A quiet night in the suburbs
Spotted at the Railway Station is this hilarious anti-graffiti ad:
Find out what this nice young suburban couple are up to after the jump.
Big Freeze Video
Video of last week’s ‘Big Freeze’ (previously blogged about by Sue here).
[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WezMQg_LCpQ]Courtesy: The Sidestrip
A week of it
What a week to look forward to!
Tuesday 9th: Pecha Kucha at the OPT from 6:30pm. We love these nights, and this time they’ve got writers, artists, cartoonists and landscape architects (among others) in the line-up. Those with a practical interest in street art might have to rush there from the At Large planning meeting at Manky Chops, which starts at 5:30.
Wednesday 10th: Artist Matt Hunt (aka Ace Hurt from Cortina) launches his new exhibition at Peter McLeavey gallery at 5:30pm (link for Facebook types). The title "Dreaming of a New Heaven and Earth and the Eternal Nightmare of Hades" makes one wonder just what to expect from the after-party at Mighty Mighty.
Thursday 11th: Did someone say "Burlesque"? Oh, right, we did.
Friday 12th: If you’re planning to go to Fly My Pretties, you’ll no doubt have had this night booked well in advance. Otherwise: it’s Friday! Enivrez-vous!
Saturday 13th: More flying prettiness, with a Matinee as well as the evening gig. But if you prefer your pretties more earthbound, and think that feathers are best used for fan dancing, bring your pencils along to Dr Sketchy’s life drawing class at Mighty Mighty at 4pm.
Sunday 14th: The much-hyped City Market finally opens at Chaffers Dock. The hours (8:30am-12:30pm) might not appeal to night owls, but their Twitter feed suggests that there’ll be plenty to tempt us out of bed.
Karaoke: ur doin it rong
Is it just me, or is there something odd about this poster outside the new "Newkor" Karaoke restaurant in Dixon St?
That singer looks somewhat … uncomfortable. Perhaps it’s something to do with the item on the menu that’s described only as "WARNING! Extreeeemley! Hot and Spicychicken" [very sic].
In other news, the re-opening of Happy on Friday night was a happy occasion indeed. I was puzzled by some of the outfits at first, but if I’d read my co-fly Kowhai’s previous post I would have seen the "Dress up like something that can fly!" instruction. At least I was already in costume.
The relocated stage sets up a different dynamic, and the feeling was low-key, friendly bohemian rather than po-faced avant-garde or desparate hipster. Speaking of Mighty Mighty, they were marred that night by a godawful frat-boy band that made Blink 182 seem deep and intellectual. We still love us some Mighty, of course, but it’ll be interesting to see how the new Happy does in comparison.
I’m H.A.P.P.Y.
So sometimes right, you have the kind of week where all you really need is a good hard laugh. Two weeks ago I had such a week and took myself off to Happy Bar for a good seeing to by the lovely Diane Spencer, who was feted to be ‘full of wit, charm and filth’ according to www.theatreview.org.nz. She did not disappoint, and neither did Happy Bar and its convivial new owners, cosy refurb and new drinks menu.
Tonight Deborah and Sam are having a re-opening party at Happy Bar with $5 drinks and a full line up of live music. Dress as something that can fly and go now!
Deborah and Sam hail from Auckland and I get the impression that they are going to keep what works with Happy; namely the focus on being a performance space open to allcomers, while opening it up to more of the bar crowd that enjoy Watusi and Mighty Mighty. People that have been to the supremely comfortable and living room like Wine Cellar in Auckland may recognise Sam from behind the bar. Here’s hoping they bring some of that unpretentious goodness to Wellington.
Deborah told me a bit about the drinks:
Cold Train
Wellington’s Tranz Metro trains have lately been known for certain carriages with broken heating. It’s horrible enough being (relatively) young and only faced with a 30-minute chilly commute. I wouldn’t want to be a Paraparam gran making the hour-long trip to Wellington in an unheated carriage.
But it seems that while the carriages are slowly being fixed, Trans Metro are also paying attention to, you know, being nice to customers. This morning when I was waiting for my usual train, a fellow came up to me representing Tranz Metro and asked me a few survey questions about the cold carriages.
One question was the toss-up between removing carriages with broken heaters from service and therefore having more crowding in the usual train servcies.
But most interestingly, it seems that Tranz Metro will be offering passengers a 5% discount on monthly train tickets for July, or else a couple of free Fridays in July if you use a daily ticket.
The survey asked if this was adequate compo. Well, for me it might be, but probably not for an arthritic senior.
Let’s hope that Tranz Metro gets their heating problems sorted out before the end of winter.
The big freeze
This Friday June 5 is World Environment Day, and in our fairy capital city, and in other spots around the coutry hundreds of people will “freeze” together to show united action for climate change.
The Freeze is set to kick off at 1pm for just five minutes.
Right now the location is all secret squirrel, but stay tuned
Nick Potter, Personal Assistant to Mr Freeze and lead co-ordinator of a team of volunteers, says
“If there was ever a time for you to get involved – it’s now. 2009 is a crucial year of action and in December, a new global climate treaty will be negotiated in Copenhagen. We need to come together and send the message that global agreement is essential and that bold and urgent action is needed.”
And look you can even check out last year’s freeze, on the you tube.
I’m thinking standing in the middle of the road is not the most ideal place to freeze, so as the girl guides used to say, be prepared.
People can join the Freeze and find out more at www.freezenz.wordpress.com
A diamond in the rough
What are you doing on Saturday? How about you go on a treasure hunt to find me* yourself a diamond ring? iChild on twitter explains it:
So, what’s this all about then?? Story goes, guy bought ring for girl, girl didn’t want ring. Guy couldn’t give it to another, and doesn’t want to sell it. Guy also happens to be the guy behind Donoogle.com …Guy decides that rather than just having this ring sitting around, he would create a treasure hunt around Wellington to give away said ring and use it at the same time to promote this choice website which everyone should use!
So if you want to participate, you should start following donoogle_com. It does seem a little bit astroturfy to my eyes, but hey, treasure hunts are always fun. Especially if you do it dressed up as a pirate. Or a panda.
*(Although I must state for the record that I would rather have a single diamond on my ring, and I’d like it to be aproximately the size of my fist, thanks.)
Restoring our faith in humanity one step at a time
This morning-ish, I was juggling headphones, iPod, scarf, hat, satchel and extra bag on the bus, as well as trying to text, and unbeknownst to me, I managed to drop my phone on the bus.
When I got into work, I had a message on my answerphone from my mum, saying that she’d got a call from someone who had my cellphone, and that I should call my number to arrange a pick-up. Right now I’d like to take a moment to say that everyone really should have an ICE (in case of emergency) number saved into their phone, it really makes everything much more awesome.
So I called my phone, and a lovely girl answered, and after a brief freakout ("You’ve got my phone and you’re in Taranaki???? Ooooooh, Taranaki STREET!") I arranged to grab it off her at the railway station this afternoon. I bought some chocolate, and met her, she gave me my phone, I gave her the chocolate, and she told me that this morning getting off the train she’d dropped her phone, and someone had called out to her about it. Yay happy karma!
Anyway, my point is, this story is full of happy goodness. I mean, you can only imagine how many top secret Wellingtonista secrets and dirty photos that my phone contains. I’m so glad I got it back so easily, and I hope that you will all consider doing a good deed tomorrow as well. Wahoo.
Storm in our coffee cups
Now, I’m not sure if you’ve noticed or not, but the weather lately has been somewhat less than pleasant. Unless you happen to be a wavewatcher or rather crazy surfer, that is, in which case there have been some rather spectacular things to see. If you’re the kind who’d rather stay inside nice and warm, here’s a fantastic video that Dave Frampton has made to show you what you’re missing
Storm in slow motion from David Frampton on Vimeo.