This Week in Brisbane: 22nd September

This Week

King George Square games night 
5pm-9pm Thursday 25th
100 Adelaide Street, Brisbane
Free event
Event website

Riverfire
7pm Saturday 27th
Over the Brisbane river, near South Bank
Free event
Event website

100 Horse commemorative ride
12pm-6pm Saturday 27th
Gather along Adelaide St (between George and Creek streets)
Free event
Event website

Marcia Hines live in Queen St Mall
1pm Sunday 28th
Queen St Mall
Free Event
Event Website


Brisbane Festival Events

Brisbane Airport Light Garden
Nightly September 6th-26th
Southbank Parklands
Free event
Event website

Exxopolis
10am – 6:30pm, September 6th-26th
South Bank Parklands
Tickets $7-$16
Event website

Do Do Land
6:45-7:30, September 6th-27th
Reddacliff Place Stage, 266 George St
Free event
Event website

What to find more events happening in Brisbane?

This Week in Brisbane: 15th September

This Week

Politics in the Pub
6pm Wednesday 17th
The Brisbane Powerhouse
Free Event
Event website

Free Burgers at Grill'd Launch
6-8pm Friday 19th
Grill'd Victoria Point
Free Event
Event website

Brisbane Good Food and Wine Show
9am-5pm Wednesday, Thursday & Friday
Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre
General Entry $26 ($23 Concession) 
Event website

Hobbit Picnic in the Park
12pm Saturday 20th
Kidspace, 7th Brigade Park, Chermside
Free Event
Event website

Big Adopt Out 
9am-3pm Saturday 20th
Brisbane Showgrounds
Free Event
Event website

Citra Malaysia 2014 
11am-2pm Saturday 20th
Queen St Mall
Free Event
Event website

Big Band and the Bluff 
12-3:30pm Sunday 21st
Spring Bluff Railway Station
Free Event
Event website

RapCity 
5pm Sunday 21st
The Brisbane Powerhouse
Free Event
Event website


Brisbane Festival Events

Brisbane Airport Light Garden
Nightly September 6th-26th
Southbank Parklands
Free Event
Event website

Exxopolis
10am – 6:30pm, September 6th-26th
South Bank Parklands
Tickets $7-$16
Event website

Do Do Land
6:45-7:30, September 6th-27th
Reddacliff Place Stage, 266 George St
Free Event
Event website

What to find more events happening in Brisbane?

This Week in Brisbane: 8th September

This Week

Cycle for life Citycycle ride
7-11am Sunday 14th
Musgrave Park
$30 ($20 earlybirds)
Event website

Street Reads
3-14th September
Various locations
Free Event
Event website

Jo Lawry 
12-1pm Tuesday 9th

	Brisbane City Hall, 64 Adelaide St, Brisbane

Free Event
Event website

Brisbane Festival Free Events

A Day With Our ABC
11:30am-10:00pm Monday 8th
The Telstra Spiegeltent, South Bank
Free Event
Event website

Twilight Music Series
5-7pm Thursday-Saturday nights
River Quay Green, South Bank
Free Event
Event website

Brisbane Airport Light Garden
Nightly September 6th-26th
South Bank Parklands
Free Event
Event website

Do Do Land
6:45-7:30, September 6th-27th
Reddacliff Place Stage, 266 George St
Free Event
Event website

Tawdry Heartburn's Manic Cures
6.30pm – 8.30pm Tuesdays-Saturdays
The Parade Ground, QUT  Kelvin Grove
Creative Industries Precinct
Free Event
Event website

Silent Drag Photo Booth of Berlyn
9:00-10:30pm Tuesdays-Saturdays
The Parade Ground, QUT  Kelvin Grove
Creative Industries Precinct
Free Event
Event website

Access Arts Camera Wonderer Installation
6:00-11:00pm Tuesdays-Saturdays
The Parade Ground, QUT  Kelvin Grove
Creative Industries Precinct
Free Event
Event website

What to find more events happening in Brisbane?

Brisbane Writers Festival - Street Reads

This was one I was really excited about. If you haven't heard of Street Reads before it's basically a choose your own adventure book played in the read world. The basic premise is that you would start in one of two starting locations (Reddacliff Place or the State Library forecourt) where you would find a poster with a QR code that you could scan on your smart phone and be linked to a webpage with a section of the story that you could either read or listen to. At the end of each section you would be given two or three options of what you want to do, each directing you to the next location. Pretty neat.

As a huge fan of the choose your own adventure books as a kid I loved this idea and headed out, enthausiastic as anything, the day it started. My gusto began to slowly crumble as I became increasingly aware of my limited knowledge of city street names and landmarks. This first occurred as I was being directed "along George Street in the direction of City Hall". City Hall? Where's that? That sounds like somewhere I should have heard of? I looked down George Street and took a gamble, I had a 50/50 chance of picking the right direction. I chose wrong. A few blocks down I was sure I'd gone in the wrong direction so, not letting that dampen my spirits, I turned around and away I went. Surely enough after a few blocks I found Adelaide St and the bins behind city hall that should have held my next chapter. Examining each bin as I went I found a poster, scanned it, nope, that one was the end of a different story. After about my third sweep of the street I accepted defeat on that one and decided to go back to my previous location and try a different route.

This time I was sent to Burnett Lane, fortunately I  had seen this street sign on my way to Adelaide St and knew where to go, so I set off, again. At this point I think it's important to note the alarm bells that were going off in my 20-year-old female brain as I turned down an alley that I would never have walked down alone without reason. Maybe it was just that day, but lined with construction workers, staff on smoking breaks and a general lack of other female presence the alley didn't give me the feeling of somewhere I should have been and I rechecked the street name before wondering why I was being sent down this undesirable alleyway.

Granted I was paying more attention to my safety than to any posters on the pavement, but again, the only poster I found was for a different story. I still wonder if the real poster was under one of the number of delivery trucks parked in the street, if it was there at all, or if I just missed it entirely but this was where my patience was lost and I gave up.

I did go back and try to restart the story entirely but with significantly less enthusiasm than before and I'm going to give the benefit of the doubt to the creators and give that as justification to not even finding the first section of that story.

Really I was quite disappointed in the experience, perhaps I was having an off day and just missed obvious posters, or maybe they had already been ripped down by vandals but the result was the same. I went home defeated that day. Persistent as I am I have refused to let this ruin what I think is a great idea and, as soon as I have gotten my drive back, I will give it another go and give a further update.

Update: September 13th

Last night I kept my word and attempted Street Reads for the second time. on this adventure I was uploaded into the Nexus of the Brisbane City simulator which was under the threat of Three-Dom, a kind of confusing omnipresent entity in the nexus. This time I was able to find all of the check points (called 'data nodes' in the story) and complete the story and I really enjoyed it. I will admit that some of my choices were still made based on my knowledge of the city, refusing to get lost again. I'm going to take the blame for this one as the creators really did make navigation as easy as possible with directions and maps included.

The initial options you are given for Street Reads allow you to choose the adventure you are embarking on, a pirates adventure, an alien invasion or a digital nexus quest. in my first attempt of Street Reads I chose the alien invasion, and that still sounds like the most fun to me, but in my second attempt I wasn't up for getting as lost and confused as on my first attempt so I chose the digital nexus simply because the QR codes I had mistakenly scanned before were from this story so I knew that at least some of the posters really were around the city. While the story was a little confusing in its over-use of fantasy jargon, it was a lot of fun. Coming out of the experience I felt a weird disappointment to be back in the real world but revelled in the lasting impact of some of the final words of the story that allowed me to hold onto the fantasy that what I had just experienced was more than fiction.

"The real world brightens around you. you're still in King George Square , still flattened and remade by Metricon, but somehow everything is more alive, more colourful. Did your digital adventure affect the real world?"

Going on this adventure reminded me of the games I would play everyday as a kid, I was some kind of adventurer or guardian secretly saving a world that was magical only to me. Being thrown back into this was a lovely, if not totally nostalgic experience.

Tomorrow is the final day for Street Reads 2014 and I really do urge anyone who hasn't yet to give it a try. If you miss this year's there is sure to be another next year.  
 

This Week in Brisbane: 1st September

This Week

Gathering
12-1pm Wednesday 3rd
Queen St Mall
Free Event
Event website

Dance Til You Drop
2-3pm Sunday 7th

	Brisbane Botanic Gardens, Mt Coot-tha

Free Event
Event website
  

Magic of Mandolins
10:30-11:30 Sunday 7th

	Old Government House, QUT Gardens Point Campus

Free Event
Event website

Brisbane Writers Festival
3-7th September
Various locations
Event website

Street Reads
3-14th September
Various locations
Free Event
Event website

Brisbane Festival Events

Brisbane Airport Light Garden
Nightly September 6th-26th
Southbank Parklands
Free Event
Event website

Exxopolis
10am – 6:30pm, September 6th-26th
South Bank Parklands
Tickets $7-$16
Event website

Do Do Land
6:45-7:30, September 6th-27th
Reddacliff Place Stage, 266 George St
Free Event
Event website

What to find more events happening in Brisbane?

Brisbane Apps: Brisbane Kids

While I was in Melbourne a few weeks ago my mother and I relied pretty heavily upon a "Melbourne Guide" app produced by the city council. The app gave us all the necessary information about what was happening in Melbourne, where we could eat, drink and shop and even how to get where we wanted to go. This made me wonder if there was a similar app available to tourists staying in Brisbane. So I looked, and looked, and looked. On the Google Play story on my android phone I found seven apps with the potential to be similar to the one we used in Melbourne, although none of them produced by our city council. Over the next month I'll be reviewing these apps to let you know which ones are the most informative and user friendly. This week we'll look at Brisbane Kids.

1. Brisbane Kids - "The official guide to child friendly Brisbane"
This was an app that I really enjoyed and found easy to navigate. Run by the website brisbanekids.com.au he aim of the app is to make it easier for parents to find child friendly activities and events in Brisbane.

The home screen of the app looks like this and is very easy to navigate. Simply select the area you're interested in and you'll be directed to a list of those kinds of events/activities. The app includes the categories what's on, activities, playgrounds, competitions, classes, services, shopping, party help and holiday. For demonstration I've tapped the "what's on" option and this is where you'll be directed to.

Here I can select the day that I'm looking to occupy and a key word if I have a specific idea in mind. Then I can browse through all the events listed and click on the ones I'm interested in for more detail. 

The other options from the home screen follow a pretty similar template, with the addition of further sub-groups on occasion such as the activities option which then allows you to select the type of activity you're interested in.

 After spending a few minutes I began to really enjoy this app and even though I am not looking for ways to entertain children I really enjoyed exploring this app and may keep it a little longer but ultimately it wasn't designed for me so won't get the use out of it that parents would. I cannot ew3recommend this app enough to parents who are looking for ways to keep their children occupied, particularly over the approaching school holidays. 

This Week in Brisbane: 25th August

This weeks events

Mercedes-Benz Fashion Festival 
24th - 29th August
City Hall
Event website
  

Technicolour Multicultural Festival
11:30am-5:30pm Saturday 30th
DiverCiti Centre (23 Foster St Newmarket)Free Event
Event website
  

Kumbartcho Festival 
11am-3pm Sunday 31st
Kumbartcho Environment Centre
Free event
Event website
  

King George Square Games Night
9pm Thursday 28th
King George Square
Free Event
Event website

What to find more events happening in Brisbane?

Fortitude Valley's Valley Fiesta

It went off with a bang, Brisbane's biggest street party, the event that refused to be rained out.

Over the weekend all walks of Brisbane locals and tourists made there way to the annual Valley Fiesta. Battling the rain on Saturday and basking in the sun on Sunday the valley greeted visits from hundreds over the two day festival. The majority of the event was held in the adjacent China Town mall and newly renovated Brunswick street mall with stalls and events scattered through the streets as well as in some of the Valley's favourite nightclubs including Cloudlands and Ric's.

Saturday began with the kind of atmosphere you might expect at any niche, music and fashion markets. Hipsters and music enthusiasts foraged tents full of vintage recorders, seemingly unaware of the others presence, rough-cut crystals hung neatly from chains in undercover market stalls and an elderly lady approached me to ask if I knew what the festival was about. Concluding my answer with some information about the fashion markets she grinned ear-to-ear as she waved a canvas bag in my face and said "Oh, I know!".

Saturday plotted along at an acceptable pace but moral was visibly low until the rain began to slow and the bands began to play. Now, I'm not saying there's a direct relationship between the two, I'm just saying that the first glimpses of sun we had seen all day began when a pink-haired girl stood on the main stage and began to dance to her accompanying brass band.

Day two of the Valley Fiesta took place on a laid black, blue-skied Sunday. With the drizzle gone market tents were able to show their full flare in the centre of the Brunswick street mall selling all manor of clothing, jewelery and nick-knacks.A personal favourite for the day was the racey 'Drag Bingo' run on the LGBTI stage in the China Town Mall. The queens owned the stage, creating eruptions of laughter from the contestants with their crude lines that came with each number drawn.

 The events volunteer coordinator says the festival, which has been going for over a decade, aims to bring together the talents and eccentricities of all of the venues in Fortitude Valley as well as to attract the attention of people outside of the regular clubbing crowd.

This Week in Brisbane: 18th August

This weeks events

Valley Fiesta
From 10am Saturday and 2pm Sunday
China Town Mall and Brunswick St, Fortitude Valley
Free Entry
Event Website

Parks Alive
From 10am Saturday and Sunday
Roma Street Parklands
Free Entry
Event Website

North Brisbane Orchid Society Show
8:30am - 4pm Saturday, and 8.30am - 3:30pm Sunday
152 Mt Coot-tha Road, Toowong
$4 Entry
Event Website

What to find more events happening in Brisbane?

The Seed Project and a protest to free Palestine: A night in Southbank

Missing the half-hourly free City Hopper by a margin of just seconds is one of the worst mistakes you can make as far as Brisbane Public transport is concerned but fortunately tonight I has the option to walk the few kilometers to my destination, even if I was sporting my decreasingly sturdy heeled boots.

 
The walk, while wet, wasn't entirely fruitless, giving me the opportunity not only to snap this photo of our gorgeous city skyline, but also to check out some of the Brisbane apps I had downloaded to review for you. As I walked I pondered the fortune that I had to be able to walk from my almost river-front home, along a decorated boardwalk, to the cultural centre of the city without concern for my safety, although I would not be swayed to repeat my chances again later on in the evening.


 The Protest
It is no great secret that one of my fascinations with this city is the vast amount of cultural and political energy. By chance, as a journalism student from UQ and I rounded our way to QPAC (Queensland Performing Arts Centre) to check out the free Seed Project that was to be the main stop for the evening we noticed a heavy police presence. Curious as we are we followed the line of police to the edge of the Victoria Bridge where we were met with a riot of more than a hundred, chanting and singing at the top of their lungs or through megaphones. Through the city sounds the exact words of the synchronised chant were hard to make out but there message was clear. The protesters had gathered to show their support for Palestine, presumably sparked after the latest lines of conflict which have been heavily present in the news.

The Seed Project 
After the protest made its way around the corner, through to the centre streets of Southbank, the crowd who had gathered dissipated, returning to their drinks and the music that had been continuing in the background all the while. At this point we joined them, turning for the first time to see the beautifully relaxed green that held the Seed Project. The grassed courtyard-like area was filled with just enough reclining beach chairs and a few large straw matts that seated the couple of dozen who had braved the wet evening in favor of an evening of free music. Overhead, strings of fairy lights added to the mystic yet laid back atmosphere. The night showcased three local music talents beginning with Lily Budiasa, Maximo and closing with Timber Bones.

Maximo at The Seed Project 2014

The project, aiming to showcase some of the regions best unearthed artists is now in its second year. The nights headlining act, Timber Bones, were also playing for the second year and you wouldn't believe it from their sound or incredible following but the band have only been playing together for since their first gig at the Seed Project last year. Timber Bones guitarist Kendall Nesci explained in an interview after the show that the band began playing together after lead vocalist, Luke Pauley began getting gigs that he wasn't able to play on his own. 

This Week in Brisbane: August 11th

This weeks events

Smirnoff MEKKA Races:
11:00am Wednesday 13th August
Doomben Racecourse
$25+ Booking fee
Event Website
This is an 18+ event.

Eidfest
10am-10pm Saturday 16th August
Rocklea Showgrounds
$5 entry
Event website

What to find more events happening in Brisbane?