To mark the release of a new online film about intelligence agencies and privacy, seven New Zealand artists reflect on self-censorship in the surveillance age. As many as 11% of Yahoo Chat conversations involve naked participants. That is what British surveillance agency GCHQ discovered while testing their surveillance powers in the operation “Optic Nerve”. While … Read more
Geoffrey Palmer, Winston Peters, Judith Collins, Andrew Little, Richard Prebble, Metiria Turei, Willie Jackson and more on two decades of a proportional system, how they’ve changed their view of MMP, and what still needs fixing. On Saturday October 12, 1996, New Zealanders voted under the Mixed Member Proportional system for the first time. After 143 … Read more
In this week’s episode of #realpod, Jane, Duncan and Alex discuss the return to normalcy for The Housewives, the Parnell pussies and Norrie. The team assembled this week to discuss the return of Real Housewives in the post-racial slur world to spit out the big questions faster than a clay pigeon flying into Anne’s open arms. … Read more
In association with our mates Bigpipe we’re livestreaming a different video game every Wednesday at 7pm on our Twitch channel. Join José Barbosa and a cast of roped in innocents for a journey into utter mayhem. This week José Barbosa is joined by The Spinoff writer and boy wonder Hayden Donnell. Watch as the two … Read more
With the second season of local comedy web series Auckward Love available now on TVNZ Ondemand, the folks behind the show share their worst experiences in the dating trenches. Holly Shervey (Auckward Love creator, writer and plays Alice) I was outside Countdown and a middle-aged chap came up to me and asked if he could paint me … Read more
Alex Casey and Madeleine Chapman will be live blogging every moment of the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards for all you poor sods stuck at work.
Alex and Joseph are joined by DNCE on the couch to look at the latest in pop music and grill Joe Jonas like a piece of bacon. This week Alex and Joseph get their cake and eat it by the ocean too, with pop band DNCE. Led by Joe Jonas with help from Jack Lawless, Cole … Read more
THE BEST–SELLER CHART AT UNITY BOOKS FOR THE WEEK JUST ENDED: AUGUST 19 WELLINGTON STORE 1 Can You Tolerate This? (Victoria University Press, $30) by Ashleigh Young Essays of genius and insight by the finest writer of prose in New Zealand. “She leads us…into the mystery that is our life,” wrote reviewer Tim Upperton at … Read more
In the third Earth-shattering installment of The Spinoff’s recently renamed Warcast, we talk to Deputy Mayor Penny Hulse about the Unitary Plan, the disappointing Auckland mayoral candidates, and why she got upset with Mayor Len Brown. She should have been sleeping off a hangover after finally, incredibly, passing the Unitary Plan. Instead, newly minted teetotaller Penny Hulse got up … Read more
A weekly feature at the Spinoff Review of Books: The best-selling books at the Wellington and Auckland stores of Unity Books. THE BEST–SELLER CHART FOR THE WEEK JUST ENDED: AUGUST 12 WELLINGTON STORE 1 Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Parts I and II (Little Brown, $50) by J K Rowling, Jack Thorne and John … Read more
Troye Sivan joins Alex and Joseph on the couch to share his wisdom and debut a bold new look. This week Alex and Joseph are joined by popstar and Youtube legend Troye Sivan to share their scars, talk about awkward dancing and sample a new look in facial hair. Oh, and the latest singles from Broods, … Read more
For years gamers everywhere have been waiting to load up No Man’s Sky and blast off into the heavens. The game is finally launching this week on PS4 and PC and there will be many who have taken a day off work or come down with the lurge on release day. However, for the poor … Read more
In the second scorching installment of the Spinoff’s War For Auckland podcast, we discuss the political responses to the revised Unitary Plan and take bets on whether the Auckland Council will vote it through The adorable old labrador we call the Unitary Plan moves closer to maturity on Wednesday this week as it arrives before … Read more
A weekly feature at the Spinoff Review of Books: The best-selling books at the Wellington and Auckland stores of Unity Books. THE BEST–SELLER CHART FOR THE WEEK JUST ENDED: August 5 AUCKLAND STORE 1 Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (Little Brown, $50) by JK Rowling, Jack Thorne and John Tiffany Plot summary, courtesy of … Read more
John Campbell, Kate De Goldi, Patrick Gower, Captain Hurricane and more tell us how they’re feeling in the leadup to a big night for supporters of the country’s greatest rugby side. As any enlightened person will tell you, the Hurricanes are blessed with the most insightful and elegant supporters in the world of sport, whom … Read more
Introducing The War For Auckland podcast, where we discuss the Unitary Plan, the local body elections, and other incredibly interesting topics. This week we are literally accompanied by the sounds of Auckland being constructed as the Spinoff’s senior pet correspondent Hayden Donnell and political editor Toby Manhire talk to former Housing New Zealand head of development Leonie Freeman and … Read more
A weekly feature at the Spinoff Review of Books: The best-selling books at the Wellington and Auckland stores of Unity Books. THE BEST–SELLER CHART FOR THE WEEK JUST ENDED: July 29 WELLINGTON STORE 1 Hera Lindsay Bird (Victoria University Press, $25) by Hera Lindsay Bird In its second week at number one in Wellington and Auckland – … Read more
This week Spinoff editor Alex Casey and Flicks.co.nz cohorts Steve Newall and Liam Maguren discuss week 3 of the NZIFF. The mind and body are hurting, but the film buff/reptile part of the brain is still kicking as the trio lay out what their top films of that week were and the best way to make … Read more
Alex Casey is joined by Steve Newall and Liam Maguren of Flicks to discuss their plans for week two of the International Film Festival, review week one and share stories of crying at the flicks. Listen or download this episode using the player below or subscribe to our one-off podcast feed Pop Up Pods using iTunes
Alex Casey is joined by Steve Newall and Liam Maguren of Flicks to discuss their plans for week one, and share hot tips on how to survive the harrowing festival conditions. With sincere apologies for their disastrous and ill-advised first preview pod, the great Spinoff X Flicks merger podcast returns one day out from the … Read more
A weekly feature at the Spinoff Review of Books: The best-selling books at the Wellington and Auckland stores of Unity Books. THE BEST–SELLER CHART FOR THE WEEK JUST ENDED: July 8 AUCKLAND UNITY 1 In Love with These Times: My Life with Flying Nun Records (HarperCollins, $37) by Roger Shepherd Number one for the fifth week … Read more
In defiance of most predictions, the UK has opted to quit the European Union, prompting David Cameron to stand down as PM. Reaction from Neil Cross, Rawdon Christie, Noelle McCarthy, Bryan Gould, Andrea Vance and more Paul Brislen: A victory for old Britain Fog in Channel – Europe cut off. I blame Morecambe and Wise. And … Read more
Undertaking the yearly challenge that is digesting the New Zealand International Film Festival line-up, Alex Casey from The Spinoff and Steve Newall from Flicks team up with notorious film festival fan Matthew Crawley to chew over the 2016 programme. Every. Last. Word of it. With their new mate Terry that they picked up in a … Read more
Inside the Lightbox is a sponsored segment where we line up shows from the catalogue that you might like to watch. For Queen’s birthday weekend, Alex Casey and Madeleine Chapman line up a slew of shows that Liz herself would enjoy. Almost Royal If her photobombing shenanigans are anything to go by, we can all agree that … Read more
The latest episode of our bi-weekly pop music chat for umusic, shot and edited by The Spinoff’s own José Barbosa. It involves two pop rookies – The Spinoff’s Alex Casey and bFM’s Joseph Harper – listening to state-of-the-art pop music and having a chat about it. Simple. This week they are joined on the couch … Read more
It’s gotten so developers can’t seem to help put chuck in the occasional mini-game to give red-eyed gamers a respite from the main action. A cabal of Spinoff writers have come together to provide a ranking of their favourite wee games nested within bigger games. 1) Gwent from The Witcher 3 Gwent! It’s blackjack meets … Read more
The Spinoff asked a bunch of clever people to give us one sentence they’d like to see magically written into the finance minister’s Budget speech. These are the words they’d put in his mouth … “Inequality in New Zealand has increased dramatically in recent years, and we need to urgently address it, particularly in the … Read more
After the finale of The Bachelor NZ, some of the greatest minds in the country* assemble to talk about what they’ve learned from Mauger Jordan and the bacholerettes this season. Duncan Greive on some Maugerly dangerous sex advice Despite all the helicopters and extreme water sports, there were no injuries this season beyond Erin’s cold – … Read more
The latest episode of our bi-weekly pop music chat for umusic, shot and edited by The Spinoff’s own José Barbosa. It involves two pop rookies – The Spinoff’s Alex Casey and bFM’s Joseph Harper – listening to state-of-the-art pop music and having a chat about it. Simple. This week they discuss Broods, Ladyhawke and Nick … Read more