Auckland writer Thom Shackleford chooses a memoir by the divine Patti Smith, a brilliant investigation into social media shaming by Jon Ronson, and a story collection featuring the divinely brilliant Don DeLillo. M Train, by Patti Smith. No one does melancholic cool quite like Patti Smith. With the independence of her children and the distant … Read more
After yesterday’s grim news that 3D has been axed by Mark Weldon and MediaWorks, we thought back to a recent speech by one of the show’s journalists. Half a year and what feels like a lifetime ago – when Campbell Live and 3D were going concerns – Paula Penfold spoke to the Wintec Press Club about her team’s momentous work on the … Read more
Alex Casey delivers her contestant power rankings for week eight on My Kitchen Rules NZ. This week, we farewell the face of Nando’s and Ali G comes to kitchen HQ. A dark cloud has come over me. It is shaped like a Nando’s chicken wing, and has been raining down stinging tears of peri peri sauce … Read more
Among the identikit beefcakes and banal platitudes of professional golf, one player stands out. Greg Bruce salutes Andy Sullivan, the golf world’s most likeable man. Men’s golf today is full of lean, ripped young muscle gods in tight polos, arriving on tour in their late teens and early 20s, smashing it 350 off the tee … Read more
Wellington writer and editor Ashleigh Young chooses books she struggled with and which blowtorched her heart. Some of the best things I have read this year are not books, or not yet books. They are manuscripts, or bits of writing by my creative writing students, or emails from friends. 2015 has been a good year … 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 all the cool new shows coming in December. COMING IN DECEMBER: Transparent (S02E01, Dec 1) The first episode of the second season of Emmy-winning drama Transparent arrives to Lightbox … Read more
TV3’s current affairs show 3D, which has existed in various guises since the channel’s founding in 1989, was shut down today. UPDATE: scroll down for statements from MediaWorks and the 3D team. The Spinoff has learned that staff at TV3’s flagship current affairs show 3D were today told that the show was officially cancelled and will not return … Read more
Auckland author Peter Simpson chooses six books by New Zealand authors, including one of the favourites to win the 2016 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards prize for best novel. Last year as one of five judges of the final New Zealand Post Book Awards I read virtually every local book published. I can’t recall precisely … Read more
We’ve been big fans of James Mustapic’s hilarious recap channel Shorty Street Scandal since The Spinoff began. This week, we are stoked to preview his debut Harry Warner-themed single and announce his first ever LIVE SHOW in Auckland, proudly brought to you by The Spinoff! Nearly one year ago I started working on a full … Read more
A new column: Alex Casey is a human adult woman who reads the news. Every week she’ll report back on what she sees. MONDAY It’s always a great start to the week when you get immediately smacked in the face with the harsh reality that you will not only get old and die, but that you will … Read more
It’s smartly written, hilariously weird and gloriously LGBT-positive. Sam Brooks explains why Ru-Paul’s Drag Race is the most uplifting reality show on television. “Gentlemen, start your engines! And may the best woman win!” How do you cover a show like RuPaul’s Drag Race, a show about to go into its eighth season with its own … Read more
His paper broke the story which led to the Cairns trial, and Jared Savage has covered it brilliantly throughout. Scotty Stevenson spoke with him after the verdict. Jared Savage spent nine weeks in London covering the Chris Cairns perjury trial for the New Zealand Herald. After the verdict was read, I talked to Savage over the phone about … Read more
Wellington arts festival dude and former book pages editor guy Guy Somerset chooses short story collections by Joy Williams, Lucia Berlin, and the king of the asterixes, Bill Manhire. This year, via new collections of their stories, I discovered two wonderful American writers who had somehow escaped my attention entirely during the past 35 years of my reading life, which … Read more
Tara Ward brings you this week’s Shortland Street Power Rankings, including Wendy’s aquatic incident and Harry’s IT wizardry. 1) Harry tinkers with science and practically splits the atom Rachel gifts Harry with his first job: Leanne’s new slave. Harry’s first task is to print the Shortland Street Christmas cards, which hopefully feature a delightfully festive … Read more
Jonah Lomu was farewelled for the final time in public today. Don Rowe reports on a moving ceremony. Jonah Lomu remains a giant even in death. Under grey clouds he entered Eden Park for the last time today, carried on the shoulders of Manu Vatuvei, Jerome Kaino, Frank Bunce, Michael Jones and more. The men … Read more
Gamer and Leaping Tiger founder Amy Potter explores the wonderful wastelands of Fallout for the very first time To be totally honest, I was not immediately aboard the Fallout hype train as it left the station following Bethesda’s E3 presentation earlier this year. I was left standing on the platform, wondering what everyone was so … Read more
Auckland reviewer David Larsen selects the blockbuster Barrowman bio as his best of the year, and then journeys into the genre of sci-fi and fantasy and that. No question, my book of 2015 was Maurice Gee: Life and Work, by Rachel Barrowman. Long years of research and thought went into this: so often fatal. But … Read more
Lover of cricket Jeremy Wells wraps up the historic first day-night test match between Australia and New Zealand and wonders whether that completely baffling DRS call really was the deciding factor. Let me say this. I like the pink ball. I mean, the actual ball. I think the red ball should now be a pink ball. … Read more
Christchurch writer Rachael King chooses three New Zealand novels, and two personal essays by two extremely cool American women. The Chimes, by Anna Smaill I loved the premise of The Chimes from when I first heard of it. It demands to be read slowly while savouring the puzzle of the language, the rules of the … Read more
Tis the season to be frothing at the mouth over beat-up stories about the PC brigade wanting to throw children’s Christmas stockings into a pit of fire. Beat-ups about do-gooders wanting to “ban Christmas” have become a mainstay of the leadup to the festive season the world over. This year in New Zealand, the target … Read more
The Doctor himself, Peter Capaldi, describes some of his favourite episodes from Doctor Who‘s 50 year history. Do you have a list of favourite episodes? I hate doing the favourite game, because it betrays a lot of the other ones. But there are things that I think are great; and I always forget there … Read more
A close, captivating inaugural day-night test match. But was it enough to fix test cricket? Simon Day reports from Adelaide. New Zealand 202 & 208 Australia 224 & 187/7 Australia won by 3 wickets For three days cricket looked alert and alive. Test cricket isn’t dying. But it is stagnant. It’s core fan base adores the … Read more
Arguing with my Dad is an occasional column which features Greg Bruce in conversation with his father about sports. This week’s disagreement: New Zealand’s best batsman. It was a Sunday morning and I was sitting at the top of a slide on a playground across the road from New Zealand’s largest cemetery when Dad called. … Read more
On day two tradition and modernity collided at one of the world’s most beautiful cricket grounds. Simon Day reports from Adelaide. New Zealand 202 & 116/5 Australia 224 Attendance 42,372 The Adelaide Oval was already the perfect venue for the launch of day-night-test-cricket. It’s controversial and mostly stunning $500+ million government funded redevelopment of its … Read more
Calum Henderson talks to the acclaimed recording artist and guest star of Master of None S01E03 about Aziz, stock photography, and who he’d face in the Fight For Life. The third episode of Aziz Ansari’s widely acclaimed Master of None largely revolves around a ‘secret show’ by an act called Father John Misty. Ansari’s character … Read more
Unsure how to vote in the first part of the NZ flag referendum, or just want to confirm that you’re on the right path? Try the Spinoff quiz, which will identify the flag that you should mark as “1” on the ballot. (Please note that this tool has not been programmed to suggest which flags … Read more
The first day of cricket’s inaugural day-night test fell on the first anniversary of the death of Phillip Hughes. Reporting from Adelaide, Simon Day found cricket was the best tribute to his memory. New Zealand 202 Australia 54/2 Just after 8pm, the Adelaide evening sky flushed rose and purple to match the pink ball that … Read more
One World One world, Thinking with one mind, Thinking with no mind, Other than what they are told. Preach to me, Sell me new and old; Indoctrinate me, That I will do what I am told. Trace my every dollar, Trace my every step; Trace my every sentence, No privacy is left. … Read more
The newest show to come to Lightbox is Deutschland 83, a spy thriller set during peak Cold War tension with a banging ’80s soundtrack to boot. For Paul Casserly, it brings with it a sharp reminder of a childhood full of named nukes and mushroom cloud dreams. Germans get a bad rap for all manner of … Read more