A new poem by Jordan Hamel. Mermaids When you lose grip and start to drift. The first thing you’re supposed to do is steer into it or steer away? Not all mermaids are royalty someone needs to audit the ocean provide cashflow projections some mermaids are actually middle-aged accountants named Stephen … Read more
The stars of one of the year’s most anticipated TV series, The Luminaries, tell Jordan Hamel about what drew them to their roles and their experience of filming in Aotearoa. How do you an adapt an ocean? How do you harness something with such inevitable, knowing rhythms and put it on the screen? How do … Read more
Tame Impala’s new album The Slow Rush dropped over the weekend to universal acclaim. Jordan Hamel talked to the band’s frontman, Kevin Parker, about the five year gap between albums, and where the band fits into riock music in 2020. Kevin Parker’s musical baby Tame Impala steadily rose to indie prominence in the early 2010s, becoming a … Read more
Five New Zealanders from across cultural spaces explain what it is they love about basketball. Historically, basketball has always held a relatively small but special in Aotearoa’s sporting landscape. The NBL was established in 1981, giving provinces the chance to duke it out for national supremacy. In 2002 the Tall Blacks shocked the basketball world … Read more
Jordan Hamel interviews Gussie Larkin from Mermaidens ahead of the release of their new album Look Me In The Eye. Mermaidens have always been masters of subversion. Making music that challenges expectations of heavy rock, it jumps between genres to give listeners something as surprising as it is satisfying. Their legendary live shows can have … Read more
This year marks the 15th anniversary of the karaoke game that introduced an entire generation to the horrors of ‘Downtown’ by Petula Clark. Jordan Hamel ranks all 30 songs from SingStar v1, from worst to best. Before my generation was old enough to get smashed on reasonably priced Merlot and wander down to our local … Read more
A children’s television presenter, New Zealand’s first supermodel, and bloody Cocksy! Jordan Hamel pays tribute to the Kiwi icons that helped get him through his life. Adolescence was not a great time for me. Depression, anxiety, sexuality, awkward social interactions, emotional repression, being shit at sports – all the cliched tropes you see in any … Read more
Parks and Rec, The Office, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, The Good Place – creator Mike Schur has become a titan of the television sitcom. Jordan Hamel explains exactly how he did it. Mike Schur is a name you may not know, but you almost certainly know his work. His shows are the family-sized pepperoni pizza of network television, … Read more
It’s half Stars in Their Eyes and half the monsters from Labyrinth, and it might be the most bizarre reality TV show ever – and we need it here. Have you ever felt empty inside? Like there’s a chasm in your chest so big tourists would take photos of it? A hole that is often filled but never … Read more