Anyone who has been down to the waterfront this week would have seen a large rusty barge parked in the lagoon and a bunch of scaffolding and marquees going up.  You may well be wondering,  "what the hell is all of this in aid of?"

Well gentle reader, today for one day only, the area around the lagoon and Frank Kitts Park is being transformed into a slice of Asia (well about 10 or so slices of Asia) for the Southeast Asian Night Market.  The market opens with a cannon blast at 4pm and finishes up at 10pm.

This is only the second time the market has been held in Welly, and the big difference is this time they are cooking with gas, outside, live and direct.  Last time it was held in the TSB arena and lines snaked across Queens Wharf for hours so prepare yourself for Cuba Carnival style crush.  Get in amonst the sights, sounds, smells and not forgetting for a second, the FLAVOURS of a real deal night market.  Yes, I did just use caps.  I know that is bad manners but I have seen the menus on offer and I have to say both "whaaa?" and "nom" in equal measure, which is exactly as it should be.

Programme details and highlights after the jump:

 Wellington has a new magazine called FishHead and the first issue is out today. From their press release:

FishHead magazine will cover the full spectrum of life in Wellington including politics, opinion, wine, food, fashion, local issues, film, books, art, theatre, music and more.

I have yet to get my hands on a copy of it because I am waiting for the launch party next week, but I can tell you that at least two of the articles are awesome, because I wrote them – a paragraph on why I love Wellington, and the Wellingtonista’s Top Ten Things To Do in Wellington – albeit in edited form so as not to enrage the citizens of Oriental Bay.

I don’t think that Wellington has ever had its own proper magazine (remember UNO? hahaha!), so I, for one, welcome the new publication.

Autumn is upon us, and seasons changing means only one thing in the Wellington Craft World. It’s Knack time.

Knack time being this saturday from 9.30am till 2.30pm at Berhampore School.

Knack is a glorious seasonal market which also doubles as a school fundraiser. So you get to buy handmade from the artist which is grand and then know that you are also helping out a school. It’s like double doing good, with shopping .

Knack’s full of lovely handmade things, and is often where some of Wellington’s newests crafters make their selling debut, so it’s a great market for those of you wanting to be ahead of the trends.

There’s loads of parking at the school or catch the bus and amble up the hill.

When the New Zealand cricket team (note not BLACKCAPS™) first toured South Africa in 1953 they had never won a Test Match and were given no show against a ruthless South Africa, on pitches tailored to support their fast, mean quick bowlers.

The cricket was tough, and victory was ultimately beyond New Zealand’s grasp, but it wasn’t the cricket that ensured that the series became a NZ sporting legend. The 1953 Second (Christmas Day) Test is famous for the profoundly moving story of one player, Kiwi fast bowler Bob Blair, and his story has been brought to the stage by talented actor Jonny Brugh (Sugar & Spice) and it’s playing now at BATS.

During the rest day of the Test, Blair got the news that his fiancée Nerissa Love had been killed along with 150 others in the Tangiwai Rail Disaster. When play resumed on Boxing Day nobody expected Blair to play any further part in the game. Without giving too much away, the rest (as they say) is history.

Brugh’s play is a moving and beautifully acted treatment of the story. He plays dozens of parts (Blair & Love; cricketers Rabone, Reid, Sutcliffe, etc; Prime Minister Sid Holland) and imbues them all with fine detail and a sweet comic sensibility. He brings, not just the game to life, but the era – a different age.

Nothing about signs here, I promise, except that a tweet I saw after the storm wished that the sign had been up so that we’d have alphabet soup in the harbour right now. But in some bullet points that you might be able to use: 

• Congratulations to Ange whose Four Seasons Cocktail has won her a double pass to the 42Below Cocktail World Cup. Can you please email us your address so I can send that out to you, Ange? And the rest of you can buy tickets for yourself online or at the Hawthorn Lounge. The Old Museum Building is a lovely venue and cocktails are always a good time. 
• Speaking of alcohol-related events, Cellar-Vate are starting up their winemaker dinners for the year with Coney Wines on March 31. Tickets are $45 and are available in store, or you can book on the phone. Coney make delicious wines, and their tasting notes are kind of hilarious, so it should be a good night. 
• Our cousins in the north, The Aucklandista are making a go of it again, so if you had deleted it from your bookmarks due to inactivity, you might want to resubscribe. 
• We set up a formspring account so y’all could ask us anonymous questions, and while it was easy to reply if we get paid by any of the bars we mention (we’re not. Full disclosure though: occasionally we get treated extra nice, but only as regulars are, rather than because we wield the almighty power of teh blogosphere) it’s much harder to advise on how could someone find a bookclub to join. Do you guys have any answers? 

The Wellywood sign madness/awesomeness continues!

Aucklander Edward from has created the Wellywood Sign Generator.

This is a crop of my attempt, where I have added a helpful "lol" to explain that the sign is a "send-up" and a "tongue-in-cheek play" on the Hollywood sign.

First it was "Bret or Jermaine?" then "Smash Malice or Brutal Paegent?" but now it’s time for the really big decision – which Facebook group to join – "Hey, let’s NOT have a ‘Wellywood’ sign in Wellington"or "A WELLYWOOD sign on the Miramar Cutting Hill is a STUPID idea"?

Everyone knows that while Wellington has a world-class, award-winning film production industry, it’s been sorely lacking one serious thing: a giant sign proclaiming WELLYWOOD.

Well, our prayers have been answered! By June a giant WELLYWOOD sign will be erected in the hills of Miramar, and will serve as a visual distraction for passengers suffering a bumpy approach to the airport.

Quoted in the Dom Post, Mayor Kerry sez:

"The sign will be one of the first things people will see when they arrive in Wellington. They will be left in no doubt that this is the heart and soul of New Zealand’s film industry."

Unless you make the approach from the Lyall Bay end of the runway. In which case, you will be left thinking you’ve just arrived in Wellington, not the world centre of the film-making universe.

Oh, I suppose I shouldn’t mock it. After all, the Hollywood sign turned that small Los Angeles village into a film-making centre second only to Wellington.

And, to be fair, it’s a little embarassing that Mosgiel has a giant sign in the hills but Wellington doesn’t yet.

One of the nicest things about the Festival of the Arts is that there are almost always several events that leave the realm of overpriced towers of high-culture and invade the everyday places. For example this year, we’ve loved the circus events and the dancer with digger in Waitangi Park.

Right now, the festival is getting a little more into the faces of the golden mile shoppers and office lunchtime refugees with a series of shop window installations along Lambton Quay and nearby streets.

This is the Revolt of the Mannequins, from French theatre company Royal De Luxe. Every night, a new "episode" in each installation is revealed; stories are told against a wider narrative of a revolution of mannequins against their oppressors. 

And while you’re busy checking out all ten official locations (map here), put this track on high rotate, and let us know what and where you see the mannequins next. For not all of the mannequins are inside the shops (as the passers by who caught sight of the sniper yesterday found out). 

And who knows – it could be that those that are not for the revolution, are against it.