The shark in The Meg isn’t big, it’s huge. Prehistoric, millions of years ago huge. But how strong would its bite be? And how fast could it move? Michael Milford and Peter Stratton break down the science. The Meg is the blockbuster shark monster movie we didn’t realise we needed in our lives. With a cast led … Read more
Now that single-use plastic bags are on their way out, what are we going to line our rubbish bins with? Compostable bags? Not so fast, warns AUT emeritus professor Thomas Neitzert. As companies move to get rid of single-use plastic bags and bans on microbeads are coming into force, new biodegradable or compostable plastic products … Read more
Writer and social theorist Max Harris travelled to Lisbon to discover how drug decriminalisation there is working in practice, and the lessons for New Zealand politicians considering the future of our own drug laws. “Some people call this place The Living Room,” the young man I’ve just met tells me. And looking around the room, … Read more
A new English-language paper highlighting the stories of New Zealand’s multiethnic communities published its first issue at the start of this month. The founders of Multicultural Times explain why they wanted to launch a newspaper, what they hope to achieve, and how they plan to work within the country’s existing ethnic media landscape, in an interview with … Read more
The brilliant, barnstorming founding editor of Metro, Warwick Roger, has died aged 72. In this essay first published on the Spinoff in 2017, a memoir by American writer Richard Ford prompts Sir Bob Harvey to look back on his friendship with Roger and their shared love of Ford’s books. How does friendship happen? What glue does … Read more
These days, chards are far more complex than the buttery, oaky monsters of yore, so dive on in. If I had a dollar for every time someone told me they don’t like chardonnay, I’d be making a shitload more money than I currently am as a freelance wine writer in a small country. Chardonnay occupies … Read more
Refugees will once again be resettled in Christchurch as the government moves ahead with long delayed plans to raise the quota. But will the small number of initial placements make a difference? The new government – particularly Labour and the Greens – came into office promising to raise the refugee quota from 1000 to 1500 … Read more
The duo behind the fashion and lifestyle blog Rally discuss working in the fashion industry and life as women of colour in Aotearoa. There are some numbers that register immediately for anyone working in the fashion and modelling industries. 32, 24, 34. 5 ft 10 in. The ‘ideal’ measurements for models. Leilani Momoisea, a self-described … Read more
Crave café has been serving locals in Morningside, Auckland for almost a decade, and is spearheading plans for a major regeneration of the suburb over the coming year. Alice Webb-Liddall talks to Crave manager and co-founder Nigel Cottle about the neighbourhood-orientated social enterprise. In 2009, Morningside existed as an in-between suburb. A train station was the landmark that kept … Read more
A new book on facts, misinformation and communication could have the effect, intended or not, of rehabilitating public relations for the non-establishment left, writes journalist-turned-political-staffer-turned-PR-guy Ben Thomas. An essential stop on the carefully orchestrated tourist trips to North Korea is the imposing Victorious Fatherland Liberation War Museum. It curates Kim Il-sung’s almost singlehanded defeat of … Read more
It’s clear New Zealand’s 10.6 million cows aren’t going to stand for our shit anymore. So how should we fight back? The Spinoff TV’s Hayden Donnell reports. The Spinoff TV, 10.45pm Fridays on THREE
New verse by Scottish poet Robin Robertson, who will appear at the Christchurch WORD literary festival and at LitCrawl in Wellington. Beside Loch Iffrin for Catherine Lockerbie Late January, and the oak still green, the year already wrong. The season miscarried – the lambs in the field, and the blossom blown – the … Read more
Every week on The Primer we ask a local business or product to introduce themselves in eight simple takes. This week we talk to Adrian Wills, founder of Trickle, which manages every aspect of a beer’s life cycle and flow from keg to customer. ONE: How did Trickle start and what was the inspiration behind it? I got involved … Read more
Ahead of a visit to New Zealand from some of Twin Peaks’ most iconic characters, die-hard ‘Peakie’ Angela Cuming meets three of her heroes and asks what it’s like to be part of a cultural phenomenon for almost 30 years. Sheryl Lee’s laugh travels down the phone line to my suburban home in Hamilton and wrap … Read more
The week’s bestselling books at the Unity stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington. Throughout are images from Tatau: A Cultural History of Samoan Tattooing, reproduced with permission. AUCKLAND 1 Warlight: A Novel by Michael Ondaatje (Jonathan Cape, $35) The blockbuster novel of 2018. 2 Coming To It: Selected Poems by Sam Hunt (Potton & Burton, $30) New verse … Read more
As a toddler, Nida Fiazi escaped Afghanistan with her mother in a quest for survival. Instead they ended up in a detention camp in Nauru. Thalia Kehoe Rowden tells their story. Content note: This is a distressing story of seeking asylum and detention, and includes discussion of psychiatric illness, self-harm and suicide. When Waikato University … Read more
A lot has changed for Tom Scott in the past four years and, with his new project Avantdale Bowling Club, he’s ready to reveal all. He talks to Hussein Moses about fame, infamy and coming home to Avondale. In a home studio, out the front of his house, is where you’ll find Tom Scott most … Read more
Kraft is introducing a new peanut butter to compete with Bega peanut butter, which due to some business stuff is now producing the original-recipe Kraft peanut butter. Peanut butter nutter Hayden Donnell smuggled some of the new spread into the country to test it ahead of its release here. Kraft peanut butter was once the … Read more
The Spinoff’s editor Toby Manhire is back to review the last seven days in New Zealand news. Who’s popping open a cold one in celebration of a job well done, and who’s drinking hard spirits straight from the bottle to make it all go away? The Spinoff TV, 10.45pm Fridays on THREE
A new report from Engineering New Zealand focuses on how to respond to two key infrastructure challenges: seismic resilience and water supply. Introducing the report, the organisation’s CEO argues that everyone has a stake in a more resilient country. Engineers prefer practical action to the media spotlight but this week they’re stepping outside their comfort … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: MP expenses have been revealed – and they’re up, National hints towards RMA change bill, and protesters dressed as cows attempt accountant office invasion. MP travel expenses have been released. Here’s a full list, topped by National leader Simon Bridges, and followed up largely by MPs who represent … Read more
Aretha Franklin has died. Sam Brooks remembers the Queen. She wasn’t just the Queen of Soul. Hell, if you applied the label, Queen of R&B to her, you wouldn’t be wrong there either. Queen of Gospel? Sure. Queen of Pop? Of a certain era, absolutely. But what Artha was outside of these things is a … Read more
The stakes are high after Trevor Mallard’s announcement of an inquiry into how the opposition leader’s travel costs became public, writes Jane Patterson for RNZ If a National Party MP is named as the source of the leak of Simon Bridges’ travel bill their political career will come to an abrupt end. If it is found … Read more
The Real Pod assembles to dissect the week in New Zealand pop culture and real life, with special thanks to Nando’s. This week on The Real Pod, the team assemble over Chanui biscuits and spicy corn treats to look back at a wild week in New Zealand pop culture news. A man in Rotorua executed the … Read more
Mermaid expert Megan Dunn reviews horny fish-fucking novel, The Pisces, which she celebrates as “funny, profane, nasty, disturbing and taboo-breaking”. There are books that make you think and books that get you off. Melissa Broder’s first novel The Pisces does both. Never the twain shall meet, and when they do there might be rimming. Scratch that: anal. But sensitively, … Read more
Rating your Kiwi Childhood is all about looking back on your formative experiences as a little kid in the 1980s and a bigger kid in the 1990s. This week, Adam Mamo tackles the joy of going to the local dairy with $2. Every suburban kiwi kid had a local dairy growing up. Much like European coffee … Read more
The first album by Avantdale Bowling Club, the new moniker of rapper Tom Scott, is released tomorrow. Dominic Hoey (aka Tourettes) reviews the latest work by the rapper who over a decade ago was taking his demos to Tourettes shows. Writing about music is like talking about dreams. Maybe it’s apt then that the people … Read more
In the second story in a series on the future of work, Alex Braae looks at the vulnerability of our data, and the cyber security industry whose job it is to protect it. About a year ago, a Californian company started crowdfunding for the Smalt – a ‘smart salt dispenser.’ It streams music, helps you … Read more
The countless working groups are a kind of stalking horse for a big change, and voters will get to decide come 2020, writes former National Party cabinet minister Wayne Mapp One of the things that is notable about this government is how so many of the ministers, from the prime minister down, signal their intent … Read more