Hilary Clinton Doesn't Drink the Blood of Children Because the Accusation Hurts Her Feelings

If someone suggests we have said something racist and we respond by telling them that they have hurt our feelings with the accusation, this is not evidence against us being racist. It's just evidence towards the fact that we can't handle criticism and also maybe that we're avoidant and manipulative.

If someone accuses us of sexual assault, talking about how this accusation has cost our family, and our friends does not prove we are innocent of sexual assault.  It just shows we are capable of using those who love us as manipulation tools.  

I think it's sometimes easier to gel with these concepts when we believe accusations and when the accused belongs to the opposite political viewpoint or the opposite whatever-viewpoint. 

But...

Sometimes it comes from our own side.

And sometimes it comes with accusations we don't actually believe. 

It happened for me yesterday.

Tim and I watched the quite-didactic series Debunking Borat.

It features the two conspiracy theorists of Borat Subsequent Moviefilm—(Jim Russell and Jerry Holleman) being fed debunking stuff from various experts.  

I think one of the main problem with the program is the episodes are too short.  They're about six minutes, and part of the time is dedicated to an intro that is too long in proportion to the size of the episode. Another portion is spent on flashy montages to show off the credentials of the experts. Not much time was spent on actual debunking.  

The show would have been better if each episode was at least 30 minutes.  I think more time is needed to debunk conspiracy theories.  You need more time to show both A) the opposing evidence against the theory B) the origins of the conspiracy theory.  The show did a little bit of this. But little is the key word here. 

The show seemed to think that they could get conspiracy theorists on their side by using bubbly friendliness and impressive credentials.  

Anyway....I wasn't impressed with any of the episodes.  But the one that annoyed me the most was the last.

In this episode, they deal with the conspiracy theory that Hilary Clinton drinks the blood of children.

The episode talked a bit about the blood libel trope. And I think that was supposed to be part of their defense.  But I thought that was a bit confusing, since the trope is known for being against Jews, and Clinton isn't Jewish.

But anyway...Clinton provided a taped defense/debunking to Russell and Holleman. Her main message?  The rumors hurt her feelings and also hurt her friends, families, and coworkers.

Okay. That in no way gives any evidence towards Clinton being innocent of blood-drinking.  

I thought it actually made her look guilty.  

I'm pretty sure she's NOT guilty of blood-drinking. But after watching her defense, I'm more open to the idea than I ever was before watching the Borat special.  

Note about the photo used: It comes from a True Blood  fan Flickr account via Wiki Commons.  If you were/are a fan of True Blood, you might enjoy their other photos.

Actually now that I look at the photos, I realize the photo I chose was somewhat inappropriate. One of the main plot points of the show is that vampires stopped needing real human blood, because a Japanese company invented an artificial alternative.  

Really. Instead of using energy on debunking rumors of political and Hollywood elites drinking blood, maybe we should be working on coming up with viable alternatives to human-blood-products.  You know....just in case.  

 

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

The Dead are Online, a novel by Dina Roberts 

 

The Popularity of Waleed Aly, Terra Nova, K9, and More Red

1. Dreamed that, I have a large bag of cocaine in my possession. I don't plan to use it. I talk to Tim about it. He says once you try cocaine, your body needs to have a little bit of it each day. I then worry that I'm accidentally going to ingest some.  

I'm sure that was inspired by Killing Time. 

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

3. Saw Kat (Pia Miller) and Nate (Kyle Prior) arguing about the public marriage proposal.  

Nate thinks Leah (Ada Nicodemou) was wrong in saying no, because she embarrassed Zac (Charlie Clausen). Kat thinks Nate is wrong for thinking a woman should say yes to a man just to save him from embarrassment.

The conversation made me realize something.

I've been annoyed at Home and Away for having these annoying public proposals. But now I'm thinking maybe the show is actually taking a stand against them.  Because twice they've resulted in a no.

4. Sickened by an editorial I just read. It's about accusations that Waleed Aly isn't popular enough to win a Gold Logie.  

I'm trying to understand it. 

5. Started to reread the editorial, and I'm even more disgusted.

First, some background information.

Like America's Oscars, the Logies tend to favor white people.

But UNLIKE the Oscars, this years Logies actually showed some ethnic diversity.  

This year, two out of the six nominees are not of white-European heritage: Waleed Aly has an Egyptian background, and Lee Lin Chin was born in Indonesia.

The editorial says that on the Today Show, three of the hosts dressed up in white face and chatted about why one of the hosts, Lisa, hadn't been nominated. The answer? She's too white. Lisa then said,  I got a spray tan and everything, still didn’t make it.What can you do?  

I'm trying to give these people the benefit of the doubt here. MAYBE they were going for irony. But it's hard for me to believe that.

It really does seem like they're complaining about nonwhite people being nominated.Yes, there's humor, but it seems like the kind of humor that's used to hide real anger or annoyance.

But it gets worse.

Apparently, there was an editorial where someone listed why Waleed Aly shouldn't have been nominated. One of the reasons? He's not popular enough.

WTF?

I don't have statistics. But I feel like almost every time I go on Twitter, Waleed Aly is trending.

I've heard of him more than I've heard of some of the other nominees. Grant Denyer? Scott Cam?  I'm not familiar with those guys. Granted. I've here in the U.S.  If I was in Australia, maybe I would have heard of them.

6. Went to read the anti-Aly-nomination editorial.

7. Bewildered by these lines in the article. Aly’s biased — but that’s not exactly his fault. One minute, Aly’s professing journalistic neutrality, such as when he interviews Shane Warne about his charity foundation, and the next, he’s editorialising about terrorism. Granted, that’s an academic speciality of his, but in the mix of current affairs, panel show and interviews that make up The Project, Aly’s role is a bit unclear.

Again. WTF????!!!

First of all, since when does being biased have anything to do with one's level of popularity?

Have you seen Alyssa Milano's Twitter account? She's very biased, and she's also very popular. She has millions of followers.

What popular person out there isn't biased?

Second, what's with the line about Aly's bias not being exactly his fault? What does that mean?  It sounds like he has some kind of medical condition we need to take in account. Oh, poor Waleed Aly. He has a bias. He's not completely objective like the rest of us.  

8. Saw that one of the reasons why Aly shouldn't have been nominated is diversity should be the norm.

So, we should refrain from having Aly as a nominee until we get more nonwhite people on television?

9. Went back to watching the episode of Home and Away.

Suddenly, there's a major spark between Phoebe (Isabella Giovinazzo) and Ash (George Mason).

It feels like it came out of nowhere. There was a playful sports bet, flirting, and then that led to skinny dipping.  Late they accidentally fell on top of each other and had that look of romantic confusion. All of this happened in one episode.

10. Thought that maybe there was a build up to all this, and I didn't notice it.

11. Decided to add Terra Nova to my to-watch list. I don't know why I didn't add it before.  It's part Australian. It was filmed in Australia and has some Australian actors.

The reason I'm wanting to add it now, though, is one of the writers is Travis Fickett. He's the creator of my current favorite show, 12 Monkeys.

12. Saw that there are TWO Terra Nova writers that are 12 Monkey creators. It's Travis Fickett AND Terry Matalas.

13. Saw that Tai Hara from Home and Away appears in two episodes of Terra Nova.

14. Wondered if there were any Australians in the crew.  I checked a few of the writers and directors and didn't see anything.  But there could be some Aussies in there somewhere.

15. Looked at random people in the credits. It looked like most are NOT Australian.

Then I found Louise Coulston in the make-up department. Based on her filmography, I'd guess she's Australian.  She did make-up for Paper Giants: Magazine Wars, Rush, Scooter Secret Agent, and some other Aussie things.

16. Found another Australian in the make-up/hair department—Karen Adcock.  She did work for The Elephant Princess and H20: Just Add Water, along with some other things.

17. Got the idea that all or most of the make-up/hair department is Australian.

Simon Joseph was the make-up artist for the later seasons of Packed to the Rafters.

Sharon Robbins helped with H20.

Gail Kane did hair and make-up for Camp, another American show filmed in Australia.

18. Saw that some of the stunt workers are Australian.

19. Saw that some of the costume people are Australian.

20. Saw that the caterer of Terra Nova, Loretta Kindness, also did the catering for K-9.  I ran into that show recently when I was learning about Daniel Webber.  I'm seeing now that the show was filmed in Australia.

21. Started to look at the cast of K-9.

Are there many Australians besides Webber?

So far, I've found Keegan Joyce from Rake.

22. Guessed that Philippa Coulthard is Australian.  She's been in some Aussie things, including Lightning Point, which also starred Lucy Fry. Fry starred with Webber in 11:22:63.

23. Saw that there are many Australians in the cast of K-9. I think most of the cast, actually.

24. Thought I should mention that K-9 is a Doctor Who spin-off.

I wonder if it takes place in Australia. Or is it just filmed there?

25. Excited to see the K9 is available on Hulu!

I wasn't expecting it to be, but I decided to check.

I'll definitely have to add that show to my list as well.

26. Felt overwhelmed by my list.

There's so much I want to see.

27. Started to watch an episode of Killing Time.

28. Continued to be preoccupied with the actors' skin and eyes on this show.

I keep seeing redness.

For example, in the scene I'm watching now, David Wenham has one very red ear.

His other ear is much less red.

29. Pleased to see that Nicholas Bell is in this episode.

I'll have to see if he has redness as well.

30. Didn't see any unusual amount of redness on Bell's face.

31. Saw that John Wood, the actor who plays Alan Bond, has redness on his face. It looks like a rash.

32. Wanted to say that I wouldn't usually point out the skin conditions of actors. It's just that on this show, it's so rampant.  It's like there was some kind of communicable illness that was passing around.

33. Wondered if David Wenham usually has the red eyes he has on Killing Time.

It's not something I've noticed before.

Could it be make-up and something to do with the cocaine use?

Is red eyes a symptom?

34. Found a website with signs of cocaine use.  Red eyes isn't listed.

35. Googled red eyes and cocaine. This website mentions blood shot eyes. I don't think that's what I'm seeing with Wenham.

I'm not sure, though.

I think of blood shot as redness in the whiteness of the eyes. With Wenham, it's more redness in the bottom bits.  I don't know the name of it, but it's where you'd put eyeliner.

It reminds me a bit of vampire make-up.  I think maybe the True Blood cast had eyes like that?

36. Looked at pictures of Wenham.  I'm seeing a few that have some pinkish in the eye area.

Even on Killing Time, he doesn't always have the red-pink eyes—just some of the time.

37. Saw redness now on Nicholas Bell.

Maybe it's just something universal to white people, and I never noticed it before.

38. Decided to watch some other videos and see if there's a lot of skin redness.

39. Had an idea.

If there IS more redness on Killing Time than most shows, it might not be because of make-up. It might be about there being less make-up.  Maybe the skin of us white people usually has red blotches, but on film and television, the redness is covered up with make-up.

Maybe Killing Time was going for a gritty realism approach, and so they used less make-up.

40. Decided to look at the skin of people on 12 Monkeys...just because I love it, and am going to grab any chance to watch a bit of it.

41. Saw a little redness but not as much as with Killing Time.

The make-up does look heavier. I think I'm on to something here.

42. Started to see more redness in 12 Monkeys.

Maybe I'm just noticing something I didn't notice before.

Tonight we're going to watch Fargo. I'll try to remember to look out for redness on that.

43. Watched a scene with very classical manipulation.

Denise Fraser (Diana Glenn) surprises her husband Andrew (Wenham) in Perth. He's been working there while she's home with their children in Melbourne.

Andrew is obviously not excited to see his wife, though he TRIES to fake it. I think the main reason is he has a lot to hide.  His hotel room is a huge mess from wild partying.

The Frasers go out for breakfast where the waitress is a bit flirtatious. Then some other woman comes up to the table and kisses Fraser on the lips. She doesn't know his wife is sitting there...or she doesn't care.

Denise kept her cool when seeing the remnants of the party, but she loses it at the restaurant.

Instead of being apologetic and acting ashamed, Andrew goes on the defense.

Some quotes from him:

Denise, I'm doing this for us.

I'm working my ass off.

Just understand I'm working.

Well, a little bit of faith wouldn't go astray.

What Fraser does is take a wife that's reasonably angry for reasonable reasons and tries to make her seem unreasonable.

If Fraser's manipulations worked, Denise might begin to see herself as a bitchy bunny boiler who doesn't support her husband, doesn't have faith in him, and isn't grateful for how hard he works.

What Denise IS, is a woman with a cocaine-addicted husband who has wild parties in Perth while she's at home taking care of their two young children.

44. Remembered reading something in George K. Simon's manipulation writings where he talks about the manipulative person using the tactic of saying, Okay, okay. 

Andrew Fraser says a lot of okays in the scene.

Simon says, When a person is determined to have his way but is not gaining sway with you because you’ve dared to call them on their aggression and you’re holding your own ground, they might feign the willingness to back-down, back-off, or accede to your call for change. This “okay, okay!” tactic is the disturbed character’s attempt to get you off their back by insinuating that they understand what you are asking and are willing to accede to it while they actually have no intention of changing their stance.

I think that's what Fraser was doing.

To me, it seems similar to when someone says something like, Alright! I'm sorry!  

These statements are really just code for,  Drop the subject. Leave me alone.

45. Saw Andrew Fraser being very dishonest.

Denise wanted him to come home. He wouldn't do that for her.

Then he lost the case with Alan Bond, didn't get paid, and was sent home. Instead of being honest about all that, Fraser acts like he made the CHOICE to come home to her. He acts like he chose his family over his job, which is not true.

I personally feel that's another trait of manipulative people. They'll have ulterior motives or reasons for the nice things they do. For example, a husband might tell his wife he's staying home from work because she has the flu and he wants to take care of her. She thinks it's really sweet of him, but then she learns he really stayed home because he wanted to catch up on his Breaking Bad binge watching.

Another example: A woman calls her sister and gives a whole speech about how she thinks the two of them should spend more time together.  The truth is all her so-called friends are having a party, and she wasn't invited.

I think an honest person would just call her sister up and moan about feeling abandoned by her friends. Then she might suggest that she and her sister go out together.

A more honest husband might say something like, Hey, I need a break from work, and I'm dying to catch up on Breaking Bad.  I'm going to stay home. That way I can also be there if you need anything.

46. Loved these lines from Liane Moriarty's Big Little Lies. As Jane looked around her, she felt that dissatisfied feeling she often experienced when she was somewhere new and lovely. She couldn't quite articulate it except with the words If only I were here. This little beachside cafe was so exquisite, she longed to really be there-except of course, she was there, so it didn't make sense.

I've felt that way before.

47. Felt grateful for the existence of the Moriarty sisters.

They're really good at expressing the stuff that's in my head.

48. Wondered about that certain feeling of not being there.

I think I get it when we go to a place, and we're not staying as long as I'd like.  Or we go to a place that I know we're not going to go often, but I wish we would go more often.

49. Thought that sometimes it's also a feeling of not belonging. Maybe it seems like everyone else are regulars, and I'm an intruding guest.

50. Started to proofread my post and realized I interpreted some of the Waleed Aly editorial wrong.

I was asking what bias has to do with someone's popularity.  But now I'm seeing that the bias accusation wasn't an answer to why Aly isn't popular enough. It's part of the answer to why Aly shouldn't win the Gold Logie.

I don't personally agree with the idea that a biased person shouldn't win a Logie. It's just now that I'm getting it clear in my head, the editorial makes a little bit more logical sense.

51. Thought about it more.  I think originally I saw the editorial as saying Aly's bias is one of the reasons why WHY he isn't popular enough. Now I'm seeing it as the editorial saying that the bias SHOULD be a reason why he isn't popular.  Because the Golden Logie is basically a popularity contest. It's voted in by the public.

52. Proofread some more and saw that I had planned to look for red skin blotches on Fargo.

We watched Fargo.

I didn't remember to look.

I do remember a lot of red, but that was blood.  I'm not sure about the skin. I'll try to remember to check tomorrow.

Read my novel: The Dead are Online

Age, Strangerland, Filming Locations, and More Age of Consent Stuff

1. Dreamed that, we go to see Grease. We sit in a crowded theater.  

It's pointed out to us that Olivia Newton John is there. She's sitting to our right, wearing pink or red. The people with me turn to get a glance at her. They do it in a kind of rude and obvious way.

Then we see that Olivia Newton John has gone to the stage. I notice that she looks old, and I see it as symbolizing the way we've all aged.

Or something like that.  

This morning I thought of the symbolism it could represent.

In the film Grease, Olivia Newton John is very young. I think that symbolizes the way many of us feel. I may be forty-three, but I still feel like a teen or young adult. Sometimes I even feel like a child. I never or rarely feel like I'm a woman in my forties.  

I don't feel, though, that I'm this immature person among all these other mature people. I feel everyone I know is like a child, teen, or young adult.  

So, to me the Grease film represents the idea that no matter what our age, we're still kind of like high school teenagers. Then the aged Olivia Newton-John represents our real biological ages—how we look on the outside.  

2. Started watching an episode of Home and Away.

3. Thought about what I wrote in my post yesterday—about people breaking up with someone; then gaining interest back once that someone is dating someone else.

BECAUSE it's happening on the episode I'm watching today.

A while back, Oscar (Jake Speer) broke up with Maddie (Kassandra Clementi). It seemed to me, he had gone off her. Now he thinks she has feelings for Matt (Alec Snow), and he's jealous.Also, he changes the tune...from what I can see. Now he's claiming it wasn't a lack of love that made him break up with her. It was all about timing.

Really?

It seems a bit far-fetched to me.

I think the truth is that Oscar only has interest in Maddie when she's unavailable.

4. Liked the apology scene between Leah (Ada Nicodemou) and Matt. 

Leah apologizes to Matt, because earlier when he tried to talk to her about the Maddie drama, Leah totally bit his head off.

Leah's apology is very kind and mature. She doesn't make excuses or try to downplay anything. She acts like she genuinely feels bad about her actions. In return, Matt is extremely gracious. He doesn't just accept her apology. He goes beyond that by complimenting her. He tells Leah she's been there for him many times in the past.Then he jokes that he'll give her plenty of opportunity to be there for him in the future.  

5. Thought that not all bitchiness merits an apology, and not all apologies merit forgiveness, compliments, and good humor.

But I think with Leah, this was a case of a usually supportive person having a bad moment. Plus, she has brain damage, so she actually DOES have an excuse for her behavior. It would be different if Leah had a history of being bitchy when people came to her for advice. In that case, her apology might just be annoying.  

6. Started watching Strangerland.

7. Got idea from the credits, that the film might be an Australian-Irish movie.

8. Looked at IMDb, and they confirm that.

9. Saw a sign for a place called Nathgari.

Is it a real place?  

10. Saw from Google that Nathgari is not a real place. It was invented for the movie.

The town that played the part of Nathgari was Canowindra.  

This article talks about what it's like to have your real town turned into a fake town.  

It makes me think of an article I once read about The Walking Dead.  I forgot the details exactly. It was something like the film studio bought a neighborhood and sold the houses to the general public. But the stipulation was that the people living there would have to accept that filming goes on there sometimes.  

11. Found an article about The Walking Dead thing.  

I think it's really awesome.  

It's like a backlot set where people can actually live.  

I think, though, that it would be better appreciated by fans of The Walking Dead or people who are interested in the film and television industry. For people who are not fans, it would just be an annoying inconvenience.  

If people filmed a movie or TV show in my neighborhood, I'd be partly annoyed. I'd be bothered by the traffic jams, the changes, the noises, etc.  But mostly, I think I'd be very excited.  

When we lived in New York, we'd see filming on streets. Well, really we'd see mostly just signs and trailers. That in itself was a huge thrill.  

12. Saw kangaroo carcases hanging on a hills hoist.

Interesting.....

13. Saw Joseph Fiennes. 

Whenever I see him, I think of him as the priest in American Horror Story. I liked the scene where he had sex with Satan. That was pretty sexy. Although now that I've written it out, it sounds, to me, like an episode of South Park. 

14. Thought that Maddison Brown, the actress who plays young Lily, in Strangerland, looks like a mix of Rose McGowan, Drew Barrymore, and some other actresses.

15. Thought that the personality of Lily reminds me a little bit of someone I know.

16. Thought the movie was interesting, so far.

I'm intrigued by the family dynamics.

Lily is a very sexual and flirty teenager. Her father, Matthew (Fiennes) is strict and uptight. Matthew's wife, Catherine (Nicole Kidman) reveals that she used to be like Lily. She's older and wiser now but still interested in sex. She flirts with Matthew, and he rejects her.

Why is that interesting to me?

I don't know, really.

I guess it's the dynamics between the strict father and out of control daughter.  I think maybe what I'm used to seeing is strict parents with subservient kids or out of control kids with permissive parents. This is something different.

17. Realized it's NOT actually different from what I've seen in real life.

I've seen parents who want to be strict and in control; yet their children have a mind of their own.

I don't know what I was talking about above. Maybe it's what I see in fiction.

Maybe the stereotype I have is along the lines of Jessica on True Blood...before she became a vampire.  

18. Thought of another thing that fits the stereotype in my head.

It was on old 1980's Neighbours. There was a girl with a very strict mom.  I think maybe the girl's name was Kim? From what I remember, she acted very subservient to the mother—was very nervous around her. But then secretly, she was a bit wild. I think she got pregnant.  

I think the stereotype I have, really, is the strict parent with the seemingly obedient child. But then the child secretly rebels. Or she waits until she gets bitten by a Civil War veteran and then rebels.  

19. Intrigued by the mystery in the film.

Matthew watches his two kids walk out of the house in the middle of the night. He doesn't stop them.

The next morning, Catherine wakes up to find them gone. She calls her husband to ask if the kids are with him, and he says they're not.  He says nothing about seeing them walk out in the middle of the night.

From what I read of the movie, the plot centers around the parents trying to find their missing kids.  I'm wondering what happened to them. Did they have somewhere to go? Were they meeting someone? Were they possessed by some spirit calling out to them?  

And why didn't the father stop them? Why didn't he call out to them? Why didn't he tell his wife what he saw?

20. Learned that the son, Tom (Nicholas Hamilton) has a habit of walking at night when he can't sleep. So that must be the reason why his father didn't make a fuss when he saw him leaving the house at night. It's something he's seen before.

21. Saw that this is yet another Australian movie with a young person having sex with an adult. I feel I keep running into this.

In this one, it IS illegal. The girl was fifteen or younger. The adult she had sex with was her teacher.

 I think the age of consent goes up if it involves a teacher or other supervisor/guardian type person.  

22. Looked for verification about the supervisor/guardian thing. It took awhile. Finally, Lord Wiki helped me. He led me to this website about New South Wales laws.  

It says that a person having sex with a person under their care that's age sixteen is liable to imprisonment for eight years.  If the teenager is seventeen years old, the perpetrator is liable to imprisonment for four years.  

The website gives lists of examples of care-type relationships. These are parents, stepparents, foster parents, teachers, teachers, any other type of tutor-pupil relationship, custodial officers, and pupils.

23. Assumed this means that a teacher, at a school, can have an affair with a sixteen or seventeen year old student IF the student isn't his pupil. It would also have to be that teacher isn't the leader of any of the student's activities. So it wouldn't be okay to be the drama club advisor and then have sex with one of the club members.

In that case, how would the teacher and student have met in the first place?  

24. Saw something interesting at the bottom of the page. 

It says, A person does not commit an offence under this section if the person and the other person to whom the charge relates were, at the time the offence is alleged to have been committed, married to each other.

Wow. So, what is the legal age for marriage then?

25. Saw from this website that the minimum age for marriage in New South Wales is eighteen. Though you can make an appeal to a court.

I wonder how often these appeals happen and how often they're granted.

I can't really imagine a court official granting marriage permission to a teacher so he can legally have sex with his sixteen-year-old student.

26. Confused about the teacher (Martin Dingle Wall) in Strangerland.

Matthew goes to his house to see if his missing daughter is there. The wife of the teacher treats Matthew like he's the criminal—like he's harassing their family.  Both the teacher and the wife act like they're the victims.

What's going on there?

First of all, why wasn't the teacher arrested for having sex with Lily?

I'm wondering if it didn't happen the way that Matthew and Catherine imagined.

Maybe Lily had been stalking the teacher? Maybe it's believed by the teacher's wife that Lily lied about having sex with him?  And...maybe that's true?

27.  Saw that the film might have some bits of magical-realism. There are hints of psychic feelings and visions.

28. Impressed with the cinematography in the movie.

I think it's visually stimulating and creative but not overly indulgent. I feel it fits well with the story.

Sometimes I see fancy camera work in a boring movie, and it just feels like someone is trying to show off.

29. Thought that Nicole Kidman is beautiful in this movie.

I think she sometimes looks too much like an expensive porcelain doll, but here she looks very natural.

30. Thought that Kidman actually looks less pretty than she usually does, but it somehow makes her more beautiful.

Does that make any sense?

Probably not.

Well, it WOULD make sense if I could communicate it properly.

31. Got the idea, from some dialogue, that incest plays a part in the story.

Speaking of incest, while doing laundry, I thought more about the age of consent laws and realized that not-parental relatives were not listed on the law website.

Does that mean it would be legal for an aunt or uncle to have sex with their niece and nephew? What about an older cousin with a younger cousin?

32. Realized some of that could fall into anti-incest laws. Though Australia allows relations between cousins.

I'm not sure if Australia allows marriage between aunts and uncles with nieces and nephews.

33. Consulted Lord Wiki. He says incest includes parents, siblings, and grandparents.

So I THINK it might be legal for a man or woman to have sex with their sixteen or seventeen year old nephew.

I don't think that's right. I think those relationships should fall into the same category as teacher, health care worker, counselor, etc.

34. Argued with myself.

Is there that much of a difference between an aunt and one of your mom's best friends? How about a neighbor?

35. Thought again about how it's probably just best if adults don't have sex with sixteen or seventeen-year-olds.

I can see, though, that there might be some rare exceptions.

I think it also depends on the age. A twenty-year-old having sex with a seventeen year old is different from a forty year old having sex with a seventeen year old.

36. Thought about how I definitely do have a double standard when it comes to gender.

I cringe at the idea of a forty-year-old man having sex with a seventeen-year-old girl. It feels like child abuse. It's an afternoon special or a TV movie of the week. But then I imagine a seventeen year old guy getting it on with his female neighbor, and it feels more like a comedy than a drama.

37. Thought about homosexual relationships.

The older man with the young man is a quirky independent film.

The older woman with the young woman is a psychological thriller or a psychological drama.

38. Realized what I'm feeling is that it's okay for teenage boys to have sex but not teenage girls.

It's totally a double standard.

Well, this is with teens having sex with adults.

I think my feelings are equal when it concerns teens having sex with other teens—no matter what the gender or sexual orientation.

39. Decided to stop watching the film for today.

I'll watch the rest tomorrow.

I gotta say, so far, I'm not agreeing with the ratings I saw yesterday.

I like the movie a lot. I like the acting. I like the camera work. I like the mystery.

I want to know what happens next.

I have a rule that when I watch movies for this blog, I split it into two days. That way I feel less overwhelmed. Usually, I feel a great relief when I get to the half-way mark and can stop the film for the day.  But with this one, it was hard for me to stop.

There's still a part of that wants to continue.

40. Decided not to continue, because with all by babbling, it might take me all night to watch the movie. And this blog post will grow to be way too long.

41. Thought that no matter what, Strangerland can't be a bad movie, because Hugo Weaving is one of the stars.

Can a movie be bad if it stars Hugo Weaving?

No, I don't think so.

It's like a dessert with hot fudge. It might not be fantastic, but it will be at least sort of good.

Read my novel: The Dead are Online 

Delusional Dreamers, Rick Donald, Cool Shows, and Switching Lanes

1. Dreamed that I'm in a pool and a huge crocodile shows up. I can't seem to make myself run to get out of the pool. Instead I just stay there staring at the crocodile.  The crocodile doesn't eat me, though, because I grab it's mouth and prevent it from doing so.

I'm not sure what I did after grabbing the mouth. Maybe I just held it shut. I kind of vaguely remember flinging the crocodile away.

It seems to me that my dream-self was having delusions of grandeur last night.

I also dreamed that I forget to post in my blog for a few days because I'm busy with various other things—reading books, taking care of pet snakes, playing tourist in Canada, and watching the alien miniseries V.  I feel a little bad about forgetting to post in my blog, but I don't feel it's a big deal. However, some other people seem to have a problem with it.  

Again! Delusions of grandeur. I seriously doubt anyone would care that much if I forgot to post in my blog for a few days.

2. Decided that might not be true. There could be someone reading my blog who depends on routine and gets anxious when there are any changes.

3. Started watching an episode of Underbelly: Razor.

4. Recognized an actor on the show; then realized he played the teacher on the second season of House Husbands.

He dated Gemma, played by Anna McGahan, who is one of the main stars of Underbelly: Razor.

5. Found out the actor on Underbelly and House Husbands is Rick Donald.

I see from IMDb that I've seen him on six episodes of Underbelly. It wasn't until the seventh that I recognized him.  Wow.

6.  Thought maybe I recognized the new character Connie on the episode. I looked at IMDb. She's not included on the cast list for this episode. I don't know why.

So I Googled. The Australian Television website has the answer to my inquiry. The actress is Ivy Latimer.

Have I seen her in anything else?

7. Saw that Ivy Latimer was one of the stars of Mako Mermaids, and also Me and My Monsters.

I've never watched those shows.

When Latimer was a child, she appeared in several episodes of Love My Way. I'm guessing she was a friend of Lou. Maybe she was the other kid in that horrible traumatic scene.

8.  Saw, from IMDb, that Latimer was born in the US. Was she born to Australian parents who were temporarily in the US? Or maybe she was born to American parents and they all migrated?

9. Learned from this ABC website that Latimer moved to Newcastle, Australia when she was six.

10. Knew that Guy Edmonds is another Underbelly: Razor actor who appeared on House Husbands. He played the birth father of the gay couple's daughter. I know I've seen him in something else, though. I can't remember what it is.

11. Looked at IMDb and saw that Edmonds was on A Moody Christmas.  That's probably what I know him from the most. I would have also seen him on an episode of Wonderland.

12. Went to American Airlines to look at flights to Orlando. I started typing in Melbourne instead of Orlando.

If that's not a Freudian slip, I don't know what is.

13. Realized I might be soon be getting a double daily dose of Danielle Cormack. She's one of the stars of Underbelly: Razor; and she's also in Rake.  Though I don't know if she's in the second season.

14. Looked on IMDb.

She IS in the second season.

15. Started to watch the first episode of season two of Rake.

16. Liked Cleaver Greene's (Richard Roxburgh) rant about texting.  He talks about how, these days, people give more priority to texts than live social interactions.

I think it's true.

I sometimes feel I get more attention from Tim when he's out of town, and I'm texting him. When we're in the same room, he's often checking his texts or looking at something else on his phone.

17. Decided it fits that my relationship with Tim seems to work best when we're texting each other.

Our relationship began with us being email-pals.

Maybe we're going back to our origins.

18. Saw that Aussie Bob is the judge on Rake.

Okay. No. It's not Aussie Bob. It's the actor who played him. What's his name again?

19. Found his name: Roy Billing.

20. Felt that Underbelly is a show that tries very hard to be cool.

Rake is a show that actually IS cool.

It's just my opinion.

Other people feel differently, I'm sure.

21. Felt shows can be divided into these categories A. Not cool, but good. B. Trying to be cool and failing C. Cool.

What is a cool show?

How the hell do I know?

And if I know, how would I explain it?

Maybe I'll start by saying that I think the early seasons of Ryan Murphy shows are cool.

The Walking Dead is cool. Some seasons of True Blood were cool. I'm guessing Breaking Bad is cool, but I don't watch it, so I don't know for sure.

22. Started to think that "cool" is the wrong word, and it's making me feel very uncool.

Maybe clever would be a better word?

Other words to describe what's in my brain: innovative, shocking, artistic, thought-provoking, brilliant....

I don't think Sea Patrol and Neighbours are particularly clever, cool, innovative, etc. But I still think they're wonderful shows, and I love them.  They would be in category A for me.

Underbelly would be in category B.

Rake would be in category C. Other Aussie shows I'd put in category C would be Offspring and Wentworth.

23. Thought both A shows and C shows are wonderful to watch, but B is not.

24. Wanted to remind people that it's all about opinions.

Many people might think Underbelly is in category C, and they might put Rake in category B.

25. Thought of other categories to add to my TV show divisions.

D) So uncool that it's cool.  I kind of think Doctor Who fits into that category.

E) Cool unless you sit down and think too hard about it. I would put Lost into that category.  I think Lost is very cool and clever if you think about it in a certain way. If you start to get smart and picky about things, it begins to lose its coolness.

25. Decided that Danielle Cormack has a mild resemblance to Idina Menzel.

26. Went to the Triple J 2014 list.

Today I'm going to listen to the last song on the list which is "Switch Lanes" by Tkay Maidza. There are brackets near the song that say Prod. Paces.

What does that mean?

Produced?

27. Got an answer to my question on Yahoo.answers.

Someone there says it means they produced the beat. It's used for rap songs.

I wonder why that's used instead of featuring.

Maybe featuring implies voice?

28. Learned that Tkay Maidza is African-Australian. She was born in Zimbabwe and grew up in Australia.

29. Started watching the video for "Switch Lanes".

30. Didn't understand the video, but I like it.

It has a lot of visual variety.  Maybe kind of psychedelic?

31. Liked the song. I'm going to add it to my Spotify...if it's available.

32. Thought the video had an anime feel to it. But I really don't know much about anime, so I could be completely wrong.

33. Decided to include "Switch Lanes" in our homeschooling curriculum today.

We have music as one of our "classes" and haven't really put much into that yet.

We have a total of two hours and fifty six minutes for music. In comparison we have over twenty-two hours in World History/Culture/Geography.

34. Wondered what to do now that I'm done with the Triple J 2014 list.

Maybe listen to ARIA songs?

35. Looked at a list of ARIA 2014 winners.

The only thing is, it's by artist and album, not song.

36. Decided to skip the ARIA thing.

37. Had another idea.

How about listening to the undiscovered and/or not-yet-popular artists?

That might be exciting.

38. Went to Triple J Unearthed.  That's the place to find new and upcoming arts...or new and not upcoming artists.

I just don't know where to start. It's a bit massive.

39. Confused by Triple J Unearthed. There used to be a place where you could listen to a huge variety of uploaded music. But now I can't find that.  Maybe they changed things.

40. Decided maybe I won't make Triple J Unearthed my new thing.

Maybe I don't need a new thing; although there is something else I have been considering.

Flickr stalking.

I have fun with that.

41. Considered Flickr stalking WHILE listening to a Triple J Unearthed song.

42. Had an idea.

Triple J Unearthed has a weekly chart of 100 top songs.  That threw me off a bit, because I can't go through 100 songs in a week.

What if instead, I use Random.org to pick a song?

Then while listening to the song, I'll stalk someone on Flickr.

43. Went to Random.org and got #4.

The song for that is "Commotion" by a group called Mosquito Coast.

They're from Perth.

44. Found the song on YouTube.

I'm not sure how I feel about it.

45. Went to Flickr.

Since Mosquito Coast is from Perth, I decided to put Perth in the search thingie.

46. Found this picture of Sorrento Beach.

I didn't know there was a Sorrento Beach in Perth.

47. Thought Mosquito Coast sounded like children singing.

I wonder if they're kids.

48. Decided NOT to do both Flickr and Triple J Unearthed.

I'm not good with this multi-tasking.

I'll do one or the other or neither if time is tight.

These days, time often feels tight.

But anyway, I found an article about Mosquito Coast.  It's not children singing.  .

The band consists of two seventeen-year-olds—a singer-guitarist named Naomi Robinson and a drummer named Conor Barton.

They won a Triple J contest. That's very cool.


Read my novel: The Dead are Online 

Bad Behavior, Good Behavior, Search Warrants, and Mysterious Prime Ministers

1. Started watching an episode of Sea Patrol.

2.  Saw, from IMDb, that one of the stars of Sea Patrol, Matthew Holmes, was on two episodes of True Blood. 

In season seven, he played Charles Dupont. 

I think that was the last season. Right?

3. Consulted Lord Wiki's cousin about Charles Dupont.

The cousin doesn't have much to say except that Charles Dupont was a minor character.

5. Felt bad for Spider (Jay Ryan). Within a very short time, he was both praised and severely reprimanded.

He got in trouble for stealing the French flag soon after doing something courageous.

Actually, now that I think of it. This was the theme of an episode I saw a few days ago. In that one, Chef Rebecca (Kirsty Lee Allen) did something very brave that made up for her inappropriate outbursts of anger.

I guess both stories are sort of opposite of each other. With Spider, he was praised for bravery; then got in trouble. With the chef, she got it trouble; then later did something brave. Although both Chef and Spider did their misdeed before their good deed. The only difference really is that it took awhile for Spider to get caught.

6. Figured the general message is most humans do a mix of good and bad things.We can be very pleased with what someone has done for us and soon after, be very angry at them. Or someone can totally disgust us; then turn around and do something wonderful.

7. Started watching an episode of Underbelly.

8. Intrigued by something on the episode.

The police approach a man and tell him they're going to search his car. The man says the police will need a warrant. The police laugh and say he's been watching too many yank TV shows.

So, does that mean Australian police don't need a warrant for searching? Or...the show takes place in the 1970's. Maybe back then there was no need for a warrant?

9. Found this website about New South Wales police procedure. It says police can search a car if they have reasonable suspicion about drugs.

It could be the same in the US as well. It probably is.

10. Thought that the police officer's comment might be more about television vs reality than it is about Australia vs. United States law.

11. Found this website, which I think is American.

It says pretty much the same thing as the New South Wales site. With probable cause the police can search your car.

12. Read about probable cause. The same website says, Probable cause for arrest exists when facts and circumstances within the police officer's knowledge would lead a reasonable person to believe that the suspect has committed, is committing, or is about to commit a crime. Probable cause must come from specific facts and circumstances, rather than simply from the officer's hunch or suspicion.  
I'm thinking that both in the United States and Australia the police can't legally search your car just because they have a bad feeling about you. At the same time, if they have evidence against you, they don't need to go through the process of getting a search warrant.

13. Tried to figure out which Prime Minister this is supposed to be.

At first, I was thinking Hawke...even though he doesn't look like Hawke. I was just thinking about the late 1970's-1980's time period. I associate Hawke with the 80's but offhand don't know if he was PM in the late or early 80's.

Then I realized that it's probably Malcolm Fraser. I don't think he looks too much like Frazer, but I know Frazer was PM in the late 70's.

14. Looked at the IMDb credits for the episode. It's interesting. They don't name the Prime Minister. Tony Llewellyn-Jones is listed as simply "Prime Minister".

15. Saw that Llewellyn-Jones also played a Prime Minister in a 2008 TV movie called The Prime Minister is Missing. He didn't play the missing PM. He played John McEwen.

16. Consulted Lord Wiki about Malcolm Fraser's time in office. It was from 1975-1983.

At the beginning of each episode of Underbelly, there is a little message saying the show takes place between 1970-something and 1980-something. I forgot what it is, exactly.

Anyway, maybe the creators of the show aren't sure when the particular meeting with the Prime Minister took place. And maybe they're not sure which Prime Minister we should be seeing.

Maybe Tony Llewellyn-Jones is playing a sort of Hawke-Fraser hybrid.

17. Finished watching the episode of Underbelly.

I'm sort of starting to like it more. I'm less bored by it, at least.

18. Went to the Triple J 2014 list.

Today I'm going to be listening to the song "Wrong Direction" by British India.

What if I'm going in the wrong direction?

19. Started to watch the video for "Wrong Direction"

It seems pretty cool...in a horror movie kind of way.

There's a guy and a dog on a camping trip.

20. Thought that the singer sounds like Paul Kelly.

21. Thought the scenery in the video was pretty.

22. Wondered about the eerie camera angles.

Is there someone following the camping guy?

23. Liked the song.

24. Went back to the TV Guide feature I've been looking at lately.

I'm going to continue on my quest to find Australian actors in new American TV shows.

Today's TV show is Scream Queens. I've heard of that. I didn't realize it was new.

It looks like it's a spin off of American Horror Story. It has the same creators; and like AMS, it's an anthology thing.

25. Started looking at the cast list for Scream Queens.

26. Looked through most of the cast of Scream Queens.

I don't see any Australians.

27. Heard really weird noises coming from outside. Maybe I'm about to become a scream queen.

Though it sounds more supernatural horror than slasher.

Underbelly, Matthew Newton, Picking TV Shows, and Mysterious Quote Origins

1. Dreamed that, I'm staying with part of my family at a resort (Maybe for Thanksgiving?)

There are periodic Hawaiian luaus. 

There's a big window where I can see people swimming along with a bear (who may or may not be real vs. a costumed-human).

I talk to my mom, and ask about my sister, brother-in-law, and nephews. Why aren't they with us? Where did they go?

My mom tells me they're in Melbourne.

I'm thinking, though, that we might be in Melbourne too. But I'm not sure, because our resort might be in Sydney.  

We get the idea that my sister and her family might be in the same city as us, and they might, by coincidence, end up coming to the hotel.

It was funny, because Australia was so casual in the dream. It didn't seem like a big deal that my whole family was all that way away.

I guess it felt like we actually lived in Australia. Or Melbourne and Sydney were cities wherever we did live.  

2. Read a 2011 blog post where I talk about not being interested in seeing Underbelly.

It's funny, because I'm planning to watch that today. 

I'm still not overly interested in watching it, but I imagine there's a good chance I end up liking it.

In the 2011 blog post, I also talk about not wanting to see Rake.  I ended up loving that.

3. Started to watch an episode of Underbelly.

It's about organized crime, which usually doesn't interest me.

4. Thought that the narrator of Underbelly sounds like Toni Colette. But I don't think it's her. I don't remember seeing her name in the credits yesterday.

5. Looked at the credits again. 

The narrator is Caroline Craig.  She also plays a character on the series. Well, I'm guessing the character IS the narrator.

6. Watched ten minutes of Underbelly.

So far, it's not really attracting my attention. I'm kind of bored—playing QuizUp while I watch.

I hope it starts getting more interesting to me.

7. Started to realize that Matthew Newton, from Farscape, is the main star of this Underbelly episode—or at least this episode.

It's kind of interesting seeing him without creature make-up. Actually, it's probably the most interesting thing, about the show, for me.

In a way, it kind of just makes me wish I was watching Farscape.

8. Wondered if I'd be better off picking what shows I watch instead of allowing Random.org to do it for me.

I don't think so.

I'd have way too hard of a time picking which show. Yeah, I want to watch Farscape,  but I also want to watch Packed to the Rafters. And Satisfaction. Rake. Wentworth. Sea Patrol. Maybe Home and Away....

Plus, sometimes I expect not to like something. Or I don't like it in the beginning. But then I end up liking it. 

9. Saw Damien de Montemas on Underbelly. 

I saw him yesterday when looking at the cast list, but forgot to mention it.

10. Consulted Lord Wiki about the real life Donald Mackay.  He was an anti-drug campaigner who was murdered in the episode I just watched.

Lord Wiki says there's a memorial statue of Mackay, in Griffith, New South Wales, that has an inscribed plaque saying, All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.

I thought that was an Eli Wiesel quote, but now I'm thinking maybe it's from Churchill

11. Learned from Google that the quote doesn't come from Churchill or Wiesel. 

It's from Edmund Burke. 

12. Figured I might be wrong about Edmund Burke.

Lord Wiki says it's false that the quote came from him.

13. Skimmed over article that seems to say no one really knows who came up with that quote. 

Maybe it was just a guy hanging out with his friends watching Star Wars.

14. Decided to do some more playing on TV Guide.

I'm looking for Australian actors in new American TV shows.

What Aussies had success during pilot season?  

15. Saw that the show I'm on is The Frankenstein Code. It's about a cop who's brought back from the dead.

16. Looked at the description of the show. It reminds me a lot of that show from several years ago. Now and Again. Remember that? With Eric Close and John Goodman?  

Both shows involve a man dying and then being reborn into the body of a younger man.  

In The Frankenstein Code, the younger version of the guy is played by Hoyt from True Blood.

17. Wanted to mention that while doing this research, I'm listening to Michael Giacchino's "Moving On" from Lost.  I'm kind of getting re-obsessed with the soundtrack, because I recently realized there are bits from Inside Out that are very similar. Giacchino did some recycling.  I think now that might be one of the reasons I cried so hard at the movie. I thought I was crying for Riley and Bing Bong, but maybe my subconscious was crying over Charlie, Clair, Ben, Locke, Jack, etc.  

18. Saw from IMDb that The Frankenstein Code may have changed it's name to Lookinglass. 

19. Wondered why there's a G missing in the title. Did IMDb make a mistake?  Does the misspelling mean something clever?

20. Started looking at the cast list. 

21. Saw that I'm totally wrong about Hoyt from True Blood.

Sorry, but in the TV Guide picture, it looks very much like Hoyt.

But no. It's actually Macklyn Warlow from True Blood.  Who the hell is that?

Is that the fairy guy?

22. Consulted Lord Wiki's cousin.

I'm half right. Hybrid, right actually.

Macklyn was half fairy and half vampire. I remember him now.

23. Found someone in the cast who MIGHT be Australian.  His name is Rod Hallett. He's kind of a hybrid himself. He seems to be in both Australian and British things.  One of his first roles was on Home and Away, though. So I'm going to go with him being more Australian.  

He appeared on Eastenders. That's British.

He was on Terra Nova. That's American, I think, but filmed in Australia. 

There's a lot of other stuff I don't recognize, so I'm going to guess it's British  

24. Found this website, which says Rod Hallett is a British actor.

25. Looked up one of the episodes of Home and Away that Hallett appeared on.  

It was filmed in London. So, there you go.  

26. Found an Australian.

I actually kind of recognized her name in the credits.

Nicky Whelan. She played Pepper on Neighbours in 2006-2007.  I'm not in the mood to figure out who that is.  She's before my time. And after my time.  

27. Looked at the next show. It's called Game of Silence.  The description says,  An attorney's perfect life is put in jeopardy when his long-lost childhood friends unexpectedly reappear after 25 years and dark secrets resurface.

Does it involve an evil clown?

Actually, this seems to be more about adults who did bad things during their childhood rather than adults who fought against bad things when they were kids.

28. Found an Australian in the cast.

It's David Lyons.  Maybe he's a descendent of the Prime Minister, Joseph Lyons.

29. Saw that Lyons was one of the stars of Sea Patrol.

I don't think I remember him.

30. Looked at photos of Lyon on Sea Patrol.

Maybe I remember him. A little bit.

31. Saw that Lyon had significant roles on two American TV shows—ER and Revolution.

32. Found another Australian—Claire van der Boom from Rush!

33. Wondered if Neighbours misses their American audience.

Do they care about us at all?

Honestly, I feel a bit abandoned.

34. Went to the Triple J 2014 list.

Today I'm going to listen to the 71st song, which is another Amity Affliction thing. It's called "The Weigh Down".

35. Started watching the video for "The Weigh Down".

There's a burial, and the screamer guy is screaming.

36. Saw that the video is about child abuse. Or at least child abuse is one part of it.

37. Thought about how this video has fire getting to the band, while one of the other ones I've seen had water.

38. Reminded by Lord Wiki that the water song was "Pittsburgh"

American Version, Marriage, Sins, and Kinky Dogs,

1. Had Marshall Napier's voice in my mind this morning.

It wasn't an auditory hallucination. It was just in my imagination.

You know what I'm talking about. Right?  

I hope so, because I don't know how to better explain it.

2.  Saw lots of sad and scary stories about young people dying this morning, including Nick Cave's son.  

So many bad things can happen to us or the ones we love. Sometimes it seems like a miracle just to be alive.

3. Started to watch an episode of Neighbours. 

4. Worried for Georgia (Saskia Hampele). She's broken into Nick's (Damien Fotiou) hotel room. 

It's very suspenseful. I worry she's going to get into trouble. I hope she doesn't, and I hope she finds the dirt needed to destroy Nick.

5. Started watching an episode of Rake.

6.  Saw that David Roberts is in this episode. 

7. Looked at the American version of Rake on IMDb.

Peter Duncan is the writer for both the American and Australian shows. 

According to IMDb, Duncan created the Australian show with Richard Roxburgh, and Charles Waterstreet.

The creators for the American show are Duncan and an American named Peter Tolan. 

8. Saw that the names of the characters are different.

Richard Roxburgh plays Cleaver Greene.

In the American version, Greg Kinnear plays Keagan Deane.

There's an Australian actress on the show—Miranda Otto. She plays the wife of Deane. Or the ex-wife?  In the Australian version, it's an ex-wife, but they have a amicable relationship. 

9. Saw that there's another Australian on the show. Bojana Novakovic. I know her from Satisfaction and The King is Dead. 

10. Learned that the episode I'm watching is about bigamy. 

11. Listened to John Butler and The Waif's cover of "From Little Things Big Things Grow".

The song reminds me so much of 2007-2009, because I listened to the song a lot back then. Although in those days, I usually heard the original with Paul Kelly and Kevin Carmody.

12. Started watching video of Sarah Storer and Archie Roach singing the song.

Archie Roach makes me think of True Blood, because they played his song during Terry's funeral.

13.  Went back to watching Rake.

14. Wanted to eat chips and guacamole after seeing a judge eating that on Rake. 

We have chips at home, but not guacamole.

15. Liked this quote from Rake. When you're in love, you're a prisoner.

I think that's usually true, especially if the person you love doesn't love you back. 

The good news is people can often eventually break out of the prison.

If the love is mutual, the prison is probably often a happy prison, and there's no need to break out of it. 

16. Liked Rake, because it questions moral conventions. Is it truly bad to eat a person who committed suicide?  Is it bad to be married to two woman and be a loving father to two sets of children?

As for the second question, I think bigamy is wrong when there's dishonesty. That's the case with the episode I'm watching. But the show is making me think more about how monogamy might not be the best thing for humankind. Maybe we'd all be happier if there wasn't so much pressure to stay faithful to one person through out our lives.

17. Thought about the difference between Cleaver Greene on Rake and Nick on Neighbours.

They both do bad things.

I think the difference is Cleaver seems to feel guilt and regret for what he's done, and Nick does not. I think Cleaver does try to like himself despite his mistakes. Nick doesn't even have to try. He seems to feel perfectly okay with his misdeeds. 

18. Thought about both their misdeeds. Cleaver's big one is he had sex with his best friend's wife. At the same time, he's trying to act supportive as his best friend vents about his wife having an affair. 

Cleaver did a bad thing, but I can feel sympathy for his crime. It was a heat of the moment thing. People sometimes give in to their impulses despite their best intentions.

I've seen Nick do two bad things on Neighbours. First he deliberately tried to come between Georgia and Kyle's (Chris Milligan) marriage by making a bet with Paul Robinson (Stefan Dennis) that he could succeed in seducing Georgia. Then he tricked Paul Robinson into thinking he has cancer and gave the poor guy unneeded chemotherapy. 

19. Remembered that Nick also sabotaged Georgia's career and got her suspended—or at least the show is inferring that.  

All of Nick's misdeeds are premeditated.They're not crimes of passion. They're crimes of deliberation. 

20. Wondered about a storyline on Rake.

Scarlett (Danielle Cormack), the one who had an affair with Cleaver, complained that her husband Barney (Russell Dykstra) is too good.  I think she meant he was too nice and too boring.

In this episode, Scarlett has the affair and then confesses, to her husband, what she's done. He stews on it for awhile. Then days later, with scorn, he tells her he's releasing her. She's free to go. He then insults her artwork, says Scarlett has no talent, and destroys one of her paintings.

This makes me question whether Barney is as nice a guy as people believe. Maybe he's just a repressed asshole. 

OR is he truly a good guy, and it's just everyone has their breaking point?  

The thing is, though, what he did was very emotionally cruel. It's stepping on someone's dreams. It's different from the nice person who finally loses their temper and slams a door or punches the wall.  

21 Had a stereotype of the so-called nice guy, and it's not a positive one.

I picture a man who sees himself as nice and feels angry at women, because so many of them have rejected him. His idea is that if he's nice to a woman, she's obligated to love him. If she doesn't love him, it's because she's a bitch who likes bad boys.

He's generous with women he likes but has no idea what they'd want as a gift. Why? Because he's more interested in performing his role as the nice guy than actually getting to know the object of his affection as an individual.

22. Started watching another episode of Rake.

Noah Taylor is in this episode. I've heard of him, but I don't think I've actually watched anything with him in it.  

23. Saw from IMDb credits that Josef Brown from Neighbours is in this episode!

24. Thought about Gabriel (Matt Day) and Melissa's (Adrienne Pickering) relationship on Rake.

Gabriel doesn't know that Melissa was a sex worker. She's keeping that from him.

If Gabriel knew the truth, would he still be interested in Melissa? And if he found out the truth now, would he forgive her for lying?

I imagine he'd be tolerant of the sex worker thing if the truth was out there from the beginning. He was accepting of Melissa's affair with her first cousin Angus (although the affair never actually happened).  His acceptance of that tells me he's a fairly open-minded guy.

What's funny is that in order to cover up the sex worker secret, Melissa is creating other controversies for her background. Well, actually Cleaver came up with the Angus storyline. But she also told Gabriel that her father did some dodgy stuff in Peru.

25. Got idea that IMDb made a mistake by putting Josef Brown on the episode credits.

They have him listed as playing Ben Rigby, but then Ben Rigby is listed twice in the credits. On the other, it's Joe Brown playing him.

I think someone got confused.

26. Thought that Joe Brown, who actually plays a corpse on the episode, looks a bit like Daniel Radcliffe.

27. Started watching another episode of Rake.

Sam Neil is in this one. That's pretty exciting. 

28. Intrigued by this episode. There's a secret DVD.  Dr. Chandler (Sam Neill) has it in his briefcase, and his briefcase is stolen. The police then find it, and call in Dr. Chandler  for questioning. But why?

I'm going to watch and find out. 

29. Excited, because I saw Rhys Muldoon in the IMDb credits for this episode!

30. Saw Cleaver Greene doing cocaine. When he did it, I thought he looked like the Master guy from Doctor Who. Well, one of them, at least. What's his name again?

I will go look it up...

John Simm. That's who it is.

31. Thought of The Power of One novel, because there's boxing in this episode.

32. Learned the DVD had bestality on it. 

33. Thought the courtroom discussions on bestiality were very interesting.

There's talk of whether it's equivalent to pedophilia. And if it is, does that mean children and dogs are equal?

There's also talk about consent. An animal can't give consent, but if they seem to enjoy the sex, is it still wrong? What if they're not coerced into having sex?

34. Impressed that the show mentions Peter Singer. He's not against bestality. I forgot about that.

In his lawyer speech, Cleaver Greene says that, in New South Wales, poisoning a water supply will get you a maximum of five years in prison while having sex with a dog will get you fourteen.

That's nuts. I'm guessing it's true?  

35. Found a law site.  It seems to be true. Well, the water thing is true. I haven't yet found anything about bestiality. 

36. Realized I was spelling bestiality wrong. Getting it right, helped me find the law thing for that. 

Apparently the prison sentence IS fourteen years.

37. Thought it was crazy that there are few laws to protect animals who are abused and neglected in factory farms. But there is a strict law to protect an animal from having a sexual encounter with a human.

38. Continued to watch Cleaver Greene's lawyer speech.

I'm totally loving it.

He says, The prosecution keep banging on about consent. But do horses consent to being ridden around a track having their backsides whipped?  Do rabbits consent to being tested for something Posh Spice dabs on her pulse points?  Forty-six million families in America own at least one dog. And this year, they're going to cook roughly twenty-seven billion pounds of beef. Sliced from some thirty-five million harmless, sweet, vegetarian cows.  It's a devastating hypocrisy.

39. Wondered why Cleaver Greene talked about Americans rather than Australians. If I didn't know better, I would conclude Australia is made up of a bunch of vegetarians—that cow eating is something that happens only in the United States. 

39. Felt I would rather have sex with a cow than eat a cow.  

That being said, I don't find cows very attractive. They kind of give me the creeps.

Lately, I've been kind of attracted to crocodiles. I find them sexy. But I imagine sex between a crocodile and human wouldn't work so well.

40. Would not want sex with a dog, though I've been propositioned a few times. 

Then again, maybe they were just interested in my leg. 

41. Saw a male and female cardinal together at our bird feeder. It made me feel bad for dissing monogamy.  If birds can do it, maybe some humans can as well.

42. Wondered if the two cardinals are happy together. 

43. Learned from this website that cardinals are not monogamous throughout life. They often choose a new breeding partner each season. So it's serial monogamy. I think that's different from the monogamy that's expected of us. 

Spiderbait

Today I'm going to be learning about the music group Spiderbait.

I've heard a few of their songs. The only one I can think of offhand is "Black Betty".  I really like that song, although I did more so in the past. It's one of those songs that I played too much and then became somewhat tired of it.

I don't think I've ever seen the video for "Black Betty".  I'm going to see if it's on YouTube, so I can watch it now.

Here's the video.

There's someone playing the drums, and another playing a banjo.

There's some kind of guitar. Maybe electrical? I'm really dumb when it comes to instruments.

The guy on the drums is the one singing, although, it looks more like he's lip-synching.

There's a black car in the video. Is that supposed to be Black Betty?

I think I just saw an American actor in the video. Seth Green. I think that's his name.  He appears at 1:52. It's either him or a guy that looks like him. After I watch the video, I'll see if anyone has mentioned it in comments.

Actually, the Maybe-Seth-Green guy has been there throughout the video, but I just noticed the resemblance now.

Okay. I looked at the comments. It is Seth Green in the video.  It's scenes from a movie.  From comments, I'm getting the idea that this video was made specifically for the movie. But someone mentions that there was a previous video of the song before the Seth Green version.

I'm also being reminded in comments that the song is a cover. Spiderbait isn't the original singer.

Lord Wiki says originally the song was an African-American work song.

Here's a 1939 recording of the song. I like it.

Well, I should probably start on the task of learning about Spiderbait.

Lord Wiki says the band formed in 1989, in a New South Wales town called Finley.

From Google Maps, I can see that Finley is seven hours south-west of Sydney.  And it's about two hours south-west of Wagga Wagga.

The members of the band were (and still are, I think) Janet English, Mark Maher, and Damien Whitty.

I think of Janet as a woman's name, but I think in this case it applies to a man. I don't think I saw a woman in the video.  Lord Wiki says he plays drums and does lead vocals.

Mark Maher is known by the nickname Kram.  He's the guy who does the drums. And he also sings.

Damien Whitty is Kram's second cousin.  He plays the guitar. I guess he doesn't sing. Or at least he doesn't do lead singing in the band. He might do a little singing in the band and some lead singing in the shower.

The band started playing in sheds and barns. Lord Wiki says that Kram says the band was pretty awful in the beginning.

In 1990, the band moved to Melbourne. Kram attended the Victorian College of the Arts. Is that the same one that that Eddie Perfect went to?  I need to go look at the post I wrote a few days ago....

Okay. No. Perfect went to the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music. But I did mention the Victorian College of the Arts in the post. That's why I got myself confused.

ANYWAY....

The Spiderbait folks started getting gig jobs. Their name back then was Spiderbaby. But there was an American band who were already using that name. So they switched to Spiderbait.

I wonder how Spiderbaby is doing.

I can't find anything about a 20th century American Spiderbaby band. But Lord Wiki knows of a 21st century Spiderbaby band that's from Brighton.

Spiderbait's first single was "Circle K", released in 1991.  I'll listen as I continue to research.

In 1992, Spiderbait performed at concerts done by American groups touring Australia.

Their first album was released in 1993. It was called Shashavaglava. Lord Wiki says that word is a Serbo-Croatian word meaning crazyhead. I wonder if the band members are Serbian-Croatian. Or some of them maybe?  Maybe the two cousins?

I feel I'm getting boring with this all  career stuff. Or at least I'm bored. I'm probably usually boring to other people, but at least I'm not making myself bored.

I think I'll just skim over Lord Wiki's overview. I'll mention highlights or things I find interesting.

Spiderbait's song "Calypso" was featured in the movie 10 Things I Hate About You. That's the film with Heath Ledger.

I just looked up the song on YouTube, along with the movie title. I didn't get Calypso. I got a Spiderbait song called "Sunshine on My Window". Maybe it's an alternative title for the song? Or maybe two Spiderbait songs are in 10 Things I Hate About You.

I'm looking at lists of Spiderbait songs. I can't find any "Sunshine on My Window" song.

But then I googled the song, and the results were all Spiderbait things.

I think it's an alternative name for "Calypso".

Okay. Yeah. I'm looking at the lyrics. The first line is Sunshine on my window makes me happy.  Is that related to the song about sunshine on my shoulders?  John Denver did the "Sunshine on my Shoulders" song, and he also has a song called "Calypso". So maybe the Spiderbait song is an homage to John Denver?

Well, I'm going to listen to the song now.

I have heard it before.

I'm very confused.

It sounds like women singing.

Maybe this isn't Spiderbait.

Or maybe Janet IS a woman.

Well, I just read further down. Janet is either a woman, or HE is gay.  Lord Wiki mentions a boyfriend.

She's female. Now I see that she birthed a baby. Men can't do that...yet.

Spiderbait participated in the Wiggles tribute album. They sang "Rock-a-bye Your Bear".

I wonder if I've heard it before. I'm checking to see if I have it on iTunes. It's sad. I pretty much never listen to my iTunes music anymore. I don't know what I have and don't have.

I see now that I do have "Calypso". I don't think I listened to it much.

I have three songs from the Wiggles tribute album, but not the Spiderbait one.

Now I can't shut down iTunes. It took a long time to open, and now I'm stuck with it.

Ah...now it's gone. Thanks.

Spiderbait went on hiatus around 2005; then in 2013, they started getting things rolling again.

Their new album is called "Spiderbait".

Maybe I'll listen to a random song.

Random.org says I should listen to "Goodbye".  I love the beginning. It's beautiful.

While I listen to it, I shall tell you guys about Rory. He's my Green Anole lizard friend. Well, we're not exactly friends yet. It's more like we're in a cohabiting relationship.  I found him a couple of days ago when I was in the closet looking for clothes. He dropped on my foot.  Usually, I'd release such a visitor outside. But it's way too cold.  So I captured him and put him in a cage. It was too small of a cage, though, so we went out to buy a bigger cage and some food.  But he seemed so unhappy in the cage. I released him, and now he just roams free in my office.  Yesterday he hid most of the time and wouldn't eat. Today he's eaten two mealworms and he's a happy green color.  He's also hiding much less. I'm very happy about that. Because actually, this morning I feared he might be dead. He was just lying there not moving.  I poked him a bit, and he moved.

Okay, now I'll get back to our regularly scheduled programming.

I'm going to look at Spiderbait's official website.

There's a big video on the home page. I'll watch that. They're obviously eager to promote this one.

The video disappeared after a moment, but the song's still playing.

It's Janet English doing the lead vocals for this one.

Now I can see the video. There's lots of graffiti and and three walking toys.

When English does the lead singing, the songs sound so much different from "Black Betty". It sounds like a different band.

I'm going to watch Black Betty again and see if I just totally missed the fact that I was seeing a female.

At least two of the people look very male. I'm not getting a good look of the third person.  I'm getting quick glances. It could be Janet English. I'm not sure.

Now I'm looking at Spiderbait's about page.  I see English. I think she could be mistaken for a man if shown in only quick glimpses.

The about page talks about how their new album isn't a comeback album, because they never actually broke up. They just took a break. It sounds like the Ross-Rachel thing on Friends.

I think it's nice that they're break is over, and they're making music again.

I'm trying to look at their tour page now. It's taking a long time for the tour information to load.

Well, now the information is there. It says there are no upcoming tours at this point.

Here's an interview with Kram.

He says they didn't plan for the long hiatus. It just happened. He was busy with his kids. He says, Umm… after that record we did a lot of touring, and because we had such a big number one hit with that, that does take things [and] stretches them out a bit further.  I think he's saying that they made enough money, so it became less urgent to keep working.  I mean not that they only worked for the money. But if you make a lot of money, it's easier to take a break if you feel like it.  Although I take long breaks for the opposite reason. I mean not with my blog but my fiction writing. I make no money, so I don't feel the motivation to continue.

Blogging is different because I enjoy doing it more. Writing fiction stresses me out.

Kram says, I mean, fuck, how many fucking bands do I hear coming out of America every year where every song sounds exactly the same? I don't know if I've heard a lot of songs that sound the same. But there are bands in general that sound the same to me. I get so confused between Imagine Dragons and Lumineers. And I think there are other bands that sound like those as well.

There's talk here about friends forming bands and then ending up hating each other. Kram says the way to avoid that is to not do too much touring together. It's like that whole thing of how it's not a good idea to become roommates with your best friend.

Kram also credits their small town background for them staying friends.  That doesn't make much sense to me.  I don't see how it would make such a difference.  So if one of the members had been from Sydney, they'd be more likely to break up?

It's nice to have a commonality. And maybe that does add something.  But I don't think it always does.

I think Kram is trying too hard to explain why he and his band members still get along. Maybe it's just luck and a good combination of personalities.  It's like someone trying to rationalize why they have a well-behaved child. Or why they continue to have a happy marriage.  I think a lot of times there's no easy explanation. It's just something that happens.

Someone can say we've been married for fifty years because we did this, this, and that. But another couple can do the exact same things and be divorced within a couple of years.

Now I'm going to read this other interview.

Here Kram says the three things that have helped the band endure are their creativity, friendship, and live shows.  But I think most bands have those three things.

I didn't find much else in the interview that interests me a lot.

So I've moved onto Twitter. They have a surprisingly low number of followers. 2809. That's much more than what I have. But I'm not famous.

Their most recent post is from 21 hours ago. They say they loved the movie Angus.  Are they involved with the movie Angus? Is this a self-promotion post?

Or...wait. Maybe Angus isn't the name of the movie. I think Angus is the guy who made the movie, and Spiderbait says, Congrats, Mate. So I think Angus is a friend of his.

I think there's a comma missing in the Tweet, and that confused me.

The movie is The Mule. The director is Angus Sampson.

It looks like most of Spiderbait's Tweets are about Spiderbait; and there's a lot of Retweets of other people talking about Spiderbait. It's pretty much a self-promotion kind of thing...not my favorite kind of Twitter account.

Now I'm going to look at their Instagram.

Their most recent photo is from six days ago. It's the audience at the Southbound Music Festival.

The southbound Music Festival took place January 3 and 4.   Spiderbait played from 3:10-4:10 on the second day. I recognize a few other names here: Vance Joy, Temper Trap, Empire of the Sun, etc.

Most of their Instagram photos are of themselves, usually doing music things.  There's a photo of a Circle K. I assume that's in honor of their first single.

The idea I'm getting from their social media accounts and interviews is that their music and their band is what they think and talk about the most.  They don't seem to have much of a life or interests, outside of that. But it might not be true. It might just be the image their projecting.  Probably not on purpose.

There's no cute photos of pets or children...or beautiful scenery photos.

I think I'm going to look at this one last article and then quit.

Janet English is punctual. The guys are not.  It says here that Kram and Whitty will be two hours late. What does English do while she's waiting? It doesn't sound like she gets mad, so I imagine she keeps herself busy.

We had this houseguest who was often very late. He confessed to me that he likes being late, because he doesn't like having to wait for people. So by being late, he never has to be the one left waiting. I was in a polite mood that day and didn't say anything. I wish I had been in a bitchy mood and asked why it was okay for his friends to have to wait.

English reveals that the band tried to make it in the United States. They worked at it for six weeks, and then gave up. No one knew what genre we were and no one got our sense of humour.  No one? How do they know? Well, maybe they made jokes at a concert, and no one laughed. Although sometimes people don't laugh out loud. And if you're busy singing and playing your bass guitar, you might not notice the few people quietly chuckling. Then again, they were probably making the jokes while not singing and playing their instruments. Maybe they made a joke, and there was that awful awkward silence from the audience.

In the article, Kram is described as being hirsute. What does that mean? I don't think I've ever seen that word.

This dictionary site say it's, having a lot of hair especially on the face or body. Well, where the hell else would you have hair? I guess they mean scalp not included. But the scalp is part of your body. Isn't it?

The article also says that Kram is gregarious. Yeah. I sort of get that sense from the article and interviews.

Maybe before I quit, I'll listen to one more song.

Which one?  I think I'll pick another song from their new album.

I'm going to listen to "I'm Not Your Slave".  The sound of this one reminds me more of "Black Betty" than the other songs I've listened to today.

In the credits, someone says the song sounds like something that could be used for True Blood credits. Yeah. I can imagine that. I think the show used to play a different song each episode for the end credits.

Anyway...that's it from me for today.