Here are some photos of the post-retribution party, my trophy mermaid and some celebratory karaoke.

Notable highlights: “The King of Kong” was by far my favourite and involved the true story of good versus evil in the eternal battle for the high score on Donkey Kong. Yes it sounds like the epitome of geekdom, but the story transcends the nitty-gritty of competitive video gaming and really gets into the people behind the chase. I think it’s way better than (insert name of your favourite movie here)! Honestly!

“The Visitor” was the other stand-out for me. It’s made by the same director who did “The Station Agent” a few years back and follows a similar path of a loner who’s life is changed by a chance encounter with people who’s lives are eye-openingly different from his. A quality feel-good movie with ample scenes of real NYC, perfect for those of us who’ve since left it behind.

We also saw “Time Crimes” which was sort of “Memento” mixed with “Back to the Future 2.” Pretty good, but not great. There was “Sukiyaki Western Django” which seemed like it should have been great (spaghetti western starring hipster Japanese Yakuza-types and a Tarantino cameo), but ended up sounding better than it was. Visually great though. And watching the trailer again is giving me second thoughts, but no, it was about a 5 or 6. Oh well. Lastly, there was a NZ documentary named “Rain of the Children” about a Maori woman and her son whose pasts intertwined with major Maori events. The movie wasn’t bad, but the most moving part was when the Maoris in the audience did a chant afterwards that you could literally feel in your chest. Awesome.

Yes, I only uploaded the most extreme photos. It’s really not that bad, and most of NZ doesn’t seem to be freaking out at all. Honestly, it’s just a perfect excuse to stay indoors and catch up on internetting.

Well the opportunity to bathe in the cinematic glow of that song LIVE visited us here in Auckland as Sir Elton John sparkled his way into town for a one-night engagement. We were quite reluctant initially with tickets starting at $260 each and going up past $400. Knight or not, that’s a lot of money just to see Tiny Dancer.

Apparently New Zealand agreed. As the show approached, there were still heaps of unsold tickets, pretty rare for a country that never gets big names, so they usually go quickly. Day of the concert, prices dropped. We broke down and snagged them. Still expensive, but we justified it by thinking of how rare it is to see such a big name performer. He’s the gay, bespectacled, bedazzled Elvis of, well, Elvis’ time! And he proved it. You forget how many songs of his you know and love until you hear them all. Plus, it’s always better live. So when you normally think Crocodile Rock is a bit cheesy, when heard live, it becomes a group bonding sing-along stadium rocker. Funny that.

He played all the favourites. Including Tiny Dancer, just for Angela. I tried to capture some of the show via my camera. Not the best job, but enough to get the point. If you’d like to see him cover The Who’s ‘Pinball Wizard’, here’s my clip. For other songs like Tiny Dancer, here are the ones so far on youtube with better sound quality and angles than I could get. Those suckers paid over $450 for their tickets, you might as well enjoy their footage!

For those who can’t be bothered, here he is with his old-school band mates. He’s the short blue one on the left.

This year’s line-up featured 59 different performers, making it tricky to navigate between different shows. Add to that many thousands of people and a map from the wrong city and you know things are going to get messy. Sadly, big music festivals somehow find a way to schedule all your favourite artists to play at the same time. While one hour later, there’s nobody you want to see. So it goes. Regardless of all that, it’s hard to beat a full day of live music, cold beer and warm sunshine. Also, not a shabby place to grab some cool photos.

Here’s a peek at the midday crowd gathering around the two main stages.

Bjork takes the main stage as the sun begins to set.

The circle coaster in the middle of the main stage area basically went around and around in circles. Well worth the wait, especially if you can nonchalantly sneak halfway into the line.

Once the sun set, Bjork finally stopped playing the sleepy songs and got into one or two songs with some energy.

Overall, a bit disappointed by her show. Between her last song and her encore, the Lords of Lightning set up and created their own tesla coil using their bodies and some metal rods that lit-up like lightsabres. Bjork came back on while they were going and the majority of the crowd chose to keep with the electricity guys. Someone captured this clip and it’s a great shot of the electricity, the circle coaster lit-up in the background, and Bjork playing (sadly, another slower song).

On the way out we were festivaled out. We did try a ride or two, including this doozy.

I would have liked to stay for the closer band (Rage Against the Machine), just to see the audience go crazy. But after mastering their songs on Guitar Hero 3, I feel like I got the gist of it.

If you want to see the other 8 photos, they’re all here.

After work, I waited for Angela to get home and we both prepped for a snazzy dinner out. As we drove through Auckland, she made me close my eyes to keep the identity of the restaurant a surprise. As I blindly walked the final stretch, I started hearing sounds that worried me a bit. The gentle lapping of waves, the smell of the sea, and the nagging fear that I was an awkward step away from falling off some edge. She finally let me open my eyes (because I was sort of freaking out), and one of the most brilliant sights awaited me…

What a wench!

I was completely surprised. About 15 of our nutty kiwi friends were dressed like pirates and had commandeered a boat. I quickly found myself awash in a mighty ship of costumed, yarrrrggghhh-ing fools as we sailed the high seas of the Auckland harbour, terrorizing the locals, and eating/drinking ourselves into a karaoke-fueled pirate stupor! It was absolutely shocking. Angela pulled out all the stops, including her signature mint juleps, temporary plastic breast augmentation, and my favourite: Carrot Cake! It was one of my favourite nights in Auckland so far. All the pictures can be found here.

Cake is always best when smashed across your face.

The only downer of the night came as we were getting off the boat. Due to all the spilled drinks on the back deck (rough seas, honestly), Angela slipped and sprained her wrist. Luckily it happened at the end of the night, it was her left hand, and nothing was broken. But you never would have guessed it by the amount of pain, and the 4 hours spent at the hospital waiting to find out. So much for Michael Moore’s utopian vision of speedy service with socialized health care. Though that being said, it was free.

Here’s Angela with her wrist wrapped and in a sling. The sad, armless model clearly sympathizes.

Thanks, NZ Herald. My light from my camera’s flash won’t return to Earth for another 45 minutes.

Since I’m poaching half of this posting from the NZH, I might as well drop in some of their science:

“Although it was a total eclipse, the ring of light around the earth’s edge is enough to illuminate the moon’s surface.

If there is enough dust in the earth’s atmosphere the surface will appear blood red, as was the case tonight.

The moon gets this sometimes quite blood red colour and it’s quite an interesting sight to see, although it is of no astronomical importance at all.”

Emergency declared as torrential rain floods north

Auckland transport

Auckland police this evening declared the Harbour Bridge unsafe for motorcycles after they attended two incidents in ten minutes where riders had been blown off their bikes.

One motorist this afternoon described seeing waves crashing onto the breakwater on the northern side of the bridge and spraying the motorway.

Auckland’s regional transport authority Maxx said all Waiheke and Half Moon Bay ferries had been cancelled.

Pine Harbour ferries have also been cancelled and will be replaced by bus or taxi.

Maxx said ferry sailings from Auckland to Birkenhead were travelling directly to Northcote, from where passengers could continue their journeys by bus.

All train services from Britomart were suspended at 6.15pm after trees fell across tracks at Parnell on the Southern Line and near Sylvia Park on the Eastern Line.

Luckily our house is up on a hill, and we both work on the 3rd floors of our respective offices. But the fact that the Harbor Bridge might close is just crazy.