The Phoenix Foundation – Bright Grey

With a shiny US record deal under their belts, The Phoenix Foundation are getting ready to take over the world with their upcoming third album entitled “Happy Ending” (which dispenses with – disappointingly – the equine-themed nature of their previous two releases: “Horse Power” & “Pegasus”).

Here’s the first single and video from the album, shot, I’m told, in Island Bay, and directed by fellow Wellingtonian and Oscar-nominated film-maker, Taika Waititi.

Intense, man!

I’ve been blathering about it all over the place, but the Wellingtonista has thus far remained staunchly unblathered about IntensCITY week, which started yesterday.

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

Downtown Wellington is full of exhibitions, posters, shipping containers, lunchtime talks and video installations, all celebrating and/or critiquing our urban spaces. The official site is on the WCC website, and brochures are available in cafes, libraries and council places, or as a big juicy PDF.

Craftwerk finishes natiowide tour in Wellington

The ever-edgy Craftwerk is wrapping up a tour of our fine country with bands, mix tapes and craft galore at the Wesley Methodist Hall on Taranaki Street this Saturday 5pm – 9pm. Be there or miss out on crocheted vaginas, fort building and tonnes of sugary goodness.

Well, hi there sailors

Ahem.

Hi. I’m new. I’ve been recently invited to write for this fabulous website, so here’s hoping I don’t make a complete dick of myself in my first post.

Introducing yourself to hundreds, possibly thousands of readers is a tough one to pull off. Even though I’m a writer by trade – a features journo for the Dominion Post – I figure who needs actual sentences when summing yourself up is best done by a list:

Things I like:
– Craft
– French food
– Red things.

Things I may post about in the future:
– Why bus drivers have PMT at the moment
– The chronic shortage of decent maternity wear in this city
– Suburban cat politics
– Best hairstyles for windy weather
– Why living in a cul-de-sac is the coolest thing since red shiny shorts in the 1970s.

I usually have a home at Special K where I make lists, talk about my cat, ponder my gradually expanding body, and wax lyrical about the people I meet through my awesome job. Hopefully, what I write on here will be much, much more interesting.

Look forward to meeting y’all. K

The Hollow Men at BATS

Hollow Men imageJust a quick note to recommend Dean Parker’s theatrical adaptation of The Hollow Men, which is on now at BATS. My position in the theatre industry prevents me from doing a proper review which means I can’t tell you how funny and pointed it is, nor how expertly directed it is (by Jonathan Hendry) or how good many of the performances are (particularly Stephen Papps as Brash).

Several reviews are online at John Smythe’s excellent Theatreview resource so you can get the full down-low from there.

The Hollow Men plays at BATS until Thursday 11 October and then travels to Centrepoint in Palmerston North for a season.

Cinephilia: Opening This Week

200709262145Fully 60% of all the opening films this week are at the Paramount: first up indie thriller Unknown has a great ensemble cast including James Caviezel, Greg Kinnear and Barry Pepper. It’s a riddle of a thriller as five guys wake up locked in a deserted warehouse unable to remember what happened or which of them are the good guys and which are the baddies. A gas leak has caused multiple amnesia and the race is one to work out who is the kidnapper and who the kidnapped. By all accounts there are plenty of twists which make this a thriller to get the old brain box going.

The rest of this week’s new cinema releases after the jump.

White Fungus Issue 8 Release Party

Come see the new mag for the first time and enjoy a night of off-beat entertainment.

(details after the jump)

Time to veg out

October 1 is World Vegetarian Day, so we’d like you to comment and tell us about your favourite vege-friendly places to eat in Wellington.

We’d also like to encourage you to check out the Wellington Vegetarian Food & Lifestyle Festival on Saturday Saturday September 29 at St Johns in the City, Cnr Willis and Dixon Streets.

Join us to celebrate World Vegetarian Day with an exciting range of stalls covering everything from vegetarian cookery demonstrations and tastings, lifestyle products, cruelty-free beauty products, to nutritional information. View documentaries played on a big screen being run throughout the day, and hear informative speakers talk about human health, the environmental effects of food production, new education initiatives in schools, animal health, and animal rights.

Or if that all sounds like too much hard work, here’s a really easy recipe for dhal.

Jason Kahn and White Fungus

Jason Kahn is a sound and visual artist based in Zürich whose work includes drawing, sound installation, performance and composition. He was born in New York, grew up in Los Angeles and relocated to Europe in 1990. Kahn has been exhibiting his sound and visual works since the late 1990s, and has had solo and group exhibitions in museums, galleries and arts spaces pretty much everywhere in the damn world.

And he’s playing in Wellington on Sunday night.

Carfree transports – simply no better protection (for the environment)

What are you doing tomorrow? I hope it involves walking, or taking the bus, or staying at home in bed all day. Why? Because it’s World Car Free Day.

You can find out more on the Governement’s new sustainability portal:

Living sustainably means living smarter. Through this site you’ll learn how to live smarter, reduce your impacts on the environment, and save money. You’ll find information to help you make important choices about how you use fuel, electricity and water and what to do with your rubbish.

And if you recognise the joke in the title of this post, perhaps you might like to consider switching to an organic cotton alternative – or a moon cup?