Five Dollars for a Giant Pink Donut

Last night I dreamed....

I'm working with a computer program that lets you create stories using Family Guy characters at an amusement park. 

I'm planning on doing a scene that has similarities to the boat scene in Willy Wonka. I consider using Puck's soliloquy from A Midsummers Night's Dream.  I'm wondering if I should write the monologue in italics.

Then I end up with a log ride, which I'm not sure what would work for my boat scene.

And then...I feel like I'm actually on the log ride. I lose interest in creating a story and become more interested in using the program as a sort of virtual reality.  I swim underwater and look at leaves, noting that I can breathe underwater.

After that, I walk around. I stop at a donut stand. They have huge donuts the size of my head. The woman working there isn't very friendly, and there's a sign warning that all sales are final.  

I order a donut, learning that it costs five dollars. Despite there being different flavors, she doesn't ask what type I want.  She just hands me a pink donut.

I leave the stand and begin to eat. The donut no longer looks like a donut. It's like the program couldn't keep up the imagery. Now it's just layers of brown dough. It tastes sweet but dull.  

The Family Guy thing was a big random. I don't watch that show.  But I've been reading bits and pieces of screenplays, and that's one that I looked at.  Although that was weeks ago. 

I guess the pink donut is a reference to The Simpsons.

I think, though, that my main reason for having the dream is this idea I've had since the pandemic began. Why aren't we working harder on making Ready Player One a reality????

I was preaching about that in the spring. And I started again this week with the colleges opening.  Why isn't anyone creating a massive virtual university; one with classes, dorms, parties, clubs, etc. 

Would it work? 

I'm not sure. 

I haven't had much experience with multiplayer games or experiences.

I played a few Minecraft games. But it didn't go beyond games. There was no real conversation or socializing. 

And I know colleges already have a lot that is virtual. A lot of classes are virtual. And thanks to online groups/apps, Jack already had a fairly rich college social life, before even getting on the actual campus and meeting his fellow students in person. 

Would it be worth it to have an extensive online college experience with pretend dorms, pretend roommates, pretend coffee shops, pretend cafeterias, etc...and real classes? 

A part of me can't picture it working. I picture professors trying to teach via virtual classrooms, but then all the little avatars don't want to stay. They want to jump around the virtual world—playing, chatting, and exploring.

But, in a way, regular college is like that too. 

I was talking to Tim about that yesterday.  College is supposed to be about the classes and the degree. But when I look back to my college days, the classes feel kind of like the subplot.    

Norman Coburn

I'm going to write about another Home and Away star today—Norman Coburn. He plays one of my favorite characters—Donald Fisher. Although I did have problems with the storyline I was watching just before being banished from Summer Bay.

It's one of those storylines where it seems the writers are suddenly giving a character a new backstory—one that doesn't fit with what we already know about them.

We learn that, years ago, Donald Fisher accidentally shot a teenager (or he thought he did) and was blackmailed into keeping it quiet. The thing is, Donald Fisher is portrayed as a very moralistic man—so moralistic that he gets a bit too uptight at times. If I remember correctly, there was a time where his friend Celia Stewart asked advice about whether she should go to the police about something, even if it would hurt and anger someone she loves. I'm pretty sure Fisher said yes.

Fisher does not seem like the type of man who would accidentally kill someone and then keep it a secret for many years. I do think it's possible for someone to be a hypocrite. But in a case like this, I think he'd be totally mental. I think keeping such a secret would make Fisher go insane.

It's also annoying that the person Fisher thought he shot was the brother of Matt. Yet I don't think we ever heard that Matt had a brother until a few days before the storyline began.

I hate the rapid foreshadowing that often happens on storylines. Suddenly, Matt is a bereaved sibling and Donald Fisher has a big horrible secret. Why can't the writers come up with full character backstories way ahead of time, and then slowly drop hints years-or at least months-ahead of time?

Anyway...let me move onto the actor who plays Donald Fisher. I use present tense, because I'm not sure if he's off the show. And unless his character is dead, if he's not on the show, he could always make an appearance in the future. Even if he is dead, he can appear as a real or imagined ghost. If he was on an American soap opera, it's likely he'd come BACK from the dead.

I'm wondering now. Has anyone from Home and Away ever returned from the dead? Not as zombies. I mean it's not like characters on Days of our Lives literally rise from the dead. It's more like people thought their loved ones were dead, but it ends up they were mistaken.

Yeah.  Onto Coburn....

Should I start with Lord Wiki or IMDb?

Maybe I'll go with IMDb today.

Norman Coburn was born March 6, 1937. He's seventy-seven—twelve years older than my dad.

How old was he in 1990—the time period I was watching him in?

Just did the calculations. He would have been about 53.

I don't think I realized he was that old. Or maybe I did. I don't know.

I look at the adults on the show and wonder if they're my age or whether they're older or younger. It's hard for me to tell sometimes.

Anyway...let's move on.

Coburn's place of birth was Sydney. So when he was born, the Sydney Harbour Bridge was relatively new. I'm just trying to put things in perspective here.

His first screen appearance was an appearance in a TV show called Dixon of Dock Green. I've never heard of it. Have you?

It was a long-running UK show (1955-1976). Lord Wiki says it was about a police station.

At some point, Coburn must have left Australia. I wonder if he left specifically for his acting career. Or was he in the UK for another reason and somehow ended up with an acting job?

In 1960, Coburn appeared in a UK war drama. Circle of Deception.

When did he get back to Australia?

I'm quickly looking through his credits, trying to find something Australian. So far there's a lot of British stuff.

Oh! There's a big gap here.

In 1965, Coburn had a role in a UK movie called Tomorrow at Ten. Then the filmography jumps to 1981. Coburn was in an Aussie movie called A Step in the the Right Direction.

What was happening in that sixteen year gap? Was he doing theater? Struggling to find himself some acting jobs? Giving up on acting? Pursuing something else?

Here's a piece of trivia. Di Drew, the director of A Step in the Right Direction, was a director for Home and Away from 2010-2013.

I just thought that was interesting. And maybe inspirational. She started with some small movies that seem to have been forgotten and then she ended up directing a hit TV show.

From 1982-1988, Coburn guest-starred on a few Aussie TV shows.  Then he was on Home and Away from 1988-2007. He's been off the show for seven years.

In 2008, he appeared on an episode of a show called The Hollowmen. I don't know if he had a small part or big part.

I wonder what Coburn has been doing the last six years. Is he still acting? Theater? Maybe he's retired? If he is retired, how is he keeping himself busy?

Now I'm going to consult Lord Wiki.

Lord Wiki disagrees with IMDb about Coburn being born on March 6. He says Coburn was born on April 6. Who's right? Or maybe they're both wrong.

Lord Wiki also disagrees with IMDb about when Coburn left Home and Away. IMDb says it was 2007. Lord Wiki says it was 2003.

Right now, he supposedly lives on Bruny Island. But I'm not sure I can trust Lord Wiki on that. I don't know who to trust right now.

This article about Ray Meagher's birthday confirms the Bruny Island thing. It says Meagher and his wife are going on a road trip to Tasmania and will visit Coburn on Bruny Island.

How do you take a road trip to Tasmania?

Well, I guess you could take the ferry and put your car on that. Would it still count as a road trip?

Here's something random, and kind of interesting. There's a restaurant in Cornwall called the Mermaid Seafood Restaurant. On their history page, they say, When Francis retired it was converted yet again - this time into a wine bar and then later still into a restaurant. This conversion was done by Norman Coburn - again of television fame - he plays Fisher in Home and Away. In 1980 it was taken over by its present owners who have completely rebuilt it with affection and care and who have made it probably St. Ives’ most interesting and successful restaurant.

So maybe that explains what was happening during the gap in Coburn's filmography. He was owning a restaurant. That's pretty cool.

I found this video about a 2008 production of Death of a Salesman at the York Theatre in Seymour Centre. Coburn is listed as being in the cast. I'm not sure if he'll be in the video.  I'll watch and see. Before I do that, I'm curious about the Seymour Centre. It's in Sydney. I don't think I've heard of it before.

Oh. Okay. I'm looking at Google Maps. It's near the University of Sydney. Or maybe it's even part of the university.

Well...now that I've looked closer at the website. I see that they are connected.

I'm going to watch the video now.

Jackie Weaver is in it.

One of the actors looks so familiar to me.

Anthony Gooley.

Should I know him?

IMDb says he was in three episodes of the second season of Packed to the Rafters. I forgot how many seasons I watched of that show. Was it only one, or did I watch some of the second?

I didn't see Coburn in the video. Unfortunately.

There's a Norman Coburn account on Twitter. I'm guessing it's really him. Why? There's only one Tweet. I would think if someone faked an account, they'd put more work into it.

His one Tweet is from May 7, 2013, and it's a reply to someone named Ian Hyland.

The Tweet: Apprentice look/like Francesca -Stella English, Natalie - Nicola Stapleton,Uzma - Marge when Homer hits her with makeup gun!

Fascinating! What does it mean? I see the Simpsons reference. Did Homer really hit Marge with a make-up gun? Is Norman Coburn a fan of The Simpsons? Well, I wonder if Donald Fisher would like the show. I picture him hating it at first and complaining about people watching it. But then I think he'd be pressured into giving it a chance, and he'd end up liking it.

Well, there is a Makeup Gun.  It was in a 1998 episode. I'm pretty sure we watched episodes from that year. But I'm not remembering it.

I looked up Francesca-Stella English and came across something about Apprentice Lookalikes. Is it a show?

Now I'm seeing this Huffington Post article. I think it's some kind of celebrity look-a-like show. Maybe Coburn was a fan?

Well, I think that's about it for this post. I wish I could find more information about Coburn. He sounds quite interesting.

Read my novel:The Dead are Online 

My School, Cousin Love, Anthems, and Tears

1. Had vague dream about South Australia. It was something about shark warnings. Three people say it's safe to go back into the water; but it's really not.  

2.  Read article about Qantas self check-in.  It's causing some frustrations, and customers are taking out their frustrations on airport workers.  I rarely have a good time with self check-in.  We have it at our grocery store and at the library.  It often doesn't work for me, and I end up needing someone to come by to help.  I don't really like it, which is kind of surprising. I often prefer to avoid face-to-face interaction.

3. Read post on Julia Gillard's website about the My School thing. This is a website where principals can check on the finances of their school, and see achievement results of the students.  And how are they going to measure achievement?  

I just consulted Lord Wiki.  It seems My School is all about standardized testing.  Kids are tested, and schools get a good reputation if the average test scores are high. Some principals are saying that kids have been asked to leave schools, because it was believed they would bring down test scores.

There was an episode of The Simpsons like that. They sent away all the low-achieving kids on testing day.  

Why don't we create a standardized test for the Prime Minister?  I mean really. Isn't that the only way to figure out if someone is doing an okay job? It's not like we can figure that out by examining her policies, listening to her speeches, having a discussion with her, etc.

4. Learned that one of my Facebook friends has been nominated for a photography award.  Here's Fiona Lumsdaine's photography site.   She works in Sydney if anyone over there is looking for a photographer.   

The wedding page of her site plays music, but I initially thought it was coming from Pandora.  It was mixing with Simon and Garfunkel's "Sound of Silence". I thought it was a version of the song I hadn't heard before. 

5. Took a Traveler IQ quiz.  This one was about Australia history.  I didn't do so well.  I actually did worse than the last time I took the quiz.  I got 65, 539 points. The last time I got 75, 812 points.

6. Enjoyed listening to Kate Miller Heidke's "The One Thing I know".  I really like that song.  

7. Looked at an article my friend sent me.  It has a list of some of Sydney's best patisseries.  I got all excited looking at it, and then remembered I'm avoiding eggs.  I probably won't eat a lot of stuff at these places; but maybe I'll have a small bite of what Tim and Jack get.

This morning, Tim made muffins without eggs. They were quite delicious.  

8. Looked at photos of yummy desserts on Adriano Zumbo's website. They're VERY interesting.   They have wasabi and pickled ginger macarons. Jack will probably love this place. He loves foods with exotic flavors.

9. Read article that I don't fully understand. It's about Julia Gillard and the gay marriage thing.   Oh, and it also involves euthanasia.  What I'm getting is after Gillard said maybe to a law that might make it easier for gay people to get married and sick people to die the way they want to die. People in the Labor Party tried to talk her out of it.  These people are unhappy because they feel Gillard is bending too much to meet the desires of The Green Party. So, is it better that she bend to satisfy the desires of the Liberal Party?  I guess some would think so.  

10.  Read article about the My School thing.  It says that the website program is expected to show that wealthy families are more likely to send their children to government schools than private schools.  I gotta admit. That surprises me.   Geoffe Newcombe the executive director of the Association of Independent Schools says, This is going to raise the issue as to how long as a community can we continue to offer free education to those who can afford to contribute to the education of their children.

It sounds like this guy is unhappy that people are choosing government schools over private ones. Is he really concerned about the community being able to afford paying for education, or is he being competitive against government schools?  I really don't know.   I'm still surprised by the idea that wealthy families are choosing government schools over private ones.I'm slightly skeptical.  I'd like to see some statistics. I'm not sure if that's available yet.

11. Read Gillard's quotes about My School in the article.  

She says,

A. I think we'll see some schools with very similar resources, very similar kids, and very different results, and that's going to be about the quality of practice in that school.

B. I think we'll also see some schools [with] similar kids, very different resourcing levels, very different results, and that's going to tell us something about the power of the money.

On the surface, those sound like profound and wise quotes.  But what is she referring to with results?  If it's more than standardized test scores, I might be impressed.  If it's just test scores; then that's shameful.  Learning, intelligence, talent, and success can NOT be measured with a test alone. Some kids are very smart but not very good at taking tests. And maybe they don't have a large amount of the type of intelligence that's being measured on the test. Then some kids are good at taking tests, but are awful at applying test answers to real life.

Also, what is meant by similar kids?  I'm confused by that.  

12. Looked at an article on the Save Our Schools website.  It has the statistics I wanted.   They say that 47% of wealthy families choose private schools. So that would mean more wealthy families DO really choose government schools. It's not a big percentage, really.   Still, though....I think I always imagined that the large majority of wealthy families would send their kids to private school.  I guess I was stereotyping.   It was kind of stupid of me. My parents became wealthy when I was in middle school; my older sister and I continued to go to public school.  Why? I don't know. In my case, I can imagine it was about me not wanting to endure the admissions process.   

 13. Read article that says if the Liberal Party becomes the government in New South Wales, they plan to support the gay/lesbian Mardi Gras party. That's good.  There's some indication that they might be supporting it for financial reasons.  The event brings a lot of money into Sydney.  But if people were extremely bigoted, I think they would forgo the money.  Well, if money was the only issue, all countries would have legalized gay marriage a long time ago. Aren't weddings good for the economy?

14. Looked at the government's page on marriage.   If you're a man, you can't marry a man.  If you're a woman you can't marry a woman.  But you CAN marry your aunt or uncle; and you can marry your first cousin.  I may be wrong, but I don't think that's allowed in America.

This website says that in most American states you can't marry close blood relatives, but some states do allow you to marry first cousins.  

This site has a map of which states allow marriages between first cousins.  It's illegal in Texas, but if I move to Illinois I can marry my cousin in Chicago. I love the guy, but I don't think he's my type.

There's actually twenty states that allow marriage between first cousins.  That really surprises me. I find it a bit disturbing.  I mean aren't there genetic risks to marrying a first cousin?   Personally,  I think it's better to marry someone completely out of your ethnic group. Then you can worry less about those recessive gene problems.  Anyway, I think it's sad that first cousins are allowed to marry, but homosexuals are not.

Wait....

Lord Wiki says that defendants of first cousin marriage declare the rate of birth defects/ mortality with first cousin breeders is similar to the birth defect/mortality rates of women having babies after the age of 41.  So they say if you're going to make cousin breeding illegal, then you might as well make it illegal for people to have kids after the age of 40. That makes sense.

Okay.

Maybe I'll support gay marriage AND cousin marriage.

We've always told Jack it's illegal to marry his first cousins. I guess I'll have to tell him that I now know differently.

15. Told Jack I was wrong; that he can legally marry his first cousins.To my relief, he didn't seem too excited.  He said something like I think being cousins is enough.  

16. Learned from an Australian news page on Facebook that today is the anniversary of America's National Anthem.   Then they ask,  Which country has the best national anthem and why? The question makes me feel ethnocentric because I know only America's and Australia's anthem.  Jack used to listen to anthems on his electronic globe. Maybe I should have paid more attention.  

Wait. I might know the UK's anthem. Isn't it "God Save the Queen"?

17. Listened to New Zealand's national anthem. It's very beautiful.  They have English verses, and Maori verses. That's really cool.  

18 Listened to Egypt's national anthem. It definitely has a patriotic feel to it.  I like it.

19.  Listened to Israel's national anthem.  I've probably heard it before. I can't imagine being Jewish and not encountering it somewhere along the line. It does sound vaguely familiar.  

20. Listened to China's national anthem.    I like this one least so far, but it's probably just a matter of the type of singing that's used for that particular recording.

21.  Listened to the Swedish national anthem.  It's an instrumental version, but it's still lovely.  

22. Listened to Mexico's national anthem. It's lovely.

23. Felt sad for a stupid reason.  I won't go into detail. I'll just say that I saw something on my Statcounter; and it made me miss my friend.  

24. Thought maybe The Wiggles was mentioned on Modern Family tonight. I may have misheard it.   It didn't really make sense in the context.  I don't know.  If they DID mention it, it's the third allusion to Aussie things I've noticed. They had the backwards baby cheeses/Jesus joke awhile back.Then last week they mentioned The Book Thief.  

This week's episode was a major tear-jerker for me.  Although I was already sad (about various things) before watching. So you have to take that into account.    

Still....I thought it was a beautiful episode; one of my favorites.

I wish more people would learn what Phil learned.  I think we'd have a much better world, and I'd feel happier. They made it out to be a male problem. I disagree. I see it in men AND women.  

25. Sort of embarrassed to admit that this is my favorite song right now.   It's not Australian, though.  

Read my novel: The Dead are Online

A Bullying Society

Another teen has committed suicide as a reaction to bullying. At the end of the Sydney Morning Herald's article about it, they provide suicide hotline information. I'm wondering...how do hotline people convince teens not to commit suicide? How do they convince them to keep living in a world where bullies are so prevalent, and often celebrated?

Tim and I talked about this recently. He said people keep talking about bullying in schools. But how can we stop bullying in schools when it's such a part of our society in general?

In the season finale of The Simpsons, Moe suddenly becomes famous and appreciated because he discovers he has talent with distributing insults. When he decides to go in the direction of nice, he loses the popularity he had gained. I think unfortunately it was a fairly accurate representation of our society.

I'm not saying we should live in a world of constant sugary sweetness. That wouldn't be fun. It would be creepy.

When I was a preschool teacher, the head teacher of a classroom I worked in, made a rule saying the kids weren't allowed to call each other names. I thought that was a bit ridiculous. Sometimes calling people names isn't about being mean. It's a game. It's a competition. It's entertaining.

There's nothing wrong with good-natured teasing between people who like and respect each other.

To me, teasing/insults becomes wrong when

A) It's done with the purpose of hurting someone
B) It's done to gain power and popularity. Ha ha. Look at me. I'm so funny. And there's no regard given to the target's hurt feelings.

I had a bad experience on the Internet awhile back. I disagreed with some harsh things someone said on their blog, so I wrote a civil but pointed comment. They responded to my polite disagreement with name-calling and profanity. Then their friend (who hated me for a previous POLITE disagreement) dedicated a whole blog post to how awful I am. There were several comments on the post. People I don't know (and who don't know me) were very eager to rally behind all the hatred. A fellow blogger tried to step in, defend me and diffuse the situation. They then attacked this woman. I tried to defend her. Then I was re-attacked.

The stuff written was extremely cruel. I actually didn't read all of it, because it was too hurtful. I did catch some of it, though, and I was a bit traumatized for a few days. Maybe I was too sensitive. But you know what....I'd rather be the too sensitive victim of the bully than the cold and callous bully herself.

I was LUCKY, though.

First of all....to the mad woman's credit, she did not harass me. I didn't get emails. She didn't try to comment on my blog. The bitchiness stayed on her own blog. To stop seeing the cruel words, all I had to do was make a conscious decision to stop visiting the blog. This was a little hard sometimes, because one or two well-meaning people thought I should be updated on the dramatic situation. But I think I finally got them to understand that this was NOT in anyone's best interest.

Second, I had a lot of support from Tim. He was there for me. He was there to remind me that despite what people were saying about me, I'm still an okay person. I felt loved.

I imagine that these people who commit suicide over bullying are not as lucky. They might be in situations where they can NOT escape. It's fairly easy to stop visiting a website. It's not so easy to quit a job when you need the money. It's not so easy to stop going to school.

And how much support do these victims get from those who love them? And I'm betting they ARE loved. But sometimes it's hard for people to give the support and empathy needed. There were many witnesses to my internet drama. Several of those witnesses joined in the fun. Let's see how many clever ways we can ridicule Dina! And many just kept quiet. Like Rose and Bernard....they didn't want to get involved.

I told some of my friends. One or two were sympathetic, but I don't think they realized the extent of how it was emotionally affecting me. Others were fairly dismissive. I sensed an attitude of Goodness, how did you get yourself in that mess? Oh well....just ignore it, and move on.

I imagine that when some people are bullied, they get the quick drive-by sympathy:

Yeah. That's life, Kiddo. Sorry.

You have to learn to roll with the punches.

Well, no wonder people are picking on you. Stop looking so gloom. Smile more, and people will like you.

Oh that's too bad. Now let's change the subject. What dress looks better on me?

I'm sure it's not always like that. I'm sure the loved ones of some victims try to give extensive comfort and support. What scares me (as a mother) is that...with teenagers would that be enough? Teens have such fragile self-esteem sometimes, and there's such a desire for peer acceptance. If the whole school seems to be against you, would it matter that your mom thinks you're the most wonderful daughter in the world?

I don't know.

How do you restore hope in a person who feels so hated and belittled?

What can we do to prevent other people from finding themselves in such a situation?

I really don't know if there's a way to stop the actual bullies. I'm not sure what their deal is. Maybe they're psychopathic? Maybe they've been abused themselves and this is there way of lashing out? Maybe they're a bit demonic?

Who knows....

I think we need to put more effort in training/advising the bystanders, friends, and family members.

From my OWN experience, this is what I'd wish more from people.

A) Do NOT follow the Rose and Bernard rules. Life is not about avoiding drama. Now you don't necessarily have to step in...putting yourself in danger. But let the target of the bullying know that you stand behind him or her. Let them know you think they're being unfairly treated. Let them know that they're NOT alone. A private email sent to the person can do the trick.

B) If someone you love mentions being bullied, give them a LOT of love. If they don't talk much about it, don't assume everything is okay. They might be keeping it relatively quiet because they assume, like everyone else, you won't be there for them.

C) Although it may be fun to join in a bandwagon of insults and hatred....take a step backward and consider the situation. Is this cause really worth it? Do you truly know both sides of the story? Is there a chance that the horrible person being ridiculed might not be as bad as they're being portrayed?

D) If someone you love is very sad, don't assume they'll simply get over it. Time does heal most wounds. But if a person commits suicide.....they won't have that time to deal with it.

Some say that suicide is a selfish act. I disagree. I think it's a DESPERATE act done by people who feel their life, and the world in general, is hopeless.

We can do the suicide prevention thing. Know the signs. Know which professionals to call. All that has it's place.

But it might be better if we simply tried to make this world a kinder place. Maybe then less people would have the temptation to off themselves.






P.S-After writing all this, I later finished reading Stephen King's new novel (Under the Dome). I think he does a beautiful job of dealing with the whole subject of bullies. So....I recommend the book to anyone who cares about that subject.

Passion and Commitment

Today at breakfast, Jack and I talked about his obsessions.  I list his current ones on our unschooling blog, and change the list as his interests change.

He recycles his obsessions a lot. He loses interest for a few weeks or months, then he gets back into them. Right now, his big loves are Arthur, Super Mario Galaxy, and The Simpsons...all stuff he has loved at one time in the past.

I told Jack that I had obsessions like that....ones that come, go, and then come back again. Examples of those for me include spirituality, Lost, Harry Potter, and the Twilight series.

Jack asked me about Australia. Would that ever end for me?

It's a question I've asked myself. Today I think I came up with my answer.

I hate to admit this, but I will. There are days where my passion for Australia is completely absent. And there are days where I actually feel very negative towards Australia. This usually happens when I get mad at an Australian person, or an Australian person hurts my feelings. Then I sort of associate the whole country with that person. Fortunately, this usually fades after a few days.

There are many days where I have my passion for Australia. This especially happens after I totally bond with an Australian person, or with a not-Australian person I've met via my Australia obsession. It also happens when I listen to Australian songs that I love; ones I'd probably have never heard if I didn't have Australia in my life. I feel it when I read a really great Australian book. I feel it when I think about how I can name all the Prime Ministers from Menzies to Rudd. It makes me feel all smart. Crap. I just tried to do it in my head again, and I couldn't remember if Gorton or McEwen came first! Now I'm feeling much less smart. Oh well.

So this is what I decided at breakfast today....

I will ALWAYS love Australia.

I will always love it, because I've decided that I'm committed to loving it.

For a long time, I've had a romantic/marriage analogy going on about my Australia thing. First it was a secret crush. Then it was a huge obsessive annoy-other-people-with-it crush. Then I felt I was married to Australia. I even bought myself a ring....seriously. It was only like eight dollars, but still. I loved it. Unfortunately, it eventually broke.

So now I think of my Australia thing as the later years of marriage. The honeymoon might be over. I've taken off my rose-colored glasses. But I'm still quite satisfied with it all.

I used to feel worried, conflicted, and guilty when the passion was missing. What if it never returns? Am I too fickle? Would I be a fool for loving Australia in the first place? Would I have to quit my blog? Could I tell my Australian friends the truth...that I'm no longer obsessed with their country. Would they still love me?

Anyway, now I think I'm at peace. The thing is....love is not always about passion. We can't be mad about something all the time. As soon we we spend a lot of time with it, we're going to see some of its dirty and yucky spots. And we're going to get burnt-out at times. But when we commit to something, we accept all that. We take the good with the bad.

So, anyway....

What I'm trying to say is I'm planning (and hoping) to have this relationship with Australia for a very long time....maybe with this blog too.

Gerry Harvey

Gerry Harvey is probably a business guy. Although he could be a writer, because tomorrow I'm researching a writer. Or maybe he's neither business or writing. I kind of remember a Harvey business in Australia, though. Maybe it was electronics again?

Well, Lord Wiki says Harvey is a businessman. The retail chain he's known for is Harvey Norman. I know the name, but I'm not sure if we've been to the store. Probably.

Baby Gerry was born in rural New South Wales on 18 September 1939. He went to school in Bathurst and Katoomba, so that gives us an idea of where in rural New South Wales he lived. I totally forgot where/what Katoomba was! It's the Blue Mountains. Well, I knew I knew it from somewhere. My parents are going on a cruise to Australia in March. They have a few days in Sydney before the cruise, so they might do the Blue Mountains. I'm so excited that my parents are going to Australia. I just wish they were going for much longer. They've actually been to Australia, though...before I went. They went in 2000, I think. But not for The Olympics. They saw Sydney, and they also went to the Great Barrier Reef, and a Rainforest. Maybe Daintree?

Back to Katoomba. That and Bathurst are about an hour and a half away from each other. Bathurst is to the west. Then Sydney is to the east of Katoomba. Harvey later moved there to go to university.

He went to the university for a few years and hated it. He dropped out.

Is it my imagination, or is there a trend with successful Australian businessmen dropping out of school?

In his youth, Harvey wanted to be a farmer. I guess that didn't work out.

At some point, Harvey sold vacuums and fridges door to door. I've heard of vacuums being sold that way but not fridges. Did he have the new fridges waiting in a truck? Did he bring them in the house for people? Did he help them get rid of their old fridge? OR maybe these were the days that not everyone had a fridge. Maybe he convinced people to join the refrigerator society?

This website says that refrigerators became common in the 1940's. Harvey would have been doing his selling in the 1950's. But maybe at that time they were common, but still not something almost everyone had.

Lord Wiki has a separate entry on the Harvey Norman store. I'll read that in a moment. It will probably give some good business history. Before that, though, I'm going to finish up reading about Harvey's personal life and interests.

He's very involved with breeding racehorses.

He's been married twice. His current wife works for Harvey Norman. Here Lord Wiki say she's the CEO but on the page where he talks about the company, he says she's the managing director.

Who knows.....

Oh wow. This guy said something pretty controversial. I remember hearing it but didn't connect the quote to his name. He said giving charity to the homeless was a waste of money, and that it was helping a whole heap of no-hopers to survive for no good reason. I totally agree with him. That's why when I see homeless people begging for money, I don't give to them. Instead, I grab the money they've already collected and send it to rich people.

Yeah. I guess Harvey really goes for that whole survival of the fittest thing. Although he's outspoken about his opinion, I unfortunately know he's not alone in having this opinion. Some people believe the homeless are homeless, because they deserve to be. It goes with the mindset that if you work hard enough, and you want it bad enough, you will definitely get what you want. So if someone is homeless, they must have not worked hard enough, and they didn't want to be successful.

Now Lord Wiki says that Harvey said he believes people should be helped to develop their potential. I'm not sure what he means here. But maybe (hopefully!) he was saying that he's not against helping the homeless. Maybe he's just against giving them charity. And by charity, he means a hand out. Maybe Harvey believes people should be given the help they need to become self-sufficient. If that's the case, I can respect that. Instead of giving to a shelter that simply feeds the homeless person, you could give the money to a program that helps homeless people get job interviews. Although I still think there are people in society who are past all that. Maybe they're mentally ill or have some other issue that prevents them from working. I think for some folks, charity is all you can do for them.

Now I'm going to read about the Harvey Norman Company.

It started in 1961. Harvey opened it with a guy named Ian Norman. They sold electronic goods and appliances. The store was at first called Norman Ross. I guess Harvey wasn't vain enough to insist his name be part of the company.

By 1979, there were forty-two stores.

In the 1980's, there was a bidding war between two entities....Alan Bond and Grace Bros. They both wanted the company. Bond ended up with it. And then a little while later, he fired Harvey and Norman. Yikes.

In 1982, Norman and Harvey bought a shopping center in Auburn, a western suburb of Sydney. This became the Harvey Norman store. It's nice Harvey and Norman got together and tried again.

Lord Wiki says that in the 1990's, they adopted the superstore format of the United States. I guess that refers to the huge stores that we have all over the place here.

By 2000, Harvey Norman had a hundred stores.

In the stores, each department is controlled by a different franchisee. Therefore, if you need help with electronics stuff, the guy working in bedding can't help you. I wonder if that's the same for our stores here. Probably? Well, I don't think each department is a separate franchisee. But I don't think you can ask the guy in the shoe department for help with bedding issues.

Harvey Norman has gone international. They have stores in New Zealand, Singapore, Ireland, Slovenia, and Malaysia.

Lord Wiki talks about some controversies in the company. I don't really understand them. The first two don't really interest me, so I'm just going to ignore them....at least for now. The third is interesting, but I don't fully understand it.

Harvey insulted the Irish by comparing Ireland's economic problems with the Irish potato famine. Maybe he made light of it? They were mad. Harvey refuses to apologize. He says, It doesn’t say much about a people when they can’t take something like that on the chin and get on with it.

It also doesn't say much for someone when they fail to understand why something might be offensive, AND they refuse to apologize. Or if he doesn't want to apologize, he could at least explain why he doesn't think the joke should be seen as offensive. Or maybe he did do that.

Here's the Harvey Norman website. They sell digital cameras there. You know. Maybe that's why I've heard of Harvey Norman. Tim may have bought one of our cameras there....or maybe he bought both there.

This electronics website has an interview with Harvey. They say he's going to talk about his troubled childhood. That kind of article seems out of place on this website. This doesn't look like a Andrew Denton/Barbara Walters platform. It looks more like an industry website...one where you find reviews on new products.

Anyway....

Harvey's family had money. I guess he means his relatives? But Daddy Harvey ended up making them broke, and the family had their struggles.

When Harvey was at university, he studied during the night and worked at a bank during the day. He wasn't happy with this, and felt it wasn't going to be rewarding enough.

Then he was offered the door-to-door salesman job. Refrigerators are not mentioned here. It says Harvey was selling vacuums and TV sets. At the bank, Harvey was making eight dollars a week. With this job, Harvey was making about a hundred dollars a week. Wow. That's a big difference.

Didn't Australia use pounds at some point? Maybe not.

Ah, Lord Wiki says I was right. They used pounds up to 1966. So I'm guessing whoever wrote this article converted pounds to dollars.

Harvey says at one time he had the record for most vacuums sold. He said he did this by offering them interest free. That's funny, because there's a big flashing advertisement on the Harvey Norman Site saying you can buy now for 500 days interest free. But it looks like you have to apply for a special Mastercard, in order to receive this privilege.

After the door to door salesman adventure, Harvey did some brief time with real estate. Then he had an auction business. He talks about how they managed to get customers. One of the things they did was have a band play right outside the store. That attracted people. And they managed to build capital (merchandise) by telling the sellers they'd pay them more, IF the sellers allowed them more time in making them money. So from what I'm reading, this must be the Norman Ross business. So originally it was an auction-type thing?

Harvey says the reason he got fired by Alan Bond was that he called Alan Bond a crook. I can see Harvey is someone who does not fear speaking his mind....no matter what the consequence.

Harvey had some issue with a guy from ACCC named Alan Fells. I don't even know what ACCC is. Maybe it's an advertising thing, because the issue was regarding bait advertising.

Here we go. It's the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. They deal with fair trade and consumer protection.

Now I'm going to find out what bait advertising is. America's Federal Trade Commission has information about it on their website. They say it's when a company advertises a product they really don't intend to sell. Then when you come, they try to sell you a different and more expensive product. I remember this from NYC real estate. A real estate firm will advertise a great and affordable apartment. Then when you call them and they take you around the city, they give you the bad news. The apartment was already sold. They take you to other apartments that are too small, too gross, and too expensive. The other trick they do is take you to really disgusting apartments for the price range you said you can afford. You get really depressed, and then they take you to much nicer apartments that cost a lot of money. This gives you the idea that if you want something halfway decent, you're going to have to stop being so damn cheap.

I HATED looking for apartments in New York. It's a total nightmare.

Of course, Harvey claims to be innocent of the bait advertising charges. He openly hates the man who made the accusations. He says, Professor Fells I hate you. When you go into a nursing home I will buy the nursing home. Yeah. That sounds real mature.

ABC had a news report about the whole issue in 2001. Here's the transcript.

I really don't understand what happened. Well, maybe. Harvey Norman advertised that they had Quicken....that financial software thing. They had two thousand packages but the demand far exceeded that. I don't know. Could Harvey be telling the truth? Maybe they honestly didn't expect to get that many customers. Although it IS a big company. You'd kind of think they'd expect to sell more than two thousand. So could it have been bait advertising? Sorry, we're out of Quicken. But while you're here, are you interested in a new Laptop?

Harvey complains that his workers were bullied by legal people. He says their questioning made him employees cry. Maybe they were a little too rough. It's possible. OR it could be a form of bullying on Harvey's end. I've seen it before. Well, maybe bullying is too strong a word. Manipulation might be better.

An example would be this. Nancy is told by her friend Susan that she saw Nancy's husband having dinner with another woman. It looked romantic and very suspicious. When Ted comes home, Nancy asks him about this. Instead of explaining, confessing, or apologizing, he attacks Nancy. You're so damn paranoid and possessive. What is wrong with you? Why do you do this to me? I feel so suffocated. I feel trapped. You don't trust me. Do you? You trust Susan more than me. You've always been closer to Susan than you are to me. How do you think I feel? You probably don't care. You're so selfish.

Suddenly, instead of being angry at her husband, Nancy feels awful about herself. She backs away....unless she is smart enough to recognize manipulation and fight against it.

This blogger talks about the Irish issue. What Harvey did was compare his sales problems in Ireland to the potato famine in Ireland. Bock the Robber says, What a prick. How dare he compare the troubles of his sofa shop with the greatest catastrophe this land has ever known? He asks, Would he go to Israel and compare his trading downturn to a Holocaust? Probably yes. People compare things to the Holocaust all the time...even Jewish people. Remember the Soup Nazi?

So far, in some ways, I'm on Harvey's side here. I think it's pretty common to make these analogies. I think for the most part people mean no harm. For example, someone might speak of construction near their house. It feels like a damn earthquake. I doubt they're trying to be insensitive to all the victims of Haiti's earthquake. If we're on a cruise ship and things get a bit rocky, we might say something like Oh no. It's the Titanic. We're just being silly and not trying to disrespect all the people that died.

It's a thin line, though, and sometimes you can end up saying something to someone who is especially sensitive to the situation. Most people wouldn't mind it if we complained after an intensive workout. I'm so sore. I feel like I'm DYING! But if you say that to a person with pancreatic cancer, it might not be so funny. It hits too close to home. I think the way the story should play out is this. The cancer victim explains why they are offended. The other person acts understanding and apologizes. The person with cancer accepts the apology.

We all have our sensitive spots, and that should be respected. My college boyfriend would make jokes about drunk driving. He'd talk in an intoxicated voice and pretend to be looking for his keys. Ha ha. For most people, that would get a good laugh. For me, it was a sensitive issue. My sister had been hit by a drunk driver just two years before. Even today, almost twenty years later, I still am somewhat sensitive about it. Tim and Jack have a video game where Homer Simpson runs people over in his car. I can understand why that's funny to most people. But to me, it's not. I find it uncomfortable to watch. I personally don't think it's funny. See, though....I'm not writing to the game company to complain. Almost everything that's funny to one person can be hurtful to others. Most people think slipping on a banana peel is humor. But what if your grandma had slipped on one and died?

Now I'm going to look at the other issue. The homeless one. The Sydney Morning Herald has an article about it. Harvey angrily defends himself. He says, I'm furious. I haven't suggested that homeless people shouldn't get anything. What I said was that I believed in helping people reach their potential. In his original statement, he had said giving to the charities would be a waste.

The charities argued back. They said they're no longer just about giving handouts. They try to address the causes of poverty.

I think this is the earlier news report. Their opening line says, THE retail king Gerry Harvey may have a personal fortune of about $1.6 billion but the Harvey Norman founder thinks donating to charity is "just wasted". That sounds like an awful man. But maybe something was misunderstood or taken out of context.

Well, I'm reading his quotes further down and they are kind of horrible. It IS very survival-of-the-fittest. He says, So did that million you gave them help? It helped to keep them alive but did it help our society? No. Society might have been better off without them but we are supposed to look after the disadvantaged and so we do it. But it doesn't help the society.

I'm trying to imagine a society where no one helps the disadvantaged. What would that be like? Well, first we'd need a society where all the people are incredibly selfish and callous. And how do we define disadvantaged and worthless? Would it be the drug addict on the street corner? How about the family who lost all their money because of their child's hospital bills? Should we say, sorry about your child dying of leukemia, but we're not going to help you. You're a drain on society. Better if you just rot and die.

Let's say we all become selfish, and we don't really care about those who are less fortunate on us. On a very superficial level, what would that do to our city? Wouldn't it be a bit awful? Overcrowded. Illness everywhere. Horrible smells. And if the disadvantaged couldn't get help from charity, might they turn to a life of crime?

Oh! I know. There's a perfect solution. You stop the thievery by making it a crime punishable by death. You hang all the disadvantaged. And if the prisons get too crowded with people waiting to be hanged, we can send them off to a distant land!

Okay, but Harvey DOES say: That is not to say we don't give money away to charities, because we have given plenty away over the years. At the end of the day, the more quality individuals you develop in the community, the better off the community should be.

I think I get what he's trying to say. I feel maybe he just chose the wrong words, and he's way too harsh. I don't think we should simply throw people away. But maybe it is best if we put priority in people who show potential in giving back to the community. It all depends, though, on why people can't give back to the community. Some ARE just lazy and want something for nothing. I can't deny that. But many people are too sick or too unqualified. Many people have had awful lives full of abuse, and they can't overcome it.

I just finished reading Richard Flanagan's Wanting. It's based loosely on the story of a Tasmanian Aboriginal girl named Mathinna. Mathinna died in her early twenties. She drowned in a puddle on the street. Supposedly she was drunk. What kind of person drowns in a puddle? A pitiful loser. But Mathinna didn't start out the way. She started out as a child living among her people. Then she was adopted by white people who wanted to see if they could tame a savage. They played with their experiment for awhile. Then they abandoned her to a horrible orphanage, and went off to London. How does one survive such a rejection? Well, maybe one DOES if there's someone out there who will give them kindness.

That's the other thing about Harvey's beliefs. Maybe disadvantaged people would be less disadvantaged if they felt like there was hope. Maybe if they stopped feeling society was out to hurt them, they'd be able and willing to contribute.

The thing is.... It's easier to criticize people than it is to help them. I can stop while walking in the city, take out my wallet, and find a dollar to give to the woman on the street corner. That's a pain, though, and I'm usually in a rush. It's much easier to think to myself. She's just a lazy person who doesn't want to get a job. She'll probably use that money to buy drugs.

In this ABC interview, Harvey does more defending of himself. He says: I believe you should help people. My point was, kids go to school, we develop them at school, we develop them later on in the workplace so that we get better quality individuals, so that we get less people that are dependent or get into problems. So, my real point was, let's create better quality people, more of them so we have less people dependent.

That makes sense to me, although I'm not in love with the whole school focus. I think what Harvey is saying is that we SHOULD help the homeless, but it's better to help people in the beginning, so they don't become homeless. That makes sense. It's fine to stop and give a homeless person a dollar or two....even though they might very well use it to buy drugs. But if you have a hundred dollars to give away, it's probably better not to give it to the homeless person. And instead have it go towards a scholarship or business loan. It's important for us to help the poor, but it's better to help prevent people from becoming poor.

Read my novel: The Dead are Online 

Noni Hazlehurst

I have no idea who Noni Hazlehurst is. I added her to the list on August 2, at 1:48 PM. I probably came across her name when researching someone else.

Well, Lord Wiki says she's an actress. I want to say I've never heard of her. But I guess I have, since I do have her on my list. I could have a dissociative identity disorder. Maybe another one of my personalities is adding people.

Hazlehurst was another one of the Play School presenters. She was on the show from 1978-2001. That's a pretty long time.

Baby Leonie Elva was born in Melbourne on August 17, 1953. Her birthday is three days before Jack's.

For secondary school, Hazlehurst attended St. Leonard's College. Lord Wiki reminds me that this is the same school that Hamish Blake attended.

To further her education, Hazlehurst moved on over to Adelaide and attended Flinders University.

She's been married once, but got divorced. Now she lives in Queensland with her partner and two sons.

As for the film and television stuff, I'm trying to decide whether or not I want to go through the IMDb route. I have no idea. Maybe I will. But I'll do my usual...skip all the one-time-guest-star appearances. I'm also going to skip TV shows and movies in which I can't find good enough information. I feel there's no point in even mentioning them. But if you know about something I failed to mention, please feel free to bring it up.

It looks like her career began in 1975. She had an ongoing role in a soap opera called The Box. It was about a television station. The show ran from 1974-1977.

OR maybe her career began in 1974. The Box is listed first in the filmography. But then a few notches above that, it shows she guest-starred on the police show Division 4 in 1974. Maybe that was her first TV appearance, and not The Box.

Then in 1975, she did three more episodes of Division 4. Each time she played a different character.

In 1976, she got a role on that TV show featuring another Play School woman, Lorraine Bayly, This was The Sullivans. It doesn't look like Hazlehurst had a big role. She's way down there in the credits.

In 1978, Hazlehurst did a TV movie comedy about an actor called Bit Part. The movie won a Logie for best TV movie.

In 1979, she did a sketch comedy show called Jokes. That year, she was also in a miniseries called Ride on Stranger. For this, she won a Logie for best supporting actress. I think this was probably her first award. The ABC DVD shop says it's about a young woman moving to Sydney in the 1930's.

In 1980, Hazlehurst was in Fatty Finn. I think I've written about that before. Yep. I just searched the credits. We have another Lorraine Baily connection. This is the third one! Both Bayly and Hazlehurst were nominated for AFI awards, but neither of them won. Here's a scene from the movie. I think I watched it before. I remember saying that it reminds me of a movie with Jodi Foster.

In 1982, Hazlehurst starred in Monkey Grip. That's based on the famous Helen Garner book. I'm trying to decide if I want to read that. I read another book by Garner, and didn't like it much. But I guess I should try to read it. I don't think it's right to give up on an author after just one book.

Monkey Grip is about a divorced mother. I didn't know that. I had no idea what the book was about. I just knew it was seen as a classic, and that Helen Garner is a feminist.

Hazlehurst won an AFI award for her role in the film. Have any of you read the book and/or seen the movie? Do you recommend it?

Here's a very short TV promo for the movie.

In 1984, Hazlehurst was in a TV movie about labor union disputes called Waterfront. This is not to be confused with the more recent waterfront labor dispute movie Bastard Boys. Hazlehurst wasn't in Bastard Boys, but Colin Friels was in it. And he starred with her in Monkey Grip. Lorraine Bayley was in neither Bastard Boys or Waterfront.

For Waterfront, Hazlehurst won herself another Logie. That woman is good at winning herself awards, or at least being nominated for them.

In 1985, Hazlehurst played Fran in a movie called Fran. It's about a single mother, and the struggles that she goes through. An IMDb user says, Misguided Fran's priorities may be, but the idea that she needs a individual life apart from her children is valid. I agree. I do think it's wrong for parents to be incredibly selfish....almost always putting themselves first. On the other hand, I'm not into this idea that our whole existence should be about making our children happy One of my sisters makes me feel worse about my situations by giving me Jack guilt. I should fix my marriage...for Jack's sake! I should stop having an eating disorder...for Jack's sake! Hello? What about me? But see I feel guilty even saying/thinking that. I think it's because society has taught us that parents shouldn't even put themselves into the equation.

For Christmas, we forgo gifts, and went the charitable route instead. Our local domestic abuse shelter provides a store for mothers to pick up gifts for their children, and the children can pick up gifts for their mom. I meant to buy gifts for both, but totally forgot. We ended up buying all toys. Later I talked to my family about it, and said I really regret not buying mom gifts. Another one of my sister's proclaimed that it was so much more important to get the children gifts. She said if she was one of those moms, she's just care about her kid getting gifts. The feeling I got from her was that it would be selfish for one of these moms to want a gift for herself. That seemed so unfair to me, because my sister is very fortunate when it comes to having enough material possessions. So why is it okay for a single mother to be deprived? Why should she be more self-sacrificing? Yes, I do think a decent mother would care more about her children getting gifts. But I think she also has every right to want a gift for herself.

Anyway, for this Fran movie, Hazlehurst won yet another AFI award. The movie itself was nominated for best picture, but it lost to something called Bliss. Lord Wiki says that in the movie, Fran abandons her children to seek romance. Now that's going a little too far in terms of taking care of oneself. I think there needs to be a balance. I think it's fine for a single mother to leave little Joey with Grandma and Grandpa so she can go on a week cruise with her new boyfriend. It's not so great if she abandons poor Joey all together.

In 1987, Hazlehurst starred in Australian Dream. From what an IMDb user says, it seems to be a sex comedy about a swinger's party. Anxietyresister says, Filled with all the bad vibrator, blow-up doll and oral sex gags you could possibly want (or not) to hear, this is an abysmal comedy that is thankfully very rare.

Oh. For a moment, I thought he/she was saying this type of movie is rare. I was thinking, what planet is he from? But now I think he meant that the movie itself is rare....hard to find.

Also in 1987, Hazlehurst did a TV movie about someone named Nancy Wake, and a miniseries called The Shiralee Lord Wiki says Wake was a British agent during World War II. Well, reading further....it looks like she was an Australian who was a British agent.

The Shiralee was a family drama about a swagman looking for work. He ends up having to play parent to his daughter. The movie was based on a novel written by D'Arcy Niland.

In 1991, Hazlehurst did a movie called Waiting. It was written and directed by the same man who directed Hazlehurst in the crazy party movie, Australia Dream. The IMDb trivia page says that Hazlehurst was pregnant during filming. This worked well because her character was pregnant too.

It looks like it's one of those stories where a surrogate mother starts to think she wants to keep the baby for herself. I wonder how often that really happens? I saw about twenty seconds of the issue when flipping by Dr Phil's show this week. I quickly left because I'm not a fan of that guy.

In 1992, Hazlehurst was in a movie called Clowning Around. Ernie Dingo was in it too. From the IMDb image, it looks to be about actual clowns. It's a drama, so I'm guessing it might be one of those stories that tries to show us that clowns can be sad human beings under their happy joy joy make-up. Oh! Heath Ledger was in it. IMDb says it was his first film roll. Did I mention it, when I wrote about him? I can't remember. It's eerily ironic. His first roll is in a clown film. Then he dies in the midst of The Dark Knight hype, in which he also played a clown.

Lord Wiki says that Ledger appears at the end of the film. He plays an orphan clown, and delivers the final lines in the movie.

In 1995, Hazlehurst was in Lizzie's Library. This was an animated children's TV Show about a traveling librarian. That reminds me that I haven't talked much about Play School yet. It's not on the filmography I'm looking at, probably because Hazlehurst played herself on the show. I'm currently looking at the playing-other-characters list.

Here's a scene from Lizzie's Library. Actually, I think it's a whole episode. The episodes are only five minutes long.

In 2000, Hazlehurst was in a TV movie about a maternity ward. It was called Waiting at the Royal, and it brought her another AFI award.

In 2005, Hazlehurst was in the Cate Blanchett druggie movie, Little Fish. Noni won an AFI award for best supporting actress. Really! This woman wins so many awards. Should I assume this means she's a good actress?

Here's the trailer for the film. I think Hazlehurst is the one who plays Blanchett's mother. That Asian guy in the trailer used to be on 21 Jump Street.

While I was on YouTube, Jack had me watch the new video he uploaded. It's of him playing his video game.

From what Lord Wiki says about Little Fish, it seems to be about how difficult it is for people to escape the bad stuff in their past. Cate Blanchett plays a former heroin addict who tries to get back on her feet, but society makes it incredibly difficult.

In 2006, Hazlehurst appeared in another movie with Heath Ledger. This was Candy. And like Little Fish, it was about heroin.

Here's the trailer. Heath Ledger's voice sort of reminds me of Kiefer Sutherland's.

Also in 2006, Hazlehurst starred in a TV romantic-comedy called Stepfather of the Bride. It sounded familar, so I searched through the cast. Katie Ritchie was in it. I might have encountered the movie when I wrote about her.

In 2007, Hazlehurst did a TV biography about John Curtin. She played Elsie Curtin.

In 2008, she was in Bitter and Twisted. The movie earned Hazlehurst another AFI nomination. She's actually been nominated for almost every movie she's been in. I've just been to lazy to mention it. However, she was NOT nominated for the John Curtin movie. I noticed that. Well, it kind of stood out since she was nominated for pretty much everything else.

Here's the trailer for Bitter and Twisted. It looks really good....sad though. That one girl in the film looks like Kirsten Dunst with brown hair. The movie seems to be about a family struggling to survive after the death of one of their sons.

Recently, Hazlehurst has been one of the stars of City Homicide. Oh.... Did I watch that show before? Yes! It's with Shane Bourne. Now I know why Hazlehurst looked vaguely familar. I think she's in the episode I saw...the one where her son was kidnapped. That was so sad. I'm not going to watch any more clips from that show. It makes me too anxious and depressed. I don't handle murder stuff very well. The exception is Medium. I think that's because it pushes the idea that the dead continue to exist in the afterlife. If there's an afterlife, murder is a LITTLE less bad. But still, even some episodes of that show have been too difficult for me.

Well, I'm done with that filmography. Now I'm looking at Play School. Here's a clip of Hazlehurst acting clownish.

The National Archives has a page that talks about Hazlehurst's family. They were part of the assisted migration scheme....the ten pound pom thing. Well, her parents and her brother were. Noni Hazlehurst was born later in Melbourne. Mommy and Daddy Hazlehurst were also performers.

The family came over to Australia in 1951. Their application was approved, with an immigration officer describing them as a good average family. In those days, it was probably also important that they were a WHITE family.

Here's an article in The Age about Hazlehurst. They talk about how she's the type of person who's brave enough to speak up and try to make a change. She did so in her first TV role on The Box. Even though she was a new actress who could probably be easily fired, she fought for some lines of dialogue to be changed.

The article talks about her more recent fight. This one is about mass media and children. They say, She accused the media of bombarding children with a depressing world view and prematurely sexualising them. I think that's true....to a point. I think it's foolish to pinpoint the media though. Some programming on television and the Internet does NOT do that. And sometimes it's the adults in the children's own lives who push the negative values.

Hazlehurst is against reality TV. So I have that in common with her. I think the majority of it is crap.

Oh, but I don't like this. Hazlehurst labels the media as child abuse. I've said this before, and I'll say it again. We throw that word around way too much.

Hazlehurst does like some television....well, of course. She's on it. She thinks her homicide TV show is of quality. Another show she supports is The Simpsons. She says, I think The Simpsons is a wonderful program because the basic message is love. It sends out messages that are socially responsible in many instances and points out people's strengths and weaknesses and that they ultimately deserve our love and affection.


Tim, Jack, and I are all fans of The Simpsons. I agree with Hazlehurst. The show does have a lot of love. It's very biting at times, but there's a nice balance.

This is interesting. Hazlehurst suggests there is a conspiracy in the media to make people afraid to leave their home. Why? If they're afraid, they'll stay home and watch more TV. Wow. I never thought about that before. TV IS definitely full of scary stories. There's so much emphasis on the negative. I guess I always thought it was because they know it's in our nature to be attracted to the macabre. Didn't hangings always attract a large crowd?

My feeling is that it's not a conspiracy. I think it's more about being irresponsible. The media reports headlines without any sense of social responsibility. They scare people without asking, do we really need to be shouting this out?

In one parenting magazine I used to read, there was some kind of regular feature where mothers would describe a horror story that happened to them. The purpose was to warn the rest of us parents, so it wouldn't happen to us. Now I think SOME of these stories are important. A lot of kids drown, so we SHOULD be scared of swimming pools and bathtubs. We should be terrified and careful. Car accidents happen fairly frequently, so we should worry. But if a child is injured (or dies) in a freak accident, do we really need to be bombarded with dire warnings?

The funny thing is I just wrote out about three or four paragraphs with examples of dire warnings and how they have affected my little brain. I just deleted them because I realized if I kept them in, I'd be doing exactly what I'm accusing the media of doing. Sometimes we pass on information that shouldn't be passed on. We don't mean to hurt or disturb anyone. My intentions were good. But I'm glad I stopped and realized I need to edit myself. Although the irony cracks me up a bit. If I kept it in, I wonder if anyone would have pointed it out.

The Sydney Morning Herald also has an article about Hazlehurst's crusade. She says she believes children's imaginations are dying. I don't think that's true at all. Jack's imagination is incredible. Okay, that's only one child. But his friends seem to have good imaginations as well. Is there solid proof that imagination has decreased? And if it has decreased, why do we assume the media is to blame? Why not the schools? The kids are there for six hours a day. Could that situation be hurting imagination?

Hazlehurst says, Why is it that we seem to be concerned about regulating the food available through tuckshops or advertised on TV, but unwilling or unable to tackle the lack of quality sustenance for their minds and spirits?

I think she's very wrong here. I think there's plenty of quality on TV for children. Jack has been fans of some great stuff: Miss Spider, Charlie and Lola, Arthur, The Koala Brothers, The Wiggles, Jo Jo Circus, Little Bill, The Electric Company, Little Bear, The Upside Down Show, Phineas and Ferb.....

There's plenty of crap as well, but I think adults are the target audience. If a child is watching too much of it, that's sad. But that's the fault of the parents, not the media.

Hazlehurst says, Kids are suffering midlife crises in their teen years because they're being forced to cope with too much, too soon. We are failing our children on a grand scale.

I am totally not with her on this. The media is the cause of all this stress? No, I don't think so. I'm betting most stress that kids experience is related to a) school b) peers c) family problems.

Children get too much homework. They're cruelly bullied by their classmates. They see their parents fighting and worry about divorce. And these are probably the more fortunate kids! The others are also dealing with gangs, drugs, domestic abuse, homelessness, etc.

Well, I admire Hazlehurst for having a crusade. I just can't say I fully agree with it. I feel it's a bit confusing and misguided.

Read my novel: The Dead are Online 

Isaac Isaacs

Isaac Isaacs had a weird name. Were his parents trying to be funny? Or maybe he changed his own name to make it like that?

Isaacs was Jewish. I know that. And I think he was Governor-General. I'm not sure when his reign was though. I'm going to guess it was in the early 20th century. I was going to say in the late 19th century, but were there Governor-Generals before Federation?

Wow. He was Governor-General much later than I expected. Lord Wiki says he had the post from 1931-1936.

Baby Isaac was born 6 August 1855. Well, he would have been pretty old when he was Governor General....in his late seventies. But I guess that's fairly normal for a Governor-General. How old is the current one? Well, Quentin Bryce is a little younger. She's in her sixties.

Isaacs was born in Melbourne. His dad was a Jewish tailor from Poland. Jewish tailors remind me of this song.

Daddy Isaacs left Poland and did some traveling. He ended up in London where he met a British Jewish woman. They married. Then when the gold rush happened, they emigrated to Australia. They arrived in September 1854.

It doesn't seem like Daddy Isaacs panned for gold...at least not right away. He set up a tailor shop on Elizabeth Street in Melbourne. There's an Elizabeth Street in Sydney too. I guess Australia likes to honor their queen.

Lord Wiki says Melbourne's Elizabeth Street is one of the main streets in the central business district. He says there's a lot of photography and motorcycle shops. I wonder if Melbourne is like Manhattan—different neighborhoods are known for different products. There's the Diamond District in Midtown. There's some area in lower Manhattan where you can buy restaurant supplies. Everyday when I walked to the subway, I'd pass this whole section of wholesale flowers.

The Isaacs family also LIVED on Elizabeth Street. Their shop was also their cottage home, and baby Isaac was born there. Lord Wiki says they didn't stay there, though. First they moved around Melbourne. Then when Isaacs was about four, his family moved to Yackandandah in northern Victoria. It's about three hours north-east of Melbourne. It was a fairly large gold-mining settlement. Did the Isaacs family move there to find gold, or did they know there'd be a lot of people living there who needed a tailor?

Isaac stopped being an only child when the family moved to Yackandandah. His parents had a son and two daughters. The son John eventually became a Member of Parliament in Victoria. Wait. They also had two kids who died. One of them was born in Melbourne. So I guess Isaacs hadn't always been an only child there.

Isaacs attended a small private school in his very young years. He won a math prize. Go Isaac Isaacs!

In 1863, a state school was opened in Yackandandah, and Isaacs started going there. He did very well academically in school, despite sometimes resorting to truancy. He would leave the school grounds to spend time at the mines. I wonder why he did that.

His family cared much for his education. Jews have a reputation for this. They moved to Beechworth so Isaac could attend a better school. Beechworth is only about twenty-two kilometers from Yackandandah, so it's not like they moved that far.

Ned Kelly spent some time in Beechworth prison.

Isaacs did very well in school. He was made dux his first year at the Beechworth Grammar school. In his second year, he became employed part time as an assistant teacher.

When Isaacs was fifteen, he passed his teaching exam and became a teacher. Lord Wiki says he was a pupil teacher. I'm not sure what that means. Is that different from a regular teacher? Well, I googled, and from what I see, it might be equivalent to a student teacher.

Isaacs became an assistant teacher at the local state school. There he had his first real encounter with the law. He got involved with a lawsuit against the headmaster of the school regarding his payment. It seems Isaacs lost, and he resigned from the school.

He went to teach at the grammar school. The law thing must have stuck in his head, though. He spent a portion of his spare time reading law books and sitting in on court cases. It looks like the guy had found his passion.

Lord Wiki says Isaacs knew several languages. His parents spoke Russian so he learned that. He also was fairly proficient in Italian, French, Greek, Hindustani, and Chinese. I've never heard of Hindustani. I'm guessing it's an Indian language.

Lord Wiki says that 904 million people speak it. It's spoken in India, Pakistan, Suriname, Fiji, etc. I think the language I think of when I think of India is Hindi.

In 1875, Isaacs moved to Melbourne. He would have been around twenty.

He worked full-time in the Prothonotary office of the law department. I'm not sure what that means exactly. Lord Wiki tried to explain it to me, but I still don't get it. Oh well. I guess the important thing to note is that while working full time, Isaacs also furthered his education. He studied law at the University of Melbourne. By 1883, he had his masters. Five years after that, he got married.

In 1892, he was elected into the Victorian Legislative Assembly. Lord Wiki says he was a radical liberal. I'm guessing that's liberal in the Australian way. Was he on the right? Or is it liberal as in the left?

In 1897, he was elected to the group who drafted the Australian Constitution.

When the whole Federation thing happened, Isaacs became a Member of the Federal Parliament. He was in the seat of Indi which encompasses north-eastern Victoria. Prime Minister John McEwen had that post later from 1937 to 1949. It seems that seat is usually taken by the Liberal Party, or something else conservative like that.

Isaacs was part of the Protectionist Party when he had the seat. He supported Edmund Barton.

Lord Wiki says he pushed for radical policies, and because of this he was unpopular with his colleagues. They saw him as being aloof and self-righteous.

You know who comes to my mind—someone who might be like Isaac Isaacs? Martin Prince from The Simpsons.

Alfred Deakin, the second Prime Minister, appointed Isaacs as the attorney-general. I guess he soon regretted his decision. Lord Wiki says he saw Isaacs as being a difficult colleague. He pushed Isaacs away by appointing him to the High Court. Isaacs had that job from 1906 to 1930.

In 1930, Isaacs was given the job of Chief Justice. That lasted a short time, and then he became Governor-General.

It was Prime Minister James Scullin who pushed for Isaacs to get this position. Prior to Isaacs, the Governor-General was never Australian-born. And King George was somewhat reluctant to make such a change. He wanted William Birdwood, a British general, to have the job.

Isaacs was Governor-General during the Great Depression. He made sure to be frugal with his post. He agreed to a reduction in salary. I think that's admirable. He gave up his homes in Sydney and Melbourne, and moved into Government House in Canberra. All this made Isaacs fairly popular in the public eye. I'm not sure whether he became liked by those he worked with, though. I have a feeling that Isaacs was the kind of person that is liked in theory. He's a decent person. But maybe he's not the most pleasant person to be around. Maybe it's like some celebrities. They're great at acting. They do charitable work. They're decent humans. But then you have a conversation with them, and talking to them is torture.

Isaacs retired when he was eighty-one. This was in 1836.

Here's something interesting. He was anti-Zionist. He saw Judaism as a religion, and not an ethnicity or national group. Even the Holocaust didn't make him change his mind. I wonder how he felt about bringing Jews to Australia. I know there was some movement to bring thousands of Jewish refugees there, but it was eventually vetoed. I wonder how Isaacs felt about it.

Ah. Lord Wiki says it was called the Kimberly Plan.

Now I'm going to read about Isaacs on the Australian Dictionary of Biography.

Mommy Isaacs was very intellectual. She probably had much influence over her son.

Isaacs seemed to have a photographic memory. The website says pretty much what Lord Wiki said. Isaacs was a smart guy. He was like Brainy Smurf.

After he got involved with the law stuff, Isaacs moved his parents back to Melbourne. I guess maybe he paid for their move.

Isaac's wife was the daughter of a past president of the St. Kilda Hebrew Congregation. Isaacs and his wife ended up having two daughters.

It seems Isaacs remained close to his mother. He talked to her on a daily basis. I guess by telephone? Were there phones back then? I'm telling you. I'm horrible at technological history. Well from what I can gather from this phone history site, it seems phones started appearing at around this time. It was a pretty new technology, though. So, I'm not sure if Isaacs would have had a phone. Maybe he traveled each day to his mom's house.

Isaacs was a Freemason.

He was a member of the Australian Natives Association. I think that referred to white people born in Australia and not the true natives. Yeah. Lord Wiki says I'm right.

There's something here I'm trying to understand. It sounds kind of important. There was a bank that was supposed to go on trial for conspiracy to defraud. The Attorney-General of Victoria just wanted to let it go. Isaacs did not. It was not seen as constitutional for him to go against the Attorney-General. All of this made him a bit unpopular. The biographical dictionary says, Having challenged persons of standing and institutions of power and authority he was henceforth distrusted in these quarters, and his conduct as a member of the government gave rise to the feeling that he was not trustworthy as a colleague.

So was Isaacs a lone hero, or an annoying prick?

You know, I don't think I've ever used the word prick before. Isn't that funny? It seems foreign to my fingers. I tried substituting asshole, but it just didn't fit well. Maybe I'll start adding prick to my vocabulary. I don't think I like it, though. Writing is it okay. I don't like how it sounds when I speak it aloud.

From what I've read so far, I think I have my earlier question answered. Isaacs was on the left; not the right. He would fit in well with the left people today. They're usually more anti-Israel than the people on the right.

I'm on the left, but I'm not anti-Israel. I'm not really pro-Israel. I'm pro-let's find SOMEWHERE for all the Jews to live. I'm totally fine with the five million Jews being kicked out of Israel, so the Muslims can have all that land to themselves....as long as other countries are willing to take them in. And I'm sure the Muslims themselves would take in a portion. Who else would be willing?

Maybe we could find ten countries to take a half a million each. I think that might work.

The website says His will was indomitable, his courage inexhaustible and his ambition immeasurable. But his egotism was too marked and his ambition too ruthless to render him popular.Were some of these opinions based on anti-semitism? The websites says yes, but the dislike of him can't be blamed fully on anti-semitism.

I wonder, though....

Could he have added to anti-semitism....perpetuated stereotypes that people already had? I wonder how the dislike of Isaacs influenced the opinion that the Australian government had on Jewish people. Could they have assumed that most Jews would be like him? Could this idea have made them not want to take in too many Jewish refugees?

What if Isaacs had been a fun-loving easygoing bloke? Would Australians have thought the Jews as being awesome? Would they have let them migrate to the Kimberley? Would the Jews not have needed Israel?

I'm thinking that we might be able to blame Isaacs for all the later turmoil in the Middle East.

I'm joking, of course....well, for the most part.

Anti-semitism has existed for centuries. And I'm sure it existed in Australia before Isaacs. I think it's one of those circular things. Isaacs had a difficult personality. He may have encountered overt and subtle anti-semitism. That might have made him defensive and even more of an asshole. Plus, if someone dislikes a certain group of people, they're more likely to notice negative personality traits. Isaacs may have been judged more harshly than a non-Jewish person.

Isaacs was strongly disliked by Edmond Barton. I thought Lord Wiki said Isaacs supported Barton. Well, I guess if that's true, the love wasn't mutual.

He was against gambling. If he was alive today, he'd probably be friends with Tim Costello.

The website says that Isaacs was very rigid in his viewpoints. He refused to consider other viewpoints. Yeah. I've met people like that. They can be very annoying, especially when they're nasty and intolerant. I mean I'm opinionated. I have strong views and I do think my views are the correct views. But I TRY to be polite towards those who think differently. I try to at least listen, and consider the idea that they may be right and I'm wrong.

The website says he refused to admit to making errors.

Oh! That really annoys me. I've encountered people like this as well. There are people who criticized choices we've made in our parenting. Then these same people turned around and did the exact same stuff we did. Of course it makes me feel all vindicated, but I wish they'd have the decency to say, Hey. Sorry we gave you grief about this before. Now we totally agree with you.

I'm wondering what would make a person afraid to admit to mistakes. I'd say in some cases it would come from a childhood in which one was brutally punished. There'd be a fear of doing wrong. But I also think it could come from a childhood where one is put on pedestal by his parents. There's those parents who believe their child can do no wrong. They're never scolded. Any wrongdoing is ignored or blamed on someone else. These children probably learn that they are loved because they're seen as being perfect. Mistakes are intolerable and must not exist.

Did Isaacs beloved mother put too much pressure on him to be perfect?

I'm having so much fun playing psychologist here.

From what I'm reading, it seems Isaacs was not liked when in Government and the High Court. But it does seem he gained some love as Governor-General.

During his retirement years, Isaacs was involved with the Jewish Community. He was interested in Judaism, but didn't practice it.

The website says he was sensitive to anti-semitism and would get angry about it. The website says he was proud of his British citizenship and saw that as his nationality rather than Judaism. But after Federation, shouldn't that have been Australian citizenship?

Isaacs caused a lot of problems in the Jewish community. It's not just that he opposed their Zionism. It's that he was a jerk about it. A professor named Julius Stone argued against Isaac's view. Isaacs not only attacked Stone's viewpoint but attacked Stone himself.

Yeah. I've known bloggers like Isaacs.

The University of Melbourne has a biography on Isaacs.

He was a supporter of the White Australia Policy. The University says this somewhat contradicted with his desire to learn some Chinese. So he was for a White Australia, yet he had some interest in the Chinese culture. He was a man of some contradictions. I think most humans are that way.

Anyway, I can't really find anything else exciting. So I'm going to quit for now.