Congratulations to team Puppy Guts who have only just gone and won the grand final of the 2008 48Hours film competition with their dance short F*DANCE, making them the first Wellington team to do so.

F*DANCE is the tale of a bad-ass finger dancer (you know, when you make dance moves with your fingers) who loses his mojo and must learn the hard way how to finger his way back to the top.

The film impressed the judges enough to make it to the Wellington finals, and was a Peter Jackson wildcard pick (oo-ooh!) for selection in the national finals.

So what impressed the international judges? Was it the humour? The finger dancing? The special effects? Or was it the splendid montage training scene that featured a gruelling finger-run up the Civic Square steps?

Well, whatever it us, team Puppy Guts have done us proud.

As both Mike and Wanda have pointed out, nominations for the 2007 Bloggies are now open, but close this Thursday (NZ Time). Feel free to nominate the Wellingtonista in the 'Australia/NZ' and 'Group' categories, and likewise any of the other worthy Wellington blogs you see listed on this site, particularly those found via our About Page.

Forest and Bird are now calling for votes for their annual Bird of the Year award. Last year's innaugural winner was the Tui. But who will it be this year?

Early frontrunners are the Kakapo (favourite of PM Helen Clark and MP Chris Carter) and the Tui.

So what are you going to vote for? As Wellingtonians we get Tuis in the trees around parliament, Ducks down at Kumutoto, Kereru in Wilton Bush and everything else in the Karori Sanctuary. Maybe you're a classicist and will vote for the Kiwi? Or perhaps your a modernist and will vote for the Fantail? Or maybe a wildcard like the Blue Duck (Whio) or Morepork (Ruru) or the New Zealand Harrier Hawk (Te Kahu)?

But get to it, voting closes on October 14.

The Capital Times has begun its 2006 Best of Wellington survey (not online), inviting readers to vote for their favourite things under dozens of categories.

However, one category is glaringly absent: best bar. They have best barman, barmaid, music venue and nightclub, but no bar (or best Martini, for that matter).

[read on...]

The regional finals of the National Barista Awards are almost upon us.

When: Monday July 10.
Where: Te Papa, Wellington

Finalist will have 15 minutes to make four espressos, four cappuccinos and four signature espresso-based beverages. So if you're the type of person who can't get started in the morning without a doubleshot espresso, this could be your thing. If however, you start the day with a Grande Mocha Latte topped with whipped cream, stay away. Stay far away.

ps. Sorry, this post had nothing to do with the cafe on Courtenay Pl. I just needed a title.

The New Zealand International Arts Festival is over. But its website lives on and has just won the greatest prize on the internet: a Webby Award.

The other nominees in the Events section were:

• Fabchannel.com - Concerts Online
• Lollapalooza
• Mavericks - The Wave Beyond
• NPR: StoryCorps

And New Zealand as a whole beat Italy, Canada, Australia (which is always important) and, well, Earth, in the Tourism section.

Te Papa's Maori Showbands exhibit website was nominated in the Cultural Institutions section but lost out to Monticello Explorer.

Well done to all the Wellingtonians (and others) who voted.

Here are the Wellington Finalists for the 48hours Film Competition:

• Clean Slate ("The Baby Farmer")
• Hydra Productions ("16 Bullets")
• Long Live Megatron ("Optimistic Prime")
• Open Book ("Robin Slade: The Actor's Actor")
• Northside Steelers ("Emotional Rescue")
• Prime Rib ("Gunther & Me")
• SE7 ("Seven in Seven")
• Traces Of Nut ("Monster")
• Ufo Film ("That Fateful Day In April")
• Unproductive But Optimistic ("This Thing Called Hate")
• White Tiger ("Slade In Full")
• Team Pancake (Faery Disenchanted)

Congratulations to all the finalists and to all those who actually completed the task. Well done.

WELLINGTON FINAL

Embassy Theatre, 10 Kent Terrace, Wgtn

Thursday June 8th, Starts 8.30 sharp.

Bar Open from 7.30pm!

Tickets are on sale from Ticketek from June 5th. Or call the Embassy theatre to see about door sales.

Might we nominate the two adults who thought that taking eight pre-schoolers for a walk through the Terrace Tunnel as 'Wellington Wally of the Year'? Yes, we might.

[photo courtesy of taniwha]

It's been a bit quiet up here at Wellingtonista Towers over the last few days, mostly because our two most recent and prolific contributors - Haydn and Tom - have been working flat out on their entry for this year's 48 Hour Film Challenge.

Their hard work has has resulted in 'Coupled' - co-written by Hadyn and starring Tom, and which will screen at 5.45pm tonight (Tusday 30 May) at the Regent Cinema.

No doubt the claims of 'cinematic brilliance' are well founded, so get along to enjoy this, and the other quality and not-so-quality pieces of film-making whipped up in your fair city over the weekend.

For a full list of screening times head over to the official 48 Hours website.

(And for more Wellington-based 48 hours blogging action, check out Talula and Che Tibby (the latter being another member of the Coupled team.))

This weekend has many things on. I suggest trying them all and seeing how you go.

Watch the Super 14 final (featuring our own, beloved, Hurricanes) while boogieing/shaking/pogoing to Disasteradio/Rhombus/The Eggs. Oh and while you're at it, come up with a random short film on Friday night and have it written, shot and edited by 7pm Sunday.

I'm not going to be so ambitious. I'm just going to be doing the latter.

Here's my plan:

On Friday night I'm going to replace all the blood in my body with pure, uncut caffeine. After the initial jolt ("I can see through time"), Mike and I will sit down and write a script. The next day some suckers actors will convene on set and begin to read the bullshit flowing prose that Mike and I penned at, like, 4am. Then Sunday the editors take over and complete our vision.

This is how it worked last year and we ended up with a film that had the immortal line: "Is that dog wearing a bra?", and just so you know, yes it was. This year we are WAY more planned. Ha!

I'm interested if any of you out there in internet land are participating and if so where and what's your team name. Ours is something to do with Sponge Monkeys.

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!