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Entertainment

Grant Smithies
TASTY VINYL: Grant Smithies prepares for Soul Kitchen "strictly serving Soul Food" at the Phat Club on November 28.

International music menu

Nelson

Nelson DJ Grant Smithies takes his dance parties out of the sitting room and into the kitchen.

Bays Watch

Nelson

Entertiment and events around the Nelson region, November 18-25.

Cloak and dagger

Nelson

Suburban noir is the new noise around town. Naomi Arnold talks to the band responsible.

Deja Voodoo

Nelson

The bogans are about to hit town for a bash at the Phat Club on Saturday night.

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The Vintner's Luck

What works in a novel, with the reader's imagination envisaging the written words, doesn't automatically translate successfully to a movie screen – as this disappointing adaptation of The Vintner's Luck shows.

In the Loop

Sharply caustic and cynical, the fast-talking, madcap British political satire In the Loop – a movie spin-off of the TV series The Thick of It – is wickedly and wittily funny, and its spin on political spin will make you so dizzy you won't be able to walk or think straight afterwards.

The Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus

Samson and Delilah

New In Town

This light, forgettable rom-com blends the ''stranger in a strange land'' scenario with the ''outsider locals win over'' story.

Bruno

Gay Austrian fashionista Bruno is Sacha Baron Cohen's second outrageous movie character, skewering prejudices and ignorance, but suffering by following Borat.

Night at the Museum 2 (PG)

Elegy (M)

Crossing Over (R16)

This multistory, multicultural drama tries to do for United States immigration issues what Traffic did for drugs and Crash did for racial prejudice.

Kiss

Kiss are back with their first album in 11 years a throwback to the sound of their heyday, and another perfect demonstration of why they polarise rock fans.

John Mayer

From acoustic rock heartthrob to young blues guitar god to well, I'm not sure. Mayer warned that he was going to experiment a bit on this album, and the results are a mixed bag.

Departure Lounge

The Proclaimers

Them Crooked Vultures

The classic-rock influences come bursting through on this supergroup's debut.

Behind the balaclava

Nelson Mail TV reviewer Victoria Guild catches a glimpse of the men and women who regularly put their lives on the line for others.

Should Jaquie jack it in?

The second helping of The Jaquie Brown Diaries continues to spoof the world of TV and shallow celebrity as its protagonist lurches from one embarrassment to another – but for how much longer?

Inner beauty is easier to maintain

Hotfooting it in Africa

Glee not as naff as you'd think

Teen comedy drama Glee is more than a knockoff of High School Musical, and is even a little bit heartwarming, reviewer Nick Ward finds.

Capable and fast paced

Foreskin's Lament, by Greg McGee, Nelson Combined Colleges, The Suter Theatre, Thursday October 29.

Finding the meaning of love

Between Love and Dreaming, Monday October 26, at The Granary Café, Founders.

Literary musings of Te Radar

No airs - plenty of grace

Solo act a triumph

Shirley Valentine, presented by Theatre Alive at The Playhouse, directed by Sally Hogg.

Treasures and textures for all

Klustre, a group exhibition of jewellery, Reflections Gallery at World of Wearable Art.

Talking about scupture

artfestlogoManifest Sculpture, Nelson Arts Festival
What a  success, especially  measured against the  sculpture format of last year's arts festival.  A  clever combination of forum, lecture series, sculpture tour and sculpture in the park tempted the art- lover, whose dilemma was how to accommodate these with everything else.  Many missed the NMIT lectures - a  pity as the calibre of the artists was excellent.
The  sculptors at Founders felt  it was worthwhile and  had a stream of interested visitors.  Fiona Sutherland commented that ''what she loved the most was working with the others, that it was inspiring".
Andy Waugh uses argillite from the Whangamoas and Motueka River harzburgite.   His finished work is polished to a fine gleam.   Tim Royall was working with black granite, a reliable material, unlike Takaka marble which he prefers but finds tricky to cut without cracking. 
Originally a panel-beater, Ken Laws loves the softness of stainless steel and how it reflects  light and colour.  He has been a full-time artist for seven years. 
Wittily chaired by Te Radar, who suggested  Aucklanders would think  a pottery dream-catcher sculpture suitable for Nelson, the forum, Public art in troubled times, was well-attended by a mix of ages.  There was a lively discussion between panellists Councillor Ali Boswijk, sculptors Phil Price and Andrew Drummond and marketing expert Brian Richards.    What should we do to avoid bad public art and who makes the decisions about taste anyway?    One suggestion was that every time a big retail square box  goes up a punishment fee should be paid to fund public art! 
Drummond praised the Wellington Sculpture Trust and said  that without a long-term plan and funding, ideally from sponsorship, there would always be a problem.   There was panel consensus that, ideally, councils would only provide the sites for sculpture, with commissions and artist contact through  a sculpture trust or similar.   This needs courage said Price, but is the only practical way. 
Enjoyed by a large  group, it was a beautiful sunny Sunday for the Vineyard Sculpture Tour at Woollaston  Estates.   We went up close to Marte Szirmay's Yantra, looked through it and walked around the wonderful angles, noticing how light made stripes of shadow on the stones beneath. Entering  the private Wine Library and seeing the  lovely  inverted sculpture with its delicate ornamentation was unforgettable.  With this piece, sculptor Neil Dawson, known for his iconic  Ferns in Wellington's Civic Square and  Chalice in Christchurch's Cathedral Square, gives  a quiet  space magical quality.  
 Standing in front of her large black clay egg sculpture, Christine Bosjwik talked poetically about her work, the way she does it "mainly with her own hands" and how, when she first saw the fallen gum trees she used for the support poles, they "were lying on the ground like beasts."  
Tim Wraight explained the symbolism carved  on his The Lie of the Land  poles, positioned perfectly on the lake island and Andrew Drummond introduced his Vertical Spinning Form with its ochre patina and 24ct gold overlay that shines as it spins with the wind.  It "tells the weather" he said.
It was an extra treat to be shown through the  private  collection of both New Zealand and American art  by  Glenn Schaeffer.  A wonderful way to finish a wonderful day.
Should we consider a Sculpture Symposium, separate from the Arts Festival, perhaps before or after, or at some other time of the year?   A similar format with the addition of more working sculptors on site, would not only bring in and involve Nelsonians and visitors but also offer an ideal sponsorship opportunity.

 

Art to last a year

An outpouring of jugs

Especially for the older or younger

Alexa Johnston (author Ladies, A Plate), Founders, The Granary Cafe, Sunday October 18.

Press Pass

I met Geoff Dale in 1988 in Auckland while attending the Qantas Media Awards to pick up my 1987 Qantas Junior Press Photographer of the Year Award.

Her Life's Work: Conversations with New Zealand Women

I was recently privileged to hear New Zealand art and film historian Deborah Shepard talk in Auckland at The Ladies' Litera-Tea. This is now a huge annual occasion where a number of New Zealand women writers talk to an audience of 300 to 400 women, then indulge in a decadent afternoon tea.

The Hotel Albatross

Painting the Frontier – The Art of New Zealand's Pioneers

Reheated Cabbage

In the introduction to Reheated Cabbage, Irvine Welsh apologises for the rise of what he calls "Scotsploitation", the fad for novels about the seedy underbelly of Scotland, written in Scots dialect

Classic Kiwi gig

It was classically Kiwi a wood pigeon sat in a plum tree while Dave Dobbyn's distinctive voice rang out across the night.

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Beginners

Beginner's guide to life

Nelson newcomers Charles Anderson and Naomi Arnold.

A garden in full bloom was the perfect setting for Sunday's garden party at Eyebright in Richmond.

A great day out in the garden

A garden in full bloom was the perfect setting for Sunday's garden party at Eyebright in Richmond.

The Nelson School of Music rocked to a different tune on Sunday as about 300 people took part in Diwali, the Hindu Festival of Lights.

Diwali celebrations

The Nelson School of Music rocked to a different tune on Sunday as 300 people took part in Diwali, the Hindu Festival of Lights.

An afternoon of fun in the sun on Tahunanui playing fields

Global family fun day

An afternoon of fun in the sun on Tahunanui playing fields

The best of your photos from around the Nelson region, updated daily.

Readers daily photo gallery

The best of your photos from around the Nelson region, updated daily.

Josh Reich's sports blog

The Reich Stuff

Josh Reich's blog on the wide and often weird world of sport.

50 of the best photos from the Port Nelson Masked Parade

A sea of fantastic faces

50 of the best photos from the Port Nelson Masked Parade

topsouth

Top of the South winning designs

Homes, restaurants and factories are celebrated in the Nelson Marlborough Architecture Awards.

Peter Gibbs

The fitness zone

Peter Gibbs on triathlon, multisports and all aspects of health and fitness

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