War of the Worlds 2025, with Ice Cube, scores ZERO on Rotten Tomatoes

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War of the Worlds 2025, with Ice Cube, scores ZERO on Rotten Tomatoes

8 August 2025

Jesse Hassenger, writing for The Guardian:

The real question is how audiences have made it through an unconvincing cheapie like War of the Worlds — a sci-fi epic that seems to take place in real time yet features a vast and coordinated worldwide mobilization of multiple armed forces — without shutting it off in disgust (it boasts a rare 0% rating on Rotten Tomatoes).

Check out the trailer. The 2025 adaptation of the H. G. Wells novel — published as a book in 1898 — directed by American filmmaker Rich Lee, had been sitting in the store room since production wrapped five years ago.

War of the Worlds’ zero percent score on review-aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, is in sharp contrast to the one-hundred percent score achieved by 2022’s The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent. At least for a time.

I only learned a few years ago Wells’ novel has an Australian connection, being written as a protest against the treatment of Indigenous/First Nations people in Tasmania, at the hands of British colonisers. In a bid to sway public opinion, Wells portrayed a terrifying invasion of England by powerful extra-terrestrials, to help people comprehend the atrocities taking place in Australia.

The dark patterns of online sellers to get more of your money

4 August 2025

An all too long list of what NSW Fair Trading, the consumer protection regulator in New South Wales, Australia, describes as dark patterns encountered by consumers when transacting with goods and service providers online.

Sometimes vendors will add extra, usually unwanted, items to an order. Or a business will make it difficult to cancel subscriptions by using confusing language. Sometimes a seller might suggest stocks are low of whatever a buyer is viewing, encouraging them to buy before it’s “too late”.

One thing that especially ticks me off when looking at something I might want to buy is a pop-up, that blocks the screen, offering, say, a five-percent discount on the item. If an order is placed immediately. And I haven’t even worked out if the product is suitable yet.

They’re like those blogs that spawn a pop-up seconds after opening a post, urging readers to sign-up for a newsletter, before you’ve had the chance to read a single word.

Another insidious ploy is confirm shaming, where a shopper is goaded into making a decision by potentially embarrassing them. For instance, an option to decline buying a guide to keeping fit might say, “no thanks, I’m not interested in keeping fit.” The list goes on. It’s a jungle out there.

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Australians aged under sixteen banned from using YouTube

31 July 2025

The Australian government has decided YouTube will be made inaccessible to people under the age of sixteen. There had been thoughts the video platform might be spared, after the government decided to restrict access to the likes of TikTok, Facebook, and Instagram to younger Australians.

YouTube has recently been running a publicity campaign locally extolling their family-friendly credentials, in the hope they would not be effected.

I’m not in complete agreement with this decision. Obviously there’s all sorts of material on YouTube, but a certain amount has educational merit.

Cast of The Castle reunite, but not for a sequel, nor a prequel

16 July 2025

Alisha Buaya, writing for Media Week:

Uber has reunited Australian film icons, stars of The Castle, Michael Caton, Stephen Curry and Anthony Simcoe, to highlight Uber Green’s transition to a fully electric rideshare product.

The Castle was made by Australian actor, comedian, and filmmaker, Rob Sitch. The 1997 film is a feel good, David versus Goliath comedy, about a working class family attempting to stop property developers taking their home, their castle, away from them.

But wait until you see where the home is located.

The Uber promotion informs riders they now have the option to hire an EV for their journey. As yet, I’m not sure just how much of The Castle — aside from the stars — comes into this.

Rainbow lorikeets feast on leftover fruit, Rockdale NSW, Australia

13 July 2025

A colourful assortment of rainbow lorikeets scavenge for food in a cardboard box containing discarded grapes and orange peels, next to stacks of fruit crates on a footpath. Small orange pieces of fruit are scattered around, while a common myna bird is visible nearby.

I’m not sure if the owner of a fruit shop in the Sydney suburb of Rockdale leaves leftover fruit out for birds living in the area to feast on, or if these rainbow lorikeets just decided to help themselves.

Whatever, this group of colourful parrots seem to be enjoying a late afternoon meal, even if some of them look as if they’ve eaten enough. An usually subdued common myna bird lurks alone near the fruit box, perhaps hoping the lorikeets will soon move on.

While both species of bird seem cute, both are considered to be pests to some degree. Rainbow lorikeets often descend on orchards and can destroy fruit harvests.

The brown mynas meanwhile, which were introduced to Australia in the nineteenth century, are classified as an invasive pest, and there are concerns they pose a threat to other native birds.

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Australians will soon need to verify their age to use search engines

12 July 2025

Ange Lavoipierre, writing for The Australian Broadcasting Corporation:

At the end of June, Australia quietly introduced rules forcing companies such as Google and Microsoft to check the ages of logged-in users, in an effort to limit children’s access to harmful content such as pornography. But experts have warned the move could compromise Australians’ privacy online and may not do much to protect young people.

We’re all for protecting children going online, but this initiative, as it stands, may be way too easy to circumvent. For instance, search engine users could remain logged out of their account, or make use of a VPN, to trick search engines into believing they are outside the country.

But I wouldn’t be surprised if ways to shutdown these options are eventually introduced. In the same way, say, Netflix can make using VPNs difficult. In addition, anyone accessing a search engine in Australia may be forced to actually login to their (age verified) account before they can do searches.

The search engine companies, after all, surely will not want to be in contravention of Australian laws. It seems at some point then, Australian search engine users will need to verify their age. Privacy advocates however are rightly concerned. Certain of the search engines already know enough about our activity online; do we want them knowing our personal details as well?

A sensible solution would be to use a digital identity service. These are independent of search engines, and any other tech companies, who might be required to confirm the age of their users.

One such service I use to both verify my identity, and I imagine age, when dealing with Australian government departments online, is Digital iD, which was developed by Australia Post. (Don’t you be saying the post office is incapable of innovation…)

MyID, created by the Australian Tax Office (ATO), serves a similar purpose.

Of course, we’re having to tell someone our age, and supply a verifying document — an Australian passport, or drivers licence — to do so, but at least the process is handled by an Australian government agency. Perhaps you don’t particularly trust those entities either, but I think they’re a far safer option than an offshore tech company.

In short, identity services such as MyID, or Digital iD, are saying the user is aged eighteen or over. They are not divulging actual ages, or dates of birth.

If the Australian government is so insistent we verify our age to access search engines, and who knows what other apps in the future, then the least they can do is allow us to use an Australian digital identity service to do so.

Triple J turns fifty, will rank Hottest 100 Australian songs to celebrate

12 July 2025

Happy birthday to the jays, which clocked the milestone back in January.

To mark the momentous occasion, a special all-time Hottest 100 countdown of Australian songs will be broadcast in a week, on Saturday 26 July 2025. This chart varies from the annual Hottest 100 countdowns, which rank the favourite songs of Triple J listeners, released each calender year, regardless of country of origin.

Voting closes on Thursday 17 July 2025, at 5PM AEST, so if you haven’t participated, time is running out. Now to the thorny question. What would I vote for? After giving the matter some thought, here’s what I came up with:

Alive by RÜFÜS DU SOL
Lie to Me by Vera Blue
Evening Star by All India Radio
Anthem for the Year 2000 by Silverchair
Rabbit Hole by Jess Day
Never Dance Alone by Crooked Colours
Let Me Down Easy by Gang of Youths
Under the Milky Way by The Church
Heart Attack by Flight Facilities
The Trouble with Us by Chet Faker and Marcus Marr
Beds are Burning by Midnight Oil

There are more I’d choose, but I think ten songs is the most you can vote for, as is I’ve listed eleven.

You might not be told you are the victim of identity theft

8 July 2025

An Australian woman, identified only as Sarah, writing for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation:

No-one told me my identity had been stolen. No-one told me that my drivers licence and my passport, two of the most crucial personal documents, were compromised and had been for years. I only found out when I applied online for an eSIM.

This is something that has long concerned me.

If my identity were stolen, would I even know, or only find out when it was too late? A credit check is one tool available to Australians that could help ascertain if you have been a victim. Credit reporting companies in Australia are obliged to provide a free consumer credit report every three months.

Mine showed everything to be in order, and as expected.

If someone has been able to obtain some sort of line of credit in your name, without your knowledge or permission, a credit report will hopefully bring that to your attention. If you’re outside of Australia, you ought to look into anti identity theft tools available in your jurisdiction.

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Indigenous Australians report increased instances of racism

2 July 2025

Dana Morse, writing for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation:

Experiences of racism included verbal abuse, social media abuse, being refused entry or service, being prevented from renting a property, and physical violence, with younger First Nations people reporting higher levels of racism than other age groups. Racial discrimination was experienced at the hands of police, taxis and rideshare services, government services, hospitality and utility providers, and employers.

The Australian Reconciliation Barometer is a biennial study, and the only measure of reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.

The most recent study has reported a significant rise in racist incidents in the last ten years. Reconciliation Australia CEO Karen Mundine also notes that while Indigenous Australians are experiencing more racism, many are also now more likely to report these incidents.

Weather ‘bomb’ threatens east coast of Australia this week

30 June 2025

Tom Saunders, writing for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation:

When a low-pressure system transforms from non-existence to a formidable storm just a day later, meteorologists label it a “bomb cyclone”, or a system that has experienced “bombogenesis”. The expression “bomb” is due to the explosive speed of development, however its usage is restricted only to systems where the reduction in pressure exceeds a specific rate based on latitude.

A low-pressure weather system forecast to form off the east coast of Australia, near NSW, in coming days, might — when it runs into another system near Queensland that’s moving south — form a so-called “bomb cyclone”. A “bomb” occurs when a low-pressure system experiences a drop in pressure of between fourteen to eighteen hectopascals (hPa) in less than twenty-four hours.

This week’s weather system may see a pressure fall of between twenty-two to twenty-four hPa in the course of a day. That’s a lot it seems, it’s not a good thing, and the result might be the aforementioned “bomb cyclone”. This could lead to heavy rain, gale force winds, and damaging surf.

At this stage it’s not known where the low pressure system will be centred. It might be closer to coast, or someway out in the Tasman Ocean. It’s distance from the east coast will determine its impact. Current modelling suggests areas in the vicinity of Sydney, to the north and the south, will see the heaviest rainfalls, together with regions inland to the northwest of Newcastle.

There is also the prospect of this weather system developing into an East Coast Low. These systems bring intense storms and prolonged rainfalls near to the regions where they are centred.

It’s calm and still as I write this on the NSW Central Coast… the proverbial calm before the storm?

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