New-ish at the Movies: The Great Gatsby, Bekas, Fast & Furious 6 and The Last Sentence
For all the digital glitter and anachronistic hip-hoppery that signifies our latest re-entry into Luhrman-land, The Great Gatsby itself takes fundamental inspiration from a black and white classic from 1941. Featuring a flashback framing device, a lonely and heartsick tycoon staring out of the window of a grotesque castle, and even a breathless deathbed “Daisy” […]
A weekend of old things treated in new ways
It’s shaping up to be an interesting Wellington weekend – sure when is one not, but mine is looking a little like this. Opening Thursday and running for about a month is Phantom of the Opera. I’m a musical theatre nerd girl so I’m excited to see how it’s going to be staged as the production design is […]
Wellington on a Plate is here again, hurrah!
Right now we’re knee-deep in delicious wine and food at the Wellington on a Plate launch at Prefab so if all’s going well, this post will go live right after the media embargo ends. For now, here’s what we’ve written about Wellington on a Plate over the past couple of years, and below is the […]
Fairtrade coffee that you make for yourself
Fairtrade Fortnight may be over, but that doesn’t mean it’s not something to still think about. When someone else is making the coffee for you, you may be drawn to particular beans because of their fair trade status. Why not apply the same criteria when you’re drinking it at home or work? Handily the good people […]
Are you a MexiCAN or a MexiCAN’T?!
If you think the restaurant that sits on the corner of Cuba and Vivian Streets, alongside Frutti, and opposite Logan Brown serves a) food and b) Mexican food then you are sorely mistaken and should get yourself to La Boca Loca asap. Don’t even finish reading this. Get in a car, a bus, on a […]
Making it a Handmade Weekend
Got plans for the long weekend? Depending on all that weather it may involve tobogganing and making snow persons. Or you may be like me and planning to try your hand at picking up a new skill, or sitting back and learning how people put their skills to use at Handmade. Handmade celebrates making, creating […]
Review: No Holds Bard
The actor playing Hamlet is suffering a crisis of confidence. Is the play as he remembers? Macbeth drops in to chivvy him along. Then Othello and King Lear give it a go as well. This solo show sees Michael Hurst display his skill at delivering Shakespeare along with hilariously physical stage combat moves. (Some of […]
New at the Movies: Kon-Tiki, Snitch and Broken
Speaking as someone whose taste for adventure doesn’t stretch much further than going to the dairy in the rain, the reckless self-endangerment represented by Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg’s Kon-Tiki was a genuine eye-opener. The bones of the story are well-known enough to anyone who built balsa models of Heyerdahl’s raft at primary school in […]
Old halls come alive with new music
You know the drill. You go to the same bar every week and pay tons for booze, and have to deal with a loud crowd who are just there to be seen and who talk through the music you’ve paid to see, and you just think “ugh! I hate this, it’s all the same and […]
New at the Movies: Star Trek Into Darkness, Song for Marion, Gambit, Spring Breakers and Maori Boy Genius
The 2009 Star Trek reboot went into production on the eve of the writers’ strike and therefore had no right to be as entertaining – or to make as much sense – as it did. In fact, it was so successful that it has become the gold standard of dormant franchise resuscitation and I’m hoping […]