Canberra’s longest running, and least reliable, podcast is back to grace your speakers. This week we celebrate the milestone of reaching 100 episodes by doing nothing at all out of the ordinary.

In this episode a very rare professional act (as in they make all their income from their music), The Bridge Between, come in and pod on down for podcast number 100.

Track list:

• Help Me Out of the Darkness. 6:38
• Roll on By. 18:39
• The Sun is Riding. 28:50
• Small Fist. 41:13
• Scattered Clouds. 58:44

For the devotees the new podcast feed is:

http://the-riotact.com/?feed=rss2&cat=3253

Also Facebookers are encourage to become fans of the podcast, which will get you bonus photos, plus a vicarious cool.

We’re also after some reader feedback. New podcaster Jess is going to undertake a number of assignments and report back for your amusement. What free things do you want a Gen Y’ers perspective on?

“Mr Evil and popgoescanberra you do not know her how dare you say that she is a nutcase.
i went to school with her. and she was a lovely young lady with more potential than you or any one could imagine. you both clearly are the nut cases for sitting here defending some one that did something so horrible. he not only hurt her and took her life affecting her, he affected all of our lives and hurt all of us especially her family and what did they do to him nothing but take him in.
so piss off and shut up about it.
Mr Evil so you are saying that society pushed him into the car gave him the keys and forced him to run my young friend over. because of some petty bull shit fight. if that is how you think i feel truely sorry for your GF or you GF’s in the futur cause society might one day tell you to hurt her. do you believe that will work in canberra courts??????
any person that gets on here needs to think twice before they start insulting her, think about her family and friends that get on here and see something like this plasted all over the internet jesus has only been a year since she was taken away. get a life!”

They seem to have missed Mr. Evil’s attempt to be facetious, and it’s a mystery what popgoescanberra did to deserve their ire.

But it’s a quality flame, and deserving of recognition.

Congratulations S-C, you’ve won FoTW.

The ABC reports that Mr Stanhope has promised his new developer friends that he’s going to take a look at how the authority goes about its business.

‘”In these times we will begin to see our unemployment rate rise, we will begin or see the economy continuing to slow and I’m determined that it not be anything that the Government does or doesn’t do that costs anybody in Canberra a job.”

“We’ve committed to a complete review essentially of our operations and the way in which we operate timelines, planning processes, statutory approvals and our responsibilities for ensuring at this particularly difficult time - having regard to the global financial crisis - that we the Government do everything that we can do to assist in the stimulation of the economy.”‘

Fire up those bulldozers boys.

[First filed: November 30, 2008 @ 23:07]

From midnight 1 December the advance tickets for Corinbank 2009 are on sale from www.corinbank.com. The festival is running from 27 February to 1 March 2009.

On Sunday afternoon I sat down with organisers Nic Welbourn and Dan Watters to find out about where this unique Canberra music festival has come from, and where it’s going to.

Any of us who have travelled has been aware that the rest of the world has a multiplicity of festivals.

Those of us who have been to those festivals knows that unless you actually camp out for the full duration of the event you’re not getting the whole experience. Not even a tiny part of it.

Coming home muddy and dirty is part of the journey out to the beyond and the return to normality. A light sunburn just doesn’t cut it.

When I asked Dan about it he said the full festival experience was a cathartic experience, a removal from reality providing cleansing and an emergence from the other side after a departure from reality.

While in the last couple of years there’s been more day festivals in the region, Corinbank is the only one offering the full experience.

(Slideshow and more below)

(more…)

The War Memorial’s latest blockbuster Over the front is now open to the public and I went along this morning to see what magic Peter Jackson had wrought with the audio-visual presentation.

The exhibition and curation of artifacts is decidedly light weight. I suppose this is a function of the internet these days. They assume that if you’re looking to nerd out you’ll do it online. The five planes on display (SE5a fighter, Airco DH9 bomber, Avro 504K trainer, Albatros D.Va. and Pfalz D.XII) are really just there because they look cool.

But when the movie starts up is really what it’s all about.

The huge wrap-around screen is used ingeniously and basically if you took all the action sequences out of a war movie and spliced them together with a killer score and stirring narration… Well… This is what it would look like.

The surround sound in particular will blow you away with the rat-at-at of machine guns and the roar of the engines zooming away following the paths of planes that have disappeared off screen.

It’s free, it’s air-conditioned, it’s highly entertaining and somewhat informative.

I’m just slightly concerned about what it’s doing in a war memorial.

But what the heck, it’s rocking.

So it might be worth avoiding that route for the next couple of hours.

UPDATED: Ed - When I got down there a bit before two there was no sign of an accident, but there was a lane with an unusual blockage. Southbound traffic is pretty grim with the re-surfacing.

The parade’s southbound lanes will be closed between Fairbairn Avenue and Constitution Avenue until April 2009. Access between Blamey Crescent/Currong Street and Anzac Parade will also be closed.

Traffic will be redirected 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Buses passing between Reid and Campbell on Blamey Crescent and Currong Street will pass around the works site via Constitution Avenue.

Vehicles will be redirected to the parade’s western lanes which will become two-way.

To minimise delays motorists are encouraged to:

- take alternate routes
- car pool
- ride a bicycle to work
- take public transport (visit www.action.act.gov.au for timetable information)

With the Foreshore festival choosing to use iconic public locales there’s a legitimate public interest in the clean-up.

To that end I wandered down this morning, three days later, to see how they’re going.

Most of the site is still fenced, and there’s a lot of heavy machinery still hard at work.

You can get down into Commonwealth Place from the Parliament House side and the grass in the bowl has taken a real pounding.

Little tiny shards of plastic from crushed drinking cups are everywhere and cigarette butts abound. But they’ve made a real effort to clean up the larger rubbish.

They’re not finished yet, but cleaning up all those plastic shards in compacted grass is going to be a bugger of a job.

Slideshow below:

(more…)

To that end here’s a list of homework he’d like to see completed before you start partying:

• Preparing a household emergency plan. (Household emergency plan worksheets can be downloaded from www.esa.act.gov.au or are available from Canberra Connect on 13 22 81);
• Making the decision to stay and defend property during a bushfire or to go early;
• Removing all leaf and tree matter from gutters and downpipes. Fitting metal leaf guard over gutters if possible.
• Removing all leaf and tree matter from underneath decks;
• Enclosing all open decks and floors if possible with non combustible or metal sheeting to stop fire embers from getting underneath homes; and,
• Removing all combustible material such as tree branches, leaves, winter wood fire stockpiles away from homes to reduce the chances of it catching alight in a bushfire.

ACT Policing is investigating a two vehicle collision in Kingston today (Monday, 1 December) that has resulted in the death of an elderly woman.

About 12.10pm a white Mazda sedan and a light truck collided at the intersection of Wentworth Avenue and Mildura Street.

The driver of the Mazda, an 89-year-old woman from Aranda, was conveyed to The Canberra Hospital by ACT Ambulance in a critical condition however she died a short time later. The two male occupants in the light truck were not injured.

The eastbound side of Wentworth Avenue remains closed to traffic as ACT Policing’s Collision Investigation and Reconstruction Team investigate the incident.

—

2. A 20 yr old Braddon man is missing:

ACT Policing is investigating the disappearance of a 20-year-old Braddon man on Friday (November 28).

Steven Kennedy was last seen leaving work on Friday evening in Pialligo around 6pm and failed to attend work on Saturday (November 29).

Steven’s family are concerned for his welfare as it is out of character for him not to attend work or contact them.

Steven is described as Aboriginal, 175cm (5’9”) tall with a slim build, dark brown hair and brown eyes.

—

3. Another nasty beating in Civic:

ACT Policing is investigating the assault of a 28-year-old Sydney man in Civic around 3.35am today (November 30).

Police located the victim in the Pitts Street car park unconscious, two men of Islander appearance were seen running from the area.

The victim is currently in The Canberra Hospital in a serious but stable condition, the extent of his injuries are yet to be determined.

—

If you can help contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000, or via the Crime Stoppers website at www.act.crimestoppers.com.au.

On YouTube SheerspiteDemon has posted a celebration of Canberra’s roundabouts.

It’s notable for the cheesy old Dead Or Alive sound track and the use of every transition available in iMovie.

“Bureau of Meteorology figures show 85 millimetres of that fell during November at Canberra Airport.

That is more than the November average of 65 millimetres but not as wet as the same time last year.”

It’s one of those huge pine needle dropping Pines that cover and kill my lawn and anything I plant underneath it or near to it. All the needles that fall from it clog the gutters and cover half my front yard.

 I love trees but this is costing me a fortune as I have tried planting numerous plants to spruce up my garden without success. It was there when I bought my place but it is causing dramas that I did not see coming.

 I have read previous posts on this topic but the difference is this tree is on the nature strip out the front of my neighbours and not on their land. It borders on their strip and mine.

 Branches hang over my gardens and lawn which I know I can cut down but the problem will still be there as the tree is soo big I couldn’t reach without a sky hook.

No I am not a sook but seriously, suburbia is not the place for this tree to be. My other neighbours are of the same opinion. I can’t talk to the neighbours as they have just sold up and moved.

 Any (useful) posts will be appreciated as I need a solution.

I used to listen to him on 106 until he left and I switched to Art Sound.

But driving past the Albert Hall in a taxi today (where I still remember Sherbet performing when Darryl Braithwaite was sporting a beard) I heard a familiar voice.

I might tune into 2ca again if they move Parton into mornings.  His family friendly style got us all going when he was on 106.  It’s funny, you know, in the few times I’ve listened to 2ca, I’ve never once heard the regulars talking about their wives or kids - do they even have a life outside radio?

I reckon if Parton could bring the thousands of people who voted for him across to his new station, 2ca would be over the moon. We’ve got talkback for the oldies on Triple 6, and stuff for the youngsters on the FM’s, but what about having brekky show with good music and a family friendly personality for the rest of us?

There is an excellent article here about this, suggesting that we lobby our local transport providers to get them added to the network.  The Google article about what is required is here.

I humbly suggest that it would be a good thing if ACTION routes were made available. All you well connected Rioters please raise the issue with those of influence! All you ordinary scumbag Rioters please at least drop ACTION a line!