definatalie.com

I am in Melbourne this week, but I wanted to show you some photos I took of Brisbane last week. Despite all its problems and complete lack of love for anything cultural that isn’t state funded, Brisbane is my home town and I can’t help but feel sentimental about it.

Lots of people seem to like this photo, because I mean who doesn’t like a grown-up ferris wheel? I’m a bit grumpy that it has to be branded with the Channel 7 logo though. And it’s expensive (I’ve not been for a ride yet because it doesn’t seem worth it!)

I don’t want to be one of those Brisbane-born creatives that are afflicted with the Brisbane Cringe, but I think I may have to betray my city in the next few years. I am sad that I don’t know how to make it better, maybe when I’m older I’ll have enough experience and wisdom to feel up to taking on the task.

Nick and I are campaigning against the “clean feed” under the banner of Stop Internet Censorship. One of the reasons for forming this blog is to support fortnightly meetings, so those who are concerned about the clean feed and the impact it will have can discuss the issues at hand and how to better solve them as a community.

Nick has organised a meeting on Monday December 21 at Room Z-205 at QUT Gardens Point campus. The room will open at 7:15pm with the meeting to begin at 7:30pm.

“There has been too much talk and not enough action. The plan of this meeting is to not only discuss the filter and what impacts it will have on us, but to look at how we can work together to bring awareness to others. Ultimately the goal is to have this stopped before it is even put into place.”

If you are in Brisbane, check out the facebook event here.

If you are from interstate and want to talk to Nick about setting up blogs on stopinternetcensorship.org for other cities to use, he’s on twitter as @NicholasPerkins or you can leave a comment on one of his posts on stopinternetcensorship.org.

The “clean feed” is a slippery slope to a place where human rights are surely eroded, and it will NOT solve the issue of child pornography and its distribution.

Sunday was Z-day: the day of the undead, The Brisbane Zombie Walk. If you were in the CBD you may have seen the shuffling gait of the rotting hoards raising money (and the deceased) for the Brain Foundation. The day was organised by the lovely Cara, and I would have gone had I not been feeling rather undead and bed stricken

Instead, I leave you with these fantastic photos taken by Nic Suzor!

SWEET ZOMBIE JESUS!

Yesterday a huge dust storm covered the eastern side of Australia, thanks to winds picking up most of the drought-stricken inland and dumping it all over us. Yay Australia! I went out on a few little walks to take photos, but had to stay inside in the afternoon because the dust was making it very hard to breathe.

This is what it was like at 10:30am – the skyline is typically clearly visible on a normal day.

At 12:30pm – no skyline for you!

Hello dustocalypse!

Today it seems to have cleared completely, but we still have a bit of dust inside our house

I’ve been incredibly busy working AND playing in the last few weeks, and I’ve come to the conclusion (like I always do) that Brisbane is a fantastic city with so much going on. Growing up here, I’ve heard all the snide “big country town” references and watched friends and family move interstate and overseas to find their glory, but in my lifetime I’ve witnessed the city mature into a vibrant hub of creative activity. I want to be a part of Brisbane’s flurry of creativity, and invest back into the city that has invested a lot in me.

People who moan about there being nothing to do and no opportunity haven’t really opened their eyes, in my humble opinion. Just by grabbing any one of the free street press (mX, Rave, Scene, Time Off, Tsunami…) you’ll have access to any number of free and low priced events, and if you have an internet connection you can be even more plugged in with the fantastic Brisbane Creative Industries monthly events list!

Just in the space of one weekend I went to Brisbane Twestival, an all ages fundraiser with burlesque, cupcakes and bands; a talk by erotica authors at the Brisbane Writers Festival; saw incredible fireworks; and enjoyed a Chris Isaak concert under the stars. I feel so fortunate to be able to say that I am completely exhausted from all the fantastic things I did on the weekend.

I might grumble in summer when Brisbane’s cloying humidity drapes over me like a wet flannelette, but generally I love living here. Nick and I have discussed moving down to Melbourne, and at the beginning of the year we were seriously considering making the move for 2010, but I just don’t think I can bring myself to do it. My family and friends are all here, and I’m beginning to carve a niche for myself (slowly, with a butter knife!) too. To move to Melbourne would mean starting again socially and professionally, and as many artists flock to Melbourne… I mightn’t even get a look in! While I love Melbourne, it’s not my city and it’s not a city that’s undergoing rapid cultural growth like Brisbane. So I’ll stay here and reinvest my time and passions into the people and the city that have nurtured me!

Do you love where you live? If you could live anywhere… where would it be?

I did a guest post on nicolejensen.com, about the Semi-Permanent Brisbane conference. I’ve gone into more detail than I did in my own recap of the event, raving about the good stuff and ranting about, I mean suggesting fixes for some of the bugs.

Nicole blogs about event management and other issues within her own particular geekdoms – do check her out!

First order of business, this Valentine’s Day crap. Have at you with this vaguely insulting “e-card”! I made it especially for you. Nick took me to the Game On exhibit at the State Library today and then we had burgers. I think there’s something for everyone in that date!

Brisbane Twestival from Natalie Perkins on Vimeo.

Second order of business, the Brisbane Twestival took place on Thursday night. You can see some of the shenanigans in the above video.

I tried so hard to get some decent photos of the projections! The drawing here was auctioned off to the darling Mark aka @mimobase!

The money from the night is still dribbling in I think, and final tallies haven’t been posted yet but apparently it was a pretty awesome effort!

Today Nick and I went to the nocleanfeed rally in Brisbane because we feel very strongly about censorship and “The Great Firewall of Australia”. Our one year old government (that we voted for!) is proposing to limit our access to information online in a vain attempt to put a stop to paedophilia. This plan will fail on several levels, but will most importantly fail to stop child pornography and paedophilia and push that kind of activity further underground. It will slow internet speeds and potentially restrict access to support sites for health issues and other completely child porn free topics as well.

Here I am with my friend Janey and Sam the photo impostor! The other photos I took of the Brisbane nocleanfeed rally are in this flickr set!

Brisbane nocleanfeed rally from Natalie Perkins on Vimeo.
I also managed to cobble together a video out of the little snippets that I captured during the rally. You should watch it – “you’d be good at it”, as Janey says all the time.

I always look forward to Jo’s posts on Desire to Inspire, especially when she’s blogging about Brisbane’s lovely homes and other things that reference the city I live in.

Today she posted this cloth destination roll from one of Brisbane’s older buses. I have such fond memories of the old buses. Like waiting at a stop until the driver wound the destination around to the right spot before he’d let us all on! I wish I knew where to get my grubby little hands on stuff like this.

I’m so glad that there are bloggers like Jo drawing attention to the fact that Brisbane is totally hip!

Nick and I bought the domain briswiki.com last year and never got around to doing anything with it. Nick’s developed quite the wiki fever lately, and so I suggested that we resurrect the idea.

Anyway, if you’re wiki-mad like Nick, and you live in Brisbane – we’d like to invite you to contribute to briswiki.com.

I figure there’s a wealth of knowledge about brisbane and its history – but not in the one place. It’s also a great way of highlighting special interest groups and bringing people together and all that clap trap.