TET.Life (The Extraordinary Tourist Life)

The Good Girl Greeting Card by TET on RedBubble . Let me preface this article by unequivocally stating that if you are a religious person, devoted to any faith, I'm more than happy for you. I'm not anti religion nor am I anti god. I just walk a different path in my ideas about god and don't feel any need to find a religion that closely matches my beliefs. With that said, I'd like to relate to you the following experience that happened to me today... I was just in the last throws of making myself some toasted cheese and ham for lunch. The kettle was on the boil for a cuppa and I thought, I'll just dash outside to check the mail while I waited. Upon opening the front door you could literally hear the thud of my heart, not so much sinking to the floor but making a mad dash to be elsewhere because the view from my eyes was that of two well dressed young men, carrying nicely bound black books, coming up our garden path. Mormons . Mormons are very nice and very polite peo...

Last Meeting: Out going Councilors, David Arandle (TET) and Ian Skewes. Photo by Deputy Mayor, Brian Thom taken at the end of the final meeting of Council. I remember the last meeting of the previous Gawler Town Council. I was in the Public Gallery, having already been elected to the incoming council unopposed. This last meeting was a fairly moving experience as several councilors were given the opportunity to say a few final, outgoing words and at least one councilor was moving on after a personal loss. In comparison, my last meeting of council was, well... lacking whatever it is that makes such a meeting special.  The Mayor wasn't present (being on leave). There was no one in the public gallery (with the exception of one councilor's partner). Even the usual local press reporter arrived late.  Perhaps the only thing to make this meeting memorable was that it is the first and only time the Deputy Mayor ever got to be Chairperson of a full council meeting in three and a half ye...

Live Fast Die Clown T-Shirt by TET. Available from RedBubble . I've heard a lot about Postmodernist Art but never really knew what it was since, at art school, you don't learn a lot about art after the so called period known as 'Modern Art'. In an attempt to remedy the situation I set about doing some research, armed only with the most vaguest knowledge of my most favorite Post Modern artwork, which is a modified road sign located in the United Kingdom that reads 'No God for the next 500m'. (I don't know what it means either. Some how it sounds plausible but is it?). I'm afraid I don't know the artist responsible for this gem of street sign 'tom foolery'. It seems like this is the point of Post Modern Art. To take something familiar, change it into something that seems the same but isn't and then defy any kind of explanation. In my research I came across Post Modernist essay generators and Post Modernist cartoon dialogue generators (that...

Born Again Skateboarder by TET. Available from Redbubble . If there is such a thing as the perfect, melancholy ballad then Leonard Cohen's classic 'Hallelujah' must come close.  I first heard this song as part of the sound track to the movie ' Basquiat ' in which it is performed by John Cale . Many artists have covered it, most notable versions are by Jeff Buckley and Rufus Wainwright (who's versions are inspired by Cale's arrangement).   The girl in this video is from YouTube , she's 16, lives in Finland and goes by the nickname maijapop . I think she does a great version of the song. I hope you do to. [2021 Footnote: If this is your first introduction to Milja definitely check her Youtube channel - which is still the same one she had in 2006. Makes for an interesting 'where are they now' dive.]

Different Stands Out Dachshund T-Shirt by TET. Available from RedBubble .  Minimalism in Art is all about breaking down any subject into its most basic elements, leaving just enough information to express whatever idea the artist is trying to convey. The career path of artists working in this style often begins from a place where the artist is producing impressively complex creations. Then, as they 'mature' in their development their work becomes progressively simpler and...well...minimal. To para phrase British actor/comedian Kenneth Williams , who once said about specialists, "It's more and more people getting better and better at less and less. Pretty soon someone is going to be absolutely superb at nothing!" . Minimalism is a little like that...or seems like it. More and more artists painting less and less. Pretty soon an artist will come along who is superb at painting nothing! Perhaps they already have if my previous blog entry,  The Blank Canvas - An Art Ga...