wellywood

wellington is the shit. it's a bit of a cross between san francisco and portland. windy, hilly, a bit on the cooler side, but tons of cafes, galleries, music. a couple nights ago we saw a free screening of a documentary about mardi gras beads. they're made in china in sweat shops. not something people really think about while flashing their boobs.

we've made ourselves regulars at a chocolate store and cafe called schoc chocolates. the owners recognize us. there are some perks to being a regular. like, today, i got a free bar as the packaging was a bit scuffed. they do some fancy stuff, like lime-chili chocolate and coffee-walnut chocolate. it's not cheap, but it's well worth the cost of entry. right up there with jacques torres... though the hot chocolate doesn't rank quite as well.

today i threw the ol' vinyl pigskin around with a couple yanks who're studying at victoria university. we talked about the saddness that is the 'skins inconsistency and the marvelous job that mike holmgren is finally doing up in seattle.

... generally though, it's been a lot of touristy stuff. there's a great exhibit of photos at the city gallery, and te papa is just a well put together museum. it's kind of like the metropolitan of new zealand. photos are forthcoming. the hostel has a couple card readers, but of course those machines are in use.

yesterday evening was a night out at the theatre. we saw "yours truly" which basically was a retelling of "from hell," everyone's favorite 500 page graphic novel about the jack the ripper murders. best show i've seen in a long time. all the pieces of the production worked really well. it was a fucking scary show: eerie london fog, dark shadows, earsplitting screams, masonic rituals. not what i normally go for, but definitely glad i went.