Having analysed the spate of uplifting stories about millennial strugglers buying homes, Don Rowe reveals how you, too, can lift your foot above your head and on to the lowest rung of the property ladder. It’s not impossible, it just takes a few little tricks – like not paying rent. Sometimes it can feel like … Read more
A huge day for reality television and digital communications of emotion in New Zealand. Hold the phone, hold your loved ones, hold Mike Puru – there are emojis for The Bachelor New Zealand now. The Bachelor NZ launched their BachMoji app for both iOS and Android this morning, rattling the emoji community harder than when … Read more
The eternally awesome Karyn Hay delves into the story behind the story of her new novel, The March Of The Foxgloves. I feel I could easily write a book about the writing of this book. Several years of research went into this novel, and because I did it ‘as I went’ it inevitably interrupted the flow … Read more
In the first of our new series, Comedians in Conversation, Alice Snedden and Justine Smith discuss the shift in comedy over the years, their worst performances and their mutual dislike for late nights. Alice Snedden: So you were saying you were one of four women when you started on the New Zealand comedy scene? Justine Smith: Pretty much. … Read more
New Zealand needs to celebrate its songwriting to ensure great songs get written here, says Play It Strange CEO Mike Chunn. Songwriting has stormed through the school gates and is now drawing in many year 13 students who want to fire up their imaginations and write songs. They may have done this before and are … Read more
Hundreds of NZ women are told every year that their request for an abortion is ‘not justified’. One woman describes the response she encountered, and why she feels betrayed by a system that continues to view women seeking termination through a lens of criminality Are you not with the father? Were you ever together? Had … Read more
A lawyer has run amok at the Auckland Art Gallery at the launch of the Auckland Writers Festival. The Spinoff Review of Books was there. A glass of red wine was spilled on a guest wearing an A-line Trelise Cooper pattern dress, quite ruining it, at tonight’s launch of the Auckland Writers Festival at the Auckland … Read more
Sonya Nagels needed a community and she found one in Playcentre. Here she talks about why Playcentre was the perfect choice for her family. We had our son overseas. It was cold and I missed my mum. My boyfriend worked all of the hours. I wanted to come home. I had nostalgic memories of sun, … Read more
When Sam Brooks put out a list of his five best comedy specials ever many of you weren’t happy with his choices. Here he responds to the criticism. Comedy fans get angry when you question the established canon. Let me rephrase, and widen that: Fans of any artform get angry when you question their established canon. … Read more
Waiting cautiously in camouflage behind a piece of shrubbery, Calum Henderson observes a rare endangered species in its natural habitat: current affairs television. You almost don’t want to make too much noise about Sunday in case someone in an office somewhere remembers it still exists and realises they’ve forgotten to cancel it. TVNZ 1’s weekly … Read more
Bucharest, Sofia, Edinburgh, Mt Roskill….An essay by traveler Garth Cartwright on another exile, Kapka Kassabova, on the occasion of her acclaimed new book. It’s December 1992 and I’ve just got off the bus from Bucharest, Romania, to Sofia, Bulgaria. Bucharest lay in ruins due to the late dictator Ceausescu’s vision of demolishing the historic city centre … Read more
In an exclusive interview with the Spinoff, the prime minister invokes the term ‘virtue signalling’ and reveals why he decided to break with predecessor John Key on superannuation Bill English has reiterated that he does not consider himself a feminist, suggesting in an interview with the Spinoff that the term is not applicable to men, … Read more
If you see only one show in the Auckland Arts Festival, says Simon Wilson, make it The Encounter. Its short run starts tonight. Every arts festival has a special show. It bedazzles, but that’s not all. It jolts your senses and your sensibility, and has such a depth of theme and strength of creative expression … Read more
We review the entire country and culture of New Zealand, one thing at a time. Today: José Barbosa reviews RNZ broadcaster Paul Brennan’s hair. If I think of what RNZ sounds like (at least the bits I like) I always think of Paul Brennan’s voice (and also, it must be said, the authoritative, no mucking … Read more
The beloved creator of Wal and Dog, who has died at the age of 78, also served up a feminist-bashing tract. But it is possible to deplore that book while celebrating the awe and joy of the rest of his work, writes comics artist Indira Neville. One night at the pub a friend compared me … Read more
It’s always a good time to talk about vaccination, but with the topic back in the news thanks to the major measles outbreak in Auckland, we’re resharing Dr Jess Berentson-Shaw’s deep dive into the issue from March 2017. A note from Spinoff Parents editor Emily Writes: Vaccination is always something you have to think about … Read more
This is The Spinoff Parents podcast, Dear Mamas, a straight-talking parenting conversation with Holly Walker and Emily Writes. Our brilliant and talented sponsors are Little Big Crate. Little Big Crate delivers gorgeous threads for your little big person, right to your front door. This episode includes discussion of mental illness including PND, anxiety, ante-natal depression and … Read more
Tara Ward watched Māori TV’s bumper compilation of wild moments from All Talk With Anika Moa last night, and reports back with the cream of the crop. The classic ‘Shag/Marry/Kill’ game never gets old, especially when one of the options is dry humping the Briscoes Lady. This was the quandary Alison Mau faced on last night’s … Read more
Mitch James spent two years busking and playing open mic nights around Europe, sleeping in hostels and on park benches, before getting signed to Sony. Henry Oliver asks him how he did it, and what songs make buskers the most money. Mitch James, a 21-year-old Auckland singer/songwriter has released two singles after being signed by … Read more
Increasingly people are recognising that climate change is an enormous threat – while at the same time talking about it less, and becoming less likely to let it affect the way they vote or behave. Why is that? And is the only sane response to a suddenly insane world to surrender to the void? Patrick … Read more
Annie Goldson’s new NZ Film Commission funded documentary about Kim Dotcom and his legal battle has just premiered at SXSW in Texas. We asked Dotcom’s US-based lawyer, Ira Rothken, to send us a quickfire review from the screening. He’s done just that, and attached Annie Goldson’s introductory remarks from the festival. Kim Dotcom: Caught in … Read more
Waiheke author Alex Stone on his new collection of stories, and the furious response one of them provoked at a writer’s group. After the usual shuffling of half a dozen bums settling on hard seats, the community hall goes quiet with expectation. A small writers’ group on our island home is ready to hear me read … Read more
Ashton Brown talks telephone terrors, mental health, and why anxiety doesn’t necessarily hinder his performance in a phone-avoiding messenger chat with Natasha Hoyland. Natasha Hoyland: The first thing I wanted to ask you about is phone calls, because I hate them with a passion. Ashton Brown: Holy crap, I got three missed calls from a … Read more
Te Radar’s Chequered Past tells the stories of New Zealand’s most colourful characters, both infamous and largely forgotten. He explains what drew him to our hidden histories. There was a moment, caught between a grey Central Otago sky and even greyer rocks strewn through the tussock, that I wondered if this was it. Was I … Read more
We review the entire country and culture of New Zealand, one thing at a time. Today: Alex Casey reviews H2Go’s new chocolate-flavoured spring water. Ever since Lewis Road Creamery set New Zealand on fire with their quite tasty choccie milk, companies everywhere have been shitting the bed with reckless abandon trying to reach the same … Read more
Today’s protest at Parliament, organised by young Wellington women in response to the Wellington College scandal, was a protest against rape culture and in support of sexual consent education in schools. Spinoff Parents editor Emily Writes went along, and left feeling inspired and hopeful. Content warning: This post discusses sexual violence and harassment. It may … Read more
Jane Yee, Duncan Greive and Alex Casey gather around the oval table and talk about the latest happenings in New Zealand television and real life in New Zealand. This week on The Real Pod, Alex, Jane and Duncan meet over some lukewarm chocolate-flavoured water to discuss what’s been going on in popular culture and life. In the … Read more
A new game ten years in the making attempts to adapt naturist Henry David Thoreau’s classic Walden. But far from the rich and luscious text of Thoreau’s hippie bible, Walden, a game is closer to a bowl of plastic fruit, writes Don Rowe. Few games start with an advertisement for endowments in the arts and humanities. But … Read more
We review the entire country and culture of New Zealand, one thing at a time. Today: Madeleine Chapman reviews food delivery service Uber Eats. The simple concept of Uber Eats makes you immediately wonder ‘do we really need this?’ An Uber service that delivers very specific food to your door. Seems unnecessary. Before we get started, … Read more