Archive
Sedition and the commercialisation of digital art
Posted 4:35pm Sunday 9th March 2014 by Zane Pocock
There’s a new kid on the block for serious art collectors and desktop background enthusiasts alike, and it’s frighteningly addictive. Sedition, which aims to “turn screens into art,” is fast becoming a leader in both the digital art movement and the concept of art editions in general. The idea is Read more...
Interview: Chloe Geoghegan, Director of the Blue Oyster Art Project Space
Posted 4:44pm Sunday 2nd March 2014 by Loulou Callister-Baker
With her first exhibition opening as Director of the Blue Oyster Art Project Space just last Tuesday; Chloe Geoghegan is set to bring an exciting, fresh breath of life to Dunedin’s art scene. Loulou Callister-Baker caught up with Chloe to discuss Oxford, irrigation and Read more...
Modern Baseball - You're Gonna Miss It All
Posted 4:44pm Sunday 2nd March 2014 by Peter McCall
Grade: B + If this record had come out seven years ago, it would’ve been a solid fixture in my CD collection; wedged right between A Lesson in Crime and From Under the Cork Tree. With the angst of emo’s old generation like Sunny Day Real Estate and Built to Spill, and the pop-punk energy of Read more...
St. Vincent - St. Vincent
Posted 4:44pm Sunday 2nd March 2014 by Adrian Ng
Grade: A When an album is self-titled it usually signals an attempt at a self-defining statement. The cover of St. Vincent’s fourth album depicts Annie Clark perched atop a pink throne; deadpan, confident and menacing. With her hair now dyed a blonde-grey and styled in eccentric fashion, she Read more...
Download of the week: Perfect Hair Forever - VOID (NZ)
Posted 4:44pm Sunday 2nd March 2014 by Adrian Ng
Infectious, bedroom pop punk from Auckland. Perfect Hair Forever produce adrenaline pumping, angst-ridden songs, coupled with a lo-fi sheen. Released late last year, VOID is available for free download at crystalmagic.bandcamp.com/album/void Read more...
Artist Profile: Clap Clap Riot
Posted 4:44pm Sunday 2nd March 2014 by Adrian Ng
As part of their four-date New Zealand tour, Auckland based indie-rock band Clap Clap Riot play Chick’s Hotel on 15 March. Stephen Heard and Dave Rowland talk briefly to Adrian Ng about the band’s new album Nobody/Everybody, touring life, and Rock N’ Roll. Did you all come from quite a Read more...
New this week
Posted 4:44pm Sunday 2nd March 2014 by Adrian Ng
For how long exactly is an album, or track, considered new? Keeping up can become quite a time consuming task, though nonetheless a rewarding one. Media is so readily available now; we have the ability to consume at a very high rate. For me, it’s hard to not get carried away on an endless wave of Read more...
Banished
Posted 4:44pm Sunday 2nd March 2014 by Baz Macdonald
Grade: A - It’s not often that you can call a game literary. In my opinion, it has only been in the past generation of games that developers have truly cracked into gaming’s potential to reveal and analyse truths about the human condition. The human condition, of course, is a very broad Read more...
Chipotle Chicken Tacos with Homemade Flour Tortillas
Posted 4:44pm Sunday 2nd March 2014 by Sophie Edmonds
Sometimes I feel like Mexican food is really just an excuse to bring out Corona and tequila. Which isn’t a bad thing, mind you, but while we’re at it, replace the fatty, cheesy Tex-Mex with this vibrant and flavourful, fresh alternative. My favourite dish at the moment is chipotle chicken tacos with Read more...
I, Frankenstein
Posted 4:44pm Sunday 2nd March 2014 by Baz Macdonald
Grade: C A huge number of people work to produce a film. When I watch a film as horrendously written as I, Frankenstein, this is all I can consider. How is it that a huge number of industry professionals worked on this project and, yet, not one person put up their hand and said “Excuse me, I Read more...
Saving Mr. Banks
Posted 4:44pm Sunday 2nd March 2014 by Andrew Kwiatkowski
Grade: A - Exquisite performances and a powerful story make this film a success. You may be familiar with the classic 1964 Disney film Mary Poppins. The 2013 film Saving Mr. Banks invites you to become familiar with the tormented artists responsible for producing such an uplifting and Read more...
12 Years A Slave
Posted 4:44pm Sunday 2nd March 2014 by Tim Lindsay
Grade: A+ “I don’t want to survive. I want to live.” While 12 Years a Slave is expertly (and beautifully) set in 1840s America, it is not a very comfortable film to watch. Steve McQueen’s (Shame and Hunger) film has garnered a raft of Oscar nominations and accolades, a testament to Read more...
Dallas Buyers Club
Posted 4:44pm Sunday 2nd March 2014 by Rosie Howells
Grade: A - Dallas Buyers Club tells the true story of Ron Woodrof, an HIV-positive hillbilly given 30 days to live and with no availability of effective medicines to change his fate. In a desperate attempt to extend his expiry date, and make a little money on the side, Woodrof begins Read more...
Empress Dowager Cixi
Posted 4:44pm Sunday 2nd March 2014 by Bridget Vosburgh
Jung Chang’s Wild Swans, a retelling of her own family’s history through the female line, was (and presumably still is) an eminently readable and fascinating book. With her latest work, Empress Dowager Cixi, she again showcases her gift for retelling great big chunks of history in an accessible and Read more...
When Your Neighbour’s Problems Become Your Own
Posted 4:44pm Sunday 2nd March 2014 by Hannah Collier
The Blue Oyster Art Project Space on Dowling Street - recently re-located, re-furbished and re-directed - is the coolest little gallery I’ve been to in Dunedin. Comfortably minimalistic with its smaller sized rooms, unpolished wooden floors, white walls and warm light, Blue Oyster is the perfect Read more...
Download of the week: Kane Strang (NZ)
Posted 6:57pm Sunday 23rd February 2014 by Adrian Ng
Based in Dunedin, Kane Stang is the city’s resident songwriting genius. When he is not drunkenly stammering in manic rock band Dinosaur Sanctuary, he is writing clever, interestingly crafted, psych-pop songs. Released last year, A Pebble and a Paper Crane is available for free download at Read more...
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...
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