Archive

If You Love Them, Make Them a Playlist

Posted 3:35pm Sunday 4th August 2024 by Ellie Bennett

In first-year, music defined just about everything I experienced – the joy, the heartbreak, the crippling hangovers that had me confined to bed all day chugging electrolytes. Two years later, not much has changed (though I’ve learnt to handle my alcohol better). There’s a song Read more...

Does Ōtepoti Have Pride in its Gender Queer Musicians?

Posted 2:28pm Sunday 4th August 2024 by Jordan Irvine

The Dunedin music scene has been vibrant since the early 1980s. Vibrant, but not diverse. Until the past couple of years, most bands and solo artists have been cis men playing post punk and surf rock. This has led to a lot of gigs in Dunedin full of cis men, either on the bill or in the crowd. So Read more...

The Official Critic Te Ārohi Sex Playlist

Posted 2:21pm Sunday 4th August 2024 by Critic

CRITIC’S BEST SONGS TO HAVE SEX TO: Confidence – Ocean Alley Careless Whisper – George Michael Hungry Eyes – Eric Carmen Just The Two of Us (feat. Bill Withers) – Grover Washington, Jr.  Fly Me To the Moon – Frank Sinatra Kiss Me – Read more...

Quiz: What’s Your Fashion Aesthetic?

Posted 8:53pm Sunday 28th July 2024 by Molly Smith-Soppet

1. Sitting in a lecture, your mind begins to wander. What are you thinking about? When your next Afterpay payment is due   Planning your New Year’s trip If Madeleine McCann’s family did it Whether your degree will get you a job or you’ll be an overqualified Read more...

Camp on Campus

Posted 7:29pm Sunday 28th July 2024 by Jonathan McCabe

The Link is the students' red carpet. For many, the best part of the day is the ten minutes between lectures as you spy students strutting from class to class. We see you. The Critic paparazzi were at large last week, sent on recon to fill us in with the latest and the greatest trends on campus. Read more...

Club Couture: All Docs, No Crocs

Posted 5:30pm Sunday 28th July 2024 by Jordan Irvine

Upon hearing that Critic staff member Sam Soppett was denied from clubs for wearing jandals and had to spend the rest of his night drinking at The Craic (could be worse), I wanted to push the boundaries of Dunedin town’s unspoken dress code. What are the limits, and why? But more importantly: Read more...

10 Ways to Keep Warm this Winter

Posted 4:38pm Saturday 20th July 2024 by Sam Smith-Soppet

The Winter Breatha’s version of a dick-measuring contest is trading war stories of how much the cold weather has fucked us over. But like your dad likes to remind you when showing any discomfort (AKA sign of weakness), “Don’t give me problems, give me answers.” Your mates are Read more...

OUSSC’s Winter Survival Guide

Posted 4:33pm Saturday 20th July 2024 by Otago University Snow Sports Club

Winter is objectively shit in Dunedin. Flats are cold and damp, and icy roads and footpaths do their best to take you out on your walk to the library. Finding your olive oil frozen solid in the flat pantry or the $100 power bill from your flatmate's heaters hardly sparks joy. In a season with Read more...

Pride and Pōhara: Māori cuisine or glorified struggle meals?

Posted 4:23pm Saturday 20th July 2024 by Nā Heeni Koero Te Rerenoa (Sky)

Let’s cut the crap. Aotearoa New Zealand loves to brag about ‘authentic’ Māori cuisine like hāngī, boil-up, fried bread, and steamed pudding. But the uncomfortable truth is: these aren’t traditional, authentic Māori dishes. They’re struggle meals Read more...

The 23rd Annual Critic Fish & Chip Review

Posted 6:11pm Saturday 13th July 2024 by Hugh Askerud

Winter has come, and the fish and chip gods demand justice! If fish and chips are a summer food, then why do they have all the key components of a hearty winter feed? Potatoes, grease, convenience, shame. Perfect for cold days, or cold journalists in dire need of their yearly sacrifice – this Read more...

TV GUIDE: Developmental Years Edition

Posted 8:33pm Sunday 26th May 2024 by Madeline O’Leary

Back when Netflix was just a mail-order DVD service, TV of the 2000s was less about consumer choice, and more about what mass media could be rubbed against your developing retinas.  Picture this. It’s 2007, you’re home sick from school and desperate for entertainment. Windows Read more...

Legitness Jean Fitness

Posted 8:14pm Sunday 26th May 2024 by Jodie Evans

It’s academic weapon season, a time of the year when productivity is key. Everyone’s life is scheduled to the minute in a meticulously planned spreadsheet to the point where a slight deviation is mania-inducing. Like a Te Araroa walker drilling holes in their toothbrush to lighten the Read more...

Campus Blind Items

Posted 7:48pm Sunday 26th May 2024 by Critic

Disclaimer: These blind items have not been verified, and all tea is rumored/alleged ☕ #1 When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, this flighty professor decided he wasn’t so keen on shacking up with his younger postgraduate girlfriend. With only hours before the lockdown rules were enforced, Read more...

Te Rōpū Māori: Te Rito 2024

Posted 11:12pm Sunday 19th May 2024 by Te Rōpū Māori

IZZY  - KAIHĀPAI Kia ora koutou, ko Izzy Rewiri-Wharerau tōku ingoa, he uri ahau nō Ngāpuhi me Ngāti Awa. My role within Te Rito 2024 is Kaihāpai, which is the financial liaison of our rōpu. I was raised in Tūrangi, a small town in the central North Read more...

Split-Screen Slideshows

Posted 11:05pm Sunday 19th May 2024 by Monty O’Rielly

As a reformed TikTok addict (getting in as much as 12 hours a day), I know how difficult it can be to concentrate on lectures after years of having our attention spans fried. Sometimes putting lectures on 2x speed just doesn’t cut it, and our malnourished Zoomer attention spans yearn for even Read more...

The Critic Te Ārohi Guide to Second Hand Stores

Posted 10:43pm Sunday 19th May 2024 by Phoebe Lea

Whether you're a fellow thrifter fresh to Dunedin or a third-year who never leaves North D, this is the guide for you. Critic sent our bona-fide fashionista Phoebe to scour the streets, sift through the racks, and explore every nook and cranny to bring you the inside scoop on the best op shops Read more...

Faux-mosexual: Types of guys who trigger your gaydar on a night out

Posted 10:13pm Sunday 19th May 2024 by Jonathan McCabe

It’s slim pickings for a queer man in 2024. The line between straight and queer is increasingly blurred in a sea of tote bags, good fashion, and “bro time” – it’s hard to discern between a potential connection, and a guy who’s merely Metrosexual (but the Read more...

Critic Vs. Writer’s Block

Posted 4:00pm Saturday 11th May 2024 by Critic

It’s that time of year again: the born-and-bred Southlanders are starting to put on layers, all plans are “soft plans”, and everyone’s trying to get their shit together so badly that they’re ending up constipated. Exams are on the horizon, assignments are piling up and Read more...

Technically Legal: Weird Laws You May Not Have Heard Of

Posted 3:47pm Saturday 11th May 2024 by Adam Stitely

Otago students generally have a pretty laxed view on obeying Big Brother. After spending a few years living in North Dunedin, following the intricacies of the less serious side of the law starts to seem like more of a recommendation than an enforced hard line. Some laws, however, are downright Read more...

Opinion: Why We Need the “Sheatha”

Posted 3:42pm Saturday 11th May 2024 by Sam Garry

With the approach of the 130th Capping Show ‘Beezie’, it got the team at Critic Te Ārohi thinking. Every time we reference the stereotypical Otago student, we reach for the term “breatha”. And for good reason: they’re an easy mark with a well-established culture, Read more...