Archive

Mi Goreng Graduate: Greek Traybake

Posted 4:25pm Monday 13th October 2025 by Ruby Hudson

We have arrived at the final recipe of the year! Greek traybake is my all time favourite dinner so it felt like an apt way to finish up my column at the fabulous Critic Te Ārohi. This recipe is totally hands off to cook, uses seasonal ingredients, and is utterly delicious. In my opinion you Read more...

Booze Review: Jam Shed Shiraz

Posted 4:18pm Monday 13th October 2025 by Joan of Rark

Hello team, Joan here. I would just like to take a moment to point out (not that it hasn't been mentioned by every other bastard in the twenty something pages you went through to get here) it is the last issue for 2025. With that comes some sad goodbyes, particularly Miss Boss Lady, Nina Read more...

Local Produce: Kesi.ink

Posted 4:12pm Monday 13th October 2025 by Jonathan McCabe

For the final edition of the year, one brave soul got our logo tattooed onto her tricep. Tevya Faed, one of Critic Te Ārohi’s finest illustrators added to her collection of tattoo’s booking in for an appointment with her go-to tattoo artist, Kesi. In a post-match interview with Read more...

Editorial: Long Live Critic

Posted 2:54pm Monday 13th October 2025 by Nina Brown

There have been many versions of this editorial – my last. First was the list of evidence I’d compiled for the eventual case to be made that I’ve aged out of studenthood. It started at the first Critic drinks in O-Week when, rather than opting for Scrumpy (the best value for Read more...

OUSA Exec: Kia Kaha, Otago

Posted 2:33pm Monday 13th October 2025 by Liam White

As this year draws to a close, I’ve found myself reflecting on the year we’ve had, the people I’ve worked alongside, and what this university really stands for. When I first stepped into this role, I promised that our Executive would do things differently. We didn’t always Read more...

Moaningful Confessions: The Ghosts of Beds Past

Posted 2:22pm Monday 13th October 2025 by Lady Jane Grey

Have something juicy to tell us? Send your salacious stories to moaningful@critic.co.nz. Submissions remain anonymousIf you’re anything like me, you’ve probably had a few memorable moments between the sheets of whatever bed you currently call home. But after a recent revelation that Read more...

Debatable: Is it reasonable to leave your stuff in the library during a lunch break in exam season?

Posted 2:07pm Monday 13th October 2025 by Zoe Eckhoff

For: Whatever happened to the childhood sacrality of dibs? If your stuff is there, that spot is yours and yours only. You snooze, you lose suckers. But let's not forget the trade off here, because in leaving your belongings behind you are putting yourself at risk of some devious Read more...

Horoscopes: Issue 26 2025

Posted 2:05pm Monday 13th October 2025 by The Orb

Pisces You have been drinking way too much alcohol and having too much fun considering how close to the end of the semester we are. Time to take a break from staying up until 3am every night of the weekend and time to lock yourself in the library to get shit done. Your tattoo style: Read more...

Local Produce: Subpar Analogue Music

Posted 10:55pm Saturday 4th October 2025 by Via Hooks

Subpar Analogue Music is the latest brainchild of Mario Girardet (of Caribou) and Jeremy Kinley (of The Audio Visual Drop Kicks). The music collective encompasses music recording, events managing, and flat gigs – tied together by a shared ethos of community. Mario and Jeremy outlined a new Read more...

Booze Review: Franky’s Lemon Crush & Cola Lime

Posted 10:32pm Saturday 4th October 2025 by Joan of Rark

At this point in the year I’m struggling to think of booze I haven’t yet reviewed, so I’ve taken to perusing the aisles of Leith Liquor and squinting at the shelves to see if anything’s unfamiliar. And well well well, what do we have here? New-to-the-scene Franky’s, yet Read more...

Mi Goreng Graduate: Kofta Kebabs

Posted 10:29pm Saturday 4th October 2025 by Ruby Hudson

Serves: 5 Time: 30 mins  Picture yourself sitting on a beach in Euro summer, sunkissed with an aperol spritz in hand. A mental image that can only be improved by an epicly tasty mediterranean meal… cue Kofta Kebabs! These are super easy to make and quite frankly, delicious. You can Read more...

OUSA Exec: President-Elect’s Piece

Posted 10:24pm Saturday 4th October 2025 by Daniel Leamy

Kia ora peeps,  It’s your 2026 President here. Thanks to everyone who voted in the OUSA elections. We had our best voter turnout in five years, so a huge thank you to all that turned out.  Congratulations to all the candidates that ran for the Executive. The campaigns were Read more...

Moaningful Confessions: Always Have a Plan B

Posted 9:58pm Saturday 4th October 2025 by Critic

Have something juicy to tell us? Send your salacious stories to moaningful@critic.co.nz. Submissions remain anonymous. So I was all set to fly up to Christchurch – flights booked, outfits planned – all to see this guy I’d been chatting with. Two days before I’m meant Read more...

Horoscopes Issue 25 2025

Posted 9:56pm Saturday 4th October 2025 by The Orb

Pisces Your daydreams have been full of love, art, and a future where you don't live in your shithole flat. It is awesome to have hopes and dreams, but remember that the bed you dream in needs its sheets changed at least every month. And lately that has not been the case. Task to tick off the Read more...

Editorial: Get Behind the Rental Warrant of Fitness

Posted 9:54pm Saturday 4th October 2025 by Nina Brown

Cars can be dangerous to your wellbeing. If they have a dodgy wheel bearing, thin tyres, a cracked windscreen or a dying battery, they don’t pass their warrant of fitness. It’s too dangerous to drive. Before you’re allowed to have your car on the road, you have to fix the Read more...

Debatable: Should Athletes Be Allowed to Compete Openly on Performance-Enhancing Drugs?

Posted 9:53pm Saturday 4th October 2025 by Molly Smith-Soppet

Pro Enter the Enhanced Games. Essentially the Olympics on steroids (literally), this event is funded by three big time venture capitalists and has a huge team of doctors, professors, and lawyers involved. They will do state-of-the-art medical profiling, blood, urine, brain imaging, and genomic Read more...

Booze Review: Gin Tasting

Posted 12:40am Monday 29th September 2025 by Gin Swigmore

Everyone has one type of alcohol that induces an experience so vile they simply cannot look at the drink again. Mine is gin. Whenever I think of it, I think of that time I drank enough pink gin to put me gently to sleep on a friend’s bathroom floor. But regardless, it was Saturday and I wanted Read more...

Mi Goreng Graduate: Okonomiyaki

Posted 12:22am Monday 29th September 2025 by Ruby Hudson

Time: 40 mins  Serves: 4 Okonomiyaki is a Japanese street food that fits the taste and budget of student life! A savoury pancake chock full of cabbage, noodles, and other goodies, this recipe is easy to whip up on a weeknight. If you don’t need to cook for a crowd, the mixture is Read more...

OUSA Exec: Let’s talk about clubs, baby

Posted 12:18am Monday 29th September 2025 by Deborah Huang

As the end of the year rapidly approaches (probably sooner than most of us with exams and assignment deadlines would like), club activity has begun to die down. What with last-minute events, eleventh-hour constitutional amendments, and AGMs that take way too long, no doubt that handover can’t Read more...

Moaningful Confessions: Blocked and Cocked

Posted 10:59pm Sunday 28th September 2025 by Critic

Have something juicy to tell us? Send your salacious stories to moaningful@critic.co.nz. Submissions remain anonymous. Last year, I made out with a guy in town I’d never met before. I thought it was a random, throwaway moment – until he tried to follow me home. Romantic? Creepy? Read more...

Local Produce: IVY Revisited

Posted 10:58pm Sunday 28th September 2025 by Jonathan McCabe

In case you haven’t heard, Ōtepoti alt-rock band IVY is boasting the release of their first album, Hush. The group formed in 2020 while still at school in Dunners, but quickly rose up the ranks of Dunedin’s music scene. The lads broke into the student music scene in 2023 performing Read more...

Horoscopes: Issue 24 2025

Posted 10:55pm Sunday 28th September 2025 by The Orb

Pisces This month you have felt like ‘a plastic bag, drifting through the wind’ and that is more than okay. Sometimes people just don't feel grounded, and that little voice in your head telling you “we live on a floating rock, nothing matters” really does not help. Your Read more...

Editorial: I Love Fat Bear Week

Posted 10:53pm Sunday 28th September 2025 by Nina Brown

It was Fat Bear Week last week. As the newly elected Exec for 2026 cheersed to a successful campaign period and the marvel that is Canva premium, I was reading the profiles of 11 chunky bears from bed with a tear in my eye – of gunk from the conjunctivitis I’d contracted, but you know. Read more...

Debatable: Is it a red flag for someone to not be interested in politics?

Posted 10:51pm Sunday 28th September 2025 by Via Hooks

For:  To not care about politics at all basically means that you have to not care about the destruction of the environment, the cost of living, and the eroding rights of women, queer and racialised people. Basically it’d be like selecting for people who are both out of touch and Read more...

Booze Review: Great Northerns

Posted 6:32pm Sunday 21st September 2025 by Joan of Rark

G’day cunts and cuntesses, shrimp on the barbie and all that. This week's booze reviews is Great Northerns, the official beer of drink driving to K’gari in your old man's ex mine 70 series landcruiser. But it's okay, ‘cos it’s not like driving on the beach at low Read more...

Mi Goreng Graduate: Sundried Tomato Orzo

Posted 6:26pm Sunday 21st September 2025 by Ruby Hudson

Time: 1 hr  Serves: 5  This sundried tomato orzo is a little creamy, a little indulgent, and a lot tasty. Providing a super hearty and delicious dinner, the whole flat can enjoy this one. Delicious heated up the next day for a cheeky lunch which is a bonus - that is if there’s Read more...

Moaningful Confessions: Climax Interrupted: Greenpeace Edition

Posted 6:23pm Sunday 21st September 2025 by Lady Jane Grey

Have something juicy to tell us? Send your salacious stories to moaningful@critic.co.nz. Submissions remain anonymous. On today’s episode of scandalous sex stories, we bring you the thrilling timing of a Greenpeace phone call. My girlfriend and I had been dodging their calls for Read more...

Local Produce: Stapled Noise

Posted 6:04pm Sunday 21st September 2025 by Jonathan McCabe

The alternative music scene in Ōtepoti is a passionate one, marked by a resurgence of punk and grunge and a growing all-ages scene. Third-year Polytech Communication Design student Ash McFarlane wanted his final project to be a love letter to the community that welcomed him. Stapled Noise is an Read more...

OUSA Exec: Vote.

Posted 6:00pm Sunday 21st September 2025 by Amy Martin

Every year students have plenty to say about OUSA, and don’t get me wrong, that’s exactly how it should be. But if you’ve got strong opinions about who should be leading and advocating for you in 2026, the best way to make sure you’re heard is to vote!  The Executive Read more...

Horoscopes: Issue 23 2025

Posted 5:46pm Sunday 21st September 2025 by The Orb

Pisces Try to be present this week. You're exhausted and that makes it easy to check out. But your friends have put a lot of effort into seeing you and checking up on your wellbeing, so don't do them dirty by being uninterested in their lives. Your Biggie’s Pizza Order: Victoria Read more...

Editorial: I’d Say We’re Pretty Lucky

Posted 5:40pm Sunday 21st September 2025 by Nina Brown

I don’t know about you, but these past couple of weeks have left me reeling. Both on campus, in wider Ōtepoti, in national and international news (I won’t linger on this one too long), it’s as if whoever runs the simulation has turned up the dial to “hard” and left Read more...

Debatable: Can short-form media do major news stories justice?

Posted 5:38pm Sunday 21st September 2025 by Nina Brown

For Attention spans are cooked, the world is moving at lightning speed, and you only have so much time to dedicate to keeping up with current affairs before we’re onto the next bombshell moment. You can barely sit down for a piss without refreshing your phone, and expecting students to Read more...

Editorial: Passion 4 Protest

Posted 2:15pm Monday 15th September 2025 by Heeni Koero Te Rerenoa (Sky)

During my studies, I've picked up on a throughline that isn’t always named outright: the role of wāhine Māori in the resurgence and survival of te reo Māori. From the emergence of Te Kōhanga Reo and the frontline of activism, to the dining rooms where karakia were Read more...

OUSA Exec: Revitalising te Reo Māori

Posted 1:20pm Monday 15th September 2025 by Pororangi Templeton

E hika mā, kua eke te reo! He aha te mea nui o tēnei wiki? He reo Māori, he reo Māori, he reo Māori! This week marks the 50th celebrations of Te Wiki o te Reo Māori. The acts of our kaumātua and the voices of our tauira Māori at university in  the Read more...

Horoscopes: Issue 22 2025

Posted 12:06pm Monday 15th September 2025 by The Orb

Pisces Burnout is imminent. Try stop it before it happens otherwise the rest of your year is probably wharked. Try getting a good sleep schedule, or a good energy drink regimen to help bring a bit more energy into your life. Tō Wero Reo Māori: Swap “leshgo” for Read more...

Da Smoothie Bar

Posted 12:03pm Monday 15th September 2025 by Critic Staff

East Coast Sunrise A crisp citrusy pour in bright orange-yellow tones, kissed with a hint of kiwi, served over ice with a salted rim. Orange to taste the sunrise, pineapple to taste the warmth, kiwi to taste freshness – and that salted rim to taste the beach.  120 ml orange Read more...

Debatable: Should all first-years have to take a reo Māori paper?

Posted 11:55am Monday 15th September 2025 by Harry Almey

Against Freedom: that's what I love about the university experience.  Ah, public school. Thirteen years of "do this," "study that," "these are your classes," and "you must wear this [basic-as] uniform". Being forced to wear a tie made me hate Read more...

Dear Heeni

Posted 11:51am Monday 15th September 2025 by Heeni Koero Te Rerenoa (Sky)

How can I practice when I’m at the beginner stage? E hoa, start small but start everywhere. Whatever you see in arm’s reach, learn the kupu for it – Māori dictionary is your new best friend. My biggest tip? Start with transliterations and slang! It’s fun, low-stress, Read more...

Mi Goreng Graduate: Roast Tomato Soup

Posted 6:08pm Sunday 7th September 2025 by Ruby Hudson

Time: 1 hr 15 mins  Serves: 4 When shopping seasonally during winter, fresh tomatoes are generally off the menu at my house. Sadly, no tomatoes means no tomato soup during soup season. Thankfully this year I have found a workaround: canned tomatoes! They taste the same once roasted, are Read more...

Moaningful Confessions: The Flip Phone Fumble

Posted 6:04pm Sunday 7th September 2025 by Lady Jane Grey

Have something juicy to tell us? Send your salacious stories to moaningful@critic.co.nz. Submissions remain anonymous. It all began at a flat party where I met a man who looked like he’d been frozen in time since 2005. Spikey blue hair, skinny jeans hanging on for dear life, and that Read more...

Debatable: Should flatmates be banned from opening windows in winter for fresh air?

Posted 5:52pm Sunday 7th September 2025 by Molly Liddell

For It's winter in Dunedin (spring technically begins on September 21) which means two things: the wind hurts your face and your power bill could bankrupt a small nation. Yet somehow there is always that flatmate, the one who decides the flat's already freezing lounge needs a "fresh Read more...

Booze Review: Cola Cruisers

Posted 5:44pm Sunday 7th September 2025 by Joan of Rark

They finally did it. The company who could at this point trademark the term “lolly water” have circled back to the original lolly water: Cola.  Whilst this stuff is not their first dabble into cola flavours, with cherry cola and vanilla cola being other flavour options, it took Read more...

OUSA Exec: Politics Week Is Back

Posted 5:18pm Sunday 7th September 2025 by Jett Groshinski

After two long, politics-free years, Politics Week is finally making its return – and honestly, it couldn’t come at a better time. This year, Ōtepoti students are getting front-row seats to one of the most underrated shows in town: local body elections. That’s right, the Read more...

Local Produce: Dunedinsound.com

Posted 4:47pm Sunday 7th September 2025 by Jonathan McCabe

More people than ever are recording what’s going on at gigs. But where do these videos go after the show? Maybe someone will post a few seconds onto their Instagram story, but once it expires, it’s gone. Fraser Thompson understands the danger that “lots of important and valuable Read more...

Horoscopes: Issue 21 2025

Posted 10:40am Sunday 7th September 2025 by The Orb

Pisces Flat drama is brewing like the cups of Earl Grey left in your kitchen. Try to stay out of the way of the crossfire and lock yourself in your room or the library.  Microwave meal to make: Mixed chicken and beef two minute noodles Libra A hazy, dreamy cloud shrouds you this week. Read more...

Editorial: A Challenge to the Uni’s Monopoly on Scones

Posted 10:38am Sunday 7th September 2025 by Nina Brown

I learned why the supermarket duopoly is making butter a luxury grocery item last week. Features Editor Hanna patiently explained to me how competition is important to ensure that prices meet demand, and why there being two major supermarkets in Aotearoa means prices inflate to the point of there Read more...

Booze Review: Wild Boar Bourbon & Cola

Posted 10:38pm Sunday 24th August 2025 by Gin Swigmore

I drank Wild Boar Bourbon and Cola while playing a 1983 version of Trivial Pursuit. Half of the questions were about the Soviet Union. Fitting. Like oil and water, bourbon and communism just don’t mix. Drinking Wild Boar makes you feel like you’d be complicit in the Red Scare. The drink Read more...

Moaningful Confessions: The Travelling Cum Jumper

Posted 10:36pm Sunday 24th August 2025 by Dirty Talk

Have something juicy to tell us? Send your salacious stories to moaningful@critic.co.nz. Submissions remain anonymous. Salty, bitter, metallic – the distinctive taste of cum. Caught off guard, I forget I can swallow. Matt lies down next to me while I pick up the nearest piece of Read more...

Mi Goreng Graduate: Cookie Dough Slice

Posted 10:26pm Sunday 24th August 2025 by Ruby Hudson

This week we are serving up a raw cookie dough slice, the perfect sweet to pair with a coffee or satisfy those afternoon choccy cravings. Packed full of goodies like dates, peanut butter and tahini, it gives you a more nutritious and affordable option to those vending machine treats. Make this up at Read more...

OUSA Exec: Romanticise Studenthood

Posted 10:23pm Sunday 24th August 2025 by Amy Martin

A few weeks ago, after a Pint Night, I spiralled into what can only be described as a mini existential crisis. I realised the countdown has officially begun. The final semester. Suddenly, the late night study sessions will feel nostalgic, a host will feel like a memory forming, and walking across Read more...