The Spinoff launched a plan to bury a time capsule containing the epitome of this hell year before working out where we were going to plant the thing. Josie Adams was tasked with finding somewhere suitable. So, you want to bury a time capsule. First, stop. Does the future need this? Historians in a century … Read more
Grab a slice of moon cheese and sit back as Alex Casey imagines her dream multi-course dinner party plucked straight from our TV and movie screens. This has been a simply scrumptious year for realising just how many things we can’t do any more. We can’t travel internationally. We can’t press lift buttons with our … Read more
One of our finest speculative fiction writers on how the Lord of the Rings fandom is damaging mana whenua. There are kākā on my porch. They are circling each other, fanning their beautiful green and red feathers. They’ve found the pāua shell my flatmate picked up on the beach last week. It is shiny, so … Read more
During the worst days of the Covid-19 outbreak in New Zealand, Matamata was right at the heart of it all. Alex Braae went to the Waikato town to ask people how they’re getting on now. On the signs heading out to the Hobbiton Movie Set about 10 minutes away from the Waikato town of Matamata … Read more
Are you sick of that moment towards the end of a film when you realise that not a single woman has spoken to another woman the whole time? Turns out you can test for that. In your real life, we bet you probably speak to a whole bunch of different people. Some of them might … Read more
Over the weekend, Sir Ian McKellen resurfaced the extensive blog that he produced while filming The Lord of the Rings in New Zealand. Alex Casey plucks out the most wholesome highlights. It’s pretty cool that in the 20 years that have passed since Sir Ian McKellen posted his first blog about The Lord of the … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Difficult decision looms for govt over Ihumātao, NZDF story scrutinised at inquiry, and innovative new bus service to be trialled in Timaru. This is far from the end of the story about what will happen to the land at Ihumātao. A major development took place … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Controversial West Coast dairy co-op sale goes through, time running out for sealing Tūhoe road, and tensions rising around AAAP action days. Yesterday was a hugely significant day for New Zealand’s dairy industry, partly for what happened, and partly for what it could signify about … Read more
To celebrate Valentine’s Day and the launch of DB Export’s new campaign, The Spinoff pays tribute to New Zealand’s most famous love stories. Love isn’t something that’s always come easily to New Zealanders. Our “man alone” colonial history has often demanded feelings be suppressed, and emotions were traditionally something to be bottled rather than expressed, … Read more
The announcement that Peter Jackson’s latest project is a Beatles documentary is proof the decorated director has finally gone too far, writes Duncan Greive. It seems scarcely credible to suggest at this point, but Peter Jackson used to be cool. He made silly, weird movies about New Zealand – its monsters and its murderers – … Read more
Infrequent flyer Joseph Nunweek gruellingly attempts to rank them all. “Toneless.” “Trivialising safety” “A juvenile mish-mash.” The real surprise last week when The Hon. Shane Jones MP criticised the latest Air New Zealand safety video wasn’t that the Minister for Verbiage would stick his neck out and create a political football – it was that … Read more
On Lightbox Premium, you can download Lightbox content to your mobile device. We asked our colleagues for their picks to watch on your next commute – no matter the length. Your commute can be the worst part of your day; there’s nothing to do on it except waste time. But what if you could catch … Read more
Zoi Sadowski-Synnott and Nico Porteous, both 16, won bronze medals at the Winter Olympics this week. Their efforts add to an ever-growing list of impressive achievements by New Zealand teenagers. When the world ends and New Zealand must present its best self for God’s judgment, it will be as a teenager. I spent a couple of … Read more
Dave Comer was a film location scout who is credited with finding many of the spectacular locations for Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings. His widow Peta Carey introduces her new book of his photographs. It’s an odd affair, a book launch. Particularly your first book launch. My very kind publisher had warned me, “It’s … Read more
Tara Ward watches Wasted, a buzzy British comedy starring spirit guide Sean Bean as every famous Sean Bean character ever. Imagine discovering your subconscious mind can manifest itself into the form it trusts the most. It’s an alarming thought, mostly because mine would reveal itself as an electrifying mix of Suzy Cato and Astar from … 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
New Zealand may finally be moving past its fixation on the All Blacks and Madeleine Chapman is bloody excited about it. This morning on Stuff, an opinion piece by Cas Carter mourned the impending loss of New Zealand’s identity as a rugby-loving country. “Our image as a hard core rugby loving nation is under threat,” … Read more
Over 20 years since it aired on TV One on a quiet Sunday night, Aaron Yap remembers Peter Jackson’s hoax-documentary Forgotten Silver. Peter Jackson might have sold New Zealand to the world as a viable enchanting Middle Earth filled with Hobbits and Gollums, but his greatest trick remains convincing us – for a brief moment – … Read more