Hey, it’s time for another Pecha Kucha evening! Pecha Kucha works like this: 14 speakers involved in a creative industry each get to present a slideshow of 20 images, for 20 seconds per image. No two speakers are the same, and every PK evening is informative, fun, stimulating, thought-provoking and inspiring.
The previous two I’ve been to were both sold out, so get there early to ensure you get a ticket.
Tuesday 25 November
Paramount Cinema
Doors open 7.30pm, starts 8.20pm
$9 cash only
After the jump, the fabulous line-up of speakers including Roger Walker’s Irreverent Insertions.
The Greens have just launched their new Wellington Transport Plan, complete with Green MP Sue Kedgley as their Wellington Transport Spokesperson.
Wellington has a pretty kick-arse public transport system as it is, with a well used network of buses, trolley buses, trains and the good ol’ cable car. So what plans do the Greens have for the future?
In short, their plans involve: better walking, more cycling, cheaper buses, light rail, expanded trains, trolley bus love, and useful bus stops. And then there are other ideas, like encouraging people to work from home and shop online, and rethinking those mammoth planned roadworks.
Personally, I’m excited by the idea of turning the Melling train line into light rail that will extend into a loop through Lower Hutt. That’s right, you’ll be able to get the train to Queensgate without a massive walk. Wow, just like a proper grown-up city!
It will be interesting to see what plans, if any, the other parties have for Wellington’s transport.
Recently opened at Te Papa is the Our Space exhibit. It cost $6 million and is apparently aimed at the 15- to 25-year-olds – you know, the sort of people who’d rather be texting or updating their Bebo page or saying “woteva” than visiting a museum, etc.
At its most basic, Our Space is a photo album. More specifically, it’s an electronic database of photos and short video clips of New Zealand places and events. It’s a bit like Flickr, but rather than just relying on media submitted by the public, it also taps into Te Papa’s archives and the TVNZ archives.
The exhibition is made up of three parts: The Map, The Wall and The Rides, and in the interests of proper grown-up blogging, I made visits to Te Papa to do a thorough review of Our Space.
Magic wands, surly teens and motion sickness after the jump…
So, Wellington is currently the recipient of a whole lot of bad-ass weather and you may have received an email with an alarming list of all the damage the storm has done, like this:
Public access to the Basin Reserve has been closed. Approximately 15 windows in the RA Vance Stand have blown out.
Fulton Hogan working on Airport roof which is lifting Council Parks staff have closed off the walking tracks on Tinakori Hill due to the danger caused by many falling trees. Power poles are in danger of toppling on the seafront at Lyall Bay.
Slips! Buses and trains closed! Power outages! Pretty bad, huh?
Except it’s not. Find out the truth after the jump!
While today’s gale-force winds and rain isn’t much fun, there was much water-related fun last night on Abel Smith Street.
Late last night a water main on The Terrace burst, sending a torrent of water gushing down Abel Smith.
Rather than snuggling up under their duvets, local residents instead leapt out of bed and turned the infrastructure malfunction into an inpromptu waterslide, using recycling bins, deckchairs – anything they could get their hands on – to slide down the street. Awesome!
Even better – a video was made!
Thanks to _june’s Twitter Tweets for the reportage.
Video by MrJudkins.
The third Wellington Pecha Kucha Night is upon us! It’s happening Wed 30 July at the City Gallery. Doors open at 7pm, the event starts at 8.20, and it’s $7 admission.
A Pecha Kucha night involves a number of presenters, usually from the design, architecture, photography, art and creative fields, who present a slideshow of 20 images and speak for 20 seconds per image.
After the jump, check out the stellar line-up of people who’ll be speaking on the night.
Last weekend’s Sunday Star Times Sunday magazine had a fun essay by Leah McFall lamenting how hard it is to meet-cute in Wellington – that is, have one of those lovely romantic-comedy style accidental meetings with the fellow of your dreams, usually involving something quirky like bagels or poodles. It’s impossible here because, as we all know, in Wellington everyone knows everyone.
The essay isn’t online (boo, Sunday magazine!) but I thought it was worth sharing this bit, where Leah comes up with a magnificent metaphor for Wellington’s dating scene:
It’s like when you step onto a 16-seat propellor plane. There’s the guy at the top of the steps who rips your ticket, stows your laptop and passes round the Minties. Then he puts down the lollies, tugs on an earpiece, strides to the cockpit and starts the ignition. That’s what you’re dealing with, in Wellington: the man who is everywhere. How can you meet-cute with that? You’ve met him before.
Being a recent arrival to these parts, there are still many social dots I’m yet to connect, but I’m already finding strange connections in places I’d least expect it.
But perhaps there’s an advantage to this small-village scene? After all, if everyone knows everyone, you’re soon going to hear what your pilot’s crash rate is like.
I’m a big fan of real-time bus information – electronic signs that use GPS technology to tell you precisely when the next bus is coming, rather than having to rely on the theoretical arrival time of the printed timetable.
These have been up and running in Auckland for a few years now, and when I was living there it made catching a bus just that much easier.
For example, I could avoid sardining myself into a packed bus if I knew there was another one coming along soon. And instead of just waiting at the bus stop, I’d know if I had enough time to grab a coffee or browse in a shop before the bus came, or even walk for a bit to the next stop. And if a bus was running late, I’d know that too.
So it’s exciting to see that the Greater Wellington regional council are in the process of planning a real time bus info system. They have a survey up (running until July 20), wanting to know what sort of information you’d like, how you’d like it delivered, etc. And there’s also the possibility to register interest in being part of a focus group.
The NZ Herald reports that a company named RCG, who are “retail experts” have given ratings to the malls of Aotearoa because, “We thought it timely.”
So I thought it was timely to take a look at what they thought of the malls of the greater Wellington area. Do any of them equal Auckland’s mighty four-star Westfield Albany?
The article is skewed towards Auckland Malls, but it does mention poor North City in Porirua, which is only worth two stars as it is “struggling to achieve good sales”. The article also says that Lower Hutt’s Queensgate “made a big statement” (What, “I’m a mall in Lower Hutt!!!”?), but doesn’t say what the rating is.
But most interestingly, the article notes that the researchers found that “Wellington was bereft of malls”, like that’s a bad thing.
Perhaps it’s because Wellington’s inner city street shopping works so well it hasn’t created a demand for giant malls lurking out in the suburbs.
We have Cuba Mall, and I reckon that’s worth more stars than any dirty ol’ suburban mall out there.
Photo courtesy of Solid State.
Congratulations to team Puppy Guts who have only just gone and won the grand final of the 2008 48Hours film competition with their dance short F*DANCE, making them the first Wellington team to do so.
F*DANCE is the tale of a bad-ass finger dancer (you know, when you make dance moves with your fingers) who loses his mojo and must learn the hard way how to finger his way back to the top.
The film impressed the judges enough to make it to the Wellington finals, and was a Peter Jackson wildcard pick (oo-ooh!) for selection in the national finals.
So what impressed the international judges? Was it the humour? The finger dancing? The special effects? Or was it the splendid montage training scene that featured a gruelling finger-run up the Civic Square steps?
Well, whatever it us, team Puppy Guts have done us proud.