Archive

Straight Up | Issue 11

Posted 7:08pm Sunday 13th May 2012 by La Dida

My friend Sam had this awesome idea last year. Instead of buying decorations for his Christmas tree, he and his partner decided to make sparklies of their own. Rather than plastic angels and itchy tinsel, Sam created special queer/trans Christmas decorations. His Christmas tree kind of became a Read more...

Classic Film | Issue 11

Posted 7:08pm Sunday 13th May 2012 by Theo Kay

Director: Mary Harron American Psycho tracks the life of Patrick Bateman. He is 27 years old, has a group of work-hard-play-hard Wall Street friends, a fiancée (Reese Witherspoon) and listens to Huey Lewis and the News. He has a meticulous morning regiment of facial scrubs. But like the herb Read more...

Geekology | Issue 11

Posted 7:08pm Sunday 13th May 2012 by Robbie Masters

If there’s one foodstuff that everyone should be required to consume at least once in their life, it’s guaranteed to be chilli peppers. Maybe a cayenne pepper or perhaps a habanero? If you’re particularly brave, you could opt for the one of the world’s hottest chilli peppers, the Naga viper or the Read more...

Me Love You Long Time | Issue 11

Posted 7:08pm Sunday 13th May 2012 by Lovebirds

Critic’s blind date column has been running for a while now. We’ve all got some good laughs out of it, and at least a few people have scored themselves a night of romance. But here at Critic we feel that it’s time that we stepped it up a notch. The date is now at Little India to add a little more Read more...

The Tory Templar | Issue 11

Posted 7:08pm Sunday 13th May 2012 by The Tory Templar

The ACT Party may be tying its own noose but it will still be able to get its pet project passed into law. Charter schools are a pretty simple concept. They receive the same per-child government funding as state schools but have the freedom to set their own curriculum and qualifications, teacher Read more...

Red and Starry Eyed | Issue 11

Posted 7:08pm Sunday 13th May 2012 by Red and Starry Eyed

Despite the ACT Party receiving almost no support in the last elections, it got an MP and four portfolios paid for by a cup of tea. The famous tea tapes that Key didn’t want to talk about are now online under “Two Johns one cup”. Listen to them; the two politicians show utter contempt for their own Read more...

Editorial | Issue 11

Posted 7:08pm Sunday 13th May 2012 by Joe Stockman

As you may have been able to tell from the cover, we’re having a look at drugs this week. Just as I am not allowed to print anything in Critic about people peeing on each other for sexual pleasure, I’m also not allowed to say anything that might incite or promote drug taking. So I won’t. But I can Read more...

Te Roopu Māori | Issue 10

Posted 12:51am Monday 7th May 2012 by Lisa Pohatu

Kia Ora whānau, It’s that time of the year already … Graduations, for a few of us older tauira it is the chance to catch up with old friends who are in the workforce and to reminisce about the good times and memories we all shared. For others, this will be your first time to experience Read more...

Uncle Howie | Issue 10

Posted 12:51am Monday 7th May 2012 by Uncle Howie

Dear Uncle Howie, I can’t believe I’m writing in, but I need your advice/knowledge/wisdom and after reading your column I think you’re the go-to person on such a topic. I recent acquired a Fuck Buddy who is dynamite in the sack but my complete opposite and he enjoys talking for at Read more...

Objection Overruled | Issue 10

Posted 12:51am Monday 7th May 2012 by

Drink driving. As with drugs and casual sex, many students have dabbled. Whether it is a morning-after stint or a blatant act of driving obliterated, drink driving is rife in New Zealand. This is particularly so in the Southern Region, where 16-24 year olds are over-represented compared with the Read more...

Classic Film | Issue 10

Posted 12:51am Monday 7th May 2012 by Lukas Clark-Memler

Director: Richard Linklater Richard Linklater’s Slacker is considered one of the defining points of 20th century American independent cinema. It signalled the dawn of a new era for independent directors, proving that one does not need expensive equipment or “stars” to successfully create a Read more...

Swillable | Issue 10

Posted 12:51am Monday 7th May 2012 by Mr Squid

Müller-Thurgau Alcohol Content: 8% Price: $10 As any decent wine critic knows, the difference between a good wine and a bad wine is the quality of the grape. This week’s review covers a vino about as appealing as a lamb shank from the 2-4. It tastes like a yucky chardonnay. Read more...

Proctology | Issue 10

Posted 12:51am Monday 7th May 2012 by Staff Reporter

It was belting down with rain when Critic went along to the Proctor’s office last Tuesday; we must have been the only people to ever want to stay in his office longer than absolutely necessary. Campus Watch have been on the lookout for a persistent peeping tom (what is it about guys named Read more...

No Fringe, No Indie | Issue 10

Posted 12:51am Monday 7th May 2012 by Sasha Borissenko

This week’s style commentary will feature the satire created by political commentator Chris Trotter but with an Otago University twist. Without further ado, introducing the “Waitakere Jock”: The Waitakere jock tends to enjoy the odd pint while watching a good game of rugby with the lads. Read more...

Straight Up | Issue 10

Posted 12:51am Monday 7th May 2012 by La Dida

This week’s column is about Intersexions, a documentary that premiered in Auckland last week. The film is a collaboration between my dear friend Mani Mitchell and Mark Lahood. It shares the stories of a number of intersex folks across the world, interwoven with Mani’s story. Mani is a part of a Read more...

Diatribe | Issue 10

Posted 12:51am Monday 7th May 2012 by John Brinsley-Pirie

I don’t think everyone who opposes Crafar Farms is a racist. I do think they are wrong. I will be making a case for why we should allow sales of land to foreign owners and why that benefits us as a country. Turning first to an important principle, the right to own land itself. In NZ we think Read more...

Me Love You Long Time | Issue 10

Posted 12:51am Monday 7th May 2012 by Lovebirds

Dunedin is renowned for many things, but its dating scene is not one of them. Getting boozed and pashing people on the dance floor is hardly anyone’s idea of romance, so Critic wants to sort you out. Every week we’re sending two loveless loners on a blind date to Tokyo Gardens (with a bottle of wine Read more...

The Tory Templar | Issue 10

Posted 12:51am Monday 7th May 2012 by The Tory Templar

The left has been crying foul over asset sales virtually from the moment the first syllable left John Key’s lips. Let’s clarify a few points from the beginning; a lot of people seem to not know much about this issue, yet are still up in arms. The government is looking to sell off up to, and no more Read more...

Red and Starry Eyed | Issue 10

Posted 12:51am Monday 7th May 2012 by Red and Starry Eyed

Have you noticed John Key looking more tired by the minute? How about the recent National scandals: From ACC to paid parental leave? About time, though his party hasn’t dropped in recent polls. It is about time to brush the dust off the covers of one of the first scandals in this government’s second Read more...

Execrable

Posted 12:51am Monday 7th May 2012 by Gus Gawn

This is the first time I’ve been to an Executive meeting. I had no idea what was going to happen. They gave me an agenda. Stockman told me they tend to drag on a bit … First item was a report on Unigames. Turns out there wasn’t enough funding. Some athletes withdrew at the last minute and it Read more...

Editorial | Issue 10

Posted 12:51am Monday 7th May 2012 by Joe Stockman

Ol’ Uncle John and his bestie Steven Joyce have been making some changes to the student loan and student allowance system. The stupidest change they’ve come up with is to limit the student allowance to four years of study. Sure, some students who are onto their fifth year are fucking around, Read more...

Every day I’m chapil’n | Issue 9

Posted 4:56pm Sunday 29th April 2012 by Amy Armstrong

“Our piece of peace” My thoughts have been around peace this past week as we commemorate Anzac Day. In this time when we pause to remember all those who have sacrificed their lives and gone off to distant shores in the service of others, it is hard to think of a more selfless act. While war Read more...

How To: Get Yourself Off

Posted 4:56pm Sunday 29th April 2012 by Staff Reporter

You don’t have to have a partner in order to get off: Hours of pleasure are available at the end of your fingertips … literally. The desperate hours spent trawling the d-floor at Metro or Monkey can all be avoided if you simply take things in hand, and claim responsibility for your own good times. Read more...

LILF | Issue 9

Posted 4:56pm Sunday 29th April 2012 by Staff Reporter

“What’s in a name? That which we call ‘Dr Jonathan Marshall’ by any other name would smell as sweet.” Dr Marshall’s hunky, hunky man smell was as sweet as a clear day after rain. The heat from the limelight was never so strong as it was in a Dr Marshall class. Supporting the arts had never Read more...

Classic Film | Issue 9

Posted 4:56pm Sunday 29th April 2012 by Kathleen Hanna

Director: Martin Scorcese Released: 1993 The Age of Innocence hit me like no other film ever has. My heart was racing for the majority of its 138 minutes; after it finished I paced the room trying to calm down, shaking the tingles from my fingers. It’s the only film to ever make me, Mr Read more...

Swillable | Issue 9

Posted 4:56pm Sunday 29th April 2012 by Pilbo Swaggins

Taste: 4/10 Standards per vessel: 1.6 Price: $20 for 12 This week I decided to try out the new Cindy’s RTD variation to see what they were like. The scene was a Saturday night red card with a sit-down dinner consisting of 3 courses of alcohol and a court session jammed in the middle. A Read more...

ODT Watch | Issue 9

Posted 4:56pm Sunday 29th April 2012 by Staff Reporter

ODT watch headed into the Regions section this week: Critic suggests beans bags, xboxs and flat screens. They really love that hump The entire Otago region definitely needed to know about that. Not only is this song going to get Critic Read more...

Uncle Howie | Issue 9

Posted 4:56pm Sunday 29th April 2012 by Uncle Howie

Dear Howie, I’ve started dating this new girl, and she’s pretty high class – private schools, dad owns a yacht, all that jazz. I’m a bit worried that my humble upbringing is going to be a problem for her. You’re a classy cat; how can I turn on the class myself and make sure I don’t loose this Read more...

Geekology | Issue 9

Posted 4:56pm Sunday 29th April 2012 by Robbie Masters

Science is an awesome thing! The whole process begins with a simple hypothesis (a prediction). Researchers will then design an experiment to test their hypothesis, often using some extremely clever techniques and manipulations. It is in most cases a long, slow (and let’s not forget, fun!) process. Read more...

Straight Up | Issue 9

Posted 4:56pm Sunday 29th April 2012 by La Dida

Before anyone assumes anything. I am a (gender)queer guy who also loves vaginas. I think they are amazing and powerful. After all without the gifts of generations of women none of us would be here in the first place. I really hate the rubbish that some gay bois express around women’s bodies/people Read more...

Me Love You Long Time | Issue 9

Posted 4:56pm Sunday 29th April 2012 by Lovebirds

Dunedin is renowned for many things, but its dating scene is not one of them. Getting boozed and pashing people on the dance floor is hardly anyone’s idea of romance, so Critic wants to sort you out. Every week we’re sending two loveless loners on a blind date to Tokyo Gardens (with a bottle of wine Read more...

Diatribe | Issue 9

Posted 4:56pm Sunday 29th April 2012 by Gus Gawn

Who is your new favourite basketball team? It’s the Breakers, isn’t it? You love them. You got all excited last Tuesday night and watched the whole game. It was exciting, tense, close, and the good guys won. Now you like basketball. I am here today to tell you why you should never watch the Breakers Read more...

The Tory Templar | Issue 9

Posted 4:56pm Sunday 29th April 2012 by The Tory Templar

It has been claimed that the words “lest we forget” are misused. Instead we should say “lest we remember”. That’s what it’s about they say, the memorials and the two minutes’ silence, because there is no better way of forgetting something than by commemorating it, they say. They lie. We Read more...

Red and Starry Eyed | Issue 9

Posted 4:56pm Sunday 29th April 2012 by Red and Starry Eyed

What do we celebrate in Anzac Day? Anzac Day is celebrated with pride every year. Like zombies, the old and young wake up before the sun has even set its alarm; we congregate around cenotaphs under artillery siege. There are the trumpets we have come to associate with war and the smell of Read more...

Editorial | Issue 9

Posted 4:56pm Sunday 29th April 2012 by Joe Stockman

It is Rape Awareness Week this week. Nobody needs to be told that rape and sexual violence exist, but the extent of the problem is something that far too many people are ignorant of. The statistics are so shocking they are incredibly hard to believe: One in four women will suffer some form of sexual Read more...

Presidential Column | Issue 8

Posted 5:04pm Sunday 22nd April 2012 by Logan Edgar

Hey there everyone, ANZAC Day means many different things to many different people. For me it’s a day of remembering those who fought for us so we can live the awesome lives we live today. I try to put myself in those who served our country and think what it must have been like, it’s all Read more...

Te Roopu Māori | Issue 8

Posted 5:04pm Sunday 22nd April 2012 by Lisa Pohatu

E Ngā ākonga, E ngā mana, e ngā reo, E ngā karangarangatanga maha, Tenā koutou katoa. Te Mana Ākonga is the National Māori Tertiary Student Body which emerged after the protest movements in the 1970s. It is a voice for tauira Māori and Read more...

Objection Overruled | Issue 8

Posted 5:04pm Sunday 22nd April 2012 by

The scarfie flat is a rite of passage for Otago students. Fraught with mould, colder inside than out, and bathrooms laden with more E Coli than a Chinese food outlet, we’ve all seen and experienced some shockers. But below-par living conditions form only part of the wondrous composite: Seemingly Read more...

Classic Film | Issue 8

Posted 5:04pm Sunday 22nd April 2012 by Jane Ross

Director: Richard Linklater Have you ever had a chance encounter with someone who you felt a real connection with? You might have even caught yourself daydreaming about an idyllic future together, but for reasons outside of your control you reluctantly had to part ways. Was it just a matter Read more...

How To: Prevent Global Warming

Posted 5:04pm Sunday 22nd April 2012 by Staff Reporter

Global warming is undoubtedly the hottest issue around at the moment. And it’s time that we, as students, and as individual citizens of the globe, take responsibility for what is happening to our planet. With that in mind, Critic presents the top five ways you can do your bit to combat global Read more...

ODT Watch | Issue 8

Posted 5:04pm Sunday 22nd April 2012 by Staff Reporter

Critic managed to get out of bed early enough to to read the weekend issue of the ODT this week. Probably should have stayed in asleep: Blaine’s stomach is also turned by driving north, thinking about things that are in the north, the North Island, and migratory birds that head north. Read more...

No Fringe, No Indie. | Issue 8

Posted 5:04pm Sunday 22nd April 2012 by Sasha Borissenko

Dearest Friends, Foes and Fancies, You are cordially invited to a European party hosted by Master William John Darling III of Roslyn, Dunedin. Beverages shall include: Pinot Gris, Pinot Noir, possibly Vodka (for Pushkin lovers), soy milk, loose leaf teas and disgustingly black and Read more...

Straight Up | Issue 8

Posted 5:04pm Sunday 22nd April 2012 by La Dida

The last few months have been really stressful. I have been constantly worried about a member of my family who has been in and out of hospital since the end of 2011 suffering from chronic medical conditions as a result of her addiction to alcohol. I have been anxious – worried about how the Read more...

Me Love You Long Time | Issue 8

Posted 5:04pm Sunday 22nd April 2012 by Lovebirds

Dunedin is renowned for many things, but its dating scene is not one of them. Getting boozed and pashing people on the dance floor is hardly anyone’s idea of romance, so Critic wants to sort you out. Every week we’re sending two loveless loners on a blind date to Tokyo Gardens (with a bottle of wine Read more...

The Tory Templar | Issue 8

Posted 5:04pm Sunday 22nd April 2012 by The Tory Templar

The National Government has vetoed the idea of six months’ paid parental leave, saying $150 million a year is spent on PPL provisions already and more is unaffordable. This government is not big on extending any kind of benefit, especially in the current economic climate. The Templar believes this Read more...

Red and Starry Eyed | Issue 8

Posted 5:04pm Sunday 22nd April 2012 by Red and Starry Eyed

Bill English’s announcement that National will veto the new parental leave bill that has yet to be debated in Parliament shows National’s priorities more clearly than ever. It does not care for the mothers and children of New Zealand, and it does not care what we think. The National government has Read more...

Editorial | Issue 8

Posted 5:04pm Sunday 22nd April 2012 by Joe Stockman

I ’ve been around these parts for a while now. Apart from a few years there where I dropped out of Uni and wandered aimlessly around the northern hemisphere, I’ve spent most of my adult life in Dunedin. As I rode my incredibly hipster fixie bike around North D last weekend, I was struck by how much Read more...

Every day I’m chapil’n | Issue 7

Posted 3:53pm Sunday 15th April 2012 by Greg Hughson

I’m helping Logan organise our first ever official Anzac Day service on campus. It will be awesome. We start at 1.30pm on Wednesday 25th April. Be there. We will gather on the lawn in front of the Clocktower building, and conclude with refreshments in the Link. Together we will honour all those men Read more...

Diatribe | Issue 7

Posted 3:53pm Sunday 15th April 2012 by Abe Gray

A new battlefront between the law and the public is opening up before our eyes and many don’t even realise. Ominous signals are coming from corporations and governments worldwide as what is to be a global system of militarised enforcement of “intellectual property” laws materialises. Now I’m Read more...

Clubs & Skux | Issue 7

Posted 3:53pm Sunday 15th April 2012 by Olivia & John

Olivia:After benders the previous night John and I weren’t really in the mood to get our skux on. Combined with the fact that both of us might be moving into the serial monogamy zone (John will explain more later), the Passover Seder ended up looking like the perfect thing for us at that time: a Read more...

LILF | Issue 7

Posted 3:53pm Sunday 15th April 2012 by Staff Reporter

An apple (or in this case, an aporo) a day keeps the doctor away … for my sake I hope this old cliché is not true. Nobody who had been taught by Dr Jim Williams would want to keep him away. As well as a cultural experience, studying Maori at Otago turned out to be an experience of a more Read more...

ODT Watch | Issue 7

Posted 3:53pm Sunday 15th April 2012 by Staff Reporter

Man I bet you missed the ODT while you were away over Easter. But fear not! Critic has been saving up some of their little gems to settle your ODT withdrawal shattered nerves. You might think that covering a cat show wouldn’t be the number one beat in town. But I’m fairly sure that the ODT Read more...

Uncle Howie | Issue 7

Posted 3:53pm Sunday 15th April 2012 by Uncle Howie

Hi Howie. I went home over the break and saw my girlfriend for the first time since coming to dunners at the start of the year (she didn’t go to uni). It was nice to see her again, but it’s made me realise how little we have in common now, and how much I really just want to be single and have fun Read more...

Geekology | Issue 7

Posted 3:53pm Sunday 15th April 2012 by Robbie Masters

Hello again budding Einsteins! This week you’re getting your science fill from the Psychology department, where Sophie Slater is currently unravelling the mysteries of memory formation. Specifically, Sophie is exploring how a small area of your brain – the dentate gyrus (DG) – can retain information Read more...

Straight Up | Issue 7

Posted 3:53pm Sunday 15th April 2012 by La Dida

The questions I have been pondering this week are: To what extent is desire political? And what are the ethics of proclaiming desire? I am thinking about this with reference to online dating in particular, which is a super common way for queer folks to meet. It has been a while since I have forayed Read more...

Classic Film | Issue 7

Posted 3:53pm Sunday 15th April 2012 by Jane Ross

Director: Richard Linklater From director Richard Linklater comes a perceptive and poignant film about two young twenty-somethings who meet as strangers on a train, sense a connection, and decide to take a gamble on each other. But the clock is ticking. Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Celine (Julie Read more...

Swillable | Issue 7

Posted 3:53pm Sunday 15th April 2012 by Pilbo Swaggins

Taste: 6/10 Standards per vessel: 1.3 Price: $13.99 per 6 pack I’m not usually a big cider drinker, the last time I bought some was for a bout of Scrumpy hands in second year. Before that it was a friend and I at the tender age of 15 giving the Korean dairy keeper across the road from Read more...

Me Love You Long Time | Issue 7

Posted 3:53pm Sunday 15th April 2012 by Lovebirds

Dunedin is renowned for many things, but its dating scene is not one of them. Getting boozed and pashing people on the dance floor is hardly anyone’s idea of romance, so Critic wants to sort you out. Every week we’re sending two loveless loners on a blind date to Tokyo Gardens (with a bottle of wine Read more...

The Tory Templar | Issue 7

Posted 3:53pm Sunday 15th April 2012 by The Tory Templar

As I write this, and probably as you read it, a despot is killing his people. State violence against rebels in Syria has led to the deaths of thousands of innocent civilians, who only want the freedoms that everyone else has. Kofi Annan has put forward a six-point peace plan that Syria, in anger at Read more...

Red and Starry Eyed | Issue 7

Posted 3:53pm Sunday 15th April 2012 by Red and Starry Eyed

For more than a year now Syria has spiralled into an Arab-Spring massacre. The UN reports that over 9000 people have died in the conflict. These deaths are not all the consequence of President Assad’s hard-hand though. Despite the spin we are receiving, Syria is bound up in an increasingly bloody Read more...

Execrable | Issue 7

Posted 3:53pm Sunday 15th April 2012 by Callum Fredric

Every man has his limits. After half an hour of announcements about people being appointed to committees, Critic, much like any trauma survivor, retreated into a fantasy world. And that’s when someone cracked an inappropriate joke about the early retirement of Ding Ding that had the entire exec Read more...

Editorial | Issue 7

Posted 3:53pm Sunday 15th April 2012 by Joe Stockman

I hate Easter. Hate it. It’s not the idea of having two days off work that I’m opposed to. I am of course, totally down with that. My issue is with ol’ JC and his peeps. If you’re down with Christ, and like to get down with other people that like him too, then man it must be sweet to have the Read more...

Presidential Column | Issue 6

Posted 7:07pm Sunday 1st April 2012 by Logan Edgar

Garoo Scarfies, Fucking tits I’m busy this week. I’ve been getting my campaign to win the two seats on University Council for myself and my Vice-President Jono off the ground so that we can move some mountains. We’ve done a heap of awesome work on Council so far this year with us both already Read more...

Every day I’m chapil’n | Issue 6

Posted 7:07pm Sunday 1st April 2012 by Mike Wright

How hopeful are you? As we race towards Easter and mid-semester break, it might seem an odd question to ask, but before you read on take a moment to ask yourself, “How hopeful am I?” How hopeful concerning local and world events; concerning your academic future; concerning college mates, flatmates, Read more...

No Fringe, No Indie. | Issue 6

Posted 7:07pm Sunday 1st April 2012 by Sasha Borissenko

“No Fringe, No Indie” aims to sketch the trials and tribulations of different sub-cultures at Otago University. This week, ladies and gentlemen, we are going to look at that strange breed that generally congregates around the Sale/Black House, otherwise known as the “Heavy Metaller”. Read more...

Clubs & Skux | Issue 6

Posted 7:07pm Sunday 1st April 2012 by Staff Reporter

We trawled Facebook trying to find a fun society to visit when we came upon an invite to the Otago University Debating Society opening function, to be held at Monkey Bar of all places. Sold. John:The number of people at the event impressed me. By the law of large numbers I knew there had to Read more...

Objection Overruled | Issue 6

Posted 7:07pm Sunday 1st April 2012 by

Student drinking habits have again been in the glare of the media. Otago University’s Psychology Department recently released groundbreaking research, revealing previously unknown truths about the detrimental effects of getting OTP. The findings showed that students’ cognitive functioning was Read more...

World Watch | Issue 6

Posted 7:07pm Sunday 1st April 2012 by Sumantra Maitra

Hola! Whassup folks! What a week we had! A siege in France, can you imagine?! A young disillusioned French of Algerian descent, who killed three Jewish kids, a rabbi and three Muslim French paramilitary troops was finally cornered in downtown Toulouse … and bang! The drama starts! Did he surrender? Read more...

ODT Watch | Issue 6

Posted 7:07pm Sunday 1st April 2012 by Staff Reporter

Critic is going to be fair to the ODT. We hate to do it, but their coverage of the Hyde Street Keg Party was actually pretty balanced. Sure they interviewed two landlords and tried to make it sound like every property owner on the street was calling for the party to end; but generally they talked to Read more...

Swillable | Issue 6

Posted 7:07pm Sunday 1st April 2012 by Pilbo Swaggins

Taste: 4/10 Price: $22 Standards per vessel: 21 Percentage: 9% ’Twas the night before Hyde Street and I needed some horse juice for the big day ahead. I made a trip to Cumby Super Liquor to pick my poison with only one real option. I needed something that could go the distance while Read more...

Classic Film | Issue 6

Posted 7:07pm Sunday 1st April 2012 by Matt Chapman

Director: Howard Hawk Private dicks, classy dames, grifting, shooting, and a whole lot of fedora hats, Howard Hawk’s The Big Sleep is a smooth cocktail of intrigue, romance and suspense. Far removed from the Red Bull attitude of modern cinema, this classy cocktail should be savored and Read more...

Straight Up | Issue 6

Posted 7:07pm Sunday 1st April 2012 by La Dida

“Queer” is often used as a composite term for sex, sexuality and gender non-normative communities in Aotearoa. It is commonly used as an alternative to “LGBT” in order to be more encompassing of identities/behaviours outside this acronym. Questions about queer often come up from both outside Read more...

Me Love You Long Time | Issue 6

Posted 7:07pm Sunday 1st April 2012 by Lovebirds

Dunedin is renowned for many things, but its dating scene is not one of them. Getting boozed and pashing people on the dance floor is hardly anyone’s idea of romance, so Critic wants to sort you out. Every week we’re sending two loveless loners on a blind date to Tokyo Gardens (with a bottle of wine Read more...

The Tory Templar | Issue 6

Posted 7:07pm Sunday 1st April 2012 by The Tory Templar

A case is currently in front of the Waitangi Tribunal looking into the running of Maori-language preschools. These centres claim they need more funding and separate legislation to ensure that the language survives. This raises an interesting question – what role should Maori language and culture Read more...

Red and Starry Eyed | Issue 6

Posted 7:07pm Sunday 1st April 2012 by Red and Starry Eyed

At the beginning of the 20th century, many New Zealanders hoped Maori would die out. Their numbers were declining quickly, but a hundred years later we claim to be Aotearoa – a multicultural, bilingual society. We may be multicultural, but our society has very little Maori left in it. And our Read more...

Proctology | Issue 6

Posted 7:07pm Sunday 1st April 2012 by Bella Macdonald

Critic was told this week of a venerable young man whose dismal attempt at self-defence landed him at the Proctor’s office. When a wasp approached the chap, he grabbed a glass bottle and threw it in an act of pre-emptive protection from the mighty beast. He soon found that the body mass of a wasp Read more...

Editorial | Issue 6

Posted 7:07pm Sunday 1st April 2012 by Joe Stockman

My day at Hyde Street began before sunrise. Cycling down from the NEV I could already hear the DJs playing as I passed the Richardson building. It was an energetic pre-dawn beginning to what was going to be an exhausting day. I spent hours and hours filming and taking still photos. I was there when Read more...

Presidential Column | Issue 5

Posted 4:26pm Sunday 25th March 2012 by Logan Edgar

Morning all, I’ve got some very sad news to report unfortunately. You see we here at OUSA have not been the least bit cheery this week as the association has been struck with a death in the family; The death of our colleague Thiago Nazario who worked at the Clubs & Societies centre, and Read more...

Te Roopu Māori | Issue 5

Posted 4:26pm Sunday 25th March 2012 by Lisa Pohatu

Ehara taku toa, he taki tahi, he toa taki tini My success should not be bestowed onto me alone, as it was not individual success but success of a collective YOU may or may not be aware of all the various divisional and departmental roopū (groups) on campus. Each roopū are Read more...

Diatribe | Issue 5

Posted 4:26pm Sunday 25th March 2012 by Rape Crisis Dunedin

“Just ask” – two words that seem so simple. In student cities such as Dunedin, sex always seems to be the topic of much consideration and is often acknowledged as just sex. The random one-night stands and “friends with benefits” ease the meaning and pressure surrounding sex and have subsequently Read more...

How To: Kiss

Posted 4:26pm Sunday 25th March 2012 by Staff Reporter

Far from a simple anatomical movement, kissing is a complex emotional and philosophical endeavour. It’s easy to get wrong and so, so good when you get it right. Now there are lots of different types of kissing: Affectionate, sexual, platonic, as a greeting, and on and on. But Critic isn’t interested Read more...

Poetry | Issue 5

Posted 4:26pm Sunday 25th March 2012 by Dan Luoni

Like your secretly Methodist mother Says to justify the big spend, “Oh but it will go with anything, And look so good on a Special weekend.” To refresh after devouring The Colonel’s choice Or as a celebratory gesture  To welcome some Wisterian’s Impending divorce. Read more...

ODT Watch | Issue 5

Posted 4:26pm Sunday 25th March 2012 by Staff Reporter

The team over at the ODT spent most of the past week dishing out some truly fantastic advice about a range of social issues. First up, they have a whole new family violence avoidance plan … That’s right, if you can’t stop them beating people, then, um, beat them … They followed Read more...

Uncle Howie | Issue 5

Posted 4:26pm Sunday 25th March 2012 by Uncle Howie

Howie. Is it true that different races have different size penises? I’ve only ever played with white boys, but I’ve been checking out some of the cute brown boys around this place and thought I might get a bit more variety in me, if you get what I mean ... Racing for answers Hey mate, Read more...

Straight Up | Issue 5

Posted 4:26pm Sunday 25th March 2012 by La Dida

In case you missed it, this week’s NZ trans-queer news was over the “glitter bombing” of feminist writer and commentator Germaine Greer. The action was undertaken once again by the Wellington-based Queer Avengers, who tipped glitter all over the seated septuagenarian, who appeared stunned in Read more...

Classic Film | Issue 5

Posted 4:26pm Sunday 25th March 2012 by David Milner and Cory Dalzell

Director: Christopher Nolan Memento follows one man’s hunt for his wife’s killer – a seemingly simple plot complicated by protagonist Leonard’s (Guy Pearce) inability to store new memories. As it turns out, we rely on such abilities for any kind of functioning, let alone a self-propelled Read more...

Swillable | Issue 5

Posted 4:26pm Sunday 25th March 2012 by Pilbo Swaggins

Taste: 9/10 Percentage: 6.4%(domestic), 5% (export) Price: 45 baht (approx. NZ$1.90) Standards per vessel: 3.1 in big bottles (Yai Chang) A strong yet tasty pale lager that has only been in production since 1995 yet has since gone on to gain 60% of the local beer market in Thailand. Read more...

LILF | Issue 5

Posted 4:26pm Sunday 25th March 2012 by Hot For Teacher

Religion and Globalisation was supposed to be a paper that one takes to learn about religion, beliefs and the gods of the world. Little did I know that my thoughts would be much more occupied with a certain square-jawed, dark-eyed lecturer. Krishna’s got nothing on Will Sweetman. That first Read more...

Me Love You Long Time | Issue 5

Posted 4:26pm Sunday 25th March 2012 by Lovebirds

Dunedin is renowned for many things, but its dating scene is not one of them. Getting boozed and pashing people on the dance floor is hardly anyone’s idea of romance, so Critic wants to sort you out. Every week we’re sending two loveless loners on a blind date to Tokyo Gardens (with a bottle of wine Read more...

The Tory Templar | Issue 5

Posted 4:26pm Sunday 25th March 2012 by The Tory Templar

The Maritime Union and Ports of Auckland are at odds over the Port’s insistence on more flexible working hours, and the union’s insistence that this provides too much uncertainty for staff and is inherently unfair. What to do? Strike, apparently. If even a hardcore lefty such as Auckland Read more...

Red and Starry Eyed | Issue 5

Posted 4:26pm Sunday 25th March 2012 by Red and Starry Eyed

Unions must keep on fighting! The Ports of Auckland dispute has hit the media like a wildfire, with ideological differences underpinning all coverage of the dispute. The issue is both complicated and serious. If the port wins, it will be a significant blow to the union movement in New Zealand Read more...

Scarfie Chronicles | Issue 5

Posted 4:26pm Sunday 25th March 2012 by Claudia Herron

If there’s one day when it’s acceptable to claim a bit of “Irish ancestry” because your great-grandmother’s brother’s cousin was born in Dublin, it’s St Patrick’s Day. The dirty old town of Dunedin was evidentially on good terms with old Paddy, who got the fella upstairs to deliver a stellar day for Read more...

Editorial | Issue 5

Posted 4:26pm Sunday 25th March 2012 by Joe Stockman

The first OUSA elections of the post-VSM era took place last week. The usual 10% or so of students bothered to vote – actually not a bad turnout for a by-election – and four new Execies have joined Logan and the rest on the Student Executive. However, even those who voted might be asking, Read more...

Presidential Column | Issue 4

Posted 4:27pm Sunday 18th March 2012 by Logan Edgar

Konnichiha (pronounced as konnichiwa), Hey shout out to all those Japanese students studying here at Otago. Respect to you and your country having just past the 1 year anniversary of that devastating earthquake and tsunami that followed . Just a few sharns to report back about this Read more...

Every day I’m chapil’n | Issue 4

Posted 4:27pm Sunday 18th March 2012 by Father Mark Chamberlain

For those of you who were unlucky enough to be out of Dunedin during the November to January period, we had a fantastic summer. I loved it. Have you noticed our mornings are now cooler and it’s now getting dark sooner, the days are slowly becoming shorter. I gave in last week and admitted to Read more...

LILF | Issue 4

Posted 4:27pm Sunday 18th March 2012 by Hot For Teacher

It was my first semester at Otago, and it could have been The Greatest Story Ever Told. My first paper, my first class – there you were. I arrived to class early and you were already waiting, preparing for the lesson. I chose a desk, sat down. Then I saw your face – and I was a believer. As you Read more...

Clubs & Skux | Issue 4

Posted 4:27pm Sunday 18th March 2012 by John Stevens

I insisted to Olivia that “one does not simply walk into Mordor” (read: Student Life) to skux. However to skux does not necessarily mean sex or even hooking up. To skux is merely to impart a pleasant experience of mutual enjoyment that leaves both parties feeling like empowered sexual beings. This Read more...

No Fringe, No Indie. | Issue 4

Posted 4:27pm Sunday 18th March 2012 by Sasha Borissenko

No Fringe, No Indie explores the styles and cultures that are so unique to Dunedin, and how you too can embody the style of your choice. The style exposition of the week is ‘mainstream’. Think normal, think average, think generic. Being ‘mainstream’ at Otago involves everything but Read more...

Swillable | Issue 4

Posted 4:27pm Sunday 18th March 2012 by Pilbo Swaggins

Taste: 6/10 Price: $12 per 6-pack, Standards Per Vessel: 2.0 (8%) I was pretty stoked this week when I found out Cumby Superliquor was going to be hooking me up with the ever rowdy Diesel, its not often one gets to write on a subject so close to ones heart. Diesel, a mix of only Read more...

Straight Up | Issue 4

Posted 4:27pm Sunday 18th March 2012 by La Dida

Hey Hetero, try harder! I have done loads of sexuality/gender identity awareness trainings in my time. Unfortunately they are often repackaged as “diversity” training because some people find sexuality/gender identity too embarrassing or political to say. Fact is, sunshine, when I do Read more...