Archive

The Butt-Loving Generation

Posted 9:06pm Thursday 15th March 2018 by Critic

Asses are trending. Belfies are flooding Instagram. Songs like “Anaconda” and “Wiggle” became viral sensations. Brazilian butt lifts increased by 53% in 2013, and women are flooding to the gym to squat their life away. Previously, asking “does this dress make my butt Read more...

Sexy Stitch-Ups : Twelve students reveal their most embarrassing sex stories

Posted 9:03pm Thursday 15th March 2018 by Critic

Courtney “So I had been talking to this guy on Tinder for months and we finally met up. We hung out and I couldn't decide if I liked the text version or the live version better, so we met up a few more times. Cue the awkward ‘I'm very sober, I haven't had sex for a long Read more...

That One Time I Realised It Wasn’t Just a Bad Sex Experience, It Was Assault

Posted 8:59pm Thursday 15th March 2018 by Laura Amy

Not long ago I was sitting down with a friend talking about exes and past flings, which led to sharing sex stories. “Okay,” I asked, “what was the worst sex you’ve had?” He told me about the time he was losing his virginity and the girl’s ex-boyfriend walked Read more...

“I Sold My Underwear Online and Used the Money to Buy Pokémon”

Posted 8:56pm Thursday 15th March 2018 by Caroline Moratti

Matilda* is your typical Instagram art hoe. Never seen without her kanken, her embroidered dungarees and Vincent van Gogh socks, we’ve all seen variations of her around campus. But behind the lens of her yellow Polaroid camera lies a more twisted version of reality. Matilda sold her used Read more...

Sleep Paralysis - it's fucking terrifying

Posted 9:05pm Thursday 8th March 2018 by Maddie Grant

One night when I was 17, I woke up in the middle of the night and I couldn’t move my body. I’m talking about not even being able to open my fucking eyes. So I just lay there, thinking “FUCK FUCK FUCK Am I dead? Am I having a nightmare? Did I somehow break my neck and Read more...

Le Tour de Goon

Posted 6:11pm Thursday 8th March 2018 by Callum Doyle

“Oh shit, watch out!” A cylcist with more confidence than ability had smashed into a girl, and she was lying down, unmoving. “Shit I’m going to be in an ODT article about dead students, aren’t I?” was my only thought as we rushed to her. Luckily, my fears were Read more...

Can Assuming Bogan Characteristics Enhance Performance While Surfing? A Scientific Expedition

Posted 6:02pm Thursday 8th March 2018 by Sam Fraser-Baxter

Hello Zukeen magazine is a Dunedin-based arts and culture publication. It’s silly, sexy and stupid. It’s all about young people doing rad shit. If you enjoy any of the following, chances are you’ll enjoy Hello Zukeen: waves, cool noises, people riding things, art, exceptional Read more...

Ancient Greeks: We Disguised Ourselves as Freshers and Infiltrated the Toga Party.

Posted 6:16pm Saturday 3rd March 2018 by Erin Broughton

‘Otago’ is one letter and a tiny word scramble away from ‘Toga’. Taking this as a prophetic sign, we sent two Critic writers who are way too old for this shit to coat their baggy eyes with foundation, rip up some sheets, and brave the iconic event that is the Toga Read more...

69 Things You Absolutely Should Not Do At University

Posted 6:13pm Saturday 3rd March 2018 by Critic

Don’t do a ‘survey’ for a Christian group; they’re not researching anything, they just want to convert you. And there won’t be any sex. Don’t go to a ‘Landers game in any section but the Zoo: old people are terrible company. Unless they smell like Read more...

Chronicles of Castle: 7 Days of O-Week on NZ’s Biggest Party Street

Posted 6:10pm Saturday 3rd March 2018 by Charlie O’Mannin

As one of the two truly iconic party streets of North Dunedin, Castle is locked in a never ending tussle with Hyde to prove their status as the true home of O-Week. It’s hectic, as parties spill onto the street and combine into a frothing melee of noise, dancing and vomit. We sent a Read more...

Judith Collins: Critic Takes on the Crusher

Posted 4:30pm Saturday 24th February 2018 by Joel MacManus

Judith Collins is a pit bull, with a no-nonsense attitude and a badass nickname to boot. ‘The Crusher’ is a moniker she originally picked up as Justice Minister for her policy of crushing boy racers’ cars, but soon came to represent her entire brand of politics. Among the Read more...

The Tindersurfer

Posted 4:28pm Saturday 24th February 2018 by Chelle Fitzgerald

Tindersurfing: (noun) The act of travelling around the world while finding accommodation only through the app “Tinder”. For 25-year-old Belgian Anthony Botta, “every day is a date”. That’s the slogan of his YouTube channel, Zebotta Official, where he documents his Read more...

Inside Initiations, or How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love the Vom

Posted 4:26pm Saturday 24th February 2018 by Joel MacManus

Initiations; along with rugby at the Zoo, blacking out at Hyde Street, and shamefully hustling a dubious conquest out of your flat, they’re one of North Dunedin’s most time honoured traditions. You gather up whoever is moving into your shitty flat next year, force a few drinks down Read more...

Ta Moko: The Tattoos of a Culture

Posted 12:17pm Sunday 8th October 2017 by Chelle Fitzgerald

Arriving at the Moana Moko studio, I spied my friend Alan lying peacefully on a bed, as tohunga ta moko (tattooist) Stu McDonald worked steadily on Alan’s ta moko (Māori tattoo). The Moray Place studio was spacious and high-ceilinged, with wooden floors and pleasant roots music playing. I Read more...

What is behind New Zealand’s high suicide rate?

Posted 12:02pm Sunday 8th October 2017 by Zahra Shahtahmasebi

Content warning: contains discussion of suicide   Our country has one of the highest suicide rates in the Western world, and the highest youth (15-24 years old) suicide rate in the OECD. The latest suicide statistics, released by the Chief Coroner in late August, showed that the number of Read more...

Smile, You’re on Camera

Posted 11:51am Sunday 8th October 2017 by Jean Balchin

Imagine this: it’s early on a Sunday morning, and the sun is streaming in the window. It’s obnoxiously bright, and rouses you from your slumber; entangled up in a bed that isn’t yours. Who is that person snoring beside you? Where on earth are you? And why does your head hurt so Read more...

Extreme Haunted Houses

Posted 10:53am Saturday 30th September 2017 by Lucy Hunter

“People piss themselves, shit themselves,” says Rory Foley casually as he shows us through the empty prison. Foley delights in terrorising people, for charity. It’s a grim place to walk around. The Dunedin Prison was completed in 1896 and used for over a century until its Read more...

Scarfie in a Strange Land

Posted 10:41am Saturday 30th September 2017 by Isaac Yu

Time is a wheel. Being someone of Korean descent who represents New Zealand on the JET Programme (Japanese Exchange and Teaching meant to improve international relations), living in Japan is a surreal experience. On one hand, their ancestors conquered mine and instituted an oppressive police state Read more...

The History of Initiations at Otago University

Posted 12:33pm Sunday 24th September 2017 by Joel MacManus

With the student ghetto, couch burning, broken bottles and the Hyde St party, it’s easy to villianise modern student behaviour. However, in contrast with their parents, grandparents, and greatgrandparents, students these days are angels. Joel Macmanus reports on the dangerous and disgusting Read more...

An A-Z of people that exist

Posted 11:46am Sunday 24th September 2017 by Chelle Fitzgerald

Awkward Weed Dealer. “How’s it goin mate,” he greets you as he takes you down to the back room that he rents at his brother in law’s house. As you gaze around his room, your eyes are assaulted by the dusty collection of Jack Daniel’s and Jim Beam shot glasses and Read more...

Bang!

Posted 11:43am Sunday 24th September 2017 by Lucy Hunter

When did you last ask your mum about her sex life? Melody Thomas did it on national radio. Bang! is a Radio New Zealand podcast series on sex, sexuality and relationships. Real people tell real stories about their sex lives to producer Melody Thomas. Thomas loves audio storytelling. A lot of Read more...

Go Well, Celia

Posted 12:38pm Sunday 17th September 2017 by Hannah Herchenbach

The first time I saw Celia Mancini was on celluloid. Three years ago, my flatmates and I headed out in the rain to catch a screening of Margaret Gordon’s documentary about the Christchurch band Into the Void at Alice’s, a theatre in the centre of town that holds about 30 Read more...

Rethinking your Drinking

Posted 12:25pm Sunday 17th September 2017 by Zane Pocock

Zane Pocock is a former Critic editor and the COO of Hello Sunday Morning, a charity that develops campaigns and technology to help people change their relationship with alcohol.   In the past year, much has been made of improving behaviour in the student quarter. Couches have enjoyed a Read more...

A Little Bit Danker

Posted 11:51am Sunday 17th September 2017 by Lucy Hunter

Tokerau (Toki) Wilson (Rarotongan) is the co-creator of the genre Māori/Pasifika Goth. Defining Māori/Pasifika Goth was “kind of a joke when we made a video to promote the show. It was just me and Wairehu Grant (Tainui), talking to the camera, asking that question, ‘What is Read more...

What Exactly is Rugby doing to our Brains?

Posted 11:54am Sunday 10th September 2017 by Ben Lorimer

On a rugby field in France, two ex-All Blacks are squaring off against one another. Anthony Tuitavake receives a pass and squares his shoulders as he plunges towards the defensive line. Waiting to meet him, Ma’a Nonu steadies himself and launches into a tackle. The two massive men meet, and Read more...

Why I quit sex

Posted 11:38am Sunday 10th September 2017 by A Scarfie

Everyone loves a good sex story. I seem to have a lot of them. Ever since I lost my virginity at 17, I’ve had a complicated relationship with sex. The complication is that I have a shitload of sex. A different guy every night kinda sex. A threesome with a stripper kind of sex. four people in Read more...

Interview with Laura Borrowdale, editor of Aotearotica

Posted 5:25pm Monday 4th September 2017 by Critic

  This week is the New Zealand Young Writers Festival, a fantastic range of talks and workshops that Dunedin is lucky to host. One of the events is Pleasure and Pain: Writing about Sex and Sexuality. The editor of NZ erotica journal Aotearotica Laura Borrowdale is speaking to Pantograph Read more...

2018 Te Roopū Māori Nominations

Posted 1:17pm Sunday 3rd September 2017 by Critic

Eli Toeke For Tumuaki Tēnā koutou katoa, Ko Eli Toeke toku ingoa. He uri tenei no Ngāti Hine. E tu ana ahau ki te taumata o Tumuaki. After 6 months in the role of Tumuaki, I feel I have more to offer to Te Roopū Māori and have decided to run for the Read more...

Introducing The Executive Nominations for 2018

Posted 12:09pm Sunday 3rd September 2017 by Critic

The nominations for the 2018 OUSA Executive Election have closed. A whole host of candidates have put their name forward to represent you next year. Think about what you want from your Executive, because they play a larger role in your student experience than you think! Please note: The views Read more...

Dunedin’s Landfill and Its Inhabitants

Posted 11:56am Sunday 3rd September 2017 by Basti Müller

It was a slightly rainy Wednesday afternoon, one of the ones that give you a general feeling of desolation and misery. My body was covered in goosebumps. We were going to one of New Zealand’s landfills, and a part of human lifestyle no one really likes to dwell on. Ironically, the dump is Read more...

Parliament TV UNCUT: The Politics Boys

Posted 11:25am Sunday 3rd September 2017 by Mat Clarkson

The boys are back in town... The boys of politics. Not that they ever left, mind you. But with election season in full swing, the fellas are having a much busier time than usual. Just how busy, you ask? Read on, take a peek behind the curtain, and I’ll shed a little light on what’s been Read more...

Mental Health on Campus

Posted 4:25pm Wednesday 30th August 2017 by Sarah Latta

Depression. Anxiety. Suicide. Mental Health.   I developed depression/anxiety at the age of 17. I was uncovering completely new things, like new relationships, and school stress was starting to pile up. In my first year at the University of Otago I started self-harming and having extreme Read more...

“DTF469”: An Open Love Letter to Personalised Plates

Posted 12:00pm Sunday 20th August 2017 by Henessey Griffiths

This month, we commemorate the one-year anniversary of a devastating moment in New Zealand history. On August 1st 2016, the company that specialized in personalised plates plates.co.nz lost its New Zealand Travel Association’s (NZTA) license, shutting down the business. Personalised Read more...

The Fresher PM: Bill English’s First Year at the University of Otago

Posted 11:40am Sunday 20th August 2017 by Joel MacManus

This feature contains reference to extreme racist and homophobic language and behaviour.   It was a culture of hyper-masculinity, heavy drinking, and hard partying. The Critic Editor at the time called it “the business of bigotry,” and said it was marred by homophobia and Read more...

Meet My Monsters

Posted 11:25am Sunday 20th August 2017 by Mel Ansell

Though technically an adult, I can’t shake the thought that there are still monsters living beneath my bed. My childhood bogeymen have multiplied like germs, and now my room is full of beasts with which to come to terms. In the quiet of the night, when I’m almost asleep, something wakes Read more...

Ta Moko, A Revived Artform

Posted 11:41am Sunday 13th August 2017 by Chelle Fitzgerald

Ta moko is the traditional art of Māori tattooing, initially pertained only to the face, legs and buttocks. Contemporary ta moko has expanded its borders to incorporate one’s arms, chest and back - most likely due to the stigma that being tattooed has in modern society. However, in Read more...

Speed Photography with a Storm Chaser

Posted 11:31am Sunday 13th August 2017 by Critic

Trevor started out as a storm chaser - someone who, when they hear a tornado is approaching, runs towards it rather than away. “I probably really started getting into it when I was 15-16. I started chasing with my mom – she would drive me around. It was so fantastic. I was up in Read more...

Esther Maihi and the OUSA Paint + Sip Evening

Posted 11:24am Sunday 13th August 2017 by Critic

The OUSA "Paint + Sip Evening" is an Art Week event where a limited number of lucky people get to drink wine, hang out, listen to music, and paint a picture with artist Esther Maihi. I spoke to Esther about what the evening involves and why she loves doing it. “It’s being Read more...

How To Have A Beer: An Interview with Michael Donaldson

Posted 12:24pm Sunday 6th August 2017 by Joel MacManus

Michael Donaldson is New Zealand’s pre-eminent beer critic, author of two books on New Zealand craft beer, columnist for Fairfax Media, and the chair of judges for the New World Beer & Cider Awards. We sat down with him to discuss how to have a beer, where he got his passion, and why the Read more...

A Wander through the Dunedin Night

Posted 12:16pm Sunday 6th August 2017 by Charlie O’Mannin

I walk through the small sticky red-orange streetlight worlds.   Goth Sloth hails, hanging upside down from his lamp post. “Oi mate, could you point the                  way to the Queen’s boudoir?” All the symbiotic algae Read more...

Flatting in Hell: Abuse in Student Homes

Posted 11:58am Sunday 6th August 2017 by Kirio Birks

“[My flatmates] threw away my dead sister’s necklace.” For Ava* that was normal; her normal. The same was true of her flatmate Beth*. They shared a world in which their house was not a home, not a sanctuary from the outside world, not even a place to eat, shower, or sleep. Both Ava Read more...

Travel Trips From A Jerk

Posted 11:59am Sunday 30th July 2017 by Chelle Fitzgerald

It all starts pretty innocently, over a few loose ones at Starters Bar with a couple of your mates from high school. You happily slur sweet nothings to each other, pointing your beer bottles at each other for emphasis, sealing the bromance with a few rogue splashes on each other’s Leavers Read more...

The Ultimate Rush

Posted 11:49am Sunday 30th July 2017 by Chelle Fitzgerald

When I was thirteen years old in Bali on a family holiday, my dad decided, after a few too many beers, that parasailing on the beach was most definitely too good an opportunity to pass up at just USD$7 a pop. Before I knew it, I was strapped into a rusty old harness to be whisked into the sky, Read more...

Have Degree, Will Travel

Posted 11:41am Sunday 30th July 2017 by Isaac Yu

You’ve made it. After three years subsisting on a diet of Mi Goreng noodles, the cheeky seven-dollar fat bird, and too much caffeine, you’ve proven that you’re ready to take your place in the world with a fancy piece of paper, and a crippling student loan. You’ve had some Read more...

The Winter Blues (SAD)

Posted 12:26pm Sunday 23rd July 2017 by Kenzie Reeves

You’re wrapped up warm in bed in your dimly lit room and the last thing in the world you want to do is get up and start your day. Even if you could muster up the courage, dealing with the dreary, cloudy day and the bitterly harsh bite of winter just doesn’t seem worth it. ‘What Read more...

Diesel or Die

Posted 12:18pm Sunday 23rd July 2017 by Joe Higham

Houses were left open, bodies of the undead lying in the stairways, semi-naked beside the corpses of burnt couches in front gardens, and on barely intact balconies. As the bus slowed, turning to pull in behind a Toyota Starlet that had its front windows smashed and “Sink it Cunt” Read more...

Immune to the Truth

Posted 11:51am Sunday 23rd July 2017 by Lucy Hunter

If you’ve ever taken a vitamin C tablet thinking it will stop you getting a cold, you’ve bought into the myth of immune boosters Go to any pharmacy, supermarket, or health food store in New Zealand and you will be find a sizable section of pills, powders, and potions with labels Read more...

The Phenomenon of Marxist Indoctrination via Memes: A Case Study

Posted 12:47pm Sunday 16th July 2017 by Sinead Gill

Over my life, I have been especially susceptible to many typical ‘phases’. As a child, I was an eager ‘Pot Head’, following the adventures of the golden trio in the Harry Potter series. As a pre-teen, I was content to be babysat after school by the exploits of Disney Channel Read more...

ACTlas Shrugged

Posted 12:34pm Sunday 16th July 2017 by Isaac Yu

When it comes to politics you can never judge a book by its cover and 20-year-old Sam Purchas is a great example why. Standing at a lanky 6 foot 3 and dressed in a bright flowery suit that looks like a Coachella attendee’s LSD fuelled vision of ‘smart casual’, Sam looks more like a Read more...

Parliament TV: Uncut Saturday Edition

Posted 12:11pm Sunday 16th July 2017 by Matson Clark

Our MPs have pretty tough jobs. Representing the dozens of electorates from around New Zealand every single day, whilst hashing out new legislation, is no easy task. That’s why on Saturdays our proud MPs love to kick back and unwind. These are just some of their stories.   Simon Read more...