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Three Days Before Christmas - 2025 in review

Writer AI TET - Created with Artflow
While this is an AI image of me, I can assure you I write
all of this blog myself with no help from AI at all.

I'm afraid this may be an uninteresting article, three days before Christmas, for the sole purpose of not missing my weekly post to this blog. I'm drawing a blank on what to write about so... I settled on doing a review of posts for the year. Read on at your own discretion.

Starting 2025 I introduced my new Resident Dragon Daily Cartoon series that grew out of a daily drawing habit I had started six months earlier. As I write this I've sketched about 335 cartoons, and digitally inked just over 50 of them.

Initially I was writing about the new US President  but I stopped covering US politics back in March of this year, because I was tired of giving the current US president any attention at all. So I won't. Let me know when you elect a proper leader.

Since 2025 was an Australian Federal Election year I took a deep dive on looking into our political landscape and watched the world's most boring government win another term by a landslide. 

From my point of view a Federal Labor win is better than a Liberal/National party coalition win, and is usually where my vote ends up after preferences - since my local, Federal MP is member of the Labor Party.

Generally, Labor Governments do a good job of running the country, and are infinitely preferable to those right wing, minor party, professional complainers, who think just because they won a seat they speak for the majority of Australians. (Newsflash... no, no you don't. Win an election and form government, that's when you speak for a majority).

Personally I started my ten part, Second Sunday Skateboarding Sessions to help me focus my skating and relearn the basics of skateboarding. From my point of view it was highly successful and, while I didn't learn all of the seven tricks, I certainly progressed with them, and added purpose to my skateboarding sessions. 

Unfortunately the videos weren't widely watched or supported. Which didn't matter to me at the time but recently I tried to commit to a season two and just couldn't do it. It's a lot of work to produce ten episodes only to have very few people watch and virtually no one interact with a comment.

As usual I reviewed a number of TV Shows and Movies with a majority being either Superhero or Star Wars themed because that's what I gravitate towards.

If I had to give recommendations I'd say Andor, both seasons, is a superb watch that you should absolutely follow with Rogue One, and then the original Star Wars Episode IV. Superman is my Superhero pick. Almost a live action comic book.

I dabbled a little more with AI, turning a 25 year old sketch into an AI animated scene, and I warned about AI scams.

It was a good year for technology, particularly humanoid robots as I continued my vigil on The Robot Uprising. Also the Commodore 64 is back!

Finally we ended the year on a bit of a low point with the Bondi Shooting that the media are continuing to get millage from. I almost feel like, any day, each mainstream news channel will knock on my door and ask if they can do a story on me paying tribute to the Bondi victims.

That was the year that was. Hopefully next year I'll finally work out how to make this blog pay. I really do enjoy writing for it most of the time, but it would be nice with a little side income, to help keep it going.

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