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This Public Works Dept photo is the first time I've thought that the Kurilpa Bridge had style.
From any other angle this Tall Ships Marina of a Bridge looks like a pick up sticks nest.
I know, it's a design miracle. So what?
This crook of the Brisbane River will have FOUR bridges - when the Hale Street flyover is done.
Do the words visual pollution come to anyone else's mind?
They built it and then discovered it was pretty low.
It made me nervous from the very beginning and I'm no engineer.
The elegant William Jolly Bridge is now Brisbane's Opera House.
They put the Toaster in front of the Opera House and now the lovely curves
of the William Jolly Bridge are now sandwiched between a design "miracle" and a flyover.
I love bridges. LOVE them. But not this.
My favourite is the Story Bridge.
I cross this bridge at least eight times a week.
I love crossing this bridge - reminds me of the excitement of going to the airport.
It was the easiest way to the airport before the Gateway Bridge was built.
Now, it's the way to work and the gateway home every day.
It's a joy - except when there's an accident or someone decides to do something rash.
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I want this video somewhere I can find it when I need it. So here it is. Stolen from someone else's blog. Now it's mine. But I'm sharing... :)
So Whitney's Houston "sang herself out of her clothes" on Britain's X Factor.
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And this is Laura Hill's response...
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I think Laura is an Australian girl who sings with a band called the Tuesday Bandits:
Clever girl, Laura, she's switched on to how to get her name out there isn't she. Linking it in this way with an international entertainment event to raise her profile.
The thing is though, Laura can sing beautifully .... she's talented : http://www.myspace.com/laurahillmusic
"She's a brown piece of string with golden lining ... "
Only last week I was lamenting that we need a Joni Mitchell. I've found her.
But her album here: http://www.laurahill.com.au/multimedia.php#buy
So the wind blew the cover off a sign about Brisbane's Christmas present: a new road toll.
Here's a video:
It will cost $4.20 one way to pass through the Clem7 - passing under the city - instead of through the CBD.
http://www.flowtoll.com.au/tag-account.html
We aren't really too happy about it: http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,26128167-952,00.html
But Mayor Campbell Newman says it will solve our traffic problems and so we elected him on that promise.
Let's see. Wolfdene Dam, Rochedale dump, Mary River Dam (http://www.abc.net.au/rural/news/content/200911/s2740694.htm), Brisbane tunnel...But you will avoid up to 23 traffic lights and apparently save fuel on the new trip under the Brisbane River.
And we still have to look forward to the Go-Between Bridge: http://www.gobetweenbridge.com.au/
Roads. Tunnels. Bridges. "Connecting communities!" If you can afford to own a car in a few years time.
A final Major project adapting Roald Dahl's book The Twits.
</object>Here's a lovely rhyme: I almost died laughing when my niece introduced me to this book.
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I caught the 470 bus back to Lilleyfield in Sydney's inner west this arvo.
I'm sitting at my sister's computer writing this post with crickets screaming outside the window.
Imagine a ceaseless, breathless scream. That's the scream I had inside from just after 5pm when the head of the ABC Kim Dalton started speaking at SPAA till dinner time.
Dinner and with my niece blowing soap bubbles, the dog dragging toys outside - who can stay angry at Kim Dalton.
I'm attending the Screen Producers of Australia Association annual conference - I joined this year.
And today I discovered that my opinion of the ABC has changed - I didn't even realise it.
Cultural institution. Yes. But what kind of culture? And do we need the ABC to preserve Australian culture in the digital age?
Especially if it's going to make a profit off the back of public subside in the name of preserving free-to-air television in the digital age under the guise of protecting Australian culture.
So preposterous! 689 hours of Australian ABC content in the past year.
And who watched? He warned that Australian culture may become the property of telcos without proper regulation and policies.
Is it safer in the hands of the ABC?
He talks about the diversity of the ABC.
But if independent producers decided to distribute their product online, create their own channels, is that not diversity and Australian content?
The conference started yesterday on such a high note with comedian Ahn Do telling the story of his family coming to Australia as refugees.
He took his father's advice: give it a go... contribute to this great country where anything is possible...
That's what opened this conference.
Ahn Do made us laugh and cry and he challenged producers to just do it.
I recorded it when I realised that this is a moment all Australians deserve to enjoy.
I pulled out my flip camera - I don't have a proper edit program with me so I'll try to attach video files as I can.
This is Australian culture and it's not coming out of the ABC.
But this afternoon room full of independent TV and film producers sat there without raising the hard questions - I wonder if we heard the same message??
They don't need the ABC. That's why the ABC boss is worried and asking the government for new regulations a new cultural policy.
He couched it in terms of a threat to the viability of the independent production industry - I think that's interesting considering everything else that's being said at this conference.
The first session this morning was with Brian Seth Hurst (The Opportunity Management Company) - who didn't bother turning up for a round table session I was enrolled for with three others in the afternoon.
But anyway we actually had a good chat without him. He outlined the new digital landscape of participation, giving the audience a voice, yadda-yadda...it's not new actually. It was a 101 in digital media.
Do I need to say that this session was not as well attended as Kim Dalton's session?
Mr Hurst struggled with Australian broadband...the stuff he spoke of is not possible in Australian because ... us has bad reception. ;)
He's now working with Chris Sandberg, the CEO and founder of The company P, which produced a fully interactive drama called The Truth About Marika, for Swedish TV.
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The Truth About Marika won an Emmy last year for best interactive drama: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Truth_About_Marika
Mr Sandberg was at Mr Hurst's talk this morning and when I approached him for a brief conversation he said the TV networks don't really have a big part to play in the future digital world.
Not if they think that they are going to control the universe - or at least the digital landscape - as they control the airwaves today.
The greater proportion of content in The Truth About Marika was user generated, he said.
But this was a case where a network came to him and asked for it.
In Australia we don't have the infrastructure to do it - yet.
The Sydney Opera House program, Kids at the House, runs an annual "Little Big Shots" show.
It's an international film festival for kids. Yes. That's right. The Sydney Opera House. Not the ABC.
And they've been doing for a few years now.
Stories for kids, about kids and sometimes by kids - the by kids is important.
This weekend, my Flip video and I are babysitting. We are going out on the town (Sydney) with two kids aged four and seven.
We are going to shoot and edit video to present to their parents.
This is the start of something BIG!
I'm going to watch Disgrace now.
Goodnight.