The NZ Herald reports that a company named RCG, who are “retail experts” have given ratings to the malls of Aotearoa because, “We thought it timely.”

So I thought it was timely to take a look at what they thought of the malls of the greater Wellington area. Do any of them equal Auckland’s mighty four-star Westfield Albany?

The article is skewed towards Auckland Malls, but it does mention poor North City in Porirua, which is only worth two stars as it is “struggling to achieve good sales”. The article also says that Lower Hutt’s Queensgate “made a big statement” (What, “I’m a mall in Lower Hutt!!!”?), but doesn’t say what the rating is.

But most interestingly, the article notes that the researchers found that “Wellington was bereft of malls”, like that’s a bad thing.

Perhaps it’s because Wellington’s inner city street shopping works so well it hasn’t created a demand for giant malls lurking out in the suburbs.

We have Cuba Mall, and I reckon that’s worth more stars than any dirty ol’ suburban mall out there.

Photo courtesy of Solid State.

We mentioned it before (and reviewed a previous dinner), but if you need further convincing, here’s the menu for the Cellar-Vate Nga Waka dinner on July 9

Nga Waka Three Paddles Sauvignon Blanc ‘07
Corn, capsicum and parsley risotto with goats cheese

Nga Waka Riesling ‘03
Skin-on Terakihi, watermelon, red onion and dill salsa

Nga Waka Martinborough Chardonnay ‘07
Ginger, soy and chilli chicken pieces

Nga Waka Home Block Chardonnay ‘04
Sliced pork ribeye with Dijon, cream and white wine sauce

Nga Waka Pinot Noir ‘06
Rabbit pie, mash and jus

Nga Waka Late Harvest Riesling ‘04
Coconut panna cotta

You don’t get huge portions of anything, but you do get lots of tastebud parties in your mouth, and stimulating conversation. There are still some tickets available for this tasting. Bookings can be made by e-mailing Rebecca – becs[a]cellar-vate.co.nz. The event costs $40.00 a head and starts at 6pm in the Cabinet Room (function suite above the Backbencher).

Congratulations to team Puppy Guts who have only just gone and won the grand final of the 2008 48Hours film competition with their dance short F*DANCE, making them the first Wellington team to do so.

F*DANCE is the tale of a bad-ass finger dancer (you know, when you make dance moves with your fingers) who loses his mojo and must learn the hard way how to finger his way back to the top.

The film impressed the judges enough to make it to the Wellington finals, and was a Peter Jackson wildcard pick (oo-ooh!) for selection in the national finals.

So what impressed the international judges? Was it the humour? The finger dancing? The special effects? Or was it the splendid montage training scene that featured a gruelling finger-run up the Civic Square steps?

Well, whatever it us, team Puppy Guts have done us proud.

As the killer Wellington wind stalks the Wellingtonista towers by day we’ve been seeking solace in beautiful music, as you do. And since a copy of Cassette’s brand new EP Cancer landed in my cold little hands I’ve been able to listen to very little else – other than the howling wind, natch. As their press release says, “If you like eagles, there’s 3 on the cover”. And if you like Cassette, you can catch them at Bodega next week to launch those very same eagles.

Details after the leap

This particular Wellingtonista was sitting at the bus-stop last night, when a lad on a motorbike scooted up, and asked me if I wanted to make use of his now unneeded daytripper pass. Of course I did! $2.80 saved (the cost of a click on my 3-zone ten-trip)! Score!

This led to some discussion on the Wellingtonista list as to other acts of kindness/generosity you can perform for your fellow citizens without any great opportunity cost of your own.

The other obvious one is parking coupons. Got half an hour left when you go to leave? Just roll the ticket up and pop it in the coin slot of the vending machine. Next person to come along will (hopefully) realise they’ve got a freebie, and everyone wins (except the council revenue department, I suppose).

Might I also remind our readers that while the library doesn’t send out overdue reminder notices until after your books/cds/dvds/whatever are overdue (and thus already accumulating late charges), you can use the Library Elf service to send you reminders before the due date. This has saved my family literally hundreds of dollars over the last few years.

Any other suggestions for ways to save people money or, indeed, just to make their lives more pleasant, with a minimal amount of effort on your own behalf? Pop ’em in the comments.

If you’re planning on driving to work tomorrow, or even if you’re planning on taking public transport, you should read the following press release about the great big mother-trucking protest that’s planned for tomorrow morning in Wellington.

Sure, I’m a nasty little insect that brings doom and pretense, but I like to think I also bring some small rays of sunshine.

At a recent outing to the new Wagamama (along with hundreds of other Wellingtonians I had a wonderful experience. As a quick aside Wagas was just how I remembered it from London (when I was a Anglo-fly-le, ha ha) aside from having more space here to swing a cat in.

But the real story begins when my main was late coming out, however, the floor manager more than made up by:

1. spotting the fault in the line order in the kitchen and fixing it, and
2. offering free extras – drinks and more starters to tide us over for the two extra minutes it took for the mains to come out

Hopefully this isn’t just new-restaurant diligence. Well done Wagamana!

I’ve been poking around in our site stats which tell us everything about you, from the colour of your eyes to your home address, and whether any of you are scrawny with big noses, small chins and many issues or not, and I’ve realised that the Wellingtonista is failing you in a couple of areas.

1. We haven’t made any proclamations as to which is the best brothel in town, or even done any reviews that we’ve written about.

2. We haven’t written any Flight of the Conchords slash fiction. Well, outside of our heads, anyway.

3. We can’t tell you how much Shortland Street actors get paid. I don’t think even the Aucklandista could help with that one, although they’d like to.

Perhaps our lovely readers could address or answer these issues in the comments?

Have you been to Aunt Daisy’s Boathouse cafe yet?
Martha did and thought it “tres awesome” – her franglish, not mine.

If you haven’t visited the charming 1950s-style tearooms in Titahi bay yet, perhaps you need a mid-winter weekend of music to tempt you? As if the sea views, Supreme Coffee and kids’ playground weren’t enough, Aunt Daisy is popping the mulled wine on to heat and putting some live music on the boil from 4pm this Fri/Sat/Sun. Kids get in free and grown-ups can fork over a mere $7 for sweet sounds the likes of Rosy Tin Teacaddy, Achilles Botes and Jess Chambers. Go here for more details.

The only sane answer to this insane windy weather, I think!