Cinephilia: Opening This Week
School holidays start on Monday and Hollywood is doing its bit to turn your kids’ brains to mush with Transformers, an enormo-budget extravaganza about cars that turn in to robots (or the other way around). Produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and directed by Michael Bay, Transformers should give the boys plenty of bang for your buck (while the girls get to swoon over current heart-throb Shia LaBeouf). Playing all over town including Readings Courtenay Central; Sky City Queensgate; Embassy; Regent-on-Manners.
Sensible-shoe wearing girls may well get more out of the latest incarnation of teen detective Nancy Drew, this time starring Julia Roberts’ niece Emma. A slightly smaller release this one, at Readings Courtenay Central and Sky City Queensgate only.
After the jump: Heartbreak Hotel, Starter for Ten, Francesca and Nunziata and The Iron Giant.
Early warning: The Wellingtonista Quiz League
I’ve been rather quiet on the Wellingtonista front (well, for me anyway) because I’ve been busy finishing up my contract and looking for a new job (anyone who knows of a new home for a person with tremendous writing, editing and communication skills who knows the internets like the back of her hand should get in touch), but when I come back from a tropical holiday, the Wellingtonista will be very very excited to announce the start of the Wellingtonista Quiz League.
This will be held a different inner-city pub each week on Tuesday night for four weeks, and point totals is what you’re after. So start assembling your team of four now, and look out for more details in the second week of July.
You will want to enter this, no one who participated in the Bowling League regretted it, and I’m sure they would happily furnish you with testmonials about the awesomeness that is participating in a Wellingtonista event!
When Typos Attack
The Wellington News Feed (an aggregated collection of local RSS feeds kindly supplied by our friends over at wellington.gen.nz, which we display in the right hand sidebar on the Wellingtonista homepage), is not only a rich source of grass-roots info about what’s going on in this lovely city of ours, it also offers the occasional good ol’ fashioned laugh.
From the indecipherable news events conveyed by the local shortwave enthusiasts, to the breathless match reports of Karori Slapperz AFC (“Wellington’s finest social football [team]”), there’s always something popping up that makes you think, ‘you’re in ma feed, mirthin’ up ma blogz’. Or something.
Anyway, today’s laugh came from an inadvertant typo (at least, we hope it’s a typo): “pubic forum tonight”. The mind boggles…
Cinephilia: Opening This Week
It’s as if the gurus in Hollywood know that here in Wellington the Film Festival approaches and they’re trying to get the popcorn material out of the way before it is overpowered by more cerebral delights. Actually, that can’t be true, pretty much every week is like this…
The latest in the seemingly endless series of Will Ferrell sports movies in which our the star improvs himself a feature film while playing an emotionally stunted man-child is Blades of Glory and the sport this time is – Ice Skating! Figure Skating to be exact. Ferrell is joined by Napoleon Dynamite’s Jon Heder as the two pair up to be the first all-male Olympic Ice Dancing champions (Readings and Sky City Queensgate).
After the jump: Fantastic Four: The Rise of the Silver Surfer, Paris je t’aime, Eden and Breakfast at Tiffany’s.
Soup’s up!
Apparently it is National Soup Week, and since we of course believe everything that marketing people tell us, we’d like to know where the best soup in Wellington can be found. Is it served in bread at Kapai? Whatever it is at The’Ho that Gemma from Texture obsesses over? Something from the ever-expanding Wishbone? Or is there really no better soup than Continental Cream’o Vegetable cup’o soup served in a mug under a duvet on a couch to fight off a hangover?
Glancing at the Stars
If this were the Aucklandista site, this’d surely be about Millie. But it’s not. Besides, we’d never heard of her until yesterday. Millie Elder? Millie Holmes?
Anyway… that’s just alluding to celebrity gossip to lure you in. And to trap the googlers… yoohoo!!
Here in the Capital city, when we talk about stars we talk about the really big ones! Real stars.
Matariki.
In May or June each year, just before dawn (yeah right!) look toward the North Eastern horizon & you should see the Matariki constellation. The Greeks called it Pleiades (although they view it upside down to us) or the Seven Sisters, the Japanese called it… Subaru!
To Maori, it marks the New Year, and is associated with the Winter Solstice. The name itself literally refers to the Eyes of God.
This month till the 1st of July, Te Papa are hosting a Matariki Festival, click through for further details.
Further information on Matariki itself, can be found here, here & here.
Exhibition: Cameo Appearance
The exhibition Cameo Appearance at Mary Newton Gallery brings together eight artists working in the area of the portrait – Tony Bond, Gavin Hurley, Anna-Marie O’Brien, Gary Freemantle, Tanja Nola, Octavia Cook, Areta Wilkinson and David Cauchi.
And then my magical art powers failed me, 2007 by David Cauchi
Lollingtonista
If you’re a stranger to the whole Lolcats phenomenon, then … lucky you. Please take a while to think about whether you want to initiate yourself into a world that’s as pointless, yet as addictive, as P. Then read up on Lolcats, Lolrus, LOL Presidents and the self-referential geek overload that is Lolcode. Now you are ready for Lollington.
More after the jump.
Film Festival Sneak Peak
Some of you will be like me and saving your pennies up for the 36th Wellington Film Festival. It hits town on July 20th and runs till August 4th.
If the early line up announcement of some globally anticipated films is anything to go by it’s going to be yet another great see festival.
My top 3 picks are:
- Perfume, starring the amazing Alan Rickman
- Eagle vs. Shark, a home-grown beauty
- Helvetica, a celebration of the world’s most beloved font.
Ghetto Red Hot
Man, I don’t know how many times i’ve promised the NiceUp Crew that I’ll get along to one of their gigs…
It’s just that I’m getting real long in the tooth, even though I’m a huuuge fan of dancehall reggae and ska.
But don’t let me being old stop you from having a grand old time!
Get yourself along to Ghetto Red Hot on June 23.
And then write and tell us old geezers how excellent it was.