The Rise of Nazism in Germany (part 11)

 To read the first part in this series, please click here!

I'm going to start reading The Holocaust's Explained's page entitled "How Did the Nazi Consolidate their Power".

Shouldn't Nazi be plural there?

I wonder if it's a proofreading error or a grammar thing I don't understand.

Anyway....

I skimmed through a little bit...mostly the paragraph headings.  Some of this stuff, I've already encountered.  But I think I need to read things multiple times to understand them...and to have any ounce of hope in remembering them.

* * *

When Hitler was appointed Chancellor, he didn't have full power right away.  

The Holocaust Explained says there was a three party coalition. So the Nazis were just one of those parties.  

And now we're going to learn how Hitler and his minions got rid of the opposition.

First there was the fire.  

The Reichstag Fire.

The fire happened on February 23, 1933.

A communist named Van der Lubbe was arrested for the fire.

Was he guilty?

I kind of want to go down a Van der Lubbe rabbit hole—mainly because I want to understand communists more.

* * *

Falling down the rabbit hole of Marinus Van der Lubbe....

First of all, Lord Wiki says, in his intro part, that Van der Lubbe was given a pardon 75 years after the fire. So I assume that means they determined he was NOT guilty after all.

Unfortunately, 1933 Germany had a different verdict. Marinus Van der Lubbe was executed for the crime.

Rewinding to his childhood in South Holland.

He was born in 1909.  

His parents were divorced.  His mother died. He went to live with his half-sister.  He worked as a brick-layer.

Because of his physical strength, he was nicknamed Dempsey after the boxer Jack Dempsey.

I don't know much about boxing.

I just know Jack Dempsey from The Twilight Zone movie.

At least I think that's the boxer they mentioned.

My sister and I used to do the dialogue from that scene.

All I remember fully is: I'm Cold. Where we going to spend the night?  Who's going to take care of us?

Found the dialogue about Jack Dempsey.  

-Oh, that was a boys' game. -My late husband, Jack Dempsey--

-Not the fighter? Oh, oh, not the fighter, not the fighter. Jack Dempsey was the most gentle man

who ever walked on the earth. Jack Dempsey loved that game. -He absolutely loved--

Now I'm totally distracted reading through the scene.

I was too young to see Haley's comet.

Birdie with the yellow bill hopped upon my window sill

Cocked his shy eye and said....

Maybe one day I should do a post about the movie lines I memorized as a child/teen that are still floating around a bit in my head. 

They're kind of random...like not the main lines from a movie.

Here's one.  I'll be excited if anyone can guess what it is.  

Security. Security from what?

Not from what.  From whom.

Ah....

Rabbit holes have rabbit holes.  Don't they?

* * *  

Back to Martinus van der Lubbe, the guy who probably did not start the Reichstag fire.  

When he was 16, he joined the Communist Party of the Netherlands.  

He became disabled (almost blind)  from a work-place accident. That left him unemployed.

Van der Lubbe wanted to move to the Soviet Union...probably because they were big into the communism thing.  But he didn't have the funds for that move.

Instead he ended up moving to Germany.  

Lord Wiki says that he thinks that Van der Lubbe had a criminal record for multiple arson attacks, but he says he doesn't have actual proof of this...yet.  He's waiting for someone to verify the rumor.

Lord Wiki says that Van der Lubbe took responsibility for the fire.

Was it a false confession?

Lord Wiki believes that, in the past, van der Lubbe took false blame/credit for starting a strike.

Okay....

So what I'm getting from Lord Wiki is that van der Lubbe might very well have been guilty. It wasn't a pardon, because innocence was proven. The pardon was because the Nazi Party was seen as "unjust," and the verdict was seen as politically motivated.  

In another page, Lord Wiki says it's believed by historians that Van der Lubbe was guilty, but it was a stroke of luck for the Nazis.  

It's like Van der Lubbe to the Nazis was what 9/11 was to George W. Bush and the Republicans.

And I'm guessing there are examples of times where left-wing Americans benefitted politically from someone doing something bad.

* * *

Getting back to the fire...which van der Lubbe probably started.

The Nazis used it to their advantage. 

They whipped up hysteria and ended up imprisoning 4000 people. Also, Hindenburg signed something called the "Emergency Decree for the Protection of the German People". 

From what I read from Lord Wiki, there's a chance that van der Lubbe acted alone and that his actions were more about being a pyromaniac and not someone with the talents needed to get thousands of Communists to rise up against the German government.  

* * *

The Holocaust Explained talks about the day after the fire which was February 28, 1933.

President Hindenburg signed something called "The Emergency Decree For the Protection of the German People".

I think this decree intended to protect the German people as much as Desantis intended to protect Florida school children with HB1557.

The decree gave the Nazis the ability to imprison anyone that they saw as traitors. It also removed the right to free speech, the right to own property, and the right to a trial.  

Yikes.

* * *

There was an election on March 5, 1933.  

The Holocaust Explained says, The SA also ran a violent campaign of terror against any and all opponents of the Nazi regime. Many were terrified of voting of at all, and many turned to voting for the Nazi Party out of fear for their own safety. The elections were neither free or fair.

I hope this doesn't happen to us.

But I think it will in some form.

It will probably happen much less to white people, especially wealthy white people.

I think here, though, it's going to be less about scaring people into voting for the GOP and more about making it very difficult to vote and making it possible for votes of certain populations to be tossed out.  

The March 5, 1933 election had HIGH turnout—89%.

I think it's easier to have a low turn-out of certain populations rather than having a high turn out of people who feel very forced to vote a certain way.

Even with their campaign of terror, The Nazis didn't have supreme success.

They got 43.9% of the votes which meant they still did not have a majority in the Reichstag.  

* * *

I've decided to read a bit about a scary term I've heard of but don't know much about.

Poll-watchers. 

The Brennan Center for Justice has an editorial about it.

Or it might be an article.

But judging from the title of the organization and the title of the piece: "Who Watches the Poll Watchers", I'm thinking it's going to have some bias in it.  

Skimming through...I'm concluding it's more of an article.

It says that poll watchers are people from political parties and/or candidates who watch over the election process.  And each state has varying laws on what these poll watchers can and can't do.

Most states have laws protecting the voters from intimidation, saying the watchers have to stay a distance away and/or cannot interact with the voters.

The article looks at laws that are trying to give more freedom to the watchers which in many cases would probably give less freedom to the voters.

There was a bill in Nevada (NV AB 248), that if I'm understanding it right, was written to PROTECT the voters. It's purpose was to require partisan watchers to be accompanied by election officials.

That bill died.

In Texas, there's a bill (TX HB 6) that gives watchers permission to stand close enough to hear voters and election officials...but they can't get close enough to the-casting-a-ballot part.

A lot of the bills are saying the same things.

To be honest, it sounds kind of...not scary to me.

But I don't know how intimidating these watchers are.

One question I have is: are these watchers allowed to carry guns.

Another question:  Are there going to be an equal number of watchers in all polling places?  Will upper class and upper middle class white people find as many poll watchers in their neighborhood as Black and Hispanic people will in their neighborhoods?  

If white GOP watchers are able to stand watch in Black Democratic areas, will Black Democrats have as much ability to stand watch in white GOP polling places?  

A lot of these bills seem less about securing elections and more about pushing the message that our elections are NOT secure and not trustworthy.

But some of them seem more dangerous...more ominous.

Such as TX HB 2601 which allows watchers to take pictures and videos of people in the voting area...though fortunately they are not allowed to take pictures of people actually voting.  

Is that a huge threat?

I'm not sure.

It could make it harder for people in hiding to vote.

For example, people who are hiding from their abuser. 

But that's probably a risk anytime someone goes out...with all these people videotaping for social media these days.

On the surface, these bills don't seem too dangerous to me.  But I feel it's probably one of those things where if I read more, I'd understand why it would be harmful.

* * *

I'm imagining going to vote and how I'd feel if I knew people were watching. Or how would I feel if I was an election worker and there was someone watching me work...watching me count.

No matter what, I'd probably feel somewhat intimidated.  Because I'm self-conscious that way.

It would be much worse if the watchers acted and looked intimidating.  There'd be a difference between a friendly, easygoing person vs. someone who purposely dresses in an intimidating way and glares at me.  Or stares. Or glares AND stares.

Could watchers pretend to be there to watch but instead be there to make you feel like you're in high school again...being ridiculed, laughed at.

If you're Black, could they give you the idea that if you make one wrong step...they're going to find a way to arrest you and send you to prison.  For life?  Or shoot you and then say they thought your phone was a gun.

* * *

I'm concluding that The Brennan Center for Justice article was NOT written with a lot of bias, because I feel I should be more worried than I am.  

So I'm going to read more to find out why I need to be fretting over poll watchers.

Another pro-democracy organization called Let Texas Vote has an article entitled "Alarming Video reveals discriminatory poll watcher program in Harris Count".

I just watched the video.

And 

HOLY FUCK.

It's this guy pointing to white areas of Harris County and saying we need people from these areas to go down to these areas (apparently Black/Brown areas of Harris county) to be poll watchers.

If these bills get passed, what we need is an organization that has Black and Brown people (guarded and protected by white allies) to go and watch over white polling places.  

Also the video talks about the poll watchers needing to have confidence and courage to go in these areas.  

The article talks about intimidation techniques that have been employed...such as standing too close to a voter or video-taping them.

Anyway, my feeling in all of this is we should work less on fighting these laws and more on making sure the pain is felt equally.  

Democrats need to send as many poll watchers to Republican polling places that Republicans send to Democratic polling places.

* * *

This afternoon, I was suddenly curious about TV shows that conservatives consider conservative-friendly.

I Googled and ended up on Conservapedia. 

There's some pretty funny stuff.

Such as Family Ties: In this dramedy series, hardworking conservative children, e.g. Alex P. Keaton (played by Michael J. Fox in his breakout role), outsmart their liberal, ex-hippie, underachieving parents.

For House of Cards: This popular series exposes Democrats for what they really are—corrupt frauds and atheists, and conservative Christians are shown in a positive light.

For Sabrina (old school version) In this live-action sitcom adaptation of the Archie Comic, Sabrina Spellman may be a witch, but the show does not glorify witchcraft. Instead, it celebrates family and teaches such Christian morals as honesty and individualism.  

(Why, where, and how does Christianity teach individualism?  If you're a Christian and can explain that to me, please do!)

Then there's a category of things that are labeled as "Debatable Whether Conservative".

Brooklyn 99: Main character Captain Holt is an open homosexual in charge of the fictitious 99th police precinct in Brooklyn, New York City. However, his sexuality is downplayed for the most part, and this sitcom seems to humanize the police in an era when liberal news media does everything it can to dehumanize the authorities.

Friends:  The sitcom is about six young adults living in New York City. It often promotes alcoholism and sex outside marriage. But on a conservative note, the show condemns smoking and drug usage, and somewhat a condemnation of the homosexual agenda, as Ross’s life was negatively affected by his wife being lesbian, as well as Chandler's childhood being effected by his dad becoming a transgender

Kim Possible: Although it was feminist due to the titular character Kim Possible tending to save the world and her sidekick Ron Stoppable generally being comic relief, it also was pro-family values, as it was notably one of the few Disney Channel shows where the fathers of the main characters (Kim and Ron) were not depicted as bumbling, buffoonish, childish, or as a jerk, and in many cases the fathers actually helped significantly to save the day

Okay.  That's all funny in an infuriating kind of way.

But what I really wanted to talk about is their take on a BBC documentary called The Nazis: A Warning From History.

Conservapedia says, the documentary, or at least the first episode, repeats leftist propaganda made post-World War II of claiming the Nazis were a "far-Right" political party when in reality they belonged to the far-Left (and only being slightly to the right of German Communists/Red Front at most.

So are they saying the Weiner Holocaust Library in London, the source I've mainly been using, is leftist propaganda?  

I asked in my first post if perhaps the Weiner Holocaust Library was leftist.

I don't think they are.

I am wondering, though, if other big Holocaust museums say what Conservapedia says...that the Nazis were left-wing and not right-wing.

Maybe in one of my posts, I will go through various Holocaust websites and see if most of them promote this so-called leftist propaganda.  Will any of them agree with Conservapedia?  

* * *

I got to thinking that Jewish people themselves...we tend to have a left-wing bias.

Looking at a Pew study.  

It looks at Christians and Jews and their political leanings.  

Black Protestants are the most likely to support the Democratic Party (86%)

But Jews aren't far behind (71%). They have the highest percentage of Democrats besides Black Protestants.

In my flavor of Judaism...Reform, 80% lean Democrat. 

And THAT is all by party.

In terms of liberal vs conservative... Jews are the group that's most likely to be Liberal.  

Again...just a reminder, this deals only with Judeo-Christian religion.  It leaves out Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, etc. 

There's one group of Jews who very much lean Republican and support Trump.  The Orthodox Jews.  Only 9% of them consider themselves liberal and 60% of them consider themselves conservative (politically not religiously)

It will be interesting to see if Holocaust museums, programs, or websites run by Orthodox Jews will label the Nazis as being left-wing rather than right wing.  

* * *

I'm going to get back to consolidation of power stuff on The Holocaust Explained website in my next post.  But I might also start looking at various Holocaust websites.  IF not, I'll get to that in a post further down the line.  

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What I Watched in 2020

I want to make a list of what I watched in 2020.

I've been wanting to do it for awhile. And I've actually started the post a few times only to soon delete it and vow to never try again.

But I'm trying again.

My problem is deciding how to organize it. Should I list it in chronological order?

In the past, I divided all my shows by geography.  

Well...actually.  Looking back at that post, it makes me want to do it that way again.

So I will.

I also colored shows that I loved in blue and shows I disliked in red. I think I shall do that again as well. Note: If a show is not colored blue, it doesn't mean I didn't like it a lot. I might have just liked it with less enthusiasm them the blue shows.  

I'm going to put shows in multiple categories if they take place (significantly) in multiple places. 

I really hope this ends up getting posted, and I'm not wasting my time writing a post that I'm going to end up deleting.

Well...if you're actually reading this, it means the story has a happy ending.

So...without much further rambling, here's the list.

UNITED STATES 

Knives Out

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood - This movie totally made me cry.

The Good Doctor

Little Women -Bored by it, but I appreciate the feminist ideals. 

Succession 

Miss Sloane 

Sirens 

Chilling Adventures of Sabrina 

American Horror Story Cult 

Beauty and the Beast - The TV show-remake of the 1980's show.  

Hunters - Tim liked this, but I quit after the first episode. I did like the set design, though.  

The Outsider - If it weren't for the last episode, I'd probably be marking this blue. 

The Handmaids Tale  

Mistresses 

The Plot Against America - It seems like, in 2020, I wasn't in the mood for fictionalized Nazi stories.  

It: Chapter Two 

Westworld- I loved season 1 and 2; was disappointed in season 3. 

Casual

Zombieland 2 - I made the mistake of doing things on my phone or laptop during this movie. I'm not good at multitasking while watching. It takes me away from the story.  So I feel I didn't give the movie the attention it deserved. I feel I lost out here. 

What We Do in the Shadows - The TV show. 

Us - Second time watching it. This is my favorite movie.

Doctor Sleep

The Big Bang Theory

Hart of Dixie 

Hamilton 

The Twilight Zone     

The Magicians 

The Last Ship - The vaccination scene in season 2 was a major tearjerker for me. A sharp juxtaposition to our real world social distancing.  

Blackish- I watched only one episode officially...the one that had originally been censored from airing. Sometimes I watch a bit here and there when Tim watches it. I do have it on my massive to-watch list. Hopefully someday I'll get to it. 

Fear the Walking Dead

Supernatural 

Ramy 

Chatter - I've actually forgotten where this horror movie took place. I think it might have been London and the United States? 

Broad City - I did NOT like this when I first started watching it; then it grew on me. 

American Housewife - This one is complicated. I was never bored by it. But it offended me too much. It was a like/hate kind of thing. 

Borat Subsequent Movie Film 

Evil 

Angie Tribeca 

The Comey Rule - I hope there are many more movies that illustrate the absolute awfulness of Donald Trump 

Scandal 

The Trial of the Chicago 7  

The Flight Attendant   

Doctor Who - the Rosa Parks episode

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CANADA 

Murdoch Mysteries

The Handmaid's Tale

Heartland 

Schitt's Creek - I love, love, love, love this show. I immediately started rewatching it as soon as we finished. Now I watch it on our Amazon Echo when I'm doing work at the kitchen.  

AUSTRALIA 

Secret City 

All Saints 

Wonderland - I obsessively loved this show back in 2015. But by the time I got back to it, it was hard to get into again. I did like it...just didn't love it again.  

UNITED KINGDOM

Coronation Street-This show is my constant. It's the one show I watch consistently through out the year/years. 

The Crown  

Life in Squares - I was bored by this 

Love is Thicker Than Water

Cold Feet-This is the show that has the infamous Emily from Friends. And, here,  ironically, her character's name is Rachel. 

The Railway Man

Denial 

Outnumbered - The middle kid in this...his voice (after puberty) reminds me of Boris Johnson.  

Doc Martin 

The Haunting of Bly Manor - I loved The Haunting of Hill House more. But this too was perfectly splendid. 

Doctor Who - We just started with the 13th doctor...liking it a lot so far.

GERMANY

Jo Jo Rabbit 

Dark

JAPAN

Sea of Trees

Death Note 

The Railway Man

NEW ZEALAND

What We Do in the Shadows - The movie. I loved this when I saw it but now I don't really remember it much. So I'm going to keep it not-blue. 

INDIA

Hotel Mumbai 

SOMALIA  

The Journey is the Destination 

KOREA

The Handmaiden - A bit too long and a bit too much sex for my taste. BUT since seeing the movie, I've read two of the author's (Sarah Waters) books and liked them a lot. I had the author on my list and she came up via Random.org. I hadn't realized the movie I disliked was based on one of her books. I was a bit hesitant to read something of hers, but decided to give it a chance. And I ended up liking it a lot. That was Tipping the Velvet. Then later I read The Little Stranger.   

The Host 

NOT EARTH 

The Twilight Zone - We watched a few episodes that took place outside of Earth. 

Doctor Who

NOT OUR UNIVERSE

Birds of Prey - Or is Gotham city supposed to be in the United States?  I'm confused about all that. 

The Magicians - 

THE GREAT BEYOND

Miracle Workers  

The Twilight Zone - At least one episode took place in the afterlife. 

The Good Place - 

Upload - This one has some strong similarities with my novel/now screenplays The Dead are Online, so I was sometimes uncomfortable watching it...just because originality was one of the major strongpoints of my novel. So...that's gone now.    

Soul 

 UH...WHO KNOWS

Lost - Rewatched season 2.  It was hard for me to get back into it. And I felt season 2 wasn't one of my favorites, but after awhile I was totally loving it and reaffirming my identity as a Lost fan.  

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Submarine Attack Synchronocity

Lately, I've been watching season 2 of The Last Ship.  

Yesterday I started watching the episode "Achilles". It's about a nuclear submarine attacking the Navy ship.

Then later Tim and I watched our nightly episodes of The Twilight Zone. The second episode we watched was "Judgement Night".  The plot involves a submarine attacking a ship.

I think that's quite a coincidence. It would be less so if I often watched ship and/or war related things. But I don't.

So is it random? Or is the universe trying to send me a message?

I'm thinking that submarines probably could symbolize the subconscious. So maybe I'm being warned that my subconscious is going to attack my conscious. That might be exciting. And terrifying. Maybe it will be exciting in a terrifying way. 

OR maybe it's the universe telling me I like submarine stories, and I should seek out more of those. Because "Judgement Night" was probably my favorite of the episodes we've watched recently. And I think "Achilles" is my favorite episode of The Last Ship so far.  On top of that, when Jack was a little lad, I would let him choose my library books for me. He chose these navy books which seemed like something I would never like. It's certainly not something I would have chosen for myself. But I remember liking them a lot. I wish I remembered what they were and who wrote them.  

Getting back to Twilight Zone episodes....

I also liked the other episode we watched last night, up to the ending—"Perchance to Dream".  It reminded me of Nightmare on Elm Street. Well...until the ending.

I finally saw the famous episode "Time Enough at Last".  I've heard about that episode so many times but have never seen it.

I didn't like it. It was too upsetting. 

And mean.

I think I'd be okay with the ending if he was just a busy guy who didn't have time to read vs someone who was bullied about reading.  

And maybe I would have appreciated it more if I hadn't known the ending. Maybe then it would have been a matter of only a brief moment of shock. Oh shit! Oh no!  Instead I was filled with dread throughout the episode.  And it was so hard for me handle, I was frantically writing fan fiction in my head. Okay, the glasses will break, but see...eventually he'll find a dead body that has glasses. And yeah. Maybe he needs a special prescription. But maybe he'll find glasses that are good enough.

Oh! Maybe he'll take a walk and eventually find an eyeglass shop that wasn't destroyed. That could happen. Right?  

Landline Phones, Smorgy's, Warm Chestnuts, and Old Ladies

1. Started watching an episode of Upper Middle Bogan.

I have two more episodes. Then I'm done with the series, I guess. Are they planning to make a third season?

2. Saw, on IMDb, that season two of Upper Middle Bogan began in October 2014. So they're not way past due time for a third season.

3. Remembered Patrick Brammall is going to be in the reprised Offspring. Will he be too busy for Upper Middle Bogan?

Maybe not, because both shows don't have a huge amount of episodes. I'm betting he can multi-task.

4. Amused by scene on the show.

The Wheeler family hears a ringing, and they're mystified by the noise. They wonder what it is; then realize it's their landline phone. They haven't heard it in so long. They're about to answer it but instead let it ring a few times, because they're so thrilled to hear the sound.

We don't even have landline service anymore. We did, and it seemed the only calls we got were telemarketers.

Tim did call us on it sometimes, which I don't understand. It usually seems just as easy to call a cell phone.

Well, I guess the benefit of a landline is if you have multiple phones, you'll hear it ringing no matter where you are.  Sometimes my cell phone is downstairs charging while I'm upstairs. If someone calls, I won't hear.

5. Learned that the Smorgy's restaurant restaurant featured on Upper Middle Bogan is not fictional.

From what I'm seeing on Google, though, it seems to be closed.

6. Liked how Smorgy's was described on this website.   This was a chain of restaurants that looked like Polynesian barns, serving all-you-can-eat nursing-home food, located in suburbs that your dad visited to buy mulch.

I especially like the nursing home bit.

I can't say I hate buffet restaurants. There are a few in Disney World that have given me over-indulgent but kind of wonderful experiences.  But outside of that, most are fairly disgusting.

7. Watched a commercial for Smorgy's.

8. Remembered that there was a fairly decent buffet restaurant in Fort Worth. It was called Fresh Choice. I think the main feature was a salad bar and then they had pizza, pasta, and other stuff.

I don't remember the food being fantastic, but I also don't remember it being awful. It was a nice place to go when Jack was a toddler, because we didn't have to wait for the food. It's not easy doing table service when you have a young child.

9. Thought that the Smorgy's on the show didn't look like the Smorgy's I saw on the website and commercial.

Maybe it's a different version?

10. Thought that was a lovely episode. It made me have a bit of a tear; or a prelude to a tear, at least.

The episode dealt with adoptive mom/birth mom type of stuff.

11. Started watching my last episode of Upper Middle Bogan.

12. Looked up the theme song for Upper Middle Bogan.

It's "Comin' Home Baby" by an American musician named Mel Tormé.  Lord Wiki says Tormé is the guy who wrote "The Christmas Song". That's a pretty popular song in America. I wonder if it's also popular in Australia. It might not be fitting, since it talks about roasting chestnuts near a fire.

13. Wondered if anyone has written an Australian version of "The Christmas Song".

14. Started to watch video of Mel Tormé performing "Comin' Home Baby"

He's introduced by Judy Garland, which is kind of cool.

15. Thought that Mel Tormé is cute in a Rick Moranis kind of way.

16. Could not find an Australian version of "The Christmas Song".

I'm sure SOMEWHERE in Australia someone has written the song. Maybe they just don't know how to put it up on the Internet.  Or maybe it's on the Internet, and I'm doing a bad job of finding it.

I'd write the song myself if I was good at song-writing.

17. Thought the first line could replace chestnuts roasting on an open fire with something about prawns on the barbie.

OR...

What other seafood do people eat on the beach?

Maybe instead of Jack Frost nipping at toes, there could be something about sand stuck between toes.

18. Learned from Lord Wiki that Tormé says that he and Bob Wells actually wrote "The Christmas Song" on a very hot summer day as a way to keep their mind on cold things.

That's funny.

It reminds me of that Twilight Zone episode. The people were dying of heat but then it turns out they were dreaming; and in reality, they were dying of cold. Or maybe I have it reversed.

19. Liked that this Upper Middle Bogan episode was about an aging woman (Robyn Malcolm) feeling marginalized.

I hate that this happens...probably because I'm an aging woman.

Well, I guess all woman are aging. Unless they're vampires or zombies.  But the aging thing gets harder as the numbers get higher. The feeling marginalized part probably starts around age thirty, unfortunately.

It makes me think of various things.

First, I was slightly offended when watching Crash Course recently. Hank Green cheerfully defended Darwin's The Origin of Species by quoting Thomas Henry Huxley. Old ladies of both sexes consider it a decidedly dangerous book.

Old ladies is obviously used as an insult there.

Maybe Huxley had a bad relationship with his grandmother.

20. Couldn't remember the other things I thought I had been thinking about.

Oh well.

21. Wanted to say that I'm not against all jokes regarding aging.

I just found the Huxley one more offensive than funny.

It's kind of like the guy I met in college who used the word "Jewish" to refer to stupid things.

Although I DID love learning yesterday that Norwegians use the word "Texas" in replace of "Crazy". That's awesome.

See, but that's a positive, as far as I can tell. I think they mean crazy in a good way.

Huxley's reference to old ladies is very negative. He's talking about people who fear new ideas—uptight, rigid, etc.

22. Felt sad that I'm done with Upper Middle Bogan.

I hope they make more episodes.

23. Went to Random.org to find my next thing to watch.

It's the movie Newcastle.

I'll probably start watching that on Monday.

24. Saw from IMDb, that Gigi Edgley is in the movie. I know her from The Secret Life of Us and Farscape.

25. Saw kangaroos at the zoo.

We also sort of saw the crocodile, but it was far away and underwater.

It was our type of perfect zoo weather—Slightly cold, but not uncomfortable and rainy but not raining.

26. Remembered that we also saw cockatiels, and parakeets. We opted not to feed them, because they didn't look eager.

27. Opened up my package of Australian food from Simply Australian.

I took a picture with my phone, and then had a very hard time figuring out how to get the pictures onto my computer.

Am I stupid; or is Apple difficult sometimes?

Anyway, here are the photos.

My choice in purchase was based on what was on sale, except for the Allen's Party Mix.

All the other stuff is close to expiration, or past it. The Old Gold thing is close to five months past it's prime, but I'm guessing it will still be okay.

28. Decided to post a photo of the zoo crocodile. I didn't take it this time.  It's from a past visit.

I decided, while I was uploading some photos to my computer, I might as well do a few others. Who knows if I'll ever be able to figure out the uploading process again.

I'm tempted to be impressed with my photography there, but I think really it's about the crocodile posing well.

29. Wanted to mention that Cherry Ripes remind me of Bran Nue Dae.

30. Went to palg1305's Flickr account.

Tonight I'm going to look at his University of Queensland album.

I looked at one of his University of Queensland albums before, but that was the Jacaranda one.  I think this is a non-Jacaranda one.

31. Impressed with this Tawny Frogmouth photo.

It's labeled as being from something called QUEST Cultural Day.

I wonder what that is.

32. Learned that QUEST stands for Queensland University Exchange Student Society.

33. Felt that they were kind of cheating, not calling it QUESS.

34. Wondered if Palg1305 is a QUEST member. Is he a student not from Australia? Where is he from?

I wonder if it's Mexico. He has a lot of Mexican albums.

35. Thought this Tawny Frogmouth looked a bit sad.

36. Saw that there are many Jacaranda photos in this album.

I like this one, for some reason. It feels like the world is being taken over by purple.

37. Ate some of the Old Gold bar.

It tasted great.

Read my novel: The Dead are Online

Insurance, Supportive Partners, Paul Keane, and Actors Who Don't Want Fame

1. Had a dream about Australia early in the night.  I considered writing it down on my phone but decided against it. I assumed I would remember it in the morning.

I was wrong. 

I have absolutely no idea what the dream was about.

When I had the dream about Andrew recently, I did write it down on my phone. It's the first time I've done that. 

I think I might do it again in the future. But only if it's a dream that I feel is fun or interesting enough to share. Or I might also write it down if it seems important for my spiritual growth.  Stuff like that.

2. Started to watch an episode of Neighbours.

3. Felt very bad for Sonya (Eve Morey) and Toadie (Ryan Moloney). Life is totally fucking with them right now.

Toadie is in the hospital because of his bouncy house accident. He might be paralyzed for life.

That is totally enough shit for one family. But no. Sonya has learned she messed something up with the insurance, so they don't have any. 

Who's going to pay the medical bills?

4. Wondered if things won't be so bad for Toadie and Sonya, since they're in Australia and not in the USA.

5. Watched part of a performance of "Any Dream Will Do" featuring past Josephs, including Jason Donovan. 

Felt a flash of love for Jason Donovan, and Neighbours in general. 

Then I had sadness, because I won't be able to watch Neighbours anymore.

6. Thought that maybe when Neighbours goes away from Hulu, I'll try to find old clips on YouTube.

Maybe I'll get back into the old school stuff.

7. Started watching another episode of Neighbours.           

8. Wondered if this is the special episode I heard about—the one that fully focuses on the Brad (Kip Gamblin), Lauren (Kate Kendall), and Terese (Rebekah Elmaloglou) triangle. 

It probably isn't, because the previously-on-Neighbours segment showed storylines not related to them. And usually the storylines, shown on the segment, relate to what's going to be on the episode.

The thing that makes me think it might be the episode is this episode seems more artsy. There was a lovely song playing in the background while Terese and Brad were fighting. And an unusual angle of Ramsey street was shown.

9. Wondered if Neighbours is upping their game—getting more artistic and paying higher royalties for impressive music. Maybe they decided their show is worth more now; so then they presented Hulu with a higher fee. Maybe Hulu wasn't willing to pay.

10. Wondered why the Hulu/Neighbours contract is ending before the season is up. It seems it would make more sense to finish the year, at least.  

11. Had strong desire to know what happened between Hulu and Neighbours.

If anyone knows, please tell me.   

12. Saw that the episode of Neighbours that I'm watching is not the special one.

13. Started to feel myself leaning more towards Brad's side.

Lauren acts so supportive of his art, teaching, and hobbies, while Terese seems bored and unimpressed by them.

I write, sing, make videos, etc.  Some people, in my life, have acted impressed with these aspects of me. Some people seem indifferent. Some people have gone as far as insulting me.  

I prefer to be around those who are supportive and complimentary. 

I like when people see me as talented. It makes me feel special and appreciated.  

Personally, I can see why Brad prefers to be around Lauren.

I guess the question is whether Lauren truly is supportive of Brad; or is she acting supportive to win him over? 

Sometimes it's easier for the other woman, or other man, to be supportive of the married person.

People are often much more talented, attractive, charming, funny, and interesting when they're new to us.  

Although in Lauren and Brad's case, they're not exactly new to each other. They had a relationship in the past.  

Was Lauren as supportive of Brad back then as she is now?

14. Went to the Triple J 2014 list. 

Today I'm going to be listening to the 61st song, which is "Talk Too Much" by Andy Bull. 

15. Saw that there IS an official video for "Talk Too Much". 

16. Thought that the man in the beginning of the video looks familar.

For some reason, he reminds me of the video "Frontier Psychiatrist". Was he in that? Or was someone who looked like him in it?

17. Liked the song..

The video is a lip-synching thing.

It reminds me of that episode from Nip/Tuck.

18. Watched "Frontier Psychiatrist".

There are men who look somewhat similar to the one in "Talk too Much"—mostly because they have white hair and are in a similar age range.

19. Started to watch the Neighbours backstage video about the return of Des Clarke (Paul Keane).

20. Wished Des was still on Neighbours.

21. Wondered if Paul Keane wishes the same thing.

When he was back on the set for the cameo, did he wish he could stay longer? Or did he look around and think, I'm glad this is no longer part of my life.

22. Started to read an article about Paul Keane's difficult life.  I heard he had problems before, but I don't know if I ever found out the details. 

23. Learned that Keane suffered from depression and anxiety. He tried to treat himself with alcohol, amphetamines, and painkillers. 

That's not good.

24. Learned there was a time that Keane didn't want to hear about Neighbours. It brought back bad memories.

That's very sad. I wonder how he feels about the show now.

25. Saw that Keane is one of those actors who says they never wanted fame. They just like acting.

When most actors say that, my bullshit meter dings. But with Keane, I can believe it.

Well....

I don't know.

I have a hard time understanding the whole thing.

The thing is, it seems to me, that there are a lot of acting jobs that wouldn't bring fame.

26. Thought of something. Maybe it's about money. Maybe the acting jobs that don't bring you fame also don't bring in a good paycheck.  

How much money does an actor get if he works in a local theater?

27. Looked at this article.  As I suspected, theater actors usually get paid very little.

28. Started to feel bad for actors.

It's something that's said in the article.  He (Keane) said he had always been a sensitive child and that he went into acting not for fame and fortune, but because he didn’t know what else he could do to make a living.

That reminds me of the Twilight Zone episode we watched yesterday, "Caesar and Me".  It was about an immigrant from Ireland, and the only thing he knew how to do was be a ventriloquist. That wasn't working out, so he was sent to an employment agency.  He didn't have any of the needed skills.

29. Thought that technically the immigrant couldn't even really do ventriloquy. The dummy was alive/possessed.

30. Learned that Keane did enjoy returning to Neighbours.  Or at least that's what he says. Sometimes you don't realize how you truly felt about something until the event has long passed.

I hope, though, that he really did have a nice time.

31. Thought that actors who don't like fame should probably get training in an alternate career that will bring them money.

32. Wondered if voice-acting would be better for reclusive actors.

They'd be less recognized.  There'd also be less social interaction. I think a lot of voice-acting is done solo.

33. Read Kevin Bacon's opinion about actor's who say they don't want fame.  He doesn't believe in them.  He says:  First off, I’ve always said before that there are two kind of actors: actors that want to be famous, and liars. You don’t become an actor because you want to hide in the shadows. When you sign up to be an actor, what you really sign up for is to act. On the other hand, you also don’t do it in a vacuum: you do it because you want people to see it. You’re born to get in front of people, whether it’s on the screen or on the stage; you’re born to have people look at you and absorb you.

In the past, I would have agreed with Bacon 100%.

Now I'm trying to see things the other way.

Does a desire for acting have to be synonymous with a desire for attention?  One thing is about the desire for love and approval. The other is about pretending—becoming someone else.

I imagine some actor's love of acting might come from a love of fantasy. It might be how I felt as a child when we'd play imagination games. It can be wonderful to become another character.  Heck, even as an adult I loved it sometimes. When Jack was younger, we created this whole stuffed animal village storyline. I loved doing the different voices and using my imagination. I loved entertaining Jack.  I had a great time, and I received no fame.  That being said, I did have a few fantasies about us being discovered.  But I wanted fame back then.If I hadn't wanted fame, then I probably would have skipped the fantasies about being discovered.

What if I hoped to financially support our family with a show starring our stuffed animal characters; yet I didn't want any fame or attention?  It might be hard to have one without the other.

These days though, there are so many famous people. I think each of us is aware of only a small percentage of them.

34. Imagined that an Australian actor could make a fair bit of money working on an Australian TV show. Then if they didn't want to deal with the fame, they could take their money and move to the US. In most cases, Americans won't recognize them.

35. Thought that some actors might feel like Des Clarke. They go into acting, because they're very good at it and imagine they're not good at anything else.

36. Wondered what reasons people have for wanting to be famous?

I used to want it, because to me being famous equaled being special.  It was like an elite club for the extra special folks in the world. But now it seems so many people are famous.  How many people on Instagram have hundreds of thousands of followers? How many people are famous on Twitter, just for being on Twitter? How many famous YouTubers are there?  How many famous Bloggers?

Famous people are a dime a dozen.  It's lost its appeal for me. Now I think it's become special and awesome to be obscure.  I love having a blog that doesn't get a lot of readers; and when I look for blogs to read, I prefer blogs that aren't popular.  Really. If I see a blog with a huge amount of comments, I usually turn away from it.

To me, popularity is a turn-off online.

37. Wanted to say that I'm only this way with social media.

With TV shows, books, music, general websites, etc; I like both popular and not-popular thing.

38. Remembered that the other reason I wanted fame is because I saw it as a way to get friends. If I was famous, there'd be a lot of people loving me and giving me attention.

But now I realize the more people that love you and give you attention; the less time you have to watch your TV shows.

A social life would greatly diminish my binge-watching endeavors.

39. Thought also that a desire for fame could be a disguised desire to join a fictional universe.

If I have a fantasy of being an actor on Neighbours, is it really because I want to be an actor and have that type of life? Or do I want Ramsey Street to be real? Do I want the characters on the show to be MY neighbours?

40. Wondered if actors ever wish they were their characters and wish that they truly lived in their fictional universe?

For example, did any of the Harry Potter actors wish they were real Hogwarts students instead of actors on a hit movie?

Cake, Ignoring Phone Calls, Kick-Ass Women, and Complicated Villains

1. Dreamed that, I'm at an Australian reenactment of an American gun tragedy. 

Andrew is there. We talk about road trips in the United States, because when he came here, they did a road trip. 

I tell Andrew that it's customary to fervently wave to people in other cars when you're on an American road trip. I say this is especially the case if you see other people who are also on a road trip. I tell Andrew if we had seen them on the road, we would have waved. But then I feel stupid, because I don't know if their car had signs of a road trip. Andrew assures me that it did.

Andrew then confesses to liking some kind of cheap hotel restaurant. While he says this, I think about cheap restaurants I've liked and think about how crappy food is sometimes really good. 

I think the restaurant I had in mind was Denny's. In real life, we went to Denny's in 2013. I don't quite remember feeling like it was fabulous crappy food.

2. Thought about crappy food that I do think is good.

Pizza is probably the main one. I usually prefer cheap crap pizza over the fancy stone-oven, fresh mozzarella stuff. I love frozen pizzas, Dominoes, and that pizza, still in plastic, that they used to serve to us at our pool cafe.

And cake! That's the other thing. I prefer cheap grocery store cake to the expensive stuff my dad buys at the upscale supermarket. Although that's just one place I don't like. I might like cakes that come from other upscale bakeries.

3. Saw from my Statcounter that Peter Allen is quite popular today.

For a moment, I was wondering why my blog is getting so much Peter Allen traffic. Aren't there many other sites out there?  But then I realized, although my blog has had an increase in traffic because of Peter Allen; there are probably other Peter Allen sites that have gotten an even greater increase in traffic.

When I check Statcounter in the morning, I usually see my blog having about 30-50 hits. This morning, it's at 200. That's a pretty big increase. But there are probably sites out there that get 1000-2000 hits each morning; and with Peter Allen traffic, they're getting 5,000 or more.

4. Interested to see what the Statcounter numbers will be like later in the day.

The increase probably won't be huge, because most of my traffic comes before I wake up. My blog is more popular with Australians than it is with Americans and other people. Once the Aussies go to bed, my traffic pretty much goes dead.  It picks up again in the late afternoon here, when it is morning in Australia.

5. Started watching an episode of Neighbours.

I feel like I'm having ignore-an-important-phone-call synchronocity.

Last night I watched Coronation Street.  Baby Jake had a high fever, and Izzy kept trying to call Gary, so she could tell him they were bringing Jake to the ER.  Gary was busy and ignored the phone calls.

Now, on Neighbours,  Paige (Olympia Valance) is being bullied Joey Dimato (Steve Sammut). She dials Mark's (Scott McGregor) number, and he ignores it, because he's talking to Tyler (Travis Burns).

6. Liked the twist with Paige.

Mark finally checks his phone and hears that Paige is in trouble. He rushes to Paige's house. I expected to find Paige tied up, crying and terrified. Instead it's Joey that's tied up.  Paige was able to rescue herself.

It's cool to see a woman who can rescue herself. I don't think I'd be one of them. Though I often get the idea that Tim expects me to be that.

There was the time that our alarm went off for unknown reasons. I was terrified, and said yes when the security folks asked if I wanted the police. Later when Tim found out, he seemed annoyed that I hadn't refused the police.

Another time the alarm went off, and Tim told me to go upstairs and check it out.  I was terrified. He didn't seem worried at all.

I think Tim likes women to be like Paige. And I like men to be knights in shining armor who show huge amounts of concern for my health and safety.

So we have a bit of a challenge there.

I guess my ultimate ideal would be to be tough like Paige but also have a man who worries and rescues.

7. Gave myself some credit. Because when Tim encouraged me to go upstairs to check the doors, I eventually went and did that. I gathered up enough courage. I didn't call the police or hide in the closet crying.

I'm not sure what would have happened if I had found robbers, zombies, vampires, or a serial killer upstairs. I'd LIKE to imagine I'd fight and kill them. But I'd probably end up in a pool of blood...my own.

8. Wondered. If it was a vampire that killed me, would there still be a pool of blood? Or would he lick up the blood before it soaked into the carpet?

9. Saw that Russell (Russell Kiefel) is regretful about hitting his son Tyler (Travis Burns) but not very apologetic. Instead of acting like it's a bad thing that he did, and he's sorry; it's more like he sees it as a bad TIME. He also seems to have an expectation of easy forgiveness from Tyler.

Sometimes people need to grovel and show a lot of remorse.

10. Annoyed with Russell.

First of all, he thanks Tyler for not telling his brothers about being beaten up by him.  At first, I thought that was kind of nice. He shows gratitude, at least.  But now I'm thinking it's like he's pressuring Tyler to stay quiet. Tyler shouldn't have to keep that secret from his brothers. He should be able to talk to his brothers.

Then Russell is having a dinner with Paige and his other two sons. One of them makes a comment about Tyler not being there and says something about family not being important to Tyler.  Here Tyler is being insulted behind his back, and Russell says nothing to defend his son. This would be the perfect opportunity to confess that he mistreated Tyler and explain that Tyler might need some time to forgive him.

11. Thought it was nice that Tyler did eventually show up and is showing effort towards forgiveness.  It's big of him. I just don't know if Russell deserves it.

12. Started watching an episode of Water Rats. I have three more episodes left for the first season. I might finish watching it today. If not...probably tomorrow.

13. Received a text from Tim containing a photo of a Southern Cassowary.

He's in St. Augustine Florida. They have an animal park with alligators, crocodiles, and various exotic birds. I hope to go there someday!

14. Encountered more similarities between what I saw last night on Coronation Street and what I'm seeing today on Australian television.

First. I forgot to mention this before. But with the Paige thing?  Last night, on Coronation Street, three women were attacked by a mugger. One of them, Beth fought back with her shoe and was able to retrieve a stolen purse. So both Coronation Street and Neighbours had a woman defending herself against a criminal.

Second.  Remember how I said Gary didn't answer the phone when Izzy was trying to call them about their sick child? Well, the reason he didn't answer is he was standing over a man he had severely injured. The man had sexually harassed his mother, and Gary confronted him. The man put the blame on Gary's mother. Gary angrily lashed out and hit the guy with some kind of tool.

Now, on Water Rats, there's a man who confronted his sister's husband, because the husband had been abusive.  The husband told the brother that his sister liked being hit, and the brother lashed out with a knife.

15. Got idea that the brother didn't kill the husband, after all.

I think the wife killed the husband, and the brother is trying to take the blame.

I wish this was a case of me being a brilliant detective. But no. The show is being pretty obvious about it.

16. Thought that episode of Water Rats was emotionally complex.

The end has a very intense scene where Detective Harrison (Peter Mochrie) tries to stop a woman (the wife/sister I mentioned above) from committing suicide.

Harrison is the same guy I talked about yesterday—the one who is secretly evil.

I think it messes with my head when bad people do something good like that.

I have to wonder if there's a part of Detective Harrison that's good. Did he really care about the woman about to jump? Did he want to see her survive?  Or is it all a game to him?

Is Detective Harrison a sort of good man who is also sort of evil? Or is he a completely evil man who wears a mask of decency?

17. Started watching another episode of Water Rats.

18. Loved the Crooked Fences blog post about an ad campaign trying to shame teens into avoiding parenthood.

Michelle illustrates her frustration with the campaign by imagining a similar campaign aimed at older parents.

If we can scare teen moms by telling them their children are less likely to graduate high school; why not tell older parents that their child is more likely to have a genetic disorder?

Michelle's not in support of using fear tactics against women in their forties. What she wants is teens to be treated with the same respect as people of other ages.

19. Felt I was doing an awful job paraphrasing Michelle's post.

She says it much more eloquently than me.

20. Started watching the last season one episode of Water Rats.

21. Read Bec's somewhat depressing post about writing eulogies for people you don't like.

She didn't have to do it. Her friend did, and Bec struggled to help her friend.

She found a website that advised writing a factual eulogy. Where was the dead person born? Where did they get married?  Where did they go to school? Did they have any pets?

Bec says:  I would like to hope that when I'm gone people will not have to scrape the barrel to come up with anything nice to say about me. How sad if someone has to read a list of facts instead of eulogising on how I added something positive and meaningful to their lives, without lying through their teeth. I don't want to be remembered as a saint, however I would like to think that it wouldn't be that hard to remember me for being a decent person.

Yeah. I hope the same thing for myself.

It's not just about people saying nice things, but I want people to say nice things that are true.

And they can say bad things too.

I'd rather have a funeral that's honest—bad and good stuff. I don't want a fluffy phony funeral.

22. Decided what I'd most want is funny stuff.

I think the funny stuff is usually the most real.

Plus, funerals can be a drag. It's good if you can add some laughs.

23. Thought it would be much better to have a funeral where people are laughing so hard they're crying than a funeral where people look bored and depressed.

24. Finished watching Water Rats. It was thrilling but predictable as most thrillers are.

There was one thing I didn't expect.

There was a girl in danger. I expected her to be saved but instead she died.

I feel bad that she died but kind of impressed that something unexpected happened.

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

It's the one show on my list that's NOT Australian.

What is it?

Doctor Who!

It's funny, because I've been thinking about the show lately.  I mean JUST today I was thinking about it, and wanting to get back into it. I was thinking that it might be good that I waited several months, because I've had time to get over Matt Smith.  I think I'm ready to embrace a new doctor.

Maybe.

26. Checked out Statcounter.

There's been sixty-two new visits since I checked this morning. So it's not a large increase.

It is more than I usually get in the afternoon, though.

I'll check again later tonight.

27. Started crying over TV shows, which I know is kind of stupid.

My Spotify shuffle played "Wonderful Wonderful" which I associate with Desperate Housewives.  I started thinking about how we were really obsessed with that show two years ago.

Then a year ago, in September, we were watching Doctor Who; and, by myself, I was watching the third season of McLeod's Daughters.

28. Thought that my sadness is probably about longing for the days that we used to watch a TV show together.

29. Remembered back in 2008 when the three of us watched McLeod's Daughters.

I think that's the only Australian show we watched together.

We've watched one British show all together; one Australian; and the rest have been American.

30. Realized I'm probably a very bad person. I'm sad that my teenage son would rather talk at mealtimes than watch a show together.

No...Well, it's not that.

We still talked a lot back when we watched a TV show together.  And having a common show gave us an extra subject to discuss. I think it added to our conversations rather than detracted.

So, I'm not going to see myself as a bad parent for longing for our TV show days.

That being said, we're going to get a little TV-together time, because one of Jack's electives is film/television studies.  This weekend we watched two episodes of The Twilight Zone.

31. Remembered that McLeod's Daughters is not the only Aussie show we watched as a family.

We also watched Bindi, at one point. I can't remember if that was before our second Australia trip or after.

Or maybe it was before the first?

32. Went to the Triple J 2014 list.

Today I'm going to listen to the 52nd song, which is "Sunshine" by Flight Facilities; featuring Reggie Watts

Flight Facilities has another song higher on the list. I've listened to it. Do I remember what it's called?

Nope.  And I also don't remember if I liked it or not.

33. Found the song. It's "Two Bodies".  I don't think I liked it even though it features Emma Louise, who sang that song I like on Offspring.

34. Started to watch video to "Sunshine".

It's interesting, so far. There's a man talking in the beginning. Maybe that's Reggie Watts?

35. Realized the man talking has an American accent.

36. Consulted Lord Wiki. He says Reggie Watts is American.

37. Thought the "Sunshine" video was similar to another video I watched from Triple J.  That one was filmed in Venice Beach, California. This seems to be the case for this video as well.  Or at least somewhere in California. Maybe not Venice Beach.

38. Searched through my blog for "Venice", because I decided that would be easier than trying to remember the song by looking at the Triple J list.

It worked.

I found the song. It's "Maybe" by Carmada.

39. Felt jealousy towards Reggie Watts because in the video, someone is combing his hair.

I love having someone brush, comb, or monkey with my hair. You know, I'd much rather have that than a massage.

Why don't spas ever have that?  Or do they?

I guess they might have scalp massages, but I don't think that would be the same.

40. Realized you could probably just go to a beauty salon. But sometimes the pleasure is subtracted by having to hold your head straight, and all that.

And what if you don't want a haircut, perm, or color change?

41. Thought what might be nice is having someone braid my hair into those tiny little braids.

Maybe I'll do that when we go on the cruise.

I'm not sure I'd like the look of it, though.

42. Explored online.

I think the braiding is more for children.

It's not that I'm against celebrating my inner child. I'm just not sure braiding is how I want to do that.

43. Looked at the info on the "Sunshine" video. They have a thank you message to Venice Beach.   So, that answers that question.

44. Started to watch a Neighbours backstage video.

This is the one about the Erinsborough festival disaster. I was thinking of the trapped-in-the-well thing; but now I realize it's probably when Harold (Ian Smith) drove his car into the festivities.

45. Loved the cupcake display at the festival.

I wonder if they're edible.

And did anyone eat them?

I think pink frosting is one of the most beautiful things in the world.

46. Wished I could have a dream tonight that included someone playing with my hair while I stare at pink cupcakes.

It would be better than last night's dreams.

Well, the Andrew dream was fine. But the other dreams involved vomit—lots of vomit; a fight with my mom, strangers laughing and snickering at me; opting to be shrunk so I could fit into this slot; and finding Julian McMahon turned into a tiny rubber/plastic toy with a mustache.

Yeah. Pink cupcakes would be better.  



Read my novel: The Dead are Online 

Little Pattie

Today I'm going to be learning about Little Pattie. She's a singer. Or was a singer? I don't know if she's still alive or not.

I have some of her songs on my Aussie Spotify list.  They're kind of 1960's beach-party type songs. I don't know if there's a proper name for that type of music. Or maybe it's 1950's and not the 1960's?

I'm ignorant about all this.

The two songs of Little Pattie that are most familiar to me are "He's My Boy" and "Stompin' at Maroubra"

In my personal opinion, Little Pattie's songs are the type that bring about a mixture of pleasure and annoyance. Or maybe it's that they're lovely but cloying at the same time. They're the type of songs that make me cringe and want to roll my eyes; yet I keep wanting to hear them. I enjoy them despite myself.

It's kind of the same way I felt when I used to listen to the "Chocolate Rain" song. 

I just learned from Lord Wiki that Little Pattie is still alive. And her real name is Patricia Thelma Amplett. 

She was born in Paddington, Sydney on March 17, 1949. She's a month younger than my dad.

Lord Wiki provides the name for her type of music. He calls it Surf Pop, and he says it was popular from 1961-1966.  That would have been during my parents' teen years. I'm thinking that my mom liked that type of music, but probably not my dad.

I'm going to read Lord Wiki's personal and childhood information about Patricia Amphlett. 

She has an older brother named Joe.

She went to King Street Primary School, which I'm not seeing on Google. So I guess it's no longer with us. Little Pattie also went to Sydney Girls High School. 

Little Pattie's name came about during her school years. She had two friends named Patricia, and they were both taller than her. I wonder how they distinguished between the other two Patricia's. Maybe one was medium Pattie, and the other was large?

At the age of eight, Little Pattie began piano lessons. At the age of eleven, she started singing lessons. I wonder if her parents were supportive? Not supportive? Pushy?

Lord Wiki doesn't provide an exact age, but sometime in her early teens—or late childhood—she performed on a show called Saturday Date.

Man...Lord Wiki is being confusing. He makes it sound like Saturday Date was her first TV performance; well, because he mentions it first. But then he goes on to say that her first appearance was, at the age of thirteen, on a program called Opportunity Knocks.

Then, at the age of fourteen, she performed weekly at the Bronte surf club. That would have been 1963, I think.

One thing led to another, and Little Pattie got a recording contract.

During the month of Kennedy's assassination, Little Pattie's song "He's My Blonde-Headed, Stompie Wompie, Real Gone Surfer Boy" was the #2 song in Sydney.

I actually didn't have that song on my Spotify list. I just added it.

In 1965, Little Pattie was voted as Australia's most popular singer. By who?

Lord Wiki just sent me to a link to help answer my question. But I don't see the answer. Am I blind? I AM feeling a bit distracted today.

Little Pattie was a bit short. She was 4 foot 8 inches (147 centimeters).

Lord Wiki says she was the shortest and youngest person to perform for the troops in Vietnam.  She was seventeen.

The thing is, though, weren't there a lot of men actually fighting in the war that wouldn't have been too much older than her.

I guess I'm surprised they didn't have more performers of that age going to Vietnam. I don't think being there at seventeen is all that shocking.

As Little Pattie left her teen years and surfing music became less popular, Little Pattie moved into adult contemporary music. Was that successful?

Lord Wiki says Little Pattie was one of the featured singer in the Gough Whitlam "It's Time" video. I'm going to watch it now and see if I can spot her.

There's a lead singer. I don't think that's Little Pattie. Then there's a chorus of singers. She might be in the chorus.  Maybe that's her at 1:21?

That's a fun song and a fun political commercial.

If I'm understanding Lord Wiki right, Little Pattie started going by the name Pattie Amphlett.  Maybe she was trying to reinvent herself? Distance herself from her surfing music?

Now Lord Wiki is bombarding me with information. Is it him or me? Something is wrong with one of us.  I feel like there's so much information—little facts. And it's confusing.

I'm going to slowly try to get some of this.

In 1973, Amphlett got married to a bass guitarist named Keith Jacobson.

By 1977, she was doing country music.

In 1984, she divorced Jacobson.

In 1986, she married a drummer named Lawrie Thompson.  This led to her being known as Patricia Thompson. I'm getting confused. I don't know how to refer to her.  I think I'll just stick with Little Pattie, since I think that's what she's most famous for.

Oh! Here's something interesting. I think I actually read it before. But then I forgot. Little Pattie is (was?) a cousin of Chrissy Amphlett from the Divinyls.  You're still cousins with someone after they've died, but I'm not sure if it's proper grammar to say "is" instead of "was".

It sounds like Little Pattie is passionate about helping to entertain the military. She sang in Iraq and has also returned to Vietnam to sing. I was thinking, wait? There are still troops there? What the hell? But I'm thinking maybe she was there were for memorial events.

Lord Wiki says that these days Little Pattie works as a singing teacher at various schools in Sydney.

Here's an article about Little Pattie teaching at Burwood Girls High School.  The students eventually learned she was Little Pattie, but to them she's Patricia Amphlett. Does that mean Mr. Thompson is out of the picture then?

The article is from 2002. I wonder if Little Pattie is still teaching there. Or should I call her Amphlett?

Well, it looks like she is still there. At least she was a month ago. She was part of an August 27th performance at the school

I think it's cool that she was a teen star, and now she's singing with teens.

I wonder if she's the type of teacher that's easy to like.

What should I look at now?

Maybe I'll see if I can find some of her unbeachy music.

I might actually have one of those songs on my Spotify.

No. I just checked.

I don't think I do. It's all under the name of Little Pattie. I'm guessing her adult contemporary and country would under one of her other names.

Here's a 1969 song. "The Penthouse". According to Lord Wiki and YouTube, she used Little Pattie for this recording.

The video reminds me of Doctor Who. And it's not just because I'm totally obsessed. There are mannequins in the video. Mannequins are totally a Doctor Who thing. And a Twilight Zone thing.

So far....I'm not having any luck finding Pattie Amplett videos on YouTube.

I should broaden my horizons. Look elsewhere.

I'm giving up. I can't find anything.

Maybe I'll run into it later.

You know...maybe I'll just search for Pattie Amphlett on YouTube, no specific song. I'll see what I come up with.

I found a video of a performance in Blacktown. Prime Ministers are there. Well, I saw Hawke and the description is promising Whitlam. In my mind, a few moments ago, I had a major Freudian Slip. I saw Hawke and was thinking prostitutes instead of Prime Ministers. Anyone want to psychoanalyze that?

Oh! They're doing an "It's Time"... homage? Memorial? Well...no. No one has died.

Maybe I'll just call it a musical walk down memory lane.

"It's Time" has a very catchy tune—almost as catchy as Justine Clarke's watermelon song.

I think it would work well in a Disney movie...but maybe change the lyrics a bit.

I don't think Gough Whitlam is there. I misread the description. They're honoring a past event where Whitlam did an important speech.

For a moment, I thought Whitlam had died, and I wondered how I ended up ignorant of the fact. Well...because I was skimming this video from the event, and I think they talked about Whitlam in past tense.

I consulted Lord Wiki, and he assured me Whitlam is still among the living.

I think I'll watch the whole video now. It's making me wonder if maybe the main singer in the "It's Time" video was Pattie, after all. I don't think it looked like her, though. But I was really only going by the hair.

Right now they're talking about how Whitlam tried to make things better for Australian performers—increase the amount of Aussie music being played on the radio. And Amphlett talks about Australian performers being able to stay and work in Australia. I think it's sad that it seems to be the goal of many actors (And maybe singers as well?) to come to America. If they have the American Dream, that's fine. Like I have the Australian dream. But if it's a matter of, I wish I could stay in Australia. I really love it. But if I really want my career to blossom, I have to move to America; then that's unfortunate.

There are actors though who are big in Australia. I can't imagine why they wouldn't be satisfied with the work they're already getting. Like Asher Keddie.  I know there's many more. But she the one who immediately comes to mind. I think she's huge in Australia. But I would guess about 99% of Americans have no idea who she is.

I'm not agreeing with what this guy (Col Jove) is saying. He said there's no platforms for all the talented young Australians.  He gave the example of Bandstand. I'm not a big fan of reality talent shows, but don't those count as platforms? And they have YouTube. There's also Triple J Unearthed, which I think is fantastic.

I think the problem is it doesn't matter if you have a platform. It's not going to help if Australians are ignoring the Australian stuff, and listening to American and British stuff instead.

I'm looking at the Triple J Top 100 of 2013 statistics. 43% of the songs are Australian. 24% are American, 23% are British, and 10% are other things.  I think it would be great if we could get to the point where the majority is Australian, even if it's a low majority...like 51%.

I'm going to be offensive now. I apologize in advance. But with something like movies. I can understand much more. I think there are a few good Aussie films, but I think a lot of it is just a bit too artsy and bizarre.  There's something about American films that you're not often going to get in Australian films.

Now some people hate the high budget sappiness of American movies, but I like that crap.  And I think a lot of people around the world do as well.

But with music? I think whatever you seek in music can be found just as easily with Australian artists.

Back to film. I feel I must clarify so I don't offend too much. I think there are commercial mainstream films and artsy independent films. America has both.  So whatever type of movie you like, we have it. With Australia, I feel it almost ALL has that artsy, independent feel. So if you're in the mood for something like the The X-Men, you probably won't easily find an Aussie movie like that.

Okay...back to music and back to this video.

I kind of skimmed through the end, before it compelled me to stop and write another five paragraphs.

Here's a video of Amphlett rehearing a performance of the song "Downtown".  And because I just watched the other video, I'm wondering, why isn't she singing an Australian song?  But you can take that attitude too far.  Maybe.

Here's a Spicks and Specks video with Amphlett. She's talking about meeting the Beatles. The occasion was her song being # 2 and their song being #1.

Amphlett says the Beatles were shy, but fun and they had a good sense of humor. That's sweet.

Amphlett was only fifteen at the time.

It's a funny video. They watch an old clip of Amphlett's and have a fun discussion about it.

Here's a 1992 interview with Amphlett. It's about her time in Vietnam.

Amphlett talks about how her parents were assured their young daughter would be safe.

That's one thing I didn't think of before. If I think about MYSELF being seventeen and going off to perform in a war-torn country, it doesn't seem that shocking. When I think of myself as a parent of a seventeen-year-old going off to perform in a war country, it's quite a different thing.

Amphlett's smile reminds me so much of someone else's. But I can't figure out who. I'm thinking MAYBE Justine Clarke?

No....

Maybe Melanie Griffith?

While she was in Vietnam, the Battle of Long Tan happened near her. I'm not actually sure what that battle was. I think this is the first time I've heard of it. But I'm assuming it was serious.

Let me ask Lord Wiki about it.

He says it was a battle that took place in a rubber factory. Australian soldiers were heavily involved.

I think it was something of a coming of age experience, because by the end of it, Amphlett saw dead Australians being brought back to where she was.

I'm imaging her having fun—an adventure, even though she knows, on an intellectual level, there's a war, and this is all quite serious. But then when she sees the bodies, it hits her. Emotionally.

Well, I'm getting tired of writing and we're going to eat dinner soon. So I think I'm going to say good-bye for now.

Read my online novel: The Dead are Online