Could it really cost less than a cup of coffee to power your home for an entire year? Mark Hanna investigates the New Zealand Herald’s extraordinary claim. Yesterday afternoon, the New Zealand Herald broke a huge story about something that, if true, could revolutionise our way of life and possibly even solve climate change. It … Read more
Our crack team of film critics return with their latest reports from the Film Festival binge-watch. NZIFF: Birds of Passage, First Reformed, Disobedience, 3 Faces The Image Book “This film is quite weird. Sometimes it’s without subtitles, sometimes it’s without sound. That happens.” It’s rare that NZIFF ushers warn an audience before a film, but … Read more
Remember being off sick from school and having nothing to watch once breakfast television ended? Angella Dravid does. From Tony Robbins to Suzanne Paul, she pays tribute to the stars of NZ’s most iconic infomercials. The Spinoff TV, Fridays at 10.45pm on THREE
Our elite squad of critics binge set out on a cinematic binge at the NZ International Film Festival 2018 Birds of Passage Opening night at NZIFF should be spectacular, accessible and memorable, and Birds of Passage delivers, with a drug trade parable told within an indigenous setting. Every grasshopper and bird has the weight of … Read more
The latest Broadcasting Standards Authority survey on offensive language is out, and it shows as a nation we’re becoming more progressive and nuanced about how and why we take offence. Some strong language to follow. Alas for broadcasters, that the word considered most offensive by the general public is also one of the easiest to … Read more
Hamilton Press Club life president Steve Braunias reveals the next guest speaker at the most glamorous social event in New Zealand journalism held in Hamilton. Dr Vincent O’Malley is campaigning to get the New Zealand Wars taught in New Zealand schools. The Hamilton Press Club stands with O’Malley. He will address the subject as our … Read more
The future of screen formats is vertical, if Instagram TV has its way. And that may not be a bad thing, argues Lydia Burgham. Millennials have killed a lot of great things in this world: newspapers, analogue clocks, the music industry, face to face communication – but their greatest scalp of all may be horizontal … Read more
Bringing you the best weekly reading from your friendly local website. Hayden Donnell: All the times our new Free Speech Coalition really hated free speech “It’s hard to get people to give money to worthy causes. Climate change. Poverty. Fuel taxes. There are so many issues, and we’re all stretched thin. But this week we’ve found out there’s … Read more
Spoiler alert: They didn’t find it, writes Joel MacManus, editor of Otago University’s student magazine Critic. Correction, 16 July: Following communications with the University of Otago, this story has been updated to reflect the actual costs of the Loch Ness DNZ project, and to include a response from Professor Neil Gemmell, the head of the … Read more
Each week on The Spinoff TV’s Repressed Memories, James Mustapic delves into pop culture’s graveyard and digs up the bodies. This episode: it’s been going since 1981– but what was New Zealand’s favourite kids’ show like in the first decade of this century? The Spinoff TV, 9.45pm Fridays on THREE
A Kiwi reporter has been caught in the first known act of World Cup-related violence to affect New Zealand, taking a pint of lager to the face live on the AM Show as England fell to Croatia in extra time. Across the UK the faithful had gathered, stuffing pubs and parks the nation over to … Read more
Broadcasting minister Clare Curran yesterday announced how $15m of new funding for the media will be distributed. How will it affect what you hear, see and read? The minister called it the “beginning of a new era”. Sounds radical. What was announced? Yesterday we learned the detail of a $15m boost to media funding announced … Read more
New Zealand’s crankiest uncle, broadcaster Leighton Smith, hangs up his headphones at the end of this year. He’s been on the periphery of our lives for 34 years, but he remains a man of mystery to most of us. The Spinoff TV’s Angella Dravid investigates. The Spinoff TV, Fridays at 9.45pm on THREE
Bringing you the best weekly reading from your friendly local website. Rebekah White: Every New Zealander needs a third place “New Zealand has a great third place – the outdoors. My favourite third place is a DOC hut, any of them – the one space in the country where anyone is up for a yarn. But … Read more
The good ship Spinoff needs a part-time finance coordinator. If that sounds like you, read on. If not, you should probably go and read something else tbh. We’re looking for a part-time Finance Coordinator to join the Spinoff. You’ll need to be highly proficient in Xero, have experience with processing IRD payments (PAYE, GST, provisional … Read more
Each week on The Spinoff TV’s Repressed Memories, James Mustapic delves into NZ pop culture’s graveyard and digs up the bodies. This episode: Shocking deaths, forbidden love, multiple Harry Warners and TK in a fedora – revisiting the glory of Shortland Street in 2009. Watch all the Repressed Memories videos here. The Spinoff TV screens … Read more
Want New Zealand to continue to keep making good local film and TV? Then it’s time to get over rebates and subsidies for big Hollywood productions, writes film industry professional Rajneel Singh. People who have known me over the years know that I’ve never exactly lived the Hollywood lifestyle. I am single, I still live … Read more
A new documentary following New Zealand’s Joseph Parker offers fascinating background on the make-or-break moments of boxing, writes Don Rowe. Half an hour into Metamorphosis, the new documentary following Joseph Parker in the build up to his championship fight last March, there is an interaction that those of us on the far temporal side of … Read more
Jamie Curry uploaded a video titled “my sexuality” last Sunday, and in doing so let viewers in on a deeply personal side of herself. Sharing one’s personal life online isn’t a new phenomenon, but for YouTube content creators it’s also a part of their job. Audiences expect to be let in to the creator’s world, … Read more
Bringing you the best weekly reading from your friendly local website. Alex Braae: Fact check: Has there been more striking in 9 months of Labour than 9 years of National?” The stats are bullshit, because if you were to compare the two figures, you’d completely wipe the tally just with aviation security workers. They very, … Read more
Marketing guru Brandon Digital (Ra Pomare) explains how Matariki can transform your boring small business into an exciting “woke brand’. The Spinoff TV is on THREE at 9.45pm from June 22. Thanks to NZ on Air.
The Checkpoint host’s departure for a new role at TVNZ is the latest blow to the public broadcaster in a tumultuous 2018. Toby Manhire attempts to get his head around it all. One of the biggest beasts of New Zealand broadcasting, John Campbell will leave RNZ on September 14, almost three years to the day … Read more
The NZ Film Festival opens in Auckland on July 19, a week later in Wellington, and then through the country. David Larsen and a team of obsessive cinephiles will be filing capsule reviews for the Spinoff once we’re under way. But first, David offers his advice on navigating the programme A few years ago my … Read more
In a rant about media peddling nonsense, the Newstalk ZB host peddles nonsense about that Time border cover and we look forward to him saying sorry for peddling nonsense. The host of the Mike Hosking Breakfast, Mike Hosking, has left himself with no alternative but to issue an apology and correction over words spoken by … Read more
José Barbosa infiltrates the glamorous Great Gatsby Party at the Toy Mansion, formerly home to Kim Dotcom, in a quest to recover his long lost undies. The Spinoff TV screens Fridays at 9.45pm from June 22nd on THREE. Thanks to NZ on Air.
NZME journalist Georgina Campbell has created a new podcast about the #metoo movement. She speaks to Alex Braae about how media coverage of sexual harassment and abuse has changed in the months since the Weinstein stories broke In the first episode of Speaking Secrets, a new podcast series about the Me Too movement, journalist Georgina … Read more
On June 21 2018, Neve Te Aroha Ardern Gayford was born. But on April 7, 2010 first fisherman Clarke Gayford revealed a preference for a middle name of a … different kind. After a deep and serious investigation, The Spinoff has discovered a clip uploaded onto popular video website YouTube from the account “Rattle Ya … Read more
Bringing you the best weekly reading from your friendly local website. Thalia Kehoe Rowden: What can a horrified New Zealander do about children in cages? “Whether you are poring over Twitter and the New York Times website, gaping at every new atrocity this corrupt and cruel administration embarks on, or avoiding the excruciating sights and sounds … Read more
You’re probably using the term clickbait wrongly, explains Alex Braae. A shocking abuse of language is taking place in media every day, and experts are completely lost on how to deal with it. One word has been so brutally abused, overused and mangled that it is now completely unrecognisable. Do you know this word? Click … Read more