Archive

She Walks in Beauty

Posted 7:09am Thursday 14th April 2011 by Jen Aitken

Created by and staring Maya Turei and Bronwyn Wallace (4.5/5) Two girls enter into a relationship with each other. One is bisexual, the other a religious heterosexual. But love is love and they have it for each other, so what do you do?   The staging for this piece was simple but Read more...

Lonely Hearts

Posted 7:07am Thursday 14th April 2011 by Jen Aitken

Created by Luke Agnew, Staring Martyn Roberts and Audrey Morgan, (4/5). Lonely Hearts took the modern day activity of chatting online and revealed, hilariously, the reality behind a chat between a 17 year old schoolgirl and a “19” year old boy (aka a 43 year old man who lives with Read more...

Forty Hour Theatre

Posted 7:02am Thursday 14th April 2011 by Jen Aitken

This week’s Lunchtime Theatre marked the birth of what will hopefully become an Allen Hall Theatre tradition; the Forty Hour Theatre competition. Submissions and proposals were called for and two winners were chosen; their challenge was to make a 15-20 minute piece of theatre in only forty hours! Read more...

Panda Bear - Tomboy

Posted 6:38am Thursday 14th April 2011 by Sam Valentine

Over the last decade Panda Bear has made quite the name for himself in the independent music scene. Between his work with Animal Collective and his solo albums Young Prayer (2004) and the critically acclaimed Person Person Pitch (2007), he has covered pop, noise, ambient and everything in between. Read more...

Bass Drum of Death – GB City

Posted 6:37am Thursday 14th April 2011 by Sam Valentine

In the running for both the best and worst band name of all time, Mississippi two-piece Bass Drum of Death (BDOD) fuse garage and pop in a haze of stoned energetic brilliance on their debut album GB City. Fitting both the musical and social aesthetics of the current American garage revival Read more...

Burial – Street Halo

Posted 6:35am Thursday 14th April 2011 by Eddie Johnston

Last month Burial, Four Tet and Thom Yorke released their incredible collaboration and, to be honest, I thought nothing would beat it in 2011. But a few weeks ago it was announced that Burial would be releasing new material and, lo and behold, I was proven wrong! The new 12” Street Halo (or Read more...

Dino Run

Posted 6:31am Thursday 14th April 2011 by Toby Hills

Platforms: MAC, PC, LINUX (3/5). Subtitled “Escape Extinction”, here is a short list of the paleontological inaccuracies in Dino Run: #1 Contrary to the lush pasture Pixeljam has created, there was no grass in the late Cretaceous period. #2 tyrannosaurus rex and triceratops were not Read more...

Cult Classic - Planescape: Torment

Posted 6:29am Thursday 14th April 2011 by Toby Hills

Platform: LINUX (5/5). The Nameless One's golden armour is not inexplicably polished to a mirrored-sheen. He does not ride into battle on a small but plucky caramel-coloured mare, trading blows with troll-bandits to heroically save the spice-merchant. He certainly does not go on rodent-killing Read more...

Moroccan Carrot Soup

Posted 6:27am Thursday 14th April 2011 by by Ines Shennan

There is nothing greater than soup. Okay, a bold claim perhaps, but soup on a dismal grey Dunedin evening in our “character-rich” but ultimately freezing flat is pretty satisfying. A favoured technique to increase our core body temperature is to lock ourselves in the kitchen (which is also our Read more...

Reefer Madness (1936)

Posted 6:25am Thursday 14th April 2011 by Ben Blakely

Directed by Louis Gasnier. Starring: Dorothy Short, Kenneth Craig, Lillian Miles, Dave O’Brien, Thelma White. A green menace is silently attacking the youth of 1930’s America. It’s name…marihuana! Yes, it was a different world back then. You could spell marihuana with an h Read more...

Battle: Los Angeles

Posted 6:22am Thursday 14th April 2011 by Tom Ainge-Roy

Directed by Jonathan Liebesman. (2/5). It’s a challenge to fit the many cinematic faux pas and clichés that Battle: Los Angeles exhibits into 350 words, but I’ll give it my best shot…with a vengeance.     Battle: Los Angeles tells the story of a Read more...

Red Riding Hood

Posted 6:20am Thursday 14th April 2011 by Zane Pocock

Directed by Catherine Hardwicke. (1/5). This movie provides the perfect platform on which to rant about everything Hollywood. It's hard to believe this piece of shit was directed by the same person who gave birth to Lords Of Dogtown, but her more recent disaster (yup, Twilight) is a much more Read more...

The Names of Love

Posted 6:19am Thursday 14th April 2011 by Lauren Enright

Directed by Michel Leclerc. (2.5/5). The Names of Love (Le Nom des Gens) is a story of how people can bridge opposite sides of the political spectrum through human relationships. Sara Forestier plays Baya, a French girl with an Algerian father. She was brought up by her mother to have left wing Read more...

Gaiety at the House of G and a bit of Lonely love

Posted 5:50am Thursday 14th April 2011 by Mahoney Turnbull

‘Twas Wednesday the 6th and iD Fashion Week was truly in full swing.   As part of the Starlight Shopping, a regular feature of iD week, various shops released some sweet deals for locals to delight in. The iD theme for the House of G (aka Glassons) was presumably “woodland Read more...

Blood Safari

Posted 5:37am Thursday 14th April 2011 by Ilka Fedor

Author: Deon Meyer. Publisher: Hodder Paperbacks (2.5/5) Deon Meyer is apparently “the best crime writer in South Africa” according to the review on the back of this book.  Set in the “lowveld” near Kruger National Park in South Africa, Blood Safari is Read more...

The Yiddish Policemen’s Union

Posted 5:35am Thursday 14th April 2011 by Leah Hamilton

Author: Michael Chabon. Publisher: Fourth Estate (4/5) The Yiddish Policemen's Union is a great tongue-in-cheek book about two homicide detectives who set out to solve a rather interesting murder. Meyer Landsman, homicide detective #1, is a recently divorced, scrawny alcoholic who doesn't sleep. Read more...

April Fools Day:

Posted 5:32am Thursday 14th April 2011 by Hana Aoake

Resident artists, Dowling St project After walking up such an enormous staircase, excited about what lay inside, I found myself leaving filled with disappointment. Gazing across any group show rarely makes me feel as though I have just been defibrillated. However, upon leaving I had barely any Read more...

The Most Massive Woman Wins

Posted 4:24am Monday 11th April 2011 by Ben Blakely

Written by Madeline George, Directed by Charlotte Waalkens. Starring: Rina Cohen, Miriam Noonan, Victoria Bernard and Tarn Felton (2.5/5). Four women have decided to take the plunge and get liposuction. The goal for all is obvious – get rid of the fat. Each woman tells us how they have Read more...

A Model Millionaire

Posted 4:22am Monday 11th April 2011 by Jen Aitken

Written by Oscar Wilde, Adapted for the stage and directed by Vickie Cross. Starring Trubie-Dylan Smith, Samuel Irwin , Kathryn Hurst, Abby Howells, Hannah Port and Lyndon Katene. (4/5) This adaptation of Wilde’s short story was imaginative, thoughtful and very quaint. It was a joy to Read more...

They are a pop band

Posted 3:47am Monday 11th April 2011 by Henry Feltham

The fourth Lines of Flight show was the last event of the Fringe Festival. The avant-garde hate it when you’re early, so I arrived during Pumice’s set, which was tinkly and disjointed, then paid vague attention to Rosy Parlane’s laptop soundscapes, while engaged in the more urgent task of getting Read more...

Bassnectar

Posted 3:44am Monday 11th April 2011 by Lisa McGonigle

March 24, 2011. Sammy’s. Sometimes, for no identifiable or discernible cause, a night just doesn’t come together. To employ a perhaps cloyingly Forrest Gump-esque analogy, it’s like making bread. You might follow the same recipe each time, but sometimes the loaf comes out Read more...

Bassnectar

Posted 3:44am Monday 11th April 2011 by Lisa McGonigle

March 24, 2011. Sammy’s. <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:"Times New Roman Italic"; panose-1:2 2 5 3 5 4 5 9 3 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;} @font-face {font-family:"?????? Pro W3"; Read more...

Dinner Date

Posted 2:34am Thursday 7th April 2011 by Toby Hills

Platform: PC (2/5). In Dinner Date’s unnecessary tutorial, Stout Games tries to make it clear that your interactivity in the game is somewhat limited. Big text banners crowning the screen read “In Dinner Date you do not play as yourself”, “Nor do you play as the main Read more...

Gnocchi comes to the Deep South; Finally.

Posted 2:29am Thursday 7th April 2011 by Niki Lomax

It appears I may have been living under a very large antipodean rock my whole life. On a recent trip to Melbourne, it was suggested by my fabulously food-wise Melbournian friend that we go out for some gnocchi. I stared at her quizzically and replied, “what, is that Japanese or something?” Her Read more...

Cafe Review - Lex’s Espresso

Posted 2:26am Thursday 7th April 2011 by Pippa Schaffler

Inside the Union Building, in the foyer of Union Hall. (3/5). Location: Inside the Union Building, in the foyer of Union Hall.   Prices: Flat White: $4.00, Mocha: $4.00, Long Black – not offered.   Why I came here: Was in the Link and felt too lazy to leave the building Read more...

My Wedding and Other Secrets

Posted 3:45am Tuesday 5th April 2011 by Nicole Muriel

Directed by Roseanne Liang. (3.5/5). Chinese New Zealander Emily (Michelle Ang) is a disappointment to her family. Ignoring her parents’ ambitions for her career as a doctor, she's enrolled herself in film-making school. Things get really bad when she falls for the man of her dreams, James Read more...

Limitless

Posted 3:43am Tuesday 5th April 2011 by Loulou Callister-Baker

Directed by Neil Burger. (3/5). Limitless is another action/techno-thriller packed burger on the McFilm production line which director Neil Burger (get out!) was managing with his clipboard while dressed in his cute McFilm uniform. “What is in this McFilm burger?” you ask, looking at Read more...

Get Low

Posted 3:40am Tuesday 5th April 2011 by Tom Ainge-Roy

Directed by Aaron Schneider. (3/5). I would have to describe this film as a pleasurable stroll in the woods; uneventful, but you’re glad you went along anyway. The performances are honest and calmly understated and while the script and story could use some work, the cinematography and acting Read more...

Certified Copy

Posted 3:38am Tuesday 5th April 2011 by Zane Pocock

Directed by JAbbas Kiarostami. (4/5). French films are always quite beautiful and this one is no exception, with a stunning performance by Juliette Binoche which won her the Best Actress award at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival. The emotion on her face makes you giggle then vaults you into the Read more...

Pink Flamingos (1972)

Posted 3:36am Tuesday 5th April 2011 by Ben Blakely

Directed by John Waters. Starring: Divine, David Lochary, Mink Stole, Mary Vivian Pearce, Edith Massey, and Danny Mills. A movie based on a battle for the ‘Filthiest Person Alive’ is bound to push the boundaries of cinematic taste; this film is not suitable for those weak of stomach or Read more...

Urgent Competition Update

Posted 5:30am Monday 4th April 2011 by Mahoney Turnbull

Now, just to clarify, the beautiful Madame Hawke journal giveaway was not a hoax. It is as real as ever. And you can of course get your hands on a copy by sending in a little piece of fashion literature, a snippet of your style thoughts on anything you like! Unleash some serious love/hate/utter Read more...

International names set for Dunedin Fashion Week

Posted 5:18am Monday 4th April 2011 by Mahoney Turnbull

In case you’re not completely up with the iD goss, Akira Isogawa is an outstanding designer, hailing from Oz, who will be making an appearance as an international guest designer at iD Fashion Week. Hoorah! But that’s not all. Mr Stefano Sopelza will also be gracing Dunedin with his sultry Read more...

Day Walks of New Zealand – Canterbury and Kaikoura

Posted 4:34am Monday 4th April 2011 by Stefan Fairweather

Author: Mark Pickering. Publisher: Penguin (3/5) Most New Zealanders take it as a given, if not a birthright, the access we have in this country to a plethora of walks (aka tramps for the newbie foreign students reading this). But it would be interesting to ask somebody, say in Read more...

Master of Reality

Posted 4:31am Monday 4th April 2011 by Johnny Panadol

Author: John Darnielle. (4/5) Master of Reality is part of the long-running 33 1/3 series, in which each new entry is written by a different author about classic album of their choosing. John Darnielle has written his tribute to the Black Sabbath album in the form of a diary kept by a sixteen-year Read more...

Art and Fashion

Posted 4:23am Monday 4th April 2011 by Hana Aoake

Historically speaking, art and fashion vastly overlap and often seamlessly influence each other. What initially comes to mind is Manet’s portraits of fashionable Parisian life in the late nineteenth century, Salvador Dali’s extensive collaborations with fashion designer Elsa Schiaparelli, Andy Read more...

Hullapolloi

Posted 2:49am Tuesday 29th March 2011 by Jen Aitken

Footnote Dance Company (Wellington), 5/5. This beautiful and unsettling collaboration between Footnote Dance Company, Jo Randerson and Kate McIntosh dissected the child-like and self-conscious dynamics of a group. The figures, covered from head-to-toe in different coloured lycra bodysuits, Read more...

Once Was

Posted 2:45am Tuesday 29th March 2011 by Lauren Enright

The Theatre As Is (Dunedin). By Jimmy Currin and Dell McLeod assisted by Richard Huber, 3.5/5. Once Was is presented in a cosy upstairs space, with chairs or couches as seating options. The stage space has the lighting exposed and is bare except for one chair and two layers of mesh that is hung to Read more...

Mates and Lovers

Posted 2:43am Tuesday 29th March 2011 by Jen Aitken

Fabulous Arts Aotearoa (Wellington). Directed and written by Ronald Trifero, 4/5. Mates and Lovers (inspired by the book Mates and Lovers: A History of Gay New Zealand by Chris Brickell, a lecturer in Gender Studies at the University of Otago), invites us to ponder how the past speaks to the Read more...

Love You Approximately

Posted 2:42am Tuesday 29th March 2011 by Maya Turei

The Clinic (Christchurch), 3/5. Love You Approximately (with the really cute tagline “a virtual love story”) was all about long distance relationships. The play consisted of two characters using Skype, Facebook and phone calls to grow and nurture their budding relationship. Pere Read more...

The Upbeats Live with Jess Chambers

Posted 1:35am Tuesday 29th March 2011 by Callum Valentine

March 19th 2011, Urban Factory Within the annals of drum and bass, the Upbeats have carved out their own niche. A curious mix of everything from neurofunk to dubstep, the pair often defy expectations. From their initial success in 2004 with their self-titled debut recording, they have progressed Read more...

Idiot Prayer

Posted 1:33am Tuesday 29th March 2011 by Sam Valentine

After only a short year of existence, Dunedin trio Idiot Prayer are set to add their considerable sonic weight to the cities musical landscape. Comprising effortlessly punishing drummer Sam Brookland, bassman David ‘Local’ Ager and vocalist/frontman Tim ‘Tiddy’ Smith, the group’s boundary pushing, Read more...

Atom Zombie Smasher

Posted 1:28am Tuesday 29th March 2011 by Toby Hills

Platforms: PC, OSX, LINUX. (4/5). You can't help it; the gut reaction to guts being forcibly removed by a stumbling horde of on-screen undead will always be “what would I do in this situation?” Atom Zombie Smasher lets you answer that question, not as an individual deciding between Read more...

Potluck Desserts

Posted 1:25am Tuesday 29th March 2011 by Niki Lomax

Potlucks are invariably a good time. Booze, banter and fuckloads of food. Sometimes, however, figuring out what to contribute can be a tricky business - what will impress and be delicious, yet also be quick and not extravagant? In an attempt to solve this dilemma, here are a couple of suggestions Read more...

Unknown

Posted 5:10am Monday 28th March 2011 by Matt Chapman

Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra. (4/5). Jaume Collet-Serra's action-thriller Unknown is similar in feel to Pierre Morel's 2008 film, Taken, except with a great deal more mystery thrown in. Liam Neeson stars as Martin Harris, who, after being involved in a freak accident, wakes up from a coma to Read more...

Tamara Drewe

Posted 5:08am Monday 28th March 2011 by Maya Turei

Directed by Stephen Frears. (3/5). Tamara Drewe is pretty sweet. The story seems predictable, but then leads you on until you think it's all sussed before surprising you with something totally unpredictable. It is wonderfully silly and heart-warmingly sickening in the best possible way. Read more...

Never Let Me Go

Posted 5:06am Monday 28th March 2011 by Lauren Hayes

Directed by Mark Romanek. (5/5). It may look like an ordinary British romance, but don't let this fool you; Never Let Me Go is a film about clones. Based on the novel by Kazuo Ishiguro, Never Let Me Go unfolds in a world that seems familiar but isn't quite our own. The human race is living Read more...

Blue Valentine

Posted 5:03am Monday 28th March 2011 by Sarah Baillie

Directed by Derek Cianfrance. (5/5). Blue Valentine documents the heart-breaking story of every married couple’s worst fear: falling out of love. Dean (Ryan Gosling) and Cindy (Michelle Williams) meet when they are young and carefree. Six years on, their marriage is falling apart and they Read more...

Mommie Dearest (1981)

Posted 4:58am Monday 28th March 2011 by Ben Blakely

Directed by Frank Perry. Starring: Faye Dunaway, Mara Hobel, Diana Scarwid. Based on the book of the same name by Christina Crawford, Mommie Dearest depicts the bizarre life of Joan Crawford as her daughter saw it. The film begins with a typical morning for Joan Crawford. After a 4am wake-up Read more...

The Human Mind

Posted 4:11am Monday 28th March 2011 by Sarah Maessen

Author: Robert Winston. Publisher: Bantam Books (4/5) The Human Mind captivates the reader with the characteristically informative, entertaining and fascinating style Robert Winston has become renowned for. The moustachioed presenter of the TV series “The Human Body” this time focuses Read more...

One Day

Posted 4:08am Monday 28th March 2011 by Eve Hermansson

Author: David Nicholls. Publisher: Hodder & Staughton (3/5) The relationship between Dexter Mayhew and Emma Morley begins the way many do in the fine institution we call university: an attempted hook-up following a drunken party. It’s the Eighties, the two have just graduated and the future Read more...

Desi Liversage, Bloodlines and Bloodstains

Posted 4:05am Monday 28th March 2011 by Hana Aoake

Dunedin School of Art. (It’s super close to campus. Another reason to procrastinate!) Desi Liversage uses the medium of textiles to express and expose the darker colonial heritage of South Africa during the second Boer war. This installation was inspired by Liversage’s grandmother’s Read more...

Colleen Altagracia

Posted 4:02am Monday 28th March 2011 by Hana Aoake

The emptiness of full pockets, The Blue Oyster, Tuesday, March 22, 2011. The sombre white walls of the Blue Oyster further added to Altagracia’s performance of The emptiness of full pockets last Tuesday. Performers stood completely still as persons dressed in contamination suits filled their Read more...

The Branch presents Half

Posted 4:01am Monday 28th March 2011 by Hana Aoake

George Street, Friday, March 18, 2011. Dunedin collective The Branch’s one-night-only exhibition/performance Half was a five-star feast for the senses. The Branch is a collective of eight young artists, musicians and filmmakers and this was their third collaborative project. Upon first entry Read more...

Merz & More: A Selection of Sights, Sounds, Films & Trivial Acts

Posted 4:41am Monday 21st March 2011 by Jen Aitken

from Dr Jonathan W. Marshall’s Museum of Bad Taste “Ceci n’est pas une artist”   In Merz and More Dr. Jonathan W. Marshall took us on a guided tour of a computer hard-drive and video and music collection. Presenting a selection of audiovisual and audio recordings Read more...

Rebecca Black – Friday. Single

Posted 4:18am Monday 21st March 2011 by Sam Valentine

IS THIS THE WORST SONG EVER WRITTEN? Thought Justin Bieber was the antichrist? Clearly you’ve haven’t heard thirteen year old Rebecca Black’s latest single “Friday”. Currently a Youtube sensation (topping nine million views to date), Black has taken taste to a new Read more...

Bright Eyes - The People's Key

Posted 4:16am Monday 21st March 2011 by Sam Valentine

“Dear Conor Oberst. You will need more than zany samples to escape the emotional songwriting heartthrob box you have previously been so keen on.” (2/5) Clearly forgetting he announced his wishes to “retire” the Bright Eyes moniker in 2009, and after a small solo detour, the eternal Read more...

Chase & Status - No More Idols

Posted 4:14am Monday 21st March 2011 by Sam Valentine

Drum and Bass heads mainstream. Mixed results. (3/5) Giving its eternal affinity with the singles format, the “dance” album can be an interesting concept. Of course, many crossovers have been made with an elite few artists successfully making the transition from the club to the couch. Read more...

Inside a Star-Filled Sky

Posted 4:12am Monday 21st March 2011 by Toby Hills

Platforms: PC, OSX (4/5) Very few games are “by” one guy. Novels are by an author, songs and paintings by an artist, films are scaffolded by a single-minded vision, i.e; “directed by”. But videogames, feats of virtual engineering, are by necessity often created by Read more...

Chilli Bean Roast

Posted 4:08am Monday 21st March 2011 by Johanna Tonnon

This is a recipe I adapted from one of those Watties recipes from the supermarket. The recipe called for a few basic Watties ingredients, such as baked beans, spinach and Frozen Potato Roasters, plus some eggs. I wanted to add more colour and taste so I swapped the baked beans for chilli beans, the Read more...

Cafe Review - The Museum Cafe

Posted 4:05am Monday 21st March 2011 by Pippa Schaffler

Ground floor of Otago Museum (across road from Central Library) 419 Great King Street. (4/5) Prices: Flat White: $3.60 (or $4.10 for large), Long Black: $3.10, Mocha: $4.10   Atmosphere: Busy and family orientated. There were lots of children running around us screaming and it was a Read more...

Rango

Posted 4:01am Monday 21st March 2011 by Nicole Muriel

Directed by Gore Verbinski. (4/5). Don’t be fooled by the trailer which, emblazoned with star Johnny Depp’s name, sells Rango as a kid’s film with a smart-mouthed hero and lots of laughs.   From the opening scenes, it’s obvious this isn’t as light as Read more...

Hall Pass

Posted 3:59am Monday 21st March 2011 by Hamish Gavin

Directed by Bobby and Peter Farrelly. (3.5/5). Every male in a relationship, everywhere, thinks exactly like the characters of this new movie from the Farrelly Brothers. If given the same chance as the guys in Hall Pass, most men would probably end up doing exactly the same thing. The basic Read more...

Fair Game

Posted 3:58am Monday 21st March 2011 by Alec Dawson

Directed by Doug Liman. (3/5). Living as we do now in the Obama era, with the Iraq war drawing to a close, a film about the lies told in the lead-up to the 2003 invasion feels strangely dated at times. This is especially so outside of America, where most people knew the war was totally unjustified Read more...

Conviction

Posted 3:56am Monday 21st March 2011 by Theo Kay

Directed by Tony Goldwyn. (2.5/5). Conviction tells the true story of one woman’s fight for the release of her brother who has been sentenced to life for a murder he did not commit. The film's clunky conventional storyline steps back and forth in time to build up an account of how Read more...

Killer Condom (Kondom des Grauens) – 1997

Posted 3:53am Monday 21st March 2011 by Ben Blakely

Directed by Martin Walz. Starring: Udo Samel, Marc Richter, Leonard Lansink, Peter Lohmeyer. Something strange is afoot at Hotel Quickie. A professor takes his student to the hotel and blackmails her into sleeping with him; he leaves without his penis. It appears that it has been bitten off by Read more...

A fabulous free journal to lust after

Posted 3:22am Monday 21st March 2011 by Mahoney Turnbull

Emily Miller-Sharma and photographer Guy Coombes worked with Chelsea Metcalf and Chelsie Preston-Crayford to document the interaction between their two personalities. Henrietta Harris submitted illustrations to a verbal brief of “Just paint some beautiful pictures like you do. Some Read more...

Bloodlines

Posted 3:01am Monday 21st March 2011 by Pippa Schäffler

Author: T.K. Roxborogh. Publisher: Penguin Books (3.5/5) “Do not feel guilty that you do not love me like her. Our union will be another story, Fleance. I will be a good wife and an excellent queen”.     With this, the reader of Bloodlines is immediately propelled Read more...

The Bed of Procrustes

Posted 2:59am Monday 21st March 2011 by Kari Schmidt

Author: Nassim Nicholas Taleb. Publisher: Penguin Books (NZ) (3/5) The outer aesthetic appeal of The Bed of Procrustes is equal to that of its content. A short book, charmingly presented (with a classical sculpture adorning its cover), it consists of chapters on various aspects of living Read more...

Fringe Festival

Posted 2:49am Monday 21st March 2011 by Hana Aoake

The eleventh annual Dunedin Fringe festival is on this week and I encourage you to go along and see some of the great locally produced events. Pattern and paradox by Dunedin artist Jenny Longstaff is on at the Blueskin gallery in Waitati. If you have a car or want to jump on a bus (don’t Read more...

Phillip James Frost

Posted 2:47am Monday 21st March 2011 by Hana Aoake

Works on paper, A Gallery. The work of elusive Dunedin artist Phillip James Frost is noted as being tactile and messy, yet retaining a sense of delicacy. His practice involves dispersing and recycling fragments of life and imagined worlds, as well as reincorporating motifs featured in previous Read more...

The Glean

Posted 2:45am Monday 21st March 2011 by Kari Schmidt

Contemporary jewellery and other stuff: Richard Scowen, Kelly O'Shea and Shagpile. None Gallery Upon entering None last Friday night, one encountered a diverse variety of work by The Glean. Kelly O’Shea’s pieces largely consisted of found objects such as stones and branches - a Read more...

The road has no name

Posted 2:09am Tuesday 15th March 2011 by Jen Aitken

Written & directed by Feather Shaw. Staring Luke Agnew, Rachel Foerg and Alex Ross. (3/5). The programme reads; “Enjoy the play, have a laugh”. Done. This was a great way to kick off 2011’s LTT programme. To write and direct a play all by your lonesome is a big task, the Read more...

Dunedin Fringe Festival: FIND YOUR FRINGE!

Posted 2:08am Tuesday 15th March 2011 by Jen Aitken

17-27 March The 2011 Dunedin Fringe Festival has attracted over 50 comedy, music, dance, theatre and visual art acts, including its biggest ever line up of comedy acts! Have you heard of Wilson Dixon? Raybon Kan? Irene Pink? Justine Smith (my personal fav)? Ben Hurley or Steve Wrigley? If you Read more...

Salmonella Dub

Posted 1:24am Tuesday 15th March 2011 by Lisa McGonigle

Urban Factory, March 5 2011. On March 5 Salmonella Dub, those stalwarts of the NZ music scene, played at Urban Factory in a gig which had been postponed from its original February 26 date. Since 1991 Salmonella Dub have been pioneering that fusion of dub, reggae and drum’n’bass Read more...

Elbow – Build a Rocket Boys

Posted 1:20am Tuesday 15th March 2011 by Sam Valentine

Two years after the release of the Mercury Prize-winning The Seldom Seen Kid, British orchestral-guitar four-piece Elbow return to action with Build a Rocket Boys! Once eloquently described as “prog without the solos”, Elbow’s emotionally laden, grandiose formula is evident in full effect here. Read more...

Patrick Stump – Truant Wave EP

Posted 1:19am Tuesday 15th March 2011 by Midge McBryde

Patrick Stump's Truant Wave EP was unexpectedly announced last month and released a mere week later on February 22. It showcases the songs Stump has excluded from his forthcoming album Soul Punk and eases the listener into his fresh synth-pop sound. It’s probably best not to listen to this Read more...

Bulletstorm

Posted 1:13am Tuesday 15th March 2011 by Toby Hills

Platforms: Playstation 3, Xbox 360, PC. (5/5). "In the new video game Bulletstorm, players are rewarded for shooting enemies in the private parts (such as the buttocks).”   My worry is that no matter what I write in this review, no matter how much I ache and strain to Read more...

Filo is Your Friend

Posted 1:09am Tuesday 15th March 2011 by Niki Lomax

Filo is not scary. Filo is your friend. The fear is understandable; I too once considered filo to be a fearful and tricky business. That was before I actually used it and realised how easy it is. SO EASY. I swear. It’s not nearly as time consuming as you might assume, it’s extremely Read more...

The Adjustment Bureau

Posted 1:04am Tuesday 15th March 2011 by Tom Ainge-Roy

Directed by George Nolfi. Starring Matt Damon, Emily Blunt, Anthony Mackie, John Slattery (3/5). If I had left half way through this movie, I probably would have written a favourable review. Regrettably I stayed for its entirety and now I’m duty-bound to tell the truth. A good start with Read more...

I am Number Four

Posted 1:01am Tuesday 15th March 2011 by Loulou Callister-Baker

Directed by D.J. Caruso. Starring Alex Pettyfer, Timothy Olyphant, Dianna Agron. (2/5). I Am Number Four is a teenage sci-fi where Darth Maul-like offspring go to the supermarket, wave at little children in order to look casual (despite the four functioning gills on either side of their Read more...

True Grit

Posted 12:57am Tuesday 15th March 2011 by Ben Speare

Directed by Joel and Ethan Coen. Starring Jeff Bridges, Hailee Steinfeld, Matt Damon. (4/5). On the surface, this is the simple story of 14 year-old Mattie Ross (Hailee Steinfeld) trying to bring her father’s killer to justice. However, as in many westerns, there are deeper undertows Read more...

Sanctum

Posted 12:54am Tuesday 15th March 2011 by Matt Chapman

Directed by Alister Grierson. Starring Richard Roxburgh, Ioan Gruffudd, Rhys Wakefield. 2/5 As an avid scuba diver, I was expecting big things from Alister Grierson's new film, Sanctum. Produced by James Cameron, it looked set to be an action movie of epic proportions; sadly, I was underwhelmed. Read more...

Mad Max

Posted 12:45am Tuesday 15th March 2011 by Ben Blakely

Directed by George Miller. Starring: Mel Gibson, Joanne Samuel, Hugh Keayes-Byrne, Steve Bisley. Long before Mel Gibson went bat-shit crazy, he was the star of this Australian low-budget road tale. Set “a few years from now” in a post-apocalyptic Australian outback, Mad Max follows Max Read more...

Ruby, you wee gem

Posted 4:39am Monday 14th March 2011 by Mahoney Turnbull

352 George St has never looked so pretty. Dunedin’s finest fashion aficionados were all on show last Wednesday night for the official store opening of Ruby Boutique. An intimate affair hosted by the charming double act behind the famed Ruby and Madame Hawk labels, the cute, super-skinny George St Read more...

Barefoot

Posted 4:24am Monday 14th March 2011 by Sarah Maessen

Author: Michelle Holman. Publisher: Harper Collins (2/5) Barefoot is a loose sequel to Michelle Holman’s debut novel Bonkers. She claims that she felt compelled to tell Sherry and Glenn’s story after they featured as more minor characters in their siblings’ story.   Read more...

August

Posted 4:21am Monday 14th March 2011 by Sarah Maessen

Author: Bernard Beckett. Publisher: Text Publishing (4/5) New Zealand author Bernard Beckett’s latest novel is described as a ‘philosophical thriller’. While I’m not sure that it’s quite a thriller, the combined tension of the characters’ back stories and Read more...

The Uninvited

Posted 4:13am Monday 14th March 2011 by Sarah Maessen

Author: Tim Wynne Jones. Publisher: Walker books (3/5) Mimi leaves the stress of the Big Apple for the tranquillity of her father’s house in small-town Canada, only to find that she is not the only one who thought it would be the perfect getaway. It doesn’t take long for Mimi to Read more...

Shaolin Burning

Posted 4:09am Monday 14th March 2011 by Pippa Maessen

Author: Ant Sang. Publisher: Harper Collins (3/5) Shaolin Burning is a graphic novel by the designer of bro’ Town, yet in it Ant Sang has chosen to steer clear of the New Zealand humour typical of this earlier work. Instead he explores kung fu mythology and Chinese legends. Background Read more...

Clare Fleming’s at once we are rootless and harbouring, floating on an inland sea (I am from here)

Posted 3:59am Monday 14th March 2011 by Hana Aoake

Blue Oyster art project space from March 8 To encounter Clare Fleming’s At once we are rootless and harbouring, floating on an inland sea (I am here) is to be immersed in a deeply personal inner landscape. Clare Fleming is an artist based in Dunedin and a Dunedin School of Art BFA graduate. Read more...

Disasteradio with Thundercub

Posted 3:12am Tuesday 8th March 2011 by Sam Valentine

Re:fuel, February 24 2011 After an energetic and engaging performance in the foreign environment of the OUSA balcony during lunch, one-man party machine Luke Rowell, aka Disasteradio, seemed sufficiently excited for the small but passionate Re:fuel audience.   Preceded by current Read more...

Deerhoof – Deerhoof vs. Evil

Posted 3:10am Tuesday 8th March 2011 by Sam Valentine

Remember being a teenager? No one could tell you what to do. You refused to clean your room while screaming Rage Against the Machine lyrics as loudly as you possibly could. This is the sound of Deerhoof’s new album. From the child-adorned cover to the free candy included in the press release (omg Read more...

Gil Scott Heron & Jamie xx – We’re New Here

Posted 3:09am Tuesday 8th March 2011 by Sam Valentine

Following a period of personal and legal trouble over his drug addiction, living jazz-soul legend Gil Scott Heron released his first album of original material in sixteen years with the excellent I’m New Here in 2010. Gaining critical acclaim for its exploration of contemporary electronic music Read more...

The Blocks Cometh

Posted 2:56am Tuesday 8th March 2011 by Toby Hills

It’s a melancholy thing to ruminate on these sub two-dollar iPod touch games, to glimpse a vertical slice of a dystopian world in which we all must eternally run to the right with no respite until we inevitably tumble into the ink. In The Blocks Cometh, you instead jump upwards and because the Read more...

Frittering with courgettes

Posted 2:52am Tuesday 8th March 2011 by Niki Lomax

I saw my breath this morning and I fear that what has been a glorious summer may now be ending. And along with it, the season of cheap and fresh summery produce. Tomatoes! Oh how I will miss your abundance. You really rock my world. Courgettes! Can I still convince the flatties to buy you when Read more...

Café review - Green Acorn Cafe

Posted 2:50am Tuesday 8th March 2011 by Pip Schaffler

72 Albany St (opposite the Central Library). (2/5) Prices: Flat white – $4.50, Long black – $3.50, Mocha - $4.80   Atmosphere: dreary and tired   Service: prompt but we were the only people in the place.   Location: very convenient – opposite the Read more...

Winter’s Bone

Posted 2:47am Tuesday 8th March 2011 by Tom Ainge-Roy

Directed by Debra Granik. 4/5 Winter’s Bone isn’t by any stretch of the imagination a feel-good movie. That said, those of you who can stomach the ceaselessly grey skies, endlessly bleak atmosphere and uncomfortable realism of an American South steeped in meth addiction are in for a Read more...

The King’s Speech

Posted 2:45am Tuesday 8th March 2011 by Sarah Baillie

Directed by Tom Hooper. 5/5 So yeah, The King's Speech won Oscars for Best Picture, Director, Actor and Screenplay at the Academy Awards last week; I guess it deserves a mention in the hallowed pages of Critic. Not just another “historical drama” (a genre which can be boring), the film Read more...

In A Better World

Posted 2:44am Tuesday 8th March 2011 by Nicole Muriel

Directed by Susanne Bier. 4.5/5 Danish drama In a Better World won both the Academy Award and Golden Globe this year for Best Foreign Language Film. With the action divided between small-town Denmark and an African refugee camp, it follows the lives of two children, Christian (William Jøhnk Read more...

Love Birds

Posted 2:39am Tuesday 8th March 2011 by Hamish Gavin

Directed by Paul Murphy. 3/5 Love Birds continues the recent New Zealand trend of lighthearted genre films. Since Sione’s Wedding we’ve had No.2, Boy, Paul Murphy’s Second Hand Wedding and now Love Birds, also directed by Murphy. Starring Rhys Darby and Sally Hawkins, Love Birds Read more...

Harold and Maude - (1971)

Posted 2:36am Tuesday 8th March 2011 by Ben Blakely

Directed by Hal Ashby. Starring: Bud Cort, Ruth Gordon, Vivian Pickles. Harold is a young man, perhaps late teens/early twenties. He enjoys staging suicide attempts and going to funerals. Maude is seventy-nine, she enjoys stealing cars, collecting and making art-works and going to funerals. What a Read more...