TET.Life (The Extraordinary Tourist Life)

1X Technologies, Robot for the Home, Neo. B ack in 2022 Google announced it had a small army of 100 AI enabled robots training at the company to become home helpers. As far as I know these robots, which were visually, little more than a pedestal on wheels with a mechanical arm and a head full of cameras, haven't emerged in anyone's home (and haven't banded together, laser guns attached, to start robot Armageddon either). Undeterred by Google's lack of progress, along with the rapid advances in humanoid robots,  1X Technologies , a robotics company based in Norway and San Francisco, focused on creating humanoid robots for your home, plans to build 100,000 of its Neo Humanoid robots for the home by 2027. That puts them into I, Robot territory. Let's hope they don't own any big, omnidirectional trucks to facilitate the roll out on mass, while some old school, naysayer detective tries to warn everyone that something isn't right! 1X Technologies, who have at le

I  wasn't familiar with Rebecca Yarros prior to receiving the first two books in her Empyrean Series, Fourth Wing and Iron Flame , as a gift. (Note: links will take you to the audible product page versions of the book on Amazon and are affiliate links. You should be able to find links to physical copies of the books from there if you prefer). It's been a long time that I've read a book that I don't want to put down after the time I have to read for the day is over. These two books, which are not insignificant in size at 498 and 623 pages respectively are page turners from beginning to end (almost but I'll get to that later). The story is set in a fantasy mythical world where dragons and magic are common place. Fourth Wing opens as Violet, the younger, weaker daughter of a fairly infamous general in a dragon riders army, is pushed into the first year of dragon rider school, rather than her preferred, and prepared for, path of scribe school. Both her mother (the afor

I 'm not a huge fan of DC animation in general, despite owning a lot of their movies and TV series on DVD. It may be because they tend to stick to adaptations of the comics a little too much, or it may be that the over exaggerated action that cartoons allow makes it feel like there's never any real stakes for the characters. With that in mind, if I'm going to like anything from DC Animation it's likely to be Batman related. I recently watched the entire Batman: The Animated Series when it came to Netflix, having never seen the whole series when it originally aired. Which I'm obliged to mention since Batman: Caped Crusader is helmed by the same creator, Bruce Timm. Just like that series, Caped Crusader is set in an undisclosed time period but the look, style, and lack of tech used, even by Batman, suggests somewhere around post World War II era, possibly stretching into the 1950s. It could even be 1930's but I feel the vehicles look a little more modern than th

I 'm willing to bet a lot of people haven't seen this film, and probably will never plan to watch it. Madame Web was poorly reviewed by critics and largely ignored by audiences. For myself, I'll only see a Sony superhero movie in cinemas if Spiderman is actually in it. For everything else I can wait until it hits a streaming service I'm subscribed to. Sony's Spiderman/Marvel adjacent movies aren't actually terrible movies. They're not great movies either but I've never put one on and not watched it all the way to the end. I do find them watchable... just not really rewatchable. Madame Web is an origin story for the title character (Dakota Johnson), and three other future Spider Women (that I'm not all that familiar with) who suddenly find themselves being pursued by a dark figure with very spider-like powers. The problem with this movie, in my opinion, is the writers forgot that the main reason anyone comes to see a comic book superhero movie is to

W hen I first heard the news that JD Vance was selected as Trump's running mate for Vice President I must admit, I had no idea who he was.  However I was hopeful that we'd finally get someone in the US election who could actually string a coherent sentence together, that wasn't either catchphrases, or a meandering mashup of barely related thoughts, organized into dot points as a memory aid. A quick glance at the man's achievements, ex-military correspondent, university graduate, and author of a book about the lower and working classes of middle America (I think? I don't know? I haven't read it. I just appreciate he wrote a book with a point of view), definitely showed he had potential. Unfortunately he quickly revealed he's every bit as good as former President Trump when it comes to saying things that make any swinging voter do a double take - he really said that? Not withstanding that JD was formerly in the anti-Trump camp, as outlined in this PBS article

I  can't say I was particularly excited for Disney+'s Star Wars series, The Acolyte . Not because I haven't enjoyed previous Star Wars based series - most have been fine - mostly because it's a Jedi focused story. For me the Star Wars prequels dulled the specialness of Jedi characters in the universe. Suddenly every character was, or could be, a Jedi. They were no longer mysterious beings, you just needed  a better than average Midi-chlorian count and you could be a Jedi too. Even worse was that Jedi were supposed to be formidable fighters, yet so many Jedi characters were there to be 'red shirts', no more formidable than anyone with a sword. So, a show where everyone's a Jedi, wasn't really doing anything much for me in the lead up to it. The Acolyte is set about 100 years before the prequels, and begins with an assassin, hunting down Jedi who were all part of some great tragedy, many years earlier. Investigations into who the assassin is uncovers more

E ver since Ryan Reynolds managed to get the first Deadpool movie made it was a no brainer to some day team him up with Hugh Jackman as Wolverine.  While it could've been done without Fox being sold to Disney, the merging of the Fox Marvel Universe and the Disney Marvel Universe allowed Deadpool and Wolverine almost unlimited access to all things Marvel on the big screen. Making this much more epic than it might have been without the merger. The story isn't too hard to follow. Wade Wilson/Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) is tasked with saving the timeline and needs to find a Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) to help him. Chaos ensues. If you've enjoyed the previous Deadpool movies then this film should not disappoint. Its plot is as solid as any of the previous films but with the cameos and Easter eggs turned up to eleven. That said, all the main cameos tend to serve the story and aren't there just for the sake of the cameo. To be honest though, the main reason to see this film is for

I f you haven't seen the previous Beverly Hills Cop movies in a long time, like me, I would highly recommend you at least watch the first two before going into Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F (2024). I remember enjoying all the previous movies but I've only seen each one maybe once or twice, around the time each was released - which is quite some time ago. I didn't re-watch any of them, assuming I'd just like this new film, and as a result I don't think I enjoyed it anywhere near as much as I might have. Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F sees Detroit cop Axel Foley (Eddie Murphy) returning to Beverly Hills to help his now fully grown, lawyer, daughter, Jane (Taylour Paige) with a case that has endangered her life. Naturally we see the return of several familiar faces as the story unfolds. Other than watching the trailer I didn't really know a lot about the film going in, so I surprised to see Joseph Gordon-Levitt in the movie, underused as Detective Bobby Abbott.  He's s

Sky News Australia filling minutes with commentary and opinion surrounding the assassination attempt on Trump. I n the wake of the attempted assassination of Donald Trump, I've been looking to YouTube to get more information about the events of that day as they unfolded. One of the strengths of YouTube is that you get a real mix of news media across the political spectrum. One of it's weaknesses is that, when it comes to news, the algorithm geo-targets your location, so news from your local media outlets get priority. Which means a lot of Sky News Australia clips for me. Sky News Australia is not a news organization any more than Fox News is in the USA, both of which are either owned or controlled by the same person and his family, Rupert Murdoch (who unfortunately hails from the very city I live in, Adelaide, South Australia). I don't much care for Sky News Australia. Particularly in this case, where I see Americans commenting on their videos, saying things like, they

D iscombobulated. Is a word that I think someone rediscovered about three or four years ago (maybe more because the pandemic years have thrown out my sense of time) and now I hear it a lot. It's not a new word by any means, but when I started hearing multiple celebrities using it in everyday sentences, I actively had to look up what it meant. Define it with as many synonyms as you like but essentially it's just another word meaning 'confused'. Seinfeld Quotes: Quotes.net The words are pretty much interchangeable. He was discombobulated by too many choices. He was confused by too many choices.  My confusion is the length of the word. It's unnecessarily long with too many syllables. There are many other words that mean confused, and therefore also mean discombobulated. Most of them are shorter and easier to say. So why not just say 'confused'? Perhaps discombobulated sounds more intelligent, maybe?  Hawaii Five-0 Quotes: Quotes.net I've noticed it gets us

M ost of the time I get my fill of American political news from clips of The Daily Show , which I know many people accuse of being more political left leaning than balanced with its humour. As such it was my first port of call when looking for commentary on the recent, first US Presidential debate for 2024. I say first because I don't know if they'll do another one. I'd strongly advise they don't. Getting your news from a comedy show isn't ideal, even one as arguably intelligent as The Daily Show, because they're focussed on what can be laughed at, more than serious analysis. As such their coverage very well could be making both candidates look more foolish than they may actually be. As such I decided to watch the full replay of the debate so I could get more of a sense of who both candidates are and how they come across in, what should be, their ideal platform - debating the opposition. Before Donald Trump became President I was a fan. I watched every season o

A lmost a year ago I featured Go West Girl , Book 1 of author, Kit Mackenzie's Alias Jeannie Delaney series. Now, the next book in the series,  Alias Jeannie Delaney - Book 2 - The Outlaw's Return , is soon to be released in August, and is available for pre-order on Amazon. If you love a powerful female lead in a traditional western packed with action and adventure, this is the novel for you. The story centers on Cowgirl Jeannie Morgan who grew up in Coyote Creek, Wyoming, where she became persecuted for her lethal gun and a sexuality that swings both ways. Tomboy beautiful and tough as the nails in a miner's boots, she is on the run with a bunch of boys who would die for her. Her snake strike gun, soul-slicing gaze and dangerous magnetism leaves a trail of intense emotions, killings and would-be death threats in her wake. Heading south, she finds herself becoming a legend. She's in deep trouble, but her home town demands her return and they pin a badge on her. It'

Social distancing 2020 style. A fter not being too far from COVID-19, potentially patient zero in Australia back in 2020. Four years later my partner finally tested positive for the virus. Then I inevitably caught it as well. You might think, so what, but I'm honestly surprised we've lasted this long. My partner works at an aged care facility that has fought off numerous outbreaks over the years, and continues to do so. Workers at her facility take RAT tests daily so you know pretty quick if you test positive. Workers then have to isolate at home for at least seven days until they're clear. COVID-19 symptoms can vary in intensity and you may not get the full range (at least to my knowledge and experience). My partner seemed to get it fairly bad with tiredness, aching joints, loss of taste and smell, along with cold and flu like symptoms (sore throat, congestion etc). While we did try to social distance, keeping our distance, hand washing, and not sleeping in the same room

Han Solo moments from potentially being cooked over an open flame. H ave you ever wondered about the Ewoks in Return of the Jedi ?  When we first meet the tribe, their plan is to serve Han, Chewie, Luke up as the main course in a banquet in C3-PO's honor. That's pretty bad ass right? That suggests they've eaten human meat before. It's not like they're going to experiment on a new cuisine for such an important occasion. They think human meat is pretty tasty, especially roasted over an open flame, and they want to serve it for a special event - it's that good! Which gets me wondering, does that mean, prior to the Rebels arrival on Endor, Ewoks were capturing the occasional Empire employee that wanders a bit too far from the shield generator? There are a couple of movies and animated shows featuring Ewoks that were released after Return of the Jedi, in which the Ewoks do assist humans however there's this except from Wikipedia : The Ewoks capture Han Solo, Che

T helonious 'Monk' Ellison (Jeffrey Wright) is a relatively successful novelist, who just wants to write quality fiction, without feeding into the diversity market that wants to hear stereotypical, authentic stories from black authors.  Outraged that this type of black fiction sells incredibly well he writes his own stereotypical black fiction novel as a joke and sends it to a publisher under a pen name. He is shocked to discover that they love it with the book propelling him into a spotlight that he never imagined. That's the premise for American Fiction , a fairly low key, satirical commentary on the 'diversity industry' looking to broaden the types of voices being heard but channeling those voices into what the market thinks is authentic and real... i.e what sells. Jeffrey Wright is perfectly cast as an author who's maybe wound up a little too tight in his own idea of how things should be. While it is definitely satire it's not exactly a comedy, though i

A fter hearing just about everybody I know, who's into comic book TV and film, say how great the new animated Disney+ series X-Men 97  is, I decided to check it out. Most people said you didn't need to watch the actual 90's animated series that this continues from in order to enjoy it or know what was going on. More than one fan of this new series offered the hyperbole that this is one of Marvel's best, up there with the likes of   Wandavision and Loki , and that it should be more popular and getting more attention than it has. Typically animated series don't usually do as well as live action shows, so it already has that hurdle - and it is a continuation of a show aimed directly at younger audiences to begin with. However those, in my opinion, are not the biggest problem. As mentioned, most people said you didn't need to watch the original series to follow this, so I didn't. I never saw it growing up in the 90's. I wasn't really an X-Men fan but I

A s someone who has written a travel diary about driving across three states of Australia , and owning a frog van that became very much a character in touring my own state of South Australia at sometimes well below 80ks, I have some affinity for Meredith Schofield's book, Around Australia at 80k's . I'll definitely tip my hat to Meredith and her husband Sean for going way further in a bright yellow, unairconditioned, mid 70's kombi van, than they were ever designed for.  Also kudos to them for traveling with their dog Bandit. My partner and I have also taken our dogs on our holiday adventures and, even though South Australia is likely the most dog friendly state in Australia, it's still a challenge planning a trip where you can all stay together. Particularly, your dog will keep you out of most national parks. Meredith's book is a road trip adventure across five Australian states, NSW, SA, WA, NT, and Victoria (technically four states and one territory I guess)

My skate coach, Oscar dog. O ne of the things I'd like to do before I get too old to do much more than roll around on a skateboard is relearn kickflips. Not that I ever had them on lock. I maybe landed a flat ground stationary kickflip no more than a handful of times, and I only remember landing one rolling kickflip because I had it on video tape for a second (recording over it because I only had a few Video 8 cassette tapes back in the 90s). I actually had a higher chance of landing a kickflip into a trick, on a curb, than landing just a stationary kickflip. Kickflip to; 50-50, to blunt, backside kickflip to tail, and even kickflipping out of a blunt. None of which I had on lock nor can do currently. Getting back into skateboarding again, after a year's break to let my sore feet heal, I started to try kickflips again and discovered I'm actually closer than ever to landing them. I'm able to commit with both feet staying in the air as the board flips. As opposed to tryin

I f you've ever wanted to see quasi-early nineteen hundreds, Irish farmers fight off high tech space Nazis, in slow motion, over two feature length films then  Rebel Moon Part 1: A Child on Fire  (2023) and  Rebel Moon Part 2: The Scargiver  (2024) could well be the movies you're looking for. Plot-wise that's really all they're about. There's some sub story inspired by Akira Kurosawa's  Seven Samurai  (1954) movie, and some other subplot about our main character, Kora (Sofia Boutella), being 'the one' person the Space Nazi's must apprehend for 'reasons' (she's some kind of murderous deserter, I think, but that doesn't seem reason enough to me for our main bad guy, Atticus Noble (Ed Skrein), to be so obsessed with apprehending her).  I think I've come to the conclusion that writer/director Zack Snyder, while great at casting, spectacle, cinema photography, and visual effects, he just doesn't know how to tell a story to people w

I t seems like everybody has seen Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer movie by now except me. I don't suffer from FOMO and didn't go to see Margo Robbie's Barbie movie either - which was a thing if you recall the whole 'Barbenheimer' experience of both movies releasing at the same time. The idea of watching a three hour movie about anything just doesn't appeal to me anymore. Even on Netflix, where I finally watched Oppenheimer in two hour and a half sittings, it took me this long to finally commit time to it. That said, I am actually interested in the Oppenheimer story, and always planned to watch this movie eventually on streaming. Fortunately this movie does reward you with an engaging story that never seems to drag, despite its length. The movie follows Oppenheimer's story from his early days through to just after his success with creating the first atomic bomb and the repercussions of how he felt about that achievement. From what I've heard the broa

The new, all electric, Atlas Robot. B oston Dynamics recently announced the retirement of their famous Atlas humanoid robot . The very next day they introduced us to the all new Atlas with a short, somewhat creepy video that seems to be saying to all those other companies working on electric, humanoid robots, "Hold my beer!"  Watch their video below. The All New Atlas As you can see the new Atlas is all electric, with no hydraulic assisted movement. While it certainly can walk like a human, right from the get go, we see that the new Atlas has degrees of limb motion that would even cause our best human contortionists to tap out on even trying. There in, we see why Boston Dynamics is a leader in humanoid robots (and robots in general). They're not just thinking about a robot that mimics what a human can do, they're thinking ahead and building in the kind of movement only a robot can do. It's a fascinating, if somewhat jarring, synergy the first time you see it but