Kilbirnie gets some extra love
Someone (or someones) has got their outdoor knit on at Kilbirnie Park. Hurray for loves! I wonder what the council’s take on this kind of graffiti is…
Pasifika Cancelled (but Newtown gets all the taro)
Pasifika was cancelled this morning due to high winds making it unsafe for perfomers and stall holders. Safety first eh.
So no Cindy of Samoa or Yandall Sisters and tasty food for us.
Well actually, I think you will find that if you head to a certain Pasific Island Community Church in Newtown you will find the food and the odd act has relocated (rumor has it that the Yandall Sisters are keen to belt out a few tunes).
A group of stall holders from the Cook Islands have flown over especially so if anyone knows of somewhere they can sell their wares tomorrow let us know in the comments. They would really appreciate it.
Warmups, Webstock, Wrestling.
Holy crap, next week is going to be insane. It’s WEBSTOCK WEEK, baby! Expect a proliferation of smart sexy people with smart sexy satchels to be taking over your favourite bars (especially the ones we recommended to them) and discussing mindblowingly awesome concepts. You’re going, right?
And because we don’t want you to get injured from having your mind (and liver) blown without stretching first, we here at the Wellingtonista are super pleased to be hosting an Official Wellingtonista Unofficial Webstock Warm-up on Wednesday 17th at Hashigo Zake from 5pm. Expect lovely people, great prices on some beers thanks to Dominic and perhaps some other special treats. Feel free to come along even if you’re not going to Webstock, although we may point and laugh at you.
If you can’t afford to go to the whole conference, there are still a couple of tickets left to the ONYAs party, which we are assured will be amazing even if we’re not up for any awards.
Or, if none of this floats your boat, you should go to the RASSLIN!
Land of the Long White Cloud
"The brain is a multi-faceted thing that thinks about all sorts of things, mostly bullshit. Whereas a fish doesn’t. A fish only thinks about eating, reproduction, and staying alive. A bit like the kiwi male, probably….” local fisherman Neil Moody.
Florian Habicht’s latest documentary Land of the Long White Cloud is full of fishing and philosophy and definitely worth a peek. Currently screening at the Film Archive for three weeks it’s a look into the hearts and minds of fishermen and women, as they compete for $50,000 in the 90 Mile Beach ‘Snapper Classic’ – the world’s largest snapper fishing contest.
"Must be seen" – National Radio
"An injection of Awesome" – 95BFM
Wednesday to Saturday nights at 7pm until 27 February
at the Film Archive cinema, corner of Taranaki and Ghuznee Sts.
Tickets: $14 adult, $12 concession, $10 seniors, $9 children
Love to roll?
Love bikes? Love frocks? Love Wellington? How about you mix all those things together on Valentine’s Day by taking part in Frocks on Bikes’ Love to Roll event.
All you need is your stylish self, a bike and a sense of joie de vivre! If you don’t have a bike … never fear! Read on…
♥ Lovers to Roll will gather at on Valentine’s Day at 1.30pm on Oriental Parade by Freyberg Pool.
♥ After ensuring everyone’s registered to be in to win our prizes, we will depart on our cruise!
♥ We will cycle at a leisurely pace, on the roads, around the beautiful Wellington bays through Kilbirnie and out to Lyall Bay, with a brief stop outside the Maranui Lifesaving Club around 3pm where any additional Lovers to Roll can join the flock.
♥ We’ll arrive at the Island Bay Festival in Shorland Park, where we will take to the Festival stage in the Pavilion to announce the winners of our fantastic prizes!
♥ After it’s all over, you can either return to the city with us or independently.If you’re currently short of a steed, don’t worry – the awesome Green Bike Trust is bringing a fleet of brand-new bikes for Lovers to Roll to hire (only $10!), but bookings are essential!Lovers to Roll who register are in to be lucky winners! There will be intense competition for the coveted title of Best-Matched Bike & Rider Team, the Most Loved-Up Bike award, the Best-Dressed Couple award, and the grand prize – the title of R&R Supreme Frocker! Up for grabs are superb prizes from our generous donors:
A plan for 2012
So imagine if the worst thing in the world* happens, and Wellington loses its bid to continue hosting the Sevens. What should we do?
Simple! Just don’t tell anyone. Richard Maclean at the council is great at communicating truths so surely he’d be even better at telling lies. We just pretend that the sevens are still on. Hire a couple dozen students to run up and down the field in the stadium, and who’d know the difference? No one actually goes along for the rugby do they? People will still get dressed up, there’ll be glass and vomit and extra amounts of hate crimes (hey bogans who threw cans at my friends who dared to hold hands in public: you’re fucking losers) all over the streets as usual, and we get to keep that 16 million dollars or so that the games bring to the city. This fly would be well-happy, because I do love to live in shit, after all.
*Not really
Boganwatch
AC/DC – the greatest band on the planet – are playing in Wellington tonight and Saturday on the Black Ice tour, and the city has been overrun by bogans, glorious bogans.
Stuff reports on the invasion, including a quote from one fan who reckons, "I’d say every bogan from around the country will be there."
Meanwhile, the arrival of our black-T-shirted brethren has not gone unnoticed on Twitter:
@CUSTOMSBREWBAR ghuznee street is crawling with old bogans… so many black jeans and metal tshirts! "Throw your goats up"
@meganhuddleston There are a ridiculous number of bogans in town. THUNDER!
@bnolan Lol at all the bogans outside. It’s awesome how you can just tell they’re going to ACDC. Super nice people so far too! Rock on! #acdc #wlg
@Narelle_NZ Saw at least 15 bogans and 2 mini-bogans on the way to get lunch #acdc #wellington
@bradgallen Today wellington = So. Many. Bogans…
@missannajane The black holey jumpers and ACDC t-shirts are out en force on the streets of Wellington. Apparently, bogans drink Starbucks.
We welcome any comments or observations of the bogan invasion. Man, Wellington is gonna go off this weekend!
Davis Food Market: an investigation
We noticed Davis Food Mart pop up on the corner of Taranaki Street and Karo Drive a little before Xmas, so we decided it was time to check it out to see if Mt Cook now has a proper supermarket to call its own.
It doesn’t.
But, we did find some very interesting things anyway, and you can read more about them after the break.
A new dialogue with Julia
So, Julia Deans, singer in the TAWA-nominated Fur Patrol and all-around pretty lady has a solo album coming out this year. The first single off it is called "A new dialogue" and it has a rather lovely video. Enjoy!
[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCFHkYYK_4Q]A teatowel coffee guide to Wellington
NZ History have recently added an amazing tea towel, thought to be from the mid-1960s, listing the coffee houses of Wellington.
It’s very cool to see such a list of classy joints that our forefathers and foremothers ran, making Wellington such a good coffee town.
Only a couple of these places are still in existence today (and the Matterhorn’s specialty is no longer "Continental cakes"). I wonder what businesses can now be found in these locations.
(And it’s interesting that in the days before the Beehive and the Fern Ball, the icon of Wellington was, er, the National War Memorial, and National Museum and Gallery.)