Brisbane Is Home

Dinner at Mspiggy’s, originally uploaded by David.

David says if I want to post anything to his blog I have to introduce myself. Hi I am David’s friend MsPiggy and I may post about Brisbane too occasionally. *waves*

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation reports about the Queenslanders recognised in today’s Queen’s Birthday honours list.

Justice Margaret McMurdo, who is the President of the Queensland Court of Appeal, was awarded the highest rank - she is now a Companion of the Order of Australia.

A nurse at the Bundaberg Hospital, Toni Hoffman, has been appointed a Member of the Order. Ms Hoffman was the ‘whistleblower’ who exposed the scandal surrounding Dr Jayant Patel.

The Order of Australia was started in 1975, to replace the old British Imperial honours system.

For ten years (1976 - 1986) people could be appointed a Knight or a Dame of the Order of Australia, but not any more. Prime Minister Mr John Howard, leader of the conservative coalition government for the last eleven years, has never looked like bringing back Australian knighthoods. Only twleve knights (including Prince Charles) and two Dames were ever appointed, and only five of them are still alive.

Even though the Order of Australia is, in theory, awarded by the Governor-General, who represents the Queen of Australia, Elizabeth II (who is also the Queen of the UK). In reality the awards are decided by the Council for the Order of Australia, which has representatives from State and Territory Governments, the Federal Government, some public officials and the community.

You can see the list of all Australians honoured today if you click here.

If you’d like to nominate someone for an award in the Order of Australia, click here.

Congratulations to all the new appointees to the Order Of Australia!

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It’s been raining! Brisbane’s been in the middle of a long, dry time - in fact right now we have Level 5 Water Use restrictions it’s so dry.

But it’s been raining since Tuesday and that’s making people very happy indeed - the dams are getting some water too.

The Brisbane Times, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (also here) and the brisneyland LiveJournal group have all been following the rain - and here’s some pictures I just took of a rainy night:

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YouTube user JerryinBrisbane is putting up some videos about how to garden in the drought that Brisbane is going through. This is one of them - click here to see his other videos.

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Here’s a quick sample of some of the food photos I took at Paniyiri last weekend. Click here to see all 20 photos at flickr - you can download them for your own use, see them in much larger sizes or watch the photos as a slideshow. 

The winner of the Honey Puff Eating competition.

Spanokopita and Calamari.

Ouzo balls.

If it doesn’t come with sludge, it’s not proper Greek coffee.

More Paniyiri 2007 photos are on the way - next time it will be people having fun.

The Greek community in Brisbane has been celebrating Paniyiri all week, and I’ve just made a video of tonight’s “Greek Dancing with the Stars”, hosted by Effie (Mary Coustas):

There’s a fantastic belly dance starting about half way through, and you’ll also see Brisbanites Glenn Lazarus, Tracey Wickham, Loretta Ryan from Radio 4BH, and Massimo Murdocca from the Queensland Roar dance off for a glittering trophy. Sleek the Elite from Fat Pizza also dropped in.

Paniyiri continues Sunday May 20th 2007 at Musgrave Park, South Brisbane (Click here to see a Google Map of the exact location). Best way to get there is to catch a train to South Brisbane or Southbank/Vulture St stations or a shuttle bus from the city - click here for more info.

Sunday is the last day of Paniyiri - if you head down you can see the final of the Olive Eating contest, and also the Honey Puff eating. Narissa (the belly dancer from the video) will be dancing again, and there’ll be some grape stomping. I took some photos today which should be on the site soon, and there is also a ‘Ready Steady Cookoff’ at the Greek Club and public lectures on Greek and Greek-Australian culture and cooking demonstrations. And the official Paniyiri after party starts from 8 and goes on to…whenever, really.

Darren Rowse at Problogger has started a new ‘Group Writing’ contest - you have to write a new post about a ‘Top 5′. I found out about it on Tuesday night, and there are already hundreds of entries here and here. Have a browse - you’re bound to find something you like.

I thought I should get my camera out and think of 5 photos that really show you a Brisbane flavour, so here they are, all taken on Wednesday, May 9th (in my lunch hour, in fact).

This is one of the River Queen paddle steamers, seen from the big picture windows of the building I work in. The Brisbane River is a huge part of city life - you are either ‘Northside’ or ‘Southside’, and if a bridge over the river gets blocked or closed, it affects traffic all over the inner city.

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Sukkafish P Jones gig starting soon@Rics

Originally uploaded by Brisbane Is Home.

I am at Rics bar in the Brunswick Street Mall in Fortitude Valley and as you can see, the show is being set up right now.

So what are you waiting for? Head on down to the valley for a night of strange electronic sounds…And check out the previous post for a link to the myspace page for a taste of what’s playing.

After work tonight (Wednesday May 9th) I’ll be heading into Rics Bar in the Brunswick St Mall in Fortitude Valley (Click here to see a Google Map) to hear Suckafish P Jones play for free - it’s the launch of the ‘Orinoko Flow’ tour to Melbourne, 1800 km away.

According to the myspace link above, Suckafish P Jones sounds like:

Spit-heavy beautiful nonsense yelping from a blender of scizophrenic sampledelica and slap-dash-boom-bap.

But you can head over to the Suckafish P Jones Myspace page to check for yourself - the track “Teutonic Riddims” and two others are there for you to listen to.

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The Labour Day public holiday was yesterday and thousands of working people marched through Fortitude Valley to the Ekka showgrounds for a family day of food, speeches and a funfair.

The march had a record turnout this year, because many working people dislike the new industrial relations laws brought in by the Prime Minister, Mr John Howard.

Keep reading for ten pictures from the day, or if you want more you can click here to see 88 of my pictures on flickr, the photo-sharing website. 

There’s also a video I made of a speech by Mr Rudd, leader of the Opposition and the Federal Parliamentary Labor Party here, and photos I sent to this blog live via mobile phone are here and here. Read the rest of this entry »