maybe a little too tan?

in a stroke of genius the Design Director at my day job here in Portland had us all ditch work and head to the movies today.... which considering it is a balmy 26deg outside seemed odd at first. The movie however, was not some mid-week comedy designed to lift our spirits amidst looming deadlines but an inspirational documentary on one of the last great couturiers.

Absolutely, completely worth a look - Valentino: the last emperor

Tightening of wallets, but what about our belts?

I've often heard it uttered amongst the streets of our fine 'cultural capital', that there aren't enough cheap eats. Cheap being the operative word...sure there are myriad fine dining restaurants, but we're talking loose change here, between 3 to 6 dollars max! Well I've come up with a short, yet comprehensive guide to the paupers dining in Wellington....Take your pick!
Welcome Takeaways...
The great thing about Welcome is that no matter how discerning you think you are, at 3am this is the only place to be (and nobody gives a shit.) The Chick Burger has somewhat of a cult following amongst dedicated party goers and if you can forgive the somewhat 'curious' hygiene practices you can fill yourself up for a measily $3 to $5. Yes admit it, we all recognise this guy!
The Cosy Cake Kitchen...Yes the interior is not flash, but at $3 for a sandwhich why bother!? I was introduced to this joint on a rather poverty stricken Tuesday, and my lord- this place is like the good old Chinese run bakeries of days gone by. Cheap, colourful and with no 'how are you' or 'what can i get you' but a good old fashioned wham-bam-thank-you-mam. Cozy cake, you're great!
Satay Kingdom.... Yes tried and true ( yawn yawn yawn) you still can't beat it on quality and price. Seriously $6 for Roti Chanai? And a burger for $3!!! This place has provided many a meal and vegetable intake during the colder, poorer months. Sometimes a bit bland, but meh. Oh and go for the vegetarian option. Like welcome, I wouldn't vouch for their hygiene practices. The less meat, the safer!
AND
Last but not least is the new SOUP joint just below the tacky beast that is the city bungy. 5 bucks for a large cup of home made soup and a roll, this is a great place to nip by when it's cold.

Note : You may have noticed this paupers guide to Wellington excludes two of the most obvious. Mr bun ( of which I have witnessed somebody finding a tooth in their pie. No jokes!) and Offbeat, which has, despite maintaining quality, just jumped over that $7 bench mark. Now there are NO excuses to starve or live off noodles this winter. Wellington go eat!

FLURO ISSUE 8 LAUNCH AT MIGHTY

IT'S NEONSLEEPS 3RD BIRTHDAY THIS SAT AT MIGHTY .......and it's a FUTURE TRIBES costume party! Ye-yah!
Between 8 and 10pm we'll be celebrating the launch of the new issue " CREATIVE DESTRUCTION" so pop along and grab some free punch , while it lasts, as well as a copy of the NEW issue.
Oh yea in case you don't know- it's FREE too! Now that's what we all like to hear....

This issue is going to be our best yet, it's a freaking dream.... and what better way to kick of the celebrations with a few drinks!

This Saturday is going to be meaaaannnnnn
WELL DONE TEAM xoxoxooxox

Must See DVD

This isn't so much a 'must see' as it is a disturbing, yet compelling part of NZ's movie history.
Perfect Strangers stars Sam Neill who plays an obsessed lover- and 'rugged' man of the wild.

After a night at the pub he picks up local fush and chup shop girl Melanie (Rachel Blake) who he takes back to his Palace ( a hut on an island.) In a plot that gets stranger and stranger he holds her captive in the hope of eternal love and marriage.

The tag line for the film is ' a chilling romance' but in my opinion the characters are far more disturbed than they are romantic.
The film is certainly complex, unnerving and at times deeply haunting, yet it also possesses a rather beautiful and poetic quality ( It's set in NZ after all)

Perfect Strangers has screened at numerous international film festivals, including the London Film Festival, the Montreal World Film Festival, and the Chicago International Film Festival and in June 2005, it won the Best Film Award at The Female Eye Film Festival in Toronto.

Put Simply : Go get nostalgic and rent this DVD !

I admit it, I'm a bit of a coffee snob

Excuse One : I spent most of my life living on Ponsnobby Rd
Excuse Two : Quality time with my mother meant reading magazines and ordering ' a trim latte please.'

Yes for whatever reason I may like to claim, I need my fix and I need it to be good.

So yesterday when I , politely told a Barista my coffee was burnt, I expected understanding.... and a new coffee.

I love this local Wellington joint ( that shall remain unnamed) I really do, but when all I received was a slammed fist and an order 'for someone to make this lady a "decent" coffee please, ' I was put off.

These Barista's think they're rock stars! Seriously. I meant no great offence, I meant no insult, but darn it I'm addicted... and all I needed was a decent fix!

So all this brings me to Floriditas. Why did I ever stray from you?

Your service, your coffee and oh god your cheese scones!
Floriditas I heart you

TWO MANY BENS

Ben Kweller and Ben Lee both write vaguely alt-country pop ditties. Ben Kweller and Ben Lee, along with Ben Folds were in a band called The Bens that released an EP with four songs; three of which one Ben contributed lead vocals and one of which they all did. Aww. Cute. Ben Kweller and Ben Lee both released albums of late. Ben Kweller and Ben Lee are not the same person.

Ben Kweller is from the Greenville, Texas and has a profound back-catalogue of truth-talking alt-country in the vain of the Southern Overlord Johnny Cash and has just released a similarly easy, lilting ditty in Chasing Horses. More to follow. BUT.






Ben Lee is an annoying Australian who was equally as famous for a) dating Clare Danes and b) having a couple of songs on a couple of movies in the ‘90’s – around the same time both his relationship with Danes and critical acclaim for his music ended. His latest attempt The Rebirth of Venus is described in the cover sleeve (which is pink, aww, thanks ; ‘WOMAN!’) as some sort of feminine articulation; a track listing of apparently uplifting tracks about the power of women and the necessity for men to appreciate and embrace their feminine side, and only then will we live in harmony. What, you mean like you did with your two-dimensionality of an album?


He’s described himself as the best Australian songwriter ever. Wow, modest, and with song titles ‘I Love Pop Music’ and ‘What’s So Bad (about Feeling Good?)’ I can totally see it. Not. And this is before cutting to the, um, [lack of] heart, of the album musically. Aforementioned ‘What’s so bad (about feeling good?)’ pretty much has a repeated lyric ‘No guilt, all pleasure’ on and on and on and then ‘what’s so bad about feeling good’ and then sporadic ‘c’mon everybody’ from Lee – which almost seems like an admission of failure; he needs to add that to get people excited? And then, the employment of some female gospel back up singers. Track two. Holy shit. You’ve employed male back up singers this time, to sing the same lines as you, directly after you. Well done.


I would honestly like to say that this album gets better but it doesn’t. Sad face. Because I love ‘90’s movies. Ah well, at least he’s good for gossip; did you know he just married actress Ione Star in a traditional Hindu ceremony. Aww. You’re obviously happy. And you’re right. There is nothing bad about feeling good Ben. Nothing. Just please stop telling us about it.


Ben Kweller. Consistent sincerity of an imposing back-catalogue of get-down-to-it alt country. Beautiful lyrics and honest guitar storytelling. The self-releasing of several EP’s before signing; the employment of word-of-mouth organic marketing company teamBK. Could he be any less like celebrity dating self-professing Lee? Perhaps Ben Folds was the buffer in their collaborative efforts? Anyway, Changing Horses is exactly what the black and white cover of folk aesthetic orientation would lead you to believe; 10 tracks of jangly, lilting, southern style about isolation and girls. Slide and acoustic guitars give way (occasionally) to tinny home-spun recorded sounding drumming, and note-by-note piano. Simple. Modest. Perfect. Ben Lee kneel down. Country music was borne in the States and that’s where it should stay.

Female Agents (Les Femmes de l'ombre)

I have this terrible conundrum. I looove to go to the movies, but after 30 minutes I tend to get restless and uncomfy. My legs itch, my back becomes sore...and plainly put, i can become darn annoying.

Well not so in the French Film Female Agents. Itchy feet no more, I was engrossed from the very start and could happily go back to watch this film again......and again..

The film follows the story of five women who, one way or another, become involved in a mission to protect the secret of the D-Day Landings and eliminate Colonel Heindrich (Moritz Bleibtreu), the head of the German counter-intelligence.

As my boyfriend put it the film is 'feminist without being in-your-face about it' and we both agreed that the cast were nothing short of - AMAZING.

Truly these leading ladies give compelling, complex and titillating performances and if not for the sake of history, go see this film for performance alone.

Mexicana '80's rock? YES!

The cover art to ‘Bits’ is like a smorgasbord of weirdly wonderful influences; the cover is a glittered, collaged, diorama of the letters B.I.T.S underneath which play plastercene semi-Mexican dead men, which sort of only just blends into the back cover which features black and white photographs of south American dudes chilling in the sun and on their farms with their bulls.

And this is kind of like the album itself; heaps of disparate parts interlock to create a whole, in both each individual song, and the album as a whole. There’s a binding theme, in the sleeves case Mexicana, in the album’s case, unwavering ‘80’s rock, that for the most part makes the record work. ‘Men and Their Idea’s’ stomps out it’s 1 minute 51 seconds of full on three chorded-ness whereas tracks like ‘A Wedding’ employ violin breakdowns mid-song that sort-of make you feel like you’re suddenly in the middle of a pantomime with the words “she is ridiculous” being repeatedly sung out at you from the stage in the shadows of some theatric dive by men wearing tights.

Overall some of the more creative attempts on the album leave Oxford Collapse sounding as confused as their lyrics make their love lives out to be, but on the whole they so vehementely purport the ‘80’s rock (note: not ‘80’s synth, ‘80’s rock) aspect that when the final power chords of closer “I Hate Nobody” fade, you’re left anxiously unsure of how the last 35 minutes went down, but certainly not hating it, and more likely assuming you probably had a pretty good time; it is the ‘80’s after all, right?

Bloc Party 'Mercury'

Ever since Kele attacked Jack White for his views relating to artists and whether they do or do not use their craft to make political statements and take social stands (the former advocated music as a tool for social movements, the latter viewed himself as an entertainer first and foremost) Bloc Party have been a bit lame. Sure, there’s a place for social comment but surely that’s within the songs themselves and not as a dirty mud-in-the-face aside in the middle of a feature interview?

There is, however, one thing that Bloc Party and their transatlantic adversary share; an incredibly hard work ethic. Less than a year after undeniably brilliant and, at the time futuristic Silent Alarm hit shelves, with knife-edge tracks ‘Price of Gas’ chart toppers ‘Banquet’ and borderline ballad ‘She’s Hearing Voices’ the band were back with A Weekend in the City. Equally as impressive musically, although less immediately striking - perhaps because either a year later the throwback bands had abounded, or my original over-listening killed it – their sophomoric effort solidified their mainstream success.

And then the waiting game began. Like Franz Ferdinand, The Futureheads, and many of the art-rock bands that came out of similar scenes in the UK we had a quick follow-up, followed by, well, nothing for quite some time. The Futureheads scrapped record labels, Franz Ferdinand scrapped recordings and Bloc Party, well, got political?

Anyway, they’re the first of their class out of the gates for a third release with the Mercury single consisting of two original tracks; ‘Mercury’ and ‘Idea for a Story’, two alternative versions of ‘Mercury’ and two remixes. And, with appropriately striking artwork in tow, Bloc Party are back. Compositionally the titular track is pretty status quo, but they’ve appropriated the music community’s love for all things mariachi and African with trumpets and violins that add a drama that was missing from A Weekend in the City, and there’s a sweet timpani-drum bridge that crescendos back into staccato horror movie violins. Furthermore, ‘Idea for a Story’ totally goes old-school sweet Silent Alarm on it, until it descends into fairly emotionless rave quarters.

Overall, brilliant single, just save the rave for the remixes.

Simian Mobile Disco return to day job...sort of.

The S.M.D boys have been individually busy of late, particularly James Ford who's been drumming and producing albums for the likes of Brit supergroup Last Shadow Puppets (amazing album b.t.w). But they're back in the end game again, releasing a remix album of 2007 release Attack, Decay, Sustain, Release (for a review of the original, hit http://www.fluromag.com/). The full tracklisting is as follows and released in Europe this month. No doubt we'll have to wait a little longer...

The full track-listing of 'Sample And Hold' will be:

'Sleep Deprivation' (Simon Baker Remix)

'I Got This Down' (Invisible Conga People Remix)

'It's The Beat' (Shit Robot Remix)

'Hustler' (Joakim Remix)

'Tits & Acid' (Oscillation Remix)

'I Believe' (Pinch's 'I Believe in Bassline Therapy' Remix)

'Hotdog' (Cosmo Vitelli Remix)

'Wooden' (Danton Eeprom Remix)

'Love' (Beyond The Wizard’s Sleeve Remix)

'Scott' (Silver Apples Remix)

'Clock' (Chrome Hoof Remix)

Vanessa Paradis 'Divinidylle'

What are you singing about? I donno. What’s this song called? L’Incidie? I don’t even know what that means? Do I? What’s the next one? Irresisteblement? Is that even a word? Even in French? Does it even matter and do I like listening to French accents, letting my mind float around with ideas of what it could be saying? Yes, yes. Johnny Depp’s wife does what she does on the red carpet several times a year beside her spotlight encompassing husband; let the music (or in the red carpet’s case Depp) take said spotlight and sound (or in the red carpet’s case look) disarmingly pretty next to it. And, as she is praised for her fashion sense on the catwalk, she should be praised here for her exceptionally and traditionally French vocal perfection; the silkiness and sexiness and several more s adjectives are as present here as snails appears on the menu in her country. Similarly, with seven violinists and four composers amongst a swath of other orchestral performances, the accompanying music creates the atmosphere by which the French would like their snails served; dark but for candlelight, velvety and cosy, with some sort of Serge Gainseberg edge that the French manage to simultaneously pull off while remaining traditional-as. Thought provoking, pouty amazingness over ten probably misinterpreted (lyrically at least) but nonetheless pleasant, all-occasssion appropriate tracks. Except if you’re with someone French, because maybe Paradis is hiding some inappropriately lyrics within?

M.I.A's bestie gets all album-release on it...

Santogold looks like, dresses like and hangs out with the same people as M.I.A. Hell, she's even spewing up one of Maya Arulpragasam's glitter jumpsuits on the cover of this debut.

And, completely unrelatedly, I've been getting into Two Step crosswords lately - a crossword that has two clues; one basic - like you'd find on your standard crossword, and one cryptic clue to help you work out the answer. Simultaneously great for checking your assumptions based on the simple clue (of which I'm often wrong) and getting to grips with the minefield that is the Cryptic Crossword.

Having listened to Santogold's debut release, the artist is similarly two-step; the glitter spewing is a cryptic gesture of separation from all previous assumptions, and a plea to be taken seriously as a stand-alone artist, because many of us didn't get there with the basic.

So, if Santogold was a solution in a Two-Speed, then the basic clue would read something like "M.I.A's best friend." The Cryptic however, and this is going to test my limited understanding of the formation of such clues somewhat, would go something like; "Starting with New York in 2001 and including, but not exclusively the influences of Karen O and The Strokes," suggesting that she sounds stateside circa early two thousand's (but not exclusively) and that the letters of her name are contained (but not entirely) with Karen O and The Strokes (the former a clear vocal influence and the latter she's clearly ripped melody's off).

How'd I do? Ok, maybe employment at the Dom Post as their crossword maestro is a few years off yet, but the differences between what people think Santogold is about and what her brilliant debut actually encompasses are, without doubt, two-step.

Who is MGMT? ORACULAR SPECTACULAR review!

I generally freakin hate hippies. I hate “dub” (and I live in Wellington, ah the misfortune), I hate dreadlocks, I hate like massive coloured beanies that enclose said dreadlocks urgh, everything is disgusting. Except, their mentalities. Chilling out and dreaming up Utopian visions of humanity is a pretty sweet lifestyle. So it’s hard to hate a band who’s front-men embody said visions but dress like they’re white-boy African hunters who stumbled across facepaint, felt-tips, that Window’s program ‘Paint’ and went creative crazy. The ‘Time to Pretend’ video clip is actually all I’ve ever wanted to see in a video – there’s babies, kittens, MGMT riding kittens, generic photoshop fill backgrounds beyond which stand illustrative monsters which explode into dolphins before one of the members rides a computer generated wave into the galaxy – but then you’ve probably seen this, because it’s on fairly high rotation everywhere at the moment. Oh, and they’re website http://www.whoismgmt.com/ is interactive (I swear you can type in anything). And they have an interactive videoclip. An interactive videoclip. So all the add-ons to music that go with the industry are there working super overtime, and doing an amazing job, and I’m one of those people that believe that a band’s a creative entity and everything they do as a band, including, but not exclusively their music, adds to their creative integrity. And Oracular Spectacular has the goods over every medium; including the music bit. 10 solid pop tracks that hark at the philosophy and musical undertones of The Doors but use current synthesized sounds on top of pretty standard but appropriate guitar/drums to achieve it. It’s a ‘70’s takeover by a duo who belong in 2050.