Item! The next Cellar-vate dinner, which we have drooled about before is on July 9, featuring Ngawaka wines, and it costs $40. Give the lovely Rebecca a call to reserve your tickets.

Item! The supercute Green Land Cafe under the Ministry for the Environment on Kate Sheppard Place is running a competition to win a bottle of the famous olive oil grown on Mt. Vic. Buy a coffee, pick an number and go into the draw. Actually, don’t, because it’s a gorgeous green virgin, and I wants it. So back off! Also, how lovely are the staff there? They totally buttered my scone for me, if you know what I mean. And of course what I mean is I think it’s part of their waste reduction responsibilities.

Item! It’s not near Molesworth Street, but it’s just as bleak – Stanley Road on the corner of Victoria Street and Willeston is running Happy Hour from 4pm-6pm, with all kinds of beers (Corona etc) for just $3.50. It’s not a particularly cosy spot, but hey, given how dry this part of town is, consider it a good oasis to stop at while you cross the desert of Willis Quarter.

With the cost of oil reaching record highs, it stands to reason that more & more people will see the sense in leaving their cars at home & enjoy the hassle free ride to work, in the company of like minded souls, on the region’s bus & train network.

The more people that switch to public transport, the more economically efficient the public network will become, right? Might even be worth subsidising, wouldn’t you think?

But, less cars on the roads might pose a problem for some of the wackier, recent roading proposals – that 2nd tunnel through Mt Victoria isn’t being made for buses after all.

So what’s a council to do? I know, they could look for ways to discourage people from using public transport at all.

Secret Talks on Increasing Bus & Train Fares

As you may have twigged by now, we likes us some Mighty Mighty. However, even we usually draw the line at spending two nights in a row there dancing our collective arses off and getting Real Sloshed Bitches. It’s going to be hard to resist the temptation this weekend though, kicking off on Friday night with TV Disko and carrying on with the L.E.D.s on Saturday.

(more synthtastic goodies after the jump)

We’ve mentioned Habebie Restaurant before (well, actually I can’t find a link, so maybe we didn’t actually) but we have exciting news – it’s BYO now (and may have been for a while now), but more importantly, from Monday-Thursday, all mains (except seafood) are $17. And since prices for mains usually go from $22-28, and that includes meze starter platters, we’re telling you to get your asses down there for some awesome big piles of meat. But take a cardie – it’s not the warmest place ever.

We’re not cock(tail)teases, really. We do want to let you in on all the secrets, but first of all we want to give you the chance to prove that you’re hipper and groovier than everyone else by identifying the bar in question.

In the end, it wasn’t long before one of the many anons picked the last mystery bar as Duke Carvell’s Swan Lane Emporium, run by the Bresolin boys and delectable in every way. But who’s going to be the first to identify this place?

Here’s a couple of exhibitions with openings that you’ll want to attend, and one that you really ought to see before it closes.

First up, Page Blackie Gallery (which is a much less geographically confusing name than its previous incarnation as Tinakori Gallery) launches a new exhibition of Gina Jones’ light works tomorrow night (Tuesday 24th from 5:30pm). Jones’ work will be familiar to many from her permanent installation in the gallery, and even if the Page Blackie crowd tends towards an older demographic (you could almost hear the old money rustling at the recent Max Gimblett launch), the openings can still be lively affairs: the Masked Barfly warns us to get there early and stake out the drinks table.

The opening of Jane Kellahan‘s Humankind exhibition, from which the above image “The Healers” is taken, sounds like it’s aimed at a slightly different audience. It will feature live music by members of Phoenix Foundation and Fat Freddy’s Drop, and it’s on at the Woolstore Design Centre (262 Thorndon Quay) from 5:30pm next Wednesday the 2nd of July. If you miss the launch but want to see her work, you’ll have to be quick because it’s only on until the 5th, or if you’re really keen she also runs workshops.

(more after the jump)

What the hell’s going on down Maginnity Street?!

Wrecked cars! A massive pile of rubble! Rescue crews moving in! OMG, the big one has finally hit!

And yet Petherick Tower is looking surprisingly undamaged…

All is revealed after the jump.

In Stephen’s recent post the topic of Ze Frank’s Earth Sandwich has come up again. So exactly what lies on the opposite side of the Earth from our city?

Well, according to Google Earth (and Ze Frank), it’s the fair town of Alaejos, in Spain.

Alaejos seems like a fairly unremarkable, although certainly picturesque, town beside the motorway between Valladolid and Salamanca. (Yes, Salamanca. Many parts of Wellington bear the place names featured in the Iron Duke’s peninsular campaigns. In the 1860s, the Napoleonic wars were closer to the settlers of Wellington than WWII is to us today, hence the naming schemes: Talavera, Wellesley, Waterloo, Salamanca etc etc.)

So, does anyone have photos, or any other reportage of Alaejos? There’s some on Flickr, but we really want to know: what’s Wellington’s other, and unofficial, sister city really like?

Ok, so what’s this guy up to? (answer after the jump)…