Brisbane Blog

Thursday 3 June 2010

The Brisbane Blog has moved

Hi, If you're following the Brisbane Blog via email or through Blogger, you should know that it's moved.

It's now a Wordpress blog at http://brisbaneblog.info

Comments are now closed here.

If you get updates from this blog from the Feedblitz email service you'll need to sign up to the Feedburner email service instead - click here to sign up.

If you follow this blog by RSS you will probably be OK - just check your RSS feed to make sure you got the most recent couple of posts about yarnbombing.

Thanks for reading!

Monday 17 May 2010

Brisbane Roller Derby: Brisbane City Rollers Fresh Meat day, May 23 2010

On Sunday May 23 2010, Brisbane City Rollers are holding a Fresh Meat day - a day for people (ages 18+ only, sorry) new to roller derby to come and try the sport out and see if they'd like to join a serious league. Brisbane City Rollers is unique in Queensland as they have a league for men and women - most roller derby leagues are women-only.



Brisbane City Rollers is Brisbane's newest Roller Derby League (the other two leagues are the Northern Brisbane Rollers and Sun State Roller Girls). Brisbane City Rollers train at Bundamba in Brisbane's western suburbs, on the outskirts of Ipswich.

The Fresh Meat day is from 4.45 pm - 6.45 pm, and it's $12 for the session. If you don't have skates or protective gear you can hire them for an extra $10. (You have to wear the protective gear to train).




If you're thinking of going, BCR has a heap of info on this page about what to expect at your Fresh Meat session. For more info you can also email brisbanecityrollers@gmail.com, or have a look at the Brisbane City Rollers fan page on Facebook.

This video shows off what happened at the Fresh Meat session last September:







The Fresh Meat session is at the Bundamba Skateaway, 21 Agnes St, Bundamba, about a 200m walk from the Bundama train station - click here for a Google Map. If you need to find train timetables, click here to use Translink's public transport journey planner

(Oh, and apparently you say "Derby" to rhyme with "Herbie", not "Darby". This means you can make jokes like saying "Talk derby to me")

Thursday 13 May 2010

Redcliffe Kitefest 2010 on this weekend, Pelican Park, Clontarf

 

The Redcliffe Kitefest is on this weekend at Pelican Park in Clontarf, and admission is free.

Picture from Kitefest 2009 by flash62_au

There’s a kite workshop on Saturday from midday till 2pm.

Picture from Kitefest 2009 by flash62_au

 

Japanese kite master Mikio Toki will be at the festival on Saturday and Sunday.

Picture from Kitefest 2009 by flash62_au

The Redcliffe KiteFest 2010 is at Pelican Park, Clontarf. Click here for a Google Map with public transport details. See the Translink journey planner to look up bus and train route details and timetables, but Pelican Park isn’t listed in their database, so to find the route timetables search for a journey from your departure point to Yacht St, Clontarf, which is just across the road from Pelican Park.

Wednesday 12 May 2010

Impro Theatre: Impro Mafia’s Worst Side Story, Sunday May 16 2010, Arts Theatre @impromafia

 

Worst Side Story, Impro Mafia’s new show, is on this Sunday May 16 at the Brisbane Arts Theatre on Petrie Terrace. 

According to Impro Mafia, it’s a

rousing musical about two opposing gangs on the wrong side of the tracks, and a chance romance that may bring them together, or destroy them both

Since this is improvised theatre, the final outcome – a happy ending or tragic deaths - depends on the whims of you, the audience.

You can follow Impro Mafia on Twitter, or become a fan of them on Facebook.

Tickets are $10 at the door on Sunday night. The Brisbane Arts Theatre is at 210 Petrie Terrace, Brisbane – click here for a Google Map, or click here to use Translink’s journey planner to find public transport times and routes.

Tuesday 11 May 2010

Northern Brisbane Rollers Roller Derby bout this Saturday May 15 2010 at Convention Centre, South Brisbane @NBRrollerderby

 

2010 Bout 002 Poster

One of Brisbane's three Roller Derby leagues, Northern Brisbane Rollers, are having their second bout for 2010 this Saturday, May 15 2010, at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre in South Brisbane. The bout features the Love Rockettes vs the Diner Might Dolls, who met in the first bout on April 17, with the Diner Might Dolls winning 157-113. This video by texxxann shows the April 17 bout:

 

If you'd like to know more about the rules of Roller Derby, and how the game works, just watch this YouTube video:

 

You'll be able to buy food, drinks and alcohol at the bout, and there will be EFTPOS and ATMs there. Tickets for Saturday's bout are $16.50 for adults, $12 concession and $7.50 for children - all these prices include booking fees. You can book tickets online at Oztix if you click here, and over a thousand people were turned away from the last bout so you’d better buy tickets soon.

You can follow Northern Brisbane Rollers on Twitter, join their Facebook group, or become their friend on MySpace. The bout is at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre, on Merivale St, South Brisbane. Click here for a Google Map with public transport details, and click here to use the Translink journey planner to look up bus and train routes and timetables.

Monday 10 May 2010

Giant Rabbits at the Gallery of Modern Art

One of the great things about the Gallery of Modern Art at Southbank is that photography is encouraged. I went in yesterday to have a look around, and Michael Parakowhai’s giant rabbits Cosmo McMurtry and Jim McMurtry caught my eye.

 

Cosmo McMurtry by Michael Parekowhai, Gallery of Modern Art, Southbank, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia-1

Cosmo McMurtry sits, head cocked to one side, to your right as you walk into the gallery past the information desk and cloak room. He is placed so the enormous queue of people waiting to see the Ron Mueck exhibition wait in line right next to him. Since Mueck’s work is also about sculptures many times larger than life-sized, I suspect this was a deliberate work of “cross-promotion” to get people interested in the Unnerved exhibition of New Zealand art, of which the two McMurtry sculptures are a part.

According to the curator’s notes, one of the things the sculptures are supposed to be about is the big problem of rabbits in New Zealand. I’ve been aware since I was a young child of the similar problem in Australia, but until I read the notes that didn’t occur to me at all. I wonder if this is because Cosmo McMurtry is quite cute, with sympathetic eyes, chubby cheeks and mouth open in apparent surprise.

 

Jim McMurtry by Michael Parekowhai at Gallery of Modern Art, Southbank, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia-4 Jim McMurtry by Michael Parekowhai at Gallery of Modern Art, Southbank, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia Jim McMurtry by Michael Parekowhai at Gallery of Modern Art, Southbank, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia-7

Further down the hall, Jim McMurtry lies on his back, one eye closed, tongue hanging out of his mouth. Instead of Cosmo’s stiff whiskers made of steel, Jim’s whiskers are limp and curled, made of plastic tubing. It’s difficult to get a proper look at this sculpture from ground level; two of these photos are taken from the balcony of level 3 of the gallery.

Jim McMurtry provoked a bit of thought in me. Is he dead? Asleep? Drunk? Are we supposed to be thinking about the cruelty of killing? The effects of booze? Or should we just be greatful that the artist used a cotton-tail instead of providing us with a realistic rabbit’s anus about thirty times the usual size?

Kapa Haka (Whero) by Michael Parekowhai at Gallery of Modern Art, Southbank, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

A third Parakowhai sculpture stands guard over the McMurtrys. Kapa Haka (Whero) is a fibreglass security guard painted with automobile paint. As I walked into the exhibition I had to check to make sure this wasn’t a real security guard. I found this sculpture interesting because it made me think about my generally negative attitude towards security guards; their job is often to stop you doing things like taking photos in art galleries. After that feeling passed, I realised that unlike a real security guard, you could shove a camera right up in this one’s face.

Kapa Haka (Whero) by Michael Parekowhai at Gallery of Modern Art, Southbank, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia-3

The Unnerved exhibition is at the Gallery of Modern Art until July 4 2010. For a map with public transport details, click here. To use the Translink journey planner to check public transport routes and timetables, click here.

 

Originally published on the JSchool Student Blog.