Went to the Masterton Aerodrome this morning to see the balloons take off for the start of Balloons over Wairarapa.
It was a gorgeous morning, still and sunny. We picnicked on bacon and egg sandwiches and hot chocolate while balloons all around us were firing up and lifting off. Worth getting up early for!
Last night's burner parade up the main street was great too.
Here's a sneaky peek at the two paintings in the Wai Art Portrait Exhibition. Opening Night is Friday 4th March at 5.30pm (This Friday) at the Carterton Exhibition Centre, Holloway St. Tickets to the opening night are $10 each. See you there!
Ramari textiles is a craft studio and shop in Carterton. Owner Leanne needed a way of showcasing her gorgeous wares to a wider audience.
Nectarine created a website that was simple in design and structure while still having enough functionality to see individual items, cost and dimensions. It is important is that Leanne will be able to add new items to her collection as well as update her blog. Making the site in WordPress allowed us to import her blog from Blogger and keep everything together in the one place. It seems that a blog is a blog, and Leanne has had no problems with the transition!
You can explore the Leanne's wonderous works at www.ramaritextiles.co.nz .
We've just updated the Taylor Boutique site with Vicki's new 2011 'Reveal' collection. As ever, her pieces are astonishing, while remaining incredibly practical and versatile:
They've got their famous Circle Dress back in stock- it's an amazing garment that can transform to be worn in a variety of ways. So if you're in Auckland or Wellington and have a love of fashion, do drop in and say hi, or come along to the champagne and macaron opening of the collection this Saturday 26th Feb!
Otherwise, you can salivate over the collection on the website, and add items to your wishlist by clicking on the pictures!
The Taylor Conceal Raincoat
You're poised on the emerald pitch at Eden Park for the Final of Rugby World Cup 2011. It’s the dying moments of the game. The score is deadlocked and the crowd is screaming. The ball is passed out to the back line: the outcome hinges on what you do next!
Five Men Standing is the official game of Rugby World Cup 2011. It's for both lovers of the glorious Game, and those who have never held a Rugby ball in their hands. Fast paced, competitive, and with no sissy turn taking, this is a game of frantic action and fun!
Each player controls a set of 5 Rugby players, drawn from 2 of the world’s top-ranked teams competing in RuWC 2011. How you manipulate, position, and toss these players will determine the ultimate victor.
The Five Men Standing game comes complete with two Country Team packs, rules, scoring tokens, a combo ranking chart, a draw sheet and felt bag.
Country Team Packs can also be purchased separately. Each comes with:
* 5 figures
* 1 double-side figure holder card
* 1 sticker sheet
* 1 draw flyer
You can find out more at the official Five Men Standing website, or ask questions at the Five Men Standing forum.
Speaker cards and envelopes from Webstock 2009
Way back in the last decade, in February of 2009, the fabulous Kai Koenig and I ran a trading card game at the brilliant and enthralling Webstock conference. It was a cracking success, with a google doc of the rules being uploaded by some intrepid punter on the first day, massive trading and analysis going on, and all the speakers rocking their own custom game card.
And we're back in 2011 to do it again!
At Webstock 2009 I got to meet one of my sci-fi idols, writer and futurist Bruce Sterling. This time, one of the true gods of comics will be there, the illustrious Scott McCloud. And aside from drooling fandom, the conference is packed chock-full of cutting edge presentations about the web, society, technology, comedy and how the whole shebang fits together. Can you tell how much I'm looking forward to it?
From us here at Nectarine, we bring you merry Christmas wishes and a big hurrah for 2011!
It's been a frantic and exciting time leading up to December, racing to meet website deadlines and ensure our Five Men Standing game was in stores, but with the fabulous feedback we've been getting it's all been worth it. Thanks to everyone who's supported us! And it's been brilliant to spend the last few days easing up and enjoying this time of year.
For my part, I saw the new year in (after the usual cheers and kisses) on top of a trampoline, tucked up under a duvet with 6 friends, chatting and laughing and watching for shooting stars and satellites passing overhead in the glorious Carterton night sky. We all felt like little kids- well, slightly cheeky kids perhaps, who stayed up for hours until the moreporks started complaining- and it was wonderful! Hope you greeted 2011 with similar zeal.
Bek's been painting a mural in Carterton for the Keep Carterton Beautiful group. It began as sketches:
Then paint started going on:
The figures began to get some colour, line-work and shading:
There's still a fair way to go, but it's looking fabulous!
You can also see a slideshow with more pictures here.
Last Friday I headed down to Wellington's Embassy theatre for the launch of Weta Workshop's "The Art Of District 9" book.
The book is gorgeous: packed to the gills with sumptuous images, including work by Christian Pearce, whose illustration also features on the cover of our upcoming Five Men Standing rugby boardgame!
It's fabulous that they included a lot of development work that never ended up on the screen. You really get to see the creative process through all its twists and turns, from sketches to artwork to working prototypes and functioning final items.
Yummy Weta goodness!
If you're a sci-fi fan, a Weta fan, or just love to get a look behind the scenes of moviemaking, I highly recommend you grab a copy.
The event was also a lovely chance to meet and chat with Weta folk, like author Daniel Falconer, artist Greg Broadmore, and amazing graphic designer Leri Greer. I spent some time nurturing my inner geek by blathering on to them, and then sorted my outer geek by playing with some of the weaponry they had on display:
[FLOWPLAYER=http://www.nectarine.co.nz/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/1_Minty_district9.f4v,480,360]
Then it was on to a screening of the film, introduced by Richard Taylor and prefaced by development stories from Daniel, Greg, David Meng and Leri. It's been a few months since I last saw District 9, but it reminded me again why I rank it up there with my sci-fi favourites Blade Runner and Gattaca. Astonishing!
Our lovely new office on the first floor of our house offers gorgeous views of the Tararuas, but it also overlooks the huge Carrington Park that lies out our back door.
Over the years, we've seen some wonderful things in the park: performers practising their running backflips in amongst the llamas when the circus is in town, all sorts of sports, hundreds of kids going mad when What Now came to town, a helicopter landing during floods, and hot air balloons floating overhead on crystal clear mornings.
But despite all of that, I hadn't really figured I'd look out one day to see a hovercraft.
Carterton. It's a funny wee place.
What's that, down on the ground?
Ah, of course. A hovercraft.
Looks like fun! I was tempted to push one of the kids out and jump in...
Well, it's only taken us five years to get around to putting up an official Nectarine NZ site instead of piggy-backing off Nectarine Oz, but this it it!
Still, I guess that just shows we've been busy, and if you spend a little time looking at the website or boardgame portfolios, you'll see why. For the moment, it's just a selection of what we've been up to- more will come soon!
Feel free to wander around our spanking new site, or look at the work our Melbourne company did over the last 14 years (and there's some especially delightful stuff in the Animation Index).
And if you get inspired and have a project brewing, pick up the telephone or shoot us one of those electronic mail things. We'd love to hear from you!
Cheers,
Minty & Bek
| © 2011 Nectarine NZ | Site by Nectarine |
