In the wake of the Buzzfeed/BBC investigation into match-fixing in tennis, we spoke to two members of the international sports betting industry to understand how the matches get rigged. The identities of both the journalist and the employees have been withheld in return for their speaking candidly on this issue. Chris Kermode, head of the Association … Read more
Everybody else is dabbin’ it so why can’t we? Calum Henderson surveys the field and offers a tempting range of odds on the first Kiwi to dab during a live TV sports event. Cam Newton wasn’t the first professional athlete to dab during a game, but he dabbed with such panache that it helped ignite … Read more
Patricia Highsmith’s second novel The Price of Salt dealt with an obsessive lesbian relationship in an era of homophobia so severe her agent warned of career suicide. Peter Wells reviews the book, reissued and retitled Carol, and finds a ‘daring masterpiece’ which offered a glimmer of hope in the ‘gloom zone’ of the 1950’s. Graham Greene called her ‘the … Read more
José Barbosa watches Checkpoint’s flash new live stream while Duncan Greive listens to John Campbell’s return to RNZ on the good old AM radio. Even though reviewing the first edition of a show is like reviewing a book after reading its first page, they’re going to tell you what they thought anyway. José Barbosa “The Rhythm and Vines crowd … Read more
To support his controversial claims that women are not “hardwired” to play chess, chess grandmaster Nigel Short played 20 women at once in Auckland’s Aotea Square. Alex Casey watched the games play out, and spoke to some young women looking to keep this king in check. A middle-aged man wearing a pink shirt eyeballs a ten … Read more
With Shortland Street returning tonight to answer the questions of last year’s bloody cliffhanger, Tara Ward predicts ten potential plotlines. It’s been four long weeks since the Shortland Street Christmas cliffhanger. When the automatic doors of our favourite state-funded hospital closed last December, we witnessed scenes of great drama and terror. Drew lay dying on … Read more
In this excerpt from Dan Carter: My Story the All Blacks’ first five details the physical and emotional agony of the injury which ended his 2011 World Cup campaign on rugby league field in Wellington. Taken from Dan Carter: My Story by Dan Carter and The Spinoff editor Duncan Greive, published by Upstart Press and priced at $49.99 … Read more
Lotto presenter Sonia Gray first found fame as the conniving Aleesha Cook on Shortland Street. She reflects on life as a soap villain ahead of the iconic show’s return to our screens this week. As New Zealand prepares itself for the fallout from Ferndale’s first brush with homegrown terrorism, I find myself reflecting on the time it … Read more
The Premier League schedule returns to some semblance of normality this weekend, after a typically hectic holiday period. Here’s how each side fared over the break, in the order they sit on the table. 1. Arsenal (43 points) Won v Man City 2-1 Lost v Southampton 0-4 Won v Bournemouth 2-0 Won v Newcastle 1-0 … Read more
Whether you’re trading in stocks or assault rifles, the stakes are high. But who are the real gangsters? Don Rowe talks with one guy who might know – Sons of Anarchy screenwriter Brady Dahl. Someone, it might have been Immortal Technique, once said that the real gangsters are the ones wearing suits. Anyone who’s seen … Read more
HATE Some people are meant to be forgiven and others are meant to be hated forever….. ………………………………………………………. ………………………………………………………. I don’t think it’s right to hate people It’s just that I don’t care To wake each day in a snakeskin negligee and light myself on fire with such ethical behaviours Once………………I tried to give … Read more
Tennis is alone amongst professional sports in having its referee frequently yell at the crowd. Duncan Greive thinks that sucks. It had not stopped raining. Big great drops beating straight down on a windless, humid Auckland day. Not great conditions for tennis. But the rain ceased and cloud started to clear as the afternoon wore on, … Read more
The galaxy is awash with shitty indie games, but in Flightless’ Element Don Rowe discovers a New Zealand made, space-themed strategy game that’s thoroughly worth your time. In a market saturated with derivative big-box franchises and cookie-cutter annual releases, experimental game design has been left in most part to dorito-crusted indie designers and smelly bedroom coders. The results … Read more
Will Phil Mickelson win the US Open? Will Lydia Ko stay focused? Will Danny Lee finally gain a sense of humour? Greg Bruce offers some thoughts on 2016 and some half-assed predictions. With a new financial crisis and nuclear war on the Korean Peninsula both imminent, we turn our attention now to golf. As 2016 … Read more
John Fogerty wasn’t the only member of Creedence Clearwater Revival – he wasn’t even the only Fogerty – but the meticulous perfectionist was the band’s guiding light and driving force. CCR fan and New Zealand author John Summers writes on Fogerty’s memoir Fortunate Son. The room looked out to a grass quad, a sunny spot among … Read more
Inside the Lightbox is a sponsored post where we mine the extensive Lightbox catalogue for shows you might like to watch. This week we line up some of the shining stars from the 73rd Golden Globe awards, including Mozart in the Jungle, Transparent and Mr Robot. THE WINNERS Mozart in the Jungle Mozart in the Jungle is … Read more
For James McOnie and his fellow boarders in ’80s Hamilton, David Bowie was a lifeline to a more thrilling and artistic world. He remembers the songs that kept the schoolboys sane. David Bowie was a surprising and ambiguous genius; his music gave common ground to people with polar opposite views and lifestyles. It also shocked … Read more
The history of New Zealand television features plenty of lowlights, but few as low as the drunken and chaotic 1987 Listener Gofta Awards. Comedian Michele A’Court was there. It is possible that I am one of the few people who has fond memories of the 1987 Gofta Awards. It’s also possible that I am one … Read more
To usher in a new look for 2016, female TVNZ presenters were told that they must keep their arms covered at all times. The Spinoff has censored their imagery accordingly and has filed all bare armskin away in this exclusive sealed section. If you missed the news, over the weekend a briefing document sent to TVNZ … Read more
Joseph Harper was so inspired by the agony of Blair Walsh’s choke against the Seahawks on Monday that he spent two days creating an extraordinary game in tribute. My Dad loves the NFL. When I visit him in Christchurch he’s almost always glued to the family computer, watching emo New England Patriots retrospectives or cracking … Read more
Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor, Barney and Adrian ‘Jackpot’ Lewis are household names thanks to their heroics at the much-loved PDC World Darts Championship. But the sport has another world champs, with a whole different cast of unlikely characters. Calum Henderson peers into the parallel universe of the BDO. One of the best summer holiday traditions … Read more
Jemaine Clement on creating ‘Bowie’s in Space’, the Flight of the Conchords’ paean-parody to their musical hero. In 1999 Bret McKenzie and I were sitting with our guitars in our dingy flat in Wellington trying to learn David Bowie songs. They were catchy, which usually translates to being easy to play. Not David Bowie. He’d … Read more
Alex Casey watches the premiere of The Bachelor US, and notes down some powerful first impression techniques that could be used effectively in this year’s season of The Bachelor NZ. If there are two things that I like in this world, it’s The Bachelor franchise and delicious home-style cookies just like Grandma used to make. … Read more
You’re a great talker, but when it comes to Waitangi and Māori you’d do well to take my course, and listen for a change, writes Dr Hirini Kaa. Dear Mike (and all your fans across various media outlets) Have I got an opportunity for you! I would like to invite you this semester to enrol … Read more
Wellington author Linda Burgess gaily set out to write a book about churches with her husband, former All Black Bob Burgess. Would their marriage survive? ‘Oh how lovely,’ people said. Even people who knew us. ‘How lovely, to do a book together.’ We’ve done it twice now. In 2007 Random House published my book on … Read more
An essay by Patrick Evans to mark his new novel The Back of His Head, which imagines that “a complete and utter prick” has won the Nobel Prize for Literature. ‘No entry to all vehicles, writer at work’ – the sign in the Jerusalem street the writer known to the West as SY Agnon lived … Read more
At the start of this year we ran a series called ‘Bad Week‘, celebrating all things Breaking Bad. One of our favourite pieces during the week was this by Joe Nunweek, who found himself deeply embarrassed by Walter White fandom. Our hero is bald, save for a goatee that would seem ridiculous were the stakes … Read more
The Spinoff’s editor, Duncan Greive, co-authored Dan Carter: My Story with the All Blacks’ first five. Here he shares his memories of the tumultuous year the pair spent working on the book. The lowest I ever heard him was late in February. We spoke via Skype, as we often did through that portion of the year, … Read more
Josh Davis brought a bit of 2016 to 16th century England through creating a slew of hilarious memes from BBC drama Wolf Hall. Wolf Hall is a BBC drama documenting the power dynamics of the court of Henry VIII. Unfortunately, while the 16th century had many things – the Church, fancy clothes etc – memes … Read more