200 People I Used To Know
Toby Morris is pretty famous in Wellington for his awesome gig posters, and for his time in Batrider.
Now he’s started a new project, called 200 People I Used To Know
This blog is my memories of 200 different characters I’ve known over the years, drawn and written about as I remember them. So I hope I remember right.
Because this is Wellington, we bet you will know at least half of the people too (Hi Jimmy!), so you should check it out, and thank The Morgue for giving us the hot tip.
The jumble sale is back!
Do you have plans for Easter Weekend the weekend after Easter? Well scrap them because something and someone rather amazing is coming to town. It’s not Santa or the Easter bunny, but even better – it’s Maria, of Eclectic fame in Nelson.
She’s arriving with the biggest haul of vintage and retro treasure like last year. But she’s also bringing FURNITURE!
TEXTILES, FABRIC, LACES, LINENS AND BRICBRAC. Plus hats, sunglasses, scarves, jackets, dresses, shoes and all manner of clothing! And there’ll be some guys’ stuff too.
It’s the kind of thing we never get to see in Wellington on jumble sale scale and price! $5-$20 with a few special items.
There is heaps of fabric and lots of jewellery and buttons etc for remaking. 10,000 items!!!!!
You will kick yourself if you can’t make it and there will be something for everyone, plus stuff is put out over the whole weekend so if you can’t make first thing Saturday morning, don’t be put off.
Come anytime over the weekend, go twice even and be amazed!
It will be the place to be. So if you are sad Craft2.0 isn’t on this weekend, well here’s one great place to be spending your money.
Fight for your right to party
If you want to do anything about the proposal to extend the liquor ban to cover the whole city 24/7, get your submission in now.
To recap: the proposal is to ban carrying or drinking alcohol in any public place in the city. This is meant to deal with the problem of antisocial drinkers in places like the middle of Newtown, but it’s a very broad draconian measure. Advocates say not to worry, because you can trust the police to use their discretion wisely. Some of us think that the right approach would be a bit more nuanced and involve actually engaging directly with the problem of street alcoholics rather than making all citizens who want a beer on the beach or a glass of wine at a picnic potential criminals.
Bye-bye, Wellywood sign
Wellington Airport has actually listened to the massive public opposition to the Wellywood sign (and potential legal troubles from Hollywood) and have ditched the idea.
Thank God for that.
Wellington Airport has backed down from a proposal to erect a "Wellywood" sign and is asking the public for alternative ideas.
… [O]pposition from the public – and a possible legal stoush after Hollywood lawyers said it would be a trademark violation – led to a change of plans.
Wellington Airport chief executive Steve Fitzgerald today invited alternative ideas for "a sign celebrating the global success of Wellington’s film industry" to be submitted via Facebook.
The question now is whereabouts on Facebook do we leave our ideas? There’s nothing for Wellington Airport, so we’re just left with the "Hey, let’s NOT have a "WELLYWOOD" sign in Wellington" group, and the slightly strange "Support Wellywood" page.
Let’s hope that whatever they come up with to grace the Miramar hills is something we’ll love.
UPDATE: The Facebook page for Wellington International Airport has appeared. Have at it!
What up, Easter?
So today we asked on Twitter for people to tell us what’s going to be open and what’s going to be closed over Easter. This is our list so far, please feel free to add more in the comments.
- Leuven is "open every day over Easter". They get away with it because they are a restaurant.
- The Malthouse is open Saturday and Monday and surcharge free all the way. They’ll be closing at midnight on Thursday and the Saturday, however.
- Readings Cinema will be open. We kind of figured that, but since they took the time to reply, we thought you should know.
- The Southern Cross will be open "for dining only" all weekend. Which means they will put cutlery on the tables and you can drink as usual.
Catching the fish
Last Tuesday, I was drawn like a fly to a pile of fishheads to the Overseas Terminal for the launch of FishHead magazine.I had to sort out the Mollusc for trying to step into my territory. How many anonymous troublemakers does this town need, after all?
The adventure started with a boat ride from Queen’s Wharf, where entertainment came in the form of giraffe-esque models in ridiculous heels trying to clamber into the trawler. They still managed the task better than one Wellingtonista whose flailing arm knocked the lens out of some unfortunate gentleman’s glasses. Perhaps she was unsteady on her feet because of being uncharacteristically sober?
The seven minute voyage across the harbour seemed to have been planned entirely so the hipsters could get their "on a boat" badge on Foursquare. Oh hipsters and their adorable need to collect things. Anyone would think that their lives were hollow and empty or something. Things got more lively on land, where we were welcomed by Batucada, fishheads firmly in place.
The band sounded great outside, marching back and forward and hitting their percussiony bits. When they came inside later on, it was a little too loud though, so this Fly wasn’t suprised to see guests slipping outside to get their Titanic on.
Out, damned spot!
Despite my frivolous title, it seems that most people loved the Kusama installation "Dots for Love and Peace", and are sad to see it removed, dot by colourful dot, from the front of the City Gallery today.
The Gallery have been helpfully answering questions on Twitter, and unfortunately for souvenir hunters that includes the news that the dots will be "very carefully disposed of". On the plus side, the Hotere/Culbert installation Fault will be soon be making a glowing return.
Flying in and switching off
The Oaks complex sometimes seems like a hospitality Bermuda Triangle: fast-food joints and dodgy convenience stores jostle with bars of almost unrelenting crapness. But something’s about to land that looks much more promising: Memphis Belle Coffee House.
With a barista who just came second in the regional champs, a serious-looking range of Flight beans from their Napier home base and glimpses of an interior that looks vastly more sophisticated than its predecessor (not that that’s saying much), Memphis Belle might just put the Oaks curse behind it. It should be opening this week, and definitely seems worth checking out.
On the other hand, it looks like it might be lights out for a bar that was never exactly this fly’s favourite place: Electric Avenue. There was a skip outside this weekend, gradually filling with neon-painted MDF as the gaudy interiors were ripped out. It’s quite possible that it’s just a particularly violent renovation, but it all seems rather sudden, and their Facebook group has been silent for a month. Is there anyone out there who will admit to being a regular and can confirm or refute its demise? And what are the chances of getting a decent bar to replace it? Given the location in Munter Central, I guess the most we could hope for is a bar that can at least spell its street address on its website.
Pick of the Fringe by Candlelight
…well the stage itself will be lit up like a Christmas tree but the bar and exteriors will be lit by candles for Earth Hour.
Saturday is the closing night for Pick of the Fringe at Downstage, if the whirl of Fringe and the New Zealand International Arts Festival has passed you by this year you can still catch two outstanding shows at Downstage.
Theatre is an experience to be shared and both shows on offer are really accessible as well as being ‘Fringe’, so you could take you sister or your boyfriend or your work colleague. You can see both shows for $40 which is very reasonable.
back/words is a piece of documentary theatre with performances that focus on being completely faithful to the source of the story. The source being in this case, filmed interviews with people that have been loosely framed around important ‘firsts’. Out of hours and hours of footage they have shaped a theatre length show full of humor and emotion.
Paint by numbers, meet the future
Those clever folks at Clemenger have a nifty project on the go called Watch This Wall. They’ve created a huge paint-by-numbers, and are inviting friends and clients (including Vince Martin, Vince!) to colour it in. All proceeds are being donated to the Wellington Sculpture Trust, when it is eventually finished and auctioned on Trade Me.