#Hammerbarn Project

[blurban-form]

…so in the latest episode of the Hammerbarn Project podcast, the guys there talk to Joe Brumm about “The Sign”, and discussion included talk about those new Australia-only books with the different cartoonier illustrations…

Brumm noted the art director drew the illustrations in a different style deliberately and that these books are different to other Bluey stories because they’re telling a make-believe story (i.e. with the grannies or other imaginary personas), rather than it being about the Heeler family.

So does this mean they’re definitely not thinking of changing the style of the show? Verdict is still out but hopefully not!

The Hammerbarn Project is a great podcast by the way, highly recommended. They mentioned this Tumblr on an episode once! And one of their team was the voice of one of the sheepdogs in “The Sign”… very cool.

[handyowlet]

Looking for a human AU that’s a little silly, a little serious, and very Australian? Try this one, featuring a couple of regular guys who really just need to treat each other and themselves with a little grace.

Thanks @nascentsurrender- I had a couple of Bluey “Hammerbarn” flashbacks reading this too.

[theboysfromaustin]

Podcast recommendations (shit I work to):

The Purple Stuff Podcast

Boos and Brews

The Hammerbarn Project

Timesuck with Dan Cummins

This Paranormal Life

Avatar: Braving the Elements

Cartoons That Curse

[blurban-form]

Future Brisbane

So, at the end of “Surprise”, we get to see future-Brisbane, maybe 25-30 years in the future? A grown-up Bluey brings her child to visit her parents’ house, so her kid can blast Dad with tennis balls like she did.

Compare future Brisbane with current Brisbane

First of all, nice to see the house hasn’t fallen down, Dad and Mum have kept it in good repair (thanks Hammerbarn) and it now has solar panels, as do a number of other homes.

Many things have changed:

An incredible increase in land use density; multiple medium and tall towers (like in downtown) now are common in the suburban area. Assuming this means much more multifamily housing.

Roads much less dominant/conspicuous in the hills

Look how the trees have grown.

The communications towers on the hilltops are less conspicuous.

Three waste/recycling bins (addressing the green waste recycling issue)

Drone transport (for deliveries?)

Some things haven’t changed:

Sky is blue. That’s good.

The whole area hasn’t flooded from rising sea levels…

Adult Bluey drives, or at least is using a private vehicle, rather than something like an on-demand transit service. (Maybe the drone deliveries mean less congestion on the roads but traffic has never been a big issue in Bluey-Brisbane 😉)

Inside the house is not crazy-futuristic, some electronic gadgets, like a Roomba. (I was expecting more high-tech like a Mr. Fusion from “Back to the Future��� but that’d probably be by the kitchen or by the garbage wheelie-bins.)

I know my parents still have the same stereo they had 30+ years ago, and much of the same furniture.

Note that 30 years of progress has not improved how Roombas dock with their charging stations.

Some other new tech in the front hall:

Electronic digital picture frames with weird floating connections to the wall.

Wifi router thing on ceiling

Spherical thing (maybe something like an Alexa?)

New comfy chair, replacing the red one.

Density Increase

The increase in land use density in the Brisbane suburbs where the Heelers live is one of those dreams of land use planners; more density in already developed areas is generally considered a plus, assuming the infrastructure can accommodate it. Higher density means more people in a given area making public transit more efficient and reducing costs to serve the homes with utilities.

Is that kind of growth possible in only a few decades? Yes, here’s a North American example… this is where I grew up, in the early 1980s it looked like this in Mississauga, ON around the Square One shopping centre…

…and now it looks like this in the 2020s.

So that’s growth over about 30-40 years, which is a little longer than how much time has apparently elapsed in “Bluey”, but not a lot. It’s possible, and this kind of thing can snowball / accelerate once initial projects get underway.

Public opposition (NIMBY) can prevent this kind of thing from occurring in many cities.