Cinephilia: Opening This Week
A whole day late, sorry. Curse this day job.
Director Karen Moncrieff assembled a superb cast for The Dead Girl, a film about the impact of a murder on several different and unrelated groups of characters; told in five chapters. Featuring highly applauded performances from Toni Collette, Marcia Gay Harden, Mary Beth Hurt and temporary Wellingtonian Giovanni Ribisi, plus James Franco and Mary Steenburgen. The Dead Girl is playing now at The Empire in Island Bay and Rialto.
I don’t think I’m giving too much away if I reveal that The Heartbreak Kid is only the third film I have failed to complete since I started reviewing for the Cap Times back in September last year. Ben Stiller reunites with the Farrelly Brothers for the first time since There’s Something About Mary in 1998 in a romantic comedy that is neither. Playing at Readings, Regent-on-Manners and Sky City Queensgate.
Nina’s Journey is a Holocaust drama from Sweden featuring present day reminiscences from the real Nina: Variety called it “low-key but powerfulâ€. It screens at the Paramount, exclusively. The Penthouse gets two exclusives this week. Firstly, art-house drama Bella has been praised by Christian media for what they call a “pro-life†stance; Roger Ebert said, “It’s about lovable people having important conversations and is not pro-choice or pro-life but simply in favor of his feelings — and hers, if she felt free to feel them.â€
Finally, also at the Penthouse and direct from the Festival, is The Secret Life of Words: a follow-up to Isabel Coixet’s lovely and sad film My Life Without Me from 2003. Words also stars Sarah Polley and features Tim Robbins who won’t look quite as tall as usual as he’s playing an oil rig worker being nursed by Polley after an accident.
All these films will be reviewed next week at Funerals & Snakes, and (space-permitting) in the Capital Times on Wednesday.
New Zealand v. Vanuatu
Ahhh, 1982 – when every month was Movember for the All Whites, and our bewhiskered team of British ex-pats and hard-grafting locals (and Wynton Rufer) took on the likes of Brazil at that year’s Football World Cup.
It’s been a long time since the All White’s graced the stage of the World Cup Finals, but, amazingly enough, over the next few months there’s an (outside) chance of the lads going ‘all the way’ again.
Since Australia has joined the Asia Confederation, the Oceania group is now pretty much there for the taking by the Kiwi boys. Barring disasters like the 2006 campaign’s loss to the Solomon Islands, New Zealand is most likely to go through and face the 5th-ranked Asian qualifier (again, a pleasant change from previous qualifying rounds, where the Oceania qualifier would have to battle past the 5th-ranked South American nation), in a home-and-away playoff for a spot in the 2010 World Cup Finals.
Given the current Asian rankings, that’s most likely to be one of Saudi Arabia, Japan, Bahrain or Uzbekistan – any one of whom the New Zealander’s would fancy upsetting on a good day.
But before this can happen, the All Whites need to nail down the Oceania qualifying pool, and, to that end, you can help by heading down the Stadium this Wednesday evening and cheering on the team to a win over Vanuatu – a win that would guarantee our spot as top team in the Pacific.
New Zealand v. Vanuatu
Wednesday, November 21st
Westpac Stadium
Gates open at 4.30 pm.
Kick off is at 6pm.
Adults – $27
Child (15yrs and under)- $15
Family (2 adults and 2 children) – $64
Concession (Senior Citizens 60+) -$15
Students with valid ID – $15
Voting now closed in the Awas!
We are so very, very excited to announce that voting is now open for about the Second Annual Wellingtonista Awards!
Check out the categories here then,
Cast your votes here, and then …
Come along to our awards night! (If you’re not on our RSVP list already, then it’s first in first served at 7pm)
You have no idea how excited we are about this. Woo!
Then eagerly await the results to be posted here. Hurrah!
There is no Depression in Wellington
The Wellingtonista and Public Address, in association with Freeview and Ponoko proudly present
THERE IS NO DEPRESSION IN WELLINGTON
It’s a quiz show! It’s awards for the best bits of our fair city! It’s BLAM BLAM BLAM!
Mighty Mighty, Thursday 6 December. Doors open at 6pm. $15 and donation to Downtown Community Ministry encouraged.
First up the clever people of Public Address Radio and the Down Low Concept will bring you It Doesn’t Give My Opponents Much Time Either, a quiz show in which various celebrity contestants party like Muldoon is still Prime Minister and Russell Brown asks the tricky retro questions.
Then, for the second year in the row, the Wellingtonista will tell you who you’ve voted for as the best of Wellington. Voting is open at The Wellingtonista until December 4. What’s the best drink in town, who’s the hottest hospitality worker who’ll serve you that drink, and where will you eat away the hangover the next morning? Who will win the sexyass trophies Dan Emery designed and Ponoko made?
You decide, and when you cast your vote and attend the awards, you’ll go into the draw to win some choice prizes from Wanda Harland, Super Very and more. In exchange, the Wellingtonista hope that you will make a donation to the Downtown Community Mission, for the following reasons:
- We love this city, right? And so therefore, it is important that we actually do good things for it, as well as talking about it all the time.
- We eat and drink to excess, and it’s awesome that we celebrate that, but it might be nice if we think about the people who have difficulty eating, or who have problems with drinking.
- Blanket Man was voted Wellingtonian of the year last year at the Wellingtonista Awards. How about we give some attention to the not-so-visible homeless people?
But the good times don’t stop there, because we also happen to have lined up one of the greatest New Zealand bands of all time to bring their special kind of magic to the event. Don’t fight it, Marsha, because it’s bigger than the both of us. That’s right – we’re pants-wettingly excited to announce that Blam Blam Blam will be playing after the awards.
And if all that gets to be a bit too much for you, your attendance gives you the chance to win one of two Freeview decoders (with satellite install if required , so in the future you’ll be able to just stay at home with crystal-clear television reception. Hurray!
To make sure you can join us, please make sure that you email the.wellingtonista@gmail.com before the event with your name, and also get there before 7.30pm, otherwise we can’t guarantee you’ll fit! Reservations are now closed, so if you got on the list (if you emailed before today, you are), you need to be there by 7pm to ensure you make it in. And if you’re not on the list, it’s first-in-first-served from 7pm onwards. But we would truly truly love to see you there, so even if you don’t book, or you have to get there later, come along.
And if you really can’t join us, don’t go all emo: the party will be recorded for a special end-of-year edition of Public Address Radio, which will air on Radio Live.
Thanks to our wonderful sponsors:
Ponoko make the Grey Lady
Local start-up and Friends-of-Wellingtonista Ponoko (among other connections to us they’re also part-sponsor of our awards this year) have their picture at the top of an interesting article in the tech section of today’s New York Times. The article talks about the rise of internet-aided design and making and describes Ponoko thus:
Ponoko, a company based in New Zealand, allows customers to upload designs for flat shapes that can then be snapped together like Ikea furniture. Making a prototype can be as simple as cutting shapes out of cardboard. Users then create a digital version and send it to Ponoko, which cuts the pattern out in metal or wood with a laser.
There’s a fair head of global buzz building up around Ponoko, whose potential extends far beyond the Times’ fairly neutral description of what can be achieved with them today.
And as for us: well, we were very excited to note what looks like a prototype of the highly sought after 2nd Annual Wellingtonista Award trophy visible on the table between Dave and Derek. So maybe this means we’ve made the Times as well?
2AWA: Best cultural venue
The word ‘Culture’ means many different things to different people. To us it means doing things that enrich the mind to make yourself into a more interesting person. And luckily for us, there are many fantastic places in Wellington in which to get enriched.
My culture fixes are principally delivered by:
Nominees after the jump…
2AWA: Best apparel store
Whether you’re a nu-rave kid or a glorified dandy, being well-dressed is partly a matter of taste. Nevertheless, if you’re keen to spend some time on your personal appearance, you’d do well to start out with these Wellington stores for clothes and/or accessories.
Does my bum look big in this? Who cares if it’s big – it looks awesome!
Get dressed after the jump
2AWA: Best UnCheap Eats
If you’re going to splash out a large amount of money for a dinner for a special occasion or because you’re worth it, the whole experience had better be pretty damn spectacular. The food must be delicious, the service must be amazing, and the atmosphere should be grand. The following restaurants can all deliver sublime times, but which one is very best of all?
I spent all my rent money on dinner here, but at least when the bailiffs beat me to death I will die blissfully:
Splurges after the jump…
2AWA: Best Breakfast
Remember how when you were growing up you were always told that breakfast was the most important meal of the day? Well it seems like these cafes agree. Whether you’re up and about and planning a big day, or you’ve managed to drag yourself out of bed some time in the afternoon, a plate full of goodness from one of these places is probably exactly what you need.
The Welly solution to a hangover is:
Time to get out of bed and get to these places, after the jump…
2AWA: Best public space
Everybody knows that you can’t beat Wellington on a good day. And good days can happen at the most random of times. Therefore it’s super important that we have our little patches of sunshine to escape to, when the whole “working for the man” starts to wear you down…
Eating lunch outside never felt so good:
Let’s go outside, after the jump…