Archive

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...