Archive

Pete’s Dragon

Posted 1:19pm Saturday 1st October 2016 by Lisa Blakie

Rating: B+ Pete’s Dragon is a wonderfully wholesome story that made me cry in the first five minutes. The film is a remake of the 1977 musical that I haven’t seen, but I’m sure this 2016 reimagining of Pete’s Dragon is much better. It follows a young boy Pete and his Read more...

Free State of Jones

Posted 1:14pm Saturday 1st October 2016 by Max Olson

Rating: B- Being a history student and massive Matthew McConaughey fan, I thought I would take myself to see the new Gary Ross film, Free State of Jones. Set in Mississippi during the latter half of the American Civil War (1863-1865), the film is based on the true story of Newton Knight, a poor, Read more...

Nerve

Posted 1:12pm Saturday 1st October 2016 by Anonymous Bird

Rating: B If you were invited to play a game where strangers were invited to watch and film you complete dares decided by them, in order for you to win money, would you choose to be a watcher, or a player?  Vee Delmonico (Emma Roberts) is the awkward high school photographer, with a crush Read more...

I think you think too much of me — Eden

Posted 1:06pm Saturday 1st October 2016 by William Sharp

Those of you who are searching for a deep and emotional musical venture will become enthralled by this new star in the indie-pop scene. Jonathon Ng, known since early 2015 as EDEN (previously the Eden Project) has shone his deep blue hues across the indie pop scene through his new EP album: I Think Read more...

Beef Empanadas

Posted 1:08pm Saturday 24th September 2016 by Kirsten Garcia

I loved these growing up, my mum makes the best ones. It was a good day when I got to bring these for school lunches. Empanadas are little Spanish savoury pies with nice flaky pastry. You can use premade pastry if you are short for time.  Makes: 10-12 empanadas Serves: Read more...

The Port Collective

Posted 1:03pm Saturday 24th September 2016 by Carolijn Guytonbeck

Here we see a mix of painting, printmaking, and ceramics influenced by the artists’ environment and daily life in Port Chalmers. There is a coherency to this collection of work - along with a lyrical and wistful feeling. End of Days Man with Flax Low Fly Zone  Dave Read more...

Sex Criminals (VOL. I)

Posted 12:54pm Saturday 24th September 2016 by Anonymous Bird

Sex Criminals is about Suzie and her extraordinary ability to freeze time upon orgasm. Growing up, she spends a lot of her time alone in her orgasm induced solitude until in adulthood, she meet Jon, has sex with him, and they discover they both have the same ability. They form an instant bond (how Read more...

Faith (VOL. 1)

Posted 12:50pm Saturday 24th September 2016 by Anonymous Bird

Valiant Comics’ recent volume follows the adventures of Faith, a telekinetic super heroine. She’s a big comic book nerd now living her dream as super lady flying through the air, kicking ass and saving lives. Previously Faith was a part of the supergroup Harbinger Renegades, but has Read more...

My Chemical Romance — A Retrospective

Posted 12:48pm Saturday 24th September 2016 by Millicent Lovelock

October 23rd will mark the tenth anniversary of My Chemical Romance’s The Black Parade, the mid-2000’s most seminal, explosive and morbid rock opera. Fans ride or die for My Chemical Romance, even now they have broken up, and after four courageous albums and years of blood, sweat and Read more...

No Man’s Sky

Posted 12:43pm Saturday 24th September 2016 by Campbell Calverley

Rating: C- THIS REVIEW CONTAINS ANGRY SPOILERS. Cut me into pieces and rocket me into deep space, this game was a mistake. Hype has been surrounding No Man’s Sky since it was first announced in 2013, and has only increased as more gameplay trailers have been released. Players could Read more...

Why do we need...MMORPG's?

Posted 12:41pm Saturday 24th September 2016 by Anthony Marris

Massively Multiplayer Role Playing Games (MMORPG’s) are online based games that allow players to engage with each other cooperatively or aggressively. The most recent MMORPG to hit the markets was No Man’s Sky, a game boasting over eighteen quintillion (1,000,000,000,000,000,000) Read more...

Preacher (TV Series)

Posted 12:36pm Saturday 24th September 2016 by Anonymous Bird

Rating: A- Preacher is an adaptation of the popular graphic novels of the same name that came out earlier this year. Jesse Custer (Dominic Cooper) is an ineffectual preacher in a small southern American town. His goal is to find God, despite no longer actually feeling as though he’s in a Read more...

Sully

Posted 12:33pm Saturday 24th September 2016 by Nita Sullivan

Rating: A- In the filmic reincarnation of that famous “2009 Miracle on the Hudson”  where Captain “Sully” Sullenberger made a successful emergency water landing after hitting a flock of geese soon after takeoff—director Clint Eastwood makes some effort to keep Read more...

The Shallows

Posted 12:24pm Saturday 24th September 2016 by Nita Sullivan

Rating: B- Upon deep reflection, I have decided that watching The Shallows is much like eating McDonalds for dinner, both of which I did in the last week. What I mean is that both events (the film and the fast food eating) possessed equal amounts of enjoyment, critical thought, and Read more...

Blood Father

Posted 12:22pm Saturday 24th September 2016 by Alex Campbell-Hunt

Rating: B+ It’s harder to enjoy Mel Gibson’s movies now that his various forms of insanity are out in the open. Every time he loses his shit on screen, you can’t help but wonder how much of it is really “acting”—and it’d be nice to travel back in time Read more...

10 of the 11 not so secret herbs & spices

Posted 2:20pm Saturday 17th September 2016 by Kirsten Garcia

This week, I did an experiment to recreate Colonel Sander’s infamous fried chicken. At 65 years old, and on a benefit income, Colonel Sanders built what would become the second largest fast food chain in the world. The recipe was one of the biggest trade secrets of our time, until it was Read more...

Animal Advocates-Art in Law XVI

Posted 2:16pm Saturday 17th September 2016 by Carolijn Guytonbeck

The Faculty of Law and the Dunedin School of Art collaborate biannually on the Art in Law Collections displaying exhibitions by Dunedin School of Art senior students and graduates. Animal Advocates curated by Marion Wassenaar comprises of works by four artists Rachel H. Allan, Daniel Bloxham, Read more...

A Visit from the Goon Squad

Posted 2:13pm Saturday 17th September 2016 by Monique Hodgkinson

Jennifer Egan’s A Visit from the Goon Squad is about people who chase their dreams, people who lose track of them, folk who fall off the bandwagon and who sometimes never quite make it back on again. Simultaneously a short story collection and a novel, Egan’s book is an interweaving of Read more...

Harry Potter & the Cursed Child

Posted 2:11pm Saturday 17th September 2016 by Anonymous Bird

Picking up where the epilogue of the seventh Harry Potter novel left off, we see adult Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley sending their children off to Hogwarts. Their middle child, Albus Severus (what a burden of a name), is anxious about his journey to Hogwarts, despite reassurances from his parents. Read more...

Dvorak's New World | Dunedin Symphony Orchestra

Posted 2:09pm Saturday 17th September 2016 by Ihlara McIndoe

With a full house last Saturday, the Dunedin Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of Nicholas Braithwaite and featuring the virtuosity of pianist Michael Houstoun, performed a spectacular concert of Jack Speirs’ Fanfare; Beethoven’s Leonora Overture No. 3; Bartok’s Piano Concerto Read more...

“Shut Up Kiss Me” —Angel Olsen

Posted 2:05pm Saturday 17th September 2016 by Millicent Lovelock

On September 2, Angel Olsen released her album My Woman, a swinging, soaring, 1960s-esque pop masterpiece. “Shut Up Kiss Me” is the album’s killer single. The song is infectious, Olsen delivering her vocals slow and deliberate at first, singing “I ain’t hanging up Read more...

Hyper Light Drifter

Posted 2:01pm Saturday 17th September 2016 by Campbell Calverley

Rating: A+ Hyper Light Drifter completely passed me by when it was released near the beginning of this year. I was already familiar with images of its protagonist: a caped, androgynous adventurer, in a world defined by 16-bit pixel art and heavily contrasting colours. I had heard that it was Read more...

Why do we need…E-Commerce?

Posted 1:59pm Saturday 17th September 2016 by Anthony Marris

Ebay, Trademe, Amazon, Alibaba… all names we are familiar with, sites designed to allow consumers and merchants to come together and exchange goods for a fair and reasonable price. E-Commerce comes in four main forms: consumer to consumer (Trademe), business to consumer (Rebel Sport, Read more...

David Brent: Life on the Road

Posted 1:56pm Saturday 17th September 2016 by Lisa Blakie

Rating: C+ David Brent: Life on the Road follows David Brent (Ricky Gervais) from The Office and his newfound existence as the lead singer of his band “Foregone Conclusion”. The whole movie is basically like “remember how David makes really questionable jokes? Here’s Read more...

The Fall

Posted 1:54pm Saturday 17th September 2016 by Anonymous Bird

Rating: A+ Alexandria (Catinca Untaru) is a young Romanian-born girl in a 1920s Los Angeles hospital with a broken arm. She fell picking oranges at an orchard her parents work on. She barely speaks english, has a strong and healthy imagination, and spends her time wandering around the hospital Read more...

Bad Moms

Posted 1:51pm Saturday 17th September 2016 by Anonymous Bird

Rating: B Amy (Mila Kunis) is a young mother who works part time, takes care of her children, and does the housework. She’s stressed, busy, and always late. After a considerably terrible day, she defies the PTA president Gwendolyn (Christina Applegate), and decides to quit being a good mom. Read more...

Poi E: The Story of Our Song

Posted 1:49pm Saturday 17th September 2016 by Alex Campbell-Hunt

Rating: A One of the great things about this documentary is how well it places you in this period of New Zealand’s history. This is approximately the period that my earliest memories of New Zealand come from (or a few years earlier): the era of Crowded House, the Son of a Gunn show, the Read more...

Bobotie & Yellow Rice

Posted 1:19pm Saturday 10th September 2016 by Kirsten Garcia

My first taste of Bobotie and Yellow Rice was at a charity dinner with all African cuisine. This is a South African dish. My flatmate from Zambia also made it for dinner once. Both times I've had it, it was nothing but delicious and memorable, so I had a crack at making it myself.  If Read more...

3 x 4 — Lisa Reihana

Posted 1:14pm Saturday 10th September 2016 by Carolijn Guytonbeck

Take the opportunity to view some work from one of New Zealand’s current 'it' artists, Lisa Reihana. Milford Gallery are showing a range of her magnificent staged photographic portraiture work.  Distinct themes of mythology and colonisation run through the Māori descended Read more...

The Story of Your Life

Posted 1:11pm Saturday 10th September 2016 by Jack Blair

Ted Chaing examines, through the eyes of Louise Banks (a linguist tasked with decoding the language of an alien species known as the Heptapods), how understanding language means more than simply understanding a conveyed message. As The Story of Your Life progresses, and Louise applies a theory of Read more...

The Nature of Jade

Posted 1:08pm Saturday 10th September 2016 by Monique Hodgkinson

Although technically classified as a YA novel, The Nature of Jade is one of those rare books which holds something inspiring and beautiful for readers of all ages. This book has been one of my firm favourites for years now, because of its captivating and accessible writing style, unexpected and Read more...

Puberty 2 — Mitski

Posted 1:04pm Saturday 10th September 2016 by Millicent Lovelock

I have been sitting on US artist Mitski’s latest offering for a while now, not because I didn’t think it would be good, but because I knew it would be too good for any mood that wasn’t the right mood.  Mitski’s songs have a particular tendency to tunnel through you Read more...

Abzû

Posted 1:01pm Saturday 10th September 2016 by Lisa Blakie

Rating: B+ Giant Squid is an indie game studio founded by Matt Nava, the art director who also worked on the critically-acclaimed Journey and Flower, both of which rank among my favourite games. Giant Squid’s first game Abzû was announced back in 2014 at Sony’s E3 press Read more...

Why do we need...WeChat?

Posted 12:55pm Saturday 10th September 2016 by Anthony Marris

WeChat is the Chinese multi-platform social networking app produced by Tencent which is dominating inside the Great Firewall. Available on both Android and iPhone, it makes common social media sharing apps like Messenger, Snapchat, WhatsApp and Instagram look like glorified telegraph Read more...

Our Kind of Traitor

Posted 12:50pm Saturday 10th September 2016 by Nita Sullivan

Rating: B Our Kind of Traitor is the latest in spy-thriller-novel conversions by British author John Le Carre, and delivers generously in suspense, espionage, and drama. While the film is no doubt a good watch, it falters in equalling the critically acclaimed British miniseries The Night Manager Read more...

War Dogs

Posted 12:47pm Saturday 10th September 2016 by Lindsay D’Alessandro

Rating: A- Based on the 2011 Rolling Stone article, “The Stoner Arms Dealers: How Two American Kids Became Big-Time Weapons Traders,” War Dogs tells the true story of two twenty-something childhood friends from Miami Beach who made millions during the Iraq War bidding on US military Read more...

Crazy ex-Girlfriend (TV series)

Posted 12:41pm Saturday 10th September 2016 by Anonymous Bird

Rebecca Bunch (Rachel Bloom) is a successful, career focused, big bucks lawyer —who is unsatisfied and unhappy with her New York life. During a panic attack over a promotion, she bumps into total heartthrob Josh Chan (Vincent Rodriguez III) her summer camp boyfriend from when she was 16. He Read more...

Ben Hur (2016)

Posted 12:38pm Saturday 10th September 2016 by Max Olson

Rating: C+ Set in ancient Roman-occupied Jerusalem, Ben Hur is a remake of the 1959 film directed by William Wyler, which famously grabbed a record 11 Academy Awards at the time. Unfortunately, I cannot see many awards lurking in the near future for the 2016 version, although I will admit that Read more...

Monsters — Strange Harvest

Posted 1:23pm Sunday 4th September 2016 by Lucy Hunter

You know that thing when you know someone, and you know they know you, and you’ve met them a few times but they pretend they don’t know you when you see each other out in public? Strange Harvest wrote a total banger about that thing. “Monsters” is on Dunedin duo Strange Read more...

Get A Yes — SAD 13

Posted 1:20pm Sunday 4th September 2016 by Millicent Lovelock

Sad13 is Speedy Ortiz singer/guitarist Sadie Dupuis’ solo project. Her first single “Get A Yes” is quite a divergence from her trademark deadpan vocal delivery and contortionist guitar lines, but this poppy little number is not altogether surprising.  Dupuis makes no bones Read more...

Nimona

Posted 1:17pm Sunday 4th September 2016 by Anonymous Bird

Lord Ballister Blackheart, our protagonist, scientist and villain, finds Nimona at his lair. Nimona is a young, powerful and impulsive shape-shifter with a desire to cause havoc and bring about destruction. She convinces him to take her on as a sidekick. The pair work together to mess things up in Read more...

I Hate Fairyland

Posted 1:14pm Sunday 4th September 2016 by Anonymous Bird

It’s almost every child’s dream to be transported to a mystical fairyland to complete some complicated and epic quest, making bizarre and cute friends along the way, right?  The eight-year-old Gertrude might have fantasised about Fairyland, but she certainly wasn’t equipped Read more...

Why do we need...3D Printing?

Posted 1:11pm Sunday 4th September 2016 by Anthony Marris

3D printing (or additive manufacturing) is the process where multiple layers of a pliable material are applied sequentially to create a new object. Youtube channel “Print That Thing” showcases some of the products being made with 3D printing. One example was motivated by the lack of Read more...

OUSA Student Art Exhibition & Sale

Posted 1:08pm Sunday 4th September 2016 by Monique Hodgkinson

Now that the OUSA Art Week festivities have wound down for another year, I think it's safe to say that the events were a fantastic success once again. Awesome work all you painters, sculptors, sketchers, jewellers, activists, volunteers, and other art-lovers! It was a fabulous five days which Read more...

Chicken Satay

Posted 1:03pm Sunday 4th September 2016 by Nick Blankendaal

I am Dutch so I thought “oh I’ll make something Dutch!” Alas, I couldn’t find anything really Dutch. Just Pancakes or how to make pea soup. I settled on making a meal based around a satay sauce recipe which, according to Wikipedia, the Dutch stole from Indonesia and is now Read more...

Shadow of the Colossus

Posted 12:55pm Sunday 4th September 2016 by Campbell Calverley

Rating: Classic While it doesn’t deal with heavy psychological themes, Shadow of the Colossus is another beautifully empty game that instead imbues a feeling of the mythical. It is the 2005 spiritual successor to Team ICO’s first game, Ico. While that game was a dreamlike, Read more...

Silent Hill 2

Posted 12:53pm Sunday 4th September 2016 by Campbell Calverley

Rating: Classic Modern gaming can be alienating to some. This is not because of excessive difficulty or because of technology advancing too quickly, but because of sensory overload. There is a trend for modern games to be open-world, action packed, maximalist blockbusters. One can quickly get Read more...

Steven Universe (series)

Posted 12:45pm Sunday 4th September 2016 by Anonymous Bird

Rating: A+ Steven Universe is quite possibly the most progressive children’s TV show ever. Steven Universe (Zach Callison), who the show is named after, is a young (mostly) human boy with magical powers due to being the son of the Crystal Gem, Rose Quartz (Susan Egan). Gems are essentially Read more...

Honey, I Shrunk the Kids

Posted 12:43pm Sunday 4th September 2016 by Alex Campbell-Hunt

Rating: B+ Honey I Shrunk the Kids is a guaranteed nostalgia-tastic viewing experience for any kids of the '80s or '90s. Whether you grew up with the movie or not (though I did), the pre-CGI effects, elaborate sets, gentle pace, and general look and feel of the film place you right in Read more...

Green Room

Posted 12:40pm Sunday 4th September 2016 by Anonymous Bird

Rating: B+ A broke punk rock band by the name of the Ain’t Rights takes a detour to a remote Oregon roadhouse, to play a gig in hopes of making some money after a dismal turnout at their last gig. They’re promised a decent pay and so make the trip using syphoned gas. When they show Read more...