Archive

Daily Grind | Issue 23

Posted 2:39pm Sunday 15th September 2013 by M and G

Rating: 4.5/5 Everyday Gourmet, or “Err-day,” as M and G affectionately call it, is located on George Street opposite the Knox Church car park. This French-style café uses Supreme beans for their coffee, and is well known for its wall of ingredients and delectable food. It may seem a bit Read more...

Love Is Blind | Issue 23

Posted 2:39pm Sunday 15th September 2013 by Lovebirds

OliveI actually finished my degree last semester but still figured I should get on one of these blind dates while I messed around for half a year preparing for professional examinations. My date sure was a cocky bastard and, spoiler alert, I knew instantly it wasn’t going anywhere. But Read more...

The More Things Change | Issue 23

Posted 2:39pm Sunday 15th September 2013 by Jessica Bromell

This week, various governments get up to typical government things. 17 September, 1863: Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, a Dutch scientist known as the “Father of Microbiology,” wrote a letter to the Royal Society describing a bunch of tiny little things he saw down his homemade microscope. He called Read more...

If I Had a Magic Wand ... | Opinion

Posted 2:39pm Sunday 15th September 2013 by Guy McCallum

If John Key could implement any policy he wanted tomorrow … it would be to change the flag. (I’d vote for Kyle Lockwood’s design.) But in all seriousness, if we could magically make anything relevant to our nation’s governance happen, what would it be? My first act would be to legalise Read more...

ODT Watch | Issue 23

Posted 2:39pm Sunday 15th September 2013 by Zane Pocock

"No bad air days: ‘you have to have a lot of trust’"The article is about a circus troupe visiting Dunedin. We see what you did there. “Snowbroads build slopes confidence”To be fair, the name of the event is “Burton Snowbroads ski and snowboard freestyle camp,” but we know the ODT just jumped Read more...

Editorial | Issue 23

Posted 2:39pm Sunday 15th September 2013 by Zane Pocock

This week Sam McChesney took the rare step of admitting he doesn’t know too much about a topic. That topic is art. You see, your humble Editor is a still-life sort of man. He likes flowers, elaborate portraits and shit. But unless these are painted (and yes, it’s always a painting) by van Gogh or Read more...

Editorial | Issue 22

Posted 1:51pm Sunday 8th September 2013 by Sam McChesney

The University has been waging a long-standing war on alcohol consumption among students. In recent years we’ve seen the death of the Cook, the Toga Parade, the Bowler, Gardies, the Undie 500, Two Beers, Backstage, the Cookathon, the Albert Arms, and couch burning. Following revelations that the Uni Read more...

The Loose Guide | Issue 22

Posted 1:51pm Sunday 8th September 2013 by Campbell Ecklein

No matter who you are, at one time or another you’ve probably been on the receiving end of an advance from a pushy, nosy, contentious or overly concerned parent. Maybe you have two of them. Maybe even more. Whatever your situation, be it going home for a “break” (read: free food) or getting hounded Read more...

Science, Bitches! | Issue 22

Posted 1:51pm Sunday 8th September 2013 by Bryony Leeke

In keeping with Critic’s theme, this week we’re talking gaming. While lots of games feature science and sci-fi driven plotlines, this week we’re highlighting the inverse: scientists who are using gaming to assist in their scientific discoveries. Believe it or not, you might be able to help cure Read more...

Hi Dr. Nick | Issue 22

Posted 1:51pm Sunday 8th September 2013 by Dr. Nick

Hi everybody, Med students are weird. I have a friend who has a fairly uncommon condition called Diabetes Insipidus, which is completely unrelated to the blood-sugar-related Diabetes Mellitus. When it comes up in conversation, most muggles do the socially acceptable thing and utter a token Read more...

Daily Grind | Issue 22

Posted 1:51pm Sunday 8th September 2013 by M and G

Rating: 3/5 The University Plaza Café is located just inside the entrance to Unipol, which is attached to the Forsyth Barr Stadium. M and G enjoy the fact that all new buildings commissioned by the University tend to come complete with in-built café. One Saturday morning M and G Read more...

Get Out Of The Ghetto | Issue 22

Posted 1:51pm Sunday 8th September 2013 by Phoebe Harrop

Despite having the slightly cringe slogan “Visit yesterday today!” Olveston – a historic home perched halfway up the hill overlooking Dunedin – is quite the local gem, and definitely worth venturing out of the ghetto to see. With over 30,000 visitors a year (coincidentally, this is around the same Read more...

Love Is Blind | Issue 22

Posted 1:51pm Sunday 8th September 2013 by Lovebirds

FinnMy flatmates dobbed me in for the date but I was ready to make the most of it after some sneaky warm-up shots at home. The best way to describe my date is “hot nerd.” She seemed shy at first, blushing behind her curly blondish (?) hair and what I presumed were Read more...

The More Things Change | Issue 22

Posted 1:51pm Sunday 8th September 2013 by Jessica Bromell

This week, people say a lot of things – some more useful than others. 14 September, 1752: In the British Empire, this day came after 2 September. This was due to the adoption of the Gregorian calendar, the one that’s still used today, in place of the Julian calendar. Because Britain changed Read more...

The Syrian Question | Opinion

Posted 1:51pm Sunday 8th September 2013 by Guy McCallum

The “Syrian Question” presents a moral dilemma for the Western world, which as I write sits poised to intervene in a Middle Eastern civil war. Do we jump in to save innocent lives? Or do we prevent World War III by staying home? According to the mainstream media, the majority of Western countries Read more...

ODT Watch | Issue 22

Posted 1:51pm Sunday 8th September 2013 by Zane Pocock

Did the crocodile swim across to New Zealand, or was a small kiwi subspecies recently discovered in Australia? A scared New Zealand kayaker is much less impressive now, isn’t it? Personally, I don’t really like the idea of my burial site becoming a family toilet, but each to Read more...

The Loose Guide | Issue 21

Posted 3:48pm Sunday 1st September 2013 by Campbell Ecklein

Though we all prefer the comforts of home when relieving ourselves, there will inevitably be times when you are forced to use a public bathroom (or run the risk of bursting a pipe). At such times, it is important to stay calm and collected as you take care of business. Done incorrectly, this can be Read more...

Hi Dr. Nick | Issue 21

Posted 3:48pm Sunday 1st September 2013 by Dr. Nick

Hi everybody, So we were gonna kick the final quarter of the year off by speaking about obesity in New Zealand. Initially I thought the topic would be a piece of cake, but it turns out there are big issues tied up in big waistlines. Whilst many medics think we’re currently undergoing an Read more...

Science, Bitches! | Issue 21

Posted 3:48pm Sunday 1st September 2013 by Hannah Twigg

Chocolate: everybody loves it. And good news! Unlike the pseudoscience we discussed last time, there are actual (peer-reviewed) studies that show that some compounds in chocolate are good for you! Caffeine has been shown time and time again to have benefits for your health. Regular caffeine Read more...

Daily Grind | Issue 21

Posted 3:48pm Sunday 1st September 2013 by M and G

Rating: 5/5 Living in North Dunedin, it is sometimes hard to remember that not every street is littered with broken TVs and patches of vomit. Thankfully, The Good Earth provides a brief respite from everyday life, and can be found right around the corner from Scarfie-ville. Located on Read more...

Love Is Blind | Issue 21

Posted 3:48pm Sunday 1st September 2013 by Lovebirds

DaisyI always was surprised that these blind dates never accidentally put two people who knew each other together. It would always be the case that it happened to me. We were both debaters. I had never really found the guy interesting or attractive in the least bit – he always pissed me off Read more...

The More Things Change | Issue 21

Posted 3:48pm Sunday 1st September 2013 by Jessica Bromell

This week in history, societies advance … or try to. September 2, 31 BC: In the final and decisive confrontation that sealed the demise of the Roman Republic, Octavian faced off against Antony and Cleopatra at a place called Actium. Octavian was the adopted great-nephew of Julius Caesar, and Read more...

The Final Exam of Our Lives | Opinion

Posted 3:48pm Sunday 1st September 2013 by Guy McCallum

There is no autopilot for freedom and democracy. Perhaps it is this fact that should be taken for granted, instead of the goods we derive from them. It’s hard to imagine the end of the present way of life that they make possible – too distant a possibility to be credible. But it’s like a Read more...

ODT Watch | Issue 21

Posted 3:48pm Sunday 1st September 2013 by Sam McChesney

There was but one thing on the ODT’s brilliant and incisive journalistic mind last week, and no, it wasn’t Syria. On 29 August, this was the front page: This was the front page of the next section: This was the front page of the sports section: And this Read more...

Jacobin Encourages Lawlessness | Opinion

Posted 3:48pm Sunday 1st September 2013 by Jacobin

A young man who is a friend of theirs has cancer in the spine. He is just over twenty years old, is experiencing extreme nausea, and is in the late stages of the condition. I don’t really know who he is, but we share mutual friends and I know he is a brother of mine. We are all brothers in our Read more...

Editorial | Issue 21

Posted 3:48pm Sunday 1st September 2013 by Sam McChesney

There’s a great scene in season five of The Wire in which journalists at the Baltimore Sun are discussing an upcoming series on poverty in the city. The paper’s veteran journalists begin to point out the complex web of factors that contribute to poverty – education, parenting, drugs, nutrition, race Read more...

The More Things Change | Issue 20

Posted 4:47pm Sunday 18th August 2013 by Jessica Bromell

This week, some things happen in Europe. August 23, 79: Mount Vesuvius began stirring, and it was all downhill from there. There’d already been small earthquakes that apparently nobody realised were warning signs, and everybody was left fleeing for their lives when the volcano went off. Read more...

Anarchy or the State? | Opinion

Posted 4:47pm Sunday 18th August 2013 by Guy McCallum

Who will build the roads? It’s a question frequently posed to libertarians. Well, private citizens (you and I) pay taxes to the government, and they pay a company of private citizens to do the work. The government (at least in this country) simply decides where the roads need to be; it is private Read more...

ODT Watch | Issue 20

Posted 4:47pm Sunday 18th August 2013 by Zane Pocock

A newspaper isn’t the place to be making kitchen jokes. Critic was expecting an in-depth look at what Nana cooked for dinner on a rare family get-together. An article on the complaints of a teen mum was a bit down buzzy after that. In related news, the look on Jurn Kei’s face suggests Read more...

Editorial | Issue 20

Posted 4:47pm Sunday 18th August 2013 by Sam McChesney

Welcome to the last issue of Critic before the break. Most of the news section this week is otherwise engaged, so here are some stories that failed to make the cut: Exec plays with fire. At the last OUSA Executive meeting, Postgrad Rep Keir Russell asked for – and was given – Read more...

Science, Bitches! | Issue 20

Posted 4:47pm Sunday 18th August 2013 by Elsie Jacobson

When I was 14, my teacher told my class to look up the origins of melodrama. Every single one of us went straight to Wikipedia and returned to tell her, one by one, that it actually came from the ancient “Poo-Greek.” Bet she got a giggle out of that one. By the time we make it to university, Read more...

Hi Dr. Nick | Issue 20

Posted 4:47pm Sunday 18th August 2013 by Dr. Nick

Hi everybody, We love acronyms in medicine. MRI = Magnetic Resonance Imaging; PERRLA = Pupils Equal Round and Reactive to Light and Accomodation; CPILF = Coma Patient I’d Like to … ahem. One of my favourites is IANAN – “I Am Not A Neurologist” – which is usually scrawled before a largely Read more...

Get Out Of The Ghetto | Issue 20

Posted 4:47pm Sunday 18th August 2013 by Phoebe Harrop

Port Chalmers, a mere 10km along the harbour from Logan Park, feels a world away from Dunedin. (Well, except for the fact that as a Dunedin wannabe and/ or the victim of unimaginative local government, its main thoroughfare is also called George Street.) As its name suggests, it is a “chalming” Read more...

Love Is Blind | Issue 20

Posted 4:47pm Sunday 18th August 2013 by Lovebirds

XYMy flatmates dobbed me in for the blind date after I broke up with my long-term girlfriend. We had come to Dunedin to study together but the University life did what it does and saw me kicked out of our shared room halfway through this year. The last couple of months have been crazy and amazing Read more...

The Loose Guide | Issue 19

Posted 2:29pm Sunday 11th August 2013 by Campbell Ecklein

Despite all the commercials, warnings and campaigns we endure in today’s society, the fact is that smoking is still pretty cool. Admit it. If it weren’t so bad for you, most everyone would still be doing it – just like back in the day. No shame, no problem. Unfortunately, a guilty conscience and Read more...

Hi Dr. Nick | Issue 19

Posted 2:29pm Sunday 11th August 2013 by Dr. Nick

Hi everybody, I like to think I’m pretty intelligent. Because I am. I’m also athletic, sexy and humble. And incredibly well-hung. Despite all this, however, I still do stupid things – falling for sensationalist media stories, for example. Recently on my Facebook feed I saw a link describing a Read more...

Science, Bitches! | Issue 19

Posted 2:29pm Sunday 11th August 2013 by Bryony Leeke

Science has cloned a human! Well, kind of. Scientists in Oregon have successfully cloned human cells for the first time. Using a technique called Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer (SCNT), they removed the DNA from a donated egg cell, replaced it with DNA from an adult cell, and allowed the egg cell to Read more...

Daily Grind | Issue 19

Posted 2:29pm Sunday 11th August 2013 by M and G

Rating: 3/5 After reading in Critic’s facts and figures section that drinking two to four coffees per day decreases your risk of committing suicide by 50 per cent, M and G’s first thought was “of course – you’d be getting so much done,” and second thought was that with Dunedin’s general gloom Read more...

Love Is Blind | Issue 19

Posted 2:29pm Sunday 11th August 2013 by Lovebirds

HumbertI’m a mature student, but a Scarfie at heart. I’m even flatting, so I should’ve seen it coming when I got signed up for the Critic blind date. My flatmates are jokers – shout out to Ryan for this one. I was worried (for her sake) that I was too old, but once there’s a bit of alcohol in us we Read more...

The More Things Change | Issue 19

Posted 2:29pm Sunday 11th August 2013 by Jessica Bromell

This week a few things go slightly wrong, but most people have good intentions. August 15, 1040: King Duncan I of Scotland, an otherwise unremarkable figure, was killed in battle by his own men. They had turned against him to fight for his scheming Duke: a guy called Macbeth (yes, the very Read more...

Rand: Human After All | Opinion

Posted 2:29pm Sunday 11th August 2013 by Guy McCallum

Ayn Rand was a crotchety old bitch. But that’s why I love her. Born in 1905 in St Petersburg, Russia, Ayn Rand lived through the Bolshevik Revolution of October 1917 and escaped to the US in 1925. Her books, and her philosophy, brought her both fame and notoriety: to this day, countless adults and Read more...

ODT Watch | Issue 19

Posted 2:29pm Sunday 11th August 2013 by Claudia Herron

Mountains are big, mountains are high, and mountains are solid. But mountains that have a deep emotional capacity are not ones that I’m familiar with. Good to know that one lovely lass has finally found a solid and reliable other half. I think I’ll keep looking. Council: you are so Read more...

Editorial | Issue 19

Posted 2:29pm Sunday 11th August 2013 by Sam McChesney

The week before last was OU SA Women’s Week, and by most accounts it went pretty darn well. So well done to Women’s Rep Sam Allen and Welfare Officer Ruby Sycamore-Smith. As reported in Critic last week, Ruby is now talking about holding a Men’s Week – cos, you know, it would be sexist if she Read more...

The Loose Guide | Issue 18

Posted 3:50pm Sunday 4th August 2013 by Campbell Ecklein

As a tolerant and diverse educational institution, Otago welcomes thousands of international students every year. Naturally accommodating and patient though we are, Kiwis sometimes still manage to inadvertently offend visitors of other cultures – usually by way of well-meaning narrow-minded Read more...

Science, Bitches! | Issue 18

Posted 3:50pm Sunday 4th August 2013 by Hannah Twigg

We all know that the living standards in the ghetto of North Dunedin can be pretty bad. Images of mouldy rooms, condensation on the windows every morning and milk being left on the bench (since it’s colder in the flat than in the fridge) spring to mind. Staying not only warm, but also healthy, is Read more...

Hi Dr. Nick | Issue 18

Posted 3:50pm Sunday 4th August 2013 by Dr. Nick

Pop quiz: what’s the most common mental health disorder in New Zealand? If you’ve seen John Kirwin on TV, you probably answered depression. If you’ve read Te Rau Hinengaro: The New Zealand Mental Health Survey (or copied from the guy sitting next to you) you might have answered anxiety disorders. Or Read more...

Daily Grind | Issue 18

Posted 3:50pm Sunday 4th August 2013 by M and G

Rating: 4/5 Unless you’re regularly around the Teachers College area of campus you may be unfamiliar with Fluid Espresso, which is located on the corner of Union East and Forth Streets next to the Campus Wonderful Store. The small coffee bar is buzzing early in the morning, especially with Read more...

Get Out Of The Ghetto | Issue 18

Posted 3:50pm Sunday 4th August 2013 by Phoebe Harrop

Contrary to popular belief, minigolf is not simply the domain of awkward family holidays in smalltown New Zealand. In fact, you might say that minigolf is undergoing something of a sporting renaissance, enjoyed as a fun flat outing by many an Otago student as well as by hordes of overly-competitive Read more...

Love Is Blind | Issue 18

Posted 3:50pm Sunday 4th August 2013 by Lovebirds

YokoI knew I was either going to have the best night ever or leave immediately, and it was totally up to mystery boy to impress me. I was worried he’d be a stereotypical Scarfie there for the free feed, but I was very wrong. After a small pre-load, the BYO was alright and I really enjoyed Read more...

The More Things Change | Issue 18

Posted 3:50pm Sunday 4th August 2013 by Jessica Bromell

This week, technology progresses again, but politics doesn’t. August 6, 1806: The Holy Roman Empire ceased to exist after nearly 850 years of being neither holy, Roman, nor an empire. It was actually a union of Central European political territories (or something equally complicated) and had Read more...