TET.Life (The Extraordinary Tourist Life)

Hampstead , starring Diane Keaton and Brendan Gleeson, is a pleasant movie. It's an enjoyable tale that never gets too challenging emotionally, never gets too deep into any of its characters, and manages to have just enough quirky humor to provide a few decent smiles, making it a worthwhile way to spend just over 90 minutes at the movies. Inspired by, and based upon a true story, Diane plays widower, Emily Walters, who discovers a homeless man, Donald (Brendan) living in a shack on an abandoned hospital estate, opposite her apartment building. When the estate is earmarked for development she takes it upon herself to help save Donald's home.

I never imagined I'd be reviewing the Tom Cruise, Sci-fi action movie, Edge of Tomorrow (2014), three years after its debut but, after seeing it on Netflix, the film is so good I now wish I had seen it in a cinema back when it was released. Perhaps this film didn't do so well in the USA (it fared better internationally) because of the mixed reactions to the previous Tom Cruise Sci-fi movie, Oblivion (2013), which I did see in a cinema and also thought was exceptional. If I was to compare the two films, Oblivion is more visually interesting, conceptually, with its production design, but Edge of Tomorrow has a more engaging story that keeps you thinking about every choice the lead character is making.

I was excited to see Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets for the sole reason that, based on the trailers, it was writer/director, Luc Besson's return to his visionary best since The Fifth Element  (1997). Beyond that I'm not familiar with the comic series, Valerian and Laureline , that the movie is based upon. The comparison to The Fifth Element is very easy to make as the visual style of Valerian is very similar. So much so that it could easily be another story set in a different part of the same universe.

I do buy and ride my own boards purchased through my Boardpusher skateboard store, etourist Skateboards . (Boardpusher handle everything so I can focus on creating sick custom graphics to enhance your unique style) Recently I decided to purchase an Alvin Owl Longboard complete because a) I've never tried longboarding and b) I thought it would be great for you to see pictures of an actual complete deck purchased through etourist Skateboards . When buying a complete you can choose from a small range of branded trucks and wheels. I chose the cheapest options because, whilst I get to buy my own decks at wholesale prices, that discount is dwarfed by the postage cost from the USA to Australia. It's not prohibitively expensive but, it would be significantly cheaper if I just bought the deck and then sourced everything else from an Australian based Skate shop on ebay. Here's what arrived in my box: 1x Alvin Owl, 7 ply, 100% Canadian Maple wood grain longboard deck 8x ...

Q.bo Robot... I think this girl may be thinking about eating robot brains? The makers of Q.bo One are promoting their educational robot as a family friendly companion for your home but, at the same time, it is, pretty much, a robot head in an amputated foot bowl... which is kind of creepy, right? Or is it just me? Not to mention this image of the girl (pictured) I took from their Indiegogo fundraiser page . Is she trying to eat that poor robot's brain?

etourist Skateboards Most skaters like to buy and skate the Pro-Model skateboard of their favorite skater, which is fine, and you should absolutely do that. It supports the skater and allows them to continue getting free stuff and/or paid to do what they love. It's not often that skaters think about the artist creating the graphics that appear on the decks they buy, unless they particularly like a design, in which case they might give it some attention. As much as I've enjoyed skating pro-models of my favorite skaters, I also know that skating a deck with a design that I really like motivates me even more to skate often and progress. You just feel good skating a good looking deck with a great board graphic.