Webworm Down Under Photos!

A few snaps & thoughts reflecting on the Auckland popup.

Hi,

I wanted to share a few thoughts and photos from the Webworm popup and Tickled screening we held in Auckland, New Zealand last weekend.

In short — it was a blast. I mean, I had a blast and I hope any of you that came also had a blast.

An old friend of mine came along, and pointed out something I always marvel at: The wide range of humans that subscribe to Webworm. I know from the comments section that there’s a big cross section of humanity here, but it really hits home when there’s a live Webworm event (something I want to do more of) and we all get to meet face-to-face and hang out.

In short — thanks.

Samuel Robinson from Radio New Zealand came down and did a lil’ story on the event, which you can read here.

Photo: Samuel Robinson, RNZ.

When finding that article, I stumbled on some comments on Facebook and was reminded that despite its love of Avatar, certain elements of New Zealand are truly shocked by blue hair:

This one was quite funny though:

Many thanks to the friends of Webworm that joined in our popup: Ginger’s Pantry, Fur & Fang, 1:12 Records, Emma Dickson and her cookies, and Samuel Te Kani.

A giant thanks to the Hollywood Theatre in Avondale who made the entire day seamless and wonderful. It’s one of my favourite theatres in New Zealand (it really is beautiful), constantly programming amazing films and live music.

Biggest thanks to Jess Johnson, who designed all our outrageous fun merch and helped me set the whole thing up, and Bobby Baumann who does all the chaotic admin in the background.

I wanted to share a few photos from the event below. If you missed out — I’m sorry! I want to do more popups in the future. Also, some of the caps and stickers that seemed really popular are all available online.

Okay, here are a few photos and a few words.

Jess posted this in the Webworm chat over on the app and I thought it was a nice photo. I am wearing a shirt Jess Johnson made just for me and I feel very lucky to have it.

One of Jess’ one-off tie dye Jurassic Park shirts — compete with severed kermit head. The cap is pretty great too and if you missed out it’s available on the Webworm store.

This is Ginger from Ginger’s Pantry in the calm before the storm. Fast forward a few hours, and she had about 100 people wanting her freshly cooked kimchi pancakes. God they were good. Thanks, Ginger. If you’re in Avondale, check her out — I live on kimchi so highly recommend her store.

The bar staff at the Hollywood are always amazing and Saturday was no exception.

We had two cocktails available during the afternoon, including the Wormy Margarita which was a very yummy margarita complete with candy worm.

The wonderful David Perry and Skinny from 1:12 Records had a great stall (with great records and great tea towels!)

This is Dylan Reeve who I made Tickled with! He came complete with a Jane O’Brien Competitive Tickling tee. A giant thanks to Mel for letting me take over Dylan’s life for a few years while we made that madcap film. You have the best tees out of all of us — and your love of Jurassic Park and all things Stephen King is to be commended!

When we opened at 3pm, Emma Dickson (here she is on Instagram) was ready to go with three varieties of freshly baked cookies. They were a hit. I immediately bought three and ate them pretty quickly.

Oh, Emma posted this after the popup. She was worried she might have made too many cookies for the event — but she sold out. She gave the money to Rainbow Youth, a really amazing organisation helping young people in the LGBTQI+ community.

Samuel Te Kani was a highlight for me. He did an erotic short story reading before Tickled played… and earlier in the day, he was doing erotic tarot card readings in the lobby.

I am a huge fan and his book of short stories is great.

My dear friends Norie and Dan (and their kid Arnie) stepped in to help run the Webworm stall. I love my friends and they stepped up at a moment’s notice. If you got to meet them, you are very lucky!

Oh, flashing forward to later in the night — Sam kicked off the Tickled screening by reading a new piece of erotic fiction he’d penned involving my friend and mentor John Campbell.

You may remember John from a very early Webworm where we talked about his secret Spotify playlist:

John Campbell has a secret Spotify playlist

Anyway, who needs trailers when you can start a screening with a live reading of an erotic short story about one of New Zealand’s journalism heroes?

Now I asked people in the audience to record it, and many of you did. Special thanks to this Webworm reader who caught the whole story. It’s NSFW and you have been warned.

I loved the atmosphere in the room — it started as a bit tense and awkward (again, this was different to the trailers people are used to) but the room warmed up as the story got steamy and it really set a wonderful, fun tone for Tickled to follow.

(Yes, Sam is lying down in this photo — the story was getting intimate and it seemed appropriate).

Another of Jess’ one-off Webworm long sleeves.

I just really loved these earrings. The human attached to them was pretty great, too.

Meet Mitch and Chloe. Mitch helped me and Jess set everything up and was a stone cold legend. She also modelled one of the I HAVE WORMS caps (available online *hint hint*).

Chlöe Swarbrick is the co-leader of the Green Party, and is probably my favourite politician. When I think of American politics — she is the dead opposite. I could not believe she came to the popup (and got this dolphin tee!)

Webworm reader Robin Capper took these two photos me kicking off the Tickled screening — thanks Robin for sending them through.

And talking of Tickled — hopefully by now you’ve listened to this Webworm podcast episode in conversation with the executor of David D’Amato’s will.

What Happened to David D'Amato's Millions?

It’s a mad insight into what happened to D’Amato’s $70 million dollars when he passed away.

More delightful, wonderful Webworm readers who I felt lucky to have met.

Sorry if I missed talking to you — as the Tickled screening approached I was running around sorting a few things out in the background and may have missed you.

THANKS SO MUCH FOR MAKING MY SATURDAY IN NEW ZEALAND SO GOOD, ALL OF YOU!!!

Much aroha,

David.