After years of watching white faces fill his favourite television shows, Aaron Yap finally got to see his own culture represented on the small screen. Sometimes I feel like a bad Asian. The fact that I require English subtitles to watch anything in my native Chinese tongue bothers me if I think about it too … Read more
Marion McLeod reviews In Gratitude by Jenny Diski, which she began writing when she was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Her given name was Jennifer Simmonds, which always makes me laugh. A name from Tunbridge Wells or Teddington. That’s what her mother wanted – a nice, well-behaved, middle-class daughter. The daughter didn’t oblige, though she did … Read more
Wyoming Paul reviews The Vegetarian, the slim, erotic novel which has become the literary sensation of 2016 after it won this year’s Man Booker international prize for fiction. After a violent and disturbing nightmare, an ordinary Korean woman decides to stop eating meat. She empties the kitchen of fish, eggs, pork, and for the first … Read more
Sue Orr admires the latest work of the master: Owen Marshall’s new novel, Love As a Stranger. I’ve always been wary of thrillers. I don’t like the way they so brashly presume they’re going to thrill me. That gets my goat, as my mum would say. Their ardent determination to surprise feels fated to self-sabotage. … Read more
Philip Matthews reviews Movie Journal: The Rise of the New American Cinema, 1959-1971 by Jonas Mekas Here is an eyewitness account of something almost happening. The year is 1965. “Nothing much really happens in the film, if we want action. Miss Sedgwick goes about her make-up business, she listens to rock ‘n’ roll music; she … Read more
Finlay Macdonald reviews The Killing of Osama bin Laden by Seymour Hersh About the worst thing anyone will say of Seymour Hersh’s journalism is that he’s only “one of America’s greatest investigative reporters”. But that’s the New York Times for you, always hedging. Others don’t hold back so much: “The most feared investigative reporter in … Read more
Education is a topic critical to us as a nation. It deserves so much better than the pandering polemic Bryan Bruce delivered last night on TV3. Last night TV3 screened a “special report”, “written, directed and produced” by Bryan Bruce, the veteran of dozens of documentaries over the years, many of which he has fronted with a … Read more
Holly Walker reviews the working-class white New Zealand fuck-ups, suicides and predators in Tracey Slaughter’s amazing new story collection deleted scenes for lovers. “It is possible to say it,” says one of Tracey Slaughter’s narrators in deleted scenes for lovers, steeling herself to name the cancer that is eating her body from the inside. She … Read more
Elspeth Sandys reviews Barkskin, the enormously long and also deeply profound novel by Brokeback Mountain author Annie Proulx. Before Eleanor Catton wrote The Luminaries I would have said that the Americans were to blame for the new vogue for long – very long! – books. Three of Jonathan Franzen’s novels are all over 500 pages long. … Read more
Rosemary McLeod reviews I Will Find You: A Reporter Investigates the Life of the Man Who Raped Her (Fourth Estate, $34.99) by Joanna Connors. Women used to read romantic fiction, the kind in which everyone lived happily ever after, following tribulations such as which dress to wear, and whether or not to surrender to a masterful … Read more
For Monitor this week, Aaron Yap tackles Underground, a escape drama that seeks to combine modern times with history. When Quentin Tarantino released his blaxploitation-cum-spaghetti western opus Django Unchained in 2012, he had a justification for his typically incendiary, controversy-baiting approach to one of the most awful and shameful periods in American history. “When slave narratives are done … Read more
We didn’t know what to do about the Comedy Festival, so convened a motley trio of know-nothing punters to talk about it. Host Alex Casey is joined by The Spinoff editor Duncan Greive and internet sensation Paul Williams to discuss the second week of the New Zealand Comedy Festival. Acts assessed include James Acaster, … Read more
Madeleine Chapman watches Sidewalk Karaoke, the new homespun singing competition by Māori TV. Sidewalk Karaoke, the latest release on Māori TV, is exactly what you would expect: karaoke sung on the sidewalk. Think Singstar on wheels. Think cracking highs when sober. Think shopping mall talent quest outside the mall. The budget is shamelessly sparse – no … Read more
The limited run series Containment promises a healthy dose of viruses with a side of emotional trauma. After one episode, Aaron Yap was left feeling less than satisfied. The sight of someone spewing blood and mucus out their nostrils will probably never lose its inherent ickiness. Containment knows this. Throughout its pilot episode, the show thrives on this … Read more
Jack Joyce is given time powers while at ground zero at a time travel experiment accident caused by his bestie Paul Serene. It’s only the bloody end of time, innit? The Spinoff wraps up its Quantum Break coverage with a musing on the AAA game’s most interesting element: the story. The ubiquitous visual motif of … Read more
Joseph Harper lives among the quietude of Stardew Valley and finds a place where even those with the darkest of hearts can find a place to be. I love almost everything about the Steam gaming platform. I love feeling part of a community in the wake of a big, bolshie blockbuster release. I love the … Read more
Madeleine Chapman and her Aunty Henga assess the skills, builds, and tattoos in Game of Bros, Māori television’s reality quest for the ultimate Polynesian warrior. Last night was the penultimate episode of Game of Bros. The semi final. The final bend. That last spoonful of palusami before you’re left with the perfect ratio of taro and coconut cream. Sticking to … Read more
The latest installment in the Doom franchise is just around the corner. Over the weekend Liam Maguren tried out the open BETA and found it great fun to play, but disappointingly ordinary. The first trailer for the new Doom punched its way onto the scene with a fuck-you-flavoured fist through the zombified jawbone of E3. That’s an … Read more
Guy Somerset reviews Goodnight and Good Riddance: How 35 Years of John Peel Helped Shape Modern Britain by David Cavanagh When I was a boy, culture was delivered on a Thursday by Mr Pavitt. Or was it Pavett? Perhaps even Pavit or Pavet? If you had a name like Pavitt/Pavett/Pavit/Pavet, you’d be used to people … Read more
Joseph Harper plays Hyrule Warriors Legends and loves it, but not really. A few years ago Nintendo and Koei Tecmo teamed up to create a Zelda/Dynasty Warriors mash-up. Zelda, Ruto, Darunia, and various Links bash their way through hordes of enemies, earning upgrades and generally thwarting evil. For some reason ($$$$$) Nintendo decided to port the … Read more
Madeleine Chapman and her Aunty Henga assess the skills, builds, and tattoos in Game of Bros, Māori television’s reality quest for the ultimate Polynesian warrior. On Wednesday morning I walked past Louis on my way to work and didn’t say anything. Moving on. Last night Aunty Henga was called away from the dinner table to “come watch your … Read more
Charlotte Grimshaw reviews Some Rain Must Fall: My Struggle, Volume 5 by Karl Ove Knausgaard There was no plot, I wanted to entwine the internal with the external, the neural pathways in the brain with the fishing smacks in the harbour… – Karl Ove Knausgaard If you’ve ploughed through Volumes One to Four of Karl Ove … Read more
Giovanni Tiso reviews Broken Vows, a biography of Tony Blair by Tom Bowers. There was that time Tony Blair dropped a jar full of honey in the kitchen, and got down on his knees to clean up the mess with a brush and pan. Or that other time when the bath was overflowing upstairs and … Read more
Calum Henderson sat down to watch The Café, a morning show set in a café. “This is the perfect show,” Mike Puru raved halfway through Monday morning’s first episode of The Café. “We’ve got a barista on set, we’ve got a kitchen on set… I am in heaven right now.” After years serving as Jay Jay and Dom’s sidekick … Read more
Marion McLeod reviews Before the War by Fay Weldon. I threw away all my Fay Weldons last year. Well, I didn’t actually throw them. I piled them into a rusting supermarket trolley and pushed them across the road to Arty Bees. All of them – about two dozen novels (mostly hardback), a few collections of … Read more
Dark clouds gather into FX mattes and suddenly all the adults and electricity disappears. This is the setting for The Cul De Sac, TVNZ’s new young adult series. The first episode played on Sunday night and José Barbosa reckons it shows promise. Dark, grim promise. “It’s the apocalypse” says bespectacled neighbour played by former Shortland Street star KJ … Read more
Madeleine Chapman and her Aunty Henga assess the skills, builds, and tattoos in Game of Bros, Māori television’s reality quest for the ultimate Polynesian warrior. Aunty Henga arrived back home just in time to witness Game of Bros completely give up on trying to maintain the illusion of being on an island. After spotting a Mitre 10 in the background, … Read more
Fiona Kidman reviews the essay collection Everywhere I Look by Helen Garner Everywhere I Look is Australian writer Helen Garner’s latest collection of essays and, like much of her former work, it’s not lacking in controversial aspects. Her early writing was like entering a soothing bath of recognition, a woman who understood the suburban condition and … Read more
Margo White reviews Alive, Alive Oh! And Other Things That Matter by Diana Athill There is a scene in Alive, Alive Oh! in which Diana Athill recounts how she, aged 97 and with the help of two 94-year-old ladies, managed to plant the six rose bushes Athill had bought to brighten up the garden of … Read more