Next on the list from our Zuri shoot is the lovely Chantal, Brisbane soulful house specialist and Zuri resident.

In the Social Club section, she has a chat about the Brisbane scene and what seems to be her mum’s inadvertent reference to “Snow – Informer”… or was that just me?

This week’s issue #1026, out now!

Get it FREE from all the usual street press outlets or read it online @ 3D world magazine – Brisbane

Zuri shoot #1 – Private Property
Zuri shoot #2 – Adam Swain
Zuri shoot #4 – Dot.AY

09.03.2010

What is there really to say about it? Its Disneyland. You cant really hate on the “happiest place in the world” can you? Sure the lines are miles long and prams/strollers out number people but you’ve gotta be dead inside if you don’t want to don some mouse ears and skip everywhere you go!

Firstly, some advice on planning your day. Once you’ve decided that you’re going, or your girlfriend/kids have nagged you so much you just want to shut them up :p you need to decide where you want to go and for how long. For the uninitiated Disneyland consists of 2 theme parks, Disneyland and California Adventure. Disneyland is the classic Disney character affair while Cal Adventure is all the thrill rides and is targeted to the bigger kids. With only a day to spare and a gaping hole in my childhood we went with the classic.

California Adventure park

The best way to get some kind of discount is to prepurchase your tickets and get it combined with a “tour”, which is basically pick up and drop off from your hotel or one of many pick up points. There are so many of these companies and they make a lot of stops so you wont have any problems getting to and from your hotel. We went with VIP Tours who picked up from our door at Double Trees Santa Monica, all inclusive tickets (travel and entry) were around $100USD. There’s even bigger savings if you get multi-day multi-venue passes, shop around, you’re bound to find something. Also keep an eye out at certain times of the year, even Disney has coupon specials.

An additional feature is the Disney Fastpass. Basically you pay a premium so you can jump the queue. Possibly worthwhile if you only have one day and want to ride as many rides as you can but otherwise we couldn’t justify the cost since it only works at certain times for each ride, times are posted at ride entrances and of course you’ll be competing with the thousands of others who thought the same thing.

For ideas on the best days to visit, there really isn’t too much difference as its always packed. Obviously, avoiding school holidays, weekends and the warmer months will give you some relief but expect between 15-30min average wait time and up to 45-60min on some of the popular rides. Also take note of their park hours schedule, rides can be closed for maintenance and some don’t open in the colder months. The schedule also shows special seasonal events like Halloween etc.

While the lines and the sheer number of people is quite daunting, they are very efficient at handling everything the masses can throw at them and all with a big smile. From the fleet carpark shuttle “trains” and the wall of entry booths to the cleverly designed cattle runs for queuing, its clear that its all been fined tuned after many years of capacity crowds. While a lot of the time it can seem futile, most of the masses move reasonably quickly and orderly, as far as “festival” crowds go anyway.

Disneyland shuttle

So you’ve made it through the gates, the first thing you’ll notice is the bright vibrant colours of everything and the quirky shapes of buildings and fixtures and a melodic unmistakable soundtrack playing almost subliminally over the PA system. Take a moment to soak it all in, it may be the last bit of peace you get all day :p plus you’ve got planning to do.

Some people are happy to just wander around the park and check things out but due to the size of the venue and the spaghetti layout you’ll more than likely miss more than you see. A high recommendation is to, at the very least, grab the daily performance times and a map and make a few pokes at it with a stick (with accompanied four finger direction pointing of course).

Its also a time to make note of when and where the performances are and whether you’ll get to them in time for a good vantage point. Also consider grabbing a bite to eat at the café/sandwich bar at the entrance before kicking off, this will help you last pass the normal lunch times and hopefully miss some of the lunch rush.

Mickey with marching band

We chose to make a rough anti clockwise zig zag, taking notice of queue times, posted at the entrance and end of queue points at all rides, as we went. In this direction our main priority was the Buzz Lightyear ride, but not before we ran into Mickey’s marching band in Main street. The wait time listed at Buzz Lightyear was 25min but we were through in just over 15min. As you enter the ride, like many of the rides, they have incorporated part of it with the waiting queue, to keep you occupied with a sense of “almost there!”, definitely a welcome for those with impatient kids. It also adds to the flow and “storyline” of the ride. In this case it was characters from the movies and a full size Buzz animatron giving a mission briefing, “blah blah blah, kill zorg, blah blah To infinity and beyond!”. No probs Buzz, shoot the hell out of everything, gotcha!

Buzz Lightyear ride

Now, normally I’m all up for taking out aliens with a eyeball blinding barcode reader gun but with such elaborate and lifelike scenery and characters, I lasered with my left and shot (with my camera) with the right.
Photo tip: If you’re thinking of doing the same prepare to use extremely high ISO, I’m talking up to 256000 if your camera can do it, to help your shutter speed manage the movement from the ride and the targets. Also be ready to lose pitifully on the scoreboard!

Buzz Lightyear ride

A cool feature on leaving the ride is being able to email an in-game photo of yourself from the ride’s photo booth in the gift shop.

The Buzz Lightyear ride is of course part of Tomorrow Land so you also have all the classic rides like Space Mountain but of course with the classics come the long wait times, most hovering round the 60min mark.

Tomorrowland

If you have kids, there’s a Pad Wan Jedi class, complete with light saber and Mace Windu look alike instructor. No Natalie Portman but the Dads will have no complaints about her stand-ins, if you know what I mean 😉

Jedi training

Tomorrowland

Next up, Fantasyland, Toontown and more!

Disneyland 2010 part #1 here

Complete Disneyland gallery here

Let the good times roll!

The second DJ from our Zuri shoot is Mr. Subtrakt Adam Swain, Brisbane deep house maestro, Barsoma regular and beer baron 😉

See what he has to say about Kermit, day clubs and his liver in this week’s issue #1025.

Get it FREE from all the usual street press outlets or read it online @ 3D world magazine – Brisbane

Zuri shoot #1 – Private Property
Zuri shoot #3 – Chantal
Zuri shoot #4 – Dot.AY

Oo-err!
With the 1st issue of 3D World still getting thrown around at SBM HQ more than the TV guide, we couldn’t say no to rocking out some shots for their locals commentary section. First up is Private Property, a Brisbane electro house DJ duo. Check them out as well as the cover article on the Chemical Brothers in this weeks edition, issue #1024.

Available from all the usual street press outlets, it’s FREE!

3D world magazine – Brisbane

Zuri shoot #2 – Adam Swain
Zuri shoot #3 – Chantal
Zuri shoot #4 – Dot.AY

08.23.2010

Image courtesy of www.daymonart.com

Those of you who frequent sneaker nut site Sneaker Freaker or have been to a few big name festivals will be familiar with the work by Daymonart, or if you’re a Melbourne local you’d probably know him as Daymon Greulich.

The bold and colourful sneaker pieces are of course our faves but there are heaps of other designs and concert/gig posters available in his web store.
Standard A2 sized posters are around a very affordable $25. Some pieces aren’t listed in the store but drop him a line and see if he can do a limited edition print for you.

With our move to the new SBM HQ winding up and the decorating beginning, we couldn’t help but to snatch up a couple more works to deck out the new digs!

If your place is looking a bit drab we suggest you do the same and check out Daymonart and drop Daymon a line, great personal service and an all round stand up guy. He is also a dab hand at animation and design so if you need work done along those lines we’re sure he’s more than happy to oblige as well.

Cheers Daymon!

Last one for the year…. or is it?? 😉

Dame Reggaeton photos here

08.16.2010

Finally a street press publication that is dedicated to electronic music has landed in Brisbane!

For those that haven’t ventured south of the border, 3D World is a Sydney based street press magazine focusing on electronic music and has been doing the rounds for more than 20years. As part of their expansion, they have now opened offices in Brisbane and Melbourne where they will continue to shine a light on the local scene with interviews, reviews and gripping editorials.

First of the weekly issues hit the stands at the usual places last Wednesday. Grab your copy now!

08.09.2010

So an era has come to an end. Brisbane’s top level of the Empire Hotel, the Moonbar closed its doors for the last time along with the rest of the building for what some would say, much needed renovations. The rebirth has been rumored as about a year, in the meantime you can chase some of the Empire’s regular night in the Uncle lounge of the Family Nightclub.

Peo De Pitte at Moonbar photos here

Fresh off the heals of their National championship win, the Macbeth girls are set to take on the world at the World titles in Las Vegas!
They hung around just long enough for some promo shots before they leave us all behind and bust through the stratosphere!

For more info and bookings visit: Macbeth Dance Crew on facebook

Macbeth Dance Crew photos here

After nearly two months of shooting 1000+ products we completed our longest and toughest shoot yet!

Alot of work minimising reflections and shadows and keeping the background all white (request from the graphic designer). We certainly learnt alot from the huge variety of textures, shapes, sizes, colours and coatings and how to minimise the use of post processing.

For more information, products, purchasing visit: www.apack.net.au

Sample Apack product catalogue photos here

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