From House of Cards’ sinister trumpets to The Fresh Prince’s iconic rap, TV theme tunes are powerful signifiers and also, just occasionally, standalone hits superior even to the show they prelude. Elizabeth Beattie examines five of New Zealand’s television theme songs to sift the cultural gold from the mud. We can tell a lot about … Read more
Remember staying up extra late, one hand hovering nervously over the remote in case of footsteps, waiting to catch a tantalising glimpse of nudity on TV? You were not alone. An anonymous panel revisits the golden era of SKY 1 soft porn. In the years before broadband internet and personal devices, New Zealand teenagers had … Read more
We review the entire country and culture of New Zealand, one thing at a time. Today: Calum Henderson tries the New Zealand sweetie fusion to (hopefully) end all New Zealand sweetie fusions. “Oh they haven’t, have they?” – Toby Manhire, Spinoff Politics editor, 9:15am Oh yes they have. Pascall – the confectionery company owned by … Read more
Bulls was an unexceptional country town until a chance discovery of a secondhand book of bovine puns changed the course of history. Jess McAllen uncovers the remarka-bull story. Like many great artists, the person who roused the small town of Bulls to paint the streets with puns will never know how iconic his work was. … Read more
Before there was Survivor, there was New Zealand’s own reality juggernaut Treasure Island. Calum Henderson revisits the first episode of 2001’s Celebrity Treasure Island and finds out what the contestants are doing with themselves now. There were nine whole seasons of Treasure Island and all anyone remembers is the time Lana Coc-Kroft nearly died from … Read more
Someone always leaves their cereal bowl in the sink, the microwave is filthy and there’s never any forks. The case is clear: the modern office kitchen is the closest us cossetted Kiwis get to hell on earth, says Greg Pritchard. In the last 50 or 60 years the New Zealand workforce has changed massively. Back … Read more
Today would have been the 67th birthday of broadcasting legend Sir Paul Holmes. To celebrate, Pete Douglas looks back on that strange time when a broadcaster could release an album on a major label for seemingly no other reason than shits and giggles. “Hi there – do you … Read more
A new public discussion series explores the link between primary products – dairy, meat, wine and wool – and New Zealand national identity. Victoria University’s Prof Lydia Wevers introduces the series. Every Kiwi baby-boomer remembers having to drink quarter-pint bottles of warm milk at playtime, which at my school had been left outside on the … Read more
We asked retro packaging super-collector Steve Williams for his top 10 Kiwi food labels of all time, and this is what he told us. Read more about Steve Williams’ collection of historic NZ food packaging here. 1. 1969 Nestle Milky Bar Chocolate Wrapper. “Great early example of the classic “Milky Bar Kid” on a wrapper.” … Read more
Don Rowe speaks to Steve Williams, a Palmerston North man who has curated the most incredible collection of packaging materials in New Zealand – and possibly the world. See Steve Williams’ 10 favourite Kiwi food labels here. There once was a time when sliced cheese came in a Ninja Turtle box. A time when chewing … Read more
Looking back on 1990s supermarket chain Big Fresh, it seems scarcely believable. A food shopping Disneyland with live country music, a TV room for the kids and giant animatronic vegetables swaying in the rafters? Did that actually happen? But for 15 glorious years the Big Fresh supermarket chain really did exist. Kristin Hall met the … Read more
On playing fields, in classrooms and at workplaces across the country, the colloquial Kiwi nickname once ruled the roost. But now, writes John ‘Nick’ Harnett, those who go by a nickname are members of a dying breed. What happened to nicknames? Almost everyone had one when I went to school and, most of the time, they … Read more
It was one of the craziest things ever to happen on New Zealand primetime TV: a hidden camera caught a cleaner sniffing underwear, spraying it with perfume, then masturbating into it while he watched porn on the household computer. Alex Casey finds out how it all came about. We can all remember the most iconic … Read more