Webstock Mini was last night, and for those that weren’t there: sorry. You missed out on a treat.
There was a room full of smart, cool, clever and passionate people; a couple of very interesting headline speakers: Rod Drury on User Centred Design as applied to both Aftermail and Xero.com; and Peter Gutmann on the ludicrous but for real Copyright Amendment Bill [PDF, 1.4Mb] (get submitting – there’s a couple days left); and later, ten others for two minutes each on “How the Internet changed my life”, interpreted rather loosely but very entertainingly.
We were there too: or more correctly 40% of the Wellingtonista collective (because you can’t be called a Wellingtonista and not belong to a collective, right? It goes with the faux left-wing chic of our name, you know). And we had lots to think about. Especially the one of us that was speaking.
Others have already written about last night in a much more structured way. Rather than reinvent the wheel, we’ll link to them instead.
Phewf, that was easy. And a good use of the internet, too.
And then we’ll resort to namechecking William Burroughs as a pathetic excuse for dumping the pooled thoughts of this 40% randomly as follows:
Imagine that you are a large Scottish Bank. You want to film a new advert. For no doubt good reasons you already have a short list of ingredients:
But no location. Yet. Hmmmm. Sheep. Where should you send your advert-wallahs?
New Zealand of course! But you also need an urban setting, and lots of production talent. Oh, and if there’s the occasional Stagecoach liveried bus then all for the cheaper (less sfx, you realise.)
And so your sheep and your advert-wallahs turn up in… Wellington!
They have a fine old time, too. In the airport, at the train station, and on a (digitally manipulated) motorway offramp, the suspiciously tidy sheep act the part of inert bank customers following each other around the place. But one brave ewe models the desired behaviour for all the other sheep to, er, follow: to breakaway and join the Royal Bank of Sheep!
Here at the Wellingtonista we won’t point out the irony inherent in using sheep to promote slightly more individualistic behaviour. Nope. Instead, we’d suggest a nice game of spot the fleeting Wellington locations, while having your day’s concerns soothed away in the Scotch Whisky balm that is Ken Stott’s voice.
Hat tip, and where to go to see this spot: the Best Ads On TV Blog.
We all know and love Wellington’s Pohutukawa trees. Especially at this time of year when they come into their own, their fiery blossom earning them the title of “New Zealand’s Christmas Tree”.
What’s less well known is that they can’t really be considered the “Christmas Tree” of any area of New Zealand outside the top half of the North Island, their native range.
Instead, we should consider the Rata, Northern and Southern, for this role. Between them, they grow over all of the North Island and most lowland areas of the South Island.
Once whole forests of Rata blossomed in Wellington at Christmas. But no longer: the settlers’ fires, and latterly, the Possum, have caused an almost total decline in their population. Still, here and there remnants are to be found within the bounds of Wellington itself.
A particularly fine specimen is at this moment flowering in the Otari-Wilton’s Bush. Usually it can’t be distinguished from any other tree at a distance, but right now its splendour decorates the bushy hillside, contrasting strongly with the quiet greens of the surrounding trees.
Planting any more Pohutukawa here is not a good idea, as the Wellington Botanical Society will tell you. (One must presume there were good reasons why the Council chose Pohutukawa over Rata for their Greening the Quays project.)
Drumroll, please!
(Almost) Live, from Mighty Mighty, we relay to you the results of the First Annual Wellingtonista Awards for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Excellence!
Compered (and commentary) by Wellingtonista’s own Jo Hubris!
1. When I am not having a martini, I like to drink a:
There were clearly only two real contenders for this award, although various stay-at-home type people thought that their write-in results were more worthy. Perhaps it wasn’t clear enough that the category was basically “best cocktail” as people nominated venues without a specific drink. In the end, it came down to a one point difference. The runner-up was a Falling Water at the Matterhorn,
And the winner is: a caipirinha at Havana.
2. I spent all my rent money on dinner here, but at least when the bailiffs beat me to death I will die blissfully:
If the Wellingtonista ever goes in pursuit of the almighty advertising dollar, we probably don’t want to let on what some of our readers rated as an expensive eating experience. In the end, the result wasn’t too surprising. The runner-up was Francois,
And the winner is Logan Brown.
3. I found $20 in my flatmate’s room, so it’ll be dinner at:
People who nominated their favourite Malaysian restaurants got counted as a vote for Malaysian anywhere, because there are so damn many Malaysian places in town. Not that we’re complaining about that. The runner-up, Sweet Mother’s Kitchen had a good showing, but in the end was obviously defeated by those damn Asian criminals that Deborah Coddington believes are invading New Zealand.
And the winner is Malaysian anywhere.
The Wellingtonista, it may be revealed, harbours at least two fans of Joss Whedon, creative motivation behind such televisual works of staggering genius as Buffy the Vampire Slayer and, er, Roseanne.
So we are pleased to relay Michael’s announcement of a Wellington charity showing of Whedon’s film Serenity on Friday the 23rd at 7pm at Reading.
Many, this writer included, missed this fine film owing to its absurdly truncated run in local theatres last year. Now is your chance to see it in its natural environment while at the same time supporting Whedon’s favourite charity.
For more information, including how to obtain tickets (which are not available from the Reading box office) click here.
Local blogger Mr Reasonable plans to combine his whizzo geek toys and dangerously obsessive love of coffee into an caffeine fuelled odyssey of live blogging from cafés in the besuited end of town: I am going to visit a different Wellington Cafe every day next week, order a decent Latté, take a photo of said […]
Could this be the last event of this year’s festival? After weeks of weather-related delays, at last the announcement arrived in the Wellingtonista inbox: The Bucket Fountain TRANSPLASTICISM is in existance in Cuba Mall for the next two and a half days. […] You are invited to attend and view the work. […] The installation […]
If you’ve become all festivalled out recently, or, like this Wellingtonista seem to find the whole thing sliding by you without seeming to make any impact despite best intentions otherwise, then take heart: life does continue elsewhere. For example, this weekend, the suburban environmentalist can get their car’s emissions checked at: […] the Westpac Stadium […]
We will admit it was the mention of a freely downloadable podcast commentary in this week’s Listener that drew us in. Some of us Wellingtonistas are more geeky than others. But given what seems to be the theme of the City Gallery‘s latest exhibition, Australian artist Patricia Piccanini‘s In Another Life (19 February to 11 […]
Wellington is often a good city for walking: some would even say it’s better for walking than cycling.