So that’s what they mean by ‘isolated showers’
Looking south from Waitangi Park as yesterday evening’s southerly change was coming in.
Any poor sod who was stuck under this could feel justified in feeling picked on by the elements, but most of the Wellingtonista Great Blend team was already safely ensconced in Port Café scoffing fish ‘n’ chips with BYO wine. A Great Blend round-up will no doubt follow from one of my diligent colleagues.
Vote for the blockhead of your choice
Disclaimer: that’s a Peanuts reference, rather than a comment on the quality of candidates. Ahem.
Nominations for local body elections closed last week, and the candidates are all listed on the WCC website (residents of other Wellington Territorial Authorities should find them on their respective council sites). While it can be argued that the choice of Mayor is less important than the composition of the council as a whole, it’s certainly the role that generates the most heat. So, here’s a full list of the mayoral candidates, followed by a call to action:
- Ray Ahipene-Mercer
- Paul Bailey
- Carl Gifford
- Rob Goulden
- Nick Kelly
- John McGrath
- Bryan Pepperell
- Kerry Prendergast
- Helene Ritchie
- Jack Ruben
- Nick Wang
Other than sitting councillors and John McGrath, I don’t know much about the candidates. I’m sure you’ll find plenty of comments about Kerry P on the Wellingtonista, and I’ve mentioned McGrath in passing on WellUrban, with the odd reference to Jack Ruben as well. But here’s your chance to comment sagely, speculate wildly or just generally vent spleen. Here’s a starter for ten: if you don’t like the incumbent mayor, who can and should get the numbers to unseat her?
Free Speech and Freebies
Plenty of people use the comments facility on blogs like this one (and that one) as a discussion forum, but unless you’re actually one of the blog writers you can’t start your own threads. But the Texture public forum allows anyone to start their own thread (as long as they’re signed up). Texture concentrates on nightlife, music, art & dining, but comments on anything about Wellington that you like (such as Thai food) or loathe (such as tagging) are most welcome.
They’re also starting to give away lots of free stuff, from tickets to Little Bushman or the Alternative Rugby Commentary to Floriditas vouchers. It’s all a shameless ploy to get people involved in the forums, of course, but then again … free stuff!
Lolmembers
This might quite possibly be illegal, but then again, they asked for it.
More “satire, ridicule and denigration” after the jump…
Lollingtonista
If you’re a stranger to the whole Lolcats phenomenon, then … lucky you. Please take a while to think about whether you want to initiate yourself into a world that’s as pointless, yet as addictive, as P. Then read up on Lolcats, Lolrus, LOL Presidents and the self-referential geek overload that is Lolcode. Now you are ready for Lollington.
More after the jump.
Wellington music month 1: guaranteed Emo-free
We thought that we’d celebrate NZ Music month by highlighting some of our favourite Wellington music. Here’s my top 5, veering between the obscure and the downright mainstream.
Aspen, Are you that retail snob?. This was the album that got me back into making music. It’s somewhere between ambient, glitch and early 90s IDM, but all you need to know is that it’s dripping with gorgeous textures and melodies.
Rhian Sheehan, Tiny Blue Biosphere. I know, I know: it’s over-produced coffee table music for yuppies, but hell, maybe that’s what I am (even though I don’t own a coffee table). And any album that samples Carl Sagan not once but twice has to get bonus geek points.
Disasteradio, Synthtease. Damn, this guy’s ransacked my childhood! Yazoo with a VIC 20, Kraftwerk playing Asteroids, 8‑bit beats and viral melodies.
Rhombus, Future Reference. Yep, it’s a Welly list, so there had to be some dub somewhere. But Rhombus’ influences range far wider than most, and touches of funk, hip-hop, electronica and jazz give their sound an infectious enthusiasm. “Scorching Bay” has to be an instant Wellington classic.
Twinset and friends, Christmas Puddin’. The only Christmas album that doesn’t make me want to stick Rudolph’s antlers where the sun don’t shine. They know that you can’t take carols too seriously, but while Benj Berryman injects some swingin’ cheese into ‘God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen’, there are some surprisingly straight jazz treatments and delicate moments. As you can probably tell, I’m still hanging out for the lounge revival revival.
A sharp intake of breath
A new photography group, “gasp!”, has an exhibition entitled “a sharp intake of breath” at Finc Café from now until 10 June.
[Photo © Geraldine Downey, 2007]
The group (Geraldine Downey, Andrew Ecclestone, Stella Ramage, Paul Holley and Jordyn O’Keeffe) gave themselves the wide brief for the exhibition of creating images inspired by the word ‘enigma’. The brief exhibition catalogue explains that they were “Aiming to make space for a slower, deeper vision amongst the torrent of visual information that swamps us everyday. We wanted to produce images which asked more questions than they answered, to arouse a flicker of intrigue, a shiver of unease, or create a pause for thought.”
Beautiful Mash
We all know that in Wellington, everyone and their dogs are already busy making films of some description already, but for any aspiring film-makers not currently up to their eyeballs in digital video, here’s your chance. LOOP Recordings want you to make a video for Adi Dick’s song “Beautiful View”.
They’re providing you with nearly a Gigabyte of green-screen footage of the singer, then handing it over to you to mash it up with your own footage or animation to create your interpretation of the song. You have until the 20th of May.
On the ball
Get your mask ready: it’s time to party quasi-anonymously with friends and strangers at a Venetian Masquerade Ball. Champagne! Chandeliers! Canapes! Cleavage! (if the poster is anything to go by)
Stately Dransfield House in upper Willis Street will play the gracious host for “Ballo di Sciocco” on the 31st of March. The venue and the imagery may me old-fashioned, but the ball itself must be Generation Next, since it has a myspace page. Looking at the organisers’ page and list of friends, I get the feeling this will be no ordinary ball.
Tickets $120 from Madmat on 027 290 3591.
Online to On the Wall
We all know that Wellington is a great place to take photos: its natural beauty, public art, lively street life and eclectic architecture all contribute to a visually stimulating city. The busy Flickr-ers of the Wellington Flickr group know this, and they’ve decided to take their best photos into the real world.
“Online to On the Wall” opens at the Paramount Theatre tomorrow night at 6pm, and runs until the 28th of March.