Bad bitch energy: An essay on Eleanor Catton, Edward Cullen and Covid-19

Edward Cullen became a vampire to survive the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918. Now a new Twilight novel looms and Laura Surynt, a New Zealander living in the UK, wants to live forever too.  As I lay in bed this morning watching Instagram stories, Tayi Tibble told my reluctant little Capricorn heart that  Caps are … Read more

Turnip for what? Two calming months of Animal Crossing: New Horizons

For the last two months, Animal Crossing’s gentle version of agrarian economics has taken over our gaming consoles, and the internet at large. Sam Brooks looks back at the game that became a lockdown sensation. Animal Crossing: New Horizons came out for the Nintendo Switch on March 20. In the two months since, I’ve never … Read more

Review: TV adaptation of The Luminaries has both the glitter and the gold

The Man Booker prize-winning novel makes its way to our screens courtesy of BBC and TVNZ, but does it make the transition unscathed? Linda Burgess reviews. Oh god, wild seas. A sailing ship – ah, so it’s the olden days – all creaking wood tossed on those heaving seas, the moon a ghostly galleon, with … Read more

Panning for gold: The stars of The Luminaries on filming the TV series

The stars of one of the year’s most anticipated TV series, The Luminaries, tell Jordan Hamel about what drew them to their roles and their experience of filming in Aotearoa. How do you an adapt an ocean? How do you harness something with such inevitable, knowing rhythms and put it on the screen? How do … Read more

Here’s all the great TV you’ll be watching in 2020

Another year, another avalanche of television to keep track of. Sam Brooks rounds up all the shows you’ll want to watch this year – new, returning, and local. New Shows Normal People What is it? A BBC/Hulu adaptation of that Sally Rooney book you read for book club because everybody loved it and you could … Read more