Wednesday Update

I finished my Turkish adventure in Duolingo and have now moved onto Latin. Latin is fantastic, because the voice actors sound like they are in some sort of angry, evil trance.  Since I associate Latin mostly with religious horror movies, it's all so perfect. 

Last night, I finished watching season 1 of Shameless. I used Random.org to pick a new show and ended up with Lucifer. I'm very excited about that. I love Lucifer.

I'm on season 3 with that. I won't get to it for awhile, though. I'll be concentrating on my other show which is The Fosters.  I have a whole system for how I balance my two solo-shows/movies. But it's hard to explain, and I'm not going to try.

It's funny, though because in my last post I brought up old posts related to The Fosters and Lucifer. And now those are both my current shows. 

I'm seeing that the website I've been using to keep up with Congress votes has finally updated.  They're a bit slow, unfortunately. They stopped at Senate vote 10 which was on January 28, and it wasn't until today that they posted Senate vote 11-13 and House votes 19-20.  It's all kind of old news for me, because The Washington Post and Twitter were all more timely. 

But still...now I can see things in more detail.  

Both Republican Senators from Indiana voted Yea for Pete Buttigieg.  That's cool...since he was the Mayor there.

Thirteen Republican Senators said Nay to Pete Buttigieg.  The same Senators keep giving Democrats a lot of no's, including Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley, and Marsha Blackburn. I wonder if they'll say yea to anything.

Alejandro Mayorkas as Homeland Security Secretary is more controversial than Mayor Pete.  He received only six yea's from Republicans.  

Shelley Capito, from West Virginia, is one of the GOP Senators who said yea. West Virginia has had my attention lately, because they've been doing so well with vaccine distribution. 

And here's some more bipartisanship.  Three Democrat Representatives voted with Republicans to say Nay to a bill regarding apprenticeships. 

On Coronation Street, they're doing a storyline about liver transplants. It made me think of the liver transplant storyline on Offspring. 

Daniel (Rob Mallard) is offering up his liver to his brother Peter (Chris Gascoyne). I don't agree with Daniel's actions, because he has a young baby, and the mother of the baby is deceased.

The storyline on Offspring was somewhat similar. Nina (Asher Keddie) was faced with the decision of offering up her liver, and she too was the single parent of a baby. With that situation, I was a bit more torn, because the person needing the liver was a very young child. 

Peter is an adult, and his only dependent is a young adult. The death of a parent is always sad, but I'd rather a young adult lose their parent than a baby. 

When it comes to deciding between parents losing their young child vs a baby being orphaned...that's much harder to me.

 It's not like liver transplants are 100% fatal for the donors. In fact, there's a pretty good chance the donor will survive.  The death rate is 4 out of 1000. But the chance of dreadful complications is 1.1%.  That's pretty scary.

I don't think Daniel should take the risk. But in other situations, the risk might be worth it.  

I'm still listening to Trump harass Raffensperger  I lost my place, so now I might end up missing something or re-listening a part.  I know I was somewhere around 48-50 minutes.

I'll be glad when I'm done with that.

I'm still reading Untamed Shore by Silvia Morena-Garcia, and I'm still liking it. 

Tim and I are still watching Broadchurch. Season 2 is split between two murder storylines—one that was the focus of season 1 and the other which was alluded and flashbacked to during season 1.  I'm wondering now what season 3 will be about. One of the lawyers has a son in prison. I'm wondering if season 3 will focus on his case. Or...will there be a new murder?

I think Tim suggested that the murderer of season 1 will win the court case; go free; someone will take justice into their own hands. And then season 3 will be a who-done-it in terms of the vigilante justice.  

I'm back to reading the 2014 Peru adventures in Dog Food for Chairs. I may be at the end, because the title mentions airlines. Or maybe they end up flying within Peru? Or maybe they're having pre-travel airline issues.

The answers to my questions might have been given in the previous post, and I wasn't paying enough attention. I might have been distracted by the mention of Rainbow Looms.

Right now I'm listening to the final season soundtrack of Lost. I think it's one of the best musical scores. 

Last night I dreamed about Lost...mixed with X-Files, because I was trying to get help from Scully. And also, I slit people's throats with a razor. Okay but before you judge me...it was totally in self defense. It was their razor, and they had plans to use it on me. Or...at least I think they did.  

One other thing...on the subject of Lucifer.  I was thinking of Tom Ellis the other day...not in terms of Lucifer but from when he was on the show Miranda. There's an episode where Miranda (Miranda Hart) tells her friends she's on a vacation but in reality she's just in a local hotel.  I thought of that episode because on Coronation Street, Leanne (Jane Danson) tells her family and friends that she's gone to France to visit her mother and sister, but she's secretly actually at home.

The Coronation Street storyline is much darker than the Miranda one, because Leanne is grieving the loss of her three-year-old son and is very depressed. She faked the trip to Paris to keep concerned family and friends off her back.

Read my novel: The Dead are Online 

Unfriendly People Heading to Melbourne, Table-Reads, Complicated Relationships, and Kelly Cahill

1. Dreamed that, I try venting to a random girl who's witnessed some drama between my dad and myself. She doesn't seem very interested or supportive.  She's not very friendly towards me and doesn't seem to like me. Still, I continue to try to be friendly.  

I see that she has a passport with her. I ask if she's going somewhere. She tells me she's going to go live in Australia. I act excited for her.  I ask more questions and learn she's moving to Melbourne.  I correct her on her pronunciation of Melbourne, which makes me feel like a know-it-all.

I feel some sort of mild compulsion to tell her about my Australia-obsession but end up keeping it quiet.

Later I think about the girl and realize I was jealous of her move to Australia. This surprises me, because I thought I was over being jealous of other people going to Australia. I decide maybe it bothered me, because I didn't like the girl. Maybe I'm bothered only by people I dislike moving there.  

There's a small chance I combined two dreams not connected. I'm not 100% sure that the girl going to Australia is the same girl who witnessed my family drama.  

I'm pretty sure, though. It SEEMED like the same girl. 

2. Wished I could get verification about whether I'm right or not, but that's kind of impossible with dreams.  

3. Started watching an episode of Home and Away.

4. Had an idea about what I feel is wrong with the dialogue in Adore, the movie I started watching yesterday.

At times, it feels like the actors are reading their lines for a read-through.  It's like they're reading the dialogue for the first time but are still able to put some acting abilities in it.

It's probably weird for me to say that, because it's not like I've watched many read-throughs.  

5. Saw that there are a lot of read-through videos on YouTube.

6. Watched a little bit of the read-through of The Office finale.

It made me a little teary-eyed even though I've really not watched the show (except for maybe a part of one episode)  But it's the last episode, and all these people are going to be soon saying good-bye to each other.

AND it's the whole end of an era thing. That tends to make me emotional.

7. Started to resume my watching of Adore.

8. Felt myself getting confused.

I keep forgetting which son goes with which mother.  

9. Thought that, although, it's not ideal for a woman to fall in love with her best friend's son; it works out well that there are two women, two sons, and two love affairs.  

If the boys are of legal age, I think they should just go for it. Yeah. It's strange. But if it makes all of them happy, why not keep on with it?  

It would be different if it wasn't a mutual thing. I think there'd be more anger and resentment.  

10. Remembered to consider Harold (Ben Mendelsohn) in the equation. He's the husband of Roz (Robin Wright). So she's actually cheating on him when sleeping with Ian (Xavier Samuel).  

11. Thought of it more and realized the relationships might not be an okay idea.

It's great if both relationships last, and both moms live happily ever after with each other's son. But it's likely there will be break-ups and heart-aches, and that's going to put a huge strain on the friendships.

12. Realized I'm being a hypocrite.

I've recently talked about how I don't think people should stand in the way of love. We shouldn't block love out of a worry that it might not last. We shouldn't block love just because we worry it can ruin friendships.

On Wonderland, Tim (Steve Beaumont) refuses to give his blessing to his friend Tom (Michael Dorman) dating his sister (Anna Bamford).  

Since I feel it was wrong of Tim to try to stand in the way of that relationship, I should be against Roz and Lil (Naomi Watts) standing in the way of each other's relationship.

UNLESS the sons are underage. I'm not sure of that point yet. They look to be older than seventeen, but I'm not great at estimating ages.  

13. Thought about the downsides of a young man being with a much older woman.

The main one is it might mean that making babies is out of the picture. But the same can be said for gay couples.

The other argument is that the twenty-year-old might be fine with the forty-five year old. But how's he going to feel when the forty-five-year-old is sixty five?

Well, yeah. He might lose the love.

From what I've read, though, most men prefer women in their twenties. So if a twenty-year-old guy gets together with a twenty-year-old woman, there's a fair chance he might lose interest in her when she's forty. He might dump her and seek out a woman much younger.  

14. Wondered if there's a certain type of man who prefers much older women. Are they more mature than other men? Less mature? Do they have mother issues?  Or could it say something positive about their relationship to their mother?

15. Thought that it might not have to do with the mothers...at least not in a general sense.  

16. Intrigued by a scene in the movie.

The two sons, Ian and Tom (James Frecheville), have an intense fight in the ocean. It seems like they might actually want to kill each other.

Their moms break it up.Then each of the moms stands by/comforts their boyfriend NOT their son.

That kind of surprises me.

17. Thought about how there are many times where people are caught in a fight between a relative and lover, or a relative and friend.    

For example, a woman might be caught in the middle of a fight between her husband and sister. Whose side does she go on? Is she betraying her husband if she takes her sister's side? Is she betraying her sister if she takes her husband's side?

What complicates things even further is when there's a double relationship.  I think I've seen it only in fiction. In Adore, it's two young men and two mothers. There, it's not just a woman choosing between her son and her lover.  Her situation is mirrored by her best friend.

There were two double-connections  on Coronation Street but not ones involving mothers dating each other's sons. Instead they had a sister and brother dating a sister and brother.Then there was also  a woman and man partnered while their sons and daughters are partnered.   

18. Imagined getting in a fight with one of my brother-in-laws. That's stressful enough.  But I think it would be much even MORE stressful if my sister's husband happened to also be my husband's brother.  

My sister would be mad at me, and my husband would probably be too. I'd probably get doubly attacked. (Triple including my brother-in-law!) 

19. Felt like my brain is spinning with lots of confusion.  

I'm also wondering if my comparisons are off. Maybe the situations on Coronation Street are very different to the one on Adore.  

20. Thought about how the fight didn't seem to cause much drama in Adore. The mothers seemed fine that they each stood by the other woman's son.  

What if they didn't?  What if Roz felt Lil's son was to blame?  What if she bitched Ian out for fighting with her son?  Then Ian might get mad at Roz for blaming him, and Lil too might get mad at her friend for yelling at her son.  

Or it could have been the opposite. What if Roz felt her own son was to blame? Then Lil might get mad at Roz for being mean to her boyfriend.

21. Saw that the movie jumped ahead two years.

I'm in suspense.

Are the two couples still together? Or did they break up?

22. Saw that the two sons are still friends at least.

23. Learned that Lil and Tom are still together.

24. Heard Jessica Tovey, from Wonderland, sing in the movie.  I think she has a lovely voice....well, unless she's lip-synching. 

I'm going to guess she's really singing.

Anyway, I have an idea what's going to happen. One of the guys is going to fall in love with her. Then the happy foursome is going to be shattered.  

25. Decided I like this movie a lot.

It's giving me a lot to think about.

I like the various themes and conflicts.

Right now I think it's going into a eden-lost kind of thing.

These four people have this strange, but idyllic, little clique. Now it's going to be broken apart by an outsider.  One woman will lose her boyfriend. The other woman won't lose her son, per se; but she'll probably be spending a lot less time with him. And the same goes for the other son in the story. He'll end up seeing much less of his best friend.   

26. Stopped watching Adore for today.

I'll watch more tomorrow. 

27. Watched the X-Files.

An alien abduction in Victoria was mentioned.

I wonder if it's based on a real story.

28. Googled and saw it's based on a true story. There are several websites that mention the alleged abduction of a woman named Kelly Cahill.

29. Clicked on a recent article, and saw that it was written in response to the X-Files episode.  

30. Learned from the article that the name Kelly Cahill was a pseudonym used to protect the privacy of the real woman.  Yeah...it's probably smart to use a fake name in that kind of situation.

31. Learned that the incident happened in the Dandenongs.

32. Wondered about the whole privacy thing, because she appeared on a show called Today Tonight, and she published a book about her experiences.  Oh, and she also became a keynote speaker at UFO conferences.  She did all that with a fake name?  

33. Started to watch a video  about Kelly Cahill.  

34. Wondered if the article had it wrong about her using a fake name.

It just doesn't make sense to hide behind a fake name but then make public appearances promoting your experiences.

35. Thought that Kelly Cahill (or whatever her name is) seems very believable when she tells the story.

That's not saying I'm convinced it's true.

But she definitely has me seriously considering it.  

36. Started to proofread this post and saw I contradicted myself regarding Adore.

In the beginning, I talk about how it makes things easier to have double connections in a relationship. Then later I talk about how these double connections make things more complicated.

Which past me do I agree with now?

Both!  

When things are going well in the little clique, these double connections can be wonderful. When things are going bad, I think the double connections can make things worse.  

It's kind of like the stronger the cohesiveness, the worse it hurts when pulled apart.  

Read my novel: The Dead are Online 

Maybe Nicole Kidman, Not Sympathetic, Packed to the Rafters Actors, and the Toothpick Man

1. Dreamed about looking at photos of Julian McMahon in Charmed.

2. Dreamed about Nicole Kidman. Maybe. I remember thinking/feeling it was her, but I don't think it really looked like her.  I might have dreamed this, because the other day I was looking at movie make-up articles, and there was a photo of Kidman looking not-like Kidman in The Hours.

Anyway, in the dream, I'm sitting next to Maybe-Kidman at some kind of exotic and controversial religious ceremony. Neither of us are of this religion. We're more like guests, and a lot of people there seem to be guests. It's like the people of this religion are putting themselves and their practices on display, so we can all learn about it. There's an orb of light that goes in front of each of us. It feels like a 3D movie.  Someone says something prejudice that Kidman hears. She angrily complains about it. 

3. Started to watch an episode of Sea Patrol.

This is the one that has James Stewart from Packed to the Rafters. He plays a villain—takes the navy ship hostage. His accent isn't Australian. I'm not sure what it is. 

4. Thought that this episode of Sea Patrol is full of suspense and excitement. There's a lot of cleverness between the good guys and bad guys. They're a good match for each other. I'm glad, though, that the good guys are going to win in the end.

5. Watched some of Underbelly, on the phone, in my car. 

That was kind of fun.

I found myself more interested in the show than usual. I don't know if it was more exciting to watch it in the car. Or maybe I'm growing attached to the show.

6. Tried to remember if I knew there was going to be a remake of Pete's Dragon.

I think maybe I did hear of it awhile back. Or maybe I just expect everything to be remade these days.

Anyway, I came across the information while looking at the filmography of someone on Underbelly.

Gareth Reeves is going to be playing Pete's Dad.

I don't think Pete had a dad in the original. I thought he was an orphan. 

7. Recognized a drugged up naked girl on Underbelly; then realized the actress (Ria Vandervis) was on Packed to the Rafters.  She played Layla, the woman who seduced Nathan (Angus McLaren).

8. Felt happy to see Terry (Matthew Newton) get caught by the police in the hotel. They find drugs, a gun, and money.

Should I feel happy, though?

In shows like this, are you supposed to have sympathy for the bad guys?  I kind of thought you were, but maybe I'm wrong.

I do have sympathy for the other drug users and smugglers in the movie. But it seems Terry is the main character.  I feel it might have been better to make someone else the main character. Or at least I would have preferred the show better that way.

9. Thought of the show Wentworth.  Many of the characters are criminals, but I think most of them are very sympathetic and likable. The one, on Wentworth, that I'd say is equivalent to Terry is Jacs (Kris McQuade).  I think, though, that the show focuses more on the other inmates. If Jacs was the center of the show; if she was the protagonist, I'm not sure I'd like Wentworth.

Is Terry the protagonist of Underbelly?

I'm not sure, really.

He seems to the character that's shown the most. 

I'm also not sure if he's supposed to be seen as an anti-hero.

10. Felt that Underbelly should be making me feel more morally confused. I think the thing I should feel is anxiety about Terry being caught by the police. I should want things to be okay for him and then feel conflicted about feeling this way.

I did feel a little bit like that during the airport scene. Though I thought it was wrong that Terry and his girlfriend (Anne Hutchison) were smuggling a huge amount of drugs, I felt relieved when they made it through security. That might be, though, because the girlfriend IS more sympathetic to me.  

11. Went to the Triple J 2014 list.

Today I'm going to listen to "Dreamers" by Hopium; featuring Phoebe Lou.  

12. Realized I wrote things backwards. I wrote Hopium as the song and Dreamers as the singer.

I had to fix that.

13. Started listening to "Dreamers". 

I sort of like it.

14. Looked at the lyrics.

Nothing there really excites me.

I think I just like the sound of the song.

15. Went to the TV Guide fall preview.

I'm going to continue my project of looking for Australian actors in new American TV shows. 

The next show, on the list, is Rosewood. It's a pathologist thing.

16. Started looking at the cast for Rosewood. 

17. Finished looking at most of the cast. I didn't see any Australians.

18. Decided to do one more TV show. 

19. Saw that it's Rush Hour.

It's based on that Jackie Chan/Chris Tucker film from several years ago.

20. Looked at the cast of Rush Hour. 

Henry Ian Cusick from Lost is on it.

Any Australians?

21. Did not find any Australians.

Maybe I'll have better luck tomorrow. 

22. Started to look at the new X-Files series.

I'm not sure if it's on the TV Guide article, but I saw a trailer for it while looking at my YouTube recommendations.

So...anyway. Alan Dale is going to be on that. He's going to be the Toothpick Man.

Can I assume the Toothpick Man is going to be a rich and powerful man?

Since his Neighbours days, has Dale played any character that's not rich and powerful?

Kangaroos on ABC

Tonight there was more Aussie stuff on ABC.  I'm talking about the AMERICAN ABC, not the Australian one.

One of the characters of Suburgatory has a pet kangaroo.  It was introduced in the last episode.   I assumed it was a quick silly joke that would be soon dropped. But no.  The kangaroo was back tonight.

No worries, though. The show's not advocating irresponsible pet ownership. If anyone was interested in having a pet kangaroo, they'd likely change their mind after watching the episode. The kangaroo wrecked the house.

On Modern Family, ABC continued with the kangaroo theme by having Mitch or Cam make a comment about having a kangaroo pouch to stick Lily.

I'm so intrigued by Modern Family's habit of alluding to Australia things. Is there something going on there?   Maybe I read too much into it because of my Australia obsession. Maybe they allude to other countries just as frequently, but I don't notice.

I'd like to think there's something going on, though.   And I can't help but think there is. Maybe one of the writers is like me and is really obsessed with Australia?  Maybe he or she IS Australian? Maybe she's married to an Australian?

Anyway, while I'm on the subject of television, there was an interesting coincidence.

In the last episode of Awake, some of the characters watched The X-Files. Then tonight on Suburgatory one of the characters watched the The X-Files. I'm wondering. Is it X-Files appreciation month, or something?  Did I miss the memo?

I did a little research and learned the executive producer of The X-Files is also the executive producer of Awake.  So I guess that's why they did that.  I'm not sure why Suburgatory mentioned it as well.

Kate Ritchie

Kate Ritchie. The name sounds familiar. I'm pretty sure she's an actress. I'm going to guess that she's on a soap opera. Now this is not some kind of psychic thing. I'm just remembering seeing her name in that context before. But let's see if I'm right or wrong.

Well, I'm right.

She's an actress, and she was on a soap opera. Home and Away.

Is she still on it?

Nope. She left it in 2008. Lord Wiki says she has the Australian record for playing a soap opera character for the longest time. The role originated in 1988. I wonder what the record in America would be.

Well, Lord Wiki says the record is about playing a role continuously. Days of our Lives (and other American soap operas) have long-running characters. But many times the actor leaves for a few years. Their character usually dies, and then miraculously undies.

The one actress that comes to my mind as playing a continuous role on Days of our Lives is Allison Sweeney. Well, nope. Richie beats her. Sweeney has been on only since 1993.

Lord Wiki has a list of other characters on soap operas that have been around for a LONG time. But they're more recurring characters. They make an appearance every now and then. Sweeney's character has been the center of all the action for sixteen years.

Back to Ritchie.

She played Sally Fletcher on the show. Lord Wiki has a detailed description of this woman. I'm going to read it. What typical soap opera situations has she lived through?

1. alcoholic father
2. Mother killed in boating accident
3. Grandma developed Alzheimer's
4. Had a long lost twin brother
5. Adopted
6. adopted brother died of SIDS
7. Another adopted brother died in boating accident
8. Crush on foster brother
9. Boyfriend burned in fire
10. Man appeared claiming she had been his daughter in a past life
11. Adopted father died while trying to rescue someone from drowning
12. Got lost in the woods after a rafting accident
13. lost her virginity to a guy later arrested for smuggling in illegal aliens
14. Shot during an armed robbery
15. developed obsessive compulsive disorder
16. Ended up with ovarian cancer
17. tried having children via a surrogate mother.
18. Pushed off a ladder by the Summer Bay Stalker. Yikes!
19. Narrowly escaped an exploding building
20. Stabbed by a former gang member she was trying to help
21. Found long lost twin brother
22. Had near death experience

Strangely, it seems she never suffered from amnesia. Maybe I missed that. Or maybe it's just an American soap opera affliction. I think almost everyone on Days of our Lives has had amnesia at least once. It's like a requirement.

Well, enough about Fletcher. Let's go back to Ritchie.

She was born 14 August 1978 in Goulburn New South Wales. We went there!

Ritchie attended Campbelltown North Public School. Is that near Goulburn, or did the family move?

Well, I'm looking at Google Maps. It's near Sydney...or maybe in Sydney. I'm not sure where Sydney officially ends. It's about an hour south of the CBD.

Ritchie later went to Hurlstone Agricultural High School. It's a school for students interested in agriculture. Was this what Ritchie wanted before she went the actress route? Or were her parents farmers? Did they expect her to follow in their career path?

She started on Home and Away when she was about ten. Did she go to these schools before her acting career began, or did she go to school while on the show?

Ritchie is the oldest of four younger siblings. She probably does NOT have a long lost twin out there. But who knows.....

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

The Dead are Online  a novel by Dina Roberts 

I'm trying to decide whether I want to read about her career with Lord Wiki, or jump over to IMDb. I think I'm going to start with Lord Wiki. Maybe I'll use IMDb to fill in the blanks.

In 1986, Ritchie was in a miniseries called Cyclone Tracey. She would have been about eight then. It was about the big storm that hit Darwin in 1974.

Although Home and Away premiered in 1988, her work with the show began in 1987. Ritchie was not quite nine when she started working for them.

In 2006, Ritchie appeared in a TV movie called Stepfather of the Bride. It was a romantic comedy.

Ritchie has been on something called the Merrick  and Rosso show. I'm confused about that. I think they might have a radio show and a TV show? Okay. Yeah. Lord Wiki says they have both. It seems Ritchie appeared just once on the TV show. But she may have had a bigger part on the radio show. Maybe?

In 2009, Ritchie was on UnderBelly. She's been on two episodes so far. But she may be in more later. I'm a bit confused again.

Currently, Ritchie is the spokesperson for Vaseline. Interesting.

She's quitting a radio show she's been on. That's Nova 96.9's breakfast team. She wants to put more energy into acting.

She's going to be hosting the ARIA awards on 26 November.

She's engaged to a sport guy named Stuart Webb. I'm not sure when their wedding will be.

Oh! She was also the co-host of a contest/game show called It Takes Two. I missed that before. In this show, contestants are matched with celebrities, and they sing a duo together. I think I've seen a clip of it from YouTube.

Speaking of YouTube, I'm going to go and do breakfast with Jack. Then I'm going to try and watch some Ritchie stuff.

One more thing before I leave Lord Wiki. Ritchie won Logie awards in 2006, 2007, and 2008. I guess it took awhile for people to realize they liked her. Well, I'm just surprised she didn't win anything earlier.

Okay.....I'm back from breakfast. It looks like YouTube has a lot of fun stuff. I'll start watching.

I'm going to begin with a montage of Sally Fletcher.

It's fun watching that little girl grow up, but I feel certain scenes were shown for too long.

Ritchie is cute. I think she has a unique type of beauty.

Here's Ritchie being interviewed on her last day on the set of Home and Away.

That brought a few tears to my eyes...especially when Ritchie herself got all choked up.

She talks about how she used to resent people saying they watched her grow up. I can understand. They didn't watch HER grow up. They watched Sally Fletcher grow up. But now Ritchie is okay with all that.

Once Home and Away was done, Ritchie did an interview with Rove.

Ritchie talks about the Logies. She says being at the show is more enjoyable when you're not nominated. I can understand that too. I imagine the nominees are horribly nervous. I'm not sure which is worse....losing, or winning and having to go up to make a speech.

She cries a lot. She's an emotional person.

Rove seems somewhat surprised that Ritchie's mother came with her to the Logies when Ritchie was twelve. I don't get that. I would think it would be strange for her NOT to have her mother there. She was only a child. Maybe I'm overprotective. Maybe I'm thinking of a child Jack's age rather than one that's twelve. I don't know. I just don't see an awards show as something a child should attend alone. Maybe I'm thinking of the stuff that happened to Drew Barrymore.

Ritchie would turn gay for Monica Bellucci. I didn't know who that was, so I had to ask Lord Wiki. She's an Italian actress. She's pretty but not my type. I'd more likely turn gay for Ritchie.

Here's Ritchie winning one of her Logie awards. It's a Gold Logie...for most popular actress. She beat Adam Hills, Rove, Andrew Denton, a guy who looks familiar to me, and some other people I've never seen before. That's pretty impressive. I guess the award is for best person on TV period. Well, it's subjective, of course.

Ritchie received the award after she had finished up with Home and Away. She talks about how it's the end of a long chapter in her life, but she's opening up a new chapter, blah, blah, blah. She hopes this is not the last we see of her......

It's always a risk when an actor leaves a TV show they've been on for a long time. Many huge TV actors disappear into oblivion. But then sometimes they DO come back. It looks like, so far, Ritchie has NOT vanished yet. She's keeping busy and visible.

Oh. It's so sweet and beautiful. The one person she thanked by name was Sally Fletcher. That made me cry.

You know the one other person I've seen do something like that was Kristin Davies during the Sex and the City finale special. She talked about saying good-bye to Charlotte. That made me cry too.

Ritchie was featured on Australia Story. I might not watch the whole thing. I think I'll watch part of it, and then read the transcript.

I love the Feist song they're playing in the background. But it might make me cry too. I'm very emotional today.

Ritchie played Fletcher from the age of eight to twenty-eight. Now that's something that doesn't often happen on Days of our Lives. Children have freaky growth spurts on American soap operas. They're a baby one day and then suddenly they're five years-old. They go away to school or to visit relatives. Then they return as teenagers. Does that ever happen on Australian soap operas?

A friend interviewed on the show says that Ritchie is an extrovert. That surprises me. I picture most actors as being introverts, and Ritchie strikes me that way. I could be wrong, though. Or maybe the friend is confusing outgoing with extroversion. My guess is that most actors are outgoing introverts. They enjoy being alone, but they're good at the whole socializing thing.

Richie's dad was a policeman. That's interesting. In the Rove interview, she said she'd like to dress up as is a policewoman. I wonder if there's a part of her that feels guilty for not following in her dad's footsteps.

I'm having fun playing psychoanalyst here. But I'm probably totally wrong about everything.

She says her parents were NOT like typical stage parents. When I was a preschool teacher, one of our kids DID have the typical stage parents. The child ended up with a role on a soap opera and an appearance or two on some major prime time stuff. I wonder how she's doing. And I wonder if the acting was something she liked or something her parents pushed her into. It could have been a combination of both.

Well, from what this video is saying....it seems to me that Ritchie DID have typical stage parents. Maybe her definition of stage parents is different than mine.

Daddy Ritchie didn't want his kids to be shy, so he put them in situations to get the shyness out of them. I don't know how I feel about that. I was a shy child. I didn't like being a shy child. But I don't know what parents can do to make you overcome that. Did Katie's father manage to fix a shy child?

I don't know.

Ritchie did school while working on the set. She went to school until about noon. Then she worked on the set from then until about eight at night. That's pretty crazy! If I was going to push homeschooling for any family, it would be one like that. When would this child have time to play and be by herself? I'm sure there was a lot of down time on the set. I would have suggested they have a tutor work with her during that time. Then I'd let her be free during the mornings. Although she would need some time to memorize her script.

Ritchie cried the first time an adult asked her for her autograph. It seems she didn't like strangers approaching her. Jack is that way. He doesn't like when unknown adults try to talk to him. I'm trying to teach him that he can be shy, but he needs to be polite. A quick shy response is all I demand of him. He doesn't need to act all loud and outgoing. There are some adults who won't accept that, though. They keep talking....asking question after question. I guess they're oblivious. Some outgoing adults have a very hard time being sympathetic towards shy people.

At some point, it seemed Ritchie didn't like Sally Fletcher. I think she wanted a better character...someone with more exciting storylines. Really? From what Lord Wiki said, she seemed pretty damn exciting to me.

During her high school years, she was teased a bit. The show plays such dramatic music while talking about this. I do feel for Ritchie. Bullying is bad. But it probably happens to every child. If she wasn't picked on for being an actress, she'd be picked on for something else.

I was going to start reading the transcript instead, but it seems a bit incomplete. I'll continue watching the show.

Ritchie talks about how it's helpful to go off and play a different character when you're having a hard time in your own life. That makes sense. I think, though, that sometimes just staying busy helps. It's nice to feel we have a purpose; or at least a reason to get out of bed.

Ritchie says she feels sometimes that Sally Fletcher is upset with her for leaving the show. She and her family think of the character as being real. Ritchie seems somewhat worried about sounding crazy. I don't think there's anything wrong with how Ritchie feels. It all makes sense to me.

Although with all this talk of Fletcher being real, I'm getting one of those horror movies in my mind. Soap opera character becomes real and haunts actress who left her behind....

Ritchie says she considers herself an actress and wants to return to it. And I guess she eventually did (Underbelly) She says it's NOT something she did simply because her parents had one day taken her to an audition.

A man on the show says that Ritchie is a delightful person despite being spoiled as young actresses often are. That doesn't surprise me too much. My guess is the spoiled brats are people who come into fame suddenly. One minute they're nobody. The next minute they're somebody. And they forget how to be nice.

I know the behavior of certain starlets contradict my theory. But I'm going to guess that many children who grow up in the business do slowly learn to be fairly decent human beings. It might take a few trials and tribulations to get there.

Ritchie talks about comparing her life to Fletcher's. Fletcher's life was much more dramatic and exciting. In comparison Ritchie is someone who worked on a TV show for twenty years.

That's something I've wondered about before. How does it feel when the character you play is more interesting than you are. I would think about that when I watched Gillian Anderson on X-Files. She's an actress. And that is exciting. A lot of people would love that job. But her character is this super intelligent doctor who goes on all these exciting adventures.

Does Daniel Radcliffe ever wish he was truly Harry Potter?

Does Kristen Stewart ever wish she truly was Bella Swan?

None of these people are that fabulous compared to the characters they play. I think that would be a somewhat depressing fact to face up to.

While playing the role, it's probably not that bad. You're somewhat living the life of the character. Then when off camera, you're the center of so much attention. But what happens when it ends, and the attention fades?

I think it would be emotionally traumatic.

I think it would be a huge blown up version of how I feel when I finish reading a really good book or come out of the theater after a great movie. There's a sense of loss. I often feel a bit empty inside. I want to go back into the story. I don't want it to be over. Even more so, I don't want to face the fact that it's all pretend.

Anyway, I'm going to end here. I'm tired, and I have lots of stuff to do today.

Read my novel: The Dead are Online 

Harold Holt

Harold Holt is the Prime Minister who drowned. There's a pool named after him. My friend has been in that pool.

That's about all I know.

I don't even know if the guy was Liberal or Labor.

I guess I should do some research.

Hello, Lord Wiki. How are you today?

Lord Wiki says.....

Holt was born on August 5, 1908.

Birthday Website time!

A Leo.

Leos are fun. I say that, because Jack is a Leo; and Jack is a lot of fun.

In numerology, he's a 4. Jack's a 4 too.

I've been encountering a lot of 4's lately.

When Holt was born, the population of Australia was only 4 million. That's amazing. I guess there'd be a lot of room to stretch out. Isn't 4 million about the population of Sydney now?

Yes! I'm right. Wow, I'm totally impressed with myself here.

I wonder what the population of Sydney was in 1908.

This website says it was about 800,000.

Back to Harold Hold......

He was born in Stanmore Sydney.

Looking at Google Maps.....

Stanmore is very close to Dulwich Hill.

Holt had a younger brother named Cliff. There was a two year difference between them. I wonder if they got along well or not.

Lord Wiki says Holt and his brother went to schools in Sydney and Adelaide. Then when Holt was a teenager, they ended up in Melbourne. They moved around a bit. It's something I have in common with them. I went to school in four different cities.

The parents divorced when Harold was ten. It seems like maybe the father had custody, because Lord Wiki says he enrolled the kids in school in 1921.That would be three years after the divorce. In 1924, his mom died. Holt didn't attend the funeral. Why not? What's going on here?

During his Melbourne teen years, Holt attended Wesley College.

I like the school's values. 

They include: A broad understanding of human and cultural diversity, nurturing commitment to social justice and Openness and creativity. 

I also like what they say about religion. Spirituality, embracing Christianity and other faiths. It seems they emphasize Christianity, but they do so in a way that doesn't exclude other religions.

Lord Wiki says the school was very prestigious. Yet, their website says, The College has an open-entry policy, meaning that there are no entrance examinations or particular entrance requirements and we welcome students from all backgrounds, countries and cultures. Many international students study at Wesley because of its excellent educational reputation.

Maybe times have changed since Holt's day there. I don't think a school can be both prestigious and open. Can it?

Robert Menzies (the Prime Minster before Holt) also attended the school.

Lord Wiki says that Harold Holt was a sad and lonely child. I've never seen Lord Wiki sound so sympathetic and concerned before. He says Holt had a need to be liked, and he would do this by having achievements.

For his University, Holt attended Queens College at the University of Melbourne. You know, this sounds pretty cool. I thought it was more like a branch of the University of Melbourne.  But it's actually some type of living community. I don't think I've ever heard of anything like that before. The residents attend the University of Melbourne; and the Queens college provides a place for them to rest their head at night. But not just that. They have all kinds of clubs, facilities, and services. It actually sounds really fun.

It seems like Holt had a fairly okay time during his university years. He got himself a law degree and won prizes for both sports and essays. He was involved with debating teams, and was president of two clubs; Sports and Social Club, and Law Students Society.

Wow. Major soap opera stuff here. I feel like I'm reading a synopsis of Days of our Lives.

During his University years, Holt was in a relationship with Zara Kate Dickens. They split up in 1934. Holt would have been 26. She ran off to London and married another guy. She had a son and then twins. But by this time, the romance with Holt was back on. The marriage had failed. Supposedly, Holt was the true father of the twins. What a scandal!

In 1946, Holt and Dickens married. He adopted her three sons. They stayed married but in her memoirs, she says he had a lot of affairs.

Career-wise, Holt had difficulties. He was admitted to the Victorian Bar, but the Depression made it hard for him to find work as a barrister. He then jumped to a career in politics, joining the United Australia Party. 

The UAP was the dominant right-wing party before the Liberal party. I kind of wish they had kept that as the dominant party. It's really confusing for us Americans when Australians say "Liberal party". Liberal to us is synonymous to left.

Holt was another young member of Parliament. He was twenty-seven when he joined. Lord Wiki labels him as a workaholic. He'd work sixteen hours a day; lived on 4-5 hours of sleep. I can't imagine doing that. I love sleeping.

When Holt was 32, he joined the Second Australian Imperial Force. These were volunteer fighters. Holt did this for three months but then Prime Minister Menzies called him back after there was an air crash that killed prominent military and political people. Did he bring Holt back, because he was sad about the deaths and didn't want Holt to die as well? Or did he lose important people and needed Holt to take their place?

I don't know.

Around this time, though, Holt became Minister for Labour and National Service. In this role, he introduced the Child Endowment Act. This gave the mothers of Australian children five shillings a week per child. I don't understand if this was for every family or just those in need. The rules of the act encouraged the creation of Australian children. The child needed to have an Australian father or be born in Australia.... or at least have lived in Australia for twelve months prior to the mother making the claim. The allowance would end when the child reached the age of sixteen, died, left Australia, or had an early marriage.

It sounds like a precursor to the baby bonus thing. Lord Wiki says that right now that's at $5000. I remember reading about that...the whole controversy of mothers trying to keep that bun in the oven a little longer, so they can get more money. I bet now Australia has a bunch of overcooked children.

In the early 1940's there was a lot of political upheaval. Menzies resigned as Prime Minister, and soon after he resigned as UAP leader. In 1945, he established the Liberal Party. Oh. Well, that's something I didn't know. Menzies is the daddy of the Liberal Party. Holt was one of the first people to join the party.

Four years later, Menzies became Prime Minster again. He was in office for sixteen years. Then Holt took his place. Before he became Prime Minister, Holt was the Minister for Immigration.

Here's something interesting. The man who was Minister for Immigration before Holt was Labor's Arthur Calwell. This was the guy who did that awful joke two wongs don't make a white. Calwell was a big supporter of the White Australia Policy. Lord Wiki says that Holt was more flexible and caring. It's funny because these days, it's the left political groups who are more flexible and open when it comes to immigration.

Holt seemed to have good relationship with the unions...another thing I'd expect out of more left politicians.

In 1956, Holt became Deputy Prime Minister, and the idea was that he would eventually take Menzies' job.

In 1958, Holt became treasurer. He was 50 by then.

In 1960, his career took a bit of a dive. It seems his budget caused a bit of a recession. The financial health of Australia at the time seems a bit like the current American one. But both the economy and Holt's career picked up again. He became Prime Minister in 1966. His time of glory was brief: one year, ten months, and twenty-three days.

During his time as PM, Holt worked on breaking down that awful White Australia Policy. He ended the distinction between European and Asian immigrants. He also allowed skilled Asians to settle with their families.

The 1967 Referendum occurred during Holt's PM time. This was related to Indigenous Australians. They would now be included in the census.

Holt and the Vietnam War somewhat mirrors Howard and the Iraq war. Holt had a friendship with the American President Lyndon B. Johnson. He supported the Vietnam war and committed Australian troops to the cause. Calwell, Holt's political rival in the 1966 election, was very much against the war and promised to bring the troops home. Now this situation more closely resembles the left and right parties of today.

Prior to his disappearance (probable death), Holt was involved with some controversies. There was an issue with Mike Willesee from ABC. Holt accused the journalist of being biased.

Holt interrupted an MP's maiden speech. This is one of those first speeches I keep reading. Apparently, it's really bad form to interrupt one of those things. So, if you ever become an MP, don't do it. Okay?

Well, now we get the infamous disappearance.

It happened on Sunday December 17, 1967. That was four months after my parents got married. I wonder if they heard about it. Were they interested in politics back then? Foreign affairs? Or were they too busy being newlyweds?

With friends, Holt went to a place called Cheviot Beach. This place was named after a shipwreck....seems a bit cursed to me. He decided to go swimming despite the strong currents and dangerous reputation of the waters.

His friends begged him not to go. Or so they say. I'm sorry, but I can't help seeing alternative stories here. Maybe it was all some kind of wicked plan. Maybe his friends pressured him to go swimming. Dared him.

I don't know. I just don't think you can have the death of a country's leader and not imagine conspiracy theories.

When Holt didn't come back and ask for his towel, his friends sent out a bunch of important search parties. Holt was not found.

Lord Wiki says two days later, the official announcement was made. The search has come to a dead hault. But it sounded like the search has come to a dead holt.

Poor guy.

The accident was blamed on his poor health. Apparently, he was getting a bit up there in age and had some vitamin issues; possibly heart ones as well.

His memorial service was held a few days before Christmas. President Johnson attended as well as some Asian leaders. The event was shown via satellite to various countries; one of the first Australian events to do so.

Lord Wiki has some of the rumors.

1. Committed suicide. (I can go for that. Maybe? I don't imagine it as a planned suicide. It could have been one of those things where you're kind of not happy and you do dangerous things because you really don't care all that much what happens to you. )

2. Faked his own death to run away with his mistress. (No, I don't buy that one. Country leaders cheat all the time. You don't have to fake your death to do it.)

3. Abducted by a UFO. (I can totally go for that one.)

4. He was an agent of China and was picked up by a Chinese Submarine (sounds fun but not as fun as the UFO one)

5. He was on Morphine for a sore shoulder which might have affected his judgment over whether to take a swim in dangerous water. (seems very likely)

In October, there was a show about his death. It was on ABC. Did any of you see it?

Lord Wiki talks about how Holt's death inspired it's own Aussie Slang. Do a Harold Holt. This is used when someone makes a surprise disappearance. Lord Wiki clarifies however that this is used mostly for social disappearances and not untimely deaths. That cracked me up a bit...well, just the way Lord Wiki said it.

Now I'm going to go look at other websites.

Here's an interesting one. The Harold Holt Murder It seems the webmaster (Gary Simmons) here believes Holt was murdered, because he was opposed to American bases being built on Australian soil.

Wow. This is straight out of the X-files--although Simmons explicitly says on his site. This is not the X-Files. But this guy claims to have illegal implants in his body. If that's not X-Files, what is? Really!

I don't want to say this guy is crazy, because that's what Gillian Anderson would do. And she was always wrong.

He calls the Australian Parliament Satanic. I'm going to have to check Kevin Rudd for horns.

I am finding some awesome websites here. Simmon's has a link to this site which proves Bush, Clinton and Obama have something very important in common. They're all in league with Satan.

This SMH article talks about how back in the days of the Holt drowning, coroners weren't allowed to do an investigation if a body wasn't found. But a law appeared in 1985 that changed that. A coroner says all this speculation about his death isn't necessary. Accidental drownings aren't rare. The rumors do make good party conversations, although I agree with the coroner when he says that Holt's life and accomplishments have been unfortunately overshadowed by his mysterious death.

This article says that one of Holt's friends, who was with him the day he drowned, was one of his lovers. Marjorie Gillespie. The article also says it was a swelled ego that caused Holt's death. He overestimated his abilities. I think most of us have seen this behavior in the men we know. I'm fine! Don't worry. I've done this a thousand times.

One of Holt's grandchildren now lives in the Sunshine Coast. He's thinking of going into politics, perhaps taking the place of Peter Costello. For now, he's working in the book business.

Holt's death caused some major political party drama. The Liberal party had a coalition with the Country party. William McMahon was supposed to be next in line as the Liberal Leader. But when Holt died, the Country Party leader, John McEwen, threatened to pull his party out of the coalition if McMahon became leader. It seems McEwen and McMahon did not love each other.

John McEwen himself took over the job of Prime Minister, but the understanding was that as soon as the Liberals picked a new leader, he was out.

William McMahon and John McEwen....you guys are going straight on my list.

I don't know why it took me so long to understand the excitement of politics. This stuff is as good as Harry Potter.

Some people have their calendars filled with appointments and dates. Mine is filled with the names of Australian people. Yes, I'm slightly crazy.

Anyway, I should say something in conclusion about Holt. He seemed like a pretty decent fellow. I'm sorry he died. I'm sorry to hear Obama works for Satan. Although, maybe this means we can change our national anthem to that song from The Omen. Would that not be so incredibly cool?