Winter tidbits
1. Plum is now doing 2-for-1 for small plates on Tuesdays
2. It’s 1994 all over again with the new plaid shirt uniforms at the Southern Cross
3. There is a Lonestar opening in Petone. Get your big plates of meat in the Hutt without a surcharge on public holidays!
4. Mojo Bond St have mulled wine, as does the Green Room.
5. Cafe Italiano is offering 2-for-1 pastas for $15 on Mondays and Tuesdays.
That’s all we’ve got for now.
Goodbye Rialto, we hardly knew ye
I ask you now to take a moment to reflect on the loss of that great crime against cinema exhibition, Rialto Wellington, and perhaps raise a glass to celebrate it’s final day of screenings. If I can be there to witness it’s imminent crumbling beneath a hundred wrecking balls I will (however, I should confess that in need of a few dollars I was the publicist for it’s opening back in 1994).
The disastrous architectural and building choices that wrecked many a potentially interesting film should not reflect on many excellent and committed staff who worked there over the years. The Paramount’s Kate Larkindale managed the place for a while, as did current San Fran Bathhouse manager Chrisana Love. The first manager was Barbara Sumner, now known as crusading columnist Barbara Sumner Burstyn, who, as legend has it, once faxed a picture of her own naked rear end to a competitor.
knit one, purl the other
Saturday 14th of June 2008 is Worldwide Knit In Public Day. As we all know knitting is not a crime, but very much an activity people mostly do on their own.
In Wellington why not fully embrace the outdoors and head along to the Bucket Fountain in Cuba Mall where the lovely Tash will be from 2pm with her needles (or at the Southern Cross if it’s raining).
Yay for knitting in public!
And speaking of knitting in public, how much are we all loving, loving, loving the urban knitting that is appearing around town. Finally Wellington is experiencing a fashion renaissance of the woolen variety. Every day I keep hearing and seeing reports of subversive knittyness around the city, and honestly I don’t think Wellington has ever looked more beautiful.
Sadly someone disagrees as nothing seems to stay up for too long.
Which makes me wonder, if you could see subversive knitting anywhere, where would it be?
Road safety: ur doing it wrong
Just look at these young galahs hijinksing it along the road. In MY day we did School Patrol purely for a milo in winter, and yet these kids get a parade? Shocking. And what kind of message are we sending them that it’s okay to walk on the road. It’s PC GONE MAD, THAT’S WHAT IT IS!
Weta Cave goes all “Narnia” in Miramar
A visit to The Children’s Bookshop in Kilbirnie with Meg this arvo had me staring at (and snapping on my mobile) a poster advertising Weta Cave’s first event – Narnia Day, Sunday 15th June, 1pm-4pm
The details* after the break:
It ain’t easy being Green (Cabs)
Our favourite cab company has expanded to Auckland and Christchurch and are doing pretty well in both. But it’s not all expansion and increasing profits. Recently the eco-friendly cab company has had to defend itself against statements from the head of the Taxi Federation. Then they had to fend off spurious claims from other taxi companies (Combined in this case) that they were also "green".
The Commerce Commission began investigating Wellington Combined Taxis in March after receiving complaints about claims on its website. The website suggests the company’s LPG taxis reduce carbon dioxide pollution by up to 25 per cent, and its Nissan Maxima engines are 20 per cent more fuel efficient than traditional automatic transmissions.
And then today I heard another mean story. Green Cabs received a call for a big job: 9pm, 40 people, 10 cars. They naturally accepted. But 10 cabs is a lot out Green Cabs’ fleet so it was also a gamble. You know what’s coming don’t you? That’s right, nobody showed. The cars didn’t wait around for long but it was long enough at that time to miss out on a large number of jobs. Green Cabs have an idea who was behind the prank but we’ll let our readers make up their own mind. Something else that is interesting to note: the average cab driver spends approximately $80 a day on petrol, the average Green Cabbie spends approximately $20 a day on petrol.
May Contain Traces of Nuts
Finally Wellington gets its own MySpace Secret Show, and what a show it is – NZ’s own world-class, world-famous, worldly-wise electro rappers, masters of the mellow-drama and hip hopera Coco Solid play for free at an as-yet-undisclosed Wellington venue (that’s the secret, duh) next Wednesday (18th). They also have a psychedelic kaleidoscope of a new video on their MySpace page for their new single ‘Electrik Love’; it’s made by Aleks Sakowski who also made the overwhelmingly brilliant ‘Crimefighters’ vid – which I feel compelled to include here as it’s my absolute fave and it wins people over like nothing else:
More Coco love, and details on how to get into the gig, after the jump:
C’mon Untouched World, give me a break
Untouched World on the corner of Brandon and Featherston streets has a logo which looks unreasonably similar to Antony Gormley‘s Angel of the North, which is located outside Gateshead in the north of England.
I’ve tried to ignore this for months now, but it finally got the better of me this morning. C’mon Untouched World, what were you thinking? How did this come about? How could this have been let to come about? How could your logo-designer not be aware of one of the most famous and all-pervading visual images of the last 20 years? Sheesh.
And what’s more (keep reading after the jump)…
Music in Miramar @ Eva Dixons every Thursday
Eva Dixons lives on in Miramar (133 Darlington Road – Google Map | Zoomin Map) – just up the road road from the newly visited Weta Cave which, as Richard Taylor said to me, “It’s a bit different for Miramar eh?” … such a shameless name dropper I am.
Back to Eva Dixons … Not only is it a great place to eat (all day menu), drink and be merry but if you happen to pop in on any Thursday eve (menu) this month you’ll be treated to free live music.
12th: Mojo Mama
Piano based boogie and blues with enough sass to light your fire.
19th: Sean & Amanda O’Connor
Inspirational folk/pop songwriters & harmonisers, singing their inner and outer journeys with guitar, flute, heart and soul!
26th: Eva Prowse Trio
Eva Prowse (vocals, violin, mandolin), Chris Prowse (guitar, bva), Dave Currie (bass, ukulele, bva) playing a variety of alt-country music. Suitable for old-timers and new-timers alike.
Baby, you can share my car
Here at the Wellingtonista we like public transport, but there are times when you need a car to do stuff, like picking up that flatpack cocktail cabinet out in Lower Hutt.
At the moment your options are pretty much limited to borrowing a friend’s car, hiring a taxi, or forking out for a rental, but there is a more sensible option.
It’s called car sharing, and is currently up and running in Auckland through a company called Cityhop.
With Cityhop, you pay a yearly fee (currently $75), and when you need to use a car, you make a booking, then pick up your car from one of the specified city car parks, do your car-related stuff, then return it, paying a $13.50 hourly rate (including petrol!) for its use.
Cityhop’s been running in Auckland since September last year, and according to their website they’ll be opening soon here in Wellington.
Needless to say, we will be keeping a close eye on this. Perhaps now we’ll finally be able to get that cocktail cabinet for Wellingtonista Towers.