You wouldn’t know it looking around the meeting, but we were the voice of the roughly half a million Aucklanders under 24, a voice that has been largely sidelined in the debate on the city’s future. Yesterday the democratic deficit present in Auckland’s local body politics was well and truly evident. In a room of … Read more
Inspired by more recent NZ On Air funding controversies, Gareth Shute revisits the 1976 historical epic The Governor, and argues why it remains our finest example of a funding furore. Julie Christie recently made headlines for complaining in an email to NZ On Air head, Miriam Dean, that her integrity had been questioned by managers at the funding body. … Read more
If Haru Nomura’s win at the Australian Women’s Open – her first in 72 tournaments – makes her Marky Mark, what does that make runner-up Lydia Ko? Greg Bruce draws the link between early-90s pop and LPGA golf. ‘Marky’ Mark Wahlberg, younger brother of Donnie Wahlberg, scored a number one hit in 1991 with ‘Good … Read more
Music journalism legend Murray Cammick – Murray the Cam! – served as both publisher and editor of Rip It Up, but few events in his long career were as strange as the time he attended the launch of a Herbs album in Ruatōria, right in the middle of the Rasta uprising…. I was publisher of … Read more
Mark Jennings is stepping down as the news boss at MediaWorks after spending 27 years in the TV3 newsroom. He will be replaced by a man who has never worked in TV. Former NineMSN boss Hal Crawford’s appointment is more evidence of NewsHub’s increasingly lusty embrace of the digital age. It wants to move away … Read more
Mark Jennings led 3 News for over a quarter of a century. Today it was announced he is stepping down. David Farrier, one of countless journalists to have worked and learned under him, pays tribute to a New Zealand journalism legend. Oh God, it was just awful. I was sitting in Mark Jennings’ office. It … Read more
Today TVNZ announced that Survivor New Zealand will be coming to TV2 this year, with potential applicants encouraged to apply here. But which NZ TV legend will host it? Alex Casey and Calum Henderson see who the cap fits. Matty McLean He’s already proven his chops as a Survivor superfan right here on the bloody … Read more
Approximately an hour ago The Spinoff published a story indicating that Julie Christie had resigned from the board of MediaWorks – and implied that she was currently employed in an executive role. We have since been informed that this is not the case – that she remains on the board, and has no intention of resigning. … Read more
A personal essay by Talia Marshall (Rangitane ki Wairau, Ngati Kuia) in response to Ngati Dread by Angus Gillies, a journalist who investigated the killings, arsons, and various assorted apocalyptic madness during the Rasta reign of terror in Ruatoria: “A book about stoners you should never read stoned.” Ruatōria. Ruatōrea, a place or an idea, a Valhalla … Read more
Arguing With My Dad is an occasional column which features Greg Bruce in conversation with his father about sports. In an unprecedented turn of events, Greg finds himself agreeing with his dad on everything – until an unlikely saviour arrives. I was always aware that one day I might come to write one of these … Read more
Welcome to TV Mum, a weekly podcast starring Brendon Green and his Mum, Dianne. Every week Brendon will try and get Dianne to remember the details of a TV show she’s recently watched. The resulting discussion is a journey through Dianne’s shaky memory and never ends up where you’d expect. According to Dianne there’s plenty … Read more
Why was Conrad Smith always praised for his ‘intelligent’ play, while Ma’a Nonu was often branded an ‘imposing physical specimen’? Jamie Wall takes on racial stereotyping in the New Zealand rugby media. There’s an opening in the archetypes department of NZ rugby. No, not the bashful, camera-shy tight forward. Not even the first five who … Read more
Lindsey Dawson has been binge-watching Mozart in the Jungle. Despite being about fuddy-duddy music, it won two Golden Globes this year. She can understand why. What’s the story? The New York Symphony Orchestra. It sounds grand but this fictional institution is fighting to maintain reputation, cash flow and audience. Enter ageing maestro Thomas, played with … Read more
In her weekly column, Zoe Scheltema looks at an issue or trend in the world of beauty. This week, she unlocks the secrets behind some of the most dramatic looks at the Pride Parade, with the help of drag makeup artist Sam McGregor. The annual Pride Parade took over Ponsonby Road on Saturday evening, as 65 floats celebrated … Read more
As mobile gaming becomes the dominant force in the entertainment industry, one company’s aggressive endorsement campaign has established them as king of the hill. But they are in increasingly strange ethical territory, writes Don Rowe. What do Kate Upton, Mariah Carey and Arnold Schwarzenegger all have in common? Successful entertainment careers aside, the answer is seven-figure … Read more
The live email interview is a form which no one seems to practice but will almost certainly revolutionise journalism, possibly. It has the zip and tension of meeting in the flesh, and writing questions and answers adds a kind of literary dimension. This interview with Angus Gillies took place last night (Monday). Gillies is a TV3 … Read more
Aaron Yap watches Fabrice Gobert’s The Returned, a moody French supernatural series where the dead come to life in a quiet alpine town. In Val Lewton’s 1943 film I Walked with a Zombie, there’s a terrific exchange between its protagonists, Betsy (Frances Dee), a nurse travelling to Saint Sebastian, and Paul (Tom Conway), a plantation owner whose wife she’s been … Read more
One of the most remarkable books ever written about crime, race, religious voodoo, and the New Zealand way of life and death is the Ngati Dread trilogy by journalist Angus Gillies. He self-published these three very strange and quite epic accounts of a five-year period (1985-1990) when there was a kind of Maori Rasta uprising … Read more
Tara Ward brings you her Shortland Street Power Rankings for last week, including Victoria’s last-ditch campaign for #redpeak, Jimmy’s new slang and Leanne not giving a blue duck about anything. 1) Leanne gets funky The age-old question “where do we go to get our funk on?” is right up there with “why am I here?” and “what is … Read more
Five years on from the catastrophic earthquake, some of Canterbury’s finest reveal how they’re planning to mark the occasion, and how optimistic they feel about the recovery. At 12:51pm on February 22, 2011, Canterbury was changed forever, when a 6.3 magnitude earthquake struck. One hundred and eighty five people would lose their lives, with vast … Read more
Madeleine Chapman has been renovating houses with her parents for many years, living out the entire premise of Our First Home NZ. So how does the show stack up to the reality? “If boring is what you’re best at, well, you better get out of here right now.” It was a controversial opener from Our First Home’s … Read more
Alex Casey introduces No Activity, the brilliantly funny Australian cop show where nothing ever really happens. What’s the story? Referred to as “the Seinfeld of cop shows” by The Sydney Morning Herald, No Activity plonks itself right down on the dashboard of a cop car during a series of painfully uneventful stakeouts. Watch policemen Hendy and … Read more
Sean Marks’ elevation to Brooklyn Nets GM was seen by most New Zealanders as a deeply unfortunate promotion. But when Andrew Mulligan interviewed him he caught a hint that it’s part of a bigger plan… From the outside the decision to take the job offered by the Brooklyn Nets seems like really bad idea for … Read more
Calum Henderson watched the first episodes of Family Feud and was transported back to the glory days of New Zealand reality television. 2015 will go down in history as TV3’s year of reality, when big franchises like The Bachelor and X Factor and The Block formed an imposing fleet of multi-night battleships, destined to sail … Read more
The jubilation which has accompanied Sean Marks elevation to NBA GM is deeply misplaced, says Hayden Donnell. Sean Marks just got named the general manager of the Brooklyn Nets. That’s weird because yesterday, the team’s owner said he’d never heard of ‘Sean Marks’. When asked specifically about Sean Marks, Prokhorov said: “I have never heard … Read more
The X Files is known for both its brilliance and dreadful inconsistency, but did the latest episode drop the ball completely? David Farrier laments what has happened to his favourite show. According to my hazy memory of the Bible, at some point God got annoyed at the great teamwork humans were demonstrating as they came … Read more
Ben Stanley spoke with midfield vet Simon Elliott about his time in the Premier League, the All Whites’ 2010 World Cup campaign, and why New Zealand football hasn’t kept up its momentum. It was a thing of beauty from Simon Elliott. A long, looping cross streaming above the turf at Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit, dropping down … Read more
A podcast where comedians Tim Batt and Guy Montgomery watch the same shit movie every week for a year has won them fans all over the world and three million downloads. Now Batt is creating his own stable of podcasts called Little Empire Podcast Network. He talks to José Barbosa about the stupidest idea for … Read more
A pantoum by Wellington writer Claudia Jardine. My Iron Cervix Whilst muttering all for my sexual prime, I lay on the bed and tried not to faint. The doctor was having a hard time so the nurse held my arm, a pre-emptive restraint. I lay on the bed and tried not to faint, … Read more