On Sunday, the Herald ran a crazily racist opinion piece where an unnamed real estate agent criticised Auckland for being “unwholesomely Chinese”. Guy Williams went in search of the truth about the story, and ended up being sucked down a rabbit hole filled with intrigue, recriminations, and Winston Peters. Holy shit! I’m in too deep. … Read more
Lumping together foreign investors, international students and immigrants isn’t about policy, it’s about class, writes Keith Ng. Immigrants are like teenagers. We spend a lot of time fitting in, and being hyper-aware of whether we fit it. When teenagers say “eeuuugghhh muuuumm”, they’re actually (kinda) articulating the idea that mum is unwittingly transgressing the social … Read more
Compiling the best reading of the week from your friendly local website. Alex Casey & Leah Damm: Looking back on a total shitter of a week for women in New Zealand “Perhaps the deepest burn of all came from Margaret Comer, not only a certified woman but also a standing member of the Waikato Women’s … Read more
Troye Sivan joins Alex and Joseph on the couch to share his wisdom and debut a bold new look. This week Alex and Joseph are joined by popstar and Youtube legend Troye Sivan to share their scars, talk about awkward dancing and sample a new look in facial hair. Oh, and the latest singles from Broods, … Read more
Compiling the best reading of the week from your friendly local website. Michele A’Court: Stop saying dumb shit, and other top tips for all the Kevins of the world “I reckon I might be able to throw a bit of light on this. I actually think you do get it – you come close to … Read more
Alex Casey chats to filmmaker and activist Taryn Brumfitt about her movement to get women embracing their own bodies, no matter what the media says. Walking up to my interview with Taryn Brumfitt, director of Embrace documentary and leader of body positivity movement, I pondered my Queen Street surroundings with the expression of a cat looking … Read more
Compiling the best reading of the week from your friendly local website. Duncan Greive: Announcing the War for Auckland So for the first time we’re opening up the opportunity to contribute to The Spinoff financially via our PledgeMe campaign. We’re asking for money for this specific project, from both businesses and individuals, to chip in … Read more
After Alex Behan’s essay chronicling his attempts to change the long-running historic mispronunciation of Radio Hauraki went viral on Thursday, a news report on Te Kaea yesterday indicates change is coming soon. On Thursday morning, 15 minutes after finishing what should have been his second-to-last shift on the station, we hit publish on Radio Hauraki … Read more
This week: psychotherapist Ms X on settling for second best, dating dry patches, and knowing when to kick him to the kerb. Hi Ms X, I’m feeling a bit stuck here and could do with some cold, hard advice and maybe a bit of a reality check. First up, I am the worst at dating. … Read more
Soon-to-be-former Radio Hauraki DJ Alex Behan explains why everyone has been pronouncing the station’s name wrong for years – and why it needs to stop. UPDATE: The station appears to have indicated it will soon change its pronunciation. The first question I asked when I was offered a job at Radio Hauraki was “Am I allowed to … Read more
Alex Casey talks to Elijah Wood about producing The Greasy Strangler, the film bound to get the most dry-retches in the New Zealand International Film Festival this year, and wrangles a rare beanie competition for one lucky greaseball to win. “I love it, a beanie set the country on fire, that’s genius. I love New … Read more
A rare experimental edition of On the Rag, featuring the women behind The Rehearsal, premiering in the New Zealand International Film Festival this weekend. In this special edition of On the Rag, Alex talks to the powerhouse of women behind The Rehearsal, the New Zealand film based on the novel by Eleanor Catton. Alison Maclean, … Read more
Boners of the Heart is a new podcast hosted by Alice Snedden and Rose Matafeo, where the pair dissect their weird, often disturbing, celebrity crushes. By way of introduction, we got each of them to detail their favourite heart-boner-maker. Rose Matafeo I met Alice a couple of years ago, but I think we both agree we were … Read more
Alex Casey is joined by Steve Newall and Liam Maguren of Flicks to discuss their plans for week two of the International Film Festival, review week one and share stories of crying at the flicks. Listen or download this episode using the player below or subscribe to our one-off podcast feed Pop Up Pods using iTunes
The just-released commercial radio ratings show a continuation of the long-running swing to MediaWorks. Tim Murphy assesses the disturbing implications for a pre-merger NZME. Today is a day when careers are made and ended. At radio stations around the country, star presenters and executives have been waiting by their mobiles to confirm if they are … Read more
How do you feel about the way your body is changing? Are you afraid of dying? Are you lonely? Noelle McCarthy asks all this and more in a new podcast series for Radio New Zealand. Here are five ways of making an interviewer cry. Tell her about: – how your mother feels about your terminal … Read more
While Parris Goebel is designing moves for Bieber and Minaj in the US, another Kiwi choreographer is making waves in the UK. Corey Baker talks to Anna Frances Pearson about his meteoric rise. Corey Baker’s career hardly rates a mention in New Zealand media; it has happened entirely overseas. But the 25-year-old choreographer is now … Read more
Sky TV is attempting to massively restrict online coverage of the Rio Olympics – and both the Herald and Stuff are considering staying home in protest, reports Tim Murphy. Don’t criticise the Sky commentators. Don’t make Gifs. And hold off for, say, three hours. These are some of the controversial conditions Sky TV is believed to have … Read more
Emily Writes is a blogger whose incredibly frank and deeply funny writing on parenting has made her a hero to many mothers. Unfortunately, it’s also made her the target of thousands of unaccountably angry men – especially after a recent review of Tarzan went viral. Alex Casey called her up to talk about it. New … Read more
Today The Spinoff officially turns off comments. Here editor Duncan Greive explains his reasoning behind the decision. As of today, as of exactly right now, The Spinoff is turning off Disqus, the comments engine we’ve used since we started in September of 2014. The motivations are simple and twofold. First, comments make us no money but … Read more
Alex Casey is joined by Steve Newall and Liam Maguren of Flicks to discuss their plans for week one, and share hot tips on how to survive the harrowing festival conditions. With sincere apologies for their disastrous and ill-advised first preview pod, the great Spinoff X Flicks merger podcast returns one day out from the … Read more
Today The Spinoff assesses the state of the professional critic in New Zealand with four pieces – two new, two older – which reflect on the challenges the form faces. In 2002 a small storm erupted when the brilliant film, theatre and restaurant critic Peter Calder dared to negatively review a local production. An actor angrily accused … Read more
Today The Spinoff assesses the state of the professional critic in New Zealand with four pieces – two new, two older – which reflect on the challenges the form faces. Here theatre critic Sam Brooks assesses the state of his art. “To be a critic in New Zealand is to be a kind of weed. It’s … Read more
Compiling the best reading of the week from your friendly local website. Arthur Grimes: How to fix a broken Auckland? Add 150,000 homes to crash prices by 40% “The question then is how can Auckland grow and at the same time have house prices that become affordable for more people. Logically, the only answer to … Read more
Compiling the best reading of the week from your friendly local website. Geoffrey Palmer: The political elites foisted a new system on ordinary Brits. Little wonder they’re grabbing it back “So when the people have an opportunity to decide they reject it. Their fear about jobs and their sense of insecurity about immigration are entirely understandable. They … Read more
Economist Shamubeel Eaqub, Auckland mayoral candidate Vic Crone, Alan Johnson of the Salvation Army Policy Unit, and Leonie Freeman from Goodman Property Trust discuss the crisis of homelessness and affordable house prices with Guyon Espiner. The latest Ika Table Talk, titled “Can’t We Fix This Housing Thing?” sold out within hours of being announced. On Tuesday … Read more
The rancorous fallout from Brexit reinforces one of the key failings of what passes for debate in the social media era: that neither side ever hears the other’s argument. Richard MacManus on the ‘filter bubble’, and some ways Facebook and Twitter can address it. The big news this week was the decision by 52% of British … Read more
The MPs and academics who’ve criticised the depiction of Maui in an upcoming Disney movie are helping perpetuate damaging stereotypes about Polynesian people, argues Leah Damm. When my local Labour MP, Jenny Salesa, used social media to question the depiction of Maui in the Taika Waititi-penned Disney film Moana, I had to take pause. I read the … Read more
Compiling the best reading of the week from your friendly local website. Josh Drummond: New Zealand’s absurd gardening ban once again makes us the laughing stock of the Internet “Our prisons are bursting with middle-aged white people, who make up a disproportionate number of victims of our punitive and ageist anti-gardening legislation. Only recently a Kaikohe … Read more