One of the most talked-about new shows of 2015, Mr Robot has arrived exclusively in New Zealand on Lightbox today. Critics have called the paranoid cyber-thriller series “a modern classic” (Forbes) and “a welcome spark of inspiration” (Variety), the topical themes of which “understand the internet to the last chilling detail” (Salon). The series follows Elliot … Read more
Former Metro contributor Duncan Greive sits down with Simon Wilson, Metro’s departing editor, to discuss his time running Auckland’s city magazine. “You’re addicted to journalese… You need to throw away the phrasebook… I’m not even sure what that means… You need to front up to this too… It’s a weak ending.” A few choice phrases … Read more
Schadenfreude is not a football team in the German lower leagues, but it is nevertheless a state familiar to sporting partisans, not least fans of the beautiful game. For followers of English football teams that don’t begin in Chel and end with sea, precisely this basest of human emotion, pleasure at the misfortune of another, … Read more
Aaron Yap looks at Show Me a Hero, the six part miniseries from the creators of The Wire that examines the 1987 housing crisis in New York – and eerily mirrors our own current property strife. Housing. Land. Property. These might be among the least dramatically engaging subjects I can think of. The last time I went … Read more
The Ultimate Fighter is basically like Big Brother if the weekly evictions were decided by cage fight rather than public consensus. Sixteen contestants under two coaches compete in an elimination tournament for the chance to win a contract with the UFC, and sometimes a Harley Davidson too. It’s a gruelling experience, with all the … Read more
This story was published in September 2015 “A little knowledge is a dangerous thing”. This is a refrain we should keep in mind wherever we can, because a little knowledge is not enough to know just how dangerous we can be. It’s for this reason that I find the subject of online voting so troubling. … Read more
The second in an occasional series commending excellent New Zealand journalism. Today we reissued Josh Drummond’s brilliant recollection of the time Rachel Glucina came to Press Club. I was in the audience that day, and it remains the most extraordinary of those occasions I’ve witnessed. Not the best: that would be the extraordinary Mihingarangi Forbes … Read more
An occasional series in which we feature an insight or proverb from In the Arena (Penguin random House, $40), the new book by entrepreneur Diane Foreman and her ghost writer Jenni McManus. On dressing for success: Nothing looks better on a woman than a simple white shirt and black pants. In the Arena, by Diane … Read more
New Zealand gets off to a flyer at the Parliamentary World Cup. Scotty Stevenson says surely this needs to be a bigger deal, and imagines how the first week might have gone. It was perhaps the most dominant opening win of the World Cup yet the the four-time world champion New Zealand Parliamentary Rugby Team’s … Read more
Today marks the launch of Scout, the new entertainment news site forged in MediaWork’s basement furnace by Rachel Glucina, the twisted firestarter of New Zealand gossip. Today she emerged: charred and smokey, holding Mike Hosking’s petite vacuum cleaner in her hands. Whatever you think of the website: there’s no denying that this is a moment in New … Read more
Duncan Greive spent a month in 2013 speaking with those around a then amateur Lydia Ko for a feature. This morning he watched her win her first major. A little over two years ago I was on the rural fringes of Albany, watching a 15 year old at the driving range. It was a sunny … Read more
Three or so times a year, media luminaries from all over New Zealand gather in a kind of Hellfire Club – based, of course, in Hamilton. Food is eaten, drink is drunk and a speaker – usually a High Luminary or occasionally Winston Peters speaks. Steve Braunias (newly crowned Books Editor of The Spinoff!) curates the whole shindig; everyone … Read more
Who writes good creative non-fiction in New Zealand? Journalists hammer away at it with their big fat thumbs, but writer John Summers is rather more nuanced in his fascinating and recently published collection of true stories, The Mermaid Boy (Hue & Cry Press, $30). We got up early, packed away our things and began our … Read more
Tara Ward ranks her favourite moments from the past week of Ferndale hijinks. This week: Moody Michael has a sulk, Harry is robbed of his television and Drew bucks up his pun game. 1) Michael makes it hard to love him Oh, the pressures of being a tween in New Zealand. Someone call a … Read more
Leftwing outsider Jeremy Corbyn has stormed to an emphatic victory in the British Labour leadership race. An all-star cast of politicians and commentators assess the impact for the Spinoff. Britain’s Labour Party has swung dramatically away from Blairism and elected veteran backbench leftwing MP Jeremy Corbyn its new leader, with an astonishing 59.5% of support in … Read more
Last week TradeMe co-founder Rowan Simpson wrote a blog post explaining why he’d like to see the Red Peak flag on the official shortlist. To his surprise, his piece, and designer Aaron Dustin’s explanation of the flag’s story, captured the imagination of thousands. Here he writes a follow-up letter to Prime Minister John Key. Dear … Read more
Toby Manhire watches All Black coach Steve Hansen give an interview of surprising emotional honesty. There was a wee outburst of online anger when The Nation announced its star interviewee was Steve Hansen. But I’d wager that, had they stuck around, even those who have no appetite for rugby whatsoever would have found something remarkable in … Read more
Alex Casey watches Ed Sheeran’s brief but powerful cameo on Home and Away. Home and Away’s Marilyn is fussing around, as always, trying to throw together a luxury dinner for her mystery muso guest. She’s got bruschetta, linguini and dessert. What rock star would would be gunning for this absolute beige rider, what kind of … Read more
In an occasional feature, Steve Braunias looks at the literary folk who pop up in the news. First up, following recent revelations from Whakapakari camp, Steve recalls John da Silva’s appearance in the 1979 memoir Life on the Mat. Wrestling legend John da Silva – once the most hirsute man alive – featured in the Weekend Herald’s harrowing … Read more
As it Happens In Queen’s Crescent off Malden Road one’s not likely to meet many once famous men and women, or current nearly-notables in with a chance of becoming household names in Britain. ‘There comes a time,’ an old geezer told me, ‘when you realise you’ve gone about as far as you can go.’ And … Read more
New Zealand’s music charts are suddenly awash with charity singles. The teams are: Guy Williams and Scribe, Crowded House and every other non-dead New Zealand musician. Calum Henderson surveys the Charity Single Wars. The Pigeon Song Cause: KidsCan Stars: Guy Williams, Scribe Rival charity song composer Joseph Moore described the charity single wars as the biggest … Read more
The international break is a special time on Premier League Twitter. Lots of joyful plane and bus selfies as players disperse around the world and catch up with their countrymen, tempered by the grim spectacle of the non-internationals left behind to fend for themselves. Shopping … pic.twitter.com/2iriHt0HHi — Jermain Defoe OBE (@IAmJermainDefoe) September 8, 2015 … Read more
On George FM this morning, Breakfast producer Noel resigned during the broadcast, one celebrating Kara and Thane’s fifth anniversary on air. “I quit: how’s that for your happy birthday,” he says live on air, “I’ve got nothing positive to say to you.” Thane responded by suggesting they get a refugee in on work experience to … Read more
Scotty Stevenson watches as Stephen Donald makes his triumphant return to the City of Hamilton, wearing number 22 for Waikato tim boyn the ITM Cup. The great kiwi battler-cum-hero returned to Hamilton in the rain on a Thursday. Not many people cared. At least, not many people cared enough to witness it in the flesh. … Read more
‘How Bizarre’ was a life-changing success from which Pauly Fuemana could never escape. Duncan Greive speaks to Simon Grigg, author of an excellent new book about the song. Simon Grigg is wandering around Europe, following his wife Brigid to Poland and Paris, where she has work to do. He has nothing of the sort on at … Read more
The NFL season kicks off today in the USA, and Matthew McAuley says football can teach you valuable life lessons – particularly the excellent, much-missed high school drama Friday Night Lights. The town in which I spent my formative years was one dominated in description by its size (small), its location (isolated), its industries (primary) and its love of … Read more
Economics and politics can be hard, so to make it easier for us to get the hang of things, our elected representatives oftentimes turn to metaphor. Here is a selection of examples from this year, drawn from Hansard, the official record of parliamentary debate. Bill English, National, 22 July 2015: “The fact is that if … Read more
Calum Henderson spends the morning watching two strangers get married on The Edge TV’s thrillingly shambolic live stream. While other radio hosts have been running around binge drinking, getting divorced or floating across lakes on bouncy castles this survey period, The Edge’s finest purveyors of horseplay – Jay-Jay, Mike and Dom – have been suspiciously … Read more
I see a girl screaming in the supermarket. She’s stamping her chubby feet and pulling at the tulle of her tutu in rage. “WHERE ARE THE LITTLE SHOPS MUMMY,” she shrieks, red-faced through tears. I turn slowly to realise I am facing a mirror. The girl, it’s me. I’ve been a slave to the miniature ever … Read more