Archive

Dolphin Wars

Posted 2:15pm Sunday 29th July 2012 by Margot Taylor

They are one of those quintessential creatures that people just love, aren’t they. Dolphins fill crappy children’s movies, decorate our toilet paper, and are used by the New Zealand tourism industry to attract tourists who pay up to $200 for a chance to dive into our icy waters and hopefully swim Read more...

A Long Journey Home

Posted 2:15pm Sunday 29th July 2012 by Michael Neilson

We’ve all been in situations where we don’t feel safe and need to escape. Maybe it was a sober night at Monkey Bar, a slightly-too-ruckus Castle St party, or being confronted by a stranger in a dark alley. I was chased down Arthur Street by a drugged-out lunatic at 2am just last week. But luckily Read more...

An Unnecessarily Clinical and Probably Inaccurate Analysis of New Zealand's Olympic Team

Posted 2:15pm Sunday 29th July 2012 by Gus Gawn

185 New Zealand athletes will compete across 21 sports at the London 2012 Olympics. That's a lot. It puts us in the top 20 nations in the world in terms of numbers competing. Britain will have the most, with 542 athletes competing across all 26 sports. 21 sports is a lot of sports to know Read more...

Prof. Alan Musgrave

Posted 2:15pm Sunday 29th July 2012 by Bella Macdonald

Over 40 years of research and dedication to the University of Otago Philosophy department has paid off for Professor Alan Musgrave after being awarded an Otago University Distinguished Research Medal. The medal is Otago University’s highest research honour. It rewards and recognises outstanding Read more...

The Annual Critic Sex Toy Review

Posted 10:46am Sunday 22nd July 2012 by Anonymous

Personal development guru Tony Robbins is famous for breathlessly rhapsodising to lumpen Wal-Mart shelf-stackers that the fastest route to career success and satisfaction is to find something you love doing, and make it your job. I spend most of my time lying in bed with the curtains drawn jerking Read more...

What is Beauty?

Posted 10:46am Sunday 22nd July 2012 by Katie Kenny

"Beauty is truth, truth beauty, – that is all Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know." - — John Keats, “Ode on a Grecian Urn” You’re likely thinking, quite rightly, “Oh, how typical for Katie to be given a brief on beauty and to employ poetry...” However, before you condemn my Read more...

Te Wiki o Te Reo

Posted 10:46am Sunday 22nd July 2012 by Gianna Leoni

Hei aha te nui, te iti rānei (No matter how big or how small)Indigenous languages are becoming extinct at an alarming rate. In recent months I have been fortunate enough to meet and listen to different indigenous peoples from around the world, which has made me aware of how lucky we are here in Read more...

It is How We're Drinking

Posted 5:14pm Sunday 15th July 2012 by Katie Kenny

Is student drinking really a problem? Aren’t we just young people having a good time, getting a bit loose with our mates, and enjoying ourselves while we still can? Katie Kenny takes a look at the damage that can be caused when we go a bit too far with the booze. According to the Ministry of Read more...

What The Drunk?

Posted 5:14pm Sunday 15th July 2012 by Lauren Wootton

On any given night of the week scarfies and their friends go out to play, and nine times out of ten their sport of choice is drinking. Getting booze is easy, and getting drunk is even easier. But why does alcohol make us feel so good (and then oh-so-bad)? And what is it actually doing to us? Read more...

Beer, Glorious Beer

Posted 5:14pm Sunday 15th July 2012 by Zane Pocock

As someone who’s all too familiar with the epic nights of a student and spent the prior night sinking piss at a work function, going Gonzo for a feature on beer didn’t seem like a great concept, but my trepidation was brief. I had forgotten that real beer need not be associated with slabs of SoGos Read more...

State of The Nation

Posted 5:13pm Sunday 8th July 2012 by Michael Neilson

Before getting started, I must admit that, as a fourth-year Politics student, assessing the National Party’s second term in government for my first feature is like a dream come true. A sad dream (and a confession likely to diminish my chances of getting laid for a while), but a dream Read more...

The Dunedin Dictionary

Posted 5:13pm Sunday 8th July 2012 by Anonymous

The only thing worse than hearing people casually fling around trendy words and phrases you’ve never heard of is realising you’re so out of touch you still use the word “trendy”. Luckily, help is at hand in this blatant Urban Dictionary ripoff, which handily explains a few of the terms you might Read more...

Get (Re)Oriented

Posted 5:13pm Sunday 8th July 2012 by Staff Reporter

OUSA and Radio One have teamed up again to bring you a huge line-up for this year’s Re-Orientation. Here’s what you can hit up over the next week: WednesdayClubs DayClubs and Socs Centre, 10am – 3pm (and it’s FREE!) Clubs Day is back! Head on down to the Clubs and Societies Centre Read more...

Dunedin Through International Eyes

Posted 8:39pm Sunday 3rd June 2012 by Anonymous

I estimate that as I endure my stressful daily routine - sleeping, eating, considering going to lectures, deciding in the negative, sleeping, Facebooking, quick trip to Sav Jap, illegal downloading, sleeping again - I spend about 94.6% of that time thinking about how much I hate Dunedin (the other Read more...

Last Breath Left

Posted 8:39pm Sunday 3rd June 2012 by Zane Pocock

Suicide is an issue that hits close to home for too many New Zealanders. We have the highest suicide rate in the OECD, and an estimated 3% of our population considers suicide every year. Debate rages in the media about how we should approach and treat this problem. Critic's Zane Pocock delves into Read more...

Depression: The Hidden Illness

Posted 8:39pm Sunday 3rd June 2012 by Katie Kenny

Sufferer’s descriptions of the experience of mental illness can be as varied as the individuals themselves. “[I feel] as though I don’t have the right to be depressed”; “like being on the opposite side of a glass wall”; “out of control”; anxious”; “sleepy”; “cold and numb”; “like I’m going Read more...

Wasted Time

Posted 7:40pm Sunday 27th May 2012 by Anonymous

A couple of years ago, Tommy was at a birthday party in an Auckland hotel room. It was someone’s 18th, and by all accounts it was rowdier than an average Saturday night in the Botans. Lots of people texted their friends, who texted their dodgy friends, who texted their even dodgier friends. The Read more...

Dare to be Wise?

Posted 7:40pm Sunday 27th May 2012 by Katie Kenny

CONTROVERSY AT CANTERBURYIn 1993 Canterbury Master of Arts student Joel Hayward completed his thesis, entitled The Fate of Jews in German Hands: An Historical Enquiry into the Development and Significance of Holocaust Revisionism. Although the content is as controversial as its title suggests, his Read more...

Altered States

Posted 7:58pm Sunday 20th May 2012 by Zane Pocock

Lets face it, listening to mainstream radio feels more and more like getting Rick-Rolled. An alternative is vital, both for your sanity, and to maintain any sense of culture in society. Threatened with sale last year, Otago Uni's other student voice - Radio One - has come under a lot of fire. Read more...

Breaking and Entering

Posted 7:58pm Sunday 20th May 2012 by Lauren Wootton

It’s not easy being a musician. An artist. There’s constant pressure – to write new songs, record, release an album, tour (and tour well) and just be an all-round GC. And there’s even more pressure if you’re a musician in New Zealand; the music industry just isn’t that big. New Zealand Music Read more...

Justice Kate O'Regan

Posted 7:58pm Sunday 20th May 2012 by Bella Macdonald

Justice Kate O’Regan was invited to speak at the annual New Zealand Law Foundation Ethel Benjamin Address on April 23. The address is held in memory of Ethel Benjamin, who in 1987, was the first female Otago University graduate admitted to the bar. Justice O’Regan’s experiences as a woman working in Read more...

ARE DRUGS COOL?

Posted 7:08pm Sunday 13th May 2012 by Staff Reporter

THERE ARE FOUR TYPES OF PEOPLE AT OTAGO UNIVERSITYThe first type, often a Castle Street resident, is septum-deep in their “drug phase” – that sacred, rarefied time in most people’s lives in which drugs are the pinnacle of cool, and the user believes themselves to be equally cool by association. They Read more...

Up in Smoke

Posted 7:08pm Sunday 13th May 2012 by Sasha Borissenko

The Ministry of Health recently issued a paper calling for $100 packets of cigarettes, in an effort to make NZ smoke free by 2025. Combined with moves to plain packaging, and a massive and continuing advertising campaign to get smokers to quit, it appears smokers are under siege in the land Read more...

TRANS

Posted 12:51am Monday 7th May 2012 by Zane Pocock

Imagine you are five again. Sitting on Santa’s lap, you ask in a whisper for the one thing in the world you truly desire: A Barbie. Christmas morning rolls around; you run to the tree, sliding around the corner like a scampering dog in your excitement. And under that tree you find, with baited Read more...

The Birth of Student Loans

Posted 12:51am Monday 7th May 2012 by Katie Kenny

Happy birthday to you Born in 1992 Happy birthday Student Lo-OANS. Happy birthday to you. Alright, that’s my attempt at turning this topic into an “engaging” feature. When delegated a brief on the 20th anniversary of New Zealand’s student loan system, I was less than excited. I Read more...

Jack Rivers

Posted 12:51am Monday 7th May 2012 by Rebecca Rutherford

When you hear the phrase “giving marijuana to disabled babies” something along the lines of “child abuse” probably springs to mind. Not for Jack Rivers though. For three years Rivers has been working on his PhD here at the University of Otago, researching how marijuana-like substances could be used Read more...

The Adorable Mr Hughes

Posted 12:51am Monday 7th May 2012 by Staff Reporter

Last week Critic caught up with Green MP Gareth Hughes, who was travelling the country holding huis with fellow MP Catherine Delahunty to discuss the impact of drilling, mining, fracking and coal extraction in the hopes of rallying an urban Greenie force. Drilling, mining and coal are Read more...

Eighteen and Pregnant

Posted 4:56pm Sunday 29th April 2012 by Anonymous

Like most of my friends, I’m not a total stranger to the pregnancy scare. The sudden realisation that my period is late reminds me of the sudden realisation that I might have overdone it on the stimulants. Beads of sweat form on the brow, the heart starts ricocheting around the torso like a pinball Read more...

A Failing System

Posted 4:56pm Sunday 29th April 2012 by Charlotte Greenfield

WARNING: The following article contains graphic discussion of rape and sexual violence.It’s the legal system’s worst-kept secret: When it comes to prosecuting rape and sexual offending, justice is eluding us. Research and statistics – a lot of them – prove this. For example, it is estimated that Read more...

This one’s for the Boys

Posted 4:56pm Sunday 29th April 2012 by Joe Stockman

Ladies, you can probably skip reading this article: it’s about preventing rape and sexual violence, so it really doesn’t concern you. This is something that the guys need to talk about. Before hordes of angry feminists knock down my door and emolliate me on the Union Lawn, I have a point Read more...

Learning From The Dead

Posted 5:04pm Sunday 22nd April 2012 by Katie Kenny

It isn’t pleasant to dwell upon the consequences of our own mortality. Death is shaded with uncertainty, sadness, and loss. Amongst all that remains at the end of a life – memories, possessions, family, friends – the deceased’s body is the last physical link for loved ones. Despite its lifelessness, Read more...

Think Global, Act Local: And Save The World!

Posted 5:04pm Sunday 22nd April 2012 by Staff Reporter

Excuse me, you there. Yes you. I know you’re busy, with assignments and exams and whatnot. And then of course there are part time jobs, and sports teams, and girlfriends, best mates, red cards; it just goes on and on doesn’t it? But just one more thing, it won’t take long. Could you just Read more...

The Nothing Generation

Posted 5:04pm Sunday 22nd April 2012 by Claudia Herron

Modern-day society is gripped by talk about climate change and an impending apocalypse. Generation Zero is a refreshingly different youth movement which aims to achieve zero net greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Starting out a mere nine months ago, their fundamental focus is on ensuring that the Read more...

Animals are people too

Posted 3:53pm Sunday 15th April 2012 by Katie Kenny

During the recent summer break, I spent many working hours standing at corners of supermarket aisles, trying to sell various superfluous food products. I eventually developed a knack for identifying potential purchasers; my buyers’ trolleys often had one item in common: Free-range eggs. Free-range Read more...

The Rise of Slackivism

Posted 3:53pm Sunday 15th April 2012 by Anonymous

KONY 2012. If you don’t recognize the name, you are probably either A) A deaf-blind-mute, B) that Amish girl from my old FREN141 class, or B) living in a wifi-less hovel out at Aramoana with a sinister, scrawny man in horn-rimmed glasses named David. The 30-minute video, produced by American charity Read more...

World Cinema Showcase

Posted 3:53pm Sunday 15th April 2012 by Staff Reporter

Paradise Lost 3: PurgatoryCalling all law buffs and Bain Jumper fiends! Look no longer! Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky’s Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory follows the trial and aftermath of the murders of three 12-year-old boys in 1990s Bible Belt America and those supposedly responsible – the West Read more...

Deep within the Clocktower, the Council meets

Posted 3:53pm Sunday 15th April 2012 by Staff Reporter

It’s voting time. Again. Who do you want as your two student representatives on the University Council, sticking up for your interests against those University fat-cats? The University Council is the big dog of University decision-making, voting on such issues as fee increases, the Service Read more...

Kava and Politics

Posted 7:07pm Sunday 1st April 2012 by Michael Neilson

I’m sure for most of you, Fiji inspires romantic images of pure white sand beaches laden with coconut trees. Crystal clear waters leading out to mesmerizing sunsets glistening over the Pacific. Ah, Fiji: The pinnacle of tranquility – slightly different to your average Castle Street flat. But Read more...

New Zealand’s Dis-organ-isation

Posted 7:07pm Sunday 1st April 2012 by Callum Fredric

Need a kidney? How about a new heart? Better settle in for a long spell on the waiting list – New Zealand has one of the lowest organ donation rates in the Western world. Critic’s Callum Fredric investigates the reasons behind the organ shortage, the potential solutions, and the ethical dilemmas Read more...

Dunedin's Fashionistas

Posted 4:26pm Sunday 25th March 2012 by Anonymous

Ah, Fashion Week. That sacred week in which the beautiful people come together to drink champagne, nibble at canapés, snort rockstar rails of coke and snark about other beautiful people. Decadent. Rarefied. Hectic. Fabulous. Or, you know, not, if you are lucky enough to live in Dunedin. Here, Read more...

Ding Ding Valiantly Resists Dream Team Whitewash

Posted 4:26pm Sunday 25th March 2012 by Callum Fredric

Not since The Beatles visited our sunny shores has Critic been so excited. The OUSA by-election results were announced at 4:30pm on Wednesday March 21, to the joy of the “Dream Team” and the dismay of No Confidence’s loyal fans. Jono Rowe strolled into the Administrative Vice President role Read more...

The Critic 2012 Bar Safety Review

Posted 4:26pm Sunday 25th March 2012 by Staff Reporter

Each year Critic takes it upon itself to review the bars and night spots of North Dunedin to make sure that they are taking proper care of you. We didn’t want to of course, we’d rather just stay in and watch Mad Men episodes on endless repeat, but we stoically headed off to some of Dunedin’s Read more...

The State of Style

Posted 4:26pm Sunday 25th March 2012 by Zane Pocock

It’s a sunny Sunday arvo at the Ironic Kronic flat on Castle Street. You and your fellow scarfies are sitting on the last remaining, slightly-charred couch on the porch. The mate to your left grunts about his new Lower jeans. You look at him slowly, with your head cocked ironically to one side, and Read more...

Bibliophilia

Posted 4:27pm Sunday 18th March 2012 by Katie Kenny

Beneath its scarfie reputation, Dunedin is a Mecca of literary-mindedness. The Octagon surrounds a statue of Burns the Bard, Dunedin was the birthplace of our national anthem, and a disproportion number of New Zealand’s best writers have strong links to Otago. The difficulty as a Dunedin Read more...

Death of Occupy

Posted 4:27pm Sunday 18th March 2012 by Zane Pocock

When I set out to write this piece, it was under the assumption that the Occupy movement was dead. Plans to interview people by moonlight at cemeteries were going ahead brilliantly until the scream of “Occupy hasn’t died!” echoed loudly from the mouth of anthropologist David Graeber, a key founder Read more...

Its Not An Election. ITS A BY-ELECTION!

Posted 12:08pm Saturday 17th March 2012 by Staff Reporter

The Otago University Students’ Association is holding a very exciting by-election to fill up the four empty spots on the Executive. From Admin Vice President through to Colleges Officer, spots are up for grabs. Critic sat down en masse with the 11 nominees to discuss their backgrounds, their plans, Read more...

Food Bill

Posted 6:37pm Sunday 11th March 2012 by Staff Reporter

The vans arrive next to the railway station early; before dawn farmers are already setting up the tables in their usual spots. They chat to their neighbours before the first customers arrive. A variety of products can be found across the stalls, from Vegetables, cakes, and Grandma’s jam, to homemade Read more...

The Now-Annual Critic Icecream Review

Posted 6:37pm Sunday 11th March 2012 by Ines Shennan

The 24Supplier: Streets The Ambrosia was a let-down, despite its abundant marshmallows. Only nine flavours were on show, and the icecream held a consistency a little too icy. The Caramel Ripple, despite lacking that coveted creaminess, still shone through flavour-wise. Customer service: After Read more...

The Annual Crutik Fush'N'Chup Review

Posted 6:37pm Sunday 11th March 2012 by Staff Reporter

WillowbankChips $3.60 | Fish $3.30 Upon reaching Willowbank we were so eager to sink our teeth into plentifull greasy fish and chips that it seemed possible we had set our standards too high. A warmer housed stacks of chips and fried chicken with a deep brown, cracked batter, beneath a lurid Read more...

Privacy For Sale

Posted 6:37pm Sunday 11th March 2012 by Katie Kenny

Not at all, claim many satirical publications and conspiracy theorists. Zuckerberg’s $50 billion operation is often associated with modern-day “Big Brother-is-watching-you” anxieties, yet many students are too humble (or perhaps too naïve) to consider the potential repercussions of their online Read more...