via Spleen…
I was on the Mt Vic bus yesterday afternoon, and there were two very loud young men in the back seat behind me.
"Lincoln was gay you know."
"No way."
"Yeah, he fucked men bro."
"How do you know?"
"It’s knowledge, bro."
To whet your appetite for tonight’s festivities down at Mighty Mighty, here’s some Bunnies on Ponies for you…
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch/v=fwc0TNWCAP8]
For those of you who missed the recent screening of Shaker Run at the Wellingtonista Film Festival (next up, Carry Me Back on Wed 5 Nov), here’s one of the best bits: a car chase through the streets of mid-80s Wellington, then up and over the Rimutaka Hill Road…
[youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=roFmeudE6Sc]
Says Kiran, in a review over at Texture
The film is like one long, extended stunt scene. Endless car-chases, explosions and fancy racecar tricks around the South Island and Wellington left me feeling exhausted…
This particular Wellingtonista was just down at a protest taking place at the Greater Wellington Regional Council offices.
Of course, the GWRC transport plans (PDF) are well worth protesting about: more roads, no light rail? Despite the hundreds (and the great majority) of submissions asking for the opposite?
As Wellington City Councillor and Greens’ spokesperson Iona Pannett points out…
The Plan ignores Wellingtonians’ huge support for more public transport, their opposition to new tunnels and Wellington City’s commitment to carbon neutrality … Over 4,500 people made submissions on the study the Plan is based on, with 3,750 people supporting light rail, more buses and walking and cycling options whilst opposing the two tunnels and flyover. In contrast only 480 people submitted that the tunnels should be built. So, by a ratio of nearly 8 to 1 there was huge support for public transport and opposition to roads…
Quite.
But, what really caught the eye was the many protesters placards. Not so much the front of them, but the back. It was heartening to see the Greens and their allies recycling (presumably) discarded Real Estate signage upon which to display their protest slogans. Nice.
Wellington has secured the rights to host the 2011 Tae Kwon Do (or Taekwondo, Taekwan-Do, or other variations, depending on where you look) World Champs.
New Zealand finished 3rd at the 2007 World Champs (note, link is to a PDF of the medals table), and, with the sport thriving in NZ, the home team is expected to do well with the next event on home turf.
To celebrate, the International Taekwon-Do Foundation of New Zealand has organised a Taekwon-Do demonstration today (Thursday 30 Oct), which will, ahem, kick off at 2:30pm at Civic Square.
This particular Wellingtonista was sitting at the bus-stop last night, when a lad on a motorbike scooted up, and asked me if I wanted to make use of his now unneeded daytripper pass. Of course I did! $2.80 saved (the cost of a click on my 3-zone ten-trip)! Score!
This led to some discussion on the Wellingtonista list as to other acts of kindness/generosity you can perform for your fellow citizens without any great opportunity cost of your own.
The other obvious one is parking coupons. Got half an hour left when you go to leave? Just roll the ticket up and pop it in the coin slot of the vending machine. Next person to come along will (hopefully) realise they’ve got a freebie, and everyone wins (except the council revenue department, I suppose).
Might I also remind our readers that while the library doesn’t send out overdue reminder notices until after your books/cds/dvds/whatever are overdue (and thus already accumulating late charges), you can use the Library Elf service to send you reminders before the due date. This has saved my family literally hundreds of dollars over the last few years.
Any other suggestions for ways to save people money or, indeed, just to make their lives more pleasant, with a minimal amount of effort on your own behalf? Pop ’em in the comments.
For those who weren’t aware of it, the Council has a nice online service that allows people to “petition the Wellington City Council, via the internet, on matters relevant to the Council’s business”.
Anyone can create one, so, if there’s something bugging you that you think the council should be looking into, just go right ahead. (Remember though, if it’s something that needs fixing as opposed to some more substantial infrastructural problem, just use their Fix It service).
A majority of the current petitions cover one of Wellingtonista’s favourite topics, namely urban transport (they’re removing cycle lanes!?), so, if you’d like to add your weight to those issues, or raise one of your own, rock on over and have your say.
(Note: this service is bought to you by the excellently entitled ‘Democratic Services‘ council department).
Some Friday music video viewing for you. Two of the best things in life — Cricket and Music — combined into one fine music video from Wellington’s increasingly hirsute Phoenix Foundation…