TET.Life (The Extraordinary Tourist Life)

Kevin Rudd is not an idiot. He's certainly not delusional as media magnate, Rupert Murdoch, supposedly said about Kevin's leadership challenge of the Labor party and, ultimately the position of Australian Prime Minister. For my international readers, our government has been in the throws of a supposed leadership challenge by ex (and ousted) Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, for months. All of which came to a head over the last weekend where Kevin finally resigned as our Foreign Minister and announced he would be making a challenge. Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, announced the Labor party would be holding a ballot on Monday morning at 10am, in which Kevin lost his challenge 31-71 votes. You can read a blow by blow account of how Monday went down on the Sydney Morning Herald's website, Live: Labor leadership challenge - Gillard vs Rudd  (Tip: start from the bottom and work up the article, which is in blog format - newest info first). Kevin knew, long before he made his ch...

If you're a fan of realistically styled superhero movies then Chronicle is a movie that you should enjoy. I didn't really know what to expect from this film. The previews made it seem like a Blair Witch , found video footage, wannabe but, after hearing a few good reports from people who'd actually seen the film, I definitely started to get more curious. The basic premise is three friends, teenage boys, gain superhero like powers after making an amazing discovery in some kind of cavern in the woods. The story then documents how these new found powers affect the lives and friendships of the three. The film starts out in a fairly mundane fashion with the main character, Andrew, setting up his newly acquired video camera for the first time as a way of documenting his Dad's abusive behavior. You don't really think too much of this at the time (in fact I found it a little mundane and typical) but all the set up for Andrew's home life becomes significant in ...

"Scary" Samuel L. Jackson In a recent interview with Ebony magazine, re-quoted on the New York Post website in Politics of Color , Samuel L. Jackson says he voted for Obama because he was black. Samuel goes on to say: "Cuz that’s why other folks vote for other people — because they look like them. That’s American politics, pure and simple. [Obama’s] message didn’t mean [bleep] to me. In the end, he’s a politician. I just hoped he would do some of what he said he was gonna do. I know politicians say [bleep]; they lie. ’Cuz they want to get elected." The interview is notable for some pretty strong language including repeated use of the 'N' word and some fairly radical suggestions that I'm willing to bet many people were thinking but are surprised that Samuel actually said out loud in an actual interview. Samuel also goes on a bit of a rant, suggesting that Obama should get 'scary' because real N's are scary. Which leads me to think...

The topic of unemployed Australians refusing to work in menial jobs and therefore earning the title Job Snobs is not a new one. There's this report from Australian Magazine show Today Tonight in November of 2011  highlighting how overseas workers are more dedicated to farming jobs than locals. Then there is this report by The West Australian Newspapers back in April 2010 relating how people are taking high paying jobs in the mining industry then coming back to town to find work but refusing jobs that pay less than $1000 per week. The issue of Job Snobs was again raised on Channel Ten News during January of 2012. This time claiming the government is having to import foreign workers because Aussies are "either too good or too lazy to clean toilets". Whilst there may be an element of truth in all these reports, my extensive experience of what it's like to be unemployed and applying for almost any job you think you can do, suggests that employers are also pa...