TET.Life (The Extraordinary Tourist Life)

W riter/director Kevin Smith's, The 4:30 Movie plays like a prequel to his original first film, Clerks (1994). While the main cast are not the same characters as those in Clerks, if you renamed them, and squinted a bit, they're not that far removed. That and, if you've listened to Kevin's many podcasts for a long time, you'll know the central character here, Brian (Austin Zajur - who recently became engaged to Smith's daughter Harley Quinn Smith - playing Sister Sarah Wallace in this film), draws inspiration from teenage Kevin Smith, who also liked recording his thoughts randomly throughout the day - and see movies. To make the final case, it could be a prequel, you'll have to see the ending. With that out of the way, I'm getting around to reviewing this now because the film only recently came to a streaming service I'm subscribed to (Prime Video). I wouldn't have minded to see it in a theatre when it was originally released but, if it even cam...

I f I'd known  Superman: Man of Tomorrow  (2020 WB Animation) was essentially a Superman origin story I would probably have skipped it. I'm sure anyone who reads comics would've known that but I make no secret of not reading comics. I used to read them as a kid and, even in my early teens, however, the comics I read were all given to me, and not that many were superhero comics. The only 'comic' I bought regularly was 'Heavy Metal' because it had grown up stories, and such a wide and varied range of artists. My fandom of superheros came through Saturday morning cartoons and the Batman, and Superman 60's TV shows. At that time I was too young to know there were comic books of these characters, and I didn't have any money to buy them with anyway. When my Dad did buy me a comic book of Batman, it was all in black and white, with a story that was completely inaccessible to me as a 7 year old. Not to mention that Batman looked nothing like the TV show and ...

Dias's drop-in from one of the lower platforms for practice. Image: © Marcelo Maragni/Red Bull I f you're a skateboarder living in a city you've probably looked at a building that has skate ramp vibes and imagined dropping in on it... well Professional Skateboarder, Sandro Dias didn't just imagine. The Perth Telstra Building as depicted in this fantasy poster print, Forbidden Skate Ramp by  Harry Young. If you lived in Perth, Western Australia, any skateboarder who saw the top of the Telstra Building likely had the same thought about the ramp like quarter pipe at the top. Also, back in the day there was a classic skateboarding poster going the rounds that depicted Sydney as a literal skatepark with ramps built up, down, and over numerous buildings. Sandro Dias, who broke the record for the world's tallest drop-in on the 26th September 2025 by dropping in on a mega ramp built on the side of the curved façade of the 22-storey Centro Administrativo Fernando Ferrari (C...

Commodore 64 Ultimate: Starlight Edition. An updated C64 for today. C hances are, if you grew up in the 1970s and 80's, the first computer your family owned was a Commodore 64 (or possibly the Vic-20, also by Commodore, that preceded it). I taught myself to code in BASIC on our Commodore 64 (C64), making ASCII based games (i.e. graphics made from the letters and symbols assigned to the various keyboard keys). I coded a Tic Tac Toe two player game, a simple shooting gallery game, and a flash card game to help me learn the Periodic Table, which (much to my... I want to say horror... got me bumped up to an advanced science class in high school). Later I'd go on to dabbling in true 8 bit, and 16 and 32 bit, graphical games, when we upgraded to the C128, Amiga 500, then Amiga 600, but I never actually finished anything because, by then I'd gotten into skateboarding, so I was trying to make my ultimate skateboard game - ambitious much? It was Commodore machines that showed me mak...

I t's hard not to get caught up with the political issues of the United States of America - as an outsider. This is why I stopped writing about American Politics in this blog. While one can easily make the argument that what happens in the US, politically, affects everyone (and it does, particularly US foreign policy and trade), many of their hot button issues are uniquely their issues. For example, while Australia (because this is an Aussie blog) does have some challenges with immigration , it has little to do with some manufactured need to deport 'illegal' immigrants as some warped idea of lowering crime rates or stopping terrorists and drug dealers from entering the country. Recent protest marches around Australia , all on the same day, seemed to send a bunch of mixed messages, as different groups decided that more protests about more things, all on the same day is one way to really get your message across (does anyone not remember the #Occupy Movement  of 2011 and its ...

I t was with good reasons I didn't see the Joker  (2019) sequel, Joker: Folie à Deux , in cinemas.  While I did like the first film, I've never rewatched it, and have no desire to see it again any time soon. It was a little too graphically violent and generally a depressing story overall for me. Add to that, every single review I read for the sequel effectively panned the film, with the common theme being "...this movie is a big middle finger to DC fans." Subscribing to HBO Max, for season 2 of Peacemaker , gave me access to the Joker sequel. Time to see if this movie was really as bad a everyone said it was. Joker: Folie à Deux centers around Arthur Fleck's (a.k.a. The Joker) (Joaquin Phoenix) trial for the murders he committed in the first film, along with his growing relationship with a fellow, female inmate at Arkham Hospital, Lee (Lady GaGa). While I can definitely see why DC fans thought this movie was a complete misfiring train wreck of a film, I'm goin...

Tasman Bridge as seen from The Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens. C ontinuing on with my partner (Enigma) and I's return to Hobart, Tasmania, it's day three, and a Monday. Enigma was hoping to see snow on top of Mount Wellington this trip however, so far we'd had nothing but fine weather. A little on the cool side maybe, but not enough to put snow on the mountain. Which you can check with Summit Cam's live feed from the mountain top. So we decided to fill our day with Hobart's other bus tour... Red Decker Hop On/Hop Off Bus Tour The Red Decker Bus. The Red Decker bus tour is a 90 minute loop tour of the main sights within Hobart. While you can just stay on the bus the whole loop the idea is to get off the bus at any key location you may like to further explore and then rejoin the tour when the next available bus comes along to your nearest timed stop. Tickets last for 24 or 48 hours, giving you plenty of time to explore without being rushed. The bus website tells ...

Tasmania's Tall Ship, The Lady Nelson. T he last time my partner and I visited Hobart, Tasmania was March of 2020, around about the time half the country was on fire, and just before the pandemic shut the world down. While we still had a great time then, this time we're in Hobart at the tail end of Winter. The weather is still cool but the sun's been out for the most part so far. Customs House Hotel This trip we were here for six days. Last time it was a one day stop as part of a cruise. Our accommodation is at Customs House Hotel , right along the waterfront, and conveniently located for the various ferry's and other ports. Our room on the first floor is pretty standard hotel fare but relatively large, with a particularly large bathroom. From the window we can see a nice view of the side of Tasmania's Parliament House and garden. Our Room, Customs House Hotel. Included in the price is complementary breakfast each morning in the hotel restaurant, which has been ver...

I  would not call myself a comic book fan of Hellboy. I've never read a single comic about him. My sum total knowledge of the character comes from the first two live action films, Hellboy (2004) and Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008), staring Ron Pearlman in the titular role. Essentially I'm a fan of those two films. Particularly Ron's portrayal of the character. I've been wanting to see the two later reboot attempts, in particular, David Harbor's run at the character in, Hellboy (2019), but reviews suggested I'd be disappointed if I spent any extra on them beyond a streaming service subscription. I missed David's Hellboy when it was on streaming, and currently I think you can only rent or buy it. However, Hellboy: The Crooked Man (2024) surfaced, at no extra cost on Amazon Prime, so I decided to give it a go. The poster says it's the fourth installment in the franchise, so I guess these films are loosely set in the same continuity and are all the sa...

O ne of my most anticipated movies for 2025 was the new Fantastic Four movie . Unfortunately I wasn't able to go and see it because my other most anticipated movie of 2025 was Superman , released just a week or so before.  I chose to see Superman because he is one of the DC trinity of heroes, which is my core interest in superhero movies. While Marvel movies have been great, any of DC's big three (Batman, Superman, or Wonder Woman) in a movie will have my attention over anything else. I don't know what Kevin Feige's strategy is, releasing Marvel movies so close to DC movies (this isn't the first time he's done this, it seems to be a thing?) but I can't afford to go see a movie in the cinema twice in the space of a month. No doubt I'm not the only one in this economy. I imagine Kevin is trying to capture the repeat viewers. Instead of seeing Superman again, let's go see this whole new superhero film instead. Except the new normal for comic book movie...

Unitree's R1 Humanoid Robot. The first humaniod robot prices under USD$6000. C hinese robotics developer, Unitree, has launched the  Unitree R1 Robot , an advanced humanoid machine, for under USD$6000. Standing at 5'5", this very agile robot walks with a very natural 'human' gait, and can easily perform cartwheels or get up from a fall. It is controlled by AI and is capable of conversation but also comes with a remote control (so you can turn it off if it starts asking about someone named 'Sarah Connor'). Rather than me describe it, watch AI Revolution's video (below) to see it in action and hear their take on why this robot is a big deal. China’s New AI Robot Is So Good and Cheap It’s Scary: Unitree R1  -  AI Revolution You'll notice that the robot doesn't have proper, human like hands, but apparently this is an option you can purchase as an extra (dexterous hands are listed as 'optional' on educational versions of the robot on Unitree...

B efore James Gunn's Superman Movie was released there was a whole rumor going around that the movie would feature monkeys on computers trolling Superman's social media, sparking much outrage. #supersh*t. I didn't know this was even a thing until just prior to writing this article. I did a search to see if anyone had posted a clip of the monkeys scene from the movie and got pages of discourse featuring videos and articles prior to the film. Most of it from Gunn detractors (let's say) seeing it as some kind of childish swipe at them... well not them specifically but, you know, those other people who have every right to hate on anything sight unseen. Anyway, I'm not going to give even one such example a link or air because it's kind of sad watching someone devote so much commentary to a throw away gag that is absolutely a nod to James Gunn's Superman trolls.  The whole reason this post exists, is to say I loved the joke, because fourteen years ago, and I...

T he one thing I like about James Gunn as a comic book movie director is that he leans into the comic book nature of the world and the characters.  He's not trying to do a realistic take on any of the characters. He's simply bringing the comics to life. It's still his take on the characters, but he doesn't shy away from their comic book origins. James Gunn's  Superman  is very much a comic book movie in every sense. Nothing is off the table because it's too 'comic-booky' and might look silly in a live action film.  To me that's incredibly liberating. It lets James actually tell a proper Superman story that isn't hamstrung by reality, or tip toeing into the fantastical just enough to allow Superman to exist in the real world. Superman begins in the middle of a battle. Metropolis is under attack by a super powered being known as 'Hammer of Boravia', however everything is not as it seems, and Superman (David Corenswet) must work with other s...

T he final two episodes of my ten part YouTube series documenting my process of learning the first seven basic skateboard tricks from Braille Skateboarding's, Skateboarding Made Simple. These are the links to  Episode One ,  Episode Two ,  Three to Five , and Six to Eight , should you feel the need to see where I started or you want a bit more background on my personal skateboarding journey that began in 1988. I won't ramble on in this final introduction to my last two sessions, other that to say, episode ten is the highlight in terms of getting a direct comparison from episode 1 with side by side footage. Episode 9 - Frontside Pop Shuv-it Revelation The only episode not filmed on the second Sunday, thankfully due to the weather raining Sunday out and not my lack of willingness to continue. Monday was also very rainy but I managed to fit my session in during a small window of no rain late in the day. It was a little bit of a difficult session in that I could only uti...

Early thorium-based (MSR) nuclear reactor at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the 1960s By ORNL " Image courtesy of Oak Ridge National Laboratory " I f there was an energy source more efficient, safer, more available, and produces less nuclear waste with a significantly less decay time before it becomes safe again, you'd think countries would be climbing over themselves to jump on board. Thorium is that source, and it was extensively researched by the USA in the 1960's, ultimately losing out to Uranium because Uranium was cheaper and served a duel role in the nuclear arms race of the time. That leads us to today, where Uranium Nuclear reactors are an entire industry, with strong foot holds in many countries around the globe, and Thorium is still stuck in development hell. Even if the Nuclear industry did decide to pivot, it would be decades before Thorium would actually deliver on the benefits of using it. It's not as simple as swapping fuel in existing reactors. ...