If you haven’t heard already, the Big Tune-in Sit-in is on today from 1-2pm on Parliament lawn. Bring your portable radio and a picnic lunch to celebrate Radio New Zealand and its importance to New Zealand’s cultural life. As Sue says over on her Craft2.0 blog:

yup it’s a protest picnic, which really is an incredibly classy and special way of saying how much you love our national broadcaster.

Next Tuesday, 2 March, sees the very first Ignite evening in Wellington, 6.30 at the Paramount Theatre.

Ignite is similar in format to Pecha Kucha evenings. With Ignite, the speakers have five minutes each to deliver 20 slides, at 15 seconds per slide. This constraint will (hopefully) unleash creavity and causes audiences brains to ignite with inspiration. Or something like that.

The line-up so far has something for everyone:

James Everett – Design for Play
Mike Brown – Cycling across America
Tim McNamara – Kiwis helping Haiti (& more!)
Lenz Gschwendtner – Realising your ideas
Julia Holderness – Venice Biennial
Dave Moskovitz – The music industry
Mark Harris – ACTA – We *could* tell you, but we’d have to kill you
Dave ten Have – Nothing to fear, but fear
Melissa Clark-Reynolds
Sarah Harpur
David Ritchie

Find out more at the Ignite website. Admission is free, but make sure you register if you want to go. It’s going to be a good one.

The "Excuse Me" guy aside, Wellington doesn’t see all that many panhandlers around. But recently, a fellow has taken up in the doorway of the old United Video on Courtenay Place, with a sign advising passersby by that he’s looking for money for a trip to Auckland.

What lies in this golden land is uncertain. When I passed by the spot tonight, he was nowhere to be seen, but someone had made this sign:

A guerilla art project? A clever anti-panhandling measure? Or perhaps this will become a new tourist attraction – get your photo taken looking forlorn under the sign, and maybe one day you too will make it to Auckland.

Yesterday twitter was all atwitter trying to figure out where all the smoke in Wellington was coming from, before someone figured out that it was a fire in Titahi Bay. What’s been interesting today has been the amazing collections of photos of the fire on Flickr – not just in our sidebar or this great shot by Wellingtonista friend Lisa Fur, but also this curated flickr gallery. Nice work, flickrinos!

We’d been wondering for a while where our other favourite McKenzie brother has been at because we haven’t seen him behind the bar at Hooch or Hawthorn for ages, but of course we kept forgetting to ask, because naturally we were too busy asking for another drink.

Well, it turns out that Justin has been working as 42Below’s vodka professor (we hope this means he gets a cap and gown) and he’s been rather busy today with the regional finals of the Cocktail World Cup. The three bartenders who’ll be representing New Zealand will be Auckland’s James Goggin from Racket and our own Josh Crawford from Hooch and Calum Chadwick from the Matterhorn.

As usual, there’s all kinds of fun and games in Queenstown around the event, but since we’re the Wellingtonista probably the bit that you’re interested in is that the grand finale is happening in Wellington on March 27, featuring the world’s best bartenders and (I’m going to quote the press release here) "New Zealand’s best rock group ‘Midnight Youth’", and probably quite a few splashes of vodka as well. And we’ve got a double pass to give away to it!

Along with the invited VIPS, 42BELOW is offering a select number of people the chance to attend the Grand Final Shake off as vodka groupies. Tickets are being sold for $42, which includes four cocktails, food and entertainment so get in quick for a chance to party with New Zealand’s best music and with the world’s best bartenders.

Joanna

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The council is going to draft a by-law to ban drinking in public places.

But don’t worry, respectable citizens! It’s not aimed at you! It’s aimed at pesky boozers.

Extending the liquor ban would mean we could deal with problems in the suburbs. It wouldn’t be about stopping people having a quiet beer or a glass of wine on the beach or in the park – and the Police are already on the record as saying they would use discretion.

Another "x-ing while brown" offence in the making.

They break bottles, yell and swear, vomit and create chaos – but there’s nothing the Police can really do at the moment about the drinking of alcohol – which is generally the cause of the problems.

This is a puzzler. If people are behaving badly, that’s disorderly behaviour. If they’re not, who cares whether they’re drinking?

If only there were somewhere for hardcore street drinkers to go. Meanwhile, wasting police time on herding them around the city is apparently the only way out.

There’s a Facebook group in opposition. Here’s hoping that’s just a start.

Petone Fair is this Saturday (20th February) 10am-4pm.  Jackson Street is closed for the fair from Cuba to Victoria Street.

Word on the (Jackson) street is that there are genuine Lower Hutt made gingernuts for sale with a cuppa at the Rotary tent.

If the gingernut doesn’t fill the gaping void in your tummy, the Wellingtonista recommend grabbing a delicious Rush Munro icecream and New Zealand made artisan cheese from Cultured, under the clock tower. 

There are many great ethnic food stalls, and the samosas from outside Curry Heaven are brilliant. Go Bang is a Wellingtonista favourite for a sit down feed and a coffee, and if you’re sticking around until evening, Gusto Bistro is a great choice.

Where are your favourite Petone food spots?

Te Papa’s forecourt may look as if it’s under attack by giant glittery space balls, but it’s actually the start of a two-year kinetic sculpture installation called "The Mimetic Brotherhood", by Peter Trevelyan.

There’s not much kinesis evident at the moment, but once the installation is complete, expect the plinth-eating monsters to start pulsating in their full hydraulic glory.

Hey guys.

Below is the line up of Orientation events this year, with thanks to The Victoria University of Wellington Students Association and the VBC88.3FM. Not just for students, tickets are also available to the general public. (For full disclosure: I had a hand in this years line up. I hope you like it!)

VUWSA 2010 ORIENTATION LINE UP

STEVE WRIGLEY, BEN HURLEY AND JAMIE BOWEN
Union Hall
Tuesday March 2
Students $10/ Public $15 + booking fee
6PM

THE CHILLS
With support from SECRET KNIVES and JOE BLOSSOM
Students $20 Public $30 + booking fee
Tuesday March 2
San Francisco Bath House
8pm
*Tickets for this show also available at undertheradar.co.nz

Anthony McCall Drawing with Light
Late night at the gallery w/ KazaamBLAM!!
Adam Art Gallery
Wednesday 3 March
FREE ENTRY
OPEN UNTIL 9PM

HAWNAY TROOF
With support from SETS and 47 DIAMANTES
Wednesday March 3 2010
Mighty Mighty
Students $10/ Public $15 + booking fee
9PM
*Tickets for this show also available at undertheradar.co.nz

THE GREAT DEBATE
Thursday MARCH 4
UNION HALL
$5 DEBATING SOCIETY $10 STUDENTS + booking fee
6PM

ALL AGES SHOW with STREET CHANT + NEVERNUDES
Friday March 5 2010
THE MOUNT STREET BAR – CAMPUS
FREE ENTRY
5:30PM