Duncan Greive watches Law & Order True Crime: The Menendez Murders, a miniseries following the true 90s case that gripped the world and caused a media circus. You know the true crimewave is getting out of hand when Law & Order is getting in on the game. The franchise, of which True Crime: the Menendez … Read more
Christchurch’s Wunderbar in Lyttelton attracted fury today after a refugees advocate posted a photograph which seems to run counter to its ‘nice people only’ slogan. Henry Oliver called to ask what they were up to. Last night, Murdoch Stephens of Double the Quota, a refugee advocacy group, posted a photo of Wunderbar, a Lyttelton bar … Read more
This week on My Kitchen Rules NZ, Chris and Bex learn you can lead ten amateur foodies to Wanaka for tea, but you can’t make them like it. From Charlotte and Maddie’s al fresco kitchen nightmare in Auckland, we head south, to Wanaka, for the penultimate instant restaurant of MKRNZ ’17. Hosts Chris and Bex … Read more
Tara Ward counts down the top ten moments from ‘A. Malcolm’, the sixth episode of Outlander season three. Contains major spoilers, obviously. Say your goodbyes, Sassenachs, because this week’s Outlander will strike you down dead. The emotion will slay you, the passion will cut you into a thousand tiny pieces, and you’ll end up a wizened, wrinkled … Read more
Auckland City Limits (or ACL for short) returns on 3 March 2018 after a one-year hiatus. These are our favourite songs from the just-announced lineup. Beck – ‘Loser’ I know wanting Beck to play ‘Loser’ at a show in 2018 is as annoying as hoping Radiohead play ‘Creep’ or going to a Billy Corgan solo … Read more
Despite having relatively dry skin and therefore dry lives, The Real Pod team still assemble to talk about a scandalous week four on Married at First Sight NZ. This week on The Real Pod, there’s more chat flying around than Haydn’s DMs on a Sunday morning. On Married at First Sight NZ, the couples have … Read more
Alex Casey power ranks the fourth week of Married at First Sight NZ, including new living quarters, a tonne of counselling and one very overdue breakup. This week, the cocktail party continued well past that tipping point in an evening where any reasonable person would have already left to get a McChicken and sob to … Read more
The best era in recent R&B history unites for a concert in downtown Auckland tonight. Duncan Greive reviews the Melbourne version. I don’t know what the strangest moment of the night was. Maybe the whole crowd singing Ne-Yo ‘Happy Birthday’ ahead of his vegan cake, due to his turning 38 the night prior. It could … Read more
Alex Casey previews Wait For Me Hollywood, the final TVNZ1 Sunday Special following movie star James Rolleston in the aftermath of his near-fatal car accident. When James Rolleston was a little boy, he used to peer at the TV from his front lounge in Ōpotiki and say “I want to be in there.” Several years … Read more
Legendary Beastwars vocalist Matt Hyde has been diagnosed with cancer. Here Toby Morris pens a tribute, and outlines how fans can help Hyde win his battle. If you’ve ever seen Beastwars you’ll know what I’m talking about in that headline. You’ll know who is singing it too – Matt Hyde with his white beard and … Read more
Our regular round-up of new songs and singles, featuring Julien Barker, Julia Deans, Hopetown Brown, the handsomer Gallagher and more… SONG OF THE WEEK Julien Baker – ‘Turn Out the Lights’ A new song for communal despair The Fader recently described 21-year old Memphis songwriter Julien Baker as an artist who “writes songs for communal despair” … Read more
Tara Ward watches British sitcom Mum, a show for anyone who has found themselves in an inescapable family mess. What’s the story? Mum is a family comedy seen through the eyes of newly widowed Cathy. The show follows Cathy as she negotiates the first year after her husband’s death, beginning in January on the day … Read more
From the genius that gave us Blade Runner, the first two episodes of anthology series Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams finally arrived on Lightbox last night. Alex Casey and José Barbosa try to piece together the meaning behind the unique, mind-bending tales. Contains spoilers and trippiness. Alex Casey: Hey José, how are you doing today? … Read more
Fascinated by the surprising and often inspired music curation on TVNZ 1’s evening news bulletin, Calum Henderson goes in search of the person responsible. It is one of the great pleasures – only sometimes guilty – of modern TV viewing: being able to identify any piece of music on any show simply by holding your phone in … Read more
Matthew Crawley chats with Alexis Taylor, who saved many a dancefloor in Hot Chip and now tours the world playing solo songs on the piano. Once was a time when you couldn’t hit a dancefloor without being treated to a sweet little Hot Chip party gem. Over the years, many a flailing DJ has rescued … Read more
To mark the 20th anniversary of Drive, and the upcoming anniversary tour to celebrate it, Hussein Moses talks to Bic Runga and those involved in the recording to find out how it became one of the most significant albums in New Zealand music history. It’s been 20 years since the release of Drive, the album … Read more
The Real Pod team assemble to talk about the haphazard honeymoons of Married at First Sight NZ. Just like the Married at First Sight contestants, The Real Pod team are finally back together in the same room to gossip themselves to an early grave. The honeymoons are over, the glamping tents have been packed up, … Read more
The youngest contestants in My Kitchen Rules NZ history write the weirdest menu in My Kitchen Rules NZ history, and poor old Pete Evans has to read it out loud. From Teal and Sophie’s Wellington stately mansion we return to Auckland this week for Charlotte and Maddie’s instant restaurant ‘Fresh’. The show’s youngest contestants have … Read more
Alex Casey power ranks the third week of Married at First Sight NZ, full of cocktails, baths and deep regret. I think I was more excited for this cocktail party than any Bachelor cocktail party, real-life cocktail party, or shrimp cocktail. After being kept in The Shining-style isolation in their respective lodges, estates and glamping … Read more
Jessie Moss crunches the numbers on the VNZMAs and discovers some surprising – and unfortunately not so surprising – facts about gender representation in our biggest music awards. 2017 has been a big year for women in the New Zealand music industry. There has been constant agitation at the roots, propelled by the likes of … Read more
The Spinoff and Spark proudly present Pod On The Couch, a weekly podcast exploring music and the people that make it. This episode: Henry Oliver talks to Billie Rogers and Jana Whitta about Girls Rock! Camp Aotearoa. Spinoff Music editor Henry Oliver talks to Street Chant’s Billie Rogers and musician/engineer/DJ Jana Whitter about Girls Rock! Camp Aotearoa, a week-long holiday … Read more
Would you watch a stranger open PR packages in a YouTube video longer than the average sitcom episode? Millions of people do. Morgan Ashworth explains why. Shannon Harris is sitting on the floor in her filming room, wearing a Gucci-esque t-shirt and Homer Simpson pyjama bottoms. She’s surrounded by packages. It’s like 15 Christmases at … Read more
To celebrate the third season of Mr Robot coming exclusively to Lightbox today at 7pm, here are some of the ways you can protect yourself against the vigilante hacking groups coming for your double chin selfies. Today, after little more than a live E-Coin launch and a cryptic loaded tweet from the director to the … Read more
It’s been touted as the new Black Mirror, but there’s a lot more to blockbuster anthology series Philip K Dick’s Electric Dreams. Here’s our crash course ahead of the premiere episodes, arriving exclusively on Lightbox next Wednesday. This content, like all television coverage we do at The Spinoff, is brought to you thanks to the excellent … Read more
Being a woman in rock shouldn’t be something worth writing about, writes Emma Cameron of Christchurch band Decades. Yes, I am a woman and yes, I play rock music – but the truth is, I did not grow up being aware that I was different for being someone with breasts and a vulva playing a … Read more
Migos performed in New Zealand for the first time at Spark Arena last night. Old soul Madeleine Chapman went along to see what the youths have been raving about. Walking towards Spark Arena for the Migos concert, my cousin Shanee and I ducked into a dimly lit doorway to prepare for the security checks that … Read more
The second season of English drama Doctor Foster might be the best thriller on television, despite its everyday subject matter, writes Duncan Greive. Doctor Foster has headed upstairs from a party and is walking around a house in silence, picking up photos and smelling cosmetics. The stakes are not much higher than her being caught … Read more
Kate Robertson talks to Americana singer-songwriter Justin Townes Earle, who plays in Auckland this week, about music and survival. Justin Townes Earle is a complex character to unpack. Son of Steve Earle (who was singing about a Galway Girl long before Ed Sheeran), Townes Earle’s somewhat turbulent childhood has long served as a launch pad … Read more
They’re renowned hairdressers and A+ reality TV talent, but are Wellington couple Teal and Sophie any good at cooking? This week on My Kitchen Rules NZ, we find out. From Jaryd and Ben’s art deco-inspired Auckland instant restaurant we head to Wellington for the third meal of the series at Teal and Sophie’s Wellington… mansion? … Read more