What was that sound of crying and wailing all over Wellington yesterday? Why were single ladies pulling their hair and sobbing onto one another’s shoulders? Did it have anything to do with a certain DPF changing his facebook status from "Single" to "In a relationship"?

The Wellingtonista’s Font of all Film Knowledge Dan Slevin has been getting excited about this one.

For the next fortnight the Film Archive is showing a retrospective of the work of Wellington-based independent film making collective Vanguard Films.

Screening at the Archive’s cinema on the corner of Taranaki and Ghuznee Sts, are a range of exceptional documentaries and dramas, with equipment and gear used by the film makers over the years, also on display. There’s even a Bolex camera saved from detection by the French Military at Mururoa Atoll in 1973. Hidden in a barrel of oranges (the film stock in a sack of flour) a decoy camera was confiscated, but one Bolex remained in Vanguard member Alister Barry’s possession which he used to shoot footage of the Mururoa test site.    

Don’t miss Russell Campbell and Alister Barry on Sunday with Chris Laidlaw this weekend at 9:30am (appropriately just after Mediawatch). And come in to the Film Archive to find out more about the collective’s ceaseless political and social activism over the last 30 years. 

Tomorrow sees the start of Wellington’s most favourite book event, the Downtown Community Ministry Bookfair, which is being held at the TSB Arena on Saturday and Sunday.

Thousands of books have been sorted by volunteers for months all ready to make book shopping easier on the weekend.

My hot tips…

• Set a buying budget
• Get there early on Saturday to get the books you really really, REALLY want.
• Pop back on Sunday and take advange of the hourly specials for books, vinyl and magazines you mostly want.
• Don’t haggle at an event like this. All the prices are cheaper than at second hand book stores and every cent go towards helping those most at need in our city.

How good is this event? In the words of one of our favourite Wellington bloggers 

The event itself is so awesome that even if  they told me that they used the money to crush kittens, I’d still attend. Okay, maybe not … but still – it’s fabulous.

And this year’s book fair is all about Twitter. Follow the #dcmbookfair tag for updates over both days of the BookFair. Simply Tweet about your BookFair experience and include #dcmbookfair to let others follow the fun.

DCM Events Coordinator David Cross says…

The BookFair provides an ideal event for people on Twitter and other social networks. I’m excited to see how it all unfolds. Perhaps we’ll get people tweeting about finding the perfect book or that long lost vinyl record, who knows

The BookFair hours are from 9am – 5pm on Saturday 4th and 10am – 4pm Sunday 5th of September. Money raised from the BookFair goes towards Downtown Community Ministry’s work amongst people in need in the city.

At SXSW 2007, the cool new thing that got everyone talking was Twitter, and we know how that ended up. This year’s cool new thing was foursquare, a location sharing social networking app with gaming elements, and many people wondered when it might come to New Zealand.

Well, it’s not here yet. But recently, local dev legend Ben Nolan dropped us a line to let us know about Twitterplaces, an open-source variant on the foursquare theme that he’s been working on.

(When we last mentioned Ben he’d just put together one of the first ever Facebook applications. This was of course many months before we all got collectively tired of being pirates and throwing cows at each other; thankfully, Ben’s application contained neither.)

What to do when one’s parents come to town and want to take you out to dinner? We usually quiz our fellow Wellingtonistæ around the office watercooler: there’s always an opinion or three on a subject like this.

Given we had to cope with a not terribly adventurous (in the culinary sense) older bloke, and two small kids, where could we go that was classy yet satisfy our varying requirements? There were many good suggestions:

• Zibibbo – classy, plus PIZZA for small people;
• Roxy – quiet, tasty;
• Joe’s Garage – newly opened chain restaurant in Tory Street;
• Portofino – another newly opened chain restaurant, in the Meridian building;
• Le Metropolitaine – French, and known for a good steak;
• Osteria del Toro – Mediterranean for everyone;
• Crazy Horse – for a meat frenzy;
• Gusto Bistro – Petone’s finest;
• the Lido – an old standby, great food for the price.

We’ve written before about the fire at the Maranui Surf Cafe, and how bloody sad that was, but it’s kind of bloody lovely to see the way that this city can be all small-town-like and good-hearted, with yet more events planned to raise money for the cause.

Shipwrecked! Maranui Staff Benefit Concert Party is happening this Saturday September 5 at the Tug Boat, and $20 will get you in to see the Eggs, Lonesome Cowboy and other bands, as well as chances to win prizes from Madame Fancy Pants, Real Surf and Joug Design

And if that’s not quite enough partying for you, there’s also the afterparty at SFBH where koha on the door will get you a free shot.

Today delivered a bright and cheerful blue-dappled day in the city but there were dark forces abroad.  Three grim reapers were seen around town this afternoon complete with scythes and flowing dark hooded robes.  They were spotted at the beginning of their jaunt in the dank, dark alleys of Left Bank; then again at the library hitting the romance and murder mystery sections; later at New World doing a spot of shopping; and taking some air on the waterfront at dusk (photo credit Dominika Zielinska).

They were harvesting more squeals and smiles than souls and seemed to be a hit with the tourists.

To what do we owe this psychopomp?

A couple of cool new features have arrived at Google Maps.

First, the images used in the satellite tiles have been updated, and with images of a higher resolution so you can zoom in right down to the smallest click on the slidey thing.

The old images pre-dated the bypass, so it’s good to see more up-to-date images.

Also, the images appear to have been taken on a bright sunny day and the city looks absolutely gorgeous.

View Larger Map

Second thing is Google Transit, which lets you plan journeys using public transport (click on Get Directions in Google Maps).

Wellington is the first city in Australasia to have Google Transit, as reported in this envious article in the Herald.

Alan’s already had a bit of a play with it: