Business is Boring is a weekly podcast series presented by The Spinoff in association with Callaghan Innovation. Host Simon Pound speaks with innovators and commentators focused on the future of New Zealand, with the interview available as both audio and a transcribed excerpt. This week he talks to entertainment powerhouse John Barnett. Outrageous Fortune, Sione’s … Read more
The Real Pod assembles to dissect the week in New Zealand pop culture and real life, with special thanks to Nando’s. This week on the Real Pod, Duncan phones in on the way to the Mediaworks launch, and delivers breaking news updates that are now definitely old news. There’s also a lot of hard-hitting news about big … Read more
Mediaworks launched their 2019 slate today. Sam Brooks has the lowdown on what you should be watching (and voting) for. 2018 is almost over and what a ride it’s been. Now, as we look ahead to 2019, who’s going to be dancing with other stars? Who’s going to be getting married at first sight? And … Read more
The rain poured down on the Great Kiwi Bake Off this week. Were the gods crying because Clayton had gone, or because they’d heard it was ‘Free From’ Week? Tara Ward power ranks episode 7. ‘Free From’ Week is hardly the sexiest of baking topics, is it? It’s certainly no cock on a pie, and when … Read more
The new world ain’t so new anymore – especially when you’re killing bears who might not actually be bears, and when your mum has already been there for approximately two hundred years. Tara Ward recaps episode four of season four of Outlander. Holy guacamole, mates, Outlander is BACK. I know it never really went away, although … Read more
In the ninth episode of Project Runway New Zealand, the designers had to make eveningwear based on some sponsored jewellery. Henry Oliver ranks the results. Two things: Caitlin & Benjamin vs The Rest The divide between team Caitlin and Benjamin and everyone else widened this episode. And I think I’m fine with it. The two ways … Read more
The latest forecast for our most beloved weather presenter? Cloudy with a chance of cheese rolls. It’s been four years since Jim Hickey left our screens, leaving a cavernous cumburger-shaped hole in hearts. Sure, Dan the Weatherman is 100% a living icon and has well and truly run with the catchphrase gauntlet. But it doesn’t … Read more
Today, Cystic Sisters, a documentary about women living with PCOS (Polycystic Ovary Syndrome) is released on TVNZ on Demand. Comedian, actor and Great Kiwi Bake Off host Hayley Sproull, the documentary’s presenter, looks back on her experience with the disease. From as early as I can remember, I’ve always had a moustache. I used to … Read more
It’s costume chaos week on House of Drag – but who surfs the waves and who gets washed ashore? Sam Brooks power-ranks episode three of House of Drag. After a shaky beginning, it seems that House of Drag is beginning to find its feet on the catwalk. Episode three is an altogether tighter ship, with clear narratives for the … Read more
The Real Pod assembles to dissect the week in New Zealand pop culture and real life, with special thanks to Nando’s. This week on the Real Pod, we power through a delicious week on Bake Off, a bridesmaids scuffle on Project Runway NZ and a huge showdown on House of Drag. Jane and Duncan share their … Read more
This week GKBO showed us what baking heaven really looks like: a cock on a pie. Welcome, ye olde roosters, to Pies and Tarts Week. Tara Ward power-ranks. Oh GKBO, you spoil us. I thought nothing could reach the giddy heights of last week’s biscuit extravaganza, when we scaled the Eiffel Tower and bathed in the … Read more
It’s a story as old as time: a great book makes for a perfectly fine television series. Sam Brooks reviews My Brilliant Friend. You know how when you see a photo of the Mona Lisa it doesn’t look that impressive? When you’re actually there in front of it – despite its suprisingly small size, despite the … Read more
Alex Casey talks to national treasure Suzy Cato about her new kids album, life after Dancing With the Stars and remaining zen about the pending future hellscape. It’s been half an hour and I can’t get Suzy Cato to say a bad word about anyone or anything. Not The Wiggles (“full support to The Wiggles, … Read more
Claire finds the foundation for her very own American Dream, while Brianna encounters second wave feminism – same difference, right? Tara Ward recaps episode three of season four of Outlander. There’s an old Scottish proverb that says “he who finds the strawberries, must smoulder at the horizon until his donkey flees and his wife loses her … Read more
In the eighth episode of Project Runway New Zealand, the designers had to remake a secondhand bridesmaid’s dress for their models. Henry Oliver ranks the results. Let’s talk about Caitlin. Let’s talk about cheating. Let’s talk about sharing and ideas and helping. Caitlin and Benjamin have been tight since the get-go. Benjamin is the best designer … Read more
New Zealand has its own drag reality show now, House of Drag – but how does it fare under the mighty shadow of RuPaul’s Drag Race? Sam Brooks tunes in. Once in a generation, a piece of work comes along that is so much of landmark, so much of a game-changer, that everything that comes along after … Read more
The Real Pod assembles to dissect the week in New Zealand pop culture and real life, with special thanks to Nando’s. This week on the pod, we are still fizzing after our incredible first Real Pod meet-up, A Very Corny Christmas at Nando’s St Lukes. Which notorious cornies showed up? Did anyone step ‘in it’? And … Read more
Alex Casey visits the chaotic House of Drag mansion, and meets the dragstars changing the face of local reality TV. At the end of the winding driveway of the House of Drag mansion, we are met with two drag queens luxuriating in nude underwear, eating cheeseburgers and dangling their feet in the enormous fountain. It … Read more
Six years after first arriving on our screens, Jono and Ben air their final episode tonight. In tribute, Dylan Reeve looks back on the best part of the show: Guy Williams’ NZ Today segment. For a certain group of overseas internet users, New Zealand’s most prominent journalist isn’t who you’d expect. It’s not John Campbell, … Read more
Inarguably the best sports drama of all time, Friday Night Lights, dropped in its entirety on Lightbox last week. Sam Brooks on why you should watch it – and the other cult classics you might not know are on the service. Friday Night Lights (S1-5) I’m surprised this show didn’t incorporate some sort of partnership with … Read more
It’s week 5 of GKBO, which means we’re halfway through our delectable voyage into baking nirvana. Tara Ward power-ranks the performances. I don’t even want to contemplate what I’ll do with my empty husk of a life when this is all over. GKBO is my TV biscuit lighthouse. Without it, the lolly stained-glass windows of my … Read more
Claire and Jamie aren’t in Lallybroch anymore. They’re in Kansas (or somewhere south of there). Tara Ward recaps the second episode of season four of Outlander. When we last left Outlander, things were more desperate than the time Jamie had to eat Mrs Crook’s lumpy bannocks. The Fraser’s journey to Aunt Jocasta’s plantation River Run … Read more
In the seventh episode of Project Runway New Zealand, the designers had to make an athleisure look for Georgia. Henry Oliver ranks the results. Well, this is good timing! Just this week I was reading about the history of the athleisure/activewear trend and GUESS WHAT, it is, in fact, not a trend at all, but the … Read more
What do you get when you mix a South Korean auteur, a French-sounding British spy author and a ridiculous attractive cast? A genuine must-see. Sam Brooks reviews The Little Drummer Girl. When I think of John le Carre, I don’t think sexy spy drama. If anything, the man has done whatever he can to dispel … Read more
Alex Casey dives into the second season of the least relatable show on television. What have you been up to over the past couple of weeks? Have you been fighting the council to protect the lives of stray cats, judging Miss Rotorua, selling wine barrels barrels across the country, luxuriating at Huka Lodge and necking … Read more
You’ve heard of them. All your cool friends and your coolest aunt watches them – but what the heck are these blonde dramas with subtitles? Sam Brooks is here to school you on the ubiquitous Scandi-drama. Lock the doors, lower the blinds, fire up the smoke machine and put on your heels, because I know … Read more
The Real Pod assembles to dissect the week in New Zealand pop culture and real life, with special thanks to Nando’s. It’s a huge week for the almighty pod as Jeff’s eyes on Bake Off are officially not as blue as they used to be. Ploughing through another great week of reality TV, we ask more … Read more
Zip yourself into your sourdough onesie and relax into your ciabatta couch, because it’s Bread Week, my little GKBO doughballs of happiness. Tara Ward power-ranks episode four. Bread is both delicious and a science, which means eating lots of it makes you smarter. Don’t question me, my research is flawless and if anyone needs me … Read more
She’s touched all our lives in some way, but she’s only been able to do that by being a totally-up-for-it chameleon. José Barbosa pays tribute to perhaps New Zealand’s brightest star, Suzanne Paul. It’s an accepted mainstay of one’s working life these days that if you’re not prepared to change jobs several times during your … Read more