Archive
Why Do We Need...drones?
Posted 1:15pm Sunday 3rd April 2016 by Anthony Marris
Circling 30,000 feet above a desolate village in Afghanistan (or Yemen, Somalia or Pakistan) is the latest chariot of fire, harbinger of death and destruction ready to launch Hellfire upon the plain. With politically disarming names like Shadow, Global Hawk and Rainbow, they can lurk for at least 30 Read more...
All The Light We Cannot See
Posted 1:11pm Sunday 3rd April 2016 by Hayleigh Clarkson
Rating: A+ Anthony Doerr’s All The Light We Cannot See is the most stunning novel I have ever read. It is a beautiful tale of Marie-Laure, a young blind girl living in Paris, and Werner, a young orphan boy living in Germany on the cusp of the Second World War. Doerr intricately weaves the Read more...
Made in the A.M. – One Direction
Posted 1:06pm Sunday 3rd April 2016 by Millicent Lovelock
In 2015, in the aftermath of loss, scandal and uncertainty, British boybanders One Direction came out with their fifth studio album, Made in the A.M. The start of 2015 saw Zayn Malik leave the group, claiming creative differences, and the announcement of an indefinite hiatus for the remaining four Read more...
New Track: “Your Best American Girl” - Mitski
Posted 2:23pm Sunday 20th March 2016 by Millicent Lovelock
I’ve come to know Mitski as the princess of propulsive sadness, and her new track, “Your Best American Girl” doesn’t disappoint. Like most of her songs, it’s a slow burn running into a scorching, explosive chorus. Mitski slips us into the body of the song with a soft, Read more...
A Sit Down with Raiza Biza
Posted 2:20pm Sunday 20th March 2016 by Sam Fraser-Baxter
The illustrious Raiza Biza is a rapper spearheading a promising renaissance of hip hop music in our country. Following a prolific string of releases since 2012 and the success of his last album ‘The Imperfectionist’, Raiza has slowly risen from the underground and become a Read more...
Charlotte Parallel - Ecologies Of Transduction
Posted 2:16pm Sunday 20th March 2016 by Ted Whitaker
A low rumble of a freight train or the colliding of steel on a container ship occurs in a layered reality at The Anteroom, an artist-run space in Port Chalmers. Three recent works by Charlotte Parallel make up Ecologies of Transduction that aptly culminate a careful trajectory of geo-specific sound Read more...
What to do with beetroot and rainbow chard
Posted 2:08pm Sunday 20th March 2016 by Kirsten Garcia
Welcome to autumn everyone! In honour of this cold and colourful time of the year let’s make something warm and vibrant with some veggies from our local farmer’s market. I confess I haven’t really cooked with either of these ingredients fresh before. I think of rainbow chard as Read more...
Firewatch
Posted 1:55pm Sunday 20th March 2016 by James Tregonning
Here’s a quick history of popular video games. It starts with the arcade, with players putting quarters into machines over and over, beating high scores and paying for the privilege. These arcade games developed out into what is now arguably the largest entertainment industry in the world. For Read more...
Why do we need..MOOC?
Posted 1:52pm Sunday 20th March 2016 by Anthony Marris
Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are free online university based courses that allow anybody with a decent internet connection and an interest in knowledge to learn about something new. The courses are structured and typically range from 4 weeks to 3 months, some with fixed start dates and others Read more...
Hail Caesar
Posted 1:47pm Sunday 20th March 2016 by Nita Sullivan
Rating: A- The latest goofy flick by the Coen Brothers provides multitudes of spazzy plotlines, weird humour and wtf moments. Following a day in the life of ‘Hollywood fixer’ Eddie Mannix (played superbly by Josh Brolin), Hail Caesar’s ramshackle plot serves up random portions Read more...
Mahana
Posted 1:45pm Sunday 20th March 2016 by Lisa Blakie
Rating: C+ Mahana is the New Zealand film adapted from Witi Ihimaera’s novel Bulibasha: King of the Gypsies. Successful New Zealand actor Temuera Morrison plays Tamihana aka. the World’s Grumpiest Grandpa, who is the patriarch controlling literally every aspect of the Mahana Read more...
Peggy Guggenheim: Art Addict
Posted 1:43pm Sunday 20th March 2016 by Andrew Kwiatkowski
Rating: A I’ll be up front - I loathed the character that is the subject of this documentary. However, it must be said that the film itself is very, very well made. If, like me you had never heard of Peggy Guggenheim, the short version is that she was the real-deal rock’n’roll Read more...
The Lady In The Van
Posted 1:39pm Sunday 20th March 2016 by Lucy Hunter
Rating: A When Lady in the Van opened with Maggie Smith driving a van in the ‘70s in England, I was clawing at my seat with the claggy white smugness of it. It seems like every year Maggie Smith does a twee, baby-boomer-bait comedy piece to drag a group of people to the cinema who will only Read more...
The Chimes
Posted 1:34pm Sunday 20th March 2016 by Hayleigh Clarkson
I had high hopes for this novel. Anna Smaill’s The Chimes was long listed for the Man Booker Prize in 2015 and the New Zealand media went crazy for it, touting Anna as the next Eleanor Catton. Despite everyone else loving this novel, I found it to be dull and tedious with a shallow Read more...
Eggplant Pizza
Posted 3:28pm Sunday 13th March 2016 by Kirsten Garcia
Tis the season for all of my favourite veggies - I was thoroughly impressed by the size of the eggplants I got for this recipe I got two for $6 and I remember in winter last year that one small eggplant would cost the same price. Get in on this, guys. I’m sure we can all agree that Read more...
Why Do We Need...tinder?
Posted 3:23pm Sunday 13th March 2016 by Anthony Marris
Tinder is a matching (dating) service which utilises geolocating software and your Facebook profile to help make lasting connections. And by lasting connections, I mean as long as they “last”. Public opinion on Tinder is varied. A straw poll I conducted had mixed results. Some Read more...
Spotlight
Posted 3:15pm Sunday 13th March 2016 by Critic
Rating: A When reviewing a film with an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture there is a certain level of pressure to give it a positive review. After all, you can’t really give an Oscar winning filming a bad review, right? And yet the highest praise that can be given to the Read more...
Brooklyn
Posted 3:10pm Sunday 13th March 2016 by John Crowley
Rating: B+ Walking into this particular cinema screening, I carried with me a genuine lack of preconceptions and expectations around Brooklyn, a period drama centred around the experiences of a twenty-something Irish girl Eilis Lacey. And while the movie was largely enjoyable and engaging Read more...
Happy Gilmore
Posted 3:06pm Sunday 13th March 2016 by Jessica Thompson
Rating: C After reviewing a fantastic film last week, my standards had been set fairly high. So when my boyfriend told me with glee this movie was “crack up” I nestled down with an early Easter egg and considered this “sports comedy” as I consider French snails, cave Read more...
Room
Posted 3:03pm Sunday 13th March 2016 by Lisa Blakie
Rating: A- Adapted from the novel written by Emma Donoghue, Room was in the running for four Oscar categories this year. Brie Larson gives an incredible performance as Joy, a young woman who is kidnapped when she is 17 years old, and taken prisoner by a disturbed predator only known to the Read more...
Jeffrey Harris: Renaissance Days
Posted 2:51pm Sunday 13th March 2016 by Monique Hodgkinson
If you’re into the eerie, the creepy and the vaguely disturbing, the Dunedin Public Art Gallery’s latest exhibition may be right up your artistic alley. Jeffrey Harris: Renaissance Days ticks all of those boxes, while providing a vibrant snapshot into the work of one of New Read more...
Dead of Winter
Posted 2:48pm Sunday 13th March 2016 by Campbell Calverley
The theme is the most overlooked aspect of any board game. When all of the game’s events, actions and individual components come together as parts of a cohesive whole, your response to the game as a player is similar to that of the characters you are playing as. Theming is hard to attain and Read more...
Sleater-Kinney: Live At The Powerstation
Posted 2:43pm Sunday 13th March 2016 by Millicent Lovelock
When Sleater-Kinney made their way onto the stage and launched into the opening riff of “Price Tag” (the opening track off the 2015 album No Cities to Love) my breath was caught, part way between a scream and a strangled sob. I found myself crumpling, my bottom lip trembling and my face Read more...
Hunger Makes Me A Modern Girl
Posted 2:41pm Sunday 13th March 2016 by Lucy Hunter
I only wanted one thing on tour: to slam my hand in a door and break my fingers. Then I would go home.” The opening line of Sleater-Kinney guitarist and singer Carrie Brownstein’s autobiography smashes you into the tedium and discomfort involved in touring in a cramped car with a band, Read more...
Exposed Worlds
Posted 2:31pm Sunday 6th March 2016 by Monique Hodgkinson
To kick start your artistic side for 2016, head to Exploded Worlds at the Dunedin Public Art Gallery. This exhibition is a kaleidoscope of vivid colour, contrasting canvases, and mixed-up mediums. Offering an ‘exploded view’ of art, the gallery combines works of drastically differing Read more...
G.L.O.S.S. Girls Living Outside Society’s Shit
Posted 2:22pm Sunday 6th March 2016 by Millicent Lovelock
I was initially tempted to describe G.L.O.S.S.’s debut EP Girls Living Outside Society’s Shit as feeling like a punch to the gut, but I was wrong, it’s a whole lot more like throwing a punch with all your weight behind it. This EP makes my heart race and my palms itch. It is walls Read more...
Bloodborne: The Old Hunters
Posted 2:17pm Sunday 6th March 2016 by Campbell Calverley
Rating: A+ Bloodbourne was released in March of 2015, and I realised that it was the best game that I would play for a long time. Its bloody Gothic aesthetic and notorious difficulty made it both an excellent action-adventure game and a scary survival horror game. The Kafkaesque plot involves a Read more...
Dad's Army
Posted 2:09pm Sunday 6th March 2016 by Halaevalu Maka
Rating: C+ Dad's Army is the cinematic outcome of Britain’s famous 1970’s sitcom. Directed by Oliver Parker, and set in 1944, in the midst of the Second World War, it follows the Walmington-on-sea platoon in their daily lives as home guards within their town. The film Read more...
Concussion
Posted 2:03pm Sunday 6th March 2016 by Alex Campbell-Hunt
Rating: B This movie seemed very promising. Just like its contemporary Spotlight, it tells an important, recent true story about a powerful organization covering up wrongdoings, following the individuals who attempt to expose the truth. Concussion isn’t a catastrophic failure, but somehow Read more...
Steve Jobs
Posted 1:59pm Sunday 6th March 2016 by Lucy Hunter
Rating: C+ We didn’t need another film about Steve Jobs. This latest work shows us behind the scenes of the digital revolution, where we see the man at its epicentre, the late Steve Jobs, portrayed by Michael Fassbender. The film’s plot unfolds backstage at three iconic product Read more...
Deadpool
Posted 1:54pm Sunday 6th March 2016 by Lisa Blakie
Rating: A- Wade Wilson (aka Deadpool), is the newest addition to the slew of superheroes in the Marvel cinematic universe. Played exceptionally well by Ryan Reynolds, Deadpool is all about sex, hefty violence, and Wham! This is not a Disney Marvel film (Avengers, Iron Man, Thor etc), it is Read more...
Why Do We Need…Streaming Sites?
Posted 1:32pm Sunday 6th March 2016 by Anthony Marris
Streaming sites like couchtuner, watchseries, putlocker and xhamster are what the world wide web was built for – the freedom of information and sharing of ideas. This sharing of information and knowledge helps to inspire the next generations. Star Trek forecast the invention of the Read more...
Bulgur Wheat & Avocado Salad
Posted 1:25pm Sunday 6th March 2016 by Kirsten Garcia
If you’re looking to step up your salad game, but are lazy as f like myself - this week’s star ingredient is for you. Bulgur Wheat is like couscous’ sophisticated older cousin. It’s more wholesome so I find using it in meals makes you feel more healthy and like your life Read more...
The Passage
Posted 1:05pm Sunday 6th March 2016 by Anne Oosthuizen
Hunger Games, Maze Runner, The Martian, Interstellar, World War Z. . . Dystopian and post-apocalyptic chronicles are hot! The Passage by Justin Cronin – book one in a trilogy soon to be transported to the big screen to join its blockbuster predecessors – fits right in with the rest. In Read more...
Mango Sticky Rice (Khao Niao Ma-muang)
Posted 1:38pm Sunday 28th February 2016 by Kirsten Garcia
This week we have a Thailand delicacy. I took a cooking class while I was there this summer so I’ll probably share a few of the curries and noodle dishes I learned (Pad Thai anyone?). Since I am the kind of person that doesn’t mind having dessert first, let’s start off with this Read more...
The Beginners Guide
Posted 1:27pm Sunday 28th February 2016 by Campbell Calverley
Rating: 4/5 Far from being a digital introductory handbook for any new students, The Beginner’s Guide is hard to describe. That is not surprising, given that it is from the creators of the excellent Stanley Parable, a sadomasochistic journey into unreliable narration. The Beginner’s Read more...
Suffragette
Posted 1:22pm Sunday 28th February 2016 by Jessica Thompson
Rating: B I had high hopes for this film after watching the trailer. With a respectable cast, a female director, female writer and killer trailer music, who could blame me? Despite this, I was determined to enter the cinema with a completely blank mind then exit with an unbiased and logical Read more...
The Hateful Eight
Posted 1:19pm Sunday 28th February 2016 by Basti Menkes
Rating: B Over the course of his career, Quentin Tarantino has dabbled in an eclectic mix of styles. He’s done a crime thriller that functions as a stage play (Reservoir Dogs), martial art revenge flicks (Kill Bill 1 & 2), an alternate-history war movie (Inglourious Basterds), and Read more...
Kings Of The Gym
Posted 1:17pm Sunday 28th February 2016 by Nita Sullivan
Rating: B- For a long overdue and largely enjoyable foray back into local theatre, I went along to the opening night of Kings of the Gym, written by Dave Armstrong. A comedy product of the Fortune Theatre, the play is centred on the Phys-Ed department of a low decile South Auckland School. The Read more...
Caro
Posted 1:14pm Sunday 28th February 2016 by Andrew Kwiatkowski
Rating: B- After viewing this film, one is left with bruises from being bashed over the head with the themes. Carol is an adaptation of the novel The Price of Salt, which follows two women falling in love in 1950s USA. The social norms of that time and place, of course, do not permit Read more...
Blue Oyster Gallery
Posted 12:58pm Sunday 28th February 2016 by Chloe Geoghegan
Most of the time, the Blue Oyster Gallery is quiet, almost too quiet. My shoes, my squeaky office chair, the phone, the stapler, and my keyboard form the percussion section of an administrative orchestra that intermittently plays through the quiet gallery spaces, a new verse every minute from 11am Read more...
Objectivity & Positivity
Posted 12:52pm Sunday 28th February 2016 by Millicent Lovelock
Music writing is fraught. For the past four years of my life I have studied English Literature, and I understand all too well that often, to write with clarity and objectivity, there needs to be, in the mind of the critic, a clear distinction between author and text. I also understand that sometimes Read more...
Why Do We Need…Revolution 4.0?
Posted 12:48pm Sunday 28th February 2016 by Anthony Marris
Revolution 4.0 (which I will call Rev4.0) is the ménage a trois that connects robotics, the internet we use for shopping, streaming etc, and cloud computing. The aim of Rev4.0 is to create “smart factories”, a more intelligent (read efficient) means to manufacture Read more...
Down the Rabbit Hole
Posted 12:37pm Sunday 28th February 2016 by Hayleigh Clarkson
For those of you like me who spent their teenage years in the early 2000s, you will already be familiar with the pop-culture take over that was Playboy. Ranging from bedspreads, jewellery and temporary tattoos through to the popular hit TV show The Girls Next Door, Playboy took over every teenaged Read more...
Disclosure - Caracal
Posted 3:20pm Sunday 4th October 2015 by Veronika Bell
Rating: 2/5 After the announcement of Disclosure’s new album, I was beyond excited. I felt like Christmas was just around the corner. I was ready to be blown away. Instead, the experience was much like Santa forgetting about me. Miserable. With the amount of hype that surrounded the album, Read more...
Theatre: Time Stands Still
Posted 3:12pm Sunday 4th October 2015 by Shaun Swain
Rating: 4/5 "When you’re looking down that lens, time comes to a stop.” We all try, in one way or another, to capture some aspect of life and keep it forever; sometimes to preserve it, sometimes to just let it go. Lara Macgregor’s rendition of Time Stands Still, written Read more...
Everest
Posted 3:07pm Sunday 4th October 2015 by Nita Sullivan
Rating: 4/5 This film depicts the real events of a Kiwi company, Adventure Consultants, and its disastrous expedition to Mount Everest. Based on Rob Hall’s 1996 trip, Everest follows Rob (Jason Clarke) as he leads eight climbers through Nepal towards the highest peak on earth. Read more...
Sicario
Posted 3:05pm Sunday 4th October 2015 by Maya Dodd
Rating: 4/5 Sicario follows FBI agent, Kate Macer (Emily Blunt), as she enters into the CIA’s secretive world. The agency has been trying to shut down the Mexican drug cartel that governs the border between the USA and Mexico. As a drug taskforce agent, Kate has dealt with many domestic Read more...
Tangerine
Posted 3:03pm Sunday 4th October 2015 by Greta Melvin
Rating: 3/5 Having seen my fair share of short iPhone-made videos, I was sceptical about how high the cinematic quality of an entire film would be. Baker’s use of an iPhone aptly reflects the fast-paced movements of the characters and the dialogue, making for a dynamic experience. But while Read more...
Big Pharma
Posted 2:58pm Sunday 4th October 2015 by Carl Dingwall
Rating: 4/5 In an industry where saving people can make you a tidy profit, there have been many accusations of putting money before people’s lives. The Big Pharma conspiracy has always been a scary idea, and it isn’t helped by recent examples of corporations hiking up prices of Read more...