Following the All Blacks’ tense victory over the Springboks early on Sunday morning, the New Zealand prime minister did what he does, and, let’s be honest, what many of us would do were we the New Zealand prime minister: he sauntered into the team’s dressing room and chewed on a beer with The Boys. Photographer … Read more
We thought about doing a Rugby World Cup drinking game, but, let’s face it, that would be kind of seedy for games that kick off at 4am and 8am. So instead, in a breakfast mood, The Spinoff presents a (Non) Drinking Game, in which the penalties involve the consumption of dry breakfast cereal biscuits (such … Read more
In this exclusive excerpt from Uniform magazine issue two (launching tonight), Kiran Dass interviews English post-punk legend Martin Bramah, on the eve of his former band The Fall’s New Zealand tour, about his life in drugs and music. “The only way out is up,” bellows Martin Bramah on the psyched-out 1982 Blue Orchids song ‘Dumb … Read more
Whatever happened to Guy Somerset? As long-serving books editor of the Listener, he was a knowledgeable, alert presence on the literary scene. He fled the magazine a year or so ago and has fished up as PR trout – actually, contents editor – for the New Zealand Festival, in Wellington. He’s continuing to apply his keen … Read more
Now and again, not often, a novel and a novelist comes along and knocks everyone on their ass. It’s happening with Elena Ferrante and it’s happening with Hanya Yanagihara, the New York writer whose novel A Little Life has mesmerized readers with its story telling and its ability to harrow. It’s shortlisted for the Man … Read more
I love Joe Bennett’s columns. King Rich is his first novel and much of it absolutely sings. It’s also the first novel that I’m aware of to emerge from the Christchurch earthquakes. The time that’s elapsed since the first quake in February 2011 has eclipsed that of World War 1 and will soon overtake that of the second World War. … Read more
The death of blockbuster novelist Jackie Collins reminds Steve Braunias of the awkward time he visited her at her home in Beverly Hills. Jackie Collins was one of the worst writers of the 20th century, every sentence a cliché, every book a dull thud, but she sold somewhere around 140 million copies of her godawful … Read more
As the 2015 World Cup opens, we present an extract from Cory Jane and Scotty Stevenson’s Winging It: Random tales from the Right Wing recalling the closing stages of the last World Cup. That bus ride to Eden Park on the evening of the final was unreal. Every street we turned into there were more people. Richard Kahui … Read more
The man who toppled Tony Abbott is a huge fan of the New Zealand Prime Minister. Late on Monday night, in the press conference following the spill that defenestrated Tony Abbott, Australia’s new Liberal Party leader and prime minister designate, Malcolm Turnbull, said this: “My firm belief is that to be a successful leader in … 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
English novelist Sarah Waters was in New Zealand this week as a guest of the Christchurch WORD literary festival, and promoting her latest novel The Paying Guests. You’ve said of your latest book: “I’ve never really written a love story before.” Can you expand on that? Are your previous novels more sort of romps than romances, … Read more
Conrad Smith sat down with Alexander Bisley ahead of the Rugby World Cup to discuss rugby’s global growth, reverse colonialism, anthems and collective contracts. AB: In Cory Jane’s biography, he say the All Blacks’ Rugby World Cup nemesis the French, likely opponents in the Cardiff quarter-final, are hard to analyse because, well, they’re hard to … Read more
Back Benches frequently and entirely correctly refers to itself as “the world’s only pub politics show”. It’s both true and somewhat redundant: what other country on our splendid planet would be fool crazy enough to allow it to exist? The show features sitting MPs, who set up in a pub adjacent to Parliament for an … Read more
Alex Casey interviews Australian grand illusionist Cosentino about learning the tricks of the trade, being on a talent show, and whether or not a dog can learn hypnosis. The first time I ever saw Cosentino on television, I was incredibly hungover on a Sunday afternoon. His Australian TV specials have a habit of creeping up … Read more
Eli Mathewson talks to Bree Peters, who plays the evil child-stealing murderer Pania on Shortland Street about being a soap villain. Last Thursday at 7.29pm, as Pania Stevens made the impulse decision to hijack Kylie’s car and kidnap TK’s toddler Tillie, was the exact moment that all of Bree Peter’s future nannying jobs ceased to exist. Since … Read more
James Shaw is not just the co-leader of The Green Party, but the star of ‘Yes Minister’ in tonight’s episode of 7 Days. Here’s a quick Q&A with the panel, including a new dreadlocks policy. Jeremy Corbett: You defeated Kevin Hague for the co-leadership of the Greens. Is that the first time you’ve beaten off another man? … Read more
Alex Casey has a sprawling chat with Dani Robinson of The Bachelor NZ about mansion friendships, ruthless edits, and finding love in a hopeless place. I went over to Dani Robinson’s house the other week, to get her take on the brilliant behind-the-scenes TV drama UnREAL. As the runner-up of The Bachelor NZ, I thought … Read more
Alex Casey sits down with Boganologist Dave Snell and his mate Fro, stars of TV2’s docuseries Bogans, to find out what’s actually going on beneath the leather jackets and car exhaust fumes. I was embarrassed to be sipping a peppermint tea next to two of New Zealand’s premiere bogans. “Let me know if you want … Read more
Alex Casey sits down with cat behaviourist Jackson Galaxy, star of My Cat From Hell, to get all your important cat questions answered. Jackson Galaxy is the cat whisperer of modern times. Part Dr Doolittle, part Star Burns from Community, he graced our cat-laden shores this week despite Gareth Morgan’s plea to bar his entry. … Read more
Aimie Cronin spends a maniacal week incessantly ruining TV shows for her nearest and dearest. Spoiler alert: contains a very well-known Game of Thrones spoiler. When someone has been told the ending of the show they are watching before they have watched it, their face looks like those guys on action shows who have taken … Read more
Thirty years after the sinking of Greenpeace’s Rainbow Warrior, Joseph Nunweek sits down with a bizarre 1993 made-for-TV film about the momentous historical event. It was the 30th anniversary of the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior this weekend just past, and it’s an event that’s lived a odd sort of double life since then. The … Read more
Finlay Macdonald pays personal tribute to Val Doonican, the man who put the gentle rock into rocking chair. Lately I’ve taken to joking that I’m so old I came to New Zealand on a ship. It’s true, though. It was 1966 and we sailed via the Panama Canal all the way from England, a journey … Read more
Alex Casey runs through James Griffin’s extensive television biography with the man himself, gauging his first response on everything from The Strip to Bro Town. A few weeks ago I had a sit-down interview with James Griffin for our My Life in TV series. It’s a tall task to get through his entire biography in … Read more
A reissued post from July this year, days before the premiere of the much-anticipated Outrageous Fortune prequel Westside. Alex Casey talked to creator James Griffin about getting started in television, the perils of funding in New Zealand and the Van and Munter spin-off that time forgot. It’s a dizzying feeling to walk into the Grey Lynn villa where you … Read more
Married at First Sight takes a bunch of single strangers looking for love, but eliminates all the hassle involved in getting to know someone. Or even choosing someone to get to know. A group of professional labcoat nerds run tests on the participants, crunch their stats, and match couples together using a sophisticated Minority Report-style … Read more
Laura Vincent runs a one-woman roundtable discussion, presenting evidence as to why her favourite show Pretty Little Liars deserves just as much attention as Game of Thrones or The Wire. It was sincerely and without hyperbole that I said, after watching the season six premiere of Pretty Little Liars, “that episode was literally better than any episode … Read more
Lost amongst TV3’s big budget reality imports and current affairs cancellations has been one unexpected hit: YouTube-on-TV clip show Fail Army. Duncan Greive tries to figure out how this designed-to-fail show works. Of all the millions of new shows TV3 has launched this year, few had lower expectations than Fail Army. A clip show screening … Read more
Duncan Greive spends the day at TV3 before the debut of Newsworthy, a show staffed and fronted by young people who’ve finally got a turn at the wheel. In a dark room, David Farrier sits silently, watching himself intently. The on-screen David Farrier is draped across a wooden bench in a wooden room, the sweat pouring … Read more
Josh Drummond makes a heartfelt plea for Simpsons fans to cho-cho-choose to put the show out of its misery. On May 14, 2015, my bosom swelled with an unlikely emotion: hope. The news had just broken that Harry Shearer looked like he was leaving The Simpsons. Shearer is the voice of some of the show’s best-loved, most … Read more