Alex Casey transforms into a high society Aucklander for a day as an extra on the Filthy Rich set, and discovers the truth about glamour and stardom the hard way. “And there’s these…” the wardrobe woman said, presenting me with some enormous diamanté earrings. I hadn’t worn earrings since I was 13 because my friends used to tell … Read more
Steve Braunias recommends the best of the 2016 Pulitzers. The 2016 Pulitzer Prizes – recognising the best journalism in America, and nominating some of the best books in the the world – were announced earlier today. You ought to have a read of some of these things. They are, as judges didn’t say, fucking fantastic. … Read more
As a kind of prequel to Tim Murphy’s excellent court transcript story on the Spinoff yesterday, Steve Braunias exhumes a previously unpublished 2011 column on his own c***-related tribulations. It was originally written for Metro magazine, but editor Simon Wilson refused to publish it. Last Christmas [2010] I landed myself in another fine mess when I pressed SEND. Claire … Read more
In its annual tradition of blowing something up, Neighbours based a whole week around the destruction of their cursed hotel. Ethan Sills sat through five nights of deaths, shock returns and a whole lot of dust. For a show that is predominantly about middle-class white people arguing and sleeping with each other, Neighbours loves a … Read more
Opinion: NZ’s ranking as one of the least corrupt countries in the world counts for nothing if our good reputation is used to aid corruption elsewhere, writes Amnesty International’s Grant Bayldon My daughter returned home with from seeing Romeo and Juliet at Auckland Pop-up Globe the other night quoting one of Shakespeare’s famous lines: “What’s … Read more
After witnessing two near tragedies in as many seasons of Our First Home, Madeleine Chapman has found the common cause. Our First Home is the tamest and safest reality show on television. Or so we thought. With the show’s second season coming to an end, Our First Home has seen two near tragedies play out on our television screens. I was … 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. This week, Claire and Jamie head for Paris, where their ‘to do’ list consisted of: 1) infiltrating the French royal court 2) drinking all the profits from their new business 3) living a life of … Read more
New Zealand teams once again dominate the podium in Scotty Stevenson’s latest Super Rugby power rankings. 1. Chiefs Rd 8. BYE Last week: 1 (N/C) The rugby world has a massive crush on the Chiefs and who am I to argue with the Power of Love? You can’t argue with the Power of Love, and … Read more
Tara Ward brings you her Shortland Street Power Rankings for last week, including Harry’s tears, Michael’s fear fall and the worst pool party of all time. 1) Finn encourages Harry to live his dreams Finn and Harry’s cunning plan to host the pool party of the century became a cannonball of chlorine-riddled disappointment. It was … Read more
Tim Murphy brings you perhaps the finest court transcript in New Zealand’s long and glorious judicial history. On January 12 2016 Taranaki Judge Allan Roberts announced his retirement, as reported by the Taranaki Daily News. A man named Troy LaRue found the story on social media, and made an uncomplimentary remark about Roberts’ appearance. Unluckily, he was summonsed to … Read more
Alongside Russia and Ukraine, New Zealand is complicit in a climate swindle, and our reputation is at risk, writes Geoff Simmons. New Zealand has been a willing participant in a wholesale climate fraud. The trail to prove this allegation is long and winding, and the detail can all be read in a new report here. … Read more
The NZ PM has been welcomed to Beijing with a commentary at the state news agency (nb See update at foot of article) cautioning such an ‘absolute outsider’ against raising the South China Sea dispute, suggesting to do so would imperil trade relations. It doesn’t come completely out of the blue, explains Asia-Pacific expert David … Read more
Compiling the best reading of the week from your friendly local website. Alex Casey and Duncan Greive: ‘I will come forward’ “At 11pm, in her inner city Auckland flat, a 26-year-old product manager named Bridget read Allison’s Facebook post. They’d known one another for 14 years, but she had been unaware of Allison’s history with Tidball. It … Read more
Tim Murphy was a sceptic when Victoria Crone’s candidacy for the Auckland mayoralty was announced. But watching her form at a public meeting on Thursday has him questioning that judgement. It’s rumoured among Auckland’s political cognoscenti that Victoria Crone, should she fail to pull off a miracle and win the Super City mayoralty, has been promised … Read more
Joseph Harper plays Hyrule Warriors Legends and loves it, but not really. A few years ago Nintendo and Koei Tecmo teamed up to create a Zelda/Dynasty Warriors mash-up. Zelda, Ruto, Darunia, and various Links bash their way through hordes of enemies, earning upgrades and generally thwarting evil. For some reason ($$$$$) Nintendo decided to port the … Read more
Ever wondered how to sound like you’ve been hit by a log? The star of new XBox time travel game Quantum Break is here to help. Shawn Ashmore gives José Barbosa an exclusive acting masterclass. This video gaming coverage is brought to you with the help of Bigpipe, the ISP that’s very timey wimey.
Madeleine Chapman and her Aunty Henga assess the skills, builds, and tattoos in Game of Bros, Māori television’s reality quest for the ultimate Polynesian warrior. On Wednesday morning I walked past Louis on my way to work and didn’t say anything. Moving on. Last night Aunty Henga was called away from the dinner table to “come watch your … Read more
Alex Chapman took the opportunity to look at the last year of New Zealand cricket, bookended by two brutal defeats. What if we’d bowled first? What if Brendon McCullum hadn’t been bowled early? What if simply being nice and the spirit of the game were enough to carry a team to a world title? What … Read more
Charlotte Grimshaw reviews Some Rain Must Fall: My Struggle, Volume 5 by Karl Ove Knausgaard There was no plot, I wanted to entwine the internal with the external, the neural pathways in the brain with the fishing smacks in the harbour… – Karl Ove Knausgaard If you’ve ploughed through Volumes One to Four of Karl Ove … Read more
There are calls for New Zealand’s age of consent to be lowered. Madeleine Holden argues impulsive law-making is a bad idea. Debate about the age of consent in New Zealand has been reignited after five young men were recently discharged without conviction for having sex with underage girls. The accused in the Opotiki case were five 17-18 year olds who … Read more
Wrenches, old iPhones, and Kunzites. Ruth Spencer goes on a journey through the good and the great of television shopping. I once watched a TVSN host wonder aloud which planet it was that had the rings. She consulted with the producer through her earpiece, then opened it up to people emailing from home before going … Read more
There’s a new Bachelor, a new mansion, and the same old dorks talking about it. The Fantasy Suite is The Spinoff’s weekly podcast about The Bachelor NZ, hosted by Jane Yee with Alex Casey and Duncan Greive. Have a listen below, or download here on iTunes, or here on Stitcher. This week the #TFSPod Squad … Read more
Helen Clark faced the United Nations overnight in a marathon session in New York to pitch her case for becoming the next secretary-general. Former Herald editor-in-chief Tim Murphy set the alarm to watch. It was billed as the “Job Interview in Front of the Whole World”. Live-streamed from the United Nations in New York, one … Read more
Got a hankering for a bit of split-screen co-op? Tough bikkies, writes Don Rowe, because local multiplayer is all but dead. There once was a time where myself and several associates kept Griffins afloat in the snack business. Slouched hideously forward and wrapped in blankets like miser pilgrims, we’d play the Halo 2 campaign from start … Read more
In the middle of a whirlwind New Zealand press tour, Gabriel Macht, star of Lightbox legal drama Suits, reveals the show’s darkest secret to Calum Henderson: there are no actual records in Harvey Specter’s record collection, just shelves of empty sleeves. The elephant in the room, and pretty much every room that Gabriel Macht ever … Read more
Should you watch the Warriors’ try to capture the all-time NBA wins record, or see Kobe wheeze out the last breaths of his storied NBA career? Andrew Mulligan makes the call. There are two history-making NBA games on today. Both have historical significance and both are completely different. On ESPN2, the Golden State Warriors have … Read more
Katie Parker reopens the locker of her adolescence in Being Eve, the local teen series brimming with asymmetrical tank tops, IRL dating and fourth wall-breaking. Like all naive pre-teens, at the age of 10 all I wanted in the world was to hit adolescence. Whether I was trimming my non-existent leg hair with scissors or studying … Read more
CERA, the acronym that has presided over Christchurch since the 2011 earthquakes, will close its doors on April 18th, 2016. James Dann Power Ranks each and every one of the “anchor projects” that have been completed in the quake city under CERA’s reign – a task slightly less Herculean than it should have been. CERA … Read more
One of New Zealand’s best and most illustrious book editors, Stephen Stratford (“I am a polite person, mostly”), vents about having to deal with writers and publishers. What I dread #1 When meeting someone new, the question I most dread is, “What do you do?” It is really hard to answer. As a freelancer, I do … Read more