Well I got up at 5:30 am to catch the train to see Lisa She-Ra Scaffidi speak about the future of Perth for The John Curtin Institute of Public Policy. (Or something). Was it worth it? Well yes. Bacon was provided, and several topics dear to the hearts of TWOP readers were discussed. Since no-one else had the nerve, I had to ask her about the elephant, or Ferris wheel in the room. She is a great wheel supporter, and apparently it is on the high seas and steaming towards us right now. We can only hope that Somali or Yemeni based pirates will hold the ship to ransom en route, and be baffled when no-one will stump up any cash. Will be much more appropriate for Mogadishu. No-one asked her what she thought about Paul Murray’s moronic “I’m not homophobic but…”comments unfortunately. I have added a poll below where you can vote for and suggest your own names for the new wheel. Suggestions in the “other” category so far are,
Adam Spagnolo’s Ring of Fire
Silly Thing on the Foreshore
The Fred Mafrica Lazy Susan
The Compensator
strategic wheel of mass distraction
On the positive side, it does look like the dumbed down Dubai on the foreshore has suffered the twin calamities of economic downturn and Julian Brendon Grylls and won’t go ahead in the preposterous form we were presented with by Carps. Something will happen apparently, but not that. Teh Mayor was also pushing for what I called artist garrets above some of the city centre stores like Florsheims on the corner of Hay and William. Sounds like a good idea, but how likely is it to happen I wonder, and how would we stop the artists escaping? The Corrigin kybosh also may delay yet again the refurbishment of the Treasury Building opposite She-Ra House, which would be a shame, as it has been vacant for too many years already.
I have a dream...
Lisa was wearing a grey suit, no, not the pink that some of you had hoped for, but she did have pink shoes, which I can only show with a blurry blowup of a wide shot, but She-Ra fashion fans will get the picture. Speaking of blurry, there was a powerpoint running with stills of the usual suspects, (Smith bronzes etc) but also inserted was some video of the city, which with my 10 years of video production experience, I diagnosed as a phone camera being used by someone unacquainted with visual skills. So jumpy, it gave the impression East Perth was being struck by a massive earthquake.
She can click them together and have a house fall on Peter Natrass
Nice that The Hyatt where the talk took place still remains one of the crappiest buildings in town, a hideous pile, with a tatty carpet appropriate to its ugliness. It actually looks better in the photo. Was a sort of purple colour in real life.
Hyatt, still worst
The triumphant partnership of She-Ra with The Worst of Perth in removing the Arse and Boozie sculpture to the wilds of Gomboc Gallery was questioned by one reader Vic Demised, who insinuated with this photo that the site was now worse than when the sculpture was there. Vic you artistic ignoramus. That’s a fucking installation, not merely a handy place for the cops to park while arresting children at the station. Go back to Osborne Park Vic. Or Russia.
Thanks for nothing The Worst of Perth
The Worst of Perth 
Here http://tinyurl.com/5afq5o we see an art lover pondering, deeply.
The real thing, of course, looks more like this … http://tinyurl.com/6klvrc
… and, unfortunately, http://tinyurl.com/6xlqma this.
Avagoodweegend, TLA.
LikeLike
The Great Gaddelin Watson Wheel
LikeLike
The Fred Mafrica (Ch 31 Couch) Lazy Susan
LikeLike
Don’t you mean BRENDON Grylls ? :-)
Re the Cop Cars, Perth Railway Station is where the Police Rail Unit is located (on the upper concourse) so they have to park their cars somewhere as those vans cover all the major lines on the network.
LikeLike
Some shit will stick, some will go crusty, dry & fall off,..it should be called simply “The Fan!”
LikeLike
Teh Mayor was also pushing for what I called artist garrets above some of the city centre stores like Florsheims on the corner of Hay and William. Sounds like a good idea, but how likely is it to happen I wonder, and how would we stop the artisits escaping?
Just change garrets to garrotes and those artists won’t be going anywhere.
LikeLike
Brendon, Julian Potato potarto.
LikeLike
When our Lord Mayor starts taking a leaf out of She Ra’s fantastic “Super” wardrobe, we will all know we have finally reached Valhalla! I just hope she looses the cape!”NO CAPES!”(Edna Mode.The Increadibles)
LikeLike
Frank @ 4, I thought they might be railway cop cars, too. But the railway cops don’t pack guns and tasers, like the orificers who emerged from the vehicles pictured. Or do they? Have the lines been blurred that much?
Sorry, LA. How blind of me not to be deeply moved by the aesthetic. Now you’ve pointed out that it’s Art, I understand. This is a paean to power.
Re the foreshore: Brendan Grylls obviously has this site in mind as a nuclear waste dump. At least it would be self-illumunating, with all the spent fuel rods he wants to import. Does anyone recall Gryllth mentioning this fabulous idea prior to the election?
LikeLike
[Frank @ 4, I thought they might be railway cop cars, too. But the railway cops don’t pack guns and tasers, like the orificers who emerged from the vehicles pictured. Or do they? Have the lines been blurred that much?]
Police Rail Unit are actual WA Police Officers with Guns and Tasers and can arrest and deal with offenders away from railway property, and can charge them with offences under the criminal code while Transperth Transit Guards don’t have WAPOL toys and can only deal with baddies on Railway property and can only lay charges under the Railways Act -ie if a baddie runs across the Concourse beyond the walkways, Transits can’t chase em :-) in fact, they can’t touch them beyond a certain point on the Concourse – I think past the Lottery Kiosk – can’t remember the exact point.
LikeLike
Info on Transit Officers is here – http://www.transitofficer.wa.gov.au/home.php
WA Police Rail Unit –
Click to access 14_Simon_PoliceRailwayUnit.pdf
LikeLike
Did anyone mention daylight saving?
LikeLike
Thanks for clarifying that, Frank. Most of the Transits I’ve seen look like they’d have trouble running as far as the lottery kiosk without stopping for a burger and a thickshake.
LikeLike
Someone sent me a worst shot of a transit guard (trannie?) asleep in his booth, but I thought it might be a little unfair to post it.
LikeLike
Their peferred choice of eating establishment is the nearby Trackside Bakery :-)
LikeLike
In Kern County, the cops tell it like it is.
LikeLike
Snuff, is there a name for someone who collects photographs of law enforcement vehicles?
Re: The Big Wheel. How ’bout Vertical Roulette?
LikeLike
Watching the Detectives ? Not that I know of, Vic. All installations courtesy of Google.
LikeLike
copcarphiliac
LikeLike
Roll up, roll up for the “Resources Boom Wheel of Fortune!” Thrill to the ride as your ‘share chair’ climbs skyward! Hold on tight as your stock descends on the other side!
LikeLike
@ 19 Skylantern
I like it, skylantern, although to be honest, I’m not much in the mood for any vehicles just now, as I’m currently nursing my wounds having turned my formerly beautiful new motorbike into scrap metal this arvo. Might have to take that corner a little more slowly in future.
LikeLike
Skylantern @ 19 -isn’t that an anagram for someone who eats their own shit?
Ewww, Snuff! Don’t go starring in your own eponymous movie now, we need you.
LikeLike
Selfish bastard, Snuff.
How dare you risk our emotional health by writing yourself off????
Eh? Eh?
Settle yourself down and buy a nice 1970’s Volvo.
Motorbikes indeed!
LikeLike
Humblest apologies to all and sundry, but as a card-carrying member of the Franz Reichelt Motorcycle Club, I can’t make any promises.
LikeLike
The only name I want for the ferris wheel is “scrapped”.
LikeLike
I am a little concerned about LA’s fetish regarding her shoes.
She-Ra will soon be getting husky phone calls from an anonymous caller: “describe what you are wearing.”
LikeLike
I think we can use an existing West Australian name for the big wheel:
Useless Loop
LikeLike
Shoes aside, I think Lisa’s looking more and more like Hillary Clinton every day….
RE VIC@9
Yes, wasn’t it interesting that erstwhile Wesley schoolboy, Brendan “Tractor” Farmhog, didn’t mention making WA a nuclear waste dump during the election?
The Dickie Court Government made it a policy not to dump nuke rejects here in WA back in the late 1990s when Clough was backing the Pangea project and the public kicked up a fuss.
However, given Barnett is something of a devious flip flopper – and given it’s unlikely the Libs will want to part with any iron ore royalty cash after the economic meltdown – a nuclear waste industry might start looking pretty lucrative for a Coalition that wants to build both regional hospitals and another Dubai in Broome.
LikeLike