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I was asked to take part in Tribal Theatre’s opening night exhibition on March 11 at the old Dendy theatre and jumped at the chance to show my work alongside a number of rad Brisbane artists including: Ellen Stapleton, Clarissa Bones, Bel Johnstone and S.J O’Connor. There will also be short films shown throughout the evening.

If you want to come along, make sure you send an email to Sam and claim a ticket as they’re very, very limited.

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.

Yep, the government is still planning to install mandatory internet censorship and I’m still flaming angry about it. Nick and I are part of StopInternetCensorship.org and we’re having a BBQ in Orleigh Park on Australia Day to chat with supporters and other likely chaps about our campaign against the internet filter.

If you can’t make it on Tuesday, there is a handy dandy ACTION page with some things you can do to make your opposition to the internet filter felt by the government. There’s also a Stop Internet Censorship wiki where you can contribute your ideas and discuss ways of protesting.

As part of my own personal protest against mandatory internet filtering I will be taking part in The Great Australian Internet Blackout. This means that from January 25-29 this blog, and all the other sites I run, will be going black to demonstrate against Australian internet censorship. My sites will be available – to browse as usual you’ll just need to close the blackout box. I hope this doesn’t cause too much inconvenience but I wanted to contribute, as a website owner and blogger, to a cause that is close to my heart. If you run a website or a blog and want to demonstrate against the mandatory internet filter, here are instructions on how to black your site out. I hope you do participate, because it means vastly increased visibility and the chance of informing people who perhaps aren’t as internetty as you!

The blacklist will contain material that isn’t even illegal, and you can bet it will also contain content that the government wants to suppress (e.g: political dissent!) Internet censorship affects me as a web content producer, and you as a web content consumer; moreover, it affects us as Australians and constituents with a right to a transparent government.

I love Black Milk leggings and I can’t be quiet about it any more. I’m currently getting some custom made leggings from another designer but one day I’m going to get some Black Milk on my legs. Probably when I move to Melbourne and can wear PVC without dying.

James, the head designer at Black Milk, will custom create leggings for clients on request, but because he’s based in Brisbane I have this fantastical notion of collaborating with him to create a proper plus size collection. i.e: My fat body, maybe some of my illustration printed on fabric, and his amazing stretch pattern drafting skills.

I can dream!

Things are changing this year, and I’ve got to tell you… I always struggle with change. Nick is on long service leave but is still working hard at home with his freelance business. I’m trying to come up with concepts for a few projects but floundering, or errr, still developing them

This weekend we decided we would focus only on pleasurable things because we have been so busy lately. The ingredients for a happy weekend include: no work, minimal housework, friends, outside, nourishing food and time together. It’s nice to pause and spend time together – because we’ve discovered that working from home together doesn’t necessarily mean we are spending time together!

Yesterday we went to the markets with some friends and the boys held the first ever SAUSAGE CUP, which is exactly what it sounds like. Sausages in a cup. I counted nine of them in one cup! Shaun’s photo above should give you some indication of how vast the sausage selection is at the “Wurst House” at the markets.

Then Nick and I decided to go for a drive to the mountains in the afternoon. There is something about being in the mountains that puts me at peace, and we’re very lucky to have a smorgasbord of lovely mountain places around Brisbane to flee to whenever we get the desire. We went to Mt Glorious and Mt Nebo, and spent a couple of hours dreaming about living up there.

One day I will have a studio in the mountains, and I will never come down! Today we are having a lazy day that will be capped off by a picnic in the park with our friends.

I definitely recommend you get some pleasurable weekend in your life soon!

Today I spent the afternoon with some friends at the Asia Pacific Triennial at GoMA. It’s one of the most fun and engaging exhibitions but it only happens every three years, so it’s always a must do. Entry is free, making it a lovely and value-packed few hours too! You can come back and find new things to explore and think about too, as it’s on for three months.

The lighting cast beautiful shadows, I always admire the delicate lighting at the Queensland Art Gallery and GoMA.

See more pictures of APT6, what I wore and our dinner at Vapiano!
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The December 21st Stop Internet Censorship meeting was excellent, and fortnightly meetings are commencing from January 4th 2010 in the evening. I am so proud of Nick, all the Stop Internet Censorship team and the speakers (Nic Suzor and Cameron Reilly).

Nic Suzor, chair of Electronic Frontiers Australia.

Discussion about what action we should take next was plentiful!

Andrew Bartlett adding his ideas to the forum.

Cameron Reilly gave a great talk on how the government is employing propaganda to win over the media and the population.

Some things I took from the meeting: we need to utilise our creative people and create a sticky and viral, online AND offline campaign that employs advertising techniques to offset the government’s propaganda (ie: if you are against the filter you are a pervert and you support child porn and abuse); we need to highlight that the government is introducing mandatory censorship as a tool of power to strike out dissenting opinion, NOT to protect children; and we need to be a political force without leaning on partisan support as the filter has opponents within the government and in the opposing parties. Our protesting will not be taken to the streets with placards, as this will further isolate the mainstream majority. We will undertake education in small groups, targeting parents and community groups in real life situations (one idea is to set up a booth at sporting events and Australia Day BBQs.) We need to convince the media and the mainstream majority that the millions of dollars spent on the mandatory filter every year would be better spent on education for parents and communities and funding our police in the undercover operations they already carry out on peer 2 peer networks as they bring down child porn rings.

If you object to mandatory censorship, please write letters to your local sitting members, members of the Liberal Party including the shadow Communications Minister Tony Smith, as well as Senator Stephen Conroy. Letter writing is taken seriously, and while you might get a standard response do not feel as if your correspondence was disregarded! Here’s the page on how you can take action from nocleanfeed.com with links to contact details. If are not Australian you can still help! If you have the desire, please send letters to Senator Conroy. It’s important that this government is aware that their mandatory censorship and lack of transparency is not going unnoticed by citizens in other countries.

If you want to help Stop Internet Censorship, please get in contact with your ideas or your skills. We’re holding the next meeting on Monday January 4 2010.

You can grab a button for your blog from my flickr, or use one of the logos (1, 2) under a CC license.

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.

If you read this blog you are familiar with “the fance” and going OTT with pride and dedication, which is why I am sure you will love the creations of Sunshine Coast cobblers, Pendragon Shoes. Recently used in an editorial shoot by Steven Meisel for Vogue Italia, the Pendragon star is rising with amazing fancy people like Helena Bonham Carter counting themselves as fans!

KiLN are exhibiting Pendragon’s new collection, To Have and To Hold, in November. Go and check them out (and if you’ve got someone who loves you very much, they might buy you some lovely shoes!) If you’re not able to get to KiLN for the show, you can browse the Pendragon website and facebook page longingly.

Making shoes would be such an amazing job! I wonder if they need a model *cough* intern…?

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!