howzat. 

25. Finished watching the film.

I thought the premise was fun. It's about cousins whose childhood dance video goes viral, and they try to capitalize on their fifteen minutes of fame.

I can't say I was overly entertained by the execution of the film.  I'm not sure why.  It could just be my mood.  It could be that I felt the actors were mocking the characters.

No, that can't be right. 

I mean the actors WERE mocking the characters, but plenty of comedy does that successfully.

I can't really give a definite, rational reason for why I didn't like the film very much.  It's just that for some reason I found it more annoying than funny and endearing.

26. Thought the name of the director (Alyssa McClelland) sounds familiar. I think maybe she was one of the actresses on I Rock.

I'm probably totally wrong about that.

27. Saw that the main actor in the film is Ryan Johnson.  

28. Saw that the Howzat actor's name is Abe Forsythe. His role in this film, by the way, is very brief.

29. Saw from IMDb that Alyssa McClelland is NOT the actress from I Rock.   

I do know her as an actress, though. She's the one who was in the short film with Kerry Armstrong—the one with the elevator.  I watched it twice—once because of Kerry Armstrong, and another time because of the director. Now I can't remember who the director is.

30. Used IMDb to refresh my memory.

The name of the film with Armstrong and McClelland is "Mind the Gap".  The director is Rachel Givney. She's the one who directed "Bargain"—one of the 2009 finalists.  That film introduced me to the actor Andrew Steel, which led me to watching the show Justice Lease.

I wish my brain had the capability to remember all these connections.

31. Looked for the I Rock actress.

It's Allison Bell.

That's not very close to Alyssa McClelland. 

I guess I got the Al part right.

Read my novel: The Dead are Online 

John Farrow, Feeling Evil, Maddie and Oscar's First Date, and Dimitri Ellerington

1. Had a fun time-traveling dream.

I push through our bedroom window and end up in a family's house, in the 1960's or 1970's. I talk to a woman about when I'm from—or at least I try to. I have trouble remembering things.

We try to have a conversation about Doctor Who. She tells me her doctor is played by a William something. I tell her the names of more recent doctors but can only remember first names. When I get to the David one, the only name that I can get out of my brain is David Koresh. I then try to tell her a bit about the Waco event but don't get very far.

We get onto the conversation of the current US president. I struggle to remember who our president is. I tell myself it's the fault of all the 2016 campaigning. The candidates have overshadowed the actual president.

Then I remember. The American president is Julia Gillard. I'm a bit shocked and disappointed in myself for forgetting. How could I have forgotten a president who's Australian!

A moment or so later, I start realizing I must have things wrong. US presidents need to be born in the US, so Julia Gillard can't be the right answer.

2. Remembered that Mia Farrow has some Australian connection.

She had a cameo in one of my dreams last night, but I don't remember what it was all about.  

3. Consulted Lord Wiki.

He says Mia Farrow's father, John Farrow, was an Australian-American film director.

4. Saw that John Farrow also wrote books. One was about Father Damien; not the one who fought Regan's demon but the one who lived among lepers.

5. Learned that Farrow won a best screenplay Oscar for Around the World in 80 Days.

6. Googled and learned that there's another Australian celebrity named John Farrow.  

He's an athlete—a skeleton racer.

What's a skeleton racer?

I'm picturing a snow thing.

7. Realized I'm picturing a snow thing, because Google has a photo of John Farrow wearing winter clothes. 

8. Learned from Lord Wiki that skeleton racing is a snow-sliding type sport.

9. Learned there's a cyclone named Stan coming to Western Australia.

I hope he tries to be gentle.

10. Started watching an episode of Wicked Science. 

11. Disturbed that I'm finding myself relating to Elizabeth.

It's not her desire to do evil (Fortunately) or her magnificent brain power (unfortunately).

It's more about her being rejected and feeling she has to rely on herself.

I also feel I have a low tolerance for the behavior of most other people.

Humanity annoys me. And it seems to me this is the beginning of the makings of a villain.  

Maybe I'll end up a Batman villain.

12. Decided I'd rather be a Farscape villain. 

Maybe I'll have an affair with Scorpius.  

13. Reminded myself that there's a part of me that actually adores people. So maybe I will manage to stay on the side of good.

14. Decided I have a love-hate relationship with the human race.

As long as it doesn't turn into a full-hate relationship, I'm probably okay.

15. Decided to cut myself some slack.

Humans ARE pretty damn awful.  If someone doesn't have any negative feelings towards our species, they're probably in denial.

16. Started watching an episode of Home and Away.

17. Had a feeling Maddie (Kassandra Clementi) isn't going to be pleased with Spencer's (Andrew J. Morley) fun run for cancer.

In the pre-episode flashback segment, they show the scene with Maddie saying she's tired of people talking to her about cancer so much.  I think they're reminding us of what she said, so we'll understand why she's angry later. 

18. Thought the first date between Maddie and Oscar (Jake Speer) was very sweet.

Oscar confesses that he's fantasized about the date for a long time. When he says he wishes they were in a universe where he was a less a geek and she didn't have cancer, Maddie says she's happy with the universe.

She's saying that her happiness with Oscar outweighs the badness of the cancer. 

That's really lovely. I'm even having some teary eyes.

19. Thought about how long time crushes can be very sweet, very sad, or downright scary.

20. Decided long-time crushes are sweetest when it eventually turns into mutual love.

They're saddest when the person ends up putting their life on hold. If a crush paralyzes someone—keeps them from moving forward; that's not good.

They're scary when the crush turns into stalker-behavior.  I don't mean stalker as in checking someone's Facebook three or four times a day. I'm talking severe delusions of mutual love, showing up on the person's doorstep, kidnapping, murdering, etc.  

21. Started to maybe understand Oscar's reluctance to get int a relationship with Maddie.

I thought he was being ridiculous—hesitating with her, because he believed she was only loving him because of her cancer.  I think maybe that was just an excuse.

I think the truth is, it's sometimes hard to go from fantasy to reality.

If we dream of having something and then it becomes available to us, it might be hard to adjust to that.  

There also might be a sense that it's a trick from the universe. It's dangling in front of us, but if we reach out to grab it, the universe will zap it away.

22. Felt sorry for Maddie, because Oscar is being overly careful with her. She wants to have fun. He wants her to be a proper cancer patient and take it easy.

But then I decided that's better than her being with an asshole who doesn't take her cancer seriously and pushes her to do more than she should.

A balanced attitude would be the best, but if I had to choose between the two, I'd rather have the overprotective one.

23. Read more of The Rosie Project.

I'm liking it.

The guy in the book is trying to find a partner and is using a picky questionnaire to find his perfect partner.

I think the idea of the story is he shouldn't be so picky. He should compromise and lower his standards.

Personally, I don't think it's a bad idea to be picky.  If you're already in love; then drop the standards. You might as well go with your feelings. But if you're looking for someone, why continue testing out someone who already doesn't meet up to your standards?

In the book, the guy's standards are mostly about superficial things—acceptable BMI, not vegan, no- smoking, not late, not picky about ice-cream flavors, etc.  

If I was making a list about deep things, it would probably be quite long. I could probably write a book on that. In fact, if one would go through my blog and cut out all I've already said on the topic, it would probably equal a whole series of books.  

When reading The Rosie Project, though, I wondered what would be my superficial things (IF I wasn't already married)

No smoking would probably be number one.  

Since I have a phobia of vomiting, I'd not do well with someone who has a strong gag reflex.  I also wouldn't want someone who gets drunk to the point of vomiting or takes food risks that would increase their chance of getting food poisoning.

On that note, I've become quite a germaphobe, so I'd probably want someone equal to me in that regard. If they're too less of a germaphobe than me, that will make me anxious. If they're much more of a germaphobe than me; then that will be really annoying. I mean I'm quite bad. So if they're much worse than me, that might be very extreme.

Last, but not least....

I have an aversion to tuna fish salad and mayonnaise, so I'd prefer someone who doesn't eat those things on a regular basis.  

24. Started watching a 2009 Tropfest finalist film.

It's called "Dream What You Want"

Sometimes I wish I could dream what I wanted to dream. But for the most part, I love the dreams given to me.

25. Wondered if this film is actually about a dream.

That would be cool. 

26. Got idea that it probably is a about a dream.

Strange things are happening.

27. Realized the title is probably literal.

The film seems to be about lucid dream control.

28. Thought about how I like being lucid in my dreams. I don't care much about having control.  I think if I had too much control, it wouldn't feel like a dream. It would feel like a very vivid fantasy.

29. Thought that I'd like enough control to be able to travel where I want to travel.

Last night I tried to get somewhere in my dream, and the journey was horribly slow and tedious. I wish I had enough control to have dream teleportation—or at least a super fast, flying car. 

However, once I got to where I want to go, I wouldn't want to decide what happens there or who's there. I certainly wouldn't want to have to come up with the dialogue.  

30. Saw that Dimitri Ellerington has been second unit director or assistant director on many projects.

I forget what those things are. Or I might not have ever known.

31. Thought that maybe the second unit director is the person who gets the shots that do not contain the storyline.  

32. Googled and saw that I'm actually right.

Go, me!

I'm so proud.

The second unit director gets the supplementary footage.

So...anyway.  

Dimitri Ellerington did this for The Babadook.  Looking again at his filmography, though, it seems he usually is the first assistant director.  I don't know what that is.  

33. Got the definition from IMDb. They have a glossary—didn't know that.

It seems the first assistant director does a lot of work with scheduling. Honestly, it doesn't sound like a very fun and creative job. 

Actually, it would probably be fun for someone who is into making lists and planning—someone who is very organized. 

I'd feel bad for a person who is stuck working in the job as a stepping stone for their own directing career.  It's probably great for an aspiring director to take on the job for a few projects. I'm sure it's very educational. But if they had to do it for a long time, I imagine they'd get frustrated.

34. Wondered about Ellerington. He's done a few short films, but it seems mostly he does assistant director work.  Is he happy with that?

I can picture two scenarios. In one he wants to direct his own full-length films but hasn't managed to get a project together. OR he's very happy with being an assistant director but sometimes likes to try his hand at directing short things.  

35. Saw that Alan Flowers, the star of "Dream What You Want" recently appeared in a movie called Psychoanalysis.  It's a comedy (presumably dark) with this premise:  When a psychologist loses five clients to suicide in a one week period he becomes obsessed with the idea that they were murdered by a rival psych.

It sounds interesting to me.

36. Watched the trailer for Psychoanalysis.

I think IMDb got it wrong about it being a comedy.

Well, they say it's a comedy-drama, but it looks much more like a drama.

37. Saw that Alan Flowers played a florist on All Saints.

I thought maybe I would have seen him, but he wasn't there until season six. I've only seen the first season, and the close-to-the last season.

38. Saw that Anna Lisa Phillips, the actress in "Dream What You Want" has a very long and impressive filmography.

She was in the miniseries The Devil's Playground—the new one, not the old.

39. Learned from Lord Wiki that the new The Devil's Playground is a sequel to the old The Devil's Playground.

I'm really loving all these sequels to old things.  Or at least I love the idea of them. I don't think I've actually watched any.

40. Saw that Anna Lisa Phillips is in a horror movie about wild dogs.

According to IMDb, it's going to be released in the US on February 5.  It doesn't have a release date for Australia, although it's an Australian movie.

41. Saw that Anna Lisa Phillips is appearing in an upcoming supernatural film called Backtrack.  It's about a psychologist who learns his patients are ghosts.

One of the actors in it is Michael Whalley. I just saw him on the cast list of the OTHER psychologist movie.

So Alan Flowers and Anna Lisa Phillips have two links that I know about. First they both starred in "Dream What You Want". Second, they both appeared in a 2015 psychology-related film with Michael Whalley.  

42. Watched the trailer for Backtrack.

It looks like a good movie.

I'm wondering if it's a ghost movie or if it's a maybe-ghost movie.

It might be one of those movies where you have to try to figure out if someone is seeing ghosts or if they're having hallucinations.

43. Saw that Anna Lisa Phillips played Julie in three episodes of The Secret Life of Us.

I don't remember who that is.

44. Consulted The Australian television website.

Julie was connected to Will (Joel Edgerton). She was around when he was going through his daredevil stage. I vaguely remember that.

45. Went to the Vimeo page of Dimitri Ellerington. He calls himself a freelance director.

I'm guessing he'd rather direct his own films than be the assistant on other films.

I could be wrong.

The other thing is, he could be happy doing short projects.

He might not be aspiring to make a full-length project.

46. Imagined that most directors probably want to make full-length projects.

47. Thought maybe I'm wrong.

With YouTube and all these film festivals, short films can probably be very rewarding.

48. Saw that Ellerington has a video featuring Don Hany—"The Road to Success"

I'm going to watch that.

49. Saw that the video was a trailer.

I'll have to see if the actual film is on Vimeo.

50. Found it.

51. Liked the film so far.

It's about annoying self-help books that end up causing anxiety and self-doubt rather than the success they promise.

Or at least it's what I think it's about.

The theme of this film somewhat connects to "Dream what You Want". One is about dream control; then this one is about life control.

If people can control their dreams and get what they want in their sleep; can they also control their real lives by having a positive attitude?

I don't think so.

What I'm wondering is what Dimitri Ellerington thinks about the whole thing.

52. Finished watching the film.

I like it, but I'm not sure what the message is.

I can't tell if it's in support of the positive thinking/laws of attraction mindset or against it.

So, what happens, is this guy is listening to a self help guru while trying to make breakfast.  He's trying to convince himself that he's a Ferrari type guy rather than a Ford one.  But it's hard, because he can't seem to make a simple breakfast. Everything goes wrong. Very wrong.  Ultimately, a toaster falls on his head. He goes unconscious. His breakfast aspirations have failed.

OR have they?

When the guy awakens, he finds himself in a hospital bed with a perfectly cooked breakfast.

53. Felt at first the film was mocking the laws of attraction idea. But then in the end, it seems to say if you want something, you'll get it even if your initial attempts fail.

54. Went to Dimitri Ellerington's website.

He's Romanian-English-Australian.

He grew up in London.

His film company is called Sixfoot6 films. Is that Ellerington's height?

I think it's a cute name.

55. Wanted to say that when I was into making my edited home movies, I called my films Flying Monkey films.

Yeah...just wanted to share that.

56. Learned that Ellerington was a production runner on Babe, and that's what inspired him to get into film.

That's sweet.

57. Saw that Ellerington IS (or was) working on a full-length film. It's called The Watched.

The description says it's a thriller that takes place in the Emerald City?

As in Oz...with the wizard?

Or is it Oz as in Australia?

Or does some other place use the name Emerald City?

58. Learned from Lord Wiki that Sydney, Seattle, and some city in the Philippines has the nickname Emerald City.

I'm going to guess that Ellerington's film refers to Sydney.

59. Went to Ellerington's Twitter which is pretty much all links to Instagram. So I'm just going to look at that.

60. Saw that Ellerington went to a Taylor Swift concert.

Is he a fan?

From what he says in his comments, it doesn't seem he looks forward to being swarmed by all the teens.

Does he like Taylor Swift enough to endure the crowd? Or did he go for a favor to someone else?

61. Saw that Ellerington was celebrating David Bowie weeks before Bowie died.

Of course, Bowie has many fans. He's been very famous through the years.

But it does seem like when someone famous dies, a huge number of people suddenly become vocal and demonstrative fans.

Were that many people talking about Robin Williams in the weeks before he died? Michael Jackson? Whitney Houston?

I saw this sweet Tweet around the time that Alan Rickman died. This person Tweeted that she hadn't realized he died. She thought people had just decided to randomly talk about how wonderful he is.  

62. Liked that Ellerington has a photo of himself with a zombie.

Speaking of....

Tonight we're planning to watch the last episode of Fear the Walking Dead. Or really, the last episode of the first season.

63. Saw that Ellerington has a photo of a girl with Rainbow Loom bracelets.

Maybe his daughter?

And maybe that's why he ended up going to a Taylor Swift concert.

He could be a fan, though.

My dad is a huge fan.

64. Saw a photo of the maybe-daughter eating bread with avocado and popcorn.

Interesting!

I think it would probably taste quite good.

Read my novel: The Dead are Online 

Disturbing Dreams, Disturbing Movies, Liberators, and Nathaniel Kiwi

1. Had dreams that were probably influenced by my recent IMDb adventures.

In the past I've appeared on The Secret Life of Us. I think about this and also think about how I've been on talk shows regarding Australia. I start wondering if I'm on IMDb because of all this. I'm afraid to check, though. I'm not sure if this is because I'm afraid of seeing my name or afraid of not seeing my name.

2. Dreamed that, I know I'm dreaming. I want to have more dreams about Australia. I start my quest by going to a zoo.  It's not a normal zoo, though. All the animals are statues. There's nothing alive. Still, I take the time to go into the Australian animal room.  

I decide I want something more. I'll go to Australia in my dreams. I'm on a time restraint, but decide to give it a go. I ask the powers-that-be to help me along. I start floating around through Texas...quite slowly. I am wondering how I'm going to make it all the way to Australia at this rate. I ask the powers-that-be if they could perhaps speed things up a bit—maybe zap me to California.  They don't seem to give my request any real consideration.

3. Had disturbing dreams likely influenced by The Snowtown Murders. The dreams involved me raping people and murdering children. I'm pretty sure I was a man in this particular dream. As for the children, they didn't seem real. I think they were dolls. I don't think I actually stabbed, shot, or did anything else disgusting like that. It was more like someone and myself made decisions about what was going to happen to the doll-kids.  It was like a very dark form of make-believe games.

The dream made me think that maybe this is how some vulnerable people become murderers. They don't see their actions and the situations as being real. Maybe it feels like a dream to them. Maybe it feels pretend—like a game. Or maybe they feel like they're on a movie set.  

4. Thought of the young adult novel I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga. It's about a teenager whose father is a serial killer.  The teen struggles with his identity and worries that he's going to be a serial killer too. One of the things he does is force himself to remember that the people he sees and encounters are real.  

It would be easier to kill people if we saw them as dolls, characters in a movie, or characters in our dream.  

In our dreams, we're probably the only real people. Everyone else is fictional, (sometimes I believe otherwise, but that's a different story) so it might be okay to kill them.  It's also okay to kill people in our daydreams or in the video games we play.  But when it comes to real life and real people, it's incredibly not okay. So we need to remind ourselves, when we're dealing with the real world, that we're in reality and we're dealing with real people who are NOT disposable figments of our imagination. 

What's scary, though, is the idea we might confuse our reality with our dreams. I used to be nervous that I'd accidentally kill myself. In my lucid dreams, I'd often ask myself if I was dreaming. When I determined I was, I'd jump off some kind of high balcony. Then I started to worry that one day I'd get it wrong and jump off something high when I was awake.  

5. Had some homeschooling time with Jack. He said when we finished our US history for the day, he wanted to show me this blog about someone traveling to each country without using airplanes.

We started reading the first entry, and we learned that the adventurer is Australian.  

No! Wait.

I just looked again. The guy's girlfriend is Australian. Oops.

The guy doing the traveling is from Liverpool.

However, while I'm on the subject of randomly running into cool projects done by Australians, I found one the other day. It was after I posted my blog entry for the day. Sometimes if I see an exciting Australian thing after I've already posted, it gets forgotten. Or really, I'm too lazy to write about it...probably because there is already so much to write about.

But I'll write about it now.

I watched this lovely video where these people get on a train and pass out the lyrics to "Somewhere over the Rainbow". Then they have a sing-a-long with a bunch of strangers. It's so sweet. 

After watching the video, I checked out the YouTube channel—Liberators International. Is it just me, or does that sort of sound like a terrorist group?

But these guys don't participate in guerilla warfare. Instead they do peaceful and fun things to get strangers to bond with each other.

Anyway, my point to all this is, I eventually learned through my exploring that the main guy running the show is Australian—I think from Perth, probably. 

6. Explored the website of The Liberators to see if I'm right about them being from Perth. It wasn't overly easy to find the information. Location is not mentioned a lot. I had to Google the name of a festival. That ended up being in Perth.  So I'm right about that. Good!

7. Felt less impressed with The Liberators private function services. You can hire them for your events and help people bond with each other.  

It's not a BAD thing, but it kind of just sounds like a glorified DJ.

I much prefer the idea of getting strangers to sing on a train together.  

8. Saw that the leader of The Liberators, Peter Sharp, has his own website. 

He calls himself a social artist. 

9. Followed the link to Peter Sharp's blog.

From the blog and other websites, I'm getting the idea that his biggest project is an eye contact thing—getting people to stare at a stranger for a minute.

I wouldn't even want to stare in the eyes of someone I know for a whole minute.  

10. Decided I much prefer the singing on a train thing.

11. Watched the video promotion of the eye contact experiment. 

There were some sweet moments. I'll give it that.

I know, though, that for me personally I'd feel uncomfortable and embarrassed. 

I think other people might feel very uncomfortable about being on a train with strangers singing together.  

So...it's probably a good idea to have a variety of bonding experiences.  

12. Looked at the tagline of the eye contact video. True Connection is Our Pathway to Peace.

I think another pathway to peace is understanding that there are many different ways to connect and what works for some doesn't work for others.  

13. Read an article about people who don't like eye contact.

I didn't understand it, unfortunately.

14. Wanted to say that I don't hate all eye contact. I like short little moments of eye contact.  I just don't like it when it becomes long and intense.

15. Started thinking negative things which is making me feel bad.

It's about the train video. I love it. But now I'm thinking it's a bit invasive.

The thing is, what if you're too shy too sing?  Or what if the whole thing makes you embarrassed? Then you get caught on video looking bored and uptight.  

Though I love these viral video things of random people singing or dancing, it can be kind of unfair to people who don't want to be on video.  

16. Thought the best solution was to continue with these flash mob type things, but not videotape them. 

That's never going to happen, though.  

The world is one mass YouTube movie now, and we're all a part of it.  That scares me and bothers me a bit, but I also kind of love it.  

17. Started watching an episode of Scooter: Secret Agent.

The premise is interesting to me.

It's about children, from the past, who admitted to faking fairy photos. I think it's based on a true story.

On the show's version of the story, an elderly women talks about what she and her co-conspirator did as children. Yes, they faked the photographs. HOWEVER, the fairies were real. It's just they couldn't be photographed, so the children made fake photographs.

I like that twist.  

18. Consulted Lord Wiki.

It turns out the version I'm seeing on the show is more based on the true story than I thought.

The two cousins, Elsie Wright and Frances Griffiths, did claim at some points that despite the fake photography, the fairies had been real.

19. Saw from IMDb that the episode aired on April 1. I guess the show's creators felt the date fit well with the hoax theme. 

20. Saw that despite airing on April 1, the show took the believer stance.

21. Started watching more of The Snowtown Murders.

It's a very disturbing movie.

I just watched a scene where the serial killer ringleader, John Bunting (Daniel Henshall), coerces Jamie (Lucas Pittaway) into shooting John's dog.

22. Saw the first human-murder in the movie. Bunting rationalizes it by saying the victim was a junkie and a waste.

I think that's another way people get themselves okay with murder.  They look upon the victim as being inferior and therefore less deserving of life.  

23. Had to admit that I view some people as being inferior to myself.

For example...John Bunting. I definitely feel superior to him.

Despite these feelings, though, I'm not thinking it's okay to go out and kill anyone.

I think it's okay and natural to feel superior to some other people. But it's not a great idea to go out and kill them—the main reason being that someone else might see us as the inferior ones.  

It's like the whole golden rule thing.

Don't kill shitty people, because someone else might think you're the shitty person; and you wouldn't want them killing you. Right?  

24. Felt that The Snowtown Murders was one of the most unpleasant movies I've ever seen.

One thing I appreciate about it, though, is that the characters aren't all completely unsympathetic.

I feel for Jamie, because the film shows him NOT being okay with the murders. It's not like he happily and whole-heartedly joined the murder team. The film portrays him as being very scared and reluctant.  He seems like a decent kid who got partnered up with the wrong mentor.

25. Finished watching the movie, which is a relief. 

I'm glad to be done with it. 

Well, I hope I'm done with it.

I hope it doesn't visit me in my dreams. 

26. Looked at the filmography of Justin Kurzel, the director of The Snowtown Murders.

He's the director of the Macbeth movie that came out recently.

I imagine it's a very dark version of the story. Then again, it would be very hard to make a happy-light version of Macbeth.  

27. Looked at Kurzel's upcoming video-game based movie—Assassin's Creed.  Michael Fassbender is one of the stars of that, and he's also the title star of Macbeth.

Maybe Kurzel and Fassbender are friends?

28. Saw that Fassbender is going to be one of the stars of The Light Between Oceans.

29. Saw that Kurzel is married to Essie Davis. 

30. Watched the trailer for Macbeth.

It looks very good.

I think Macbeth is my favorite Shakespeare play, though, I can't say I'm one of those big Shakespeare fans. 

I once wrote a screenplay that involved Macbeth. It was inspired by Andrew Hubatsek from Pet Sematary.  I think I've mentioned here before that Hubatsek is one of my minor life obsessions.  

I'm trying to remember the screenplay. 

There was a woman who had a life-long fear of a horror movie monster. It might have been so bad that she had to seek psychological care.  I think maybe she ends up trying to face the fear by seeing the actor? Meeting him?  That might be a bit stalkerish.

Maybe she was just supposed to see one of his theatrical performances.  

I don't know.

I think they end up falling in love. The actor is in a performance of Macbeth as Banquo. When the woman sees him looking all bloody and scary, she has a relapse.  I think?

There's a gay best friend in there somewhere as well. I vaguely remember that.

The thing I'm trying to figure out is this. Andrew Hubatsek is an actor in a New York theater. They do Shakespeare sometimes. Did I know that? I'm guessing I did. But another part of me is wondering if coincidentally I made something up that was close to the truth.  Because I think I wrote the screenplay before it was really easy to Google people.  

31. Realized if I did make it up, it's not a huge coincidence. It wouldn't be unusual for a not-overly-successful film actor to be working successfully in local theater.  

What happens to most of these actors who have one or two very memorable roles in horror and sci-fi movies, and then vanish from IMDb?  They probably either do local theater or they do conventions. 

If my character became a veterinarian who specialized in hamsters and then I read the same thing happened in Andrew Hubatsek's life, THAT would be a coincidence.

32. Wanted to watch a short film and blab on and on.

This post is so long, though.

I'm trying to reassure myself. No one reads these posts in their entirety. They just skip around and find what's interesting to them. Right?

But I worry that someone out there is anal like me and forcing themselves to read the whole thing.

I HAVE made stupid rules about having to read a long blog entry in it's entirety. Then I start getting aggravated with the blogger.

No...wait. Actually, I stopped reading them after awhile. With this one particular blog, the posts were very long. So eventually, I stopped reading the whole posts. I read the first sentence of each paragraph and then the whole paragraph if it sounded interesting to me.  

Or maybe that's not it. Maybe I read the paragraphs that were around the photos that interested me.

I'm not sure, really.

It doesn't really matter, though.

33. Started to watch a 2007 tropfest film called "Pig Latin". 

34. Stopped watching the movie, because I remembered I need to go to Random.org and pick my next full-length thing to watch. 

I was going to wait until after I finished "Pig Latin", but now I can't get my mind off of my show-picking ritual.  

35. Had Random.org pick my next show.

Strangely, it turns out it's a short film.  

I  didn't know I added short films to the list. But that's cool.  

The movie is called Glenn Owen Dodds, and it stars David Wenham.  

If it doesn't involve murder and torture, I'll be grateful.

36. Went back to watching "Pig Latin".

The woman in it looks familar to me.

37. Saw that Stephen Curry is in the movie. Or at least I think it's Stephen Curry.

38. Wondered why the movie suddenly changed from black and white to color.

Unlike the Wizard of Oz and that surfing movie, the change seemed very random.

39. Finished watching the movie.

I think the main point of it all was to make policemen look stupid.

40. Saw that I was right about Stephen Curry.  

He's in the credits. 

41. Looked at the Thanks part of the credits. I love those.

In this one, they thank Saffron the cat.

I wonder if Saffron is still alive.  

42. Thought Saffron is a cool cats name.

Actually, I think it would be a cool human name as well.  

43. Saw that there's an actress named Saffron Burrows.

She was in The Deep Blue Sea. 

44. Went to Pig Latin's IMDb page.

45. Saw that Nathaniel Kiwi, the writer and director, appeared as a paramedic in the Nicholas Cage movie The Knowing.

That was Kiwi's last film role.  

46. Saw that Pig Latin was Kiwi's last film project.

Why?

And what is he doing now?

47. Looked at the 2002 TV series Flipside.  It was a comedy show. Kiwi was one of the writers and also acted in it.

It was kind of a Curry family thing—with Stephen Curry, Bernard Curry, and Andrew Curry.  

48. Realized I don't know for sure that Andrew is related to Stephen and Bernard.

I kind of just assumed. 

49. Looked at Andrew's bio on IMDb. 

He IS a brother to Stephen and Bernard. 

I'm guessing that they're all friends with Nathaniel Kiwi. Or they were friends with him once upon a time.  

50. Saw that Andrew Curry is the eldest of the Curry Brothers.

He's a few months older than me.

51. Found out what Nathaniel Kiwi is up to.

He's become an artist—the type that uses a canvas and gets their work hung up on a wall.  I'm trying to clarify, because filmmakers can be seen as artists as well.

52. Started to watch a video about Nathaniel Kiwi's art.

53. Thought about the possibility of this being a different Nathaniel Kiwi.

But I doubt it. 

How many Nathaniel Kiwis are there in Australia?  It's hard for me to imagine it's a common name. 

54. Thought that one of Kiwi's artistic themes is American pop culture.  

There's a lot of Coke stuff.

55. Liked Kiwi's artistic style, and I also think his video is very cool.

56. Went to Kiwi's Instagram. 

It shows his artwork. I think I saw a lot of it in his video, but this allows me to get a closer look.

It's also easier for me to link to it.

57. Liked his animal masks. They're kind of scary, but in a cool kind of way. 

58. Liked the bright colors in this painting. 

59. Thought this elephant and penguin picture was sweet. Sort of. The penguins look a bit sad and scared. 

60. Loved the giraffe picture.

61. Wondered about the meaning behind all the McDonalds/Toy Soldier paintings.  Here's one of them. 

Maybe it's about America's aggressiveness—both with their military and consumer culture.

62. Had verification that I have the right Nathaniel Kiwi, because I've continued to be sort of worried about that.

But here. He has a painting of Stephen Curry. 

63. Went back to "Pig Latin" on IMDb. 

I want to look at some of the actors.

64. Looked at the actress who looked familar to me. Her name's Diana Greentree. I think the only thing I might have seen her in is House Husbands. She played a celebrant in one of the episodes. 

65. Saw that one of the actors in "Pig Latin", Charlie Clausen, is a major Home and Away star now.  

Or at least he was. IMDb lists his last episode as being October 2015.

But maybe they just haven't updated lately? 

66. Saw that Clausen was on McLeod's Daughters! And it was the season I watched.

He played Jake.

I remember him, I think. I'm pretty sure he was that guy who was dating Becky (Jessica Napier). 

67. Googled and saw I'm right.

68. Saw that Andrew Neil, the guy who did the sound for "Pig Latin" has a VERY impressive filmography.  

He's done work for Wentworth, Patrick, Animal Kingdom, Mao's Last Dancer, Bran Nue Dae, The Proposition, Salem's Lot, Holy Smoke, and a zillion other things. 

69. Saw that Jane Forbes, the script supervisor for "Pig Latin, also has a huge filmography as well. 

Her projects include Grace and Frankie, Slide, Wilfred, The Pacific, Underbelly, Rush, Sea Patrol, McLeod's Daughters, Charlotte's Web, Scooter: Secret Agent, Stingers, and a lot of other stuff. 

Read my novel: The Dead are Online 

Sort of Funny, Barry, Trying to Create a Popular Franchise, and Burleigh Smith

1. Started watching an episode of Review with Myles.

The first part made me laugh out loud, which is good. Because today I was thinking that I regret leaving the show on my to-watch list.

I don't hate the show. I think it has some nice deep thoughts. I just don't usually find it very funny...even though it's a comedy.

So, I was glad to have something, on the show, make me laugh.  

2. Decided I usually see Review with Myles as being more interesting-funny than laugh-out-loud funny.  

There's stuff I find amusing but usually not amusing enough to get a laugh out of me.

3. Saw that one of the Barrys is on this episode.

I forgot his last name. It's not Humphrey or Otto.

Maybe it's Otto.

It's the one who sang The Neighbours theme.

Barry Crocker? Is that it? Or am I getting confused with Betty Crocker.

He's the guy who was in the movie that's not starring Barry Humphries, but was maybe written by Barry Humphries.

My mind goes so blank sometimes.

4. Googled. 

The actor IS Barry Crocker. The movie is yet another Barry—The Adventures of Barry McKenzie. 

Barry Humphries co-wrote the movie along with Bruce Beresford. He also DID star in it. I guess I knew he was in it. Or Dame Edna is in it.  What I really meant is he isn't the main star; he isn't the title character.

5. Wondered. Is there a Barry Otto, or did I make that up?

6. Saw that there is indeed an Australian actor named Barry Otto.

Is he related to Miranda?

7. Saw that Barry is Miranda's daddy.

I probably already learned that once upon a time—back when I wrote a post about Miranda Otto.

8. Finished watching the episode.

9. Started to watch the rest of I, Frankenstein.

10. Thought about how I'd probably like this movie more if it was only about the continuation of Frankenstein's story and the mad scientist stuff.  I could do without the war between the gargoyles and demons.

It almost feels like there were two movie ideas—a Frankenstein sequel and a gargoyle/demon war. Then someone decided to combine the two.

11. Figured the problem is Frankenstein is more science-fiction horror—as far as I know. Then gargoyles and demons are more religious-supernatural horror.  I don't know if I like the mix of the two that much.

Well, I don't like it in this particular case.  

I do like it in The Strain.

12. Wondered if that's true.

Maybe I'd actually prefer The Strain without the supernatural stuff. 

13. Thought that Farscape is a better example of a show, I like, that combines the supernatural and science fiction.  

Well, at least there're some bits of mysticism—life after death ideas.

14. Felt I am probably just burned out on the whole mythical creatures genre—angels, demons, vampires, witches, etc.

I used to love that stuff.

15. Finished watching the movie.

I thought it was pretty bad.

26. Thought that maybe the dialogue was the worst part.

The lines were really corny.

I guess that could be excused by the idea that Frankenstein is a scientific-creation. Maybe his speech skills aren't well developed. 

In general, though, I felt it was that kind of movie that wasn't made by the heart. Instead, it seems made by people hoping to create a popular franchise.  I especially got that feeling with the last scene and the last lines of dialogue. 

27. Wondered if there really are movies made by people who don't care about the story and characters and just want to make money.  Or does it just feel that way when a movie fails to entertain us?

I mean maybe the people who made I, Frankenstein really DID put their heart and soul into it. 

28. Wondered if there were any movies put together just for the purpose of making a box office hit, and the movie actually turned out to be well-liked and critically acclaimed.

I'd also wonder the same thing about books and TV shows.

Are there any well-loved books out there where the author started with the questions, What's popular and what's going to make me a lot of money?

29. Figured it might be hard to find the answer to the above questions, because if books, movies, or TV shows like that exist, I'm not sure the creator is going to want to admit they were just trying to make something that would appeal to the masses.  

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

It's the kid's show Scooter: Secret Agent.

That might be fun. 

31. Started to look at Scooter: Secret Agent on IMDb. 

I don't really recognize any of the main cast, except Tony Nikolakopoulos in a very vague way.

I'm kind of disappointed.

I like watching Aussie stuff where people are very familar to me. It's kind of comforting

We could say Dan Wylie is sort of like my security blanket.

32. Looked at some of the guest cast and starting getting happy.

So far I see Ryan Corr and Dena Kaplan. That's awesome.

Anyone else?

Nicholas Bell. I used to love him, but now he's gone down a few notches for being in the Frankenstein movie.  

Yeah. I hold grudges sometimes. I'm still unloving Damien Richardson for attacking Kelly (Deborah Mailman) on The Secret Life of Us.

33. Saw Damien Fotiou from Neighbours!

I think of that guy every time I don't want to cry in public. I bitched about Nick's how-not-to-cry-at-funerals advice. But then that advice came very much in handy when we went to see Inside Out. 

And I've used it since then. I think the last time might have been at The America Adventure attraction at Epcot. That song really gets to me. 

It's not that I'm super patriotic or anything. But it reminds me of my childhood.  

Also...though I'm not very patriotic about the United States. I AM very patriotic about Disney World.

34. Saw Kim Gyngell appears on an episode.

I've seen him in various things, but for some reason the thing that sticks out is his surgeon role on The Secret Life of Us. 

35. Saw Nicolai Nikolaeff in the credits, and wondered if he's from The Saddle Club.

I know I've seen him in something, and The Saddle Club is what comes to mind.  

36. Saw that yes, he's from The Saddle Club. And he was also on Camp.

37. Started to watch a 2007 Tropfest Finalist film.

This one is called "Mere Oblivion".

38. Saw Kate Ritchie in the opening credits.

Cool!

39. Liked the music used for the film.

I'm pretty sure it's jazz, but I can be pretty ignorant about music. So I might be wrong.

40. Finished watching the movie.

I think it was pretty good.  

Kate Ritchie had a VERY small role. She was in a only a photograph that was shown for about two seconds.

41. Looked at the director of Mere Oblivion on IMDb—Burleigh Smith.  He's made a lot of short films. It seems to be his thing.  

42. Learned from Lord Wiki that Burleigh Smith sees Woody Allen as his biggest influence.

I can see that.

The film had a Woody Allen aura to it.

43. Learned that Smith's film Ragtime features Bridie Carter and John Waters. 

44. Saw that Bridie Carter has been in two of Smith's films.

45. Learned that Smith is going to be making/releasing a full feature film called You Can't Play the Game If You Don't Know the Rules. 

46. Hoped to one day see Smith's short film "Why I Hate the Left".  Lord Wiki says it's supposed to be released on Christmas Day.

Released where?

Oh! Okay. I reread the information. It's going to be spread among the film festivals.  

Hopefully it will be on YouTube or Vimeo someday.

I don't go to film festivals.

47. Thought maybe I should go to a film festival someday.

Jack's been interested in film lately.

It might be a good thing for our family to do together someday.

48. Got idea from Lord Wiki that "Why I Hate the Left" is actually anti-left. I was imagining it was more of a parody of people hating the left or at least something that makes fun of both sides of the politics.

Lord Wiki, though, gives me the idea that it really is anti-left. He says, The film is a reaction to Outrage Culture, Feminazism, Social Justice Warriors, political correctness and Left-Wing entitlement.

Wow.

Interesting!

College Students, Random Picture Of Ailsa Stewart, Clouds, and Tropfest

1. Remembered that I had a dream about Melbourne. I think it was last night, but maybe it was the night before.

When I woke up this morning, I could hardly remember any of my dreams. Then I started reading an old blog post where I mentioned dreaming about Australia. This is when I remembered the Melbourne dream.

Anyway....

In the dream, I get a brochure about going to university in Melbourne. It looks very nice. I'm wishing I was young and could take advantage of such an opportunity.

I'm envious of the young Americans who go to University in Australia—so envious, that I kind of despise these people.  

The thing is, though, I didn't have an interest in Australia back in my college days. I don't think I had any interest in extensive international traveling.  

2. Figured I'm more envious of these young college students for their desires and ambitions than I am for their received opportunities.  

I wish I had wanted to travel back then. I wish I went to college abroad or did one of those work-tourism things.  

3. Reminded myself that I had a very lovely and interesting college experience—even though it was still in my own country.  It was one of the best times of my life. I'm not sure I'd want to trade it in for something else...if things like that were possible.  

4. Saw something weird on Twitter. I can't figure it out.

I went to see the top trends.

The first one, on the list, is "Stroke". I thought it referred to someone famous having a medical issue, but instead it turns out to be a sports thing.  

5. Looked again and saw the word is "Stoke" NOT stroke.

Oops.

Anyway, Twitter has the photos related to the trend. Most of them involve team players wearing red and white stripes.

But then among all these photos is an old Home and Away photo. It's Ailsa (Judy Nunn).

6. Wondered if maybe I'm wrong and it's not her.

Or maybe it's Judy Nunn, but she's not being Ailsa. 

7. Looked again. It looks like Ailsa. It looks like she's talking to someone in their shop.  

8. Clicked on the picture.  It's a Tweet from someone named Paddy Power. He says, 

On the other bench Mark Hughes is just sitting there expressionless, like he knew Stoke would win easy.

So, he used Ailsa Stewart to illustrate the Tweet. That's kind of random.

9. Wondered if Paddy Power is a big Home and Away fan.

10. Looked at Paddy Power's other Twitter photos. He does it a lot—uses scenes from movies and television to illustrate his Tweets.

11. Started watching more of Drift.

The title describes what my mind does while watching the movie.

Actually, I play QuizUp while watching. My attention is split.

I also sometimes play while watching Farscape and other shows that I like. So playing the game isn't necessarily a reflection of how much I like or dislike a show. Though I do feel kind of guilty playing while watching something I like, because the game does take away some of my attention.

12. Thought about how there are certain movies and shows I like, but parts of it are boring to me. This is the case with Farscape. Some of the action sequences are tedious to me. I'm not really into that.

13. Thought about how Drift isn't just a surfing movie. It's also a business-biography type story—sort of like The Social Network.

14. Stopped watching Drift for today. I'll watch more tomorrow, probably.

15. Learned from Australia Twitter trends that Taylor Swift is doing a concert in Brisbane. It looks like it's happening now.

What time is it in Brisbane?

16. Looked at my weather phone app, because it also gives local times.

It's 2 am in Brisbane. Do concerts usually go on that late at night?

17. Remembered that my dad took Jack and his cousins to a Taylor Swift concert. They didn't come  home in the wee hours of the morning.

18. Started to watch an episode of Farscape. This one takes me back to the Aeryn Sun (Claudia Black) group. She'll be busy with mourning Crichton, because on her episode string, he's dead.

19. Confused by the episode, so far. But maybe it will get more clear to me later.

20. Thought about talking to dead people, because that's what this episode of Farscape is about.

I think the general mindset of this episode, and Farscape in general, is that there IS life after death.It is possible to communicate with the dead. However, one message of this particular episode is that there are charlatans out there.

I agree with all that.

I believe in life after death; although not with 100% certainty.

I also believe that people will fake communication with the dead. Often it's for monetary gain. Other times it's done for fun, a laugh, cruelty, or to try to ease a mourning person's pain.

21. Continued to wonder if Aeryn remembers there's another living Crichton (Ben Browder) somewhere out there.

He was at least mentioned by some of the other characters—but not to Aeryn.

22. Thought about how it's hard enough to know what to say when someone is grieving. But what the hell do you say when that person is mourning someone who happens to have an exact double out there. Do you remind them? Do you keep quiet about it?

I would guess you'd keep quiet about it.

It would be such a weird situation.

23. Wanted to make it clear that I'm NOT talking about twins.

I don't think it would help any mourning person to remind them that the dead person has a twin that's still alive.

24. Learned about Trent Zimmerman from Twitter.

I think I might have seen his name in the news too, but I didn't give it much attention.

I'm seeing from Twitter that Zimmerman is openly gay, and he took the place of Joe Hockey.

I'm also seeing that he's Liberal, but I don't know if they mean he's from the Liberal Party; or if it means he has liberal views. Where I come from, having liberal views means you're on the left.

Life is confusing.

25. Started to read an article.

Zimmerman IS from the Liberal Party. He recently won the seat of North Sydney. What I'm starting to understand is that there were doubts the Liberal Party could keep that seat, but Zimmerman saved the day.

26. Guessed that Hockey used to have the seat of North Sydney, and that's what people were talking about on Twitter when they said he was replacing Hockey.

27. Consulted Lord Wiki.

He says Hockey had the North Sydney seat from 1996-2015.

28. Figured that, once upon a time, I actually knew Hockey had that seat, and it wasn't just a guess.

But I forget things a lot.

29. Confused about the article saying that Zimmerman is the first openly gay person in the Lower House.

I had to look up the Lower House thing. It's the un-senate house. That makes sense, because Bob Brown is openly gay, and he was in the Senate.

But what about Penny Wong?  I thought she was in the non-Senate group.

30. Googled.

Penny Wong is in the Senate.

I did not know that.

Although, again, I probably did know that...at one point.

31. Started to look at Palg1305's MacDonnell Range album.

I was thinking that was in South Australia, but I see from the description, on the album, that it's in the Northern Territory.

Now I feel stupid.

32. Thought this was a lovely photo—probably because of the clouds. I'm big on clouds lately.

I think they have a way of brightening up a photo.

Or maybe "brightening" is the wrong word. A better word would be "improve".  I think clouds make photos look better.

33. Thought about how I used clouds for my The Dead Are Online book cover.

I took the photo in Austin.

34. Liked the clouds in this photo as well.

35. Liked this photo; although there are not many clouds.

36. Thought this was a cool tree picture.

I like clouds; and I also like trees.

37. Went to my own Australia album to see if I have any good cloud photos.

Here're some clouds at McMahon's point. They're not that great—kind of wispy. I prefer the fluffy kind.

38. Found some clouds at Manly Beach. It looks like they're about to have a battle with the Norfolk Pines.

39. Liked the kind of eerie mix of clouds and tree in this photo.

40. Thought of The Secret Life of Us when I saw clouds in this St. Kilda photo.

41. Thought that this was another good tree-cloud photo.

The clouds are very impressive.

42. Thought that the clouds in this Dalysford photo looked kind of fake.

43. Wondered if it's strange that I'm giving so much attention to clouds.

It probably is, but what the heck. I've done MUCH weirder things.

44. Found another good mix of clouds and trees.

45. Found some clouds with the Big Merino from our 2009 trip.

46. Learned from Twitter that Tropfest got a financial backer, and all is well in that area.

That's good!

I didn't realize they were in any trouble.

47. Saw from the Tropfest website that they're the largest short film festival in the world.

That's pretty cool.

48. Tried to find other websites that agree with the Tropfest website regarding it being the largest short film festival.

I'm having a hard time of it.

49. Saw from Lord Wiki that there was supposed to be a Tropfest festival today, and it was canceled.

50. Read an article about the situation.

Tropfest was canceled because of a misuse of funds.

Then CGU Insurance Company came along and said they'd pay for the event. It's going to be February 14, 2016.

Awesome.

51. Thought about how the insurance company deserves gratitude.

How often does that happen?

52. Went to the CGU Insurance website.

They deal with all kinds of insurance —home, car, life, travel, caravan, etc.

I wonder if that's typical.

Do most insurance companies cover that range?

53. Figured that sometimes insurance companies probably DO help people.

It's just often I hear of them not being helpful. It's hard to love them.

54. Thought about how my insurance anger has been mostly directed at medical insurance.

Maybe they're the worst ones, and other insurance companies are less awful.

Well, at least one insurance company supports the film industry. That's a good thing!

55. Saw that Tropfest has gone international.

There's a Tropfest in New York now.

56. Clicked on the 2009 finalists, because I think the guy in the photo is from House Husbands.

57. Saw that the movie with the maybe House Husbands guy is called "Being Carl Williams".

It's written and directed by Abe Forsythe. The name sounds familar. Maybe that's the name of the actor from House Husbands.

58. Looked at Abe Forsythe on IMDb. He appeared on House Husbands, but isn't the guy I'm thinking about.  I'm thinking of one of the main stars, and Forsythe only appeared in one episode.

59. Saw that Abe Forsythe has directed an upcoming dark comedy about the Cronulla riots.

60. Looked up the House Husband actor on IMdb. His name is Gyton Grantley, and he IS the star of "Being Carl Williams".

61. Started watching the film.

62. Recognized another actor in the film.

I just saw him in something recently.

Oh! I remember. It was Mystery Road.

63. Saw that I'm wrong and confused.

The actor in the movie is Damon Gameau, and he was not in Mystery Road.

The Mystery Road actor is Damien Walshe-Howling.

Sorry about that.

64. Saw that Patrick Brammall is in the movie; and this is making me wonder if I maybe watched this before. It did seem vaguely familar to me...sort of.  And it would make sense that I watched the movie while writing my post about Brammall.

65. Concluded that I've seen this movie before.

It's about this guy (Grantley) who once played the criminal Carl Williams in a miniseries, and he's mistaken for the real thing.

Although...now I'm kind of remembering a certain twist to the story.

66. Realized that Grantley plays himself in the movie. Well, when his character gives his name, he says it's Gyton Grantley.

67. Saw that when asked what he's been in, Grantley names films from his real filmography.

68. Listened to Birds of Tokyo while making latkes with Tim.

69. Went back to watching "Being Carl Williams".

70. Finished watching the movie. It didn't end the way I expected...or falsely remembered.

I liked it, though.

71. Decided that I liked the real ending much more than the ending I had in my head.

Read my novel: The Dead are Online  

The Secret Life of Us, Farscape, Mystery Road, and Tim Tams

1. Started watching an episode of The Secret Life of Us.

2. Liked Kelly's (Deborah Mailman) voice-over.  Sometimes you can feel that a moment's coming when you have to make a defining choice. Either it will lift you towards perfect happiness or spiral you down towards despair. 

What if your choice plunges someone else into despair. Does that mean your happiness is tainted? 

I think if the happiness isn't tainted, the happy person is a cold and selfish person.

That's not to say we can't live our lives doing things to make other people happy—especially when it makes us feel unhappy. But if we can hurt other people and not feel bad about it; I think that's pretty low.

3. Thought that Bree (Brooke Harman) is adorable. She has really grown on me. When I first started watching the season, I saw her as being quite annoying.

4. Liked Kelly's closing voice-over.  I used to think that if you brought all the elements of your life into balance, you could obtain perfect happiness. Now I see that—for me, anyway—There's just going to be the odd glimpse of perfection. Just a moment; then it's gone. And in between those moments, I'll be okay. I'll be waiting for the next one to come along.

5. Finished with the last season of The Secret Life of Us. Now I just have the clip-episodes left.

I think the season was probably underrated.

It was hard to adjust to all the cast changes, but once I did, I liked the show a lot.

I really think I prefer the new cast members to the original ones.

6. Consulted Lord Wiki about Bindi Irwin winning Dancing with the Stars.

I wanted to see what songs she danced too.

The reason for this is, I heard this song somewhere. I could picture people dancing to it and got the idea I might have seen it in a clip from Dancing with the Stars.

Anyway, I haven't seen that song yet. But I did see that Irwin and her partner danced to "Cry Little Sister" from Lost Boys. That's very cool.

7. Watched some of the video of the dance.

8. Did not see the song I was thinking of.

I don't even know the name of the song.

It's something about beautiful.

9. Found the song. It's "Beneath Your Beautiful" by Labrinth.

I don't know why I associate it with Bindi Irwin dancing.

10. Started watching The Secret Life of Us clip-show episode.

11. Realized that Joel Edgerton has a slight resemblance to Stephen Curry.

I'm wondering if Curry was brought on as a sort of replacement to Edgerton.

Then also, Anna Torv seems like she's sort of a replacement for Sibylla Budd.

12. Decided that Nicholas Coghlan could be a replacement for Damien de Montemas

13. Hoped this clip show helps me remember what happened to Richie (Spencer McLaren), Miranda Abi Tucker), and Gabrielle (Budd) Because I can't remember. Where did they go? Did they leave Melbourne? Australia? Who did they end up with?

I'm trying to remember if Gabrielle ended up with Tidy (Spielman), or not.

14. Realized that the fight between Stu (Curry) and Christian (Michael Dorman) was never resolved.

15. Started watching the second part of the clip show.

16. Finished watching the clip show.

I'm officially done with The Secret Life of Us.

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

It's a movie called Mystery Road.

I'll probably start watching that when we get home.

18. Saw from IMDb that Aaron Pedersen, from The Secret Life of Us is in the movie.

Other actors familiar to me: Hugo Weaving, Ryan Kwanten, Jack Thompson, Roy Billings, and Damian Walshe-Howling.

19. Started watching an episode of Farscape.

So far, it's quite entertaining.

20. Wondered if Crais (Lani John Tupu) is my favorite character.

I have a weakness for bad-turned-good characters.

21. Saw that the top trending Twitter topic in Australia, right now, is about the photos of Princess Charlotte.

She's actually quite cute.

I'm not the type of person who's typically interested in royalty or babies. But Charlotte was cute enough to make me want to tell Tim and Jack about the photos.

22. Surprised that Farscape is continuing to have the double Crichton's (Ben Browder)

23. Started to watch another episode of Farscape. This one features the other group that wasn't in the previous episode I watched.

I realized that Ben Browder isn't the only one acting in both groups. Lani John Topu is as well. In this episode, he's playing Pilot. In the episode I watched yesterday, he played Crais.

24. Saw that the episode I'm watching now features Francesca Buller.  She's married to Ben Browder. It's funny, because yesterday I consulted Lord Wiki about Browder and learned that he married someone from the show. Then today I'm watching one of the episodes that features his wife.

This episode is actually not the first to feature Buller. She was on two episodes in season two but played a different character.

25. Looked again and saw that Buller was actually in three episodes before this one and has played a total of three different characters on the show.

26. Learned that Buller played the hungry plant woman in the episode "Born to Be Wild". I remember her!

27. Wondered if many science fiction fans have attempted to watch The Secret Life of Us. Because two of the actors from the show (Anna Torv and Gigi Edgley) have been on science fiction shows with pretty big fandoms (Fringe and Farscape)

28. Checked Gigi Edgley's filmography. She was on The Secret Life of Us after Farscape.

Anna Torv started Fringe three years after The Secret Life of Us.

29. Decided not to wait until getting home to start watching Mystery Road.

30. Started to watch the movie.

At first, it looked like it might be science-fiction horror, and I got kind of excited.

But now I'm getting the idea it's a murder-mystery type thing.

31. Started to get an idea of what this movie is about.

There's an Aboriginal man (Aaron Pedersen) who has a job as a detective.  His coworkers are white men. A young Aboriginal woman has been murdered, and the white people don't see the case as being important. They trivialize it.

So, it's a political-type murder mystery.

32. Looked at the plot description on IMDb. It's similar to what I thought it would be.

I'm not saying I'm psychic or brilliant—just pointing out what I gathered about the movie after watching about twenty-five minutes of it.

33. Figured while looking for movies to add to my to-watch list, I probably saw a plot description. So I could have gotten ideas back then and remembered on a subconscious level.

That being said, even without previously seeing any plot description, I could have probably figured out what the plot of the movie was after watching it for twenty-five minutes.

I'm sure most people could do that with most movies. I'm not trying to say that anything fabulous has happened here.

I'm just blabbing away...rather aimlessly.

34. Started to think this movie reminded me of something else I've seen—another story about a young Aboriginal woman being murdered.  Then I realized I was thinking about The Code.  Both stories are mysteries involving a murder in an Aboriginal community.

35. Stopped watching the movie for now.

I'm going to watch more of it tomorrow, probably.

36. Started to look at palg1305's wet tropics of Australia album.

37. Thought this was a picture of a weird insect; but when I clicked on the photo to get a larger view, I saw it was a crab.

38. Liked this photo of a crocodile.

I wonder if palg1305 saw it in the wild.

Well, I think it IS a wild crocodile. I guess what I mean is, did he see it during a tour, or did he just run into it?

I think I'd be terrified if I saw a crocodile in the wild. Or maybe I would think I wasn't awake. I often dream of alligators and crocodiles.

39. Learned, from Twitter, that Tim Tams and Coles are fighting.

From what I can understand, Arnott's wanted to raise the price of Tim Tams. Coles said no. So then Arnotts said they won't supply Coles with the biscuits anymore.

40. Wondered if that would effect business for Coles. Will Tim Tam fans go to Woolworths instead?

Or are most people like us and go to multiple grocery stores?

41. Saw from Twitter that there is something called Adriana Zumbo Tim Tams.

They have fun flavors like salted Caramel and Coconut.

42. Went to Arnott's website and found an official notice from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.

Arnott's got in trouble for false product labeling and advertising.

It's quite a punishment. It's not like a tiny little notice in the corner of the website; or one you have to search for. It's what you see as soon as you get to their site.  I had to scroll down to see the main part of their site.

Arnott's had to pay $51,000 for saying their Shapes Light and Crispy had 75% less fat when in reality they had 60% less fat.

43. Tried to understand the other part of Arnott's bad behavior.

It's something like they compared their product to potato chips that had this ingredient called palmolein oil. But most potato chips in Australia don't have that oil.

44. Saw from the Arnott's website that there are two other Adriana Zumbo Tim Tam flavors—chocolate raspberry and red velvet.

Fun!


Read my novel: The Dead are Online 

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