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New this week

Posted 6:57pm Sunday 23rd February 2014 by Adrian Ng

Welcome to the 2014 Critic music section. I’m Adrian Ng, a songwriter and producer based in Dunedin. What qualifies me to write about music, let alone curate a section around it? Not much, really. I’ve realised that when it comes to music, the person you should pay the most attention to is yourself; Read more...

Artist Profile: Brown

Posted 6:57pm Sunday 23rd February 2014 by Adrian Ng

Brown are a four-piece alternative pop band based in Auckland and Dunedin. From confrontations with boy racers to recording an acapella covers cassette, Michael Cathro, AKA Skinny, talks to Critic’s Adrian Ng about his approach as a songwriter, his memories of Dunedin life, and also gives us an Read more...

Broken Bells - After The Disco

Posted 6:57pm Sunday 23rd February 2014 by Adrian Ng

Grade: B Broken Bells is comprised of James Mercer (The Shins) and Brian Burton (Danger Mouse), who team up again following their 2010 debut. After The Disco is an album of very well crafted songs, merging elements of new-wave and disco with Mercer’s trademark pop sensibilities. The Read more...

Warpaint - Warpaint

Posted 6:57pm Sunday 23rd February 2014 by Adrian Ng

Grade: A- From start to finish, the sophomore effort from this Los Angeles-based four piece emanates a dense atmosphere, each track transitioning beautifully to the next. Soaked in a somewhat ethereal splendor, the record is held together by a subtle, carnal groove which comes across as Read more...

Broken Age

Posted 6:57pm Sunday 23rd February 2014 by Baz Macdonald

Grade: A As consumers, we are at the mercy of what sells. When what you like is “what sells,” that’s a wonderful fact. However, when something you like is niche, then it can be the worst. However, the last couple of years have given gamers the opportunity to directly influence what they like Read more...

Fridge Pizza

Posted 6:57pm Sunday 23rd February 2014 by Sophie Edmonds

That O-Week time of the year is a week full of good flat intentions, like doing the first flat shop full of nutritious food, drafting up the cleaning roster and vowing to never screw the crew. But, as we all know, the week’s charming side effect – also known as the week-long bender – renders all of Read more...

The Wolf of Wall Street

Posted 6:57pm Sunday 23rd February 2014 by Alex Wilson

Grade: A+ In recent years, economic disparity has permeated society’s political zeitgeist, questioning whether it is ethical for such a small percentage of the population to control so much wealth and power, while so many struggle on the way side. Wolf of Wall Street gives a face to Read more...

Inside Llewyn Davis

Posted 6:57pm Sunday 23rd February 2014 by Rosie Howells

Grade: A- Inside Llewyn Davis follows our title character as he desperately attempts to make a name for himself in the Greenwich Village folk scene of 1961. Plagued with a homeless cat, an empty wallet and bad attitude, Llewyn (Oscar Isaac) fumbles through his increasingly disastrous life to Read more...

American Hustle

Posted 6:57pm Sunday 23rd February 2014 by Rosie Howells

Grade: B Goddamn, did American Hustle have a good trailer! Through a grandiose string of clips, one was treated to dancing, boozing, screaming in toilet cubicles, Jennifer Lawrence in a leotard and the phrase “only in America” punching onto the screen in sassy block letters – all in perfect Read more...

Her

Posted 6:57pm Sunday 23rd February 2014 by Baz Macdonald

Grade: A- Every romantically focused film made has tried desperately to capture the events, thoughts and emotions associated with love. But no film, in my opinion, has ever captured the essence of it quite as poignantly as Spike Jonze’s Her. The film traverses all of the ups and downs of Read more...

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

Posted 6:57pm Sunday 23rd February 2014 by Imogen Davis

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is a pertinent, well-constructed slice of the creative non-fiction genre. Written by Rebecca Skloot in 2010, the book takes its readers back to 1951 when a 29-year-old African American housewife and mother died from ovarian cancer. Her death led to an instance of Read more...

Hotere Culbert

Posted 6:57pm Sunday 23rd February 2014 by Hannah Collier

Ralph Hotere and Bill Culbert Exhibited until 9 March 2014 This whole exhibition could be the result of Dan Flavin meeting Ad Reinhardt in Port Chalmers for a couple of arty hours by the beach. But, in fact, the Hotere and Culbert exhibition, currently at the Dunedin Public Art Gallery, Read more...

App of the Week | Issue 26

Posted 4:26pm Sunday 6th October 2013 by Raquel Moss

In the haze of information overload that is study week, it’s easy to be overwhelmed by all the shit you’re meant to know. Sometimes, putting it into order in a way that makes sense to you can help to soothe the hysteria. Time to make your Year 9 English teacher proud and create some sweet Read more...

Behind the Meme

Posted 4:26pm Sunday 6th October 2013 by Raquel Moss

Remember your horrible high school class photograph? Or the embarrassing childhood picture that your Mum posted to her Facebook? (Thanks, Mum.) What happens when the Internet gets hold of those photos and, based on that one photograph, assigns you a personality? Do you roll with it? Exploit it? Or Read more...

2013’s Best Tracks

Posted 4:26pm Sunday 6th October 2013 by Basti Menkes

1. Sigur Rós - BrennisteinnThe opening number of the Icelanders’ gothic and gorgeous seventh LP Kveikur is a masterpiece of the juxtaposition of light and darkness. Trembling with volcanic basslines and glimmering with Jónsi’s peerless falsetto, “Brennisteinn” is the finest song both of Sigur Rós’ Read more...

2013’s Best Albums

Posted 4:26pm Sunday 6th October 2013 by Basti Menkes

2013 has seen some fantastic releases in the music world, from sonic veterans returning to the game after a long absence to new artists making waves with their impressive debuts. To celebrate another great year for music, Basti Menkes gives you his favourite albums and songs released this year. Read more...

MGMT - MGMT

Posted 4:26pm Sunday 6th October 2013 by Lisa Craw

Rating: 2/5 As someone who’s followed MGMT peripherally for a while, I had high expectations for their latest album. I expected a new slick experience, a return to the clever and commercially viable pop of their first album Oracular Spectacular. After their brief foray into self-indulgence on Read more...

Lorde - Pure Heroine

Posted 4:26pm Sunday 6th October 2013 by Basti Menkes

Rating: 4.5/5 No matter how many times I hear the Lorde story, it never fails to amaze me. In 2008, Ella Yelich-O’Connor was just another North Shore 12-year-old. After a video of her singing at a school talent show made its way to Universal Records scout Scott Maclachlan, she was Read more...

Scribblenauts Unmasked: A DC Comics Adventure

Posted 4:26pm Sunday 6th October 2013 by Baz Macdonald

Rating: 8.5/10 As a gaming advocate it is my job to point out that games can have a variety of positive effects on gamers, including the development of cognitive skills. I wholeheartedly believe that this is true, particularly for young gamers. However, it has been a long time since I Read more...

Beetroot Chocolate Cake

Posted 4:26pm Sunday 6th October 2013 by Kirsty Dunn

This cake is gorgeous. It comes out a rich cocoa-burgundy colour, has a moist but light texture, and tastes great – it’s not too sweet. If, however, you want to up the ante on the sugar count, I’d ice the top (adding a little berry jam to regular icing makes a nice change and turns it a lovely pink Read more...

The Warriors

Posted 4:26pm Sunday 6th October 2013 by Baz Macdonald

I have never understood the point of gangs. Violently defending an area of land that is not yours to begin with strikes me as rather absurd. While Walter Hill’s 1979 cult classic The Warriors doesn’t convince me of gangs’ validity, I doubt that a cooler vision of the concept has ever been created. Read more...

One Direction: This Is Us

Posted 4:26pm Sunday 6th October 2013 by Tamarah Scott

Rating: 3/5 One Direction: This Is Us explores obsession. Society seems to crave celebrities that seem attainable, or somehow normal, just like us. “The American Dream” has been twisted into an obsession with being famous. We have seen other films produced about the lives of Read more...

Rush

Posted 4:26pm Sunday 6th October 2013 by Lyle Skipsey

Rating: 4/5 Rush, starring Chris Hemsworth and Daniel Bruhl, chronicles the intense rivalry between drivers James Hunt and Niki Lauda. The film covers the early stages of the rivalry, but is mainly focused on the 1976 Formula One World Championship. Far more than just a story about sport, Read more...

The Best Offer

Posted 4:26pm Sunday 6th October 2013 by Rosie Howells

Rating: 4.5/5 This film could not be more appropriately named – it is literally The Best Offer at Rialto this week, the Rekordelig on a shelf full of Scrumpy. Geoffrey Rush stars as the wealthy, brilliant and just-a-bit-sad auctioneer Virgil Oldman, who becomes entangled in the mystery and Read more...

Beautiful Ruins - By Jess Walter

Posted 4:26pm Sunday 6th October 2013 by Feby Idrus

Beautiful Ruins opens with its hero, Pasquale, first laying eyes on the sumptuously beautiful Dee Moray, an American actress who comes to Pasquale’s tiny Italian village by boat, borne across the Mediterranean like a Botticelli Venus. You then cut to Hollywood 40 years later, to a bored studio Read more...

Let Us End With Some Porn

Posted 4:26pm Sunday 6th October 2013 by Charlotte Doyle

There is a deeply-felt anxiety, shared by many girls, about the need for a “perfect” vagina. For many, this necessitates spending 50 dollars on a braz or bikini wax (that will last less than a fortnight) in the hope of fulfilling the desires – or even expectations – of their male counterparts. Read more...

Interview: Sonja Urban (Animal Rights Activist)

Posted 2:29pm Sunday 29th September 2013 by Baz Macdonald

Sonja Urban is a German-born human and animal rights activist who became a New Zealand resident last year in order to study Environmental Organisation at Otago. Baz Macdonald spoke to her about her latest cause, Shave It or Save It, which aims to raise money for animal welfare by letting donors Read more...

Web Trick of the Week: The Wadsworth Constant

Posted 2:29pm Sunday 29th September 2013 by Raquel Moss

The Wadsworth Constant: Noun. An axiom stating that the first 30 per cent of any video can be skipped because it contains no worthwhile or interesting information. Popularised by Reddit user Wadsworth in 2011. (knowyourmeme.com) It’s true though, isn’t it? Pretty much any how-to video Read more...

Checking in on Yahoo!

Posted 2:29pm Sunday 29th September 2013 by Raquel Moss

It has been a year since overachieving, Silicon Valley poster-girl Marissa Mayer (formerly of Google) took over as CEO of Yahoo! There has been a lot of buzz about Yahoo! recently, what with Mayer’s acquisition of several start-ups, the re-vamp of Flickr, and a logo change. I decided it was time to Read more...

Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin - Fly By Wire

Posted 2:29pm Sunday 29th September 2013 by Tom McCone

Rating: 4/5 With the slow onset of the sunnier half of the year, the musically-inclined are already building up their summer playlists, soundtracking lazy drives to the beach, rooftop sunbathing sessions and afternoon backyard drinking sessions that segue into crisp starlit evenings. Read more...

Kings Of Leon - Mechanical Bull

Posted 2:29pm Sunday 29th September 2013 by Basti Menkes

Rating: 3/5 What a strange tale the Kings Of Leon story has been. Though ever-adored by the British music press, it wasn’t until album number three, their magnum opus Because Of The Times, that they broke into the mainstream consciousness. Even after several monster hits and two more albums – Read more...

Kingdom Hearts - 1.5 Remix

Posted 2:29pm Sunday 29th September 2013 by Baz Macdonald

Rating: 6/10 The jump from standard definition (SD) to high definition (HD) has created a chasm between gaming generations. It has created a culture in which SD games belong to a past age while HD games belong solidly to the future. But it is also about more than how we perceive Read more...

Fried Rice

Posted 2:29pm Sunday 29th September 2013 by Kirsty Dunn

Good old fried rice. Whilst it’s a simple takeaway staple, it can be surprisingly hard to adequately replicate at home. Therefore, I now impart to you my own tried and true recipe, inspired by my Mama’s version. It’s another great way to use up bits and pieces in the fridge and freezer – I often use Read more...

Spirited Away

Posted 2:29pm Sunday 29th September 2013 by Tamarah Scott

After receiving the devastating news that the king of animation, Hayao Miyazaki, may possibly be retiring from film making, I thought it would only be right to review Spirited Away (2001). Miyazaki co-founded Studio Ghibli, which has never made a disappointing film. Miyazaki enjoys a huge Read more...

What Maisie Knew

Posted 2:29pm Sunday 29th September 2013 by Rosie Howells

Rating: 3.5/5 I fully understand that divorces are never fun, carefree events that come with smiles and free popsicles, but I could not have predicted the messiness, nastiness and general glumness depicted in What Maisie Knew. The film follows the bitter separation of ageing rockstar Susanah Read more...

Riddick

Posted 2:29pm Sunday 29th September 2013 by Baz Macdonald

Rating: 3/5 It’s hard to believe, but despite his brawny machismo and horrific repertoire of films, Vin Diesel is a gigantic nerd. It is Vin’s inner geek that has driven him to champion the Riddick franchise, in which he plays the central figure, Richard B. Riddick. At the start of the Read more...

Stoker

Posted 2:29pm Sunday 29th September 2013 by Tamarah Scott

Rating: 4/5 Chan-Wook Park’s Korean films are beautifully pieced together masterpieces with brutally twisted elements. Stoker (2013) is his first attempt at an English-directed film. Do not judge Stoker through the strict lens of realism; rather, treat it as a cinematographic journey into Read more...

The Third Policeman by Flann O’Brian

Posted 2:29pm Sunday 29th September 2013 by Lucy Hunter

The opening sentence of this book describes a brutal murder. An old man is first knocked down with a bicycle pump and then beaten to death with a spade. The one-legged, unnamed narrator, however, doesn’t want to explain his crime right away; more important to him is his friendship with John Divney, Read more...

The Deconstruction of a Gallery Opening’s Mystique

Posted 2:29pm Sunday 29th September 2013 by Charlotte Doyle

The Dunedin art “scene” is often considered to be “underground.” Seen as the realm of the city’s “alty” citizens, there is a widespread public perception that few students would go out of their way for an artistic experience. However, for the entirety of last week Dunedin art pervaded the Read more...

Interview: Isaac McFarlane (Two Cartoons)

Posted 1:47pm Sunday 22nd September 2013 by Loulou Callister-Baker

The lead singer and guitarist of Dunedin band Two Cartoons, Isaac McFarlane is preparing to head off to London for a record label-sponsored soujourn. Loulou Callister-Baker caught up with Isaac after his final Dunedin show to ask about the big move and how he got into music. Let’s start from Read more...

App of the Week | Issue 24

Posted 1:47pm Sunday 22nd September 2013 by Raquel Moss

With semester two’s end now in sight, some of you might be thinking about your entrance into the working world. It’s going to be a little tough. Someone is going to expect you to be reasonably dressed and coherent by 9am, and to labour for eight hours toward vague and mystifying goals. You may have Read more...

Turning the Self Into a Statistic

Posted 1:47pm Sunday 22nd September 2013 by Raquel Moss

“I was surprised to find myself so much fuller of faults than I had imagined, but I had the satisfaction of seeing them diminish.” – Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin, noted Renaissance Man of the American Enlightenment, was a well-known advocate of self-improvement. He famously kept Read more...

The Weeknd - Kiss Land

Posted 1:47pm Sunday 22nd September 2013 by Basti Menkes

Rating: 2/5 An arsehole. A genius. Troubled. The second coming of Michael Jackson. Abel Tesfaye, known better by his stage name The Weeknd, has been called many things during his young career. After dropping his first mix-tape House of Balloons in early 2011, claims that the Canadian would Read more...

Forest Swords - Engravings

Posted 1:47pm Sunday 22nd September 2013 by Basti Menkes

Rating: 4/5 In the infancy of the twenty-first century, electronic music is really establishing itself as an unorthodox medium of expression. As the grind and excess of EDM declines in popularity, so grows acclaim for more reserved styles of electronic music. Among these new, more calculated Read more...

Grand Theft Auto V

Posted 1:47pm Sunday 22nd September 2013 by Baz Macdonald

Rating: 10/10 I subscribe to the idea that art should be entirely inclusive. True art should never alienate or exclude people, but rather should create ways in which cater to everyone. For some, this may entail being able to analyse every moment in relation to its thematic significance; for Read more...

White House Down

Posted 1:47pm Sunday 22nd September 2013 by Rosie Howells

Rating: 3/5 In my opinion, White House Down belongs to the same family as titles such as Snakes on a Plane, Tropic Thunder and Iron Sky – it’s a big, silly action film that understands that it’s a big, silly action film. John Kale (Channing Tatum, in his second film playing an army Read more...

Blue Jasmine

Posted 1:47pm Sunday 22nd September 2013 by Basti Menkes

Rating: 4/5 Forty-eight years since Woody Allen’s film debut What’s New Pussycat? and the reedy-voiced director is still bloody going. His latest film, Blue Jasmine, was promised by early reviews to be one of the best of his career. Though I doubt I’ve seen even half of his work, Blue Jasmine Read more...

Paranoia

Posted 1:47pm Sunday 22nd September 2013 by Tamarah Scott

Rating: 1.5/5 I wish I could provide an understandable synopsis of Paranoia, but I still have no idea what it is about. I think it is about Adam Cassidy (Liam Hemsworth), an intern at a large corporation that sells and distributes SmartPhones. Cassidy somehow gets his whole team fired Read more...

Salinger

Posted 1:47pm Sunday 22nd September 2013 by Baz Macdonald

Rating: 3/5 J. D. Salinger is perhaps one of the most enigmatic figures of the twentieth century. The author of one of the period’s most infamous novels, The Catcher in the Rye, Salinger exploded onto the literary and pop culture scene of the 1950s and 60s. Then, as fast as he had appeared, Read more...

Fruit Bread

Posted 1:47pm Sunday 22nd September 2013 by Kirsty Dunn

This recipe is really an anything-goes kinda deal; it’s a great way to make use of those icky brown bananas you’ve been avoiding, the ripening apples sitting alone in the fruit bowl, the dregs of forgotten dried fruit mixes in the pantry, and those various other bits and pieces you’ve got crammed at Read more...

In The Memorial Room

Posted 1:47pm Sunday 22nd September 2013 by Anonymous Bird

Janet Frame has a reputation as a serious New Zealand writer, and a truly successful literary genius. Knowing something of her dramatic personal life – she nearly had a lobotomy due to “psychiatric problems” – I half-expected this novel to be dark, brooding, and Sylvia Plath-esque. Instead, In The Read more...

We Think Alone

Posted 1:47pm Sunday 22nd September 2013 by April Chiu

Emails are one of those everyday mundanities. They are part of our daily routine, used by nearly every one of us to varying degrees and for various purposes. There is one email, however, that is deserving of special mention: that which appears in my inbox every Monday from the multi-talented Read more...

Pixies - EP-1

Posted 2:39pm Sunday 15th September 2013 by Lisa Craw

Rating: 2/5 Most big bands like to make it obvious when they’re releasing new material – ads, fan announcements, at least a few posters. That was not the case for the new Pixies EP, offhandedly titled EP-1, which just sort of appeared last Tuesday and seems to have gone unnoticed since. Read more...

Arctic Monkeys - AM

Posted 2:39pm Sunday 15th September 2013 by Bella King

Rating: 4/5 Since their debut Whatever People Say I Am…, British indie rock quartet Arctic Monkeys have evolved their sound with every new release. Fifth album AM both throws all of their styles thus far into the blender – the rampant energy of their first two albums, the darker tone of Read more...

App of the Week | Issue 23

Posted 2:39pm Sunday 15th September 2013 by Raquel Moss

Next time you have to give a presentation for a class, skip the PowerPoint and give Prezi a go. Prezi is a presentation tool that allows you to scribble all over a canvas, rather than organising your ideas into traditional slides. Imagine a mind-map with fancy transition effects, embedded Read more...

Internet Art

Posted 2:39pm Sunday 15th September 2013 by Raquel Moss

Art both expresses and reflects the society in which it was produced. In an Internet-obsessed society it hardly comes as a surprise, then, that Internet art is thriving. Net art is hard to pin down and categorise, because it is as diverse as the Internet itself. Just like Internet pornography, Read more...

Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn

Posted 2:39pm Sunday 15th September 2013 by Baz Macdonald

In the 20 hours I have spent with this game since its launch I have discovered a huge amount about it. However, as those of you who have played MMORPGs will know, 20 hours is barely enough time to scratch the surface of what these types of games have to offer. With that in mind, this article will Read more...

Gone Home

Posted 2:39pm Sunday 15th September 2013 by Baz Macdonald

Rating: 9.5/10 As gamers we have become used to associating our games with grandiose situations and spectacular premises. From protecting the universe from alien threats to fighting dragons and other mythical creatures, we have the pleasure and privilege of living out some of the most amazing Read more...

Stuffed Focaccia Bread

Posted 2:39pm Sunday 15th September 2013 by Kirsty Dunn

Dissatisfied with Pak ‘n’ Save’s colourless and inadequately topped pizza bread offerings? Unhappy with your regular, run-of-the-mill, unexciting toasted sandwich? Hankering after a more sophisticated savoury treat that you can customise? Then this delish stuffed focaccia recipe is for you, Read more...

Frances Ha

Posted 2:39pm Sunday 15th September 2013 by Jonny Mahon-Heap

Rating: 3.5/5 An endearing and fresh take on the messy lives of twenty-somethings, Frances Ha is equal parts Woody Allen and Lena Dunham, taking a neurotic central character and using her to charming effect. A star-making performance from Greta Gerwig in the title role ensures that Frances Read more...

Red 2

Posted 2:39pm Sunday 15th September 2013 by Baz Macdonald

Rating: 2/5 When Red came out in 2010 it offered a fresh, light-hearted take on spy thrillers. It also featured a seasoned cast and a skilled director. Unfortunately, while all of these ingredients where once again in the mix, somewhere in the intervening three years Red 2 lost almost all of Read more...

Jobs

Posted 2:39pm Sunday 15th September 2013 by Rosie Howells

Rating: 3/5 Jobs is a biographical drama that tells the story of Steve Jobs, the co-founder and former CEO of the Apple corporation. The film starts with Jobs as a barefoot college dropout in 1974 and ends with the invention of the iPod in 2001, unfortunately skipping the last ten years of Read more...

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Posted 2:39pm Sunday 15th September 2013 by Harriet Hughes

There is something about the glamour of 1920s New York that makes The Great Gatsby a timeless favourite. Fitzgerald’s characters collide from one party to the next in a bubble of “purposeless splendour” where nothing has consequences, and no one loses out. Our narrator, Nick, arrives at West Read more...

Blue Oyster

Posted 2:39pm Sunday 15th September 2013 by Charlotte Doyle

Blue Oyster is the hipster gallery of the Dunedin art scene. Bound to provide you with an interesting glimpse into local contemporary art, it has until now been somewhat of a hidden gem, tucked down an alleyway on Moray Place. However, it recently underwent a transformation, and on 30 August hosted Read more...

Wiki of the Week

Posted 1:51pm Sunday 8th September 2013 by Raquel Moss

In researching this piece I came across a wiki as deliciously pitiful as Conservapedia, if not more so. The Internet Movie Firearms Database (imfdb.org) is why GCSB watch-lists may be justified after all (just kidding, they aren’t). This careful, meticulous cataloguing of weapons of personal Read more...

You Wouldn’t Download a Gun … At Least, You Shouldn’t

Posted 1:51pm Sunday 8th September 2013 by Callum Valentine

In May this year, gaming giant Electronic Arts announced it would no longer be using officially licensed firearms in its video games. The move was a backpedal in reaction to an extremely poorly thought-out charity campaign launched as part of the stupidly-named Medal of Honor: Warfighter. The Read more...

Lustmord - The Word As Power

Posted 1:51pm Sunday 8th September 2013 by Basti Menkes

Rating: 5/5 Dark ambient is a genre drenched in imagery of the ancient, the gothic and the biblical. Its blacker-than-black noises are derived from the vaults of industrial music, stretched into barren wastes and yawning abysses of sound. Often dark ambient songs are long and slow, crushing Read more...

Nine Inch Nails - Hesitation Marks

Posted 1:51pm Sunday 8th September 2013 by Basti Menkes

Rating: 4/5 My, hasn’t Trent Reznor been busy? Between side projects, scoring films, raising sons and insulting fans over Twitter, the 48-year-old prince of industrial has somehow found the time to make another Nine Inch Nails album. I’ll admit to feeling ambivalent when Hesitation Read more...

The Bureau: XCOM Declassified

Posted 1:51pm Sunday 8th September 2013 by Baz Macdonald

Rating: 6.5/10 As far as original premises go, alien invasions are hardly groundbreaking. Sometimes, though, all you need is a fresh take to make something common feel original. In the eyes of many, this is what the game 1994 UFO: Enemy Unknown (also known as XCOM: Enemy Unknown) Read more...

Rayman Legends

Posted 1:51pm Sunday 8th September 2013 by Baz Macdonald

Rating: 9.5/10 The gaming industry is currently fascinated with creating new and innovative new ways to play games. Don’t get me wrong – I am very excited about the discoveries being made, but such an attitude tends to imply that we have fully utilised the mechanics we currently have. Rayman Read more...

Sticky Date Muffins

Posted 1:51pm Sunday 8th September 2013 by Kirsty Dunn

I really don’t have much to say about these, except a) they are so freaking good, and b) you’d be a fool, A FOOL I TELL YOU, not to whip some up on a lazy Sunday and revel in their (and your) greatness. (Also you feel less like a fatty eating a muffin than scoffing down a bowl full of the pudding Read more...

Existenz

Posted 1:51pm Sunday 8th September 2013 by Baz Macdonald

It’s always fun to watch films made in the 80s or 90s and see how they thought the world would be by now. Disappointingly, we still don’t have hover cars or pill-based nutrition. What we are getting closer to achieving, however, is virtual reality. Sure, virtual reality the way these films portray Read more...

Kick Ass 2

Posted 1:51pm Sunday 8th September 2013 by Tamarah Scott

Rating: 3/5 Being a big fan of the original Kick-Ass film, I was prepared to be let down by the sequel. In particular, I was dubious as to whether the new director, Jeff Wadlow, would manage to reproduce certain aspects of the original film, such as the stylistic violence sequences and the Read more...

The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones

Posted 1:51pm Sunday 8th September 2013 by Rosie Howells

Rating: 1/5 There is almost nothing in this film that we haven’t seen before. Many times before. The Mortal Instruments is an unskilful amalgamation of the tropes and character types made familiar by Harry Potter, Twilight, Lord of the Rings, True Blood, Pirates of the Caribbean … and the Read more...

The Way Way Back

Posted 1:51pm Sunday 8th September 2013 by Baz Macdonald

Rating: 4/5 Watch the first five minutes of any coming-of-age film and you’ll be able to guess exactly what happens in the next 85. The Way Way Back is no exception, and yet the film is so charmingly pleasant that not only do you not mind its predictability, you actually relish it. The Read more...

Less Than Zero

Posted 1:51pm Sunday 8th September 2013 by Millie Lovelock

Less Than Zero is the first novel by literary brat-pack misanthrope Bret Easton Ellis. The novel details narrator Clay’s return to Los Angeles for Christmas after his first semester away at college. Clay is from a wealthy family, and all of his friends are rich, bored, and saturated with pop and Read more...

Hate Modern Art If You Want To

Posted 1:51pm Sunday 8th September 2013 by Charlotte Doyle

In recent years, the concept of “art” has been expanded to the point where many feel as though they can no longer question a work’s artistic quality. Doing so implies that they are unable to discern the meaningful message hidden behind what appears to be a pile of rubbish in the middle of the Read more...

App of the Week | Issue 21

Posted 3:48pm Sunday 1st September 2013 by Raquel Moss

The QWERTY keyboard as we know it has been around since 1873. A lot of shit has happened since then. Women got the vote, man went to the moon, computers were invented and became smaller and smaller, and twerking became an amusing pastime. But despite many changes in device shape, size, and manner of Read more...

Facebook’s Particular Shade of Blue

Posted 3:48pm Sunday 1st September 2013 by Raquel Moss

Wake up in the morning lookin’ like P Diddy, grab my phone and check my Facebook … and learn that Girl Who Was In My Class Last Year “loves Ikea.” Ugh. Who cares? I’ve got the Facebook Blues. That particular shade of blue makes me feel dissatisfied, bored, and a little uneasy. Like many Read more...

The J. Arthur Keenes Band - Mighty Social Lion

Posted 3:48pm Sunday 1st September 2013 by Basti Menkes

Rating: 3.5/5 There are few things that irk me more in a musical discussion than a person dismissing an entire genre. To assert that a style of music is wholly without merit, regardless of the incarnation, borders on psychosis. How can you deem hip-hop or metal or folk to be inherently shit, Read more...

Franz Ferdinand - Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action

Posted 3:48pm Sunday 1st September 2013 by Basti Menkes

Rating: 4/5 “It’s always better on holiday.” So sang Alex Kapranos on “Jacqueline,” the opening track of Franz Ferdinand’s eponymous debut album. Considering the glacial pace at which the Glaswegian dance-rockers are releasing music these days, the line now rings a touch ironic. Read more...

Saints Row IV

Posted 3:48pm Sunday 1st September 2013 by Baz Macdonald

Rating: 5.5/10 Only a year ago, the Saints Row series had a different publisher: THQ. That particular sinking ship succumbed in early 2012, however, and now rests silently on the ocean floor of failed video game companies. In this case, the metaphorical women and children that got the first Read more...

Splinter Cell: Blacklist

Posted 3:48pm Sunday 1st September 2013 by Baz Macdonald

Rating: 9/10 There was time, not too long ago, when I thought that stealth games were a genre that could only appeal to a very small subset of gamers. Recently, however, I have been enthralled not only by stealth games, but also by attempting stealth tactics in games that are not purely Read more...

Moroccan Stew & Minted Couscous

Posted 3:48pm Sunday 1st September 2013 by Kirsty Dunn

Couscous is the wonder-kid of the meal-accompaniment world. I mean, sure, rice is nice (until you have to clean the pot or dish you cooked it in), and pasta is fab (yet can be a little stodgy on the odd occasion), but couscous, on the other hand, is light and fluffy, easy to make, and super-duper Read more...

Otherness

Posted 3:48pm Sunday 1st September 2013 by Kajsa Louw

Otherness is an anthology of science fiction short stories that is likely to leave its readers impressed by its boldness and originality. The book comprises a collection of 13 stories and is the winner of the LOCUS award for Best Collection of 1995. Notable contributions include “Warm Bodies” and Read more...

Gaga and the Art of Empty Pretention

Posted 3:48pm Sunday 1st September 2013 by Charlotte Doyle

Lady Gaga’s recent nudist escapades are currently the cause of a social media frenzy many of you will have witnessed in some form or another. In the video The Abramovic Method practiced by Lady Gaga, she exposes her body for a supposedly artistic cause: rising to Marina Abromovic’s extended Read more...

Elysium

Posted 3:48pm Sunday 1st September 2013 by Baz Macdonald

Rating: 4.5/5 Neill Blomkamp is still making science fiction film as it should be. His 2009 film District 9 proved that he could provide highly intelligent yet action-packed and highly accessible science fiction to mainstream cinema, and with his latest film Elysium he is once again pushing Read more...

Before Midnight

Posted 3:48pm Sunday 1st September 2013 by Rosie Howells

Rating: 4/5 Before Midnight is the third (and presumably final) instalment of Richard Linklater’s romantic series following the love of fiery French humanitarian Celine (Julia Delpy) and American writer Jesse (Ethan Hawke). The first in the series is the 18-year-old Before Sunrise, in which Read more...

Critic’s Film Festival Awards 2013

Posted 3:48pm Sunday 1st September 2013 by Rosie Howells

This year’s International Film Festival was the biggest Dunedin has ever seen, presenting the greatest selection of movies our branch of the Festival has ever been privy to. Based on critical response, whispers on the street and my own personal opinion, here are Critic’s official Festival awards: Read more...

Only Lovers Left Alive

Posted 3:48pm Sunday 1st September 2013 by Jonny Mahon-Heap

Rating: 3/5 Only Lovers Left Alive is a slim and idiosyncratic film that has received more of a mixed bag of reviews than the Film Festival itself. A darkly funny take on the tired vampire genre, it documents the centuries-old romance between vampires Adam (Tom Hiddleston) and Eve (Tilda Read more...

Child’s Pose

Posted 3:48pm Sunday 1st September 2013 by Tamarah Scott

Rating: 4.5/5 The most memorable films are those that emotionally sap you dry; those that force you to become immersed in their worlds because the subject matter, images and storylines are so powerful you cannot escape till you actually leave the cinema. Child’s Pose puts you through so much Read more...

The Bling Ring

Posted 3:48pm Sunday 1st September 2013 by Baz Macdonald

Rating: 3/5 Sometimes real life events feel like they happened purely in order to be made into movies. The Hollywood Hills burglaries of 2009 were one of those events. A bunch of teenagers robbing the houses of celebrities is clearly the premise for a great film, and the stage was well set Read more...

Pervert’s Guide to Ideology

Posted 3:48pm Sunday 1st September 2013 by Alex Wilson

Rating: 4/5 It’s hard to think of a film at this year’s Festival that is so perfectly equal parts educational and offbeat as this small Irish production about a Slovenian philosopher deconstructing some of the most influential films of the past 50 years. Slavoj Žižek is our phlegmatic guide Read more...

Mood Indigo

Posted 3:48pm Sunday 1st September 2013 by Rosie Howells

Rating: 4/5 Let me start by saying that I haven’t enjoyed a film this much in a really long time, which is high praise indeed considering it was my fourth Film Festival movie in a week. Whimsical, surreal and heart-breaking, it was everything you’d expect from Michel Gondry, the director Read more...

Interview: Richard Ley-Hamilton

Posted 4:47pm Sunday 18th August 2013 by Loulou Callister-Baker

At the age of 22, Richard Ley-Hamilton has already created a name for himself as a prominent Dunedin musician, performing and making music for an array of interesting bands. Richard also works part-time at a record store, and by the end of November he will have finished his honours dissertation in Read more...

Loved up and ‘Appy

Posted 4:47pm Sunday 18th August 2013 by Raquel Moss

Don’t you hate it when your significant other plays relationship games with you? Like the ever-popular “figure out why I’m angry, or else” move, or the infuriating “do you think that guy’s hotter than me?” test. Answer correctly, or risk the silent treatment. Forget all that, now there’s an Read more...

Earthbound (1994)

Posted 4:47pm Sunday 18th August 2013 by Baz Macdonald

For our generation, gaming nostalgia is largely related to the console you had as a child. Did you have a Sega or a Nintendo 64? A PlayStation or an Xbox? The answer to this question will likely dictate whether you are a Mario fan, or a Crash Bandicoot fan, or – God forbid – a Sonic fan. Due to the Read more...

Plants vs. Zombies 2 - It’s About Time

Posted 4:47pm Sunday 18th August 2013 by Baz Macdonald

Rating: 8/10 Popcap’s 2009 game Plants vs. Zombies is arguably the greatest casual game of all time. The fact that the game is easy to get into for brief snippets, but also offers increasingly difficult challenges that could have you playing for hours, makes it accessible and loved by Read more...

Asian Dub Foundation - The Signal And The Noise

Posted 4:47pm Sunday 18th August 2013 by Basti Menkes

Rating: 3.5/5 “They’re like a British Rage Against The Machine. They work punk guitars and politically-charged lyrics into dub, reggae, world music and rap. This rainbow-coloured music collective both condemns racial violence and breaks down the walls between ethnic terminology. Shit is Read more...

Moderat - II

Posted 4:47pm Sunday 18th August 2013 by Basti Menkes

Rating: 4/5 Moderat is a portmanteau, both in name and personnel, of Berlin-based electronic acts Modeselektor and Apparat. As its title suggests, II is the supergroup’s second album together, following its eponymous 2009 debut. Like its predecessor, II sees the two outfits marrying their Read more...