NEWS
City Council plans to make Ann Street a seven-days-a-week daytime clearway through Fortitude Valley will hit local traders hard, the local councillor and business chamber believe.
In a 16 June letter to local business owners and traders, the council said it wanted the permanent clearway introduced to “reduce congestion and delays in Ann Street on weekends for traffic including buses”.
“It is anticipated that the changes to the clearway times will be undertaken by the end of July 2010.” Ann Street, which is one-way inbound through the inner-north, has had a permanent daytime clearway on its left side to help traffic turn left into Brunswick Street.
But the right hand side has been a clearway only between 7am and 7pm on weekdays, and it’s the extension of this to the weekends that will affect traders, according to local councillor David Hinchliffe (Central Ward) and the Fortitude Valley Chamber of Commerce.
Local traders in recent months have pleaded with council to police a two-hour weekend limit to help keep their customer numbers up and prevent weekend Valley malls stallowners and shoppers parking there for many hours, especially seeing council has admitted it no longer policies the two-hour rule.
Some traders would have even accepted parking meters as a solution to achieving a regular turnover of motorists – and potential customers – in the area.
Cr Hinchliffe said of the council letter: “This does not sound like a consultation process. They’ve made a decision and said ‘lump it’. “Council should have consulted genuinely with property owners and traders instead of just announcing that a clearway will be installed in a month’s time. That’s not cons
ultation. This will hit traders hard from the Emporium through to the Valley Heart.” Valley Chamber of Commerce CEO Carol Gordon said: “Why this is happening when the new [Clem7] tunnel and Inner City ByPass are suppose to reduce through traffic in the heart of the Valley.
“The chamber does expect BCC to continue to support the ‘day economy’ in the Valley yet they are taking away what little parking there is in the Valley at the very time it is most needed.
“It would appear BCC has not even considering putting in parking metres as an option – if they have, who did they consult? “The retail and other businesses in Ann Street between Montpelier Road and the heart of the Valley when this is introduced will just be able to wave goodbye to the people who will now just drive by at 60km a hour.”
Council in its letter to locals earlier this month said its review had identified that peak weekend traffic volumes were only 20 per cent less than weekday peak volumes. Parking at the weekends also reduced Ann Street to only two free-flowing lanes, and bus travel times down Ann Street during peak times increased from under three minutes on weekdays to more than seven minutes on Saturday.
Councillor Hinchliffe showed The Independent photos he had taken of Ann Street on the weekends and argued they showed that traffic congestion was not a problem at busy times over the weekend.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Fast food, loud music: will the Valley Mall one day have anything else?
NEWS
Fast food chain outlets are growing in the Valley Mall like topsy – and the trend is one that should be resisted according to long-term local councillor David Hinchliffe.
Several years ago, the central Valley area had no specifically designated fast food chicken outlets. By the end of last year, there were two: Country Chicken under McWhirters on Wickham Street and Nandos in Licorice Lane in the TCB.
In recent weeks Oportos has opened a flash outlet in the mall, and the fitout for the new Red Rooster outlet just a few doors up the mall in the defunct Fortitude Valley bakery building is gathering pace.
The Independent understands that KFC is eager to open a shopfront on the mall, and has looked at the empty Commonwealth Bank site mid mall, although a very limited lease of several years makes that option unattractive. And Hungry Jack’s has been looking at the vacant The Music Shop premises in McWhirters, although a legal stoush with McDonalds might follow any attempt to move there.
Cr Hinchliffe told The Independent this week: “Unfortunately, council doesn’t have any legal power to restrict the type of commercial premises in the Brunswick Street mall. It will be very sad to see the Brunswick Street mall over-run with Hungry Jacks, Red Rooster, KFC and McDonalds.
“These private property owners are looking only for the big bucks and sadly don’t seem to care about the Valley retaining its individual character. I also fear that this tsunami of takeaways will see a spike in rubbish.
“This mall will end up looking like any other mall in Australia. It is a curse and a disease and it seems councils are powerless to prevent it.”
Top: A Red Rooster outlet is coming to the Valley Bakery site.
Newest suburb lets its hair down
NEWS
The amazing diversity of Teneriffe will be on display when a writer’s breakfast kickstarts the inaugural Teneriffe Festival on Saturday week (3 July).
The breakfast will run for an hour from 9am on the grassy banks outside Aqua Linea restaurant. Join award-winning speculative writer Trent Jamieson, together with Anthony Brown, who penned The Boys from Ballymore and Vicki Bridgestock, author of the historical work, Tides of Teneriffe.
Come along and listen to three Brisbane authors who dared to dream and have now become successful authors. Are you a secret scribbler? Do you have a story you are wanting to tell, but don’t know how to begin? Or are you already happily writing and looking for like-minded people with whom to share your passion? This could very well be the inaugural meeting of The Teneriffe Writers Group!
The breakfast will be followed by the “Walking of the Sheep” through Ethel Street and the official opening of the festival by the Queensland Governor Penelope Wensley.
Teneriffe Festival committee chairman Richard Bodle says everyone is welcome to attend the festival.
“Teneriffe, the most charming heritage suburb of Brisbane, recently had its official suburb status returned by the Queensland Government, after a decision decades earlier to incorporate it into Newstead.
“This newfound independence is enough reason to celebrate our past and the present while welcoming change for the future.
“Teneriffe has more than 100 years of history, no better expressed than in the charming wool stores along the bank of the Brisbane River. They have been renovated to the highest standard to make Teneriffe a thriving cosmopolitan community with restaurants, boutique offices and home to thousands.
“We in Teneriffe look forward to having you join us to celebrate the inaugural Teneriffe Festival.”
For more information on the festival and relevant road closures, go to www.teneriffefestival.org
THE DAY’S ACTIVITIES
• Governor officially opens Festival approx 11am.
• Running of the Rams' (featuring Teneriffe Gym 'Jocks' dressed in white, parodying the 'Running of the Bulls' in Pamplona)
• Sheep Muster' (organised by Roy Potticary, an Oakey sheep farmer who puts on shows involving sheep dog work and shearing displays at the Jondarayan Woolshed) .
• Wool fashion displays (featuring some of Teneriffe's most exciting designers) .
• Jan Power's Farmers Markets and Peter Hackworth's Arts & Crafts.
• Steinway on the Street' (classical pianists play on a Steinway grand piano in Vernon Tce) .
• OMNI BUS tours around Teneriffe Woolstores and Teneriffe Hill with local historians
• Judging of the best dressed "Ram" from the 'Running of the Rams" down Ethel Street • Cooking with Lamb demonstrations
• Knitting demonstrations and competitions
• Spinning and weaving demonstrations
• Sculptor working on 'Teneriffe Sheep Sculpture'
• Sheep Shearing demonstrations (organized by Roy Pottica)
• A theatrical enactment of the History of Teneriffe - with a narrative from the book 'The Tides of Teneriffe'
• The Outdoor Picture Show - featuring the first film directed by Charles Edward Chauvel in 1926 - The Moth of Moonbi - Filmed in Moreton Bay and at the Orchids around Teneriffe House.
* Male Grooming 101
• The Bean and Barista Championship
• Old footage on the Winchcombe Carson Wool Store - with soundtrack accompanied by a collective of classically trained pianists (screened at night on the side of the woolstore)
Sub made a total mass of himself
LETTERS
Dear Editor
We enjoyed your latest issue, including the front-page typo which surely qualifies for a revered spot in the Pantheon of Freudian Slips, namely “ass-produced trinkets”. We couldn't agree more that there are lots of useless, ass-produced things around these days!
Gloria and Gerard
4/1 Newstead Avenue
Newstead
Editor’s comment: Yes, that was a howler, wasn’t it? And our apologies to Cr David Hinchliffe, who was talking about “mass-produced trinkets”. The error was made in the production process and the subeditor involved – from our graphic design/subediting Pod 3 on Pre-Production Mezanine Level 4 – has been issued with an official warning, his 23rd.
Of hype and helmets
Dear Editor
I was furious when I read the “Questions answered about bike scheme” in your last issue. Talk about politician's answers ... completely ignoring the questions and putting out the same old hype we have suffered through all the time..
I am particularly concerned about the question of helmets, which was not even mentioned. Last I read “Can Do” said he was still looking into the question, I suspect it is in the too hard basket and we the ratepayers will end up with massive compensation owed to JCDecaux, because the scheme is unworkable from a safety viewpoint.
Of all the countries in the world in which this scheme is operating, not one has a mandatory helmet wearing law. Please again broach this subject with “Can Do” or someone who will address this question.
Philippa Webb
via email
Dear Editor
We enjoyed your latest issue, including the front-page typo which surely qualifies for a revered spot in the Pantheon of Freudian Slips, namely “ass-produced trinkets”. We couldn't agree more that there are lots of useless, ass-produced things around these days!
Gloria and Gerard
4/1 Newstead Avenue
Newstead
Editor’s comment: Yes, that was a howler, wasn’t it? And our apologies to Cr David Hinchliffe, who was talking about “mass-produced trinkets”. The error was made in the production process and the subeditor involved – from our graphic design/subediting Pod 3 on Pre-Production Mezanine Level 4 – has been issued with an official warning, his 23rd.
Of hype and helmets
Dear Editor
I was furious when I read the “Questions answered about bike scheme” in your last issue. Talk about politician's answers ... completely ignoring the questions and putting out the same old hype we have suffered through all the time..
I am particularly concerned about the question of helmets, which was not even mentioned. Last I read “Can Do” said he was still looking into the question, I suspect it is in the too hard basket and we the ratepayers will end up with massive compensation owed to JCDecaux, because the scheme is unworkable from a safety viewpoint.
Of all the countries in the world in which this scheme is operating, not one has a mandatory helmet wearing law. Please again broach this subject with “Can Do” or someone who will address this question.
Philippa Webb
via email
Million-plus price tags becoming passe?
PROPERTY NEWS
Recent prestige property market research compiled by rpdata.com senior analyst Cameron Kusher reveals that a property with a median house price of around $1million is not necessarily a big deal in today’s market – especially when stacked up against Peppermint Grove in WA which now boasts a median house price of $4,537,500.
Mr Kusher said that with the premium residential market recording the highest capital gains over the last 12 months, the number of suburbs with a median price of at least $1 million have become more common.
For the 12 months to February 2010, rpdata.com confirmed that 165 suburbs nationwide recorded a median price of at least $1 million for either houses or units.
In comparison, during the previous 12 months there were 147 suburbs nationally with a median price of at least $1 million, indicating that the number of $1 million suburbs has increased by 12 per cent over the last year.
Mr Kusher said that despite the jump in million dollar suburbs, there are still fewer than what was recorded prior to the Global Financial Crisis.
Recent prestige property market research compiled by rpdata.com senior analyst Cameron Kusher reveals that a property with a median house price of around $1million is not necessarily a big deal in today’s market – especially when stacked up against Peppermint Grove in WA which now boasts a median house price of $4,537,500.
Mr Kusher said that with the premium residential market recording the highest capital gains over the last 12 months, the number of suburbs with a median price of at least $1 million have become more common.
For the 12 months to February 2010, rpdata.com confirmed that 165 suburbs nationwide recorded a median price of at least $1 million for either houses or units.
In comparison, during the previous 12 months there were 147 suburbs nationally with a median price of at least $1 million, indicating that the number of $1 million suburbs has increased by 12 per cent over the last year.
Mr Kusher said that despite the jump in million dollar suburbs, there are still fewer than what was recorded prior to the Global Financial Crisis.
What buyers go to water over
PROPERTY NEWS
A poll released by PRDnationwide shows 4 per cent of home hunters believe a flood prone property is the biggest deterrent in purchasing a home. Thirty per cent of respondents said they would be most deterred by position on a main road, while 16 per cent would not purchase a property based on poor reputation of a suburb.
PRDnationwide managing director Jim Midgley said only small numbers of buyers were put off by too much renovation needed (9 per cent) or poor landscaping (4 per cent) “A flood prone property is often cheaper than other houses in a suburb and can take a long time to sell as it is the most common deterrent for buying a home,” Mr Midgley said.
“Floods can cause great destruction of property and it’s just not worth the risk for most people,” he said.
PRDnationwide research director Aaron Maskrey said houses on main roads were often down-valued. “Traffic noise is a real turn-off for owner occupiers – but often these properties sell to investors,” Mr Maskrey said.
“As cars become quieter, a main road position may not be so much of an issue in the future,” he said. “But for the moment – more than a third of house hunters would not buy property on a main thoroughfare,” he said.
Mr Maskrey said the real estate mantra ‘location, location, location’ still holds true.
“People are prepared to renovate or work in the garden to improve a property, but there’s not much you can do about main road noise or a rough neighbourhood,” he said.
Queenslanders urged to check balcony standards
PROPERTY NEWS
Vendors and real estate agents should avoid the risk of unwittingly selling or renting a home with an unsafe balcony which could collapse, killing or injuring people, by having scheduled maintenance checks.
That’s the advice of Ian Agnew, Queensland state manager of Archicentre, who says people buying properties with large decks, or high balconies, especially Queenslanders and those in coastal areas, should request a copy of the building permit for the structure and an independent current assessment of its safety by a registered inspector from a reputable organisation.
Mr Agnew said it is important people purchasing homes have access to appropriate building permits to gain an understanding of when the deck was built and approved by the local council.
Archicentre's pre-purchase home inspection statistics show that approximately 6 per cent of Australian homes have a timber balcony or deck and that about 2 per cent of these (8000) are potentially fatal. Following another balcony collapse in New South Wales recently, where 12 teenagers were injured, Mr Agnew said selling a house with an unsafe balcony could be compared to selling a car with no brakes.
In recent times in Queensland we have seen a tragic incident where a balcony floor gave way causing a baby to be dropped resulting in a death.
“The potential for multiple law suits against agents and vendors of homes sold with illegally built or unsafe balconies is a very real issue given the fact that many of the collapses can happen with large numbers of people on the deck.
“Anyone who purchases a home with a balcony that is in disrepair and which collapses injuring people or themselves could find themselves in no man’s land with insurance claims as they are responsible for maintaining their home in good order."
Archicentre stresses there is a need for people to continually inspect their decks and balconies for rotting timbers and rusty corroding steel fittings which could lead to life threatening balcony collapses.
Mr Agnew said in the last few years, balcony collapses in several states have resulted in a number of injuries and deaths with Queenslanders and coastal properties in the high risk categories because of the harsh environment and salt damage to metal fittings.
“As a safety measure, all homeowners should continually thoroughly check the timbers, fixings and structure that support and attach the deck to the home, and check the bracing members and support beams of the deck, timber posts and steel columns looking for soft, spongy sections of compressed timber and rusting steel.”
“If people find faults they should take immediate action to repair them and if they are not sure to seek professional advice of an architect, engineer or registered builder.”
Vendors and real estate agents should avoid the risk of unwittingly selling or renting a home with an unsafe balcony which could collapse, killing or injuring people, by having scheduled maintenance checks.
That’s the advice of Ian Agnew, Queensland state manager of Archicentre, who says people buying properties with large decks, or high balconies, especially Queenslanders and those in coastal areas, should request a copy of the building permit for the structure and an independent current assessment of its safety by a registered inspector from a reputable organisation.
Mr Agnew said it is important people purchasing homes have access to appropriate building permits to gain an understanding of when the deck was built and approved by the local council.
Archicentre's pre-purchase home inspection statistics show that approximately 6 per cent of Australian homes have a timber balcony or deck and that about 2 per cent of these (8000) are potentially fatal. Following another balcony collapse in New South Wales recently, where 12 teenagers were injured, Mr Agnew said selling a house with an unsafe balcony could be compared to selling a car with no brakes.
In recent times in Queensland we have seen a tragic incident where a balcony floor gave way causing a baby to be dropped resulting in a death.
“The potential for multiple law suits against agents and vendors of homes sold with illegally built or unsafe balconies is a very real issue given the fact that many of the collapses can happen with large numbers of people on the deck.
“Anyone who purchases a home with a balcony that is in disrepair and which collapses injuring people or themselves could find themselves in no man’s land with insurance claims as they are responsible for maintaining their home in good order."
Archicentre stresses there is a need for people to continually inspect their decks and balconies for rotting timbers and rusty corroding steel fittings which could lead to life threatening balcony collapses.
Mr Agnew said in the last few years, balcony collapses in several states have resulted in a number of injuries and deaths with Queenslanders and coastal properties in the high risk categories because of the harsh environment and salt damage to metal fittings.
“As a safety measure, all homeowners should continually thoroughly check the timbers, fixings and structure that support and attach the deck to the home, and check the bracing members and support beams of the deck, timber posts and steel columns looking for soft, spongy sections of compressed timber and rusting steel.”
“If people find faults they should take immediate action to repair them and if they are not sure to seek professional advice of an architect, engineer or registered builder.”
When seeing Red is an absolute delight
TRAVEL
By Carol Campbell
Lying in my beachside hut, the gentle lapping of the Red Sea just metres from my door, I could see the occasional glimpse of stars through the primitive palm-frond roof. This was camping out, Egyptian style, high up on the Aqaba Gulf on the Sinai Peninsula. I was staying at the Sawa Beach Camp 20km north of Nuweiba, in a setting so spectacularly stark and so very different from any other beach setting I have experienced.
The 28-hut resort was backdropped by red craggy peaks rising up from the mineral-rich range of mountains along this coastline. Across the Red Sea – named for the stunning reflections cast by the morning sun – we could see the equally arid and red mountain range stretching along the Saudi Arabian coast.
A beachside holiday in this part of the world is very different from Queensland, where we love our wide white beaches and the constancy of the rolling white-tipped surf. These beaches are narrower and the tides more gentle, and swimming is easy in the amazingly clear waters over the reef – perfect for snorkelling and diving to get up close to the spectacular array of marine life in this part of the world – amazing lion fish tucked into coral overhangs, huge sea urchins and clams and massive sea cucumbers.
This Egyptian beach camp is a world away from a high-rise apartment at the Gold Coast. But the simplicity – and the economy – of this style of holiday is largely its appeal. Bathroom facilities are basic but certainly adequate. The shared facility is large and kept spotlessly clean by friendly and courteous staff.
Everyone in our 12-person Intrepid tour group agreed this was a great way to wind down after a busy 15 days seeing the highlights of ancient Egypt. We were there in December, mid winter in that part of the world, but the days were warm and sunny and the evenings, although cool, required no more than a sleeping bag.
Average temperatures in the winter months (November to March) range from 15–35 degrees Celsius – perfect beach weather. And with an average annual rainfall of just 100mm on the Sinai Peninsula, visitors are just about guaranteed of clear skies any time of the year.
Which is just as well if you are staying at the Sawa Beach Camp, where the leafy huts wouldn’t stand up to the rigors of a heavy tropical downpour. Each hut accommodates two to three people. They all have a small porch, some with hammocks looking out over the Red Sea, and cotton handwoven rugs cover the concrete floors. The huts, each lockable, are small, really just for sleeping (mattress and mossie net) and storing your bags.
But any leisure time is spent either exploring the spectacular reef just off-shore – snorkelling gear is available for a small fee – or lounging around in the very comfortable and airy recreational area, where you can play pool, read books or sample some of the wonderful local cuisine at very reasonable prices.
We sat outdoors for most meals, which were reasonably priced for budget travellers. I loved the traditional Egyptian breakfast, with its mix of cucumber and tomato salad, ful mudammas (cooked, creamy fava beans), and huge chunk of feta cheese, served with pita bread. The chopped local fruit and yoghurt was another favourite, along with the fresh fruit slushy cocktails. Locally caught seafood features high on the evening menu.
Owner and host Salama is a mine of information, and can arrange just about anything from transport to and from the camp, tours to Petra, dive trips or just a cold beer.
GETTING THERE
2.5hr drive from Sharm el Sheikh airport. Bus service twice daily from Cairo (7 hr through Sinai Desert) Cost (per person): Lockable huts with breakfast $AU17 (one adult), $AU12 (two). Under 3yr free, 3–10yrs 25% discount Email: sawa_sinai@hotmail.com Phone: (0020) 0272 2838 Website: www.sawacamp.com
Where am I?
Aren’t some of our country pubs grand? Light up the main streets of many a regional centre, they do.
Trouble is, this facade is a lot closer to home. If you know where it is, you’ve got the chance to win a $60 prize voucher to enjoy some tucker and a drink at the Brunswick Hotel in New Farm.
Email your answer to editor@theindependent.com.au to reach us no later than 5pm on Friday week, 2 July 2010. Or drop us the answer in the post by the same deadline to PO Box 476 Valley Q 4006. One lucky winner will be off to the Brunnie on us. Bon appetit!
From our last issue, V Harney of the Valley correctly identified the clock tower on the top of the Carrick campus on St Pauls Terrace. V – he or she – is off to the Brunnie for some tucker on us!
Why drive business away?
FROM MY CORNER .... with Ann Brunswick
When will some government somewhere on the face of this earth call a halt to their kowtowing to cars? The latest example is the Brisbane City Council and its plans to scrap kerbside parking along both sides of most of Ann Street, Fortitude Valley on Saturdays and Sundays. The reason apparently is to alleviate weekend traffic congestion that slows traffic flow and delays BCC bus services.
The BCC has taken no account of the impact the change will have on business operators, not just along Ann Street, but in the Valley as a whole. Let’s also not forget that fewer car paring spaces means fewer people at the weekend Valley Markets too.
Of course as more people drive cars the more there will be on our roads. The solution so far has been to widen roadways and do as the BCC is planning, remove kerbside parking on relevant thoroughfares.
But surely there needs to be a limit. More road lanes simply means more cars will use them. Shouldn’t we be telling motorists that if they want to drive, then they will simply have to plan their trip to take account of congestion.
The alternative is to keep widening our major roads. Just how wide would Ann Street need to be to ensure a quick trip through the Valley? Five lanes? Six, seven, eight? Do drivers have a right to expect a quick trip to wherever they want to go? A
nd who bears the cost of enabling them to do so? Yes, that’s right, it’s us the taxpayers and ratepayers.
But let’s not forget the cost imposed on business operators through the removal of parking spaces and imposition of clearways.
***
Visiting the University of Queensland at the weekend, it was not possible to escape the sight of rubbish strewn around wheelie bins on the campus and indeed in nearby streets.
It occurred to me that students may have become less environmentally concerned since my days playing rugby for the uni club. But just as soon as that thought flashed into my mind, the real reason for the widespread untidiness revealed itself in the shape of bush turkeys and crows scavenging through open rubbish bins and any wheelie bin that had its lid even partly open.
After leaving the campus and driving along Sir Fred Schonell Drive in my trusty Land Rover, bush turkeys could be seen in abundance. Some of those also had found open wheelie bins.
It could be the large number of unit blocks in the area and the consequently high numbers of wheelie bins that sustain such an obviously large population. But boy, do they make a mess of the place.
As an animal lover, albeit one who spent a few years castrating beasts in my time as a jackaroo, culling the bush turkeys would not be a humane or sensible solution. A better approach would be to ensure wheelie bin lids and public rubbish bins too all have their contents firmly shut away from prying beaks.
***
Many small business operators advertise their goods or services with signs on their vehicles. But the other day my eyes fell on an instance where maybe such an approach is not such a good idea.
Sitting at traffic lights was a small sedan with L-plates fixed front and rear and the name of a driving school painted on its side doors. Unfortunately, also on its driver’s side door was a rather large dent where another vehicle obviously had hit the driving school vehicle side on. The expression used to describe such an impact is t-boned I believe. Maybe not the best type of publicity for such a business.
When will some government somewhere on the face of this earth call a halt to their kowtowing to cars? The latest example is the Brisbane City Council and its plans to scrap kerbside parking along both sides of most of Ann Street, Fortitude Valley on Saturdays and Sundays. The reason apparently is to alleviate weekend traffic congestion that slows traffic flow and delays BCC bus services.
The BCC has taken no account of the impact the change will have on business operators, not just along Ann Street, but in the Valley as a whole. Let’s also not forget that fewer car paring spaces means fewer people at the weekend Valley Markets too.
Of course as more people drive cars the more there will be on our roads. The solution so far has been to widen roadways and do as the BCC is planning, remove kerbside parking on relevant thoroughfares.
But surely there needs to be a limit. More road lanes simply means more cars will use them. Shouldn’t we be telling motorists that if they want to drive, then they will simply have to plan their trip to take account of congestion.
The alternative is to keep widening our major roads. Just how wide would Ann Street need to be to ensure a quick trip through the Valley? Five lanes? Six, seven, eight? Do drivers have a right to expect a quick trip to wherever they want to go? A
nd who bears the cost of enabling them to do so? Yes, that’s right, it’s us the taxpayers and ratepayers.
But let’s not forget the cost imposed on business operators through the removal of parking spaces and imposition of clearways.
***
Visiting the University of Queensland at the weekend, it was not possible to escape the sight of rubbish strewn around wheelie bins on the campus and indeed in nearby streets.
It occurred to me that students may have become less environmentally concerned since my days playing rugby for the uni club. But just as soon as that thought flashed into my mind, the real reason for the widespread untidiness revealed itself in the shape of bush turkeys and crows scavenging through open rubbish bins and any wheelie bin that had its lid even partly open.
After leaving the campus and driving along Sir Fred Schonell Drive in my trusty Land Rover, bush turkeys could be seen in abundance. Some of those also had found open wheelie bins.
It could be the large number of unit blocks in the area and the consequently high numbers of wheelie bins that sustain such an obviously large population. But boy, do they make a mess of the place.
As an animal lover, albeit one who spent a few years castrating beasts in my time as a jackaroo, culling the bush turkeys would not be a humane or sensible solution. A better approach would be to ensure wheelie bin lids and public rubbish bins too all have their contents firmly shut away from prying beaks.
***
Many small business operators advertise their goods or services with signs on their vehicles. But the other day my eyes fell on an instance where maybe such an approach is not such a good idea.
Sitting at traffic lights was a small sedan with L-plates fixed front and rear and the name of a driving school painted on its side doors. Unfortunately, also on its driver’s side door was a rather large dent where another vehicle obviously had hit the driving school vehicle side on. The expression used to describe such an impact is t-boned I believe. Maybe not the best type of publicity for such a business.
Life can still sparkle without the champers
WINE ... with David Bray
Champagne is beyond me right now. I enjoyed the good stuff when the French companies invited me to sample their product. These days it’s the non-champagnes that come my way, and many of them turn out to be fine, interesting wines.
Yep, bubbles are big and they are no longer based only on the traditional grapes of chardonnay, pinot noir and pinot meunier or the well-established favourite in this country, shiraz. Some of the more interesting new arrivals: Delatite Polly sparkling gewürztraminer 2008 ($29) is the second release of what David Ritchie says he is pretty sure is “a wine style unique in Australia’ to Delatite.
If you have an interest in quality white wines you will probably know that this well-regarded family winery produces what is reckoned to be the benchmark aussie gewurztraminer. The ‘06 vintage is being served in Qantas first-class international. The grapes came from Deadman’s Hill vineyard which is also the source of the base for two new wine styles of which Polly is one.
The other is VT gewurztraminer (a dessert wine). Polly comes under a crown seal. It is named for the Ritchie daughter, now 14, who David tells us, when she was a precocious four-year-old, refused his offer to east some grapes because, “Dad, you know I hate pinot”.
Ant Moore Kiki Marlborough sparkling sauvignon blanc 2009 ($19.95) arrives with the maker’s advice that it is “a sexy looking sparkling with some seriously good wine inside . . . the fun new kid on the Marlborough sparkling sauvignon blanc block from Australian winemaker Ant Moore’’. Enthusiastic copywriting asserts that this wine is cheeky and positively brimming with the lively tropical and floral characteristics of traditional Marlborough sauvignon blanc ... offset with the exuberance of a sparkling wine...’’
Kiki is made with fruit from the Ant’s Nest, Pear Tree, Duck & Pheasant Estate vineyards in Marlborough. The final blend incorporates a dash of sweeter wine and five percent of chardonnay which had been aged in new French oak hogsheads to add balance. And who, you may ask, is Ant?
He is a well-known character in the Marlborough winegrowing community and has been making high quality sauvignon blanc in the region for 10 years. He produced Kiki to complement his award winning riesling, pinot noir, pinot gris and sauvignon blanc. Tintilla Estate John Basil sparkling red 2006 ($36) is a quality Hunter Valley version of the festive sparkler that is a long-standing tradition in Australian wine making.
The winemaking team of Robert and James Lusby put their own stamp on the style by creating a wine made mainly from merlot and named after the youngest of the Lusby boys, John Basil. James Lusby explains: “Our 2006 Vintage sparkling merlot reflects the soft, richness of the variety, the red berry, plum fruit comes through with a hint of the Hunter.
“Unlike many sparkling reds, whose second fermentation is carried out in tanks, this wine is made by the traditional method of fermenting the wine in the bottle – locking in extra flavour and delicate floral aromas. Then it ages for three years on the lees in the bottle. A dash of 12 year barrel aged Tintilla liquor shiraz goes in after the wine has been disgorged.” This really is a wine to be drunk now. Fresh and young, it goes well with a wide range of foods and is a ripper party wine.
Yilgarnia NV sparkling shiraz ($36), another methode champenoise red, is a tailored blend of three vintages. The plan is that future releases will be made up of the current vintage plus the previous two vintages.
Yilgarnia Wines & Wildflowers is in the Denmark Region on the south coast of Western Australia. The makers say that to grow quality fruit in their cool climate, yields are limited by pruning and bunch-thinned with minimal irrigation, resulting in a harvest of two tonnes to the acre. For this excellent wine, all fruit was crushed and fermented quickly after picking, matured in French and American oak, hand made in the traditional way.
What emerges is a dark red, aromatic and yielding tastes of fruitcake and black pepper complemented by leathery complexity and savoury yeast autolysis textures. Recommended as a great after dinner drink. Kreglinger brut de blancs 2003 ($58) is 100 percent chardonnay. With its cool maritime (Tasmanian) climate, nutrient rich soils and an ideal aspect, the site from which this wine was sourced is dedicated to the production of quality sparkling wines. And to round things off, here’s a brace of gentle fizzies, each new to a well-established label: Sarantos soft press moscato 2010 ($14.99)
I’ll let its winemaker, Brett Dufin tell you about it: “Our customers want to enjoy the small things in life: relishing time with friends, turning the iphone off and indulging in a good coffee or telling stories over a couple of glasses of wine. Moscato is one of those styles that suits the Australian way of life. It’s fresh an crisp with loads of flavour and a tingling spritz”. It packs a very gentle 5.5 per cent alcohol. Long Flat Pink moscato 2009 ($9.90).
Made in Moscato d’Asti style, this wine has a gentle 6 per cent alcohol, an equally gentle frizzante and the natural fruity, spice aroma and flavour of the muscat grape. A small splash of shiraz gives the wine a soft pink colour and, some say, a “unique dash of raspberry” in addition to the typical varietal characters. The Long Flat red and white moscatos have gone very well and there is no reason to expect the pink not to match their popularity.
Memorable tale of lies and betrayal
FILM ... with Tim Milfull
I am Love (MA15+)
Director: Luca Guadagnino
Stars: Tilda Swinton, Pippo Delbono, Flavio Parenti, Diana Fleri
Rating: 4.5/5
120-minutes, screening from 24 June
The opening of Luca Guadagnino’s lo sono l’amore heralds a film replete with all the hallmarks of classic post-war Italian cinema, so much so that I found myself wondering what this film might have looked like in black and white.
But then, as the film progressed, I realised that Guadagnino surely is a fan of the likes of Luchino Visconti, whose 1963 film Il Gattopardo (The Leopard), is renowned for its lush palette and sumptuous costuming. Complemented with several glorious location shots in northern Italy, and some wonderful scenes in Milan, I am Love is set mostly in the magnificent family home of the Recchis, who have built a world-class fortune in the textiles industry.
The mansion is all soaring ceilings, dark wood panelling, and genuine art, and the family living there are just as perfect, tended to by a retinue of servants who serve their masters like clockwork. Emma (Tilda Swinton) is wife to Tancredi (Pippo Delbono), who, we are promptly told will share the administration of the Recchi fortune with his eldest son, Edoardo (Flavio Parenti), an adventurous young man with controversial ideas about corporate ethics and the loyalty of family and friends.
After rocking the family with the announcement that he will soon marry a commoner, Eva Ugolini (Diane Fleri), Edo compounds the shock with the news that he and best friend, Antonio (Edoardo Gabbriellini) plan to open a restaurant in the wilds of Milan’s hill country.
While there’s a fair bit of drama in the previous paragraph, I am Love moves at a deliciously lethargic, almost glacial pace, with the occasional calving of massive chunks of ice rocking the narrative. Guadagnino and Swinton – who collaborated on the story together – craft a memorable tale of lies and betrayal, and the familial compromises one sometimes takes to retain or regain a sense of self.
Blitz hits target with a rocket
Rocket Science (M)
Director: Jeffrey Blitz
Stars: Reece Thompson, Anna Kendrick
Rating: 3.5/5
98-minutes, now screening
Filmmaker Jeffrey Blitz obviously nurtures a healthy fascination for kids and the rigors of life at school, as his first film was the highly regarded documentary Spellbound that examined the trials and tribulations of national spelling bees.
In his debut feature film, Rocket Science, Blitz returns to the angst of adolescence, and surprisingly, we don’t spend too much of our screen time in the classroom.
The unfortunately named Hal Hefner (Reece Thompson) is a quiet fifteen-year-old who has most of the answers when the teacher calls, but is always too nervous to raise his hand. Hal has a speech impediment that leads to interminably cruel, stilted conversations, and despite all the best intentions of his counsellor – who could help if the problem was Attention Deficit Disorder – still cannot string a coherent sentence together.
At home, Reece’s psychotic elder brother taunts him, and his mother has just embarked on an open affair with their pathologically cheerful neighbour. When Ginny Riyerson (an elfin Anna Kendrick) marches into Reece’s life and declares that he will soon be co-helming the school debating team, the young man is both appalled and intrigued. Soon the pair is practicing their debating tactics; Ginny seems satisfied with her new protégée, and Reece has a newfound confidence.
Of course, there are bound to be ulterior motives at play, and when Ginny drops a devastating bombshell, Reece feels sure that he’ll never recover.
Rocket Science is the kind of charming coming-of-age film that doesn’t lapse into twee observation or stark masochism, and there are some very amusing and touching moments for those who like to see how one innovative young man plays with the cards that have been dealt to him.
THE BINGE
Suicide Club (R)
The French Kissers (MA15+)
Endgame (M)
Camino (M)
All now available from Madman
Shion Sono’s Suicide Club (above) taps into some of the strange obsessions of Japanese culture. Detective Toshiharu Kuroda (Ryo Ishibashi) isn’t as convinced as his commander that a recent mass suicide of 50 schoolgirls in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Station was an example of group hysteria.
As more and more school kids and young adults choose increasingly grisly ends, Kuroda realises that someone is behind this latest obsession. There’s a different kind of obsession involving rampant hormones in The French Kissers by debut feature director Riad Sattouf, as a group of sixteen-year-olds struggle with various biological imperatives.
This is a very funny, occasionally cringeworthy coming-of-age film.
Lovers of real-life political intrigue will enjoy Endgame, a subtle thriller about the behind-the-scenes machinations that rattled South Africa in the lead-up to the end of Apartheid. Jonny Lee Miller plays a young mining executive charged with organising secret negotiations between representatives of the African National Congress – Chiwetel Ejiofor’s Thabo Mbeki – and the white minority government – William Hurt’s Professor Will Esterhuyse.
And finally, something not my cup of tea in Camino, which initially promised to be an expose of the ruthless personal costs that can be exerted by the secretive Catholic organisation, Opus Dei.
The eponymous Camino (Nerea Camacho) is a devout young Catholic adored by her father and harangued by her deeply religious mother. When she is diagnosed with a particularly aggressive terminal cancer, Camino is encouraged by her mother to embrace the illness as a sign of God. This one is only for the pious.
Nation faces up to a double disillusion
POLITICS ... with Mungo MacCallum
Being totally out of touch unfocuses the mind wonderfully; the day-to-day crises of the political scene fade into insignificance once they cease thrusting themselves upon what passes for one’s attention.
For the last 10 days I have been in the deep north of Australia, insulated from the media like a baby koala in its mother’s pouch. No press, no radio, no phone, no internet. The blissful seclusion was broken just once, when I chanced across a copy of the Northern Territory News of Tuesday, June 15.
From this journal of record I learned that charter flights were bringing asylum seekers from Christmas Island to the mainland, which I had gleaned a month or so previously. This single piece of national news was buried under the comics. Apart from that, my sole contact with what the political pundits insist on calling the real world has been campsite gossip. In Lawn Hill someone mentioned that the press gallery appeared to have abandoned its febrile pursuit of a leadership change in the Labor party; apparently it had finally dawned on even the ultimatum-threateners of The Australian that you can’t have a challenge without a challenger.
Instead, the gallery had reverted to its other favourite obsession: speculation about an election date. Someone else claimed to have heard an ABC news broadcast of Bob Brown gravely opining that although the election could be as late as April next year, it probably wouldn’t be. Someone else noted that Barnaby Joyce had been reported as suggesting that the coalition could win five, or possibly six, seats in Queensland.
After that the conversation turned to regret that while the nearby fossil beds of Riversleigh had unearthed traces of the ancestry of every mammal currently living in Australia, the origins of Kevin Rudd and Tony Abbott remained a mystery. Of course, to retrace the ancestry of Barnaby Joyce one would need to go further south, to the dinosaur fields of Richmond and Hughenden. And that was about it.
Hence, what follows is written unencumbered by knowledge, information, news, gossip, slander, innuendo, lies and the Murdoch press. It must be said that in the far north, politics is not the main area of concern; the weather beats it every time. The floodwaters are receding, most roads are now open and the countryside is alive with wattle, grevilleas, turkey bush and flowering gums, not to mention the odd roadside runner of wildflowers and the carpet of water lilies on the lagoons. On the rare occasions that people can be drawn into debate, they are anything but passionate. Okay, so Kevin has been a bit of a disappointment, but aren’t they all?
At least most people kept their jobs through the global recession or whatever it was, and you have to give him a few marks for that. And as for all the talk about wasted money – well, we didn’t get too much insulation out in the bush, but a few of the local schools have done all right out of the BER, whatever that is.
And don’t believe the miners are going to go broke; Century and Macarthur are doing very nicely thank you and don’t let anyone tell you different. One incredulous worker said he had heard stories that Gina bloody Rinehart, Lang bloody Hancock’s daughter and the richest woman in the whole bloody country, was leading protests. That’d be a bit of a joke wouldn’t it?
Another noted that the so-called protestors were adapting an old union chant: “The miners, united, will never be defeated.” Give us a break. If the bosses want to pinch the workers’ songs they could at least make up their own words.
A few suggestions: “The miners, tight-fisted, can never be resisted”. “We’re miners, we’re heavy, we will not pay the levy”. “The miners, hell-bent, refuse to pay the rent”. “The miners have practice at dodging paying taxes”.
The overall feeling was that no one really understood how the new tax would work, but if the bosses were screaming so loudly about it it couldn’t be such a bad thing. This, of course, was precisely the reaction Kevin Rudd and Wayne Swan had been hoping for from the start. The screaming hostility the miners and their allies in the opposition and the media have been trying to whip up is simply not there – well not yet, and not in the backblocks of the far north.
If they have to talk about Rudd (Kevin, that is, not Steele of Dad and Dave fame) there is a definitely a sense of let-down; they don’t think he’s done all that much wrong, but there’s not too much to cheer about either. Rudd the dud perhaps, but what’s the alternative?
Even one diehard Liberal voter confessed that although he would continue to toe the party line, the prospect of Abbott filled him with pain and gloom. There was a notable lack of enthusiasm for either option. The conventional wisdom is that apathy favours the incumbent, and that would appear to be the case at present. T
here is certainly space for Rudd to make a comeback; if he is able to divide the miners, and reach some kind of agreement with even a few of them, it could be sold as a victory, and in the absence of anything much else would probably be enough to swing the balance.
But it will take a mighty effort indeed in his second term if he is ever to recapture that first fine careless rapture of the heady days of Kevin 07. And Tony Abbott will need to mature considerably both as a person and a politician if he is to be given a second chance.
In 2010 it appears that we have escaped a double dissolution election, only to be saddled with a Double Disillusion. Hey, that’s not a bad name for a book.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Makeover looms for mall markets
NEWS
Tuesday and Friday night markets are coming to Chinatown in the Valley, featuring outdoor Asian cooking demonstrations and Asian-style cuisine and craft.
Local Councillor David Hinchliffe (Central Ward) said the night markets would help activate Chinatown which has had only moderate patronage since the re-vamped mall was opened six months behind time in February this year.
“While there’s no doubt we have the best Asian restaurants in Brisbane, the pick-up after the nine months construction period has been slower than we hoped.
“The night markets and especially outdoor kitchens and demonstrations should attract a new crowd. The best times for restaurants in Chinatown are Friday and Saturday nights and Sunday mornings, but the rest of the time can be a bit flat.
“We need also to use the City Glider [bus service] to attract city workers from the CBD down to the Valley for a quick lunch.
“The Valley ought to be the kitchen of the city.”
Cr Hinchliffe was critical of too many “overseas trinkets and the same old mass-produced stuff” being sold at the Brunswick Street weekend markets.
“We need more art and craft in the markets and less mass-produced overseas ‘trinkets’,” he said.
The markets have been a feature of weekends in the Valley for 15 years. Council took over operation of the markets from the Valley Chamber of Commerce in 2008.
Cleaner Valley ... but there’s still quite a long way to go
From top: Korean restaurant frontage, Trugian Place and Ranwell Lane.
The Clean Up the Valley campaign is working, with the Valley being considered for “most improved suburb” in the Brisbane Spotless Suburbs competition.
And the man behind the clean-up campaign, local councillor David Hinchliffe (Central Ward) believes a “war of words” with the council had been replaced by a “Coalition of Clean”.
Deputy Mayor, LNP Councillor Graham Quirk, wrote to Cr Hinchliffe late last month thanking him for his campaign to make the Valley a clean safer and prouder community. This has followed on from the “Grot Spot” campaign begun by Cr Hinchliffe through the pages of The Independent three months ago.
Cr Quirk in his letter of May 27 said: “I would like to take the opportunity to thank you for your active participation in making a difference in the Valley precinct overall. Council is committed to ensuring that the Valley and Chinatown are clean, safe and well maintained. “I plan to have a strong and active cleansing presence within the Valley area and I look forward to hearing more outcome focussed initiatives.”
Cr Hinchliffe has thanked the Deputy Mayor and has promised to work closely with council on more than 100 separate initiatives identified at a recent meeting of the Valley Malls Advisory Committee.
"I truly thank him for his kind words and I’m pleased to say Malls Chairman Phil Di Bella has a “Coalition of Clean” happening down here,” he said.
At the same time Cr Hinchliffe warned local traders they need to lift their game to help lift the Valley’s image, after two outdoor dining traders in the main Valley mall had their licences temporarily suspended, and several other venues were issued with warnings.
“We need tables cleared quickly so that they don’t become a feeding ground for pigeons,” Cr Hinchliffe said.
“Both I and the Malls Chairman Phil Di Bella want to clean up the presentation of outdoor dining,” he said. “Also, some parts of the mall have started to look like a run-down beergarden instead of one of the most exotic outdoor dining and entertainment locations in Australia.
“The Lord Mayor, Phil Di Bella and I are all united in saying standards must be raised. “A world-class venue is what it should be and that’s what it will be if we are cleaner, greener and prouder of our streets, footpaths and buildings.”
The list of initiatives includes stricter standards for outdoor dining venues and traders using the mall and footpaths and adopting new sign guidelines for shops in the area.
The clean up program included:
• Trial new ‘scrubber’ and pressure cleaning equipment
• Fines for littering -- including dropping cigarette butts and food wrappers
• Daily cleaning audits including ‘electronic tagging’ of certain structures to ensure adequate cleaning during all shifts
• Weekly scrubbing of outdoor dining areas in Chinatown • More checks on restaurant hygiene standards
• More CitySafe cameras, including Licorice Lane in the TCB building
• CitySafe patrols to review cleaning standards
• Warnings to unclean traders followed up by punitive action including withdrawal of dining licences
• Notices to building owners to carry out more than 60 specific repairs to their buildings.
Questions answered on bike scheme
NEWS
Lord Mayor Campbell Newman has answered questions posed by The Independent on the soon-to-be implemented City Cyclebike hire scheme.
His edited replies are:
1. Did council consider a much more modest trial runout of the scheme to test its viability? And if so, why was that rejected in favour of what appears to be quite an extensive scheme by world standards from the outset?
A: Based on advice from JCDecaux, who operate over 20 successful bike hire schemes around the world, the scheme was proposed to ensure a successful network across the inner city area of St Lucia to Newstead.
2. Who is paying for the rollout of bike stations, advertising signs, all necessary additional street signage, etc etc, that is now under way?
A: JCDecaux is responsible for the cost of installation of bike station and signage infrastructure. Council is responsible for the associated civil works such as line marking, kerb ramps, traffic islands and service costs.
3. Ratepayers have clearly outlaid a lot of money in the leadup to this scheme, through leaflets, council interfacing with affected residents and businesses, media advertising, public information sessions run by council staff, and the like. What will be the council's own total expenditure on the scheme up to its projected start point late this year?
A: The June 2009 estimate was $1.6million to provide 2000 rental bikes for up to 150 stations.
4. And does the agreement with the company that won the tender to run the scheme allow for those costs to be reclaimed from that company's profits.
A: No.
5. Can you give the ratepayers of Brisbane an assurance that whatever assistance has been, or is to be given to the operator by council under the agreement as it stands is the final contribution by the people of Brisbane? Or put another way, can you give an assurance that there is nothing in the agreement that commits ratepayers to outlay any further funds, in any shape or form whatsoever, to come to this operator's rescue if it struggles to run a profitable scheme?
A: Council shares risks with the operator.
6. At a recent protest meeting in New Farm, a local couple who says there will be a bike station directly outside their residence claimed that while council had stated there had been three "face-to-face" meetings with them, none had occurred. Given their statement, do you stand by your claim that all residents who would be directly affected. i.e. stations or advertising signs in front of their homes, had been consulted fully?
A: Council contacted residents where stations were proposed in residential areas and affected local parking arrangements, in late 2009. This was undertaken via doorknocking and follow up letterbox notifications that invited face to face meeting with these residents.
7. Why were residents in neighbouring houses or nearby businesses not consulted with directly? Don't they stand to lose just as much from the loss of parking spaces for either visitors or customers?
A: In Question 3, you state that ratepayers have clearly outlaid a lot of money in the lead up to this scheme, through leaflets, council interfacing with affected residents and businesses. Council undertook consultation across the CityCycle area during the second half of 2009, during which all residents were encouraged to be involved and contact Council for more information / to provide comment. This consultation included, newsletters to local residents, six separate staffed public displays, static displays in both the Central and the Gabba Ward offices as well as the West End and New Farm Libraries, which ran for over two weeks, briefings with stakeholders, a dedicated 1800 number and email address for local residents and businesses to contact Council regarding CityCycle and regular website updates.
8. The New Farm protest meeting suggested the siting of some stations on busy streets could lead to riders entering and leaving the stations being struck by motorists. Are you confident that the siting of all stations as outlined in council leaflets are in the best possible locations and are totally safe?
A: Pedestrian, cyclist and road user safety is a priority for Council. All CityCycle station sites have undergone a Council approval process, with consideration to traffic movements, sight lines for pedestrians and road users, existing signage and footpath furniture features. Each assessment has also considered conflict points between pedestrians, cyclists and road user movements. The CityCycle bike stations will include traffic island improvements to protect users, increased visibility and road surface treatments (green paint). The height and layout of the bike racks will offer improved visibility, when compared with parked cars.
HQ a fillip for Valley day economy?
NEWS
Valley traders will be hoping for a positive spinoff following the recent shift by more than 320 Leighton Contractors staff into one of Brisbane’s most environmentally sustainable buildings, HQ at 520 Wickham Street, Fortitude Valley.
The construction giant has brought together many of its divisions and believes it will be better positioned to deliver integrated client solutions. For struggling traders, especially in the central Valley Mall area, the extra workers could well help turn their fortunes around.
In recent weeks alone, the long-standing Holmes newsagency and a convenience store have closed their doors on the mall proper. And remaining traders will be anxious to gauge whether the ever-growing workforce at HQ will make its way to their doors at lunchbreaks and after work knock off.
In addition to being a tenant, Leighton Contractors was also the joint venture developer, alongside Leighton Properties, and design and construct contractor for HQ.
Darren Weir, General Manager, Leighton Contractors Northern Region, said the move was the result of more than three years of planning and development. “We’re proud of our new home, which showcases our edge in green building and world leading, sustainable design and construction,” he said.
“HQ has been awarded a 6 Star Green Star in Office Design v2 from the Green Building Council of Australia, and the building is also registered for a Green Star – As Built rating and targeting a 6 Star Green Star rating.”
HQ’s two towers collectively provide over 40,000m² of commercial office space and 3,500m² of retail space. HQ’s green star features include:
• cogeneration to power the building, burning cleaner and reducing CO² emissions by over 700 tonnes per annum
• 50 per cent greater fresh air into the building than standard
• CO² monitoring to further increase the fresh air automatically as required
• water efficient taps, showers, toilets and urinals
• rainwater capture and storage for toilet flushing and irrigation
• cyclist facilities for approximately 280 cyclists.
The official opening of HQ will be held in July, when Lord Mayor Campbell Newman will unveil a plaque at the development.
Smart state and smart homes equal smart future
PROPERTY
The Queensland Smart Home Initiative, a revolutionary demonstration facility showcasing the latest assistive technology , was officially opened late last month by Deputy Premier Paul Lucas.
Located at LifeTec’s premises at Reading Newmarket, the facility allows industry professionals, carers and the general public to touch and feel the technology and see firsthand many of the devices in action.
When installed in the home, these devices assist older people and people with special and ongoing needs to carry out everyday activities and maintain their safety and independence in the home.
The technology can provide quick access to emergency assistance, monitor a residents’ condition to ensure they are carrying out healthy activity in the home, such as regularly using the kitchen and bathroom , and alerting of potentially dangerous situations such as falling over, not getting out of bed in the morning, or leaving gas on or taps running.
The technology can also alert residents and carers of activity being carried out in their home, such as the phone ringing, doorbell chiming, or other assistive devices being activated. Set up by a team of corporate and community organisations, universities and government bodies, the QSHI aims to educate the community and encourage the adoption of assistive technology for older people, people with special or ongoing needs, and people managing chronic conditions.
Professor Jeffrey Soar, the convenor of the QSHI and associate professor at the University of Southern Queensland is a big supporter of assistive technology, regularly researching, writing and presenting on the issue.
“The launch of the Queensland Smart Home Initiative is a major step forward in generating awareness for the use of assistive technology for supporting independent living, providing access to care, improving outcomes and reducing costs”, Professor Soar said.
“The QSHI gives people the opportunity to experience the technology for themselves and see just how simply and effectively it works”. As well as having the latest assistive technology, the QSHI is fitted with appropriate fixtures and fittings, tiles and flooring, taps and toilets, and furnishings to assist older people and people with special needs.
Chief Executive Officer of LifeTec Queensland, James Barrientos, is proud to be hosting the QSHI demonstrator. “Traditionally LifeTec has assisted people with health conditions and other needs to participate to their full potential in everyday activities”, Mr Barrientos said.
“The QSHI adds a new dimension to our services, allowing people to see firsthand the benefits of incorporating assistive technology into their home environment”. The Queensland Smart Home Initiative is funded by LifeTec, Tunstall Healthcare, Queensland Health and the Home and Community Care program in Queensland, which is jointly funded by the Australian and Queensland Governments.
• The QSHI demonstrator is open for viewing by the general public at Level 1, Reading Newmarket, Cnr Newmarket and Enoggera roads, Newmarket. To book a guided tour of the QSHI call LifeTec on (07) 3552 9000.
The Queensland Smart Home Initiative, a revolutionary demonstration facility showcasing the latest assistive technology , was officially opened late last month by Deputy Premier Paul Lucas.
Located at LifeTec’s premises at Reading Newmarket, the facility allows industry professionals, carers and the general public to touch and feel the technology and see firsthand many of the devices in action.
When installed in the home, these devices assist older people and people with special and ongoing needs to carry out everyday activities and maintain their safety and independence in the home.
The technology can provide quick access to emergency assistance, monitor a residents’ condition to ensure they are carrying out healthy activity in the home, such as regularly using the kitchen and bathroom , and alerting of potentially dangerous situations such as falling over, not getting out of bed in the morning, or leaving gas on or taps running.
The technology can also alert residents and carers of activity being carried out in their home, such as the phone ringing, doorbell chiming, or other assistive devices being activated. Set up by a team of corporate and community organisations, universities and government bodies, the QSHI aims to educate the community and encourage the adoption of assistive technology for older people, people with special or ongoing needs, and people managing chronic conditions.
Professor Jeffrey Soar, the convenor of the QSHI and associate professor at the University of Southern Queensland is a big supporter of assistive technology, regularly researching, writing and presenting on the issue.
“The launch of the Queensland Smart Home Initiative is a major step forward in generating awareness for the use of assistive technology for supporting independent living, providing access to care, improving outcomes and reducing costs”, Professor Soar said.
“The QSHI gives people the opportunity to experience the technology for themselves and see just how simply and effectively it works”. As well as having the latest assistive technology, the QSHI is fitted with appropriate fixtures and fittings, tiles and flooring, taps and toilets, and furnishings to assist older people and people with special needs.
Chief Executive Officer of LifeTec Queensland, James Barrientos, is proud to be hosting the QSHI demonstrator. “Traditionally LifeTec has assisted people with health conditions and other needs to participate to their full potential in everyday activities”, Mr Barrientos said.
“The QSHI adds a new dimension to our services, allowing people to see firsthand the benefits of incorporating assistive technology into their home environment”. The Queensland Smart Home Initiative is funded by LifeTec, Tunstall Healthcare, Queensland Health and the Home and Community Care program in Queensland, which is jointly funded by the Australian and Queensland Governments.
• The QSHI demonstrator is open for viewing by the general public at Level 1, Reading Newmarket, Cnr Newmarket and Enoggera roads, Newmarket. To book a guided tour of the QSHI call LifeTec on (07) 3552 9000.
Forgotten places on show
PROPERTY
Do you have an interest in unlocking the hidden potential of the laneways and forgotten places of Fortitude Valley? If you do, then an upcoming exhibition will open your imagination to the future possibilities of the Valley’s small spaces.
Forgotten Places: Rediscovering the small spaces and laneways of the Valley is an exhibition by QUT fourth-year architecture design students showing in the TC Beirne Building, Brunswick Street Mall, Fortitude Valley from June 19 to 27 from 7am to 7pm.
Exhibition organisers say visitors will “be inspired by an exciting, new vision for the transformation of the forgotten places of Fortitude Valley. This project showcases young designers’ ideas for the rejuvenation of small places”. There will be a student forum on June 19 from 2pm to 5pm involving a panel discussion with QUT students on activating the small spaces in the Valley through the design of temporary art galleries.
The exhibition is supported by the QUT's School of Design in the Faculty of Built Environment and Engineering, the Lord Mayor’s Suburban Initiative Fund, Councillor David Hinchliffe’s Central Ward and Forwin.
Housing sales come off the boil
PROPERTY
Queensland’s residential property market has returned to a more usual pattern of sales following a year of increased first-home buyer activity, according to the Real Estate Institute of Queensland (REIQ).
The REIQ’s March quarter 2010 report found preliminary sales numbers to second and third home buyers increased as demand for affordable stock by first home buyers decreased. Historically low interest rates and first home buyer incentives underpinned this fluctuation in buyer demand during 2009.
“This is the second consecutive quarter where the return to this more common type of buyer demand has been recorded and helps to explain the fluctuation in median house prices we have experienced over recent times,” REIQ managing director Dan Molloy said.
Brisbane’s median house price remained flat at $535,000 during the March quarter, as did the Gold Coast on $510,000. The Sunshine Coast posted a small 1.1 per cent rise to $480,000.
The modest results also show that – unlike some other parts of the country – Queensland’s property market did not get ahead of itself earlier this year. While preliminary sales activity increased slightly over the March quarter, agents across the State are now reporting less demand from buyers.
“The series of six interest rate increases in seven months has really put the brakes on the market with agents reporting significantly less activity since Easter,” Mr Molloy said. “Indeed, the May interest rate hike may well be the one that broke the camel’s back as the market had already slowed substantially by that point in time.”
Over the March quarter, the Gladstone region posted the strongest result with a median house price increase of 7.9 per cent to $383,000.
Queensland’s residential property market has returned to a more usual pattern of sales following a year of increased first-home buyer activity, according to the Real Estate Institute of Queensland (REIQ).
The REIQ’s March quarter 2010 report found preliminary sales numbers to second and third home buyers increased as demand for affordable stock by first home buyers decreased. Historically low interest rates and first home buyer incentives underpinned this fluctuation in buyer demand during 2009.
“This is the second consecutive quarter where the return to this more common type of buyer demand has been recorded and helps to explain the fluctuation in median house prices we have experienced over recent times,” REIQ managing director Dan Molloy said.
Brisbane’s median house price remained flat at $535,000 during the March quarter, as did the Gold Coast on $510,000. The Sunshine Coast posted a small 1.1 per cent rise to $480,000.
The modest results also show that – unlike some other parts of the country – Queensland’s property market did not get ahead of itself earlier this year. While preliminary sales activity increased slightly over the March quarter, agents across the State are now reporting less demand from buyers.
“The series of six interest rate increases in seven months has really put the brakes on the market with agents reporting significantly less activity since Easter,” Mr Molloy said. “Indeed, the May interest rate hike may well be the one that broke the camel’s back as the market had already slowed substantially by that point in time.”
Over the March quarter, the Gladstone region posted the strongest result with a median house price increase of 7.9 per cent to $383,000.
Refills give an inkling of a rip-off
FROM MY CORNER ... with Ann Brunswick
In one of my recent columns mention was made of my inability to print out a document on my home computer because of low or zero ink levels.
Just a few days ago a trip to a stationery outlet remedied that problem. But at a cost, as usual. It has always amused, amazed, and annoyed me that over time the cost of home printers has come down while the cost of replacement ink cartridges has gone up and their size has shrunk.
In other words we are all paying more for less ink. That also means it now doesn’t take the printing of many pages to run cartridges dry. At the stationery store brand-name replacements for my particular printer cost almost $50 for a pack containing black, cyan, magenta, and yellow cartridges.
A generic brand was available for just under $43. So guess which one ended up in my shopping basket? But even allowing for the $7 saving, ink is still a pricey item. But it is hard to do comparison shopping because the quantities of ink in each pack is never easy to see among the fine print on each package.
In some cases it is doubtful there is any such information on the pack at all as far as my eyes would testify. If you really want to get an idea of how much you are overpaying for printer ink, grab a calculator.
The $43 pack that refilled my printer contained one 20ml cartridge of black ink and three 9ml cartridges of the other required colours. So that’s a grand total of 47ml. Now you do the maths. The 47ml of ink in the four cartridges cost $43. In other words, around $914 a litre. Not even the oil companies can match that.
***
Well, it’s official. Former premier Peter Beattie is set to return to active political life when he ends his tenure as our state’s trade representative in Los Angeles.
Not only that, he has signalled to current premier Anna Bligh that his old LA post should be scrapped. Apparently he has generated something like $897 billion worth of business for our state. Maybe those aren’t the exact figures reported in the mainstream media. But it’s pretty much as sure thing that the figure would be pretty close to the one cited by Mr Beattie himself if you asked him.
Nevertheless, The Australian newspaper quoted Mr Beattie as saying he had “opened all the doors he could for Queensland firms and investment into the state from Canada, the US and Latin America, and it was time to move on”.
So, no need to fill the post after he leaves one would assume. Quite a saving for taxpayers there, it would seem. But back to his announcement of his planned return to the political arena.
The Australian also quoted Mr Beattie as saying he was not interested in any role in politics. When pressed on the point by reporters he added “Trust me”, according to our national broadsheet.
Most Queenslanders accustomed to translating Beattie-speak know by now what he would mean when he said he had no further political ambitions. Pretty much like they know what he meant when he said he would refuse to take any government job when he quite the premiership, just months before packing his bags for LA.
Or when he said we would all be paying less for our electricity by now. Or when he said ..... Oh, you can just fill in the many blanks.
***
Last week saw me at lunch with a few gal pals at a near-city eatery. One of my table companions arrived a little later than the rest of us after having been delayed at a previous engagement.
When she sat down the efficient wait staff asked if she wanted something to drink while she perused the menu. Yes, she did, a glass of water. The wait person then informed us that that particular outlet did not supply water by the glass – meaning they did not supply water for free – but bottled water was available at a cost. Well, my friend rejected that idea out of hand. And so she should have.
Why do so many eateries refuse to supply cold water free to their patrons and instead insist on selling it in plastic bottles. As you know there is a whole other argument about the alleged environmental impacts of bottled water.
But the simple fact is that the cost of “free” water – staff time, chilling, glass and bottle supplies, washing-up and the like – could and should all be factored into an eatery’s operating costs.
A lot of cafes and restaurants already charge corkage and cakeage when customers bring their own wines or baked goods to eat. What’s next? Will we all be paying waterage if we bring our own supply? Next it will be chairage just to sit down to eat, forkage if we want cutlery, and wipeage for toilet paper.
In one of my recent columns mention was made of my inability to print out a document on my home computer because of low or zero ink levels.
Just a few days ago a trip to a stationery outlet remedied that problem. But at a cost, as usual. It has always amused, amazed, and annoyed me that over time the cost of home printers has come down while the cost of replacement ink cartridges has gone up and their size has shrunk.
In other words we are all paying more for less ink. That also means it now doesn’t take the printing of many pages to run cartridges dry. At the stationery store brand-name replacements for my particular printer cost almost $50 for a pack containing black, cyan, magenta, and yellow cartridges.
A generic brand was available for just under $43. So guess which one ended up in my shopping basket? But even allowing for the $7 saving, ink is still a pricey item. But it is hard to do comparison shopping because the quantities of ink in each pack is never easy to see among the fine print on each package.
In some cases it is doubtful there is any such information on the pack at all as far as my eyes would testify. If you really want to get an idea of how much you are overpaying for printer ink, grab a calculator.
The $43 pack that refilled my printer contained one 20ml cartridge of black ink and three 9ml cartridges of the other required colours. So that’s a grand total of 47ml. Now you do the maths. The 47ml of ink in the four cartridges cost $43. In other words, around $914 a litre. Not even the oil companies can match that.
***
Well, it’s official. Former premier Peter Beattie is set to return to active political life when he ends his tenure as our state’s trade representative in Los Angeles.
Not only that, he has signalled to current premier Anna Bligh that his old LA post should be scrapped. Apparently he has generated something like $897 billion worth of business for our state. Maybe those aren’t the exact figures reported in the mainstream media. But it’s pretty much as sure thing that the figure would be pretty close to the one cited by Mr Beattie himself if you asked him.
Nevertheless, The Australian newspaper quoted Mr Beattie as saying he had “opened all the doors he could for Queensland firms and investment into the state from Canada, the US and Latin America, and it was time to move on”.
So, no need to fill the post after he leaves one would assume. Quite a saving for taxpayers there, it would seem. But back to his announcement of his planned return to the political arena.
The Australian also quoted Mr Beattie as saying he was not interested in any role in politics. When pressed on the point by reporters he added “Trust me”, according to our national broadsheet.
Most Queenslanders accustomed to translating Beattie-speak know by now what he would mean when he said he had no further political ambitions. Pretty much like they know what he meant when he said he would refuse to take any government job when he quite the premiership, just months before packing his bags for LA.
Or when he said we would all be paying less for our electricity by now. Or when he said ..... Oh, you can just fill in the many blanks.
***
Last week saw me at lunch with a few gal pals at a near-city eatery. One of my table companions arrived a little later than the rest of us after having been delayed at a previous engagement.
When she sat down the efficient wait staff asked if she wanted something to drink while she perused the menu. Yes, she did, a glass of water. The wait person then informed us that that particular outlet did not supply water by the glass – meaning they did not supply water for free – but bottled water was available at a cost. Well, my friend rejected that idea out of hand. And so she should have.
Why do so many eateries refuse to supply cold water free to their patrons and instead insist on selling it in plastic bottles. As you know there is a whole other argument about the alleged environmental impacts of bottled water.
But the simple fact is that the cost of “free” water – staff time, chilling, glass and bottle supplies, washing-up and the like – could and should all be factored into an eatery’s operating costs.
A lot of cafes and restaurants already charge corkage and cakeage when customers bring their own wines or baked goods to eat. What’s next? Will we all be paying waterage if we bring our own supply? Next it will be chairage just to sit down to eat, forkage if we want cutlery, and wipeage for toilet paper.
A world-farce show
THEATRE ... with Oscar
Brave New World Order
By Clarry Evans and Brett Heath
a Dianne Gough Production at the Powerhouse Visy Theatre
Season has ended.
Hamlet, Evita and the Rocky Horror Show collide in this contemporary rock musical that mounts a virulent critique of global monopoly capitalism. There is nothing like a comedy to bring home current world issues of greed and socio-economic crisis. Brave New World Order has it all wrapped up in a fast-paced, fast-talking all-singing highly entertaining show.
Very loosely based on the dysfunctional family of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark (courtesy of Shakespeare) Claudius the uncle (Chris Herden), an ageing hippie, arranges the murder of his brother, Rhino Ron Pucker (Warwick Comber), the chief executive officer of Global Corp.
He then quickly becomes the supposedly widowed Gertrude’s ( Alice Barbery) lover and takes over the company. Ophelia (Candice Leask) is a finance analyst trying to bring down the board of Global Corp, the sinister manipulator of global finance and arms dealing. Horatio (Noel Sheridan) is a slimy corporate lawyer, but not gay, who manipulates all sides of this board room fiasco.
Rosie Gee (Rachel Burke) cleverly played as a vacuous self-seeking media personality reveals herself as a clever vixen. Hamlet (Vanja Matula) plays a true-to-life Mummy’s boy whose consciousness of Ophelia could not be raised upwards past his navel.
The Hamlettes are fantastic in their support of Hamlet who truly does not deserve them. In true Shakespeare form the stage is littered with corpses in the closing scene. For those of us bilious at the thought of more reality cooking shows, Connor Comstock (Steven Grives) the celebrity chef’s performance makes Gordon Ramsay a perfect saint. An excellent role well played by this English actor.
But actually the stage presence for the play is definitely Warwick Comber who stole the show in his larger than life cabaret portrayal that left the rest of the cast in the margins. The libretto of the songs were highly entertaining for the residual lefties – even if the music was not memorable- but most of the words escaped me when I left the theatre.
The Visy Theatre gives the director Flloyd Kennedy, good opportunities to spread the action, do great lighting and allow interaction with the band – a very efficient and talented team of players.
The auditorium was filled with hipsters aged between 15 to 25 and this show will bring all the New Farm/ Valley Kulture Krowd out in droves. This is not to be missed as the the rock musical of the year but I guess there will not be a ticket left after this weekend as soon as the word gets around.
This must be produced again, even yearly, to keep these issues paramount in our brains. Bring on Macbeth the contemporary rock opera.
Some sons do have ‘em
Mother & Son
By Geoffrey Atherden
Stage Door Dinner Theatre, Bowen Hills
Until July 24.
Bookings: 3216 1115
Ruth Cracknell and Garry McDonald are icons of modern Australian culture, which is probably one of the best reasons to visit the drama that made them so.
Stage Door brings this celebrated TV series to Brisbane with its usual panache. With its laugh-out-loud one-liners and all too true scenes of dementia, sibling rivalry and coping with one’s mother rather badly, this is a show that seems to fit well on this particular stage.
The audience are intimately drawn into the kitchen where all the drama takes place and sometimes it is hard for the actors to continue their lines as the laughs are continuing so long.
For those of you who have long loved the TV series, it must be hard to imagine how this can be put on as a play. Here the two acts have themes with as many scenes as are in a two hour TV show, and with all the humour to boot.
The first set has Maggie Bear (Marie Millette) suffering from loneliness as all her old neighbours have been replaced by non-English speaking migrants. Costa (Damien Lee) comes on to the scene to befriend Arthur (Shane Drury) and to bring his mother Mrs Arkon (Colleen Crisp) and Maggie together.
Then there is the scene full of pathos where Maggie reads her will and announces that Robbie gets the house but she will leave Arthur a million dollars which she is sure she will win in Lotto one day.
The funniest scene is where Maggie’s search for a friend ends in a crisis at her birthday party dinner as her beloved first son Robbie (Chris Chambers) and his wife Liz (Susan Fenn) fight and her new boyfriend Lionel (Damien Lee again) gets blown up by the stove.
Director (Lynne Wright) is to be congratulated for keeping the characters so authentic, a very good piece of work as the pace was good and the actors kept their energy right to the last. And where did you find such a great Maggie in Marie Millette? She was outstanding and had the Ruth Cracknell accent down without a fault.
Chris Chambers also made a clever job of Robbie which made the play so much more satisfying when you have this character being played true to the original.
The set design by Bradley Clarke is excellent and unusually clever. Damien’s cameos brought the house down as Costa, the policeman, and then as Lionel with the unbelievable comb-over and mullet.
For a small stage this performance packed a lot of punch. It is absolutely a must-see for those of you who remember Mother & Son fondly – you will be thrilled to see them again with laughs galore!
BAT closer to mark for excellence
Closer
By Patrick Marner
Brisbane Arts Theatre, Petrie Terrace Until 19 June.
Closer affirms the BAT place in the Brisbane theatre landscape. This current production demonstrates their dedication and talent in presenting an award-winning adults-only play.
Penned by Patrick Marner in the late 90s for an ensemble of two men and two women engaged in an intimate entanglement of lust, love and betrayal; the play also provides a clever look at how the English class system underlies many of the characters’ motivations.
Alice (Katie Dowling) is a self-described waif and stripper who picks up Dan (Peter Norton) an obituary writing journalist and talentless author.
Dan exploits this affair to write a salacious novel based on Alice’s life. It’s a flop, but whilst being photographed for the dust-jacket he becomes obsessed with the intelligent classy photographer, Anna (Izebela Wasilewsa).
In the cleverest scene of the play Dan manipulates Larry the doctor (James Fitzgerald) in an Internet sex chat room whereby Larry attempts to realise his caveman sex drive through a meeting with a mysterious sex kitten and there ensues a comic coincidence when Anna turns up at the rendezvous.
A relationship follows leading to matrimony, but the obsession by Dan leads Anna into an affair with him and their respective partners are sent packing. Thus Dr Larry then pursues Alice who to his delight has gone back to her occupation as a stripper.
Explicit sexual desire and its satisfaction are hurled across the stage in a painful, scab-lifting psycho-social drama. The audience cringe as they are confronted with detailed infidelities and betrayals that make up these contemporary relationships.
This must have been a challenging job for the director John Boyce but the actors came up to the mark with their delivery and pace. It can stand alone as an excellent play where the sexual politics of the day were expounded by the cast, but the added depth of the English class-based politics which required the necessary English accents, were left unrevealed.
Definitely a recommendation if you want a good play with all the guts, bearing in mind that it may be offend those with ‘family values’ and recovering nicotine addicts.
Brave New World Order
By Clarry Evans and Brett Heath
a Dianne Gough Production at the Powerhouse Visy Theatre
Season has ended.
Hamlet, Evita and the Rocky Horror Show collide in this contemporary rock musical that mounts a virulent critique of global monopoly capitalism. There is nothing like a comedy to bring home current world issues of greed and socio-economic crisis. Brave New World Order has it all wrapped up in a fast-paced, fast-talking all-singing highly entertaining show.
Very loosely based on the dysfunctional family of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark (courtesy of Shakespeare) Claudius the uncle (Chris Herden), an ageing hippie, arranges the murder of his brother, Rhino Ron Pucker (Warwick Comber), the chief executive officer of Global Corp.
He then quickly becomes the supposedly widowed Gertrude’s ( Alice Barbery) lover and takes over the company. Ophelia (Candice Leask) is a finance analyst trying to bring down the board of Global Corp, the sinister manipulator of global finance and arms dealing. Horatio (Noel Sheridan) is a slimy corporate lawyer, but not gay, who manipulates all sides of this board room fiasco.
Rosie Gee (Rachel Burke) cleverly played as a vacuous self-seeking media personality reveals herself as a clever vixen. Hamlet (Vanja Matula) plays a true-to-life Mummy’s boy whose consciousness of Ophelia could not be raised upwards past his navel.
The Hamlettes are fantastic in their support of Hamlet who truly does not deserve them. In true Shakespeare form the stage is littered with corpses in the closing scene. For those of us bilious at the thought of more reality cooking shows, Connor Comstock (Steven Grives) the celebrity chef’s performance makes Gordon Ramsay a perfect saint. An excellent role well played by this English actor.
But actually the stage presence for the play is definitely Warwick Comber who stole the show in his larger than life cabaret portrayal that left the rest of the cast in the margins. The libretto of the songs were highly entertaining for the residual lefties – even if the music was not memorable- but most of the words escaped me when I left the theatre.
The Visy Theatre gives the director Flloyd Kennedy, good opportunities to spread the action, do great lighting and allow interaction with the band – a very efficient and talented team of players.
The auditorium was filled with hipsters aged between 15 to 25 and this show will bring all the New Farm/ Valley Kulture Krowd out in droves. This is not to be missed as the the rock musical of the year but I guess there will not be a ticket left after this weekend as soon as the word gets around.
This must be produced again, even yearly, to keep these issues paramount in our brains. Bring on Macbeth the contemporary rock opera.
Some sons do have ‘em
Mother & Son
By Geoffrey Atherden
Stage Door Dinner Theatre, Bowen Hills
Until July 24.
Bookings: 3216 1115
Ruth Cracknell and Garry McDonald are icons of modern Australian culture, which is probably one of the best reasons to visit the drama that made them so.
Stage Door brings this celebrated TV series to Brisbane with its usual panache. With its laugh-out-loud one-liners and all too true scenes of dementia, sibling rivalry and coping with one’s mother rather badly, this is a show that seems to fit well on this particular stage.
The audience are intimately drawn into the kitchen where all the drama takes place and sometimes it is hard for the actors to continue their lines as the laughs are continuing so long.
For those of you who have long loved the TV series, it must be hard to imagine how this can be put on as a play. Here the two acts have themes with as many scenes as are in a two hour TV show, and with all the humour to boot.
The first set has Maggie Bear (Marie Millette) suffering from loneliness as all her old neighbours have been replaced by non-English speaking migrants. Costa (Damien Lee) comes on to the scene to befriend Arthur (Shane Drury) and to bring his mother Mrs Arkon (Colleen Crisp) and Maggie together.
Then there is the scene full of pathos where Maggie reads her will and announces that Robbie gets the house but she will leave Arthur a million dollars which she is sure she will win in Lotto one day.
The funniest scene is where Maggie’s search for a friend ends in a crisis at her birthday party dinner as her beloved first son Robbie (Chris Chambers) and his wife Liz (Susan Fenn) fight and her new boyfriend Lionel (Damien Lee again) gets blown up by the stove.
Director (Lynne Wright) is to be congratulated for keeping the characters so authentic, a very good piece of work as the pace was good and the actors kept their energy right to the last. And where did you find such a great Maggie in Marie Millette? She was outstanding and had the Ruth Cracknell accent down without a fault.
Chris Chambers also made a clever job of Robbie which made the play so much more satisfying when you have this character being played true to the original.
The set design by Bradley Clarke is excellent and unusually clever. Damien’s cameos brought the house down as Costa, the policeman, and then as Lionel with the unbelievable comb-over and mullet.
For a small stage this performance packed a lot of punch. It is absolutely a must-see for those of you who remember Mother & Son fondly – you will be thrilled to see them again with laughs galore!
BAT closer to mark for excellence
Closer
By Patrick Marner
Brisbane Arts Theatre, Petrie Terrace Until 19 June.
Closer affirms the BAT place in the Brisbane theatre landscape. This current production demonstrates their dedication and talent in presenting an award-winning adults-only play.
Penned by Patrick Marner in the late 90s for an ensemble of two men and two women engaged in an intimate entanglement of lust, love and betrayal; the play also provides a clever look at how the English class system underlies many of the characters’ motivations.
Alice (Katie Dowling) is a self-described waif and stripper who picks up Dan (Peter Norton) an obituary writing journalist and talentless author.
Dan exploits this affair to write a salacious novel based on Alice’s life. It’s a flop, but whilst being photographed for the dust-jacket he becomes obsessed with the intelligent classy photographer, Anna (Izebela Wasilewsa).
In the cleverest scene of the play Dan manipulates Larry the doctor (James Fitzgerald) in an Internet sex chat room whereby Larry attempts to realise his caveman sex drive through a meeting with a mysterious sex kitten and there ensues a comic coincidence when Anna turns up at the rendezvous.
A relationship follows leading to matrimony, but the obsession by Dan leads Anna into an affair with him and their respective partners are sent packing. Thus Dr Larry then pursues Alice who to his delight has gone back to her occupation as a stripper.
Explicit sexual desire and its satisfaction are hurled across the stage in a painful, scab-lifting psycho-social drama. The audience cringe as they are confronted with detailed infidelities and betrayals that make up these contemporary relationships.
This must have been a challenging job for the director John Boyce but the actors came up to the mark with their delivery and pace. It can stand alone as an excellent play where the sexual politics of the day were expounded by the cast, but the added depth of the English class-based politics which required the necessary English accents, were left unrevealed.
Definitely a recommendation if you want a good play with all the guts, bearing in mind that it may be offend those with ‘family values’ and recovering nicotine addicts.
Not as Baghdad as you might think
FILMS .... with Tim Milfull
The A-Team (M)
Writer/director: Joe Carnahan
Stars: Liam Neeson, Bradley Cooper, Quinton Jackson
Rating: 3/5
100-minutes, screening from June 10
I’ll confess a guilty pleasure for low-brow 80s television action shows like Knightrider and The Dukes of Hazzard, and I loved George Peppard in The A-Team.
A big-screen version of Logan’s Run is on its way, but has anyone considered adapting Man from Atlantis? Apparently Hollywood hasn’t quite reached the bottom of the television barrel in terms of mining “successes” of the past, but as far as I’m concerned The A-Team is a long way from the dregs.
In the re-jigged version, writer-director, Joe Carnahan offers a little bit of background to the boys’ origins. At the start of the film, Colonel John “Hannibal” Smith (Liam Neeson), and Lieutenant Templeton “Faceman” Peck (Bradley Cooper) are US Army Ranger operatives hunting down a rogue Mexican general, and ex-Ranger, Sergeant Bosco “B.A.” Baracus (Quinton Jackson) and the clinically-insane chopper pilot, Captain “Howling Mad” Murdock (District 9’s Shartlo Copley) are “drafted” in to help them out of a sticky situation.
Almost a decade later, “The A-Team” has formed a formidable reputation as operatives who achieve what others can’t, but their final assignment as the US-occupation of Baghdad draws to a close, ends in the death of a general, the disappearance of a billion dollars, and Wanted posters being slapped up for the boys.
What else to do than find the money, avenge their mate, and clear their names? This is good, relatively clean, ridiculously improbable fun; for those looking for an antidote to other, more dodgy adaptations like Daredevil and The Losers, The A-Team might have the answers.
Faults with this flick are legiondary
Legion (M)
Writer/director: Scott Stewart
Stars: Paul Bettnay, Dennis Quaid
Rating: 1/5
100-minutes, now screening
Sometimes it’s a worry when audiences start laughing early in a film, especially when it’s telling the story of the end of the world. Legion is the debut feature of writer-director Scott Stewart, and dear, oh, dear, does it show.
Stewart has a fairly solid background in visual effects, and that’s probably how he sold this script to producers, but this glossy mess looks like a pretty expensive, slightly scorched white elephant.
Apparently God has the shits with humanity, and has decided to call it quits by fast-tracking the Apocalypse. But one of his right-hand men – Paul Bettany’s Archangel Michael – thinks his boss might be a little short-tempered, and sets out to rescue the soon-to-be born Messiah, whose mother, Charlie (Adrianne Palicki) is an ordinary waitress in a remote roadhouse somewhere in Bumf**k, Who Cares.
Charlie’s boss, Bob (Dennis Quaid) realises that life has passed him by, and is desperate to stop the same thing happening to his mouth-breathing son, Jeep (Lucas Black), who is obsessed with Charlie.
When an innocuous granny tears a chunk out of the throat of one of their diners and tries doing the same to Charlie, the roadhouse crew realise something is amiss, especially when the hulking Michael roars up to the roadhouse in a stolen police car filled with weapons. Cue the plagues of flies, armies of zombies, and a very cranky Archangel Gabriel (Kevin Durand).
Legion is just plain laugh-out-loud stupid – don’t waste your money.
THE BINGE
Mother (MA15+)
Street of Shame & Her Mother’s Profession (M)
Noodle (PG)
Of Time and the City (M)
All now available from Madman
The Korean drama Mother (above) is the much-anticipated latest film from Bong Joon-ho, who made the amazing monster flick The Host in 2009. Rather than lurching mutants, this time round, Bong takes on some more conventional territory, if you regard transgressive Korean cinema as conventional.
After her son has been accused of a vicious murder, Mother (Kim Hye-ja) sets out to clear his name, and really, that’s about it for the story but, oh, what a journey! Kim Hye-ja puts in an extraordinary, award-winning performance in this amazing film.
Adding to their extensive range of classic art-house film, Madman has released two feminist films from Japanese master, Kenji Mizoguchi. Streets of Shame (1956) and Her Mother’s Profession (1954) offer a stark impression of the desperate measures women took in post-war Japan to provide for their family, and both films offer tragic stories set amid amazing real locales around Tokyo.
I wasn’t sure what to expect from Israeli director, Ayelet Menahemi’s film Noodle (2007), but the story of an El Al flight attendant suddenly lumbered with the responsibility of a four-year-old Chinese boy is really quite sweet.
This skilfully layered film features excellent performances from Mili Avital as Miri the psychologically numb flight attendant, and BaoQi Chen as the eponymous Noodle.
And finally, in Of Time and the City, veteran documentary-maker, Terence Davies returns to his hometown of Liverpool to tell the story of the story of his childhood and the city that he came to love and hate. This astonishingly beautiful film is more a work of art than a traditional documentary, as Davies narrates his own, and Liverpool’s history with archival footage and new imagery, and nary a mention of The Beatles.
Where am I?
At the top of a major railway station in the city, maybe? Then again, maybe not.
If you know where it is, you’ve got the chance to win a $60 prize voucher to enjoy some tucker and a drink at the Brunswick Hotel in New Farm. Email your answer to editor@theindependent.com.au to reach us no later than 5pm on Friday week, 18 June 2010. Or drop us the answer in the post by the same deadline to PO Box 476 Valley Q 4006.
One lucky winner will be off to the Brunnie on us. Bon appetit!
Regular Where am I entrant Margaret Ellaway of New Farm recognised part of the famous McWhirters facade in the Valley from our last issue. Margaret is off to the Brunnie for some tucker on us!
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Top shots at the Powerhouse
53rd annual World Press Photo Exhibition
Brisbane Powerhouse, New Farm
Saturday June 5 to Sunday June 27
9am to 5pm Mon to Fri, 10am to 4pm Sat and Sun and during performance times.
It’s free!
For more information go to www.brisbanepowerhouse.org
The world’s most prestigious annual exhibition of photojournalism returns to the Brisbane Powerhouse next month. The 53rd annual World Press Photo exhibition profiles the globe’s top press photographers and showcases the world’s best press photos of 2009.
The World Press Photo contest is the leading international competition in press photography and this year’s competition attracted 101,960 entries from 5847 professional photographers from 128 countries. The international jury awarded prizes across 10 theme categories to 62 photographers, including three Australians: Adam Ferguson (bottom photo above), VII Mentor Program for The New York Times; Craig Golding, for Getty Images; and Justin McManus, The Age.
The prestigious World Press Photo of the Year was awarded to Italian freelance photographer Pietro Masturzo for his picture of women shouting in protest from a rooftop in Tehran (top photo above), on June 24 last year.
The winning photograph is part of a story depicting the nights following the contested presidential elections in Iran.
The exhibition has been brought to Brisbane with the support of Canon Australia, JC Decaux and The Courier-Mail. The exhibition contains images that may offend so is recommended for people aged 15 years and older.
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