It can start pretty quickly after your first child is born, that simple but annoying question: ‘So are you going to have a second baby?’. Simon Sweetman writes about hopes, expectations, and making one really big decision. I always wanted a daughter named Billie. Simple really. As soon as I heard Billie Holiday’s voice I … Read more
With its ‘consent contracts’, frank broadmindedness and emphasis on communication, the BDSM scene can sometimes seem like a paragon of equality and sexual safety. But as Chloe King explains, sexual assault is as much an issue in the BDSM community as anywhere else. Content warning: Contains explicit content and references to sexual assault and rape, … Read more
A newly released map reveals the extraordinary complexity of Monday morning’s monster magnitude-7.8 earthquake. GNS Science earthquake geologist Nicola Litchfield explains what we’re looking at. Below, Ursula Cochran explains the big picture. Following the Kaikoura earthquake early on Monday morning, GNS Science geologists Nicola Litchfield and Pilar Villamor flew south by chopper from Wellington to … Read more
To launch our new science section we asked a range of scientists and entrepreneurs how positive we can be that we’re progressing towards Sir Paul Callaghan’s dream of a transformed New Zealand through the use of science and technology. The Spinoff is thrilled to be launching today a new science section, supported by our friends … Read more
Elle Hunt leaks her Facebook chat with Joseph Moore and Ciaran O’Regan about the Chainsmokers, the world’s favourite pop bros, and ‘Closer’, their globe-smashing hit. ELLE: Even if you don’t know the Chainsmokers by name, or their previous work (mostly: a song called ‘Selfie’, about selfies), you will have heard ‘Closer’. I dislike it with … Read more
There are good, standard, engaged reviews; but every once in a while, like never, or just this once, a reviewer (name of Harry Ricketts; Wellington academic, poet, distinguished man of letters) comes along and writes a book review which is beyond meta and just kind of far-out, also brilliant. Spring rain The reviewer was excited when … Read more
Tara Ward, The Spinoff’s supreme queen of the period drama, tells you why you should bravely enter the court of Victoria. It’s 1837 and Queen Victoria is up to her ears in worries. Is her head too small for the crown? Are her ear plaits symmetrical? Is her uncle plotting to dethrone her and seize … Read more
Leonard Cohen has died. Bic Runga recalls memorising his songwriting advice, driving to his monastery and supporting him on tour in 2010. There aren’t too many artists I would call myself fanatical about, but Leonard Cohen is one of them. When I first started to write songs, I memorised huge chunks of an interview he … Read more
Geonet has released newly calculated aftershock probabilities that put the chance of one or more M6-6.9 quake in the next day at 37%. Rapid field reconnaissance indicates that multiple faults have ruptured: Kekerengu Fault at the coast – appears to have had up to 10m of slip Newly identified fault at Waipapa Bay Hope Fault … Read more
During last week’s election madness, many of us comforted ourselves with the belief that it couldn’t happen here. But how true is that? Thomas Coughlan sees ominous signs in the New Zealand left’s embrace of anti-immigrant rhetoric. The youngest voters to participate in last week’s US election would have been only ten years old when … Read more
Television reboots of classic movie franchises are becoming a phenomenon, one of the latest being a reimagining of The Exorcist. Aaron Yap explains why the show is neither a hit nor a flop. If there’s one thing the modern prolificacy of remakes has taught us, it’s to be cynical. Instead of maintaining an open mind, we’re … Read more
Lightbox are currently running their grand annual People’s Choice Awards, giving you the chance to win a trip for two to New York. Alex Casey and Madeleine Chapman aren’t allowed to win, but that won’t stop them explaining who they would be voting for and why. Best hero: Captain Flint, Black Sails The pirate market … Read more
Geonet recorded 878 events in the 24 hours after the monster 7.5-magnitude shock, more than 300 of them 4-magnitude or greater. Here Chris McDowall plots the quakes on an animated map. This animation shows all the earthquake events recorded by GeoNet’s monitoring network between Palmerston North and Christchurch on Monday, November 14. The big quake … Read more
A massive, magnitude-7.5 quake centred near Hanmer has led to at least two deaths, caused widespread damage and triggered tsunami alerts. Sara McBride of GNS explains what we know about the science behind the disaster, and what to expect next. A more recent update is here. What do we know so far? This earthquake was the … Read more
Last week – before Trump won and the Earth shook in fear – it was announced that Mike Puru was being replaced as the host of The Bachelor New Zealand by Dominic Bowden. Alex Casey sat down with with Puru on the day the news broke. He’s got his fingers in a lot of pies, … Read more
‘Best Songs Ever’ features various contributors to The Spinoff Music assessing recent songs and singles. SONG OF THE WEEK The xx – ‘On Hold’ The first xx album pre-dated the likes of Miguel and Drake, but its melancholy and longing and preference for a pulse over a beat make it seem of a piece with … Read more
Matthew Codd slinks his way through steampunk assassination simulator Dishonored 2 and becomes almost constantly overwhelmed by a grueling style of intricate level design. Dishonored 2 has some of the most fascinating level design I’ve seen in a game. Each area is made up of a complicated network of streets, buildings, and passageways, giving you … Read more
Earthquakes are unpredictable and uncontrollable events, which makes them scary – for everyone, but particularly children. These five tools can help your child cope with the aftermath of a major earthquake. 1. Focus on information and reassurance Giving age-appropriate information about how earthquakes happen can help them to understand. Be matter-of-fact and encourage questions. Talk … Read more
Naomi Arnold describes a terrifying night in Wellington, a phone alarm that warns ‘delicate land could sink under the sea’ and the solace of both Chilean tourists and RNZ’s Susie Ferguson. You take RNZ for granted most of the time. It’s always there – in the kitchen, in the car, snippets at a workshop in … Read more
To mark the death of Marti Friedlander we’re republishing a profile of the legendary photographer, first published in the November 2011 issue of New Zealand Geographic. Travelling through the Eglinton Valley, en route to Milford Sound, Marti Friedlander suddenly asked her husband to pull over. Stepping out into the road, she raised her camera, focused, … Read more
Tara Ward brings you her rankings for Shortland Street last week, including Bella’s move to Raglan, Chris Warner’s afternoon delight, and Boyd being miserable yet again. 1) Bella makes like a tree and leaves It took sitting on a park bench for Bella to realise that the universe was telling her to leave Ferndale. “Get out,” … Read more
The place: Cuba Street, downtown Wellington. The time: approximately midnight Sunday. Lloyd Jones is a writer and farmer, a strongly built fellow, a little bigger than I am, but I sized him up with a view to kicking his fat ass late on Sunday night in the lobby of our hotel in Cuba St, downtown … Read more
The Spinoff and Spark proudly present Pod On The Couch, a weekly podcast exploring music and the people that make it. This episode: Leonie Hayden and Duncan Greive join host Henry Oliver to talk about the state of the music festival. Spinoff Music editor Henry Oliver, Spinoff editor and publisher Duncan Greive and Mana magazine editor Leonie Hayden chat … Read more
Early childhood teacher and mother of two Donna Eden shares her advice for keeping kids calm and comforted during the quakes. We are all feeling pretty shaken by last night’s quake and aftershocks, especially our little folk who don’t have the same understanding of events that we do. Schools, kindergartens, and ECE centres are closed … Read more
‘A good mother would do this. A good mother would get her child sleeping through the night.’ Spinoff Parents editor Emily Writes shares a wrenching account of life inside a chronically sleep-deprived household. At night my home is a horror film. Screams reverberate off the ceilings. There is no peace. My son came into the … Read more
The former National MP whose decision to support anti-nuclear legislation led to the 1984 snap election writes on the transformative influence of the passionate Australian physician Helen Caldicott, who speaks in Auckland this week If you were growing up in New Zealand and Australia post World War II, there’s a chance you knew about the … Read more
Chlöe Swarbrick’s entry into the Auckland mayoral race captured the imagination of tens of thousands of voters – including, but not limited to, scores of politically disillusioned millennials. Now she wants to channel that passion into a run for the Green Party at next year’s general election. What is the right age to enter politics? … Read more
So Leonard Cohen has died. It is, says Simon Wilson, the end of the Bacchanal. When I was a boy of 15 I was infatuated with a girl who was perfect in every way except one: she was not infatuated with me. I know. Still, she did like me and she was kind, and she did … Read more
Compiling the best reading of the week from your friendly local website. Mark Jennings: When Paul Henry let rip that obnoxious Herald rant he was already through with TV3 “The signs have been there for some time. Henry, whose reported departure Mediaworks has refused to confirm, has been openly saying he was sick of the … Read more