TET.Life (The Extraordinary Tourist Life)

With the passing of Heath Ledger Warner Bros has had to rethink the marketing of the upcoming Batman sequel, The Dark Knight , according to the article, Ledger's Joker a Serious Topic , by Joal Ryan for E! . Up until yesterday the official movie site featured the first movie poster (pictured) and the first two teaser trailers all of which centre heavily on Heath's character, The Joker. Today if you click over to the site you'll get a simple memorial page to Heath (pictured below) that is classy and pretty much says all that needs to be said. Unlike many people when I first heard Heath had been cast as the Joker I thought director Christopher Nolan's choice was inspired. Being familiar with Ledger's career and knowing that he was always more aligned with the Johnny Depp school of thought about acting (i.e. taking on roles that are challenging and edgy rather than popular and easy to digest.) I knew Heath would be throwing everything into his performance for The Dark...

There's a new trend in online communities called 'tag'. It works like this. Someone tags you, you reveal five facts about yourself, then you tag five other people. Seems harmless enough and it gets you seen online in a similar way to how link rings used to when they were all the rage. I was first tagged in the video version of the game on Youtube, where you can watch my five fact vlog train response , Now I've been 'blog tagged' by Artist, Eric T. Francis , errr... thanks Eric... I think? Whenever these games come around, the kind that you didn't know you were playing until you're... well... playing by being tagged there's that brief moment where you think will I keep this thing going or will I be a killjoy and stop it right here? Will anyone care? Should I put this same decision in five other bloggers hands? To continue this game I'm going to have to spend time looking for people to tag... I guess I'll go looking for people who might appreci...

Either someone over at Viewbug just 'gets' my humor or the competition is still just warming up. Whatever the reason I'm happy to accept my $200.00 win in Viewbug's Humor Challenge this week. My video, A silly glimpse into TET's personality , came out tops over 30 other video submissions. Not bad for a crazy bit of improvisation that just entered my head one morning and evolved into a bit of a stand up comedy routine (and I don't even consider myself to be a comedian). This is my second substantial win on Viewbug. Previously my video, Blank Canvas IV - Art Critic , won a $30.00 weekly prize. Thanks Viewbug. If I could find a setting to stop your embeded video players from auto playing I would've used your player instead of Revver's above. Otherwise, readers of this blog and video creators/photographers/musicians especially should check Viewbug out. It's proven very financially rewarding for me thus far.

Quite possibly the funniest gym/workout video I've seen in a long time, work it out baby is a video by YouTuber, gradualreport , who makes some very sharp and witty comedy videos. If you've ever been to a gym or got into the whole physical fitness thing, even for a day, you'll get a laugh out of this video. It's a little bit on the 'adult humor' side but nothing that you wouldn't consider 'childishly funny' by the end. I hope you find it 'laugh out loud' funny like I did.

One of the most fascinating murals (or even paintings for that matter) I have ever seen can be found in my home town of Gawler, South Australila. Even more fascinating than the worlds biggest painting on canvas at Broken Hill in fact. Rylars Art Coffee Lounge is home to one of the most detailed murals you're ever likely to find. The thumbnails above from the Coffee Lounges web site just doesn't do it justice. Not least because you can barely make out the detail but also because this mural circles the walls of the entire dining area. These images wouldn't even be 1% of the total mural. Mostly black and white, the mural is still a work in progress even after three years. The best way to describe it is simply by quoting from Rylar's web site: The artistic wizardry invoked within these walls is the culmination of a three year sojourn of indulgence and passion. This amazing work of art exemplifies an eclectic fusion of surrealism with medieval art, exercising an ability f...

Having not read the original novel , by Richard Matheson, published in 1954, nor having seen either of the two previous film adaptations ( The Last Man on Earth - 1964, The Omega Man - 1971), I came to I am Legend with no real expectations other than it stared Will Smith and he was playing, Lieutenant Colonel Richard Neville, the sole human survivor on planet Earth. I had heard of The Omega Man , and, when a film interests me enough I usually end up rummaging around the Internet Movie Database to see what information I can dig up. From this point on, if you haven't seen I am Legend then the rest of this article does contain spoilers so you may wish to stop reading now. As always my intention with these movie articles is to discuss my thoughts about the film, rather than review it as a whole. I thought the concept of humanity being wiped out by a cure for cancer that went bad (essentially a modified version of the measles virus) was very plausible in today's climate of scie...

Blonde Rose (otherwise known as my sister) had a great day today on Helium , the web site for writers. Her article on South Australia's water wise garden, Timandra was featured in the prime position on Helium's home page (see the screen shot above because featured articles are usually only featured for one day so it may no longer be there when you're reading this). In these water saving, environmentally conscious times, if you have any interest in such things then Rose's article is well worth a read. Timandra is the the only "Eco-Tourism" accredited garden in the world. Having visited the garden with Rose on our road trip I can attest to it's greenness, even in Australia's dry conditions. Whilst you're there you may like to read some of Rose's other articles too.

Virtually everything you should have been taught in art school about earning a living from visual arts and crafts but weren't is how I'd describe Steve Popkin's 27 part, arts marketing course, How to Sell Your Art Without Selling Out . Years ago there was a famous ad for Gillette shavers featuring a guy who was 'so impressed he bought the company', well I didn't buy Steve Popkin's company but I did the next best thing and became an affiliate after completing only the first two classes. That's how good the information was! It's important you know this up front because I don't want to be covert about recommending this as a product. Should you decide to purchase How to Sell Your Art Without Selling Out through the links from this article, you will be giving me a little financial 'thank you' that says you trust my opinion and insight into Steve's course. With that out the way, lets get on with helping you decide if this course is for yo...

Having watched as much of the digitally remastered Beatles movie, Help! (1965), on public TV as I could stand I've come to the conclusion that not all Beatles memorabilia / projects (call this what you will) should be revived and remembered. It's not that this movie is particularly bad. The acting is fine. Some of the comedy works and, to agree with some of the people at the link above, the movie does have some very quotable lines. It's just that the plot is so ridiculous. I'm sure it was meant to be over the top and just a bit of fun to showcase the band and the music but it goes too far into extreme silliness. To get away with this kind of silliness you have to start with a premise that is credible. This movie has a very culturally important sacrificial ring stuck on Ringo's (of course) finger. In the real world you'd just explain the situation to the famous drummer and I'm sure he'd be obliging (might even pay for his own tub of butter to help remove...