Wednesday, 13 June 2012

Avastar opening - Cheese infused Avatar ripp-off


So original!

After a hectic week social obligations I was quite looking forward to a quiet weekend at home. Then the summons came from my wingwoman Dom, epic party companion and photographer for an online entertainment site. “Hey, I’m photographing the Avastar nightclub opening and I need my wingwoman by my side.” After my long and tiring week I was tempted to decline, but I said I’d think about it. A quick Google search revealed this . David Hasselhof is gonna be there! Despite my fatigue it was clear – I gotta see this!
So Friday I’m at Dom’s place donning my best ‘poppie’ heels and telling her, “I just want to offer the Hoff a cheeseburger”.  And off we go to Rivonia, tired, but sure that this night would be interesting if nothing else. We turn onto Rivonia road, and not knowing the area well, are on the lookout for 10th Avenue where the club is located. Looking closely for the street signs was not necessary though, as the club is lit up like a Christmas tree on LSD and could be seen blocks away! Now comes the mission of looking for parking, always a nightmare. But we quickly find a very friendly carguard who motions us to a very decent parking right near the entrance (even though we had to travel slightly up a one-way, the wrong way).
First thought viewing the club from outside: Vegas cheese. They had complimentary Millers, people on stilts making balloon animals (I got a kitty and Dom got a monkey, which she became quite attached to and protected all night), and fire dancers, to entertain those waiting in the very slow moving queue. As you walk into the club, emblazed in lights is the phrase “What happens at Avastar, stays at Avastar”, confirming the Vegas cheese theme (although I’m not sure if the ‘cheese’ is intentional).

Oh look a blue guy
Once we entered it was just a cacophony of lights and colours and thumping beats, and I got the impression that Charlie Sheen would have been very at home here – the mountains of coke that must have been consumed by the patrons of this club was obvious. The décor continued to ooze cheese with fibre optic chandeliers and badly painted Avatar scenes on the walls. I’m not going to go into all the other gimmicky aspects of the décor, for more you can see this video. And have a good laugh, I might add.
Soon after we arrived, I heard the devastating news – David Hasselhoff had apparently (assuming he was actually going to be there in the first place) pulled out! Although I don’t blame him, he probably realised how cheesy the place was and what an insult him being there would be. And it’s ok, we were entertained by our beer glasses with the flashy lights in anyway. And we did get to meet Mr SA, not bad for such a young’un.
The rest of the night was pretty fun, although that is mostly due to my love of cheese and the awesomeness of my wingwoman. The DJ’s even managed to coax me onto the dance floor for a spell, even though the music there is not my taste at all. Between the practically nekkid na’vi rip offs running around, the skimpily clad dancing angels, the face painting and the kinda cute beat boxer, there was much entertainment to be had.

Dancing Angels - yeah I can see how that's related to Avatar...
Do I think this place will last? No. However I would recommend that everybody go check it out once, just for shits and giggles. However once the novelty has worn off I predict it will crash and burn like most gimmicky nightclubs.

Images from jhblive.com taken by Dominique Baxewanos

Sunday, 10 June 2012

Beware the lollipop of mediocrity, lick once and you'll suck forever.

I've realised recently that I have a lot of interesting adventures, see a lot of new places, and have a helluva lot of fun experiences. So I decided maybe I should document and share these, thus I give you: Beware the lollipop - my latest attempt at a blog :)