Sleb Sitings – Dan Carter – Mercer Street
Woohoo – if we’re not mistaken there are two male underwear models in town.
No idea where Mark Wahlberg can be found, but Dan Carter can be spotted today at his very own store in Mercer Street. We think it might be called GAS or something.
Story here, at Stuff.co.nz
Cinephilia: Opening This Week
I have it on good authority that Quentin Tarantino gave his personal permission for the Film Festival to screen the complete Grindhouse exploitation double-feature as he and Robert Rodriguez intended, despite it being yanked early from American cinemas due to dismal box office: however Roadshow intervened to prevent the screening and the only way NZ audiences can see Grindhouse will be on DVD at some future time. That big screen experience has been replaced by an expanded version of Tarantino’s Death Proof, opening today at Readings and Sky City Queensgate. The tale of a crazed stuntman (Kurt Russell) stalking two sets of beautiful women including kiwi stuntie Zoe Bell and Sydney Poitier, Death Proof looks like more of that patented Tarantino-like fun.
The rest of this week’s new releases after the jump…
To stand or not to stand, that is the question
It’s not easy to keep your balance on a trolley bus if you are wearing vertiginous high heels or are weighed down with shopping. It can feel like surfing rather than just riding the bus. But spare a thought for those whose seatlessness is more than just an inconvenience. In recent months, this Wellingtonista has noticed her protruding baby bump doesn’t get her a coveted seat on a packed peak hour bus. I can be standing with my bump right in some civil servant’s face and he won’t budge. And just this morning, I watched embarrassed at myself and my fellow Wellingtonians, as a woman with Parkinson’s struggled to hang onto a pole as our bus swept down Brooklyn Hill packed to the gunnels with people looking the other way. Have Wellingtonians lost their benevolence for their fellow man – all for the price of a seat on the bus? Surely the people of my beloved city are better than that? Surely?
Trolley buses, how do they do it?
How do trolley buses get their poles to go right or left when they come to a junction?
Pao Pao Pao
This evening the town hall will play host to three hours of indigenous noise making as Pao Pao Pao takes centre stage. This lucky Wellingtonista is on a mission; I have gained access as an embedded civilian photographer to report on the proceedings and soak up the atmosphere. My compatriot will be reporting for Taiohi. She is tasked with extracting some sound bites from the rangatahi and I will be running around with a camera in place of the delicious Mys-T.
Wellington is a small place, as I have been discovering since I moved here. Unless you are a complete hermit you will find yourself being inexorably drawn into various networks and their attendant sticky webs of gossip. Of course this is the same where ever you go, I think anyone who has felt slighty queasy looking at those Facebook friend wheels will know what I am talking about. On the other hand, sometimes the people you meet make you feel like the universe is conspiring in your favour. I am happy to be a drone for the hive mind here at Wellingtonista and will do my best to bring the honey, so in that spirit here is a link to my girl Shaarne clad in Blackberi. Some of our readers may remember a shop called Stand Up Apparel on Plimmer Steps that was featured on Wellingtonista way back when. Blackberi is still alive and kicking via Trademe and Bebo, so check it out if you like what you see.
Shaarne and I will be joining the hordes at the Wellington Town Hall from 7pm. The cost is $30 which is very reasonable for such a wide range of performers. I am looking forward to my first taste of the ancient art of taonga puoro and a chance to check out 4 Corners. Come along and get down with the tangata whenua.
Summer in the City Suburbs
You’ve got to love the effect a sunny day has on people – I’ve seen more smiles on the streets of Newtown today than I have done the entire 6 months that I’ve lived here.
And speaking of Newtown, time to give props to a local icon,The Adelaide…
Once the infamous Tramways Hotel, and sticking resolutely to the “smalltown pub” vibe and decor, the Adelaide has quietly reinvented itself as one of the best places in town to see bands play for around the $5 mark. Cheap beer, great mirrors in the ladies’, flashing lights behind glass bricks at the counter and under the stage, pool tables, pub meals … one day I’ll devote an entire post to how much I love unpretentious hospitality. But the point of this post is to announce the inaugural Saturday Matinee at the Adelaide – just in time for the return of the golden weather!
Details after the jump…
Le Parkour Wellington
Ever been wandering around town and seen a group of youngsters behaving like a bunch of naughty monkeys? Whaddya know.. they’re probably doing parkour.
Parkour (sometimes abbreviated to PK) or or “free-running” or l’art du déplacement (“the art of displacement”) is an activity with the aim of moving from one point to another as efficiently and quickly as possible, using principally the abilities of the human body.
Founded by David Belle in France, parkour focuses on practicing efficient movements to develop your body and mind to be able to overcome obstacles in an emergency. It is also practiced by many as a form of entertainment or as a pastime.
As I hinted above, there’s a thriving parkour scene in Wellington; especially in and around the urban/recreational areas of the waterfront and Civic Square.
Interested? There’s more after the jump..
The Garbage and the Flowers
The Garbage and the Flowers (formerly of Wellington and now based in Sydney; Myspace) are touring NZ.
They’re playing tomorrow night (Friday Nov 2nd) at Happy with Birchville Cat Motel and Panel of Judges.
Maximum Joy Number Two
Disk-jockeys Longboss and Name return to Mighty Mighty for another night of dizzy disco heat this Friday with MAXIMUM JOY #2.
MAXIMUM JOY!! is night to celebrate leftfield disco, Balearic soft rock, postpunk and electrofunk: music to boost your mind, ass and soul to cosmic new heights.
Through the year, Name and Longboss toil tirelessly to source the hottest, most bent-up byproducts of the disco era and today. Using extra sensory intelligence, they bring MAXIMUM JOY!! to Wellington.
MAXIMUM JOY NUMBER TWO: Friday 2 November at Mighty Mighty, 9pm till late. Dress to impress, not suppress…
Cinephilia: Opening This Week
This week the Paramount has a special attraction for fans of oddball genius David Lynch: Inland Empire has been acclaimed by (several) critics worldwide as a return to the edgy and outrageous Lynch of his early career (think Eraserhead rather than, say, The Straight Story). Inland Empire screens exclusively at the Paramount for one week only. Set aside plenty of time.
Also returning from successful screenings at this year’s Festival is Venus, starring Peter O’Toole as an ageing actor getting a new lease on life when he meets a brash and beautiful teenage girl. Dominion-Post critic Graeme Tuckett has called it his film of the year although that may have changed since Eastern Promises. Venus is written by the never less than interesting Hanif Kureishi (My Beautiful Laundrette and Intimacy) and plays at the Embassy, Paramount, Rialto and Sky City Queensgate.
The rest of this week’s releases after the jump…