After ten weeks of furious villa renovation and TV production, The Block NZ finished on Sunday night in a flurry of six-figure profits at the live auction finale. Calum Henderson went along to kick the tyres of New Zealand’s richest reality TV franchise. Five minutes before they assembled on the balcony of the Rendezvous Hotel … Read more
The Hero World Challenge, the Nedbank World Challenge and the Australian PGA: the golf year is ending not with a bang but a whimper. ‘Tis the season for half-assing it, says Greg Bruce. Not that I’m trying to say golf is like high school, because the prize money is totally different, but December was always … Read more
‘Good Night to Good Morning’ is a three part series farewelling the iconic TVNZ variety show. In part one, Steve Braunias recalls a recent appearance on a show that once gave him cakes and grapes, and always gave New Zealand reliably good viewing. This is the way Good Morning ends: not with a green room, but a vast, deserted … Read more
Sarah Forster reads a newspaper set in the kids book by Bob Kerr, Changing Times. Bob Kerr’s Changing Times: The Story of a New Zealand Town and its Newspaper is easily one of the cleverest books I have seen all year. He’s a wonderful artist, and his book is the result of working on it for … Read more
A pantheon of New Zealand politics watchers were asked to cast their minds over 2015, select their champs and their flops, their ups and their downs, and the story to look out for in 2016. Today, Part Three: Stronger, Weaker, the Same We presented our experts with a list of things, parties mostly, and asked … Read more
We asked 12 Rugby World Cup winning All Blacks for their Kiwi sporting hero of 2015. Six of them – Liam Messam, Victor Vito, Jerome Kaino, Beauden Barrett, Dane Coles and TJ Perenara – picked heavyweight boxer Joseph Parker. So, in the first of our All Blacks’ Kiwi Sporting Hero selections for 2015, Scotty Stevenson takes a look … Read more
Joseph Harper power ranks the latest crop of Super Rugby uniforms. Summer is headed to its zenith in Godzone, so it only makes sense we start yakking about rugby. And what better way to get chins wagging than a rugby fashion parade featuring the new Super Rugby uniforms. They’re pretty yuck. They haven’t gone full HRV, … Read more
From an essay first published at the website of Luncheon Sausage Books, Queenstown author Jane Bloomfield explains how attending writing courses held by Kate di Goldi, Fiona Kidman, Steve Braunias and others helped her to write her first book for kids aged 8-12, Lily Max. All illustrations by Guy Fisher from the book. I’ve met so many amazing … Read more
Superheroes and socio-political champions, cold-blooded killers and murderous polar bears – the year’s best television had something for everyone, says Aaron Yap. And then there was True Detective… In 2015, there were no shortage of momentous occasions in the world of prestige TV. Mad Men came to a satisfyingly wistful close after seven seasons, granting … Read more
To celebrate 20 years of Sony’s PlayStation console, Don Rowe attends a PlayStation party complete with DJ and breakdancers. I’ve loved PlayStation since I first heard an old, secondhand PS1 come to life. It starts with a heavy synth pad, like the intro to some demonic Kraftwerk song. Then mystical chimes and a techno flute, fading … Read more
A pantheon of New Zealand politics watchers were asked to cast their minds over 2015, select their champs and their flops, their ups and their downs, and the story to look out for in 2016. Today, Part Two: The Flops. We asked our experts to rank the three worst performing individuals in politics for 2015. … Read more
Tara Ward brings you this week’s Shortland Street Power Rankings, including Gareth’s cushion chaos and Harper’s hectic hen’s night. 1) Leanne’s spectacular party planning puts Harper in a pickle Leanne was on fire this week. Harper’s hen’s party was the event of the year, nay, the century. It was everything a hen’s night usually is: … Read more
Sarah Forster interviews award-winning illustrator Paul Beavis, author of two charming books about monsters. Paul Beavis won this year’s Russell Clark Award as best children’s illustrator in New Zealand for his 2014 book Mrs Mo’s Monster. He happily ventured back into the world of monsterdom this year with the release of Hello World! – a … Read more
A pantheon of observers of New Zealand politics were asked to cast their minds over 2015, select champs and flops, ups and downs, and the story to look out for in 2016. Today, Part One: The Champs. We asked our experts to rank the three best performing individuals in politics for 2015. Below, read the … Read more
Wellington author Linda Burgess chooses this and that and above all she chooses the book you want to buy several copies of this Christmas – The Scene of the Crime, by Steve Braunias (no relation to the Spinoff books editor). Thinking of what to recommend from what I’ve read this year, I realise how much of the … Read more
Joseph Harper joins a gang, goes marauding and gets surprisingly emo playing the tabletop fantasy role-player Dungeons & Dragons 4e. I started playing Dungeons & Dragons about six months ago. Our group are all beginners apart from our Dungeon Master, who is an old hand and is German. I play as a 160-year-old gnome named … Read more
A goal-filled Premier League weekend saw Jamie Vardy break a record, Alexis Sanchez break his hamstring, and Bournemouth break their manager in an injury time frenzy. All eyes were on Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy on Sunday morning as he looked to break Ruud Van Nistelrooy’s consecutive game scoring record against Manchester United, and his … Read more
NZ On Air has released its 2015 annual report. José Barbosa pulls up some things to applaud and some things to question. Such is the current media environment the release of NZ On Air’s state-of-its-work report feels a bit like a message in bottle chucked into a chum bucket and fed to Jaws. The funding body … Read more
There are no guarantees on the Pro Surfing Tour as New Zealand’s Ricardo Christie found out in his debut WSL season. Heading into the final event of the year, Christie will surf for his tour survival and, as Ben Stanley discovers, he could do with a little luck. Sleazy, funky and doused in a brash … Read more
It was either the supernova of golf’s brightest star, or just one massive media beat-up. Simon Plumb separates the wheat from the chaff, the Woods from the trees and tries to translate Tiger – explaining why this is not the end, after all. Let’s just put this to bed straight off the bat, shall we: … Read more
Wellington journalist and former books pages editor Ruth Nichol chooses the novel that many of our experts also chose. Just go and buy it, okay? I briefly thought Anne Tyler’s latest novel, A Spool of Blue Thread, would win the Man Booker Prize. What’s not to like – it’s clever, witty, wise and much more complex … Read more
Tonight marks the 200th episode of TV3’s flagship comedy show 7 Days. Calum Henderson was in the audience for the show’s marathon filming at the Auckland Town Hall on Wednesday night. I always wanted to be part of a live studio audience. Specifically, I always wanted to be part of the ‘Tool Time’ studio audience … Read more
Join Rog and Davo in the Embassy Road Studios to discuss a goal-laden round of Premier League action. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPht1iQLYkI/?utm_source=thespinoff&utm_medium=partnership&utm_campaign=partnership Sign up to Premier League Pass now and get the rest of the EPL season for 1/2 Price.
The Block NZ is all over bar the auction room shouting. There’s time for one last round of Pita Pit, and one last Power Rankings, before Houses 1 through 4 go under the hammer on Sunday night. 1. Brooke & Mitch – House 4 What would The Block NZ have been without Brooke and Mitch? … Read more
Club rugby was once an essential part of New Zealand’s rural life, but in the professional age its prominence has been in sharp decline. So what happens when one of the smallest and most remarkable clubs in the country watches its old hall burn down? It rediscovers its importance, and its people. Scotty Stevenson writes about … Read more
In 1999 Spinoff Editor Duncan Greive featured in a music documentary called Sweet As. 16 years later it was innocently suggested by Throwback Thursday’s new sponsors NZ On Screen for post, with the newsy hook being that we headed into festival season. Against his better judgement, he agreed to re-examine what is without doubt most publicly embarrassing thing he’s … Read more
Cambridge editor and author Stephen Stratford chooses books of verse by a couple of good old boys, and a good-looking book by an artist. Looking Out to Sea, by Kevin Ireland (Steele Roberts) It took me a long time to read this: every night I would read the first poem, for Ireland’s late brother, which … Read more
The Good Wife is the best least talked about show on television, says Aaron Hawkins. Considering diving in and lawyering up? Here’s all you need to know. What’s the story? Alicia Florrick (Julianna Margulies) is married to states’ attorney Peter Florrick (Chris Noth), who gets caught with his pants down and his wallet out in … Read more
Wellington author Elspeth Sandys chooses two venerable geniuses of modern fiction – Anne Tyler, and Kate Grenville. Reading Anne Tyler’s A Spool of Blue Thread is like visiting an old and trusted friend. The familiar themes – family and domestic life; the passage of Time; suburban America – are all there, but with a novelist of … Read more