Tara Ward revisits the high fashion of the 1986 Benson & Hedges Fashion Design Awards, complete with wool, leather, and bold shoulders. The Benson & Hedges Fashion Design Awards was to fashion what The Dog Show was to farmers: the premier showcase of what made our country great. Which was mostly leather and wool, apparently. … Read more
Wyoming Paul reviews The Vegetarian, the slim, erotic novel which has become the literary sensation of 2016 after it won this year’s Man Booker international prize for fiction. After a violent and disturbing nightmare, an ordinary Korean woman decides to stop eating meat. She empties the kitchen of fish, eggs, pork, and for the first … Read more
The prime minister told reporters yesterday there are plenty of (relatively) affordable Auckland homes on TradeMe. Madeleine Chapman searched the site to see if he was right. Asked yesterday about Auckland’s average house price nearing the $1 million mark, John Key was as upbeat as ever: “If you go on Trade Me this afternoon and … Read more
Their rugby and league career paths are strikingly similar, writes Jamie Wall, so why does Sonny Bill Williams get so much grief when Brad Thorn is universally admired? SBW is back, but in blue this time. His form on the field will be the subject of much conjecture, but one thing will be for sure: … Read more
Calum Henderson watches the return of The Block NZ, and pines for the rhombus daybeds of yesteryear. Host Mark Richardson took a deep breath and began to speak slowly, measuredly, the way a judge might deliver a long prison sentence. “Welcome… to The Block… for 2016.” It has been 178 days since the last edition of … Read more
Sue Orr admires the latest work of the master: Owen Marshall’s new novel, Love As a Stranger. I’ve always been wary of thrillers. I don’t like the way they so brashly presume they’re going to thrill me. That gets my goat, as my mum would say. Their ardent determination to surprise feels fated to self-sabotage. … Read more
He may be the most polarising figure in modern New Zealand rugby but Sonny Bill Williams is a big deal, and the Blues have made the right call in signing him, writes Scotty Stevenson. Never before has a player split the nation like Sonny Bill Williams. His arrival in New Zealand in 2010 led to … Read more
The Spinoff wrangled a real-life mystery religious person to dissect the depiction of faith in The Path, a drama following members of a fictional cult. My husband and I sat down and watched an episode of The Path the other night. When you both work and have an eight month old child, sitting down and … Read more
Facts and ‘cloistered’ expertise have well and truly been put in their place by the Seven Sharp host and his unique brand of smug bullshit, writes Siouxsie Wiles “Thank God the scientists aren’t running things!” So concluded Seven Sharp host Mike Hosking’s assessment on Monday night of calls by more than 120 doctors and scientists … Read more
Labeen? Grabour? The marriage of the two main parties of the left makes sense, but the course of true love never did run smooth. Shortly after the Labour Party’s calamitous defeat at the election in 2014, the soon-to-be-former leader David Cunliffe admitted that they had erred in rebuking an offer made by the Green Party, … Read more
The latest installment of the Doom series finally finds its way into Liam Maguren’s trembling hands. What he finds within is something on a biblical scale. I’ve written previously about the legacy of 1993’s Doom and my experience with the new Doom’s multiplayer BETA. I have a tender fondness for the trail-blazing original and while the … Read more
New Zealand may finally be moving past its fixation on the All Blacks and Madeleine Chapman is bloody excited about it. This morning on Stuff, an opinion piece by Cas Carter mourned the impending loss of New Zealand’s identity as a rugby-loving country. “Our image as a hard core rugby loving nation is under threat,” … Read more
Philip Matthews reviews Movie Journal: The Rise of the New American Cinema, 1959-1971 by Jonas Mekas Here is an eyewitness account of something almost happening. The year is 1965. “Nothing much really happens in the film, if we want action. Miss Sedgwick goes about her make-up business, she listens to rock ‘n’ roll music; she … Read more
As we come to the end of NZ Music Month, Joanna McLeod remembers the most iconic times that NZ music weaseled its way onto international prime time television. The year was 1994. It was stinking hot, because of course it was. May in Tokyo was sweaty, and the American School I attended didn’t have air conditioning. … Read more
It’s been fun going crazy for any Steven Adams news over the last couple of weeks but the time has come to bid farewell to our national NBA team, the Oklahoma City Thunder, who will definitely lose Game 7 of the NBA’s Western Conference finals today. This Oklahoma City Thunder season has been a hell … Read more
The latest episode of our bi-weekly pop music chat for umusic, shot and edited by The Spinoff’s own José Barbosa. It involves two pop rookies – The Spinoff’s Alex Casey and bFM’s Joseph Harper – listening to state-of-the-art pop music and having a chat about it. Simple. This week they are joined on the couch … Read more
Tara Ward brings you her Shortland Street Power Rankings for last week, including a grim Warner birthday scene and an astounding performance by TK Samuels. 1) Chris turns 49 and all his dreams come true The Warners threw caution to the wind and celebrated Chris’s birthday in a style not seen in Ferndale since Nick … Read more
Round 14 of Super Rugby channeled the 2002 Olympic speed skating final as the Highlanders and Chiefs fell on the final turn and allowed the Crusaders to cruise into the break at the top of Scotty Stevenson’s power rankings. 1. Crusaders Rd 14: 26-21 v Blues Last week: 2 (up 1) I’ve said it before … Read more
After Sunday’s devastating defeat to the Golden State Warriors, can the Oklahoma City Thunder come back to claim Game 7 in the NBA Western Conference finals? The outcome, writes Madeleine Chapman, may already have been spelled out in the final of the Scripps National Spelling Bee. While anyone who has ever gotten angry during a … Read more
An early participant in the saga that became Tickled, Joshua Drummond recounts the online comments, threats and shadow-boxing in the leadup to David Farrier and Dylan Reeve’s acclaimed documentary. For me, it started with trolling. David Farrier had just left a message on the Facebook page of Jane O’Brien Media, a company that seemed to exist solely … Read more
Our resident Outlander fanatic Tara Ward shares her thoughts from the much-anticipated return of time-travel romance series. Contains spoilers. And smoulders. Oh, Scotland. It’s you, it’s really you! How we’ve missed your honest green hills and your giardia-free waterways. Even Outlander show-runner Ron D. Moore was relieved to say adieu to miserable old France, replacing King Louis’ sauntering … Read more
In this excerpt from Migrant Journeys: New Zealand taxi drivers tell their stories, Cambodian taxi driver Vanna Seng tells his story – how he came to New Zealand as a refugee when he was 15, after growing up in the terror of the Khmer Rouge. I was seven or eight years old [when Pol Plot … Read more
The Spinoff and Barkers are proud to present a new seven-part podcast series: The Get. Each week Canon award winning journalist Naomi Arnold will interview some of New Zealand’s best feature writers and news journalists about how they hunted down the biggest stories of their careers. A few years ago, I got annoyed that I couldn’t … Read more
Thick skin comes from scar tissue, and Sarah Walker, BMX pro, has more to teach us about early-stage businesses than an analogy that straps you into a fairground ride, writes software developer and investor Rowan Simpson Founders of early-stage ventures often describe their experience as like being on a roller coaster. It’s easy to see … Read more
The kid from Milton has established herself as a journalist to be reckoned with, but much will depend on the Sam-and-Mike chemistry, writes Mark Jennings, former long serving TV3 news chief. Samantha Hayes’ appointment as Hilary Barry’s replacement is big news – in Milton. Hayes hails from the South Otago town of 2,000 people, best … Read more
Compiling the best reading of the week from your friendly local website. Sacha McNeil: “My work BFF is leaving” – Sacha McNeil farewells Hilary Barry “A couple of years ago Hilary took me aside and earnestly explained that she wanted a mentor, and wondered if we could be that to each other. She went on to … Read more
As the Auckland Art Fair wraps up for another year, our anonymous art world insider looks back at the festival’s highs and lows. The easiest way to describe the Auckland Art Fair, at The Cloud until today, is to say it is basically a trade fair – one large hall, many small booths, many traders … Read more
We’re in the middle of the single biggest democratic act in the land and there’s hardly been a ripple about it. Paul Brislen issues a clarion call to New Zealanders – or at least those with kids at school Every three years we, as a nation, get to make this decision and what we decide … Read more
Given his track record on social media it was only right that we would learn of Konrad Hurrell’s new NRL club via Facebook post, writes Ben Stanley. But will the Gold Coast prove boom or bust for the mercurial former Warrior? There would be no scoop by a Sydney tabloid. No official release timed by … Read more