Water Metering & User Pays

Two of Wellington’s leaders are backing debate on a user-pays water system to reduce Wellingtonians’ reckless consumption – now more than twice the national average.

Apparently we’re using about 400 litres of water per day, per person.

The bulk of it gets flushed away.

And one answer, to drive the correct behaviour of course, rather than make you behave as "they" want you to, is to install water meters on homes & charge for the usage. Just like Auckland.

Kind of makes that 6 litre per minute shower head that Nanny was going to make us get, attractive.

There are pluses & minuses to this plan & we’d love to hear what you think in the comments

Full story here.

The TAWAs: For Sponsors

So, as you may be aware, we’re going to have one heck of a big party on December 18 when we announce the winners of our awards. We’re going to have spot prizes for people who’ve voted, and we’re also hoping to have swag bags. And this is where you come in. We’d like prizes to give away. We’d like stuff to fill the swag bags with. We especially like things if they’re related to Wellington, but if they’re awesome, it doesn’t really matter where it comes from. 

Want to reach our audience of smart disposable-income-having consumers? Want to get promoted on our site at our most trafficky time of year? Want the eternal love of the Wellingtonista? 

Get in touch with me – johubris@gmail.com.

Award Season – “Chappy” Nominations Announced

Richard Knowles and Kip Chapman in The Little Dog Laughed at DownstageAs Hadyn rightly points out, it is "Award Season" and the Wellington theatre community is no exception. The list of nominations for the annual Chapman Tripp Theatre Awards was announced yesterday and they demonstrate once again that live theatre in Wellington is in very good shape.

The judges (critics and reviewers from The Dominion PostCapital Times, Theatreview, Salient and The Lumiere Reader) all watched more than 90 productions during 2008 and the nominations are spread across 29 of those.

[Details of the nominees, and a special opportunity, after the jump]

Wellington Pecha Kucha Night #4

Hey, it’s time for another Pecha Kucha evening! Pecha Kucha works like this: 14 speakers involved in a creative industry each get to present a slideshow of 20 images, for 20 seconds per image. No two speakers are the same, and every PK evening is informative, fun, stimulating, thought-provoking and inspiring.

The previous two I’ve been to were both sold out, so get there early to ensure you get a ticket.

Pecha Kucha Wellington #4

Tuesday 25 November
Paramount Cinema
Doors open 7.30pm, starts 8.20pm
$9 cash only

After the jump, the fabulous line-up of speakers including Roger Walker’s Irreverent Insertions. 

A Hiding to Nothing

I was planning a mystery bar post about the big new place in town, but somehow I just wasn’t inspired. Let’s just say that Osteria del Toro is to the Mediterranean what Monsoon Poon is to Asia. Make of that what you will.

But after dinner I ran across this paste-up in a dark alley:

Something gives me the impression that this was not intended as a finished work of art: more as a canvas for further creative intervention. Make of that what you will.

The Mighty Booth

After every election there are geographical analyses of voting patterns, inevitably followed by suggestions that certain regions should secede and form their own country. Such analyses are often at electorate level, but there’s a lot of fine detail below that, and a cell of socialist insurgents might live just around the corner from an enclave of conservative curmudgeons. So I made the following map of Wellington voting tendencies at a booth-by-booth level.

Welllington detailed voting patterns

For analysis, explanations, notes on methodology and a whizzy interactive Google Maps mashup of the whole region, read the full story.

Three more sleeps…

the great eclectic jumble sale!

A fistful of gelato

Caffe e Gelato has just opened on the waterfront at the base of the NZX building. With the weather like this right now, it may be worth noting that as an opening special, this week they are offering single scoop gelato cones for just $1.

Caffe e Gelato

A reminder: get your nominees in for the Annual Wellingtonista Awards

Soon we’re going to start publishing lists of our nominees for the AWAs (this year, it’s the TAWAs because it’s the Third Annual). Always after we do this, we have people go "oh but you should have nominated blah blah and this and that", so let us remind you again: if you want something to be nominated, you need to tell us. Do it now, or forever hold your peace or piece – at least until you get to vote, of course.

Bikes, Boobs, and Ballots

Just a couple of last minute reminders.Two boobs &  bike

First, somewhere in town there’s rumoured to be a bunch of boobs on bikes heading toward Parliament. Expect gratuitous nudity, ogling & who knows what once they get to the Beehive.

Secondly, please do remember to haul yourself out of the house tomorrow & vote. It’s your civic duty. And I want some serious entertainment to watch tomorrow night.

Also, if anyone’s still sitting on a nucular strike for one party, candidate or another, now is the time to reveal it with a flourish & an evil "Mouahaha!"