Wellington on a plate on the web
We’ve been particularly lax in not covering Wellington on a Plate, in my case because I am drastically short of funds and if I wrote about it I’d just get sad that I can’t eat every single thing on offer. But luckily, we can outsource the work to a third-world country instead. My favourite food blogger from Sydney – Helen at Grab Your Fork – has been in Wellington as a guest of Wellington Tourism, and she’s been doing some fantastic posts about what she’s been eating, along with taking some very tasty photos like the one at the right of the baking class at Floridita’s. You should check her out, and also check out the festival itself. If you’re short of a dining companion, feel free to extend an invitation to me…
Review: Whero’s New Net
Whero’s New Net, by Albert Belz, is a play inspired by The New Net Goes Fishing, Witi Ihimaera’s 1977 collection of short stories looking at the experiences of rural Maori moving to the cities.
This play takes the idea forward to the next generation, looking at Whero (played by Bree Peters), a young Maori woman living in London and trying to make a break as a singer-songwriter. She’s rather good, but a little nervous and somewhat overshadowed by Red, her confident, glamorous musical partner.
Whero is supported by her Irish manager and his boyfriend, also urban Maori. All is going well, when Whero meets a mysterious stranger – an East Coast Maori fulla who has the diary of her deceased father.
And it’s there that things get interesting, with Whero having to deal with aspects of her family’s past, her present and the pressures of the future.
Monsters attack!
Remember when Abel Smith Street was full of monsters recently? Here’s the ad that was the cause of it all.
[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3O-dMD4-U8]Another reason to love Wellington
We’ve always known that Wellington is a warm glowing lovefest of pinko liberal lefties. And no matter what your feelings are on the ambiguously worded opinion poll citizens-initiated referendum on kid-hitting, looking at the specific results of the Wellington electorates is pretty interesting.
As it happens, as of Friday night, the top two electorates in New Zealand with the highest percentage of ‘yes’ votes are Wellington Central (35.9%) and Rongotai (29.22%), and Ohariu isn’t too far behind with 19.73%.
The other big pockets of ‘yes’ are found in Auckland Central (28.84%) and Mt Albert (22.67%).
So if you’re feeling a little let down by the overall referendum result, a little comfort can be found in knowing that Wellington is still ace.
The end of Craft as we know it.
Open now and on for the next few weeks is Nanageddon at ROAR! gallery. Nanageddon is the end of craft as we know it and its not-for-the-fainthearted 😉
Many of the of the artists involved learnt how to craft from their nanas and using those skills they are transforming craft into art.
This isn’t tea cosies with a twist or stylish scarves (both of which we love) but a re-take on traditional craft methods, giving us another way at looking at and using craft.
Nananageddon releases craft from it’s normal, common and accepted uses drawing it into the realms of conceptually driven art.
Some of today’s edgy, and radical thinkers are part of Nanageddon and they are also sharing their skills with you at two public workshops:
– On Saturday August 29th take a family photograph along to ROAR! and transform it using some embroidery techniques.
– the following Saturday – September 5th take along some old plastic bags and you’ll learn how to transform them into jandals.
Both workshops are by gold coin donation
So get your craft on or just head along to ROAR! above Real Groovy Records in Upper Cuba Street from now until September 12th
Cinephilia: Opening This Week
Righto, back again with a quick run down of what’s new in cinemas this weekend. First up, a special treat for film fans who want to some free entertainment tomorrow lunchtime – Readings are hosting a special fifteen minute preview of James Cameron’s Avatar in their digital 3D Cinema 5. Three sessions (11.45am, 12.30pm & 1.15pm) are running and tickets are available on a first-come first-served. If you can’t sneak out for these you’ll have to wait until the whole film opens worldwide on 17th December.
Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds is only playing at Readings and Sky City Queensgate but don’t let that put you off. I saw it this evening and enjoyed myself tremendously – there really is a lot of entertainment to be had at the pictures at the moment. Brad Pitt plays the leader of a Dirty Dozen type squad of jewish soldiers, parachuted behind enemy lines in WWII to extract extreme vengeance on the Nazis. Featuring impeccable casting (even the non-actors are somehow right) and his usual eclectic soundtrack, Tarantino is in fine form.
[The rest of this week’s new releases after the jump]
Reminder: Smarten your Snapper
Here’s just a quick reminder that the Smarten your Snapper competition closes in a week’s time, on Thursday 27th August.
This means there’s still time for you to get busy on an entry. Check out the Craft 2.0 blog for some inspiration, or, think about this…
The new Green Snapper cards have been released for sale in Wellington this week. This means there will soon be thousands of school-age kids out there needing help to look after a hard-to-handle object that is valued (by their parents, at least). There’s got to be opportunities there for some inspired, and potentially rewarding, crafting!
For example, this Wellingtonista would queue, just behind his daughters, to help buy them a couple of robust and pretty holders on a lanyard at the next Craft 2.0…
Cinephilia: Opening This Week
The big noise this week is being made by Neill Blomkamp’s District 9 which you can see at Readings, Empire, Embassy and Sky City Queensgate. Blomkamp had been tapped by Peter Jackson to direct the Halo movie that he was co-producing along with Microsoft. When that fell over Jackson offered Blomkamp the chance to expand and revisit his short Alive in Joburg from 2005. And the almost instant rush of acclaim for District 9 has been intoxicating. I don’t get to see it until the weekend but I know a lot of people who have and all are raving. What is it about? A bunch of aliens are segregated and ghetto-ised in modern South Africa. After nearly 30 years as second class citizens tensions are reaching boiling point.
[The rest of this week’s new releases after the jump.]
Have you seen this necklace?
(In which we let you eat cake)
Ekeltus Inc are going for baroque with a lavish event this Saturday – The Affair of the Diamond Necklace: an evening with Marie Antoinette in the Gardens of Versailles – a dinner, ball and theatre experience all joined together in one sumptuous affair. It sounds rather excellent, and we can heartily recommend dressing up as Marie Antoinette, so perhaps you should find out more right now, oui?
Review: Le Sud
If you’ve visited Akaroa, you’ll know how the li’l Canterbury village prides itself on its Frenchness. See, it was founded by the French.
Dave Armstrong’s new play "Le Sud" takes the idea of the French in Aotearoa a few steps further – ce qui si le français avait colonisé l’Île du Sud?
Uh, I mean, what if the French colonised the South Island?
The comedy is set at a political meeting, with the Kiwi-as North Zealanders paying a visit to their Gallic southern neighbours to see about buying some of that electricity they have an abundance of.
We meet the sleazy South Zealand prime minister, his lesbionique deputy, and their minister of native affairs, who’ll do anything for a dollar. Or a franc. And if you’ve learned a bit of French in school, you’ll be able to feel clever throughout their opening dialogue en français.
The North Zealand team are lead by the good ol’ Kiwi bloke PM, and his coalition partners – a very left-wing Maori woman and a very ACT-like young dude.
The story manages to be quite naughty at times – much more naughty than you’d get on the telly – and the cast are brilliant with both the verbal and physical comedy.
I will also praise the bold, effective costumes by Nic Smillie. It’s kind of nice knowing that New Zealand political culture can be summed up in three well chosen suits.
And when all this comes together, Dave Armstrong’s pen of lolz manages to skewer French, Kiwi, Maori and political culture, throw in a bit of sex farce (Oh-haw-haw! Baguette!), and produce a really fun, funny play.
"Le Sud" plays at Downstage until August 22.