The very choice Mattgeeknz has written a guest review for us, because we knew we’d be unable to write a review about being blindfolded and sticking everything put in front of us in our mouths without being smutty about it. 

Capitol and CBM have teamed up to host three blind-dining evenings in Wellington. The first was on Monday, and there are two more sittings on Monday and Tuesday next week. It’s a fun twist on the dining experience: you’re blindfolded for the entirety of your meal, and at the end of each course you’re told what you’ve just eaten. 

 Y’know, it’s not often that I’d ever consider running a Wellington City Council press release in full, but I’m going to do it right now, cos BLOODY HELL, Wellington, get your act together! PS: this is how to work your STV vote, explained quite simply. Now hop to it. 

You may have seen a lifestyle column in this weekend’s DomPost where Hadyn Jones bemoaned the "fact" that you can’t get milkshakes at cafés in Wellington, and blamed this on the idea that Wellingtonians are too cool and stuck-up for such things. There are just a few things wrong with this:

• Just off the top of our little insect brains, we came up with Fidel’s, Midnight Espresso, Sweet Mother’s Kitchen, Espressoholic, Maranui and Offbeat Originals as noted enablers for the shake-addicted.
• Those are hardly obscure, hard-to-find underground establishments. If the DomPost’s esteemed correspondent is not aware of their menus, then one has to ask: just where has he been hanging out?
• If anything, those are the sort of places preferred by the cool kids, so it’s hardly a hipper-than-thou attitude that is keeping the oppressed milkshake down.
• And finally, if he did happen to ask for a milkshake in one of the more upmarket restaurant-style cafés, then I believe the staff would be quite justified to respond "No, we don’t serve milkshakes. Neither do we serve lollipops, Rashuns or hot dogs on sticks. We’re a café, not a dairy, burger bar or provincial tearooms circa 1983."

But there’s clearly a nostalgic hankering for gelatinous concoctions of artificial flavour and industrial-strength saturated fats, given the number of local establishments that do serve them. So, please help out the DomPost’s confused and bemused journalist by letting us know where your favourite milkshakes are: which place has the best shake, the best value and the best range?

We don’t want to alarm you, but there are creatures living under your bed! You can see them lurking around in dark corners everywhere. They live in mutated cupboards and ancient stories. Don’t take a breath. They are here to stay…

From the artists that brought you ROBOTS in 2009, Run Amuck Collective is proud to present MONSTERS! For 3 weeks only, Wellington will have the unique opportunity to explore the wonderful world of monsters as never seen before. Artists from all over New Zealand will be transforming the basement rooms of Mygalaxi Gallery on Dixon St into an explosion of delicious beasties: from sculpted fantasies to scrap metal creatures Installations, paintings and sculptures will line the walls as each artist expresses their own creative vision. Ranging from the comical to the frightening, each fantasy is inspired by the artist’s own love affairs and fascinations with monsters, resulting in an eclectic mixture of madness. Hand holding may be required.

Run Amuck Collective is a group of New Zealand based artists that have come together for the love of art, theatrics and cheeky pop culture. Roughly 20 artists strong and growing, each comes to the collective with a unique background and eclectic style.

Last night, our fearless editoress Joanna appeared on Media7. The episode was dedicated to regional media coverage of mayoral campaigns, from Northland to Southland. Joanna talked about the Wellingtonista’s mayoral candidate questionnaire, including that one candidate who couldn’t follow directions.

Jo did us proud, and skilfully managed to glamorously coordinate with the Media 7 set. You can watch the episode in full here.

After seeing the clips of regional telly in other parts of New Zealand, it makes me wish for Wellington to have its own low-budget, slightly crappy regional television channel.

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And speaking of Wellington local body politics and TVNZ 7, on Wednesday night, Back Benches held a debate with the Wellington mayoral candidates, focusing on transport and tourism. Watch the episode here.

For the past couple of years, we keep hearing people tell us not to go to a certain ethnic restaurant because “they were filmed by Target scraping leftover food back into the food to sell” and various other stories along the same lines. We got an email recently saying that someone else had heard the rumours, but had also heard that Target never actually filmed there. So we put on our Serious Investigative Journalist Hats, and sent out two very easy emails set out on a quest to discover the truth. Target wrote us back:

Yes we’ve been getting that for years too probably because target was filmed just around the corner at top shelf’s office down there for the first two or three years. Its never been on Target and I have confirmed this with the owner. We think that for a camera to be in the kitchen it must have been another staff member filming. I have no idea if its true or false but again it wasn’t filmed by us and no one in our office ever recalls seeing it. Urban myth?

And just to doublecheck, we emailed an Environmental Health Officer at the Wellington City Council, in the Building Consents and Licensing Services, who told us that this particular restaurant has a Certificate of Registration valid until July 2011. So can people please stop spreading this rumour? It’s ridiculous and untrue. If you don’t like the food, don’t eat there, but find another target for your defamation.

And no, we’re not going to name the restaurant in question if you haven’t heard the rumours, because mud clearly sticks regardless of whether it’s deserved or not.

During the school holidays the good folk at the Film Archive run a kids movie programmed called Mini Sized Square Eyes (not to be confused with the Square Eyes Foundation).

Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 11am during the holidays the kids can be entertained for an hour with gems from the Archive’s extensive collections, including the original film version of Where the Wild Things Are, early Walt Disney animation and classic slices of NZ experiments on film. Screenings designed for kids aged 4 – 12 years. Buggies welcome.

Entry by gold coin donation.