We continue the occasional series wherein Winston expounds on things that currently make him happy. This week he's sampling a little something from each of the major pleasure groups: albums, gigs and movies. Yum!

My Pennyworth's latest CD.

161) A gig! On Saturday! And it's a good one! This is something a little different. At Totara St, tomorrow night, Saturday, March 12, New Zealand's leading instrumental band is coming to town. I'm talking about Mothra, the prog rock monster out of Auckland who are here as part of the album tour to launch their new offering ‘Decision Process'.

They'll be supported by three local groups and I must confess the only one I've heard of is Ant Wars, who are strange and wonderful and extremely enjoyable. The other two are All Hail The Funkillers and King Fish, whom I know nothing about at all.

What I do know: Totara St is the performance venue at The Mauao Performing Arts Centre and is a terrific place to catch a gig; the show costs $15 from Under the Radar (or on the door I assume) and doors open 8pm. There's a teaser for Mothra's new album on YouTube if you want to check out their unique blend of heavy guitar-based instrumental rock.

162) Movies with subtitles! Many people are put off by movies with subtitles so, if that's you, you can probably ignore this bit because it's about the French Film Festival, which started at the Rialto Cinema last night and runs through to March 20.

Offerings range from Michael Carné's classic ‘Daybreak' (Le Jour Se Leve) to the winner of the Palme d'Or at the 2015 Cannes International Film Festival, ‘Dheepan'. There's also the winner of the Best Actor and Best Screenplay awards at the 2015 Venice

International Film Festival, ‘Courted' (L'Hermine) and from Canada the reportedly extraordinary and somewhat controversial ‘The Brand New Testament'. There's also a film, ‘Valley of Love', which finally pairs the luminous Isabelle Huppert with the constantly wonderful Gérard Depardieu. Mais ouie!

163) More movies (only some of them with subtitles!) The Tauranga Film Society has just launched its 2016 programme, which starts March 23, 6.30pm, with ‘Wadja', a film shot in Saudi Arabia by first-time woman director Haifaa Al-Mansour. You can find the rest of the year's programme online at www.nzfilmsociety.org.nz/tauranga.html with highlights including an early Ang Lee film (‘Eat Drink Man Woman'), the lovely Japanese noodle comedy ‘Tampopo', English working class Ken Loach doco ‘The Spirit of ‘45' and there's much much more.

164) A new CD – it's a bit folky! Local duo My Pennyworth, comprising Paul Hoggard and Penny Rowsell, have just released their fourth CD ‘Passages In Time'. They are a well-travelled duo, sometimes spending as much as six months in a year on the road, touring both the North and South Islands. ‘Passages in Time' finds them adding more of a country influence to their amiable brand of folk music in fifteen original songs, all recorded at their home studio in Aongatete.

It's largely acoustic – guitars, mandolin, occasionally piano – with Paul singing most lead vocals and Penny harmonising (Penny leads some too) on a pleasant and catchy group of songs written about everyday experiences and life.

There are also a few guests who pop up and add an extra touch of class, including the Hamilton County Bluegrass Band's Paul Trenwith on banjo, Jess Hinden on violin and Peter Parnham who supplies bass and dobro.

Find out more at www.mypennyworth.com

165) More new CDs! Easter and the Jazz Festival are rapidly approaching which is a great opportunity to buy CDs you won't normally find in the shops. I have here the new album from one of the artists, Andrew London (ex-Hot Club Sandwich), who has just released ‘Let's Have Friends Around For Dinner', which is a pure pleasure. A bunch of other acts are also readying new releases.

Meanwhile, two local bands are about to launch ‘Best of' collections. Brilleaux is preparing a set for their upcoming, third UK tour and Kokomo is celebrating 25 years together with an expansive double CD collection which the band plans to have ready for Easter.

watusi@thesun.co.nz