Steve Braunias plumbs the depths of Youtube for guidance on fish hygiene. This is what I’ve been watching. I don’t know her name but she’s world famous. Her 5min:54sec instructional video on how to siphon water from an fish aquarium has 617,179 views – not all of them mine. I watch it during the day. I … Read more
A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James The Year of the Runaways by Sunjeev Sahota There’s this, taken from Cameron Crowe’s story in Rolling Stone, January 13, 1977: Bob Marley, one of the world’s best-known reggae performers, and three other persons were shot December 3rd when seven gunmen burst onto the grounds of … Read more
Has Paul McCartney ever said anything interesting? Sometimes? Now and then? A couple of times? Once? No. Rock’s most distinguished bore has always chuntered on, yapping and jawing, blathering and babbling, the words pouring out of him like water through a seive. Nothing ever holds. It’s a kind of disease, a neurological disorder. He needs … Read more
Steve Braunias lists some potential understudies for Duncan Garner, should he ever leave a chair open at Story. Regan whatever his name is over at Throng has spoken and it behoves us all to listen and that. He believes that TV3 must get rid of Duncan Garner as co-host of Story. “It’s time,” he announced … Read more
The death of blockbuster novelist Jackie Collins reminds Steve Braunias of the awkward time he visited her at her home in Beverly Hills. Jackie Collins was one of the worst writers of the 20th century, every sentence a cliché, every book a dull thud, but she sold somewhere around 140 million copies of her godawful … Read more
Alongside David Slack, who always has a cackle on his lips, I appeared as guest speaker at a session on satirical writing at the Auckland Writers and Readers Festival in May, and it’s possible that I came across as bored, hostile, and baffled, but only at the beginning and the end. It was chaired by … Read more
Steve Braunias talks to Wellington writer Anna Smaill on the eve of the announcement of the shortlist for the 2015 Man Booker Award. Her debut novel The Chimes (Sceptre, $30) has been longlisted; will it make the final six? I remember two literary couples coming to the Listener offices when I worked at the magazine … Read more
An occasional series commending excellent New Zealand reporting. It took three bylines to bring us the story about fainting children in the Southland Times on Tuesday… …and the only wonder is that it didn’t take the whole newsroom. It has the feel of a swarm of reporters chasing down breaking news. It’s thoroughly reported, and … Read more
English novelist Sarah Waters was in New Zealand this week as a guest of the Christchurch WORD literary festival, and promoting her latest novel The Paying Guests. You’ve said of your latest book: “I’ve never really written a love story before.” Can you expand on that? Are your previous novels more sort of romps than romances, … Read more
Steve Braunias watches a bad carrot tear down the dreams of a construction worker as Masterchef NZ broiled and braised its way to a top 10. Bloodthirsty times at Masterchef NZ, with Monday night’s axing of Chris the builder. He came, he saw an oxtail, he didn’t really know what to do with it. His … Read more
With the news that Mastermind will be getting a revival, Steve Braunias revisits the classic final of 1990, and remembers his old golden-mopped friend Peter Sinclair. Who will they get to host the new series of Mastermind? New Zealand On Air has committed $685,360 to reviving the show, which ended in 1991. You’d want someone smart. … Read more
Stevie TV is a monthly column for the Spinoff by Steve Braunias. Here he looks back at David Farrier’s tremendous track record of clammy questioning throughout history. Pity poor Newsworthy anchorman David Farrier as his pores dry up because one politician after another refuses his plea to come inside his sauna. Conservative Party leader Colin Craig … Read more
Stevie TV is a monthly column by Steve Braunias. In this instalment, he recalls the many faces of John Campbell through the ages. The final of Campbell Live on Friday night marks the end of an era which encompasses the entire history of New Zealand since the coming of Captain Cook. The show, and its genial … Read more
What to do with Krishnan Guru-Murthy and his TV interview with Robert Downey Jnr? What to think, what to learn? What, above all, to make of that lamp? It’s more than a lamp. It’s like the corner of Ponsonby Rd and Jervois Rd: it’s three lamps. A lot of sand died for those lamps, whole … Read more
Stevie TV is a monthly column for The Spinoff by Steve Braunias. Here he makes a really convincing argument that it was better to watch the Black Caps game last night on TV than being stuck at Eden Park. // Did you watch last night’s game? Most New Zealanders who saw the Black Caps incred, … Read more
Stevie TV is a new monthly column for the Spinoff by Steve Braunias. Here he imagines scenes from a New Zealand Borgen. “Teflon Key’s coat’s wearing thin as she trades chips with Sky City who wants us to stump up with some cash for the new convention centre in Auckland that the PM promised would be … Read more