TET.Life (The Extraordinary Tourist Life)

I was recently informed that Satanism is dumb because: "The first rule of Satanism is to 'do what you want' therefore, if you follow any of the rules after that, that is someone else telling you what to do and not you 'doing what you want'. Hence Satanism is dumb." I don't know the rules of Satanism and I'm paraphrasing this revelation from someone who promptly declared themselves to be very smart. So smart, in fact, they thought they might inform the Satanist 'Pope' at their first opportunity. My article was prompted because this person was very pleased with their conclusion and, at the time, I didn't want to lock horns with such a theological master. (Notice how I'm using big words like 'theological' and 'revelation' to make it sound like I actually know something about this subject - I had to look both words up just to check I was using them in the correct context by the way). Back to the rules of Satanism (which I su...

You may have noticed that I haven't posted to this blog for quite some time. That's largely been due to a lack of motivation on my part. If all has gone well, on the top right of this post you should see an interesting image of a blogger talking with his hand along with the text 'Blah, Blah, Blog'. In many respects this is how I've felt about writing of late. Why bother if you don't really have anything of great value to say? In an attempt to break the drought of posts, this post is to inform you of a new image hosting service called PicApp which breaks through all the legalities of using copyright images through ad supported image hosting of pictures provided by publishers willing to let their images be used in this way. The image on this post comes from PicApp and demonstrates how the ads appear on an embeded image. Supposedly the ads are relevant to content (I wonder if this breaches Google's Adsense terms in any way?). However, what makes the concept co...

I remember when toothpaste was sold in a metal tube. Back then, as a child, you'd cop it from Mum or Dad if you squeezed the tube anywhere but from the bottom. You could even buy special keys that would wind the toothpaste tube up from the bottom so you could get every last bit of paste - no wastage. Then along came the plastic tubes. Finally you could squeeze anywhere and the tube would retain its shape - or so they said in the sales pitch. For the most part this was true. It wasn't as much of a problem squeezing the new plastic tube from the top. Squeezing toothpaste from the tube was now easy - or so you thought. The thing about squeezing the tube from the top (or even the middle) is that it leaves some of the paste at the bottom. Eventually you do have to spend extra time pushing the paste from the bottom up into the top of the tube. Not like the old days when squeezing from the bottom meant you got just the right amount of paste and the tube was always ready for the next p...

I happened to catch the final episode of the documentary Gamer Revolution on ABC2 last night and I was totally blown away with just how much the computer game industry has progressed. If you're interested to read a more detailed summary of the topics covered in the documentary there is a good article on CBC-TV's web site . Although I knew the computer gaming industry is worth millions more than the Hollywood movie industry and I've heard about online games/worlds like World of Warcraft and Second Life it's an area of computing that has largely passed me by. I'm just not interested in spending hours upon hours playing computer games (though I am partial to the occasional game of Tomb Raider ). What gob smacked me the most about this episode was the story about a man who runs an online business to 'power level' a player's character in various online gaming worlds. Here's how this works... Say you're playing an online game where the top power lev...

I came across the messy dog art of M.C. Williams whilst browsing my Youtube subscriptions (I'm subscribed to tags like 'art' so I can see new art related videos as they are posted) and was completely blown away by the colour and personality of these delightful paintings. I think the video above speaks for its self however if you'd like to see more messy dog art (and maybe even buy some) visit the artists ebay store . Williams promotes these paintings as ideal for kids (to hang in their bedrooms I presume) but as someone who is a dog lover I'd be more than happy to place one of these artworks prominently in my home for guests to enjoy.

I really admire artists who can create intricately detailed graphite pencil or pen and ink drawings. It's a style that really sits well with me whether it be a drawing of an old barnyard or some fantastical, wildly imaginative depiction of mythical dragons, fairies or other such creatures. It's also a style that I am more than capable of working in myself however I don't (except on very rare occasions like for this blog post) because creating this kind of art seems like very elaborate doodling and not really 'proper' art. When I say it's not proper art I mean it doesn't feel like creating proper art to me. It has nothing to do with whether I think this is proper art or not when others do it (because quite certainly it is art - and very impressive to me at that). Perhaps it's because I'm so used to the routine of sketching then taking the finished sketch up to a painting? Maybe, psychologically for me, a finished sketch is only a half realised artwork...

What The Duck is a daily web comic strip based around the antics of a little duck photographer that falls firmly in the category of 'I wish I'd thought of that'. Mostly for the exceptionally catchy name but also because the character is very marketable. The comic's author, Aaron Johnson, recently contacted me because he thought I might be interested to see his latest strip ( WTD 401 pictured above) with its 'starving artist' theme. It did indeed raise a smile. I know I'd be quite happy if some rich art investor bought me and took me home - just so long as he didn't hang me on the wall! The What The Duck web site is very 'more-ish'. The cartoons are short, simple and always manage to deliver at least a smile if not a 'Laugh Out Loud'. Take a look and I'm sure you'll agree. You can also suggest your own ideas for cartoons and buy some really cool WTD merchandise.