Gogo girls

Bandwagon? Yes please!

I'm now on Ringo thanks to Evelyn. My sole friend there, I might add. So if you are lurking about, feel free to shimmy up close.

Ev was here for the long weekend, with other lovely AK girlies in tow - and although their sole purpose seemed to be stocking up on photos for this Ringo thingo, we also managed to fit in some high class shenannigans too.

Jane, Ev & Sarah. Our city's guests for the wknd.

Jane was our pout tutor. I was the troubled student.

Lingering memory of the night:
Jane behind the lens going "Two and three and BLOW!"

At Mighty Mighty, with a bit of product placement.

What's a good night out without a bit of impulse tattooing?!

Oh and then the next day...

...I helped sellotape four reams of A4 paper together. Cause that's how I roll.

Reunion Recap. (With exclusive photos!)

In 2003, there was a couple of guys I was studying with who had an idea for some kind of campus-based social club thing. Where we'd have, like parties and stuff. 'Cause our Screen & Media department at uni was getting on real well, the staff and students hung out a lot, the TV station was up n running and we were all having a good time.

(Plus, studying very hard and doing extremely well on our essays and producing short films that were relevant to the cirriculum, obvs).

After hearing them talk about it for a while, I realised that the underlying source of motivation was that our Student Union was supposed to give all formal organisations that signed up with them a lump o cash. Once this news spread, it wasn't long before we had all the paperwork needed and were putting that first cheque towards our inaugural Networking Night. There were a couple typos here n there, but basically that's how the Waikato S&M Social Club was born and how I became Club Treasure.

In the first semester we went from a dozen members to over a hundred. Our mailing list was really successful, as people used to it talk about projects, source gear, get advice and track down flatmates. We also had great events like music video competitions, film screenings, the end-of-year awards nights and - let's not forget - some awesome piss ups. I staged a coup and bumped myself up to President, sourcing sponsorship from DB and Red Bull, and we came up with the blue n yellow badges which signified membership.

And last weekend was all about remembering those good times. A core group of us assembled at Sam Brown's house (out at the manor) and general consensus was 'thank goodness we're all such film geeks and took so many pics over the years... because the rest of my memories are foggy...'.



There were a few key members missing, obviously. Those who have moved overseas, those who couldn't make it that weekend, those who have come to the conclusion we are unbearable wanks needing to pull our heads outta our collective arses. It highlighted the relationships which have stayed strong and those which have changed in the years since we graduated.

A lot of the friendships have grown closer in the last year or so, thanks to so many of them being based in Auckland now and working in the film industry. I'm literally the only one from my group of uni friends in Wellington. *sniffs pitifully* But it means I get to keep track of everyone and can just slot right in there with their social circle when I head up north.

Example: photo of me with Trelease, Mella, Chelsea & Marama. (Ahem - that's me on the far right, random stranger who stumbles across blog and are unsatisfied enough with life to continue reading this far into drivel).



Trelly & Marama I flatted with in my last year in La Tronica, but Mella and Chelsea, I didn't know quite as well. I was fortunate enough to have caught up with Mella a few times in recent years, especially considering she has had an amazing time raising her family, including her second child being born four months premature. (I know - OMG ). But now they're all in Bucklame and I get to hear the goss and see the pics on Tanya's Flickr and its all happy families.

It was the first big catch-up since Sam Barnes' funeral and it kinda felt nice to be all together and to be doing something a bit more normal. He would have so enjoyed the night though, waxing philosophical about the passing of time and other crap. We also talked about the fact that certain couples had had to come only one or the other, due to parental responsibilities, and that in five years time, that situation would only be worse. Would our next reunion require a creche? Quelle horreur!

Fortunately, there were plenty of other shenannigans to distract me from such thoughts. Such as, I got banned from throwing things. I was like "This is unprecedented!!" but then Sam Brown was whaa-ing about some doormat they'd never recovered and of which I had no recollection. I only got sent to the corner once for violation of this "ban", but Marama said I wasn't allowed to take my drink, so really I think things got a bit of a hand and I don't mean for my biffing of whatever it was that probably preferred being in mid-air anyway.

The manor house did not let us down in relation to mod cons and I spent a lot of the night mystified by these crazy electric ice cubes. For this photo I was trying to get them to the 'flashing' setting, while Rebecca was trying to explain this was redundant for a photo, but yeah - whatevs:



Sam took the next logical step and put them up his shirt.



Just in case you missed that the first time, here's McGeady's footage:



And no night on the piss is complete without two underqualified drunk bitches trying to set the kitchen on fire.
Cue... Bel & Trelly!!



(She is sooo gonna give me the punnies for that call).

You can go here to see "my" photos on Flickr by which I mean the ones off Rebecca Trelease's camera, heh hee! Cheers for those doll.

And of course for the full experience, you can check out Tanya's Flickr ones as well if you didn't already find those through her Backfired.net blog, which is apparently undergoing an overhaul at present, ooohh!

We went into town eventually, as it was the last night at Sohl bar and they had six bands lined up. It was packed there, people literally spilling all the way across the footpath - I've never seen a bar like that in Hamilton. Us girlies traipsed around the other clubs for a while, dancing up a storm, before we experienced the wrath that is Mella changing her mind and scuttled back.

It was sort of weird being out in Hamilton (for the first time in three years) and realising that I knew no one. The turn over is so fast in a uni town - even if I did know a first year student back then, chances are they'd be gone now. And you're not really given an incentive to stay in the Waikato, at least not the media types that I got to know while I was there. Unless you're tied to academia, or boring enough to compromise to life there, you move on pretty quick.

I just realised that sentence should have been 'It was sort of weird being out in Hamilton' FULLSTOP bahahah!

On a final note, I was at the Embassy today, buying movie tickets and the guy behind the counter goes "are you from Hamilton?".
I was all WTF? and he pointed to my handbag. It has an S&M Club badge on it (as well as a Sparkle Motion one, a Shaky Hands one and a Feelings Are Boring Kissing Is Awesome one).
Turns out he's a Waikato grad too, and was a member of the Club in about 2005 - long after I'd left the Tron. So that was warm fuzzies. And then he booked me into the sweet leather seats, so that made me happy too.

goodbye Petunia!

Lou's travels have ended which means she's back in town and wants her lappy returned to her! So it is a fond farewell to "Petunia" the lovely wee iBook that I have cared for while she has been traversing. I will be very sad to say goodbye to the little bundle of Mac-ing fun, speshly as I have gotten quite used to the ease of having broadband literally in my bed. And the fact that both my PCs have crapped out and are scattered in pieces around my bedroom. I've started to think of them as installation art.

But I saw my therapist this afternoon so am coming to grips with the whole debacle and the process of readjustment. Also: buying new shoes helped too!



(Please note this photo was taken in a mystery location and not in the aforementioned bedroom containing computer scrap installation art and other piles of crap everywhere).

I should now really be burning off all the files that have accumulated over the last few months so that Lou has some space left on this puppy and can't perve through all my stuff (BECAUSE PRIVACY IS OBVIOUSLY SUCH AN ISSUE FOR ME). But instead I keep getting distracted and reminiscing and so forth...

Like, remember that time I was a freaky vampire child-lady and went around luring people into bed and looking like all I vanted to do vas suck thier blooodddd...



Ha ha ha, good times, great value!

These pics crack me up too - they're from when Pete had just moved into his apartment and it was all polished wood floors, bare walls, minimal furniture. I said I felt like I was in a photo shoot it was so stark and stylish, and was doing the whole thing from Absolutely Fabulous when Patsy gets 'Hello magazine' in and keeps going "Welcome...to my gracious kitchen...". (You know! You know! Come on... am i the ONLY one who has, like, every episode of that WHOLE show memorised?!)



However, Pete's adding of a large carving knife to the shot makes it a bit more 'Hitchcock movie' than 'Hello magazine'!!



That was a very good night. Ebony and I had gone to a WCC launch of the 'Summer City' thing at the City Gallery (well, technically I had SNUCK IN but whoo! how naughty, sneaking into the opening drinks of a council-funded public festival). The highlight of the night, and by highlight I mean EXTREMELY TRAUMATISING OCCURANCE, was Kerry Prendergast's attendance. Of course it was expected she would be there, she was doing the key note speech thingy, so maybe it wasn't so much her attendance - as her appearance.

Because our honourable mayor was wearing a skin tight pale pink boob tube. Why on earth would any grown woman do this you may well ask? All the better to show off the body paint with, of course! She was covered in the stuff. All over her neck, arms, shoulders, back... and front bits. Admittedly, it was a really beautiful job - obviously done by a talented professional and with real skill. And apparently it was in theme with the Summer Festival. But all the same... EWW.

As you can imagine, we got pretty smashed with the free drinks and the needing to cope with never knowing if you were going to turn around and brush against the half-naked mayor of our city (whom pretty much everyone resents, FYI out-of-towners, as her husband is a property developer who scores suspiciously good deals on urban planning). And then we went to Pete's place and terrorized him and Max who had been trying to have a quiet glass o wine and watch a DVD. Fools. That'll teach them to answer the door. When the buzzer is ringing incessantly on account of being held down non-stop cause that is soooo funny!!

But that brings me to my next pic - which will have to be the last I think! Its getting bloody late and as a semi-hysterical text from Samuel J just reminded me, M Ward is in da house! woot!



That is Max, with a big chunk of Santa Claus beardy fluff stuck to his eyebrow with my slobber. A result of us trying to entertain ourselves during the extremely pants Twinset opening act before the Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra's Christmas show.

I was so tired that night and Twinset were so pants and I wound up leaving early - after they (WIUO) played 'Ring My Bell' actually. So, not early early, but before the actual end of the show. But I was happy and had had my fill and it was the right ending for me, you know? I just had that feeling. When you realise the night has reached your personal zenith, regardless of what everyone else's timeline is. Happened to me at the final Trinity Roots concert. They'd played a truly beautiful version of one of my favourite (if I had to pick) of their songs and I was near bawling at them saying their farewells onstage and knew I wanted to walk out with their music flowing around me, rather than in the swarm of people. Its a kind of instinctual thing, about personal satisfaction and connection... Maybe you think I'm crazy and not getting my ticket's worth, maybe you've had that buzz too.

Okay well now I've bloody rambled on so maybe ONE MORE piccie heehee!



Mars & Bel: "Ooh yeah! We are so cool! Heehee!"
Tanya: "Shut up. No you are not. If you were, your hair would remain beautiful in all weather conditions, like mine. Fools."

bring it on double-oh seven!

The year is off to a good start.

My former Lower North Terrace compatriots, Marama & Joe, joined me in Wellington for the dusk days of 2006. We perused the finest dining establishments of the capital city (i.e. went to Midnight like a billion times) and upon discovering that both Ed's and California Sushi were closed for the Christmas break, decided to scamper up north early.

That kinda makes it sound like we just spent the whole time eating, planned everything around eating, and only cared about the eating, but tis untrue!

We also went out drinking one night. HAH.

Sweltering in the car, we stopped in Taupo early evening and enjoyed a picturesque sparkling lakeside spot, where we managed to get windblasted in a style I thought confined to my current residence and soon scurried back to the comforting muggyiness of our vehicle.

Arrived in Hamilton pretty late, but not so late that we couldn't watch a movie. I love this about hanging with my old crew. My eyes started going square just being in the presence. And my words get nerdier, doused in theory I thought I'd forgotten. Because its never good enough to just chill out and enjoy a movie. We have to discuss how it relates to post-modern feminism as influenced by a Deleuzian interpretation of identity.

So 40 Year Old Virgin was not only way funnier than I thought it would be ("You know how I know you're gay?" "How?" "You like Coldplay.") but also I wound up analysing the beegsus outta it in a way in a way that would terrify anyone involved in the original development, I'm sure.

New Year's Eve was spent in Bucklame at the Balmoral Chalet. Tanyapants is still over in HK unfortch, so it was just a small capacity posse but boy did we party big time. Such a good example of WHO you are with being the key to making ticking over to midnight the best thing ever.

There are some photos floating round but you know how when you're under the influence of your usual medication, celebratory alcohol, prescription painkillers, various other illicit substances including delicious chocolatey snacks purchased from the asian supermarket and then all of a sudden taking photos whilst dancing seems like a good idea?? and then you look at them the next morning and they're all just blurry images of gawky spazoids? Yeah well, maybe that's what happened, maybe I'm trying to give you a detailed metaphor to set the scene. Of what may or may not have happened.

One of the nicest things about leaving Auckland was saying "cool, well see ya...SOON!". Knowing that I was coming back up for the S&M Club reunion the weekend after made the farewells pretty lax. We'd caught up with Kirsty and Gareth in Hamilton, when McGeady and Lisa had come round for lunch there too, and there was just that lovely Christmassy whanau feeling of having everyone nearby.

Brief aside here, as in - slight step back in time - ooh look at me being all nonlinear! Gosh, i can't think of which damn theorist that is right for that whole thingy, with the stuff folding back on its self - Trelease knows!! Trelly..?

Anyway - my point was, both those lot had their lovely kiddies there. Elliot, who is brand new and proving Kirsty to be fantabulous at this whole motherhood gig. Biggest hitch so far is that Gareth has been in charge of naming the toys, so their wee six month old has two very cute teddy bears called Derek and Ken. Oh yes, catchy. And his stripey monkey toy is constantly referred to as 'Elliot's Arctic Monkey'.

And Katya was a cutie little cupcake as ever, dropping her dad in it when Lisa asked her what McGeady's New Year's resolution was. She looked at them both and said, "Anger". She also told Marama that hers should be to stop telling her to act. Which refers to the role Mars gave Katya in the film Down By The Riverside that they've been working on.

Lou's talked about New Year's resolutions over here and she's hit on the same thing as me. The first couple on my list as always complete piss-takes, as i crack myself up writing stuff in my journal like:

1st January.
Resolution #1 Quit smoking. DO IT this time you loser!!
Resolution #2 Lose weight (10 Kgs.) (Min.)
Resolution #3 Learn to love yourself
Resolution #4 Write to Nan before she carks it

...and so forth. Shit I'm funny.

But actual this year I'm not gonna lose any weight at all cause I'm fucken sick of having to buy new clothes and I'm gonna drink about the same amount and smoke more and make art with Sean and keep my life happy and write some more bloody poems and have people pay attention to them and learn to crimp. Or crump. Both?


Where was I?? Oh yeah in transit really... Wandering minstrel that I am, next thing you know, I'm on a plane back whizzing down south, whole row to myself and my nearly un-gammy leg.

Bartlett has already written snippet style about our Naki coast camping adventure and I will update again soon! Tis so blissful being back in the world of the interweb. So blissful that I am up way waaay too late despite the date stamp on this -TRUST ME- i have been distracted by chatting online with hot babes and yes you should be jealous.

fun bonding activities like throwing axes & shooting guns

Christmas is great, because it gives business organisations an excuse to ignore whatever spiritual connotations are behind the season and instead just be nice and debaucherous here at the end of the year.

For our work do, it was decided we'd go out to a luxury farm (OXYMORON) and do some some fun bonding activities like throwing axes & shooting guns before sitting down for a huge boozy lunch.

The office manager said I'd get an extra pressie if I came dressed up, so I scrambled together an outfit resembling the Ghost of Christmas Past - appropriate as, of course, our workplace is a nearly 100 year old theatre which has several ghosts.

In fact, at the moment we are without a Technical Manager (head of the backstage crew) and so the roster just has "Yuri" on 24/7 - who is the resident ghost and known for playing tricks, particularly with electrical things, as he worked in that department. The most recent 'sighting' was Monday night...!

Anyway, turns out the prize was more for 'most gullible' than for my actual awesome costume and I didn't get any extras goodies - boohoo!

But as we were playing that standard office Christmas party game where you're numbered off and people can pinch presents off each other, wouldn't have made much difference. I was second to go and therefore got shafted - anyone else who wanted to was able to literally take whatever I had outta my hands! Truly in the spirit of Christmas.


We quickly got onto the activities as we were only allowed one drink before arming ourselves and most people were keen to have more. Isn't it funny how this time of year makes everyone want to drink like a fish? I guess we're all just feeling so ready for a break and to relax.

As you can see from the pics, I had a go at the axe throwing first. The most terrifying thing wasn't so much that I might hit myself in the arse swinging it back over my head, but that the guy supervising looked about twelve years old. Seriously, it was like, are you qualified for this? Can I see ID? Can you lift this tomahawk with those spindly arms my child?

Got a pic here of one of the techie guys kindly removing the axes from the target for me. As you can see, it turns out I have quite an eye for this thing.

Also please note, its a case of Steal Her Style here with Neill choosing to rock the sleeveless hoodie outfit I was wearing - though he went with the conventional black rather than sparkly silver like mine.

All of the guys that work backstage are referred to as being on or from "the dark side" and when you occasionally seeing them wearing blue jeans instead of black, commenting on it will get you a gruff reply in keeping with their well maintained tough guy demeanour.

Next up was the target shooting - it was a 22 rifle if I remember rightly, though I'm sure some boffin will take one look at the pic and correct me. Twas my first time ever holding a gun I think and I made the mistake of going after Ciara, who's Irish and been in their equivalent of the territorials and pretty much owned.

I do quite like that the shawl and sunglasses give me a bit of a 'British hieress on safari' look tho, very fab.

The damn gun kept jamming which was quite annoying and made me wonder how entirely effective the whole shooting thing must be in a warfare type situation...?! But at least it gave me something to blame for hardly ever hitting the target. Tiny wee thing that it was.

[PS: don't forget you should be able to click on the photos to see larger versions]

So all in all was a rather fun day and I got a HILARIOUS joke in my cracker so am quite pleased overall. Of course, for last year's Christmas do, at my old work, we got to have a private screening of Brokeback Mountain two months before public release - and EVERYONE was dressed up as cowboys, gay or otherwise, and I seem to recall being quite slaughtered on frozen margaritas by the end of the night.

But hey - this year, I got to find out what a luxury farm is like. And apparently it means they have artwork on the walls, but they fasten it just by screwing it on straight through the front. Awesome.

good sat PM, great sun AM

Our party went awesome, thanks for asking.

It was at quite a manageable size up until about 10pm, when all the people in the world arrived within about 17 seconds of each other and the roof nearly came off.

The only problem with having such a great party with so many lovely people, is you never wind up getting to see any of them. You flit about trying to keep track of it all and never quite get enough quality time with anyone in particular.

There was a touch of the Venn diagram thing happening, on account of the crazy disparate groups of friends and gorgeous guests, but I figure we're old enough now to hold our own when it comes to these things. That's the point of a party, right?

We have a mortifying amount of recycling to put out tomorrow, which is always a good sign - and though I did have Ribena left over this morning, the Absolut Vanilla was completely gone. Very mysterious.

So, in summary:

Miss Bel, circa 3.30am. Further info, see here

Miss Bel, circa 10.30am. Further info, see here

aloha!

I snuck off work early

by which I mean 5pm (whoo!!) and met Ebony for a beer in the sun at St John's. Okay, in the sun and the wind. This is Wellington. And even if November is finally starting to act like the start of summer, we are still here in the undeniable Te Whanganui-a-Tara. There had been a planned rendezvous with Sam to farewell his departure to go off to Spain but he was running late, as was Ebony intially, which meant I was sitting there all on my ralph with the largest glass of Heinken ever, wearing my broken heart necklace to boot.
(This accompanying pic was taken earlier today as part of demonstrating just how upset I was at how inaccessible Plum's white choc and raspberry muffins are now).

Anyway, as a result of my eagle eyes and impulsive cellphone dialling, we soon had more company, appropriate and otherwise. We discussed a certain rumour which turned out to be completely false - the source of the spreading was present, as was the subject of the rumour - so a case of 'too good to be true' muahaha and yet general consensus was the rumour was also too good to be stopped in tracks. Please contact me for further unfounded details.

I eventually dragged myself away as I realised I had to cook tea for the boys and when I rung home to apologise to my tardiness i found out that SIMON WAS BACK!!! and this made me very excited very VERY excited and i pretty mcuh invited everyone that I'd been drinking with & everyone in hearing distance to come back for dinner, that I'd cook for them all THEM ALL YES!
However, only Sam took me up on the offer. Thank god.
as I have had two rather large beers and am in capable of doing anything other than typing this rubbish while waiting for Hell Pizza to deliver (anyone who is aware of the location of our flat in relation to the nearest branch will be HORRIFIED by this, however,THINK OF THE HILL, PEOPLE!!) and occasionally nuzzling with Simon and listening to the boys play cards and say things like:

andrew: we're the African Ice Bees!
cam: no you're just the Africans... and we're the Willies.. and we're gonna score Bel too. She gets 200 just for coming home so boozed and not cooking us any tea. This may be reviewed once the pizza arrives.

Ok that's all for now but LATEr I shall write about The Departed, which I finally saw last night (lou - where ARE you - we must discuss!), and also I want to talk about comic books. Because I love them so much right now.

To Celebrate a Decade of Kissing!

Troy
James
James
Robert
Tim
Joseph
Paul
Jared
Bevan
Random Rebound Boy
Scott
Sam
Sam
Rupert
Regan
Joe
Daniel
James
Karl
Chris
Ed
Ben
Random X-Air Boy
Luke
Jeff
Adam
Dan
Joseph
Gareth
Mark
Mark
Blake
Jimmy
Random Lovely Boy
Random Brown Sugar Boy
Random Lil Adrien Brody Boy
Josh
Michael
Silas
Will
Sam
Nik
Dan
Robert

Special Guest Post! Rebecca Trelease in her own words:

First of all, lets get a few things straight. Why 'Trelease'? There were two Rebecca's in the last year of uni so by default it went to the surname. However, the other Rebecca hasn't been around for more than a couple of years now so lets get it back to the original status, huh? I'm mostly annoyed by the fact I didn't even get a The prefix, as in The Bartlett. I'm so jealous of that I'm totally going back to Rebecca (although it did cause some confusion as I was introduced around Wellington. Eddie met Trelease but was told he would be hanging out with Rebecca so he had NO idea who I was when I climbed into the car).

Bel and I both did the BCS so I knew of her from first year. I always thought she was really cool right from the start but alas she hated me. Although, I remember before we actually started hanging out or knowing too many people in common (i.e. only Shane and Gareth) she saw me walking around mega stressed at Uni one day and she walked over and gave me a big hug. Which I thought was lovely. Over the years we met at random parties, but the one she mentioned at my house - why did you come if you hated me so much! Although she did encourage me to have the vodka and orange juice that ended the night for me, so maybe it was all planned... *

Right. Wellington.

I managed to make it all alone into the city, except I got off at the wrong stop and totally ruined my grand entrance outside the St James. Was there for about 5 minutes before I was sat down with a stapler, stickers and pamphlets. Spent a couple of hours in the most gorgous but very uncomfortable costume from 'My Fair Lady', my hat made me 10ft tall but it squished my brains and the elastic cut into my chin. But no biggy. *

Explored every floor in Te Papa. This visit was a lot more educational than the last one where Bel just pointed to it and said 'well thats Te Papa'. *

That night, drinks at the Hawthorne (which I thought was the Matterhorne) and roasted marshmallows with Ebony, Sam and Sarah-Kay. Now Bel had talked this place up, how they have 'Connect 4' and lots of board games. They had cards for poker. That's it. We considered a round of Snap but instead ate more marshmallows. Went to the Matterhorne where I met Melissa but they didn't have any confectionary so we left.

We explored the Art Gallery which featured Sam Taylor-Wood * and while it showed random pieces of her other works, the main 'attraction' were her photos of actors crying (www.city-gallery.org.nz/mainsite/). We had both heard about it and had our criticisms before seeing it and I'm happy to report that it did absolutely nothing to sway our opinions of getting hired emoters to emote on cue and then call it an 'intimate portrayal of grief'. At one extreme was Philip Seymour Hoffman who actually looked like it could be an honest portrait, to Robert Downey Junior who seems to have a very elaborate way of lying himself out on a bed to cry. Although he did keep it modest. And don't get me started on the David Beckham video of him 'sleeping'. He wasn't. It was probably very difficult getting comfortable wearing massive diamond earrings and bracelets and flexing the pecs but it was by no means 'sleeping'. It was totally worth paying to see just so we could spend the whole time criticising the 'drawcard' of the exhibition. (note: The first part of her exhibition is quite good, especially 'strings'. Just not the crying thing).

Bel's brother Eddie took us on a tour of Parliament. As a security guard he would be in charge of Lost and Found so we handed over a soggy and dejected pink teddy bear found on the path. He also didn't need to go through (or explain) the security checkpoints, so as he kept walking we were stopped and I said 'but we're with him' (meaning he needs to stop or we'll lose him and don't know what we're doing) but being told 'that doesn't mean anything to us' in a very snotty manner as if I was trying to smuggle in stuff. However, that was when Bel was caught with (heaven forbid) her mobile to which he was quite horrified. * The question session in Parliament was a bit boring, when they start yelling you can't work out what they're saying. And no-one asked the tough hard-hitting question: Who lost their pink teddy bear?

Bel tells me we're going to 'Pao Pao Pao'. I had no idea what it was about but it starts and everyone is talking Te Reo. With no translations. However I'm sitting next to Cam and he was laughing away and agreeing with what's being. What I learnt: Pakipake means clap! Canicani means dance! We most enjoyed the performance by Hinemoana Baker (www.hinemoana.co.nz), and ended up seeing a second performance by her at The Marae in Te Papa. I've since heard her version of 'Secret Love'; the only other person I've heard sing this is Mandy Moore and I must say both versions are excellent.

Bridgit's wedding was beautiful and I was very honoured to be Bel's 'date' for this event. We did have to run off to Turnbull House for the Anthology Launch * in the middle (where Bel presented another glorious poem of hers) and I did have a moment out the window of 'That building looks like that main Parliament building. Oh, it is Parliament.' The night continued with our appearances at Mighty Mighty, The Hawthorne, Salsa night at the Jimmy and concluded with a Rosebud cocktail at Motel.

Random thoughts:

• Never seen Malasian restaurants before but they are GREAT.


• Whats up with only having fancy lemonade in glass bottles all the time, can't a girl get a decent watered down, overly carbonated Sprite? If I'm paying $8 for vodka do you think I give a hoot about the lemonade?!!


• The 'walk' signals are incredibly loud.No one waits for a 'walk' signal. The entire group would start crossing so I would too instead of being a scared loner because the man was still red! It took me one day to start running across whenever like a Wellingtonian.


• Yes, California Sushi must always be spoken with a reverent tone.


• Bel's friends in Wellington are all very lovely and I enjoyed meeting them all.

* Bel here, chipping in because I'm the editor and that's my perogative. I would've been in attendance at the at-the-time dreaded Trelease's party because Shane or Gareth or BOTH was so in love with her back then. Another contributing factor to my depising - ya know how possessive I was of those boys. About the same level as I am of Trelease now.
No comment on the drink thing tho. Heh heh hee...

* This is referring to the photo shoot I intended to involuntarily recruit Trelease for, mentioned in this post, which it turned out she hadn't read and therefore was oblivious to our broadcast weekend itinerary!

* We were in a hurry, people!! I thought our time would be better spent eating gelati at Oriental Bay... good call, right?

* Yes, I went along. Yes, this was partially because Trelease offered to shout me. Yes I folded over the sticker pass they make you wear at the door so I didn't have to wander around the building with that pink-shirted sap Hayden Christiansen attached to my body. However, I wholehearted agree with Rebecca's comments about the REST of the photographs/films included, and I think I felt even more strongly about them. Her images The Leap and Self Portrait As A Tree has such impact on me, much more so than some fucken actor working up crocodile tears in front of another lens.

* The 'he' being the snooty security guard that this, not my brother - who is just a regular security guard, feeling cool wearing his radio ear piece n all. The guy had a freakin MARE at me, as it was just before entering the actual, um, chamber? is that what they call it? ...am trying to think back to Social Studies... Anyway - pulled out my phone to put it on silent and they acted like I busted out a glock or something, honestly. What, am I going take scandalous photos of them flipping the bird to each other?! whoo!!

* You can read more about the launch of the NZPS 2006 Anthology here. As well as being Assistant Editor for the collection, and doing the typesetting and cover design, I had a poem included, called 'Long Letters'. Some of you may know it from my zine 'The Knife Thrower's Apprentice' - I'll probably post it up here some time soon anyhow... it went down pretty well on Saturday :)



Ok, better hop to it and get this posted. Trelease - I mean, Rebecca sent this through before COB as request but I somehow got busy and then had to head home from the office and THEN had all kinds of distractions, like ohhh I don't know sussinganewflatmate and stuff like that!!

Could someone please acknowledge two things? 1) my awesome anchor tags doing the whole footnote thang and 2) how I let the whole Mandy Moore thing slide. 'Cause you know she ain't trying to be funny at all there. K, sweet.

outgoing

Trelease has just gotten on the shuttle out to the airport and left our house feeling rather empty again. It has been a whirlwind few days and she's promised to do a special guest post to update all our fun activities - nouvelle developments! Next thing she'll be asking for an executive producer credit or something... nah, that sounds like more of a Marama call :P

In the meantime, here's a wee pic - taken about 4 minutes ago - not exactly us in our wedding attendance finery of last night, but there ya go! Of course Miss Constantly Photogenic outshines once again, but we gammy faced plebs are sadly resigned to that.

More soon! While the rest of Wellington heads over the hill for Toast Martinborough today, I'm off on an exciting day trip to -wait for it- the bustling metropolis of Wanganui! Thrills abound.

my latest bruise

It came about on Saturday night while making polite conversation with a charming young man. He got over enthusiastic with his gestures and bottled me (lout!), catching my hip bone with his Heineken as I stood there innocently. I had my hand on my hip and weight on one leg, so it was jutting out (and yes was possibly twirling hair and batting lashes, that is how I roll). Its on the left side, which makes a nice change, from my regularly battered right hip bone - where my satchel rests when carting the ole laptop around. The boy apologised profusely and we managed to resolve the situation amicably.

All Hallows Eve

Leanne just asked me if Hawthorn was cool when we went there on Saturday night. I had to write her a rather long-winded reply (I know - ME - who would've thought?!) to explain that it was indeed cool, but not in the way expected.

Sean had given me the head's up on Hawthorn, saying it was more like someone's luxorious living room than a bar. So it seemed like the perfect place for Sam and I to head to after checking out the Word Collective/The Literati gig at Happy.

The 'haunted' sign should've given us a clue. As we climbed the stairs, the handrail was entwined with fake cobweb stuff and it started to dawn on me that the strangley attired people I'd seen earlier in the night may not have just been the usual kooky upper Cuba residents, may be something to do with the proximity to Halloween. Pushing through the doors, there was a blast of sound and warmth and -oh lordy- absolute madness.

My living room certainly doesn't have bartenders dressed in full costume: the girl in a big white flowy thing with a red four-clawed scratch mark across her decolletage, another in a white lab coat covered in blood splattered and goggles around his neck, the last one looked sorta normal except we saw as we were leaving that he was wearing below waist/bar-level a big ole tutu and fish-nets. Of course.

There was a smoke machine just under the bar, going off and fogging up the place on a regular basis. In the bathrooms spooky organ music was playing - I actually got a bit freaked out, but I had had like three drinks by that stage so ...you know... was pretty much written off. There were cobwebs and dangly things hanging off everything, plus bowls of lollies along the bar, trick or treat style. And the place was packed - mostly with people in hard out costumes, people committed to the concept. None of this wishy-washy 'remove one item and back to looking decent' rubbish.

I attempted to take a photo of the adorned coat hooks and me with my broken-heart necklace but instead took this crap blurry photo that makes it look like my face is melting... still fairly appropriate for the night.



Apparently Hawthorn is usually very chill and cosy, and you can toast marshmallows and raid their stack of board games to play something fun like backgammon or Connect 4 while you enjoy some fine 42 Below. Mmmm.

Judging on appearances

Steph has blogged about scandalous interaction with some guy (with a gorgeous Welsh accent... le sigh) she met at a bar. (Over there in London, where she is now located. Wench).

You can read the full story over on her MySpace page but in summary, things could have progressed deliciously further, had she not noticed at the crucial moment exactly what he was wearing. Which was... a tee-shirt featuring two unicorns engaged in the special act that usually takes place - well, not exactly behind closed doors, but at least behind a thick clump of magical forest.

Steph said 'thanks but no thanks' taking this satorial choice as a wider reflection of personality and general demeanor, stating "there are so many good clothes shops in London too, so many well dressed men, and I rope in that Hideous Welsh Unicorn shagging picture covered man. Yikes.".

While a part of me is thrilled that finding a decent bloke is proving just as difficult on the other side of the world as anywhere here in the South Pacific (being the bitter twisted spinster that I am), I also commiserate with her that the dim lighting and a whiff of alcohol can lead to occasional lapses of judgement.

My own story along these lines harks back to - wait for it - 1st year uni. GOSH WHO WOULD'VE THOUGHT. It was once of those classic eyes-across-a-crowded-room moments. Except in this case it was a eyes-across-a-sweaty-dancefloor moment, but details people details. You see someone looking at you and you know they're not looking at the person behind you, even though there's such intensity and familarity in those eyes and surely they're a stranger? Oh yeah, we're talking full on cheese here.

Next thing you know we're right next to each other, wrangling things amongst the circles of friends we've been dancing in and then, well, then everyone hates you because you're one of those couples on the dancefloor who start doing the touchy-feely thing... moving in close, brushing against one another, looking at eachother... and once the kissing starts... well, lordy - fortunately you're usually so into it you can't hear all the retching noises your mates are making behind your back, or just over your instant-soul-mate's shoulder. Just as well you have your eyes closed because they are rolling their eyes and backing away to a spot where they don't have to watch your arse being groped by a complete stranger that you will no doubt bore them with tales about for the next fortnight.

In this instance, me and the aforementioned snoggee, Regan, swiftly escaped out to the garden bar to avoid a lynching for our brutal PDA. I guess i kind of noticed that he was holding his drink awkwardly, at direct mid-chest level, but didn't think much of it. However, it soon became apparent he was wearing the world's most atrocious tee-shirt. Steph, honey, I think this one stomps all over yours. Regan's one had a wee picture of a devil on it and it also said "HORNY". Oh yes, in capital letters, just like that. And the devil had horns.

Get it?
Horns? Horny? ...But then - the other meaning of horny? the naughty meaning!!

Oh the hilarity.

I believe I was so desperate to get away when I realised this was the piece of cloth adorning his gorgeous self, that I attempted to bolt and was too hasty in unfolding my legs from under the picnic table and nearly stacked it - which gave him time to explain that the tee-shirt was a standard item within his group of friends. In that they had some drinking game and if you lost the round of it or something, you were forced to wear the tee-shirt to town in order to shame you. I assured him that it was certainly effective in that respect.

Long story short: verified this with his mates, saw others of them miserably wearing it on other occasions, you kinda have to give them props for being so committed to the concept. Fact of the matter is Regan was the hottest guy I ever met ever. Ever.

The other thing he wore, consistently, rather than just the once for losing a drunken game, was John Paul Gaultier 'Le Male' which is like love potion #9 to me and just makes me stupid in the head and I cannot resist it. It overrides any fashion faux pas as far as I'm concerned, It does terrible things to my judgement. I bought an unbelievably expensive pair of Wranglers the other week and I think it may solely be because the sales assistant was wearing JPG. I'm pretty sure I didn't pash him though so that's progress. Pretty sure. People usually get hickeys from trying on jeans, aye? Aye??

further evidence of shenannigans

As if my textual encounter of the previous weekend wasn't enough, here are some visuals for you.
Apparently my phone has an exciting night mode which puts a moody blue cast upon all who fall under its gaze. Tres Veruca Salt.
Simon and I make that backseat look all kinds of fun.

I have actually mostly been insanely busy lately assisting with the editing of a poetry anthology. Entitled tiny gaps, it's going to be launched by the NZPS in mid-November. (See how confidently she said that? Not a tremor!) You see, things have gone a little haywire. Plan B has had to kick into gear. But it's gonna be oookaaay.

Things have been hectic at work lately too, lots of pressure on. I know that I am starting to make fret the people who know me, because I tend to cope suspiciously well in these kind of circumstances and then spin out completely.
But I have also learnt a lot from previous periods of my life. Learnt it the hard way though, sure.

i just got undressed [director's cut]

[Yeah... I woke up on Sunday morning with a new kind of hangover. Not only did I feel a bit seedy and most distinctly dehydrated, I also had the nagging feeling that I had, that I'd - what was it? Been caught clambering on top of a bench in my high heels pouring shots from the last of a bottle of Malibu we'd swiped from an upper liquor cabinet..? No. Well, yes - but something else, too. Oh right, that's it: I'd blogged while under the influence. I swiftly pulled the post, reeking of stale alcohol as it was, but now that I've had time to add this note, am putting it back up again, as a public health and safety warning, if nothing else.]

and a pick fell out of ym bra. Like a guitar pick. am habing trouble recalling this but must be fromthe Over The Atlanic gig!! woot:D man am so glad i have a boogie and catch up with Nik & meet bevan properly before they 'fly to the states' heh heh
This weekend has been workwork...fuckaround,,,workPARTYworkworkworkPARTY i am so strung out, it is like a wire, the tension in me-good and bad, its keepiong me going but also i Ma so scared of pushing it too far and paying the consequences.
I have muchos dos photos from last night and ALSO tongith - shall activate my cellular device and upload them here via gmail hmm yeah - You know every couple of months i go and hang out with the old Wangas boys and its pretty much a waste of both our timeses. I adore Brendan (Brendon...dammit...Mel & I discussed our uncertainty re his name's correct spelling - shitballs. One of those things where its been sooo longyou know?cuase its been, like, nine years. i suggested we split it down the middle and go Brenden hmm yeah? matches that way too.
Yeah anwyay, he;s a lovely guy and always makes an effort and Brett is damn funny (not to mention Spring Onion alumini) freakin smart arse shit. But honestly the rest of them, i have no idea where they're at or what they're up to orwhich nickname goes with who or why on earth --ooh i just deleted a super bitchy clothes/appearance realated comment there.

I am soused and i CANNOT freaken make the picteres get IN HERE and this should be going in my writy writing journal but i was typing some stuff and that got too much so i thought i'd chekc blogging thing anf then HULLO here i am and i cant get the photos in i think i need to use that Transer program hmm yeah.


it vexes me so! am transferring emotions to peopel that i barely know despite the fact we have moved in teh same social circles for years. But I need get to see Mr D Meyer,more than just see him, indeed, see him with my eyesmy two eyes in my head hmm yeah. I've seen him once this year for a fraction of a section and the last time before that was um,not not even at Christmas in Wangas or anything but at Brendeoan's end of last year - we both felt so out of place there and clung to one another. I was with Dan and was in the midst of warning him no tocome and Duncan insisted he meet him & it wound up being lovely. Good times. ooh- me and Dan- we held helds! in a post-modern couple, late relationship intimacy devemental stage kindof way bahahah :D Except with my appauling all-or-nothing its on or its ON instant connexion track record, that probably means it was like Day Four.


OHH i had another point (bahahah- just mde the effort to delete a typo,as opposed to all the others i've ignored YES i AM aware :P) "another pint"hehehee : ANYWAY: poetry reading: Monday 16th October: 8pm: Room 101, Bar Bodega
please come along - its just a couple of us, not a huge affair - part of a friend of Cam's final year design project - she's doing a multimedia thang with projected stills and spoken word.........and me reading new new work that has yet to be heard aloud and that i'm not entriely sure i'm capable of verbalising
shall be good time i'm sure. Cam's great anywya-and some of my Iowa girls will be there too, hurrah!

[Will add photos in upcoming post soon. Now that I am in more capable state.]

Shapeshifter with live orchestrizzle

Beforehand I was like "do I even like Shapeshifter? what songs do they sing, Sam?" for which I nearly got the smackdown but jokes aside, I hadn't yet heard any of their new album and was rather more looking forward to their warm up act, Ladi6.

She was fantastic, of course, accompanied by Parks on the decks, who did lots of singing too. Casually dressed, Ladi6 commented early on she was more used to a club setting. The Opera House was barely half full at this stage, with everyone firmly in their seats. But she visibly relaxed a couple of songs in and one of her last tracks will surely be a single from her debut solo album (due in April, so she said!). Intro-ing it with "Keeping it in the family, this is one I wrote with my cousin..." she launched into a funky song that was great hip hop but still very soulful too (what I like best about Ladi6). Of course it does help when your cousin is NZ's top hip hop artist AKA Scribe - they got their start together in a very cool group called Verse Two I think...?! I'm sure Sam Brown will correct me :P

Anyhoo, then Shapeshifter were on. Woot.
Haha jokes! Their first half was performed with the Vector Wellington Orchestra. Two amazing live acts and it was incredible seeing them perform together. The Shapeshifter guys were all in ties and shirts too, which was very cute. Keeping up appearances! I would have loved to have seen more experimentation go on, though I guess they were on a limited time frame in terms of rehearsal. It just felt like none of their songs had been restructed to accomodate for these wonderfully talented funky classical musicians: you'd just be hearing a Shapeshifter song - yes, granted, a pretty damn exciting live version - but then there'd just be some strings going on in the background or whatever. I thought they'd at least do something like have a big symphonic opening and then go BOOM! and have a massive drop come in and bust out some crazy drum n bass stuff and fuse the two together...but... nah.
However the sold-out crowd was absolutely lovin it and i don't think a single person was sitting in their seat. Or if you were sitting, you could not sit still. From the bass vibrations if nothing else!! The second half was pure Shapeshifter and they brought out an MC called Electric Puha, a guy from Queenstown I think, who was just fantastic. Such great energy and a nice balance to P Diggss. (Also, they changed their outfits, into like, tee-shirts and caps and stuff. Well played). My favourite bit was when they did like a medley and sampled all sorts of tracks/lyrics - the obligatory FFD (he'd already done the shout-out to Dallas in the dress circle) and I got delirious when I heard them referencing the Roots -woot!!

My other favourite bit was bumping into this guy that I was sort of dating at the start of the year. It fizzled out for various reasons and the few times I have seen him round since he has studiously managed to avoid seeing me. However the last time we crossed paths, he was barrelling down Courtenay with a blonde in tow, their fingers entwined in a way that screamed coupledom. I was like "awwh" because I'd gotten the impression he was quite keen to suss something like that. And so then I saw him again at this gig as I arrived with Sam and finally I get a hullo out of him! And so I was telling Sam who he was (back story: he'd come to look at a spare room in our flat and I was like 'hmm you may be too cute to live here' ...I'd been left unsupervised to vet the new flatmates COMPLETE SHAMBLES) and Sam was all 'no morality' which he seems to say A LOT and then I was like 'oooh he so only said hi cause he thinks that I'm here with some boy and he's all awwh she found someone nice but actually UM NO just cause i didn't want to date you doesn't mean I've found someone else so HAH... yeah!!' and Sam was like 'you sure showed him'.

Ok I've just realised how insanely late it is and this may explain why I am writing so insanely. I also wanted to cover Hinepau, Coldcut and Toi Cabaret but perhaps not. One word summaries: Funny. Funky. Underdressed.
Also: Hinepau was in Upper Hutt and me and Melissa were cracking all these jokes on the way up and telling ourselves off for being such baiches and then the moment - literally the moment - we stepped out of the car, the first person that walked past, clearly a local, was not wearing shoes. I clutched my handbag closer to myself. Melissa tried to get back in the car and make a dash for it but I had an obligation to attend the performance and damn we were glad we did. One of the most entertaining shows I think I've ever seen - lucky kids having something like that aimed at them.

Will add some links tomorrow: [Taaah DAHH!!]
Shapeshifter Vector Wellington Orchestra Ladi6 Hinepau Coldcut Ninja Tune Toi Cabaret The Package [where I got that pic of Shapeshifter rockin the Opera House from]