Armageddon - down to the event centre...

Wow! Want to meet... Kaylee from Firefly? The very hot Ivanova from Babylon 5? One of the (original) Dukes of Hazzard? and the General Lee? Not to mention this person (no idea who, but I think you'd like to meet her, no?

All you have to do is dress up like your favourite sci-fi character, and head on down to the Event Centre this weekend. OK, fancy dress is optional. I think.

Armageddon Pulp Culture Expo - Wellington Event Centre, April 29/30th 2006

Go on... express your inner, or outer geek. Brush up on your Klingon. Take the Tribble... etc.

More details at the site below....

Armageddon - New Zealand Pulp Culture Expo

Be nice to the nerds

<geekiness>

This weekend the Armageddon Pop Culture Expo rolls into town.

It should be a big one this year with a special appearance by the General Lee.

Have your photo taken with the General Lee at Noon both event days for only $25.00 or @ 10am each morning, John Schneider (Bo Duke) will be attending a special photo session, cost of $25.00 with John or $45.00 with john and the General Lee.

I had my photo taken with this same car when I was five or so. So I'm looking forward to getting the updated version.

So keep an eye out for geeks and try not to be mean to them. Unless they flip "Unix" and you flip "OSX", then it's all on!!!

I have been given a media pass (through bFM) and so will do an exclusive, behind-the-scenes report for Wellingtonista.

Keep watching the skis...I mean skies.

</geekiness>

Hail to the...

The Chiefs are in town to take on the Hurricanes on Saturday. I just saw Marty Holah, Mark Ranby and David Hill having coffee at del Caffe, so keep an eye out for others and try to make them feel welcome.

The game is sold out so we'll probably be watching from Hope Bros again if anyone is keen. It should be a rip-snorter of a match

Nicest City in the World

Our post on Wellington's 12th placing in the recent Mercer HR Quality of Life table has had the pleasant side-effect of catapaulting Wellington (and the Wellingtonista) to the top of the Google rankings for a search on 'nicest city in the world'.

We'll take Google's word over Mercer's any day.

The Library Elf

Here's a handy online service for those of you who use Wellington's excellent Public Libraries. Create an account over at Library Elf, enter your library card details, and they'll create a customised RSS feed that tells you what books you've got out that are nearing their return date. Very handy for those of us who manage to lose the paper issue slip somewhere between the library exit and home.

The Hutt and Porirua libraries are also on the system, as are a few other NZ-based libraries.

[hat tip: fraser, via chch-changes.]

Wellington Film Society for May

Whoa... it's May already & I have neglected to mention the wonderful Wellington Film Society even once this year!

So... without further ado, here is what is coming up next month. In the words of the illustrious president, David Lindsay...

Hi All,

May sees the conclusion of the Jean-Luc Godard retrospective, made possible by the generous support of the French Embassy and Creative New Zealand. As in previous years we are required to report to Creative New Zealand about aspects of their supported programmes. I encourage you to email me at the Gmail address below, your comments on the Godard season.

Remember, all our screenings this year are on Mondays at 6.15pm at the Paramount. We screen the feature only and aim to start the film pretty close to the advertised time.

First up on 1 May, PIERROT LE FOU (France/Italy 1965), Godard's playful tribute to the Hollywood pulp crime movies of the Forties, executed with typical Gallic cool. Essentially a brassy-hued remake of Breathless, the film puts a dissatisfied bourgeois man (Jean-Paul Belmondo) and his wise-ass babysitter (Anna Karina) in a world of trouble on a sunlit highway. In its most famous moment, Samuel Fuller, as himself, defines moviemaking as "love, hate, violence, death — in a word, emotion." Godard sets himself the task of making Pure Cinema out of counterfeit versions of these ingredients — and, with an alchemy that defies description, he does it.

The Godard season concludes on 8 May with LE MEPRIS [Contempt] (France/Italy 1963). A movie about the making of a movie and the unmaking of a marriage. Split between the locations of the Villa Malaparte in Capri and the Cinecittà film studio in Rome, it maps out the gulfs between two squabbling pairs: writer Paul (Michel Piccoli) and actress Camille (Brigitte Bardot) on the one hand, and director Fritz Lang (himself) and producer Jerry Prokosch (Jack Palance) on the other. Or should that be four squabbling pairs? Godard may have been obsessed with cinema, but he couldn't help recounting a couple of personal stories here: his own battle of wills with producer Joseph E. Levine (Hercules); and his crumbling relationship with his then-wife and frequent female lead, Anna Karina, to whom Bardot alludes in a manner that reveals the auteur's own contempt.

On 15 May, the first of two never-before-seen-in-New Zealand films by Michael Haneke, whose most recent film HIDDEN [Cache], included in last year's Wellington Film Festival, is currently screening in town. TIME OF THE WOLF (France/Austria/Germany 2003) stars Isabelle Huppert as a mother who seeks shelter with her family in the countryside in
the aftermath of an unspecified catastrophe. The title of the film, from an ancient Germanic poem, refers to the time before the apocalypse. In a sense, the unidentified disaster that drives Anne and her children from their home represents nothing more than an abrupt, mass refusal to observe social conventions. The writer-director creates a cinematic encounter that is deeply and morally compelling.

The second Michael Haneke film, CODE UNKNOWN (France/Germany/Romania 2000) screens on 23 May. Juliette Binoche stars in one of the most uncompromisingly difficult and challenging films of the year: its either a kind of high Euro-modernist masterpiece about race, culture, urban rage and alienated identity — or a perversely opaque and frustrating essay in enigma, a labyrinth of blind alleys, in which putative solutions are forbiddingly walled off. It is therefore a movie which requires a considerable investment of attention. It offers a meditation on the confluence of lives and cultures in the modern city. It is bewildering and exasperating, certainly — but virile, cerebral film-making.

All the films thus far in May are 35mm prints, the first three in CinemaScope - or the European equivalent. The Wellington Film Society first screened our last film of the month in a 16mm print in 1978. It has recently been restored but is only available in a digital format.

So, on 29 May: SALESMAN (USA 1969). Albert and David Maysles' documentary is about four door-to-door bible salesmen who move horizontally through the capitalistic dream. It's a fine, pure picture of a small section of American life that remains a social document and is one of the best examples of direct cinema. It is distinguished by its originality, by its intelligent handing of its subject matter, and by its fidelity to truth. This acclaimed documentary is regarded as one of the enduring masterpieces of 1960s American cinema.

Here is fairly short notice of a film seminar run by the Victoria University Continuing Education department. The Terrifying Wonder of Science Fiction Cinema will be conducted by Sean Redmond, a senior lecturer in Film at Victoria University, on Saturday 6 May, 9.30am - 4.00pm. The seminar aims to define and explore science fiction cinema. It will begin with a film screening and then go on to explore the dominant themes, styles, and pleasures of a number of seminal science fiction films. Film Society members qualify for the $49 discount fee. The link takes you to the full description of the course, and includes a link to the enrolment page.


You will remember last month we said that there was to be a southern hemisphere premiere of Kenneth Anger's most recent film MOUSE HEAVEN (2004) at the NZ Film Archive. It will be presented by Alice L Hutchison, author of Kenneth Anger: A Demonic Visionary, at 7.00pm on Thursday 11 May. Entry is by koha.

Also of interest at the Film Archive, four programmes of short films from Germany presented in association with the Goethe Institut under the general title Short & Sweet II, screening between 5 and 13 May. 100 years ago, all films were short. Even in the sixties, young talents like Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Werner Herzog and Wim Wenders were initially presented to the public with short film works. Internationally, German short films have occupied a leading position for many years. The countless awards won at international festivals are an obvious indicator of their success. The first series of SHORT & SWEET received an overwhelmingly positive response. This second series consists of a cross-section of the most outstanding and innovative short films made in Germany in recent years. They are divided into four thematic sections.


The Wellington Film Society is very grateful to the Paramount for making their facilities available at a very reasonable rate. It is in all our best interests to support the cinema by purchasing food and drinks from the bar on our screening nights, and attending the films that screen as part of their public programme.

Coming to the Paramount in May:

11 May: THE PROPOSITION (John Hillcoat, Australia 2005). Returning from the recent World Cinema Showcase, it's an arrestingly savage vision of British colonial 'civilisation' pitted against white outlaws and rebellious aboriginal slaves.

May 18 sees the opening of the ANPFIFF FOOTBALL FILM FESTIVAL, arranged by the Goethe Institut to tie in with the Soccer World Cup which is being held in Germany this year. The Director of the Goethe Institut, Christoph Mucher, initially mentioned this festival to me as a Film Society project but I could not see how we could give justice to the many features and shorts involved in our once a week time slot. Rather than chose just a few of the titles on offer I suggested that he talk to the Paramount - hence the festival in its present form. Some of the other film societies in the country have chosen a title or two.

Also commencing 18 May: DON'T COME KNOCKING (Wim Wenders, France/Germany/USA 2005). Another return from the World Cinema Showcase. 21 years after collaborating on PARIS, TEXAS, Wenders and Sam Shepherd revisit similar themes and fashion another visual ode to the natural splendour - and faded glory - of the American West.


25 May: GRIZZLY MAN (Werner Herzog, USA 2005). This was in last year's Wellington Film Festival. Self-taught naturalist Timothy Treadwell spent 12 summers living in the wilds of Alaska, obsessively filming the activities of grizzly bears. He was eventually killed by one of the beasts. Herzog delves into the wilful romanticism of Treadwell's quest, drawing extensively on the 100 hours of extraordinary footage he left behind.

Also 25 May: NEIL YOUNG: HEART OF GOLD (Jonathan Demme, USA 2006). A concert film with a touch of melancholy. Neil Young, diagnosed with a potentially fatal brain aneurysm, wrote and recorded the songs for his recent album Prairie Wind in the four days before his surgery. Post-surgery, he called Demme and said he wanted to make a film - this film - which showcases the first public performances of the songs on the new album, and some of his classics.


See you at the movies.


David Lindsay
President
E-mail: FilmSociety@gmail.com

the odyssey of Mr Reasonable

Local blogger Mr Reasonable plans to combine his whizzo geek toys and dangerously obsessive love of coffee into an caffeine fuelled odyssey of live blogging from cafés in the besuited end of town:

I am going to visit a different Wellington Cafe every day next week, order a decent Latté, take a photo of said lovely drinky, upload the photo of the cafe and the coffee, and write a live tasting session of the liquid heaven and the surroundings. I am fully charged with a CafeNet account and some Telecom Hotspot credits and I'm ready to go. The question is where?

The Wellingtonista wishes Mr Reasonable well on his perilous quest. It goes without question that we wish that he may avoid the Scylla and Charybdis of Starbucks and Gloria Jean's; and respectfully warn him about the land of the lotus eaters that may be found on the ground floor here.

Good luck.

On the Grid

It's official: after a hard-fought campaign, Wellington has beaten Baku to be included on the rounds of the "decadent travel guide" Gridskipper. They're looking for tips, recommendations and "kiwiphilic thoughts", so feel free to send in your rants and raves about the coolest, dodgiest and craziest things going on in town. Things like itinerant fractal artists, Pukeko pies, Dirty Thirties Cabarets and giant Buzzy Bees, perhaps?

Now hear this!

The official NZ Music Month Launch 2006

The Bleeders
Deja Voodoo
and Cherry's Gemstones

Sunday, April 30th at 2pm
Waitangi Park, Wellington
(Town Hall if wet)

Are you game?

Next month, there will be an unusual collaboration between urban gourmets and huntin' shootin' fishin' types. The Fish & Game NZ Wild Game Bird Food Festival, which runs from the 8th to the 28th of May, encourages hunters to bring their prey into participating restuarants where their catch can be transformed into gourmet dishes. The participating restaurant, Hope Bros, already has quite a reputation for gamy goodness: remember last year's spectacular combination of pheasant and venison during the Wild Food Challenge?

The promoter says that after the festival, "phrases such as duck prosciutto, whole foie gras, pheasant confit and semiboneless quail will have entered our country's cuisine vocabulary". The inclusion of foie gras on this list seems a bit odd given that it's a wild food festival: unless someone's been running around the countryside diligently force-feeding geese and ducks with grain, all we're likely to get is plain old liver.

Also, you can't just go around blasting away at anything that moves and expecting them to cook it. There's a prescribed list of acceptable birds, which includes such delicacies as Black Swan, Pukeko and (no sniggering down the back) Cock Pheasant. The list is broad enough to provide a few culinary novelties for most of us, but the limitation is a pity for those who might fancy a bit of urban bloodsport. We might have gained inspiration from the fact that Hope Bros sits opposite the park formerly known as "Pigeon Park", but other forms of urban pest (such as possums and skateboarders) might also be delicious when pot-roasted with sage.

NZMM: Wellington Rocks!

Waitangi Park is set to become a concert venue again for the opening of New Zealand Music Month. And naturally, it will be free.

Last year Shihad nearly destroyed the carpark beneath Aotea Square with its free concert.

On Sunday April 30 the park will rock to the sounds of...well, they actually haven't said yet. It could be local heroes Fat Freddy's Drop or Phoenix Foundation or both. [Specualtion in the comments section would be great!]

Any how, after a summer so jam-packed full of free concerts we get another one to finally boot us into winter. It's pretty good timing too, coinciding with the Armageddon pop culture (read "geekery") expo. So watch out for kids.

Big night out for some

The Rolling Stones came to town last night.

Did anyone go? Can we get a review in the comments section?

It was much better than the Auckland gig, which people are apparently complaining about.

Good to see the 40, 50, 60+ age groups out, retaking the night. Pretty soon they'll be taking over Sandwiches!

More Awards

On the heels of Wellington's 12th placing in the "Best city in the world" rankings, comes another accolade for our harbour capital. Two websites based in Wellington are up for Webby Awards!

The website for Te Papa's Maori Showband exhibition picked up a nomination in the Cultural Institution category.

And the website for the recent New Zealand International Arts Festival is nominated in the Events category.

New Zealand's tourism website (which Wellington can't claim exclusively) makes its third return to the Webbys (it has won, but I can't remember how often). For the first time it is facing the Australian version. You may remember the NZ tourism website, it was thrown about it in the media because the government spent a large sum of money to acquire the domain name. Looks like that paid off.

Another nominee (in various categories), The Book of Cool, features kicking instructions from former All Black Carlos Spencer.

So what next? GO AND VOTE!

Bunny boiling

Shadows grow longer, leaves turn to russet and fall to the damp earth, and an autumnal chill settles upon our fair city. So what better time to celebrate the new life and fruitfulness of spring?

Yes, Easter is upon us, so we should prepare ourselves for serious contemplation of the greatest miracle of all. Chocolate.

The good people at Truffle are always ready to help celebrate the abundance of nature, or at least the edible portion of it, and they have some special goodies for the season. Bags of Piedmontese chocolate eggs by Venchi are a snip at $14.95 for 135 grams, and they're also stocking some special items from Wellington's favourite alchemists of confectionery, Schoc. Those with a farmyard fetish can pretend that they're in a Cadbury's ad and gorge themselves on chocolate rabbits and poultry, while aesthetes might prefer the one-off hand-painted hollow eggs. In the same vein as their Christmas bars (real gold, frankincense and myrrh), they offer Easter chocolate bars flavoured like hot cross buns. What sorcery is this?!?

Of course, when one thinks of Easter, one thinks of cabaret. No? Must just be me then. But it seems that others think the same way, since on Good Friday Sandwiches will be home to "Sheba's Dirty Thirties Cabaret". Anyone who's seen one of Sheba's cabaret performances (such as at last year's Midnight Burlesque) will know that "dirty" won't be an exaggeration.

For those who prefer a more sedate cabaret experience, Eateria de Manon (by all accounts the best French restaurant south of Majoribanks St) is having a tribute to Edith Piaf on Sunday night. For $55 you get a three course meal and live music from local Piafophiles Sans Souci. I'm not sure what will be on the menu for the night, but they are known for such dishes as squash and pork trotter soup, brioche-crumbed lambs brains and squid stuffed with wild goat. While those of a sentimental persuasion can ooh and ahh over cutely gamboling easter lambs, isn't it nice to think that some of us will be eating their brains?

Wellington: the world's 12th nicest city

A new survey published by Mercer Human Resource Consulting rates Wellington as the 12th best city to live in, based on the quality of living offered to residents. Auckland comes in a very respectable 5th, with the rest of the top 12 filled out by Zurich, Geneva, Vancouver, Vienna, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Munich, Bern, Sydney and Copenhagen.

American cities don't get a show-in until Honolulu gets them off the mark at 27th (much to the delight of the Canadian press, who aren't shy about pointing out their southern neighbours lower placings).

Can't say the presence of Dusseldorf and Bern in the top 10 fills us with a great deal of confidence in the accuracy of the survey, though.

Down the toilet

The little side street at the Taranaki Street end of Courtenay Place has been due for big changes for a while, and now it all looks like it's finally happening. In June, work will start on closing the street and turning it into a pocket park: more details will be released by the council in a couple of weeks. Also, the long-abandoned toilet block which has been the subject of various suggestions over the years (including, hilariously, wetarium and sexual health museum), will undergo a more predictable but nonetheless welcome transformation. Ian "Ferg" Ferguson will convert it into a wine bar by doubling the underground space, lining the walls with wine racks and adding an outdoor drinking area on the roof. This work will also start in June and is expected to open by Christmas under the name "Wine Cellar" (WC for short, of course). If only the walls could speak!


But the first change that we'll see here is the opening of the first downtown Wellington branch of Burger Fuel. That explains the loud drooling noises emanating from Wellingtonista towers. There's no official word on the opening date, but construction work looks well advanced, so I'd guess that it's just a few weeks away. Mmm, booze, burgers and a sunny park: that's got to be better than a turning lane and a handful of car parks.

It's a funny old game

Well the weather packed in and so it seems that the State Championship will end in a draw. Which means that Wellington wins.

No, I don't understand it either. Though I will say this, more runs were scored in this game than people attended it.

There is no Super 14 rugby for Wellington (and lower North Island) fans this weekend so you'll have to pick another team to support. I suggest the Chiefs.

As Tom mentioned the 2Hot2Handle auto-show will be on the stadium. Ironically this will mean a paucity of carparks and horrible traffic snarls around the stadium. I just hope someone brings a "pimped out" Prius. It seems like a good idea.

Tonight the St Laurence Wellington Saints basketball team is taking on two-time champs, the Auckland Stars at the Queens Wharf Events Centre. It promises to be a good game.

Finally, if you'd like to spend your weekend watching Wellington micro-celebrities play badminton then head to the Wellington Badminton Festival (yes, "festival") at the Wellington Badminton Association's hall in Hataitai (it's the one with a big [shuttle] cock on the roof). It's a five day show that starts on Saturday (08/04/06) and finishes on Wednesday. The festival only comes around every three years so don't miss out on Mark Blumsky playing Kerry Prendergast. Entertainment to be provided by Frankie Stevens.

Slav to the Rhythm

Luke Buda - Benny Andersson (ABBA) impersonator extraordinaire, and one of the frontmen of Wellington band The Phoenix Foundation - has just released his debut solo album 'Special Surprise' (following on from his 2004 release 'The C-Sides' mini-album, which is still available over at Slow Boat Records so we're told).

And it sounds great. Fans of The Phoenix Foundation will know roughly what to expect: lots of nice melodies and guitar action, but with a touch more humour and a lot more synth action than the two 'Phoenecian' albums to date. But don't believe us, believe the paid professional reviewers. Says Lindsay Davis of the Dominion...

Musically, the album is eclectic, mixing the gunslinging rock on the 'Stallion' to the Latin feel of 'Sauerkraut Bossa', which combines a cheesy electro-lounge rhythm with organ washes and yet somehow you are hooked. 'Slav to the Rhythm' updates mid-period Bowie with a slick lyric that morphs into a a driving fuzzed conclusion that would make the Tin Machine blush.

...and Lyndon Walker of Rip it Up...

With lots of soft melodies, mellow synths and a sound which is part Phoenix Foundation and part his own, this album is a great listen from beginning to end...

Any Aucklanders who happen to be reading this blog should be aware that Buda is playing up at the Kings Arms this Saturday (8th April) with SJD, and for us Wellingtonians, more gigs are apparently in the pipeline.

2THICK2 Spell

According to a Creative New Zealand survey (3.5MB PDF) that was released last night, Wellingtonians are over 50% more likely than the average New Zealander to regularly attend arts events. Census data shows that Wellington City has the highest proportion of households that live without a car. So obviously, Wellington is the natural place to host a weekend of drag racing, burnouts and monster truck car crushing displays.

From tomorrow night, streets around the Stadium will close in preparation for the 2HOT2 Handle weekend as thousands of boy racers motorsports enthusiasts watch their heroes compete to see who is best at converting irreplaceable fossil fuels into noise, skidmarks and toxic fumes. You don't have to be called Sharyn or Dwayne to enjoy such a spectacle, but it certainly helps: see today's Wellingtonian article (page 23) about champion Mitsi-pimper Sharyn Reeve and her partner Dwayne. This Wellingtonista's pick for a quiet, relaxing weekend: head to the Hutt Valley, which should be deserted for the duration.

Apparently you don't love Wellington!

The DomPost had a large article about how noone is going to the cricket except some old lonely retired guys.

Despite your lack of interest (and it is all YOUR FAULT, don't kid yourself) Wellington are looking good to win. Wellington battled through Wednesday, scoring 191 runs in 81 overs to finish the third day on 284-8 in reply to Central Districts' 312 all out.

But let's be fair, even though it is the State (domestic test cricket) Championship Final, it is on in the middle of the week; hence most people are probably working. I imagine that if Friday is clear that the crowds will at least double as workers take a long weekend. So get down there and cheer on your Firebirds damn it!

You wont see me there though, because I don't like cricket, ha! Mike sure does though. Mike, of Hataitai, was just named the Samsung New Zealand Cricket Fan of the Year.

[ps. more about other sport later]

Idea city

Who says that Wellington is devoid of intellectual debate? Certainly not the people behind the 7x7 Ideas Forums, who organise regular presentations where 7 people each get 7 minutes to promote, demonstrate and discuss their ideas. There's no indication on their website of who will be speaking during this series, but the previous series (some videos of which are available at R2) included a performance poet, a carnival entrepeneur, an adventurer, a constitutional lawyer and a gravitation theorist. So, just the usual crowd, then.

The new series kicks off tomorrow (Thursday 6th April) at 6pm. They used to be held in (e)-vision, but that venue has now been divided into an architect's studio, art gallery and fashion boutique, so this series will be at the Ilott Theatre in the Town Hall. Tomorrow's event has the theme "Winning the world from Wellington", which could (and no doubt will) be interpreted in many different ways. I'd be there myself, if it wasn't for the fact that I'm speaking at another seminar that evening. With any luck, after the 7x7 forum finishes at 7:30, the adjacent cafés will be abuzz with ideas, debate and metaphorical dolphin-dissection.

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ATTENTION ex-pat Wellingtonians!

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Tell all your friends & rellies overseas....

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