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)…

Last night a select group of over 500 people at the Paramount were treated to the launch of this year’s Wellington Film Festival programme. Following a brief-ish introduction from returning director Bill Gosden, those present were treated to a delightful animated film called Persepolis – an adaptation of Marjane Satrapi’s graphic-novel-autobiography which is available in some local stores. Satrapi grew up in pre and post-revolutionary Iran and the film is a vivid and witty portrayal of the way totalitarianism of all extremes can squeeze human beings beyond recognition.

The programme is in a different format this year (A4) which makes it a bit easier on the eye as you scour it for gems. It also has to do double duty this year as the lack of a principal sponsor has meant the elimination of the glossy souvenir guide book.

I woke up this morning to find that last night I had ticked something on every page which is obviously not a sustainable strategy, but I do have until Tuesday (when tickets go on sale via Ticketek outlets) to slim my list down. The programmes are available now at all the Festival venues: Embassy, Paramount, Te Papa, Film Archive and Penthouse and across town over the next few days. The web site seems to be up and down under the load this morning but has a cunning calendar feature to allow you to build a personalised screening schedule over the two and a half weeks between July 18 and Aug 3.

Funerals & Snakes will have a few Festival preview posts over the next few weeks but I also commend you to The Lumière Reader, whose online coverage of the Festival is likely to be unequalled.

As we move through the election year, we’re going to start getting plenty of invites to “Meet the candidates” type events. We wanna know about the nefarious ins and outs of invitations you receive. Are they unsolicited? Do they provide you with instructions on how to get there using public transport or are they purely for the car-drivers? Are they encouraging healthy debate or unhealthy drinking? Or are they, as one invitation the fly spotted recently, suggesting that you park in nearby supermarket carparks, perhaps because they’re working in an unholy alliance with a towing company?

Spill your guts. Keep us in the know.

In another of this shamelessly unoriginal series, I’ve just been stuffing my abdomen with seriously good snacking and some tasty cocktails at this brazenly Europhile little place.

The wine list is designed to tempt you out of your vinous rut, since while each section is “inspired” by a style or varietal, it branches out from there into less obvious wines. For instance, the “Riesling” section also lists Grüner Veltliner and that unusual Moscatel/Gewürtztraminer concoction known as Viña Esmeralda. The cocktail list is extensive and inventive, including such delights as the “Spanish Inquisition”: raspberry, cinnamon, amaro and Amontillado (I never expected that).

But it’s the food that really stands out. You can have a full meal, but the concept is really a sort of pan-Mediterranean tapas, with moreish and occasionally Moorish morsels that include skordalia with Catalan “chastity bread”, truffled Jerusalem artichokes, pistachio couscous and Ouzo-flamed saganaki. Combine that with pleasantly Old World décor, reasonable prices and some serious eye-candy among the waiting staff, and you’ve got a recipe for more than one happy barfly.