Pandora – not the charm bracelets – has officially announced it’s the end of the line for their service in Australia and New Zealand, reports Don Rowe. After five years hard graft in the Australia/New Zealand market, Pandora is calling it quits. “While our experience in these markets reinforces the broader global opportunity long-term, in … Read more
Jane Yee, Duncan Greive and Alex Casey gather around a pile of cheesy Lotatoes to talk about the latest happenings in New Zealand television and real life in New Zealand. It’s a huge week on The Real Pod, with the New Zealand pop culture news about as piping hot as the cheesy low-carb Lotatoes that are … Read more
After noticing that something strange has happened to Lily from Big Save Furniture, Tara Ward delves into her rich, loud, bargain-filled history. Breaking news, New Zealand: something terrible has happened to Big Save Lily. You’ll need to sit down on your corner lounge suite for this one, because Lily’s legendary Big Save Furniture ads are … Read more
The Spinoff Parents is very proud to share this beautiful spoken word poem by Talyah Miller, a Year 9 student from South Auckland Middle School. Who am I? I am a person just like you. I get bored easily so if I am in a place too long I will wander off. I can get … Read more
Now that The Block NZ is back, Alex Casey recaps a marathon four hours of Mark Richardson television. Home renovation juggernaut The Block NZ returned this week, bringing with it two incredibly harsh realities. The first is that I’m going to feel very conflicted for the next few months as I wipe the mould off … Read more
It’s not just the sailing, or the tourism, or the technology. Major sports events give cities the best chance they ever get to transform themselves – so, asks Simon Wilson, will Auckland seize the day? And will the oil companies and other corporates currently sitting on the Tank Farm turn out to be good corporate … Read more
Superfan Joseph Harper tackles the eighth week of Survivor NZ, including the regeneration of the viral cop and Barb’s Soprano-style reign. Click here for last week. God we are getting damn close to the end and thank the lord because Survivor NZ is getting really weird. Our ‘good’ players keep deciding to play as ‘bad’ players. … Read more
Unladylike shouting from Madeleine Chapman at Alan Duff’s Herald piece on ‘unfeminine’ women, Samoan cleaners and what makes a real Kiwi. Alan Duff went to a bar and heard some women loudly laughing nearby and it made him angry. So he went home and wrote a column about why “unfeminine” women and television presenters aren’t real … Read more
We review the entire country and culture of New Zealand, one thing at a time. Today The Spinoff’s general manager Kerryanne Nelson visits Specsavers on Auckland’s main street. I’d been having headaches on and off for a few months. I just thought it was part of life with a toddler and a job, so I … Read more
Thalia Kehoe Rowden tracks down 22 picture books which actually reflect the New Zealand of today. Where are the characters in New Zealand books that look like Pasifika or Māori children? What books can they read to see their faces, families and lives reflected? I’ve reviewed every single book I’ve found that has been published in the … Read more
Ramona AitkenRead is six years old. She is proving that you’re never too little to stand up for the things you believe in. Here she talks about why she’s protesting to protect a mountain. Three weeks ago New Talisman Gold Ltd began mining operations on Mount Karangahake near Paeoroa, in the heart of a Conservation … Read more
Every artist is making Spotify playlists these days. Amanda Robinson listens to four of the most popular – and one that isn’t, but really deserves to be. Lorde In the ‘Homemade Dynamite’ episode of The Spinoff’s Behind The Melodrama podcast, Lorde talks about how “sometimes it’s just about having your arms around your friend’s shoulders … Read more
With Preacher returning exclusively to Lightbox today, Travis Johnson breaks down his predictions for the second season. It was a long time coming but Preacher – the fabled, foul-mouthed comic book series by writer Garth Ennis and artist Steve Dillon – finally made it to the small screen last year, courtesy of showrunners Seth Rogen, Evan … Read more
Team New Zealand’s innovation and Peter Burling’s ineffable calm have returned the America’s Cup to New Zealand. New Zealand has won back the America’s Cup, in the process avenging one of the most humiliating capitulations in sport and perhaps justifying the vast government investment which facilitated this epic plot to regain it. Everything we imagine to … Read more
Dismayed by the press gallery’s failure to interrogate the prime minister’s epistemological framework in the Todd Barclay scandal? Undismay yourself: New Zealand’s leading craft beer enthusiast and philosopher king Ben Thomas is here. Bill English is known as one of parliament’s deep thinkers. Never has this been more on display than Saturday, on Newshub’s The … Read more
Tonight on The Project between burger talk and Hanson, Jesse Mulligan addressed a savage monologue to the Prime Minister of New Zealand. Here it is, transcribed for your eyes. I saw something on Twitter from the Prime Minister. I know what you’re thinking – historically, Bill English’s Twitter account has not been a very reliable source. … Read more
With season three of Better Call Saul just finished, Jimmy and Kim have their own terrible futures to confront. Simon Wilson revisits his favourite programme (well, one of them). Contains some very cryptic spoilers. It’s like Star Wars in the strip malls and suburbs of Albuquerque, right? And Star Wars is like Paradise Lost in … Read more
The Todd Barclay affair has plunged the new prime minister into his first major political maelstrom, leading to claims of contradictory statements. Do they add up? Here’s our trawl of the key remarks. Text messages from Bill English to then Clutha-Southland electorate chairman Stuart Davie, February 21, 2016, via Newsroom: “[Barclay] left a Dictaphone running that picked … Read more
Apirana Taylor backgrounds his new novel set in “the criminal underbelly of New Zealand’s underworld”. I sat down one morning to write a sentence which culminated in a 245-page novel several years later. A little bird sang, “This story is true. Write it.” And so I wrote Five Strings, a love story about two alcoholic drug … Read more
Property porn addict Ghazaleh Golbakhsh takes the premiere of The Block NZ out for a spin. Last night was the premiere of New Zealand’s sixth season of The Block NZ. It’s a franchise which I have previously managed to avoid, despite being addicted to property porn. As a complete newbie, I thought it was high … Read more
We review the entire country and culture of New Zealand, one thing at a time. This time, Pani Chapman (staff writer Madeleine Chapman’s mum) reviews the best cooked taro in Wellington. I’m always looking out for the best cooked taro in Wellington because taro is my favourite food. My children try to tell me that … Read more
Is Cars 3 a stealth feminist smash hit? Mum of three Angela Cuming gives her verdict on a franchise that has never been very good in the past. I’ve always had a love-hate relationship with Pixar films. As in I’ve hated how much people have loved them because to me they’ve always been a testimony … Read more
We review the entire country and culture of New Zealand, one thing at a time. Today: Sam Brooks reviews the West Side Story touring blockbuster spectacle. I consider myself a big fan of musicals. I listen to them more than your average homosexual, I try and see a few every year, and I wish I … Read more
Nearly half our mayors have signed a letter calling for a compulsory charge on plastic bags, and surveys show strong public support for the idea. Still the government remains staunchly opposed. If other countries can do it, why can’t we, wonders Kristin Hall. Update, 10 August 2018: PM Jacinda Ardern has announced that New Zealand … Read more
The National Party has voted: something needs to be done to improve students’ welfare. A new consensus has been formed, which may change the lives of struggling students across New Zealand, writes Jack Close Three months ago, I launched a lobby group named the Aotearoa Students’ Alliance to advocate for change to student welfare law. … Read more
With a little help from David Bowie, Craig Stevens, president of the NZ Association of Scientists, surveys the challenges and possibilities of the moment, and the need for science to reach beyond the usual suspects. Five Years I started my schooling in London in the brief four-year space between Neil Armstrong stepping onto the moon and … Read more
After spending a week in Wellington, Alex Casey reflects on the highs, lows and celebrity sightings in the windy city. Last Sunday, I wrote a piece about my weird relationship with Wellington, and what I was hoping to get out of a whole week in the windy city. Although I didn’t find the weird giant baby at … Read more
Ten years ago, HBO screened the first episode of Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement’s Flight of the Conchords. And look, there, sitting outside that shop. Isn’t that Spinoff music editor Henry Oliver? If it’s 10 years since the first episode of Flight of the Conchords aired in the US, that means it must be about 11 years … Read more
The final in a week-long series chatting to Wellingtonians about what they’re up to in the windy city, Alex Casey talks to Cameron Harland of Park Road Post about New Zealand films, video nostalgia, and the best surf spots in Wellington. “It’s got a real shining vibe, eh” says Cameron Harland, general manager of Park … Read more