Let’s go shwopping
Want new threads but can’t afford them in these straitened times? Got some old clothes that you want to see go to a good home? Worried about the environmental obscenity of our throw-away fashion culture? Then The Big Shwop is for you.
The concept of “swishing“, clothes-swapping parties for eco-conscious fashionistas, has been around for a while. Our lovely lovely lovely friends at Pretty Pretty Pretty also had a “dud-swap” for cosmetic products at their big party. But The Big Shwop takes it to a more public level, with their first Shwop happening at the Southern Cross on Saturday August the 2nd. For more details on how it works, see their web site.
Afterblaster: Awesomeness in a ring
I’ve said it before and I’ll no doubt say it again, but there are few things as fun as going to the wrestling. Just check out the audio of the video below if you don’t believe me.
Yes, that’s the almighty Lazarus Volt kicking the Condor’s ass quite soundly, and he’ll be doing the same thing to the crotchety old Brute this Friday July 24 at Afterblaster and you should be there to see it. Details are on the Kiwi Pro Wrestling site, but what you need to know is that doors open at 7.30pm and tickets are $15 presales, or $20 on the door.
Furverts of the world unite!
Fur Patrol are a band with an agenda.
A hidden agenda.
Actually it’s not so hidden. They want to teach the world to sing, in furfect harmony…
*Cough*
I’m all punned out. So I’ll cut to the chase…
Fur Patrol are back! And they’re in pog form. And they also have a new album coming out.
Local Kid, due out in September, is their third full length album, and their first since Steve Wells left the band.
To celebrate their new single ‘Hidden Agenda’, our favourite boys and girl are touring NZ, most importantly playing Bar Bodega in Wellington on 22 August.
Be there or hate kittens.
If you’re not lucky enough to be in Wellington but wanna catch a gig, check out the other dates here.
And if you simply cannot wait that long, here is their last single, ‘Great Leap Forward’ after the jump.
The bloggers who drank Molesworth
It’s one thing to look for food in the government quarter, but what a politico barfly wants to know is “Where can I get a decent Champagne within crawling distance of Parliament?”. As DPF and Cactus Kate found out (standard Kiwiblog warning: comments contain copious amounts of poo), there is nothing worthwhile at the Back Bencher (Kate evidently shares my lack of excitement for Mumm).
Apart from Maria Pia’s and Le Canard (which presumably have fine selections, but don’t count as bars), there really is not much proper bubbly around in Thorndon. Following the Wellingtonista tradition of preferring useful information to vindictive invective, after the jump I have provided a list, in approximate order of distance from the Back Bencher, of Champagne selections at nearby bars and pubs.
Petone Carnival
The magnificent Petone Winter Carnival has been postponed until tomorrow night, which is lucky, since I forgot to mention it is on until today. It really is worth a visit, and great for kids. Unlike the Guy Fawkes display, the fireworks kick off at a very civilised hour, 7.30pm. Prior to that there are heaps of activities along the Esplanade to keep everyone in the family entertained. For those with a perverse desire to feel extremely uncomfortable, there is a polar plunge at 2.30pm, it is for a good cause (Wesley Community Action), so if this floats your boat, get nekkid! Actually, nekkid isn’t really part of the programme, but I’m all for initiating fun.
And while you’re out here, grab a bite to eat. There are masses of excellent establishments, my favourite at the moment is the magnificent Gusto, and if you go, I recommend the steak. Mmmm steak.
Cinephilia: Film Festival preview
The Film Festival has been a fixture of Wellington’s winter calendar for nearly 40 years and for those of us who organise our lives around glowing rectangles of one kind or another there is no better way to spend a cold and wet afternoon than in the comfy leather chairs at the Embassy, engrossed in a work of art.
Programming a Festival like Wellington may seem easy but I can assure you it’s getting tougher every year. The sheer volume of independent film is growing beyond all reason (I read that there were around 5,000 films submitted to Sundance last year) and attention must be paid to all four corners of the globe nowadays.
The glossy programme (doing double-duty this year as Festival Guide Book and Souvenir Programme) is 90 pages long and I direct you to it forthwith – my role here is, with the help of some previews from the Festival office, to point your attention towards some of the unheralded titles available amongst the hundreds on offer. This year I only mention films I have seen and readers are asked to add their picks/hopes/reports in the comments.
The first thing to point out is that, unlike the old days, there is nothing to be gained in trying to guess which films will return for a commercial season. With the loss of the three (otherwise unlamented) Rialto screens in June, there is even less chance of a film coming back than before and the general downturn in attendance this year has made distributors wary. At the moment there are no plans to release The Savages (a well-observed, superbly acted drama with plenty of black humour starring Philip Seymour Hoffman and Laura Linney) and even the Jack Black – Michel Gondry comedy Be Kind Rewind is expected to go straight to DVD post-Festival (although strong local sales may provoke a change of mind). Recommendation: if the big screen experience is important to you, don’t wait.
Holy Mac Truck
Check out the Party of the Universe the Mighty is putting on for Wellington NEXT WEEK!!!!!
(click image to see larger version of the poster)
For those of you who don’t know CW Stoneking – you should. He’s never played NZ before and he’s something. Check him out on myspace.
And for the other nights, the finest in NZ bands from around the country covering a pretty diverse range of genres. There’s the Americana night kicking things off, extreme neon for the Heavy Petting electro night, followed by a total mash up of rockabilly and electronics from Bang Bang Eche, and then a Wild Trash extravaganza of Wellington’s own to top things off.
There’ll be pole dancers, limbo competitions, a vodka slide and so much more. Chose your night. Bring your friends and come and party at the Castle that Cares!
snapped? (rua)
So we can confirm that yes, the new Snapper cards do work pretty well in the buses (based on the small sample of one attempt earlier today using our trial USB snapper pictured). One would expect so, given that the technology comes from the giant T-Money install in Seoul, where their mega-city sized public transport operation will have smoothed all the rough-edges out of it long ago.
But WTF is happening with Snapper?
First, the Dom Post reports that the rollout, due for Monday 14th, has been delayed again (originally the rollout was supposed to be in June). Then we find that at least some buses are running with live, lit-up and useable Snapper readers anyway – such was the one we caught this morning. And to confuse the matter further, no retailers appear able to sell commuters the cards until the end of the month… well, those retailers that actually have agreed to sell the things in the first place, that is.
But… we wants it!
So what might have caused this Clayton‘s delay? In the absence of anything useful from Snapper themselves we can, of course, indulge in wild speculation (after the jump):
Birds of Wellington
Oh how we love ye.
Well, not necessarily all of ye, and maybe not especially these colourful little numbers as they methodically strip the buds from the flowering cherry tree. You, Rosella, made this Wellingtonista wish momentarily for the .410 he used to use as a kid. But that would be criminally irresponsible in a built-up area, as well as a serious digression from the subject matter of this posting.
Onward.
This week is Landcare Research’s Garden Bird Survey:
The basic format of the garden bird survey is that people spend 1 hour during a specified week in winter watching birds in their home gardens, public parks, or school grounds, and recording the largest number of each species they see at any one time. When repeated over a number of years this will provide valuable information on changes in distribution and population trends of birds in our urban environment.
This recent fine weather provides the perfect opportunity. It’s inevitable that you’ll probably not see the occasional spectacular visitor in the hour you choose, like that falcon that was hunting the Western Suburbs a few years back, but at least you’ll be doing your bit for science.
And what could be nicer than a quiet hour outside counting the birds?
Just confirming what we all knew
I’m not usually a political fly, but I do like raking muck, so I couldn’t resist posting this image from a campaign poster. Thanks to the (deeply flawed, of course) Electoral Finance Act, now we know who’s really behind the National Party:
Any suggestion that they’re financed by C Untts would be vulgar sock-puppetry, so I won’t stoop to that. Oh, if you insist.