Archive

The Rithmatist

Posted 12:53pm Sunday 17th July 2016 by Jack Blair

Remember the magic pencil and evil doodle from Spongebob Squarepants? If that episode had been set in Hogwarts, and there had been a murderer on the loose, then you’d have The Rithmatist. Even though you may not care about the magical benefits of being able to draw a stick figure, you will Read more...

Bossypants

Posted 12:48pm Sunday 17th July 2016 by Hayleigh Clarkson

Tina Fey’s Bossypants delivers everything you hoped it would. Humour, honesty, punchy one-liners and a whole lot of cleverly disguised feminism in the form of flatulent jokes. There is not one single dull page in this book and the jokes just keep rolling.  It is not so much a memoir as Read more...

Lemon & Yoghurt Cake

Posted 12:53pm Sunday 10th July 2016 by Kirsten Garcia

In high school we had cake Fridays and we would eat cake during the last spell of the week. I think we should make that a thing at Uni. This modest recipe has a beautiful pairing of ingredients with a sweet lemon syrup soaked through the sponge of the cake. It’s the kind of slice that’s Read more...

Discordia, Hair, & Bondage

Posted 12:48pm Sunday 10th July 2016 by Lucy Hunter

Spartan, fit-for-purpose separates, uncanny fetishism, and bondage elements make for a bold first step into the industry for this emerging designer. Julia Palm graduated in the top of her class at Otago Polytechnic School of Fashion. Julia is heading to New Zealand Fashion Week in August to take Read more...

Five time sink mobile game apps

Posted 12:43pm Sunday 10th July 2016 by Anonymous Bird

Neko Atsume Rating: A- Neko Atsume is an adorable cat collection game. You start off with a small yard, and you are given some fish. You use this to buy goodies, to deck out your garden with cat food and toys. Leave the app open in the background and do something else. Slowly but surely, cats Read more...

The Bloody Chamber

Posted 12:37pm Sunday 10th July 2016 by Monique Hodgkinson

Take the classic fairy tales you know and love, add a splash of violence, a sprinkling of sex, a healthy dose of feminism, and you’ve got Angela Carter’s The Bloody Chamber. This collection of stories provides a shadowy and provocative exploration of tales such as Snow White and the Read more...

To Rise Again at a Decent Hour

Posted 12:34pm Sunday 10th July 2016 by Hayleigh Clarkson

To Rise Again at a Decent Hour is the ultimate page turner. Winner of the Dylan Thomas Prize as well as being shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, Joshua Ferris writes with fluidity, clarity and with a unique voice unlike any I’ve read before.  The novel settles around Paul Read more...

Skyfall

Posted 12:30pm Sunday 10th July 2016 by Andrew Kwiatkowski

Rating: A+ Skyfall is like one of those optical illusions - do you see a duck or rabbit? In Skyfall, people see what they want to see. Fans of the old school see only betrayal of the core Bond formula, with no gadgets in this film other than “a gun and a radio.” But many, like me, Read more...

The Birds

Posted 12:25pm Sunday 10th July 2016 by Andrew Kwiatkowski

Rating: B+ Ka-KAW!! Hitchcock created this enduring 1963 classic that is still quite scary by today’s standards. The action centres on the Californian town of Bodega Bay, whose residents find themselves being attacked by (spoiler alert) birds. It starts with people only being pecked by a Read more...

The Conjuring 2

Posted 12:23pm Sunday 10th July 2016 by Alex Campbell-Hunt

Rating: B+ The Conjuring 2 is by the same director who made the Insidious movies, so as you’d expect, it scores very high on the shit-my-pants-o-meter. The trailer alone made me lose some sleep, and apparently someone actually died of a heart attack while watching the movie. If you like Read more...

Bad Neighbors 2 — Sorority Rising

Posted 12:19pm Sunday 10th July 2016 by Jessica Thompson

Rating: B+ Let’s call this a progressive comedy for a modern age. Neighbors 2, In the spirit of the first film, opens with tubby wubby Mac (Seth Rogen) and his wife Kelly (Rose Byrne) attempting sex as exhausted parents.  The film begins gross, gets grosser, and ends kinda Read more...

Why do we need…Robotic pets

Posted 12:14pm Sunday 10th July 2016 by Anthony Marris

Humans have always had a relationship with animals. From practical uses, like seeing-eye “dogs,” to the gimmicky, like courier “pigeons”, this constantly developing sector will alter the course of humanity. Robotic pets are, exactly as the name implies, manmade animals (or Read more...

Lawrence Arabia — Absolute Truth Tour

Posted 12:03pm Sunday 10th July 2016 by Lucy Hunter

One of New Zealand’s finest songwriters is coming to Dunedin to play for us at the Maori Hill Coronation Hall on Friday. Lawrence Arabia has won two of New Zealand’s most prestigious music awards: the Taite Music Prize and an APRA Silver Scroll. His fourth album “Absolute Read more...

Gumbo

Posted 12:56pm Sunday 29th May 2016 by Kirsten Garcia

This lil ol’ recipe originates from Louisiana, USA. You may have noticed it in Disney’s Princess and the Frog. It revolves around Tiana’s Dad’s gumbo and I was always curious keen to try it. My first taste of it was actually from Nova. It was hearty and delicious. This cold Read more...

Nine Photographs - Laurence Aberhart

Posted 12:50pm Sunday 29th May 2016 by Robyn Maree Pickens

New Zealand soils are notoriously low in selenium, a mineral that photographer Laurence Aberhart uses (with gold) as a toner when developing his photographs, to create warmth in the shadows. Viewing his photographs in the flesh, one has a sense that these flickers of captured light have been made by Read more...

Uniform

Posted 12:47pm Sunday 29th May 2016 by Jess Taylor

Rocking up fashionably late, as always, to the Blue Oyster Art Project Space on Dowling Street, I am pleased to see the front door flung open invitingly, with small groups of people milling around in the front room. I enter the space where this month’s exhibition opening is unfolding, eager to Read more...

Calling to the Universe - Hex

Posted 12:42pm Sunday 29th May 2016 by Millicent Lovelock

Wellington based Hex are essentially my dream band. The trio recently released their album Calling to the Universe and from my first listen I found myself completely submerged by quicksand vocals and slippery guitars. Hex are Liz Mathews on drums, Kiki Van Newtown on bass, and GG Van Newtown on Read more...

Cradle

Posted 12:39pm Sunday 29th May 2016 by Campbell Calverley

Rating: A- I have been waiting for Cradle to be released for a long time. It is an interesting narrative game that lived up to some of my expectations and fell short of others. It is proof that good writing, a dedicated art style, and a focus on atmosphere can be enough to make a game great. Less Read more...

Go Set A Watchman

Posted 12:37pm Sunday 29th May 2016 by Jessica Thompson

There are some stories that hurt to read. They really can cut you up for a while. Go Set A Watchman is in my top ten on the heartbreak book list for a number of reasons. Written before the famous To Kill a Mockingbird but published as a sequel, it is accepted as being Mockingbird’s first Read more...

Notes to Eternity

Posted 12:33pm Sunday 29th May 2016 by Andrew Kwiatkowski

Rating: A An intensely moving doco about the Palestinian struggle, but also much more than that. When the film begins by interviewing the most vocal members of a pro-Israel protest, you know it isn’t going to pull any punches. It tackles all the difficult issues head-first, with the Read more...