World’s largest phubble
As always, the photoblog over on the right hand sidebar proves itself a rich source of short-term distraction. This morning it was displaying this photo, from where I went on a little voyage of ‘phubble‘ discovery, which eventually led me to this brilliant image of a phubble at the Basin Reserve…
The worlds largest soap bubble blown by 10 year old Mary Smith of Wellington who can just be seen at the bottom behind the bubble. It took her 7 hours and 38 minutes to get it to this size before a passing seagull flew through it and burst it. Mary was treated for Hypoxia and given a lolly.
Brilliant.
[Image by Mark Turnbull]
Getting Moore for less
Fashionistas may be excited to know about the very temporary-looking Andrea Moore ‘workroom’ set up by the bus stop on Manners St, whose windows are promising 50-70% off. But those who recently bought a (gorgeous) Andrea Moore dress at full cost might not want to read this at all…
Bypass surgery complete. Has the patient survived?
At last, the final stage of the bypass has been opened, and the decades-long drama is drawing to an end. The DomPost reports…
At 6am yesterday, southbound traffic was directed from The Terrace Tunnel onto a one-way Vivian St via a new off-ramp.
At the same time, Buller and Ghuznee streets reverted to two-way streets.
Transit New Zealand project manager Jonnette Adams said some motorists had teething problems with the new layout, but were mostly courteous to each other. Some “tweaking” of intersection lights helped alleviate congestion on other routes linking with the bypass.
A team of engineers would be on hand today to make sure things ran smoothly, Ms Adams said.
Transit opened the northbound section of the bypass in December.
Meanwhile, frustrated Wellingtonians are turning to the Web to vent their anger at delays caused by the region’s transport infrastructure.
Aha! Haven’t they just.
So, how was it for you?
Quote of the night
James, whilst walking through Cuba Mall with us all: “Hey, that bollard (covered in posters) looks just like our site!”.
Also, James gets super large bonus points for coming swimming tonight.
(And also: I heart Wellington.)
Where we’ll be
If you’re trying to stalk the Wellingtonista, and/or find something to do this weekend, here are our hot tips:
- The City Art Gallery tonight because Luke Buda is adorable and Aspen has a good track record
- The Aro Valley Fair. Perhaps you can find out for me why it seems that everyone in Aro owns a dog and/or a baby.
- Trying to find the Wellingtonista on our big night out on Saturday – it would be cheating to tell you where we’ll be, but there may be clues in these posts here.
- If the poster’s this good the Voom and The Sneaks gig should be good as well. Voom used to be the laziest band in NZ – their songs are so effortlessly pop perfection – but it seems they’ve finally got their act together after many line-up scandals.
- The Festival Italia on Sunday. Perhaps you could adopt a bad accent and try the “Do you have any Italian in you? Do you want some?” line you neglected to use on St. Patrick’s Day.
What’s in a name #2
And the Wellingtonista themselves are in need of a name for their 10-pin bowling team.
Suggestions so far…
- Strike Force
- Wellington-PIN-stars
- Gutter Rollers
- Ultra-Cocktail-Hour-Super-Bowling-Squad
That Pin-Stars is going to take some beating, but, for the sake of having a name in the hat, howzabout The Strikemasters (in tribute to the 80s Wellington heavy metal band of the same name).
Further monikers welcome.
What’s in a name #1
So, perhaps the most drawn out sports decision ever to be made by an Australasian sporting body has finally been confirmed, and a Wellington bid has won the right field a team in Australia’s A-League soccer competition.
Now all they need is a name (oh, and some players, and a home ground, but let’s not mention that).
So, what do we think. What’s a good name for our local professional football team. The guys over at the A-League discussion forums have come up with some suggestions…
- Wellington Wizards
- Wellington Wonders
- Wellington Wanderers
…but, you know, that whole sports team alliteration thing is a bit passé. There’s some support for just continuing the Knights (noooo!), and, likewise, for a good old fashioned appendage like United, FC, or City. Today’s DomPost had these suggestions…
- Wellington Thunder
- Wellington Fever
- Wellington Hornets
- Wellington Blast
…of which Hornets doesn’t ring too bad, although, do we have hornets in Wellington? Surely the Wellington Killer Bees would be more appropriate? And despite the enthusiasm of the supporters on the back page of the DomPost today, I don’t think ‘Fever’ is the best idea in the world – the rich potential for headline puns when things go horribly wrong is just too much to consider.
Any other thoughts?
A Friday night and a Saturday morning
Down at the City Gallery on Friday night they are running another one of their Late Night Sessions, where you get to cruise around the big exhibition (this time it’s the biennial Prospect show) in relative peace and listen to lovely live music while you do so. And all for free.
City Gallery’s popular late night Friday returns. Wander through Telecom Prospect 2007: New Art New Zealand to a backdrop of independent and electronic sounds by local performers. Featuring Peneloping, Tc Wedde with Luke Buda, and Aspen.
The lovely Luke Buda is of course in The Phoenix Foundation, as is (the equally lovely) Tc Wedde. Aspen is also lovely and also known as Signer, and is one half of Over the Atlantic and one half of Skallander. And the "medium-core girl-boy plinkpop!" Peneloping also have a very good reputation as a live act. Having experienced Late Night Sessions many times before – from the point of view both of a performer and a patron – I can heartily recommend this event.
Putting out feelers: the Wellingtonista Cup
Not that we’re trying to get all Gawker on you or anything (or are we?) but the Wellingtonista would like to set up a league. A bowling league, if you will. Details will be confirmed later, but there would probably be a round-robin of sorts, and much booze would of course be involved ( because have you ever seen any of us out in public without a drink in our hands?), and as we’re not famous for our love of the ‘burbs, chances are the venue will be right in town at The Lanes.
This post is going out to see if anyone would be interested in taking us on. It would be great if teams had some sort of affiliation, no matter how loose it was (although ring-ins would be fine) and it would be best if teams had a place on the web in which they could let their fingers write cheques that their butts couldn’t cash in terms of trash-talking about their opponents. We’re envisioning competing against teams from other blogs (or blogs + notorious commentators), or web companies, or media outlets. Are you keen?
A drink for Autumn: the Negroni
At the wind whips at us with its chill flails, the blustery wet drizzle envelops our heads as we peraumbulate along the streets of downtown, as the night glows into the dawn with a dull damp violet cloud — we’re gonna need a drink to ward off the misery of the season. So I present to you the mulled-wine of the cocktail family: The Negroni.
It seems there are not a lot of people who will admit to a fondness for Campari. Indeed it was not two nights ago that a drinking companion of mine brayed something incoherent about “earwax” when the dreaded C-word was mentioned during a free-ranging session over at mine. However, for all its perceived sins, without Campari you would not have a Negroni.
It is the Campari that is the medicinal “bitter” and provides the characteristic flavor of the Negroni. A little background: according to my sources, Compari was concocted by Gaspare Campari in the 1850s. Gaspare, at only age 14, was the master drink maker at the Bass Bar in Turin, which was the commercial center for aperitifs at the time. Campari is made with natural ingredients that include herbs, spices, bark and fruit peels. The exact formula is of course a highly guarded secret. And as far as the Negroni is concerned, as with all great cocktails stories differ, but the most popular account of its origin is that Count Camillo Negroni, a Florentine aristocrat, decided one day to add some bite to his favorite drink, the Americano. He had the bartender add gin. From that time on he ordered the same drink every day. Eventually the bartender named the drink after him.
The Negroni. Complex. Spicy. Bitter, although not overly so. The tiniest bit of sweetness to offset that. It’s a drink to warm a cold breast. It’s a perfect aperitif, a drink to wake up your taste buds and shout “Ciao, ragazzo bello! Come stai?”. And the colour! The rich brown and deep red tones seem to glow with soft light and autumnal hues. Hold one near a light and your Negroni will erupt in orange novas. It’s the obvious drink-of-Autumn for a Wellingtonista.
“Bene, grazie!”