How can Auckland create a bigger, stronger and more rewarding night-time economy? Simon Wilson sets out a plan. Partner content in association with Heart of the City, who are interested in growing the vibrant night-time experience in the city centre. In the new year we’re getting lights on the harbour bridge. It’s a great initiative. And … Read more
The new government is aiming to build 100,000 new affordable homes – likely to be off-plan apartments and townhouses – in the next decade. But today’s designers and builders are already working flat tack. So what’s the fix? The answer lies with technology, writes two Auckland architects. Even after squinting carefully at the floor plan, … Read more
This Christmas many are struggling to come to terms with miscarriage and infant loss. In this personal essay, Lucy Kelly, a student midwife, shares her own story of the heartache of pregnancy loss. I remember as a child threading beads onto a piece of yarn in patterns. Blue yellow green. Blue yellow green. Square diamond … Read more
The Seven Sharp host has sneered at a regulator ruling that he misled viewers over the Māori Party. Here the Māori Party leader responds, via a letter to the guy in the red suit. A few months back, as New Zealand sweated in the election campaign sauna, Mike Hosking told it to his Seven Sharp co-host Toni … Read more
Alex Casey talks to Halli Cauthery, the composer who created the synth soundtrack to Seth Rogen’s Future Man. If you look at pop culture (and the real world) at the moment, there are a lot of people trying to flee their grim reality for something a little more adventurous. Take the new trailer for Steven Spielberg’s … Read more
All week this Christmas week we count down the six best books of 2017. Number two: Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls, reviewed by Spinoff cartoonist Toby Morris. Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls by Elena Favilli & Francesca Cavallo (Particular Books, $40) is available at Unity Books.
2017 has been a banner year for gaming. With massive hits like Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds stealing a lot of the spotlight, there are many equally great games that players may have completely missed. Jessica Alouette and Ashe Yee highlight some of those games, just in time for the … Read more
Henry Oliver talks to singer-songwriter Nadia Reid, who plays Wondergarden festival in Auckland this New Year’s, about the highs and lows of her year, the rigours of touring, and being accepted by the music industry. It’s strange now to think back to 2014 when Nadia Reid struggled to find a label for her debut album, Listen … Read more
In the second part of a four piece series exploring places around Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch, Spinoff Parents editor Emily Writes reveals the capital’s hidden secrets, while Avi Duckor-Jones takes you to the very end of the North Island. Read part one, on the great Auckland summer road trip, here. Windswept hideaways and long drives, … Read more
Christmas is when charities receive some of their biggest donations – and for a lot of organisations their time of greatest need. So why do so many of us insist on giving them junk they don’t want? ‘Tis the season of giving. And for the poor to be ever so grateful for whatever rubbish we … Read more
They’re on your Instagram feed and your yoga teacher’s floor – foam mats covered in thousands of sharp points, a modern take on an ancient method of healing and relaxation. But what do they do, and where did they come from? Don Rowe talks to the two Kiwi guys behind the Shakti mat craze. Right … Read more
To punish you all for being naughty this year, The Spinoff made an unholy mash-up of four of its podcasts. Join Leonie Hayden, Toby Manhire, Annabelle Lee, Ben Thomas, Duncan Greive, Alex Casey, Michele A’Court, Henry Oliver and Waimihia-Rose as they discuss the biggest events of 2017 (and Married At First Sight) in a grotesque rat-king of piping hot takes. The … Read more
Simon Wilson wanted to like Star Wars: The Last Jedi, and some of it he really did. But then there was the rest. And, yes, there are MANY SPOILERS. You can read The Last Jedi as the story of two sisters who, if this were not a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, … Read more
Alex Casey and Calum Henderson relive the top 10 most electric, shambolic and memorable New Zealand television moments of 2017. 10) When Wolf met Cheryl He was just a boy in a leather jacket, standing in front of a girl, asking her to let him steal a fistful of cigarettes. Episode four of Westside season … Read more
From Paddles the cat to Donald Trump, the Spinoff’s cartoonist tallies up the faces that he most often drew through the year. There’s probably an old saying that goes the quickest way to follow history is to follow cartoons. If there isn’t, there should be: a cartoonist’s job is to condense the day’s events into … Read more
Brought to you by Inflatable World, Breeder’s Digest is your monthly coffee group in a podcast. Hosted by mum of three Jane Yee and virgin mum Nicola Winslade, Breeder’s Digest is a casual chat with your mates about all the rubbish bits of parenting and all the really good bits as well. Have your say using … Read more
We have a beautiful summer upon us. The school and kindy holidays are very long. Here’s your crowd-sourced by real parents guide to Wellington with little ones. Every parent with toddlers needs to know about the Capital E creative play space. One mum says: “We love it because it changes regularly but it’s familiar enough … Read more
Alex Casey and Calum Henderson count down the top 10 local TV shows of the year, as voted by esteemed readers of The Spinoff. 10) Find Me a Māori Bride There is no better antidote to our extremely contrived, extremely white romance reality TV offerings than Find Me a Māori Bride. A faux-documentary which rips … Read more
All week this Christmas week we countdown the best six books of 2017. Number three: the first book in Philip Pullman’s fantasy trilogy, La Belle Sauvage, described by our London correspondent Scarlett Cayford as ‘just about perfect’. I was doubtful. I saw Pullman speak on the banks of the very river that takes centre stage in La … Read more
One of these things is a lot like the other – which is why Allbirds is suing Steve Madden for allegedly copying its signature Wool Runners. Three years ago, former All Whites player Tim Brown set out to make a woollen shoe. In 2017, everyone from Larry Page to Mindy Kaling is sporting Allbirds, rounding … Read more
All week this Christmas week we countdown the best six books of 2017. Number four: Art Sex Music, the memoir by musician Cosey Fanni Tutti, whom reviewer Kiran Dass describes as ‘a staunch, fearless woman with backbone’. “I don’t like acceptance. It makes me think I’ve done something wrong.” – Cosey Fanni Tutti. In the last … Read more
In an unprecedented Christmas miracle, The Real Pod is joined by ex-Bachelorette and bona fide celebrity Matilda Rice, with special thanks to Nando’s. In the final Real Pod of the year, it’s only right that we are joined by Matilda Rice – reality TV queen, published author and certified lazy girl. Jane, Alex and Duncan … Read more
Lootboxes have embedded themselves in the gaming industry – and audiences are not happy about it. Adam Goodall talks to a free-to-play developer and a public health expert about why lootboxes were inevitable, and how we can change the direction they’re taking the industry. I’ve been playing Dungeon. Inc for ten minutes when my assistant, … Read more
Currently studying abroad, Miriama Aoake is coming face-to-face with international museum ethics and the exploitation of tangata whenua for taonga. On the first floor in the northern wing of the British Museum there is a tiled urupā with glass tombs. Past the gift shop, through the twin doors and left at mo’ai (whanaunga from Rapa … Read more
We asked you, our loyal readers, what your favourite albums and songs of the year were, both from here and from elsewhere. Oh, and your favourite shows, your reflections on the year, and predictions for next year. This is what you told us. Okay, list season is underway. The arms race is escalating and best … Read more
Even what should be straightforward requests under the Official Information Act now risk getting kicked into the long and prickly grass. Sam Warburton recounts his latest painful experience. How many public servants does it take to change a lightbulb? Hopefully fewer than the 50 it takes to process an Official Information Act request. Researchers and … Read more
It’s been a clusterfuck of a year for nearly all of us, and the sooner we say adios to 2017 the better. But what about next year? Our special guest astrologer has been examining your charts. Life is definitely moving at pace for all signs now that you have shifted through the road blocks of … Read more
When people want information, they go to the online encyclopedia. So why is public money being showered on messages that hardly anyone sees while Wikipedia is overlooked, asks Mike Dickison. Kauri dieback is in the news. After 10 years of spread, this incurable fatal disease has infected up to 80% of trees in some parts … Read more
Tara Ward watches the power-chucking, beard-itching, blood-soaked finale to Shortland Street. Contains spoilers. Lie me down on Chris Warner’s soft, pink bed and let me die quietly. The Shortland Street 2017 cliffhanger just served up so much glorious Christmas goodness that even my fat pants can’t handle it. I am stuffed full of drama, I … Read more