Set your brain on fire with Ignite
So many presentations are like really really weak broth, with only a hint of actual content floating around in far too much weak sauce. If only we could turn up the heat on that soup and simmer it down to a concentrated jus bursting with flavour and taste. Wouldn’t that be awesome? No filler, just killer! That’s what the Ignite series of talks aims to do:
Have you ever been to a 60-minute talk and lamented that there was only five minutes of good content? Imagine if you could hear only that five minutes…
that’s Ignite Wellington!
Come along to the second Ignite Wellington and be inspired, amused, educated and amazed! We have an array of talented Wellington speakers, who will each speak for five minutes on topics that range from couchsurfing and Ernest Rutherford, to OutdoorKnit, wallpaper and building the dream!
At the heart of Ignite is its fast-paced format. All presenters must give their talks in just five minutes – using 20 slides that appear on screen for only 15 seconds.
The evening will start with an Ignite Contest, which will help participants unleash their inner creativity. The last event had teams building the tallest possible structures out of spaghetti and marshmallows
Ignite is happening on Tuesday August 3, at the Paramount Theatre from 6.30pm-10pm. Ignite is free, but you need to register in order to guarantee a seat. For more information, including the full list of speakers, check out their site. You can follow also them at @ignitewelli and become a Facebook fan
Eat and eat and eat: win a voucher for the General Practitioner
Congratulations to Nicole and her fantail for winning our Rata competition. This week, to celebrate Wellington on a Plate, thanks to the lovely Positively Wellington Tourism, we have a $100 voucher to the General Practitioner on the corner of Willis & Boulcott to give away.
The restaurant gets its name from the building’s original purposee – it was constructed for Dr. Henry Pollen in 1902, with his family living on the top floor and surgery on the bottom. Legend (or just hearsay?) has it that not too long after that moved in a troop of ladies to take care of other needs of the body besides medicine, before eventually it was refurbished as a posh restaurant we once took my grandmother to, but I can’t remember the name of it.
So, speaking of sticking things in buns, part of Wellington on a Plate is Burger Wellington, in which over 30 Wellington restaurants and cafes are creating special burgers and you get to vote for the winner. The General Practitioner’s contribution sounds especially good:
Band Substances
An unfortunate number of Wellingtonistas are rather fond of making rather terrible puns quite frequently, which means a lot of my time is spend making "Badoom chish!" sounds. Imagine how much cooler it would be if the jokes were better and instead of me, there was a whole damn band playing the rim shots. Wait, you don’t want to have to imagine it? You want it to be real? Well, have we got the gig for you then!
Remember TAWA-nominated Robbie Ellis and the bus lane you put through his heart? Well, he’s been working on a new show called Band Substances:
It’s musical stand-up comedy with a full band!
Join some of Wellington’s favourite musical comedians:
- Gabriel Page
- Sarah Harpur
- Carlo & Cynthia Wakefield from Young and the Witless IV
- The Fringe Bar Opera Soloists and more!
It’ll be Band to the Bone! (Jo’s note: BADOOM CHISH!)
The show has with Jerome Chandrahasen as MC and Robbie as musical director.
Less Mahi, more Kai
You know how there is often cool free stuff happening at lunchtime if you have your ear to the ground (actually Twitter may well be the modern digital jungle drum or smoke signal if you know how to fossick and filter, you could just just follow us on Twitter). We have had complaints in the past about posting juicy tidbits a little too close to the time for ya’ll to cram into your busy diaries.
Well, suck it up people, you may have missed the free titi (muttonbird) tasters at Midland Park on Monday or the noodles today at Wagamama but at least you have time to make a packed lunch for a free lunchtime concert tomorrow for Te Wiki o te reo Maori in the Illot theatre, Town Hall. This concert will feature the spine-tingles of Ria Hall who bought the house down at the Seven Sisters concert at Te Papa last month. There will be a range of performances, including the Ngati Poneke maori club juniors and fresh back from the world expo in Shanghai Elena violinist, with her world-class kapa haka classical fusion and impressive mohawk.
So BYO kai and enjoy this celebration of the Maori language and culture. This is what living and working in central Wellington is about people: free access to cultural treasures, excitement and happenings everywhere, even on your lunch hour.
Where: Illot Theatre, Town Hall
When: 12.30 – 1.30 Wednesday 28 July
Cost: Free
Noodle noodle noodle
Not that it needs any pimping by us, but thought you should know that Wagamama in the Meridian building on the Waterfront is giving away free noodles today from 12 – 2.00pm. We are talking don buri, udon and beef noodle salad here people, well worth waiting in line for if you have the time.
Behold the line at 11.30am last year….
Rebels in so many ways
Remember the good time y’all had last year at the TAWAs? Sure, a lot of that was us up on stage, but also, it was the Klezmer Rebs, playing rollickingly good tunes. So we imagine you’d like to see them again, yes?
Good news, friends! They’re playing a gig next Friday July 30th at the Bath House, with Rodrigo Bros, The Charcoal White, Sam Manzanza Africa Rhythm Band, Rose’, Russell Self, Hannah Howes, oSka and more yet to confirm. The gig is to raise money for the Sea Sheppard and Pete Bethune.
Come out and show your support for opposition to whaling. All bands are donating their services and all proceeds go to the Sea Shepherd Society to help them continue their direct action against whalers in our oceans.
Yes, there are divided opinions on the Sea Sheppard’s techniques and Pete Bethune in particular. What’s not up for debate? How much fun it is to have a jolly good dance.
Let’s go shwopping!
Crossposted from Pretty Pretty Pretty, because I can.
It’s been a while since our last Pretty Pretty Party clothing swap, and given my current homelessness, it’ll probably be ages until the next one, but never fear! If you need to freshen up your wardrobe, you can still get your swap on, next Sunday:
- Sunday July 25
- Venue: The St James Theatre, Courtenay Place, Wellington
- Time: 10 am – 2.30 pm
- Tickets: $20 from our website or just turn up on the day
- R 18 event as alcohol is being served
- Bring up to 20 items of clothing
Tickets are $20, but because there are strict rules for what people can bring in, you know that the clothes will be good. Also, there’s all kinds of added goodies on the day.
Eat and eat and eat: win a voucher for Rata Cafe
Congratulations to Angus who won last week’s prize. This week, to celebrate Wellington on a Plate, thanks to the lovely Positively Wellington Tourism, we have a $100 voucher for Rata Cafe at Zealandia (the bird sanctuary in Karori) to give away.
If you’re the lucky winner, you might want to use it to have lunch in order to get your bearings before a night tour of the sanctuary (the cafe is only open until 5pm, mind) or when you take advantage of the special winter rate of admission to the information centre.
Of course, if you’re just in it for the food, we wouldn’t blame you! Rata has a particularly spectacular deck overlooking the sanctuary, and a menu (PDF) that offers up free range and organic goodness. As part of Wellington on a Plate, they’ve got a special deal for $25:
By the beach of Babylon, where we sat down. And waited. And waited.
Sunday would have been a lovely day to have brunch at Sweet Mother’s Kitchen, except pretty much every other person in Wellington had the same idea, and we were told it was going to be a 45 minute wait. We decided we’d venture further afield, and made the mistake of heading out to Oriental Parade, and Beach Babylon.
When we got there, it was really busy, but we thought surely it would be less than the 45 minutes wait at SMK, because there were free tables outside. It was a bit breezy, so we were keen to sit inside – since there were no free tables they offered us one outside and told us they’d give us the first free table inside. So we hopped up on stools crammed in the corner, and consulted the menu. Lots of things sounded tasty on the menu. K was happy that they had Foxton Fizz. I contemplated ordering a Pink Princess, which was fizzy raspberry and vanilla ice cream, but I decided to pretend to be a grown up and order a latte bowl instead. So we waited for a waitress, and waited, and waited. Eventually one came up and told us that she couldn’t take our food order right now, because the kitchen was slammed, but she’d be back to take our drinks order. Seriously? I appreciate the place was busy, but surely it is the job of the staff to manage the workflow. If the kitchen wasn’t ready for our orders (which seems strange), the wait staff should still take them, and hold onto them, and let us know approximately how long a wait we could expect.
Review: Mark Twain and Me in Maoriland
In 1895, an elderly, ill Mark Twain embarked on a world lecture tour, in order to earn enough money to pay back the $100,000 debt he held. The tour took him down under, including a visit to Whanganui. And it’s this event that Mark Twain and Me in Maoriland takes its inspiration from.
After its premiere at the New Zealand Festival of the Arts earlier this year, the play returns for a short run at Downstage.
The play supposes that Mr Twain took a rather more active role in local politics, inflamming the Pakeha, and both pro-European and anti-European Maori alike.
But this is no staid historic drama. The play has lashings of te reo Maori – sometimes translated, other times not, but you’re clever so you can figure it out from the context. And there’s a pleasing amount of song and music, with Mr Twain strapping on an electric guitar at one point, to join in on a blues number.
Playwright David Geary’s innovative script has moments of high comedy, yet with the power to get right down into some really gritty emotional moments. But what I really enjoyed the most was how New Zealand this play is. I’m sure all the places Twain visited on his 1895 tour have their own stories to tell (or make up), but it’s just really satisfying to see an inventive, entertaining play like this that’s come out of New Zealand.
- Mark Twain and Me in Maoriland
Downstage Theatre until 24 July