I’m a celebrity, get me into there!
Despite some grumbles about the food and service (half-frozen pizza and disappearing rosé, anyone?), the Festival Club bar and café has been the place to be seen for certain sectors of society. So much so that a certain well-known (and very driven) architect was seen peering over the fence into the VIP section, with a look on his face that said “Why aren’t I in there? Surely I’m a VIP?!”.
He needn’t have bothered. While one might hope for the VIP enclosure at the Festival tent to be full of famous artists, louche bohemians and nubile circus performers, in reality it’s usually reserved for sponsors and guests, which in this case consisted primarily of lawyers and accountants in bad ties and plastic name tags. You’d find a more exciting crowd at St John’s.
50 years of Endeavour
There’s a couple of special screenings coming up this weekend to commemorate the 50th Anniversary, on 17 March 2008, of the return to New Zealand of HMNZS Endeavour with the members of the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition.
The 1955–58 Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition (CTAE) was Commonwealth-sponsored and successfully completed the first overland crossing of Antarctica, via the South Pole.
Funded by the governments of the UK, New Zealand, Australia and South Africa, as well as private and corporate donations under the patronage of Queen Elizabeth II, the expedition was headed by British explorer Dr Vivian Fuchs, with the late Sir Edmund Hillary leading a supply support team.
While Sir Ed’s supply party beat the English led group to the South Pole (being only the third group to reach the Pole overland after Amundsen in 1911 and Scott in 1912), the expedition arrived at Scott Base on 2 March, 1958, having crossed 3,473 km of previously unexplored snow and ice in 99 days.
The programme, presented in association with Antarctic Research Centre (Victoria University of Wellington), includes footage of the departure and return of the CTAE expedition, stunning film from on the ice, as well as classic film segments celebrating New Zealand’s Antarctic connection over the last 50 years.
Friday 14, Saturday 15 March at 7pm
Entry by koha
75 mins
Downstage using Flickr for backstage photos
Have a look at show pictures and behind the scenes at Flickrâ„¢
Ever wondered what a theatre show looks like behind the scenes? Or you want to have a look at some images from a show before you buy your tickets? Or simply drift away in memories when watching shots from a production you’ve recently seen? Have a look at our newly established photo gallery at Flickr. From now on you can have a look at pictures from shows, rehearsals and behind the scenes at http://www.flickr.com/photos/downstage/ We hope you enjoy them!
Letterboxes for Writers & Readers Week
I’m just guessing that the reason the letterbox outside Borders Bookstore in Lambton Quay has been happily talking to itself (possibly with Emily Perkins’ voice) all week, has something to do with Writers & Readers Week.
That NZ Post are sponsors of the week kind of supports that theory.
Has anyone heard any other postal paraphernalia talking to them?
Please say it’s not just me…
A Social Network for Coffee Drinkers
Hey, this is Wellington, the town that’s run on coffee and is generally savvy enough to be online and connected.
We probably need this (Coffeenatic) like an extra hole in the head … but then again that’ll just make getting the coffee in quicker!
(thank you Web Worker Daily for noticing this for us all)
Sleb Sighting – Jason Gunn
Seen at Capital on the Quay (probably coming from the Novatel) at around 11.15am, heading out onto Lambton Quay on a break before heading out to Avalon Studios to film tonight’s dance-off.
Woohoo!
It’s Wine Time
I know we talked about this last year, when we made fun of John McGrath (you know, just for a change) but I feel the need to remind y’all that the Wairarapa Wine Harvest Festival is coming up again.
And now I can say for certain that it really is the most kickass day ever. Just $25 gets your ticket into the shindig, and you can get a shuttle from the train for $15. Taste wines from all kinds of boutique winemakers around the Wairarapa, many of whom don’t have a cellar door. Laugh as the man from Maebus describes his favourite Pinot Noir as tasting “like angels fornicating in your mouth” – and try and get in his good books in case he really is in with Google. Watch my parents try and win half a case of wine with their awesome dancing skills again. But one suggestion: don’t try and walk on rolling barrels. You will just fall off, hit your head and cry.
Late-night shenanigans are back on the menu!
There was a while in 2005 when you knew that on Friday and Saturday nights you could go to Indigo, and they’d be open, and there’d be Nixx-Til-Sixx spinning everything from Bloc Party to Motley Crue and you could drink until 6am. And then that stopped and it sucked. Fast foward to now though, and in 2008, Indigo is now San Francisco Bathhouse, and Nixx-Til-Sixx has been replaced by the fabulous DJ Doofus, but the same thing is happening.
All night long, baby. Just like Lionel promised. 1 a.m til 6 a.m. All weekend. Every weekend. Cheap beverages. Rotating djs. Open when others bars close. Hosted by djdooofus and the nice staff at San Fran. It’s a celebration, bitches!
Welcome to your new favourite place to go when everything else has already shut. We’ll see you there.
Cinephilia: Opening This Week
After the excitement of the pre-Oscar rush it’s another quiet week at the cinema. Opening all over town (that’s Readings, Empire, Penthouse, Regent-on-Manners and Lighthouse Petone) is the historical drama The Other Boleyn Girl featuring the dream team of Natalie Portman and Scarlett Johansson along with Eric Bana as ‘Enery the Eighth.
Even more historical (at least in terms of distance if not accuracy) is 10,000 B.C. which stars our own Cliff Curtis as a character called Tic’Tic (I kid you not). Directed by Independence Day‘s Roland Emmerich, 10,000 B.C. was partially filmed in New Zealand last year and tells the story of a young mammoth hunter’s desperate efforts to save his tribe. There’s no sign of Raquel Welch but Camilla Belle (When a Stranger Calls) comes off the bench to play eye-candy: Readings and Regent-on-Manners.
If neither of these take your fancy, there are sneak previews again this weekend of the Simon Pegg rom-com Run Fatboy Run (directed by his good mate David Schwimmer). You’ll find that at Readings, Empire, Regent-on-Manners and Penthouse today, Saturday and Sunday only.
All three of these titles will be reviewed at Funerals & Snakes next Wednesday (and in the Capital Times on the same day). Meanwhile, tickets have gone on sale for the 2008 World Cinema Showcase which is an absolute doozy this year – a worthy competitor to the main Festival. And the Film Society got under way on Monday which must mean that Summer is nearly over.
Rustic Mexican
Well we rushed down to the new venue for Viva Mexico this evening and thoroughly enjoyed that they’d almost completely run out of stock!
Luckily they agreed to sell us what they still had… which was some pretty good enchiladas.