TET.Life (The Extraordinary Tourist Life)

There's a new arrival in my studio. An alien. He didn't arrive in anything so primitive as a space ship, being much more evolved than that. In fact, he kind of evolved from house hold items like paper and card. He has soft drink bottle eyes. He doesn't say much...perhaps it's difficult when your mouth is painted on? His brain is crumpled newspaper so were he to speak he'd probably verbalise the newsprint in his head. Hopefully not the fashion pages or the sports section. I'm sure he has plenty he wants to tell you but for now we're just learning to communicate. There's an alien in my studio. A welcome new arrival.

I was going to call this article 'Me and the Lawnmower' however, apparently, it is grammatically incorrect to put yourself first. Were it not for grammar I would certainly not put the lawnmower first. Let me tell you about the lawnmower... Our family owns a second hand lawnmower that we bought so we could cut our own lawns (obvious really...I mean what else do you use a lawnmower for?). The lawnmower and I have a love-hate relationship. I hate the lawnmower and it loves to plot ways to make me hate it even more every time I use it. Typically, at first, it was fantastic. Started easily and did the job no problems. It was only once it became difficult to start that the wheels started to fall off. Well, not so much fall off, as split in half. Our lawnmower has half a back wheel. It's still a full circle but imagine that sliced in two like slicing off a piece of met worst or cucumber. After that it was never the same. Every time I wheeled it out to mow the lawn it was a battle ...

Have you heard the term 'Net Neutrality' and wondered what all the fuss is about? This documentary by four eyed monsters explains it in everyday language and draws parallels with newspaper and radio for how the every day person lost access to open, mass media communication in those mediums. Essentially it's about Phone companies in the USA wanting to control the Internet through charging for different types of media as it is uploaded and/or downloaded to and from the net. For example it might cost you an additional fee to upload a video file to share with your friends. Currently you can upload as many videos as you like for whatever it costs you to be connected to the Internet but think of this cost for uploading each video file as an additional cost to being connected. These additional costs could be applied to all manner of files from email, pdf files, mp3 songs etc. etc. Remember how it's said that it costs virtually nothing to send an email? Potentially the phon...

Video Description: A little blonde (and brunette) humor. A commercial for the L.A. County Fair. --o--o--o-- I came across this video on Google video and thought it was just so convincingly acted and a clever idea. These ladies almost make you believe that there are people in the world that are really this clueless. (I mean I could accept one person being this dumb but what are the odds of four people in the same room, with one being a parent?). I wonder if People in LA watch this thinking "as if we're that stupid...wool comes from the store...like everything else."

'Blank Canvas II', was featured on my web site last month. It continues on from an earlier video I created, Blank Canvas , which is a humorous look at a specific type of minimalist art that is little more than the title describes. Blank Canvas II continues on as a commentary with an actual example of an artwork, Courier II by Robert Ryman . Ryman is an American Artist who has made an entire career out of... well... painting surfaces white. Is his work art? My opinion on the specific example of his work I comment upon is ‘no’.

Thanks to Mobuzz TV I came across this news story which I had to blog for ... um ... well no good reason except that this kind of innovative, out of left field, traffic policy thinking surely needs to catch on ... preferably in my home town. Topless speed controllers. If you've watched the video then I shouldn't need to explain any further however Mobuzz Host, Karina, pointed out the glaringly obvious... "Where are the buff male speed controllers?" She went on to speculate that the lack of males may mean that 1. The policy makers are sexist pigs, or 2. Research showed that it was only male drivers that were speeding (oh right, because all the female drivers need to drive slower in order to check their hair and lippy in the mirror!). I feel that this kind of policy is actually rewarding speeders for their bad driving. No one would have thought of this if people didn't speed, right? I didn't see any driver in the clip getting upset about slowing down, before ...

My partner and I went to a local pub for a nice lunch time meal. As we were finalising our order an elderly lady, just preparing to leave with her husband, suddenly became overcome with some ailment causing her temperature to soar. She appeared to be in pain. The thought that she may even be having a heart attack crossed my mind. Her husband was quick to act, flagging down restaurant staff for some assistance with cold cloths and things. Several people on nearby tables offered their assistance but he didn't seem overly concerned saying this was something that had happened before and that she would 'come right again' in a little while. The staff were great in offering assistance, keeping the ladies arms and neck cool with their cloths, trying to determine exactly what was wrong and whether the lady required an ambulance (she did seem to be in a lot of pain from what I observed). She initially refused an ambulance as she was of the same opinion as her partner about 'comin...