Madeleine Chapman employs some good old fashioned nepotism to talk to Christel Chapman about the Pop Up Globe, relating to Juliet, and mispronouncing Shakespeare. The number one blessing and curse with having nine siblings is that you experience a lot of second-hand emotions that you wouldn’t otherwise be exposed to. When a sibling is hurt, … Read more
We requested police records on the destruction of the Waitangi Dildo under the Official Information Act. What we got back left us with more questions than answers. At first glance, it’s just another Government form. The police property sheet noting the final destination of the Waitangi Dildo is nothing flashy. Nothing new. A jumble of … Read more
Giovanni Tiso reviews Broken Vows, a biography of Tony Blair by Tom Bowers. There was that time Tony Blair dropped a jar full of honey in the kitchen, and got down on his knees to clean up the mess with a brush and pan. Or that other time when the bath was overflowing upstairs and … Read more
With The Mindy Project returning from hiatus to Lightbox soon, Alex Casey assembles some of her hopes and dreams for the rest of the season. Contains spoilers. Season four of The Mindy Project went on hiatus in December, leaving us all in a cold sweat over whether or not Mindy was about to tearfully say … Read more
Alex Casey assembles her contestant power rankings for week six, including stolen dogs, a birthday for Naz and a daredevil massage. Ah well Rebecca, that’s us then. Farewell to the greatest potential reality TV love story ever told. Farewell to the book deal resulting in a global bestseller, the inevitable reality spin-off series called Pinky … Read more
After week six on The Bachelor NZ, some of the greatest minds in the country* assemble to talk about the big issues including Ceri’s tragic expressions and eerie similarities with Twilight. Anny Ma on rejected cheese What kind of world do we live in where I have to watch two people walk away from a guaranteed love … Read more
Calum Henderson sat down to watch The Café, a morning show set in a café. “This is the perfect show,” Mike Puru raved halfway through Monday morning’s first episode of The Café. “We’ve got a barista on set, we’ve got a kitchen on set… I am in heaven right now.” After years serving as Jay Jay and Dom’s sidekick … Read more
This Saturday marks the return of Record Store Day, the annual international celebration of independent music retail. What started as a fun way to support your local record store has become an orgy of price-gouging and corporate greed, says Alan Perrott. We must destroy Record Store Day to save Record Store Day. Which, frankly, is … Read more
The Chiefs still top the rankings after a close call against the Blues, but the Hurricanes are breathing down their necks following a niggly win over the Jaguares in Wellington. Scotty Stevenson sorts it all out in the KFC Super Rugby Power Rankings. 1. Chiefs Rd 7: 29-23 v Blues Last week: 1 (N/C) Yes, … Read more
Dominic Corry sat down with Aaron Paul to discuss Scientology, Breaking Bad, and leaving his character at work on Lightbox’s new cult drama The Path. Recently I was especially thrilled to spend some time in a Los Angeles hotel suite with Aaron Paul, an actor whose place in television history is already assured thanks to his iconic performance as … Read more
Earlier this year several women spoke out on social media about their experiences with Andrew Tidball, founder of Cheese on Toast and a prominent member of the New Zealand music community. Alex Casey and Duncan Greive spent two months interviewing those women, along with their friends and family. The interviews, along with emails and chat logs, are the … Read more
Tara Ward brings you her Shortland Street Power Rankings for last week, including Lucy’s diary, Ali’s waxwork model and a TV nightmare at the Warner manor. 1) In an exclusive excerpt from Lucy’s diary, we discover she had the busiest week in the history of Shortland Street: Tuesday Broke up with Finn, but not before I … Read more
As editor of the superb new collection of essays in Dispatches from Continent Seven: An anthology of Antarctic science, Rebecca Priestley has chosen wisely and wittily. Her book includes a frightening vision of natural disaster by Kathryn Smith, who examines how a rapidly warming ocean has encouraged the invasion of the complete bastards of the … Read more
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. This week on Game of Bros, the challenges revolved around food and cooking. Naturally Aunty Henga and I ate KFC for dinner whilst planting our judging eyes on the final seven bros. In memory of … Read more
The Golden State Warriors are gunning for the all-time NBA wins record, but they’ve already sewn up the title for best facial hair ever. Joseph Harper gazes upon the squad and decides ‘who warri-ore it best’. The Golden State Warriors have a chance to make history as the winningest basketball team of all time. Watching Warriors games … Read more
The day after the Brussels bombings, Auckland’s War Memorial Museum released a bizarre statement on history, terror and good vs evil. What on earth were they thinking, asks Janet McAllister. Who said it: George W Bush or Auckland Museum? 1. “Terror only wins if we flinch.” 2. “Terrorists commit atrocities because they want the civilized … Read more
David Lynch’s iconic television series Twin Peaks first aired 26 years ago on network television. Ruth Spencer relives her enduring relationship with the cult classic. A photo on Facebook of VHS tapes in a skip, an entire series sprawled against some hedge clippings. Did anyone want these Twin Peaks tapes before they went to the tip? Did … Read more
New verse by Bill Nelson of Wellington. Someone needs to take control You should be planting autumn crops! The calendar says every morning from under its flimsy door magnets. Seed your onions! Mound your potatoes! In the real world, wild and disowned, heirloom tomatoes infiltrate silver beet. A patch of rocket, perhaps self-seeded, elbows a … Read more
Our resident Outlander fanatic Tara Ward shares her thoughts from the much-anticipated premiere of time-travel romance series. Contains spoilers. And smoulders. All good things come to those who wait: a Briscoes sale, a Monday-ised stat holiday, and the season two premiere of Outlander. It’s been ten long months since Claire and Jamie Fraser sailed for France, … Read more
A year ago today, New Zealand’s most idiosyncratic broadcaster returned to our televisions (and airwaves) with his self-titled show. Tim Murphy explains how he became a reluctant fan. I didn’t expect to like the Paul Henry show. I didn’t much like the idea of Paul Henry. Not just because of the Dikshit puerility and Governor-General offence. … Read more
Marion McLeod reviews Before the War by Fay Weldon. I threw away all my Fay Weldons last year. Well, I didn’t actually throw them. I piled them into a rusting supermarket trolley and pushed them across the road to Arty Bees. All of them – about two dozen novels (mostly hardback), a few collections of … Read more
We fixed Larry Williams’ abominable ‘ban the beggars’ column. For the most part, all it took was replacing the words ‘beggars’ and ‘begging’ with ‘boomers’. It started with Bob Jones. Then the virus spread. A Wellington mayoral contender called for begging to be banned, in an edited Facebook post that originally called addiction a “lifestyle choice”. A … Read more
One of New Zealand television’s longest running series Praise Be hits three decades on our screens on April 10. José Barbosa relives a lifetime of Sunday morning worship as archived on NZ On Screen. There are many things I find reassuring: ironed clothes, community libraries, that falsetto “eeeh?” sound John Key makes when he’s trying … Read more
Were it down to competence, ability and integrity, the former NZ PM would be all but a shoo-in for Secretary General. But it’s much less straightforward than that, writes former NZ ambassador to the UN Terence O’Brien Helen Clark’s bid to be next UN Secretary General is now official. It is hardly a surprise. Speculation … Read more
Outside the arcane world of tax havens few had noticed Mossack Fonseca creeping into the South Pacific, but New Zealand journalist Michael Field was one. He recalls how he confronted the co-founder of the law firm at the centre of the Panama Papers data leak. Jürgen Mossack came to Auckland to shut me up. For … Read more
After week five on The Bachelor NZ, some of the greatest minds in the country* assemble to talk about the big issues including Gabs’ nastiness, Naz’ nastiness, and Jordan’s nasty striped singlets. Madeleine Chapman on the casual racism Naz, Naz, Naz. She’s all over the internets with her hit list and her narking. Everyone wants to … Read more
Tuesday night’s episode of The Crowd Goes Wild featured what is perhaps the greatest interview scoop New Zealand television has ever seen. Madeleine Chapman brings you the hot take. Sadly, no one at The Crowd Goes Wild was even involved. Not Mark, Andrew, Hayley, Chris, James, Makere – not even Huw. Instead, a French reporter … Read more
Alex Casey assembles her contestant power rankings for week five, including ponytail nightmares, cow pyramid schemes and a tonne of spaghetti. It’s our last week in Hawaii and things are continuing to unravel. Jordan’s nearly worn out the bum of his floral boardies and is constantly dicing with death via these dramatic runs on the beach … Read more
Joseph Harper plays and endorses Nintendo’s first foray into smartphone gaming: the bizarro Miitomo. Given Nintendo’s status as a kind of jovial, fun-obsessed Grandpappy to the video game world, it’s pretty remarkable that up until now they haven’t ventured into the omnipotent and big $$$ world of mobile phone gaming. They’re the all time masters … Read more