SUMMER STAR TREK!

Firstly, Sorry there was no post last week! It's been pretty hectic down in Wellington. But we have managed to get out and see a few great community shows! Which will be the feature of this week.

Last night, we went down to Aro Park to see an outdoor Star Trek play! I hadn't really seen much Star Trek before last night, but they did it so well, that I didn't feel I missed out on any back story or content at all. It's so great seeing the whole community dressing up, going out with their picnic dinners and enjoying a show together.

Photo from their facebook

The set was incredible well done, definitely a highlight. And the performance featured music from a combo of a cellist (who doubled as an opera singer!), pianist, flutist and fiddle player, which really added to the performance. Highly recommend going, as it's a show to suit all budgets (koha donation).

While we're on the topic of free community shows, the Meridian Gardens Magic concert series at the botanic gardens has been great! So far we've been to two shows (Richter City Rebels and The Wellington Sea Shanty Society). There's a great community atmosphere and the gardens are spectacular at this time of year. Not to mention the great light installations by students at Massey which are on display throughout the gardens.

So yeah, get out and enjoy all these great free (or nearly free) shows!

Till next time,

Ruby

Your Beauty Mark (and a Happy New Year!)

Kia ora campers,

I hope your Christmas was festive and that your urges to murder your family / expose everyone's deep dark secrets was minimal. And I sincerely hope that your trifle was laced with liquor as strong as your ability to keep mum. I was lucky enough to receive everything I wanted / needed for Christmas (nutra bullet, yussss) and my favourite present I got was a book with SO MUCH HYPE... 'Your Beauty Mark' by Dita Von Teese.

Just look at that perfect lip

Firstly, don't read this if you already have low body self esteem (guilty!) because this book will make you feel like a fat slut who brings nothing to this world but the ability to eat large amounts of potatoes. BUT that aside, it's an amazing resource for pin-up girls / feminine people in general. (Saint) Dita covers literally everything, from nipple hair (??????) to how to do the perfect cat eye.

Personally, I've found a lot of pin-up stuff really daunting. Makeup? That I can do. Hair? Would really rather not. But this book has great step by step tutorials on hair styles including victory rolls, and faux bangs that actually don't look daunting. Even the exercise routine that is included doesn't seem that hard / painful!

The book is written in a very easy to read style and is HUGE (pretty much a risque coffee table book) and the pictures / art work are fantastic. I'd be tempted to frame some of the shots of her as they really do look like works of art.

So yes, that's it for this one... and it's a few days early as I'm going out of range in Turangi for a few days. So I'll see you for the new tahi in the new year!

Drink safely and live responsibly,

Ruby xx

We wish you a murry Christmas...

Mere Kirihimete everyone!

I've had a great Christmas so far, we have our Christmas festivities on Christmas eve. So for us, Christmas day is mostly spent kicking about and relaxing. I have Christmas as the one day of the year where I allow my self to waste the earth's resources while achieving nothing, and not improving myself what so ever. So, in the spirit of that, the tahi this week is a short one on random cool internet stuff to waste your life on

I was inspired the other day when I came across this website and had a bit of a nonsense binge. But to be clear, some of this nonsense is quite breathtaking and it never really feels like you're wasting time. So... here are the highlights of my yearly time wasting session! Happy Christmas!

Firstly, Your Name In Gum

Pretty much exactly what it says! You get to choose the kind of gum used, and the write your name out for you in your chosen gum (or any other word for that matter). 

This one is beautiful, but a little grotesque.... I present you, I Love You Like A Fat Lady Loves Apples

Basically, you feed a demanding lady apples that are kicked over to her by a fish net stocking clad leg. The music is great!

Into The Time is a beautiful visual symphony of interactive morphing colour.

This is another site in the same vein, Much Better Than This

You control who begins the 'kiss' from what side of the screen your cursor is on.

That's it! Enjoy your internet binge!

Love,

Rube xx 

Everyone needs a 'lil magic once in a while....

Hello, Murry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, pleasant normal day (for the atheists among us),

At this time of the year, most people need a 'lil magic (to be honest, I need $1000 and justice, but magic is cool too).  Also, there's not that much money going around to treat yo self (even though someone's gotta do it). But luckily there's a few little things I've found that are pretty much the adult equivalent of those cool home made magic tricks that everyone's older male cousin used to do (I'm talking the classic 'severed finger in a matchbox' and 'the french drop'). So, the tahis this week (two!!) are Magic Colour Change Lipstick and Magic Tea That Brews In Cold Water

I got 'HengFang Magic Colour' from Ali Express for $1.75 NZSD and it's been worth every cent, and then some. It presents itself as a boring lipbalm, but put it on your lips (or any skin) and it finds your "perfect pink" by MAGICALLY CHANGING COLOUR! And the shade depends on your skin tone / natural lip colour, so on me it's quite a bright pink. But on paler people it's a more subtle colour, so ANY of your friends (sharing is caring... unless you have cold sores) can wear it and it'll be the right shade. Also, it acts like a lip balm, so it's great when you want a bit of colour but still want to care for your lips.

Exhibit A:  As pink as peppa pig

My other magic item is Red Seal Hot or Cold Brew Tea. As previously mentioned, I'm a big fan of the ole' ice tea, and this is INSTANT ice tea. You just put your tea bag in a glass, fill it with ice water, and watch the magic happen! There's a range of different flavours including exotic fruits, raspberry and strawberry, and strawberry and rhubarb. Because of it's nature, you can make tea anywhere without needing a kettle... and no matter brewing tea and waiting for it to cold! BOOM! I haven't tried it yet, but I know this tea would be great in a punch with summer fruit, some juice and some lemonade. 

So yes, another quick one this week, but hopefully this post can bring some magic into your festive season. I'm heading away for a couple of weeks to see family, but will still be running thats the tahi! I jsut wont be doing the paintings to go with it, as we have no scanner on the road. So... prepare yourself for 'Tahi on Tour!' 

Seeyou on Christmas Day! 

Rube xx

'Special When Lit!'

Hey team,

First of all SORRY FOR POSTING THIS A DAY LATE!
Yesterday I had a gig, and rescued a baby bird (most likely a tui) who then died, so it was a big day.
However, in the last few weeks I've been travelling around central Wellington doing a bit of research... trying to find the best places to play pinball in Wellington

Le Rube on Elvira, my current favourite.

I've been a big fan of pinball since I was a preschooler. There was a games room at the chateau Tongariro which was around the corner from where I lived. Dad would take me there occasionally here, but there is a better list that I will post when I find it) including a couple of great ones at Black Coffee in Newtown. I also played the Metallica machine at Midnight Espresso, and there's two other's at MOON1 that I'm going to check out in the near future (oh what I'd do for infinite time to do stuff I like).  There's also a machine at Enigma (apparently it's a Jurassic Park themed one!) and apparently one at The Kensington Gentleman's Club (Go on... I double dog dare you!).

The machines available for play at Black Coffee (they also have 'Street Fighter')

with a pocketful of coins and let me play the machines, pinball was always my favourite. There was a box that lived in the games room, just so that bubba Rube could drag it to "Monster Of The Blue Lagoon" and play pinball for hours. I am by no accounts a pinball champion, it takes me a long time to get used to a machine (and a lot of $2 coins) and even then, I'm seldom on the score board (but if you ever see RUB, thats me). Since I've been in Wellington, I've been lucky enough to have access to screeds of new pinball machines (lists of them can be found online).

Take a trip into.... The Twilight Zone

'Black Coffee' in Newtown have two great machines to choose from, both in good condition. My favourite (and my favourite in Wellington, at this point anyway) is 'Scared Stiff, with your host, Elvira'. A very funky, 60s gothic style machine. Scary spiders, coffins to unlock and MULTIBALLS FOR DAYS! This machine is great for beginners (is that me??? kind of??? intermediate???) and it has lots of goals to complete / cool moves (ie, there'a a track that you can shoot again and again to get your points up). I highly recommend this if it's your first go at pinball! Also, Elvira has her girls out, so win-win.

Nice gals!

So there's a few machine's to get you started, but once you've had a go on these ones YOUR HUNT IS ON! Chuck us a comment if you know of any others!

Happy silly season,

Ruby xxx

When Life Sucks... Live It Vicariously!

Hey friends,

This week was also shit so I decided to stay inside for a whole day and play my favourite childhood game.... a game where there are no arseholes around you.... a game where you're self made and if you want something? you go get it! A game of investigating, collecting, building, creativity, empathy and excitement... I'm talking about the best Sims spin off of all time, Sims 2 Castaway.

Firstly, I'm not really one for games. As a kid I had a sega and only used it to play this one Simpson's game. As a teen my uncle had a Wii which I inherited and then only played Sims 2 Castaway.
So yes, I'm as fussy as a gluten free toddler when it comes to games. But Sims has a special place in my heart. So you're struggling to interact socially with people? DO IT WITH YOUR SIM! You want to make a creme brulee but you don't have the skills? DO IT WITH YOUR SIM! You want to be an astronaut / musician / artist / professional biographer all in one??? Boom, you got it.

The difference about Sims Castaway is that you're stranded on a desert island where you have no one and nothing (which is honestly sounding more and more appealing as the days go by) but a convenient machete, toilet paper, pocket knife and sleeping mat. You have to harvest food and resources, build your own equipment and furniture, and investigate the island. Also there's heaps of weird mysteries like investigating the original people of the island (who were the lama people, really), collecting treasure map pieces, and making a magic potion to bring skeletons you find on the island back to life. Also you eventually find your old ship mates who you can bond with and pretty much do all the interpersonal stuff you would do in a normal game of sims (yes, and that means woohoo).

But my favourite thing about this game is that you can take it in so many directions and theres no real ending / winning. You eventually build a raft to get off the final island, but you could stay further and just keep building a better camp, upskilling and improving your relationships (you can even get married!). I've now played this game over so many times, and every time I end up doing something different. This time, I'm investigating the Lama people (thinking of writing my thesis on that shiz), building a relationship with this blonde on the island who has the shortest shorts I've ever seen and trying to make a treasure map to find god knows what.

Anyway, so that's my tahi for the week. I highly recommend getting a playstation 2 / wii / DS and scouring trade me for this. Good luck with your search!

Ruby xx

SUGAR COMAS FOR EVERYONE!

Kia ora tatou,

This week I was meant to do this HUGE post on this thing I really like, but life kicked my butt.... again. So instead I have decided to review a place I have discovered that helps me deal with what a massive ^&*$ life is. And that place is Sweet Release Cakes and Treats

And how cute is that lettering??

Real talk here, when the entire world is fucking with me, I don't wanna eat a salad. That's for when I'm on top of my life and when I'm kidding myself that eating that salad is going to make me a better person (it's not). When I feel like the worlds doormat I want a milkshake.... and a brownie.... and a.... doof doof? SRCAT have created the 'doughnut muffin' (or doof doof) which is a perfectly sized, cinnamon sugar coated morsel filled with either salted caramel, snickers or lemon ganache... and they drizzle them with dessert sauces as well! They also cater for a wide range of dietary requirements (vegan, gluten free, dairy free) so there's something for everyone (unless you're paleo... but theres a bush outside just chew on a twig, I don't know, what do you even eat???).

They also make some great flavoured thickshakes (that are INSANELY big, we had one between two and still couldn't finish it). We had a jellytip and oreo one, but they also had cookies and cream, chocolate and peanut butter, and orange and chocolate chip to name a few. And for everything treat you buy, you get a stamp with your tenth treat being free!

A kiwi icon

These guys have been in the media recently with their community work offering free baking lessons to people with life long / life long illnesses, be that mental or physical. You can read all about that here.

So yes, that's the tahi next week. Seeya next time!

Ruby xx