Archive

Confessions of a Quidnunc

Posted 12:55pm Sunday 3rd May 2015 by Maya Dodd

Passive aggressive behaviour can make for a miserably infuriating existence. Living with passive aggressive flatmates is the worst, but being the passive aggressive flatmate is exponentially more troubling. As the fair and forever-on-the-fence sleuth that I am, I compiled a list of stories from both Read more...

That'll Be $4.20

Posted 1:17pm Sunday 26th April 2015 by Isaac Yu

Weed, marijuana, Mary J, bud, green, pot, herbs, grass, “stuff”, “ingredients for a chill night”— whatever it is you decide to call it, it goes with Scarfies like chlamydia goes with Hamilton. Contrary to the mandatory “drugs are bad, mmkay” talks, injecting Read more...

Marvellous Disappointments

Posted 12:45pm Sunday 26th April 2015 by Anonymous Bird

  It’s that time of year again. Marvel’s latest instalment, Avengers: Age of Ultron, is out and the world has been bubbling with excitement in the lead-up to its release. Superhero movies are something of a phenomenon at the moment. The Avengers’ first instalment came out Read more...

Catwalk Identities

Posted 2:18pm Sunday 19th April 2015 by Brittany Pooley

We spoke to three students and graduates of the University of Otago who shared their experiences of iD Fashion Week — what they did, who they met and the opportunities it continues to bring them. iD Fashion Week is an annual fashion event that celebrates Dunedin’s distinctive design Read more...

DIY Style Guide 2015

Posted 1:15pm Sunday 19th April 2015 by Olivia Collier

This latest season was one for the ages, with both exciting new trends and the return of two of the most influential male models in history – Derek Zoolander and Hansel McDonald - shaking up the whole fashion industry. Summarising the top looks from the latest fashion, your new favourite style Read more...

Stripes and Gripes

Posted 12:49pm Sunday 19th April 2015 by Anthony Gordon

“Leather-look jeans, striped tops, ankle boots, Karen Walker charms etc” A Facebook post confirms what Anthony long suspected; more than anywhere else in the country, University of Otago students dress to look the same as everybody else." Last year, I did this post on the Read more...

Virtual Harrassment

Posted 2:51pm Sunday 12th April 2015 by Anonymous Bird

Online environments are becoming more and more volatile. Should people be held accountable for their online actions or do real-world rules not apply to them? The world where it is socially acceptable to make jokes about abuse in prison or “asking for it” if you’re wearing a short skirt is Read more...

The Copyright of Mein Kampf

Posted 2:51pm Sunday 12th April 2015 by Gini Jory

Perhaps the most infamous book of all time, Hitler’s autobiographical Mein Kampf has always been controversial, but has now probably reached its peak. 70 years after the death of its author, in accordance with German law, the copyright will be running out at the end of this year. Mein Read more...

Digital Love Affairs

Posted 2:51pm Sunday 12th April 2015 by Maya Dodd

Call me old-fashioned, but becoming “Facebook Official” (FO) has never really appealed to me. I dated a guy who was adamant he would never stay with a girl who wouldn’t make the relationship FO. Let’s just say, whatever spark we had fizzled out very quickly. I just don’t understand how people enjoy Read more...

Humans of Hyde

Posted 3:11pm Sunday 29th March 2015 by Olivia Collier

For those of you oblivious hipsters out there still living in the age of Myspace and Bebo, the Facebook page Humans of New York is an arts/humanity project where a photographer in New York — you guessed it — photographs humans in New York. The core message that this project shares with Read more...

Fence-Jumpers and First Years: You Can't Hyde

Posted 3:11pm Sunday 29th March 2015 by Lydia Adams

Saturday 21 March saw this year’s annual Hyde Street Party. With 4000 attendees, there were 15 arrests made. Offenders were detained mainly for disorderly and offensive behaviour, although there was one arsehole who shoulder-barged a St John ambulance on Albany Street in an incident that left a Read more...

The Stories We're Sold

Posted 5:43pm Sunday 22nd March 2015 by Joseph Higham

Any news outlet will promulgate a particular set of stories and demote others. Whether it is small scale and harmless, or targets whole groups, religions or communities of people, over time the outcome can be devastating. Media is the plural of medium: “one of the means or channels of Read more...

Drop Outs: An Educated Decision

Posted 5:43pm Sunday 22nd March 2015 by Kirsty Gordge

Students drop out of universities across the country and throughout the world. Do they lack money or motivation, is it the cold weather, or is the student life just too hard? Or do some students simply not see the point anymore? Data released by the Tertiary Education Commission shows more Read more...

The #fitspo Movement

Posted 5:43pm Sunday 22nd March 2015 by Sarah Templeton

“To the susceptible, it’s a disorder in disguise of health, bad habits masquerading as good ones. It’s a massive trigger that can send you spiralling into a dark world of disarray … Soon I was just like the rest: re-blogging pictures of skinny girls with their running shoes on and their bones Read more...

Manipulative Marketing

Posted 2:32pm Sunday 15th March 2015 by Brandon Johnstone

Coca-Cola, Google, Apple, Samsung, YouTube, Amazon, Starbucks, McDonald’s, Facebook, Nike, Cadbury, Mars. These names don’t come to you easily for no reason. When you think of a product, there’s normally one brand that will immediately come to mind first. These corporations, who are at the top of Read more...

Otago Toilet Reviews 2015

Posted 2:32pm Sunday 15th March 2015 by June Collier

The title of this article belies its serious nature: a daring exposé on the state of the bathrooms around campus conjured up in a fit of mad rage after being exposed one too many times to tap water hotter than Satan’s ball sack in the Central Library toilets. While I’ve frequented a lot of Read more...

Here Comes the Bride

Posted 2:32pm Sunday 15th March 2015 by Emily Draper

Some do it on a beach. Some do it in the backyard. Some even do it in church. From the smallest of intimate celebrations to the largest and most raucous of affairs, a wedding is undeniably a special moment in a couple’s life. This article delves into the nuttier of nuptials across the Read more...

Building On Shaky Grounds

Posted 5:30pm Sunday 8th March 2015 by Anonymous Bird

Four years on from the 22 February Christchurch earthquake, the city still has a long way to go. The city centre is not as alive and buzzing as it once was, despite the best efforts of the Restart Mall, set up where Cashel Mall once was. The eastern side of the city is littered with road works, Read more...

Halls - The Practical Jokes Edition

Posted 5:30pm Sunday 8th March 2015 by Lydia Adams

Otago University’s students have a bad reputation. A walk through the residential halls’ more chequered histories stands to remind our fresh-faced first years that we’re not all depraved — but even those that are won’t bite (much). Gazing up at the Himalayan mountain range that is the hill Read more...

Don't be Afraid

Posted 6:26pm Sunday 1st March 2015 by Kirsty Gordge

“If it’s a huge whitetail, I’ll get a ringing in my ear and freeze,” said Katelyn Hill, asked about her arachnophobia. Heard that one before? What about coulrophobia? There’s a good chance you have a minor form of it – a fear of clowns. Napoleon Bonaparte had ailurophobia, a fear of cats. Read more...

The Edge of Edgy

Posted 6:26pm Sunday 1st March 2015 by Olivia Collier

I’ve always envied the edgy, watching them from afar with a David Attenborough-esque focus. For those not up with the lingo, an edgy person is classified as an approachable hipster. It’s someone who’s got just a little bit of mystery about them (not the serial killer kind) and walks to the beat of a Read more...

FFIC101: An Introduction to the Horrors of Fanfiction

Posted 6:26pm Sunday 1st March 2015 by Anonymous Bird

Fans show their love and loyalty to their fandom in a myriad of ways. Some purchase merchandise, some learn every fact there is to know, some dedicate their spare time to developing intricate cosplay, some people do all this and more. And some people write fanfiction. This article is Read more...

The social justice warriors

Posted 4:35pm Sunday 22nd February 2015 by Mandy Te

Mandy Te has had first-hand experience of the difficulties social minority groups can face in the western world. Although these are sometimes difficult to navigate, she believes there's an opportunity for us as human beings to use the internet to grow our acceptance and understanding of one Read more...

The kids are alright

Posted 4:35pm Sunday 22nd February 2015 by Lydia Adams

Midway through last year, one of the world’s oldest and boldest student media publications was closed down. London Student had been in print since the early 1920s and until recently had been representing over 120,000 students as one of the largest university newspapers in Europe. London Student’s Read more...

The social pokédex

Posted 4:35pm Sunday 22nd February 2015 by Nick Ainge-Roy

Nick Ainge-Roy, a judgmental soul with a kind heart, has been navigating the realms of the University of Otago for less than a year. But as a Dunners local, he’s familiar with the characters you’re likely to encounter in your new home and here presents you with a cynical insight into the characters Read more...

A trip on the wild side

Posted 11:58pm Sunday 12th October 2014 by Albert Hoffman

It all started with a little square of paper. It was about the size of a 20-cent coin with a little corner cut out for “beginner reasons.” I held it up to the light with equal parts fear and excitement. I was going to join the hallowed ranks of those who had dared to plumb the hidden levels of human Read more...

Residential halls, paper thin walls and jerking your balls

Posted 11:58pm Sunday 12th October 2014 by Eugene Baker

When I was shown down the floor of my residential hall, the first thing I noticed was how tightly packed the rooms were to each other, with the slightest movement giving away our activity. At first, the only concerns I had about this was how much sleep I would be able to get and if my music would Read more...

Freedom to offend

Posted 11:58pm Sunday 12th October 2014 by Lucy Hunter

"Don't read it. I don't think you should read it,” said my friend while reading American Psycho. “It will upset you. There’s eye-gouging and ... stuff.” He meant it as a well-intentioned warning. But immediately my mind went to “‘Stuff,’ huh? What could this ‘stuff’ be?” As someone who is a Read more...

Hikikomori

Posted 1:49pm Sunday 5th October 2014 by Kate Stewart

It’s 9.30am, the day before your first exam. You’ve finally managed to turn off the snooze button and heave yourself out of bed. After a 40-minute shower and a breakfast worthy of MKR you drag yourself back to your room. You frantically get ready to head to Central to begin the study you planned to Read more...

The Mapuche: The People of the Land and their struggle to retain it

Posted 1:49pm Sunday 5th October 2014 by Bella Macdonald

Sharing their home with a six billion dollar timber industry, the Mapuche people of Aracaunia are the poorest in Chile. After centuries of land wars and inequality, the Mapuches, meaning “people of the land,” are beginning to break the silence, uniting to fight to get their land back and get the Read more...

Return to beneath the shadow

Posted 1:49pm Sunday 5th October 2014 by Loulou Callister-Baker

As the pilot beside me pulled the small plane’s steering wheel towards him, the absent co-pilot’s wheel hit my knees. For this reason (and my resolute pursuit of urban isolation), I pushed my entire body against the side of the plane and placed the clunky headphones on my head. Out the window, I Read more...

A short introduction to Iraq and the rise of ISIS

Posted 2:58pm Sunday 28th September 2014 by Matty Stroller

Earlier this year I had several promising job leads surface in Kurdish Northern Iraq. As a student of Middle Eastern politics, Iraqi Kurdistan (effectively an independent state in all but name) represents the perfect compromise: it’s relatively safe, yet close enough to the region’s “hot-spots” to Read more...

The master cleanse

Posted 2:58pm Sunday 28th September 2014 by Josie Adams

For nearly 70 years, the Master Cleanse has existed to “detoxify” and shed unwanted pounds. Stanley Burroughs, who is conspicuously missing a “Dr” from his title, created it in the 1940s. Regardless of whether or not detoxing is a legitimate concept (it isn’t), the Master Cleanse has been at the Read more...

Alien speculations and human chauvinism

Posted 2:58pm Sunday 28th September 2014 by Lucy Hunter

On 24 June 1947, private pilot Kenneth Arnold reported seeing a string of nine, shiny, unidentified flying objects flying past Mount Rainier at speeds of over 2,000 kilometres per hour. He described the objects’ movement as being “erratic, like a saucer skipping over water.” A newspaper journalist Read more...

From flat out to flatmate

Posted 3:00pm Sunday 21st September 2014 by Mandy Te

Despite Knox College’s desperate attempts at securing third year residents for 2015, all 80 second-year returners have felt that two years is long enough. It’s time to move on from residential advisers banning an open vessel of V (the constant fear of wondering if a security guard will reprimand us Read more...

Original and dark fairy tales

Posted 3:00pm Sunday 21st September 2014 by Anonymous Bird

Fairy tales, we have all been exposed to them. Whether it was a toned down Disney adaptation, a dramatic retelling like Maleficent, or even a book collection from our childhood, we’ve all experienced fairy tales at some point in our lives. They inform our understanding of right and wrong as Read more...

Long time lurker

Posted 4:38pm Sunday 14th September 2014 by Josie Adams

Forget TV and print, the place to be popular right now is the Internet. It’s not just for young people anymore, either: my parents use it to research, read, form friendships, and campaign for the Labour Party; and they’re, like, 100. Unlike the rest of my family, I am singularly terrible at being Read more...

New Zealand general election

Posted 4:38pm Sunday 14th September 2014 by Critic

Behold, Critic’s election analysis! Taking a panel of experts from the University’s staff and beyond, Critic was able to graph the extent to which each party is best for students in different areas. Before you continue reading, know that we acknowledge that this analysis has a single focus, Read more...

Have mic, will yell

Posted 11:52pm Sunday 7th September 2014 by Isaac Yu

It's 8:10pm on a Saturday night. I can see my breath misting in front of me as I sit in my room getting ready. Outside in the cold Dunedin weather you can hear the mating call of the male Scarfie as they proclaim their readiness for town to passing freshers. I go through the checklist in my head: Read more...

Social hair

Posted 11:52pm Sunday 7th September 2014 by Lucy Hunter

By looking at a person’s hair you can make assumptions about their age, ethnicity, gender, occupation, political views, their taste in music, income, lifestyle, religion, health, and sexuality. All from something that makes you want to puke if you find it in your meal. Hair matters. For Read more...

Scarfie confessions

Posted 11:52pm Sunday 7th September 2014 by Max Callister-Baker

We had to keep our voices down. It was a Thursday night and the four of us were crammed inside one single residential hall room. It was past 1am, which meant that if an RA came by they could dish out hefty $20 fines to each of us. But it wasn't easy speaking quietly – after having four or five too Read more...

The calcium curse

Posted 5:55pm Sunday 31st August 2014 by Mahoney Turnbull

Oh dairy me, what can the matter be? The dairy industry in China is in a state of disarray. At the same time, the world’s fastest growing nation not only wants their milk, but they would like the kiwi liquid gold from the land of milk and honey, without the pipeline botch ups, if you please. That Read more...

Geocaching

Posted 5:55pm Sunday 31st August 2014 by Josie Adams

When I was young, I used to draw maps and mark an X on the spot where I wanted to find treasure. There never was any, but today there are more than 2,500 hidden treasures in Dunedin. Every day in our city these treasures are found, swapped around, and put back for you to find by a whole community of Read more...

Returning Home

Posted 5:55pm Sunday 31st August 2014 by Loulou Callister-Baker

I have to hold my beanie down as I walk from the airplane across the tarmac. I also have to clutch my backpack to my chest. Both hands occupied, I am left to pretend that my skirt isn’t ballooning up in the wind leaving my butt on display to the old couple behind me. Yeah, Wellington. I get it. Read more...

Remote - An island in a sea of startups

Posted 12:53am Monday 18th August 2014 by Sarah Ley-Hamilton

When you hear the word “remote,” it doesn’t exactly conjure up feelings of prosperity, abundance and opportunity – feelings that we are told to look for in our chosen career paths. However, for some of us, not putting on suitable office attire (or even pants) and logging on from the comfort of our Read more...

Trans Life

Posted 12:53am Monday 18th August 2014 by Lucy Hunter

Gender identity is so ingrained in our culture that we often don’t think about it until we meet somebody who doesn’t conform to traditional ideas of a “masculine man” or a “feminine woman.” Even with advances, such as the legalisation of same-sex marriage last year, being trans* presents legal and Read more...

The freedom mission

Posted 12:53am Monday 18th August 2014 by Loulou Callister-Baker

Bell Murphy’s eyes light up as she tells us the story about the homemade pumpkin wine, which had flooded the floor at Black Star Books when left to brew over a weekend. On the ground between Bell and I, a woman carefully paints a banner for an animal rights protest to be held in the Octagon the Read more...

Hello and welcome to my Soft Grunge wonderland

Posted 9:16pm Sunday 10th August 2014 by Alex Blackwood

Whatever Soft Grunge is, it seems to have originated on Tumblr around 2010. The hideous progeny of original Grunge and the Internet, Soft Grunge, unlike its parent, is less about music and all about image. Grunge, on the other hand, has a rich and complex history and ideology, avoided fashion and Read more...

The original Goth

Posted 9:16pm Sunday 10th August 2014 by Josie Adams

"Emo", short for “emotional,” was a phase some of us may have gone through in high school. If we were particularly angry, we might have been called “scene.” The dark hair and clothing, the misguided misanthropy, the multitude of heartbreaks; only a few people will pull through these phases to become Read more...

Bizarre cultural practices and local traditions

Posted 9:16pm Sunday 10th August 2014 by Anonymous Bird

You know how everyone has those little bits of useless trivia that they like to pull out at any given opportunity? Well, this is probably going to be a list of those types of facts – random bits of bizarre information about the rest of the world that we would find strange; an amalgamation of odd Read more...

That one time I got a Tinder date to rescue me from another Tinder date.

Posted 9:43pm Sunday 3rd August 2014 by Sophie Edmonds

People always ask, “aren’t you afraid you’ll meet creeps or douche-bags on Tinder?” To which I always say, “I haven’t so far and I’ve been on more Tinder dates than I care to remember.” My time had clearly come. Remember when your parents told you to forget about people’s feelings and Read more...

Cyber-chondria

Posted 9:43pm Sunday 3rd August 2014 by Lydia Adams

Imagine yourself sitting on a cold, metallic, fold-up chair. One of the chair legs is off-balance and the air in the room you’re sitting in is crisp. There are other people in this room, eight of them, to be precise. All eight are perched uncomfortably on chairs that are equally as cold and metallic Read more...

A case for animal rights

Posted 9:43pm Sunday 3rd August 2014 by Lucy Hunter

It is easy to assume that “clean, green New Zealand” is a better place to be a farmed animal than in other countries. But the hidden camera footage recently released by Farmwatch from three New Zealand pig farms is as bad as a nightmare or a horror movie. In one farm, a sow lies on her side, alive Read more...

Welcome to the gun show

Posted 9:43pm Sunday 3rd August 2014 by Loulou Callister-Baker

Standing in the kitchen of my flat, I turn to my flatmates and ask them how many firearms there are in New Zealand. One replies, “80,000.” Another - deciding to push his guess - replies, “about 100,000.” When I tell them that there are, in fact, approximately 1.1 million firearms in New Zealand they Read more...

Modern art - A modern weapon

Posted 10:15pm Sunday 27th July 2014 by Josie Adams

Russia and America. The U.S.A. and the U.S.S.R. They played on the same team during World War Two, but only because the captain of the opposition was the more immediate asshole. In the reconstructive, politically tumultuous post-war years, their distaste for each other solidified; the Cold War had Read more...

The four women at central library

Posted 10:15pm Sunday 27th July 2014 by Max Callister-Baker

Scarfie culture: it’s a beast that thrives in this fine province that people from all around New Zealand, and the world, come to. It pushes us to go crazy on Thursdays and Saturday nights, and challenges us to challenge the limits of our bodies and the limits of our laws. But when it comes to Read more...

Mourning [a] son

Posted 10:15pm Sunday 27th July 2014 by Dr Sandy Callister

With both the 100-year anniversary of World War One and OUSA Art Week in mind, Dr Sandy Callister – author of The Face of War – looks at the haunting realities of war for New Zealand communities and the importance of photography to the ritual of remembering. Around 25,000 books and Read more...

Wanderlust

Posted 5:12pm Sunday 20th July 2014 by Nina Harrap

Why is it that every young Kiwi wants to travel the world? Nina Harrap explores the concept of the O.E. and how you can go on yours as soon as possible. travelling the world as a young adult has always been an integral part of Kiwi culture; if you haven’t been away for at least six months by Read more...

Three Institutions

Posted 5:12pm Sunday 20th July 2014 by Lucy Hunter

As citizens of New Zealand, most of us take our personal freedom for granted. Within the boundaries of the law we are largely free to go where we like, eat what we like, talk to whom we like, and do what we like. Even at work or school we have, at least in theory, the freedom to get up and walk out. Read more...

Right in the Nutcracker

Posted 5:12pm Sunday 20th July 2014 by Loulou Callister-Baker

Loulou Callister-Baker takes a step back to look critically at the age-old tradition that is the annual Selwyn Ballet. An elegant foot brushes across the polished floor of the stage. Classical music fills the auditorium. Laughter teeters throughout the audience as a line of young, muscular Read more...

Everywhere / Nowhere

Posted 6:52pm Sunday 13th July 2014 by Alex Lovell-Smith

For three weeks earlier this year I travelled across the United States of America. This encompassed the Coachella Music Festival, most of the western seaboard in a frantic 72-hour driving mission, a pit stop in to see old friends in Kansas City, and an epic eight-day adventure in New York City. Read more...

Picking up strange vibrations

Posted 6:52pm Sunday 13th July 2014 by Anonymous Bird

It was in my first year at Otago when I first discovered the hilarity of looking at strange sex toys. I was innocently perusing the pages of Tumblr, with my flatmate at my side, when I came across a page called “Weird Ass Sex Toys.” I sheepishly turned to my flatmate and questioned whether I should Read more...

#PageantLife

Posted 6:52pm Sunday 13th July 2014 by Josie Adams

One day on George Street, two women intercepted me. The older one stared with such intensity that I felt sure she was a relative I’d forgotten about, and I slowed to meet her. “Excuuuse me,” she said, “I’m from Miss Universe New Zealand Otago.” Her voice was enduring, and loaded with upwards Read more...

Success without excess

Posted 1:08pm Sunday 6th July 2014 by Simon Hoffman

Simon Hoffmann provides a researched account on local and international food waste and gives suggestions on how each of us can minimise this worldwide crisis. I’m sure that at one time or another every one of us has felt a pang of guilt as we’ve binned an old carrot that slid to the bottom of Read more...

Kant, lies and polygraphs

Posted 1:08pm Sunday 6th July 2014 by Lucy Hunter

In the summer of 1999 four teenage boys were camping in the backyard of one of their family homes, and two of them were so scared they were crying. They had only agreed to go camping again because they didn’t want to look like sissies who were scared of a ghost. The ghost had made its presence known Read more...

ACCess denied

Posted 1:08pm Sunday 6th July 2014 by Loulou Callister-Baker

Following the recent conflicting and confused news reports about New Zealand’s Accident Compensation Corporation scheme, Loulou Callister-Baker undertook her own investigation. With the aid of Acclaim Otago, she identified several disturbing issues with ACC; expelling the delusion and clarifying the Read more...

Tainted Lull

Posted 2:07pm Sunday 25th May 2014 by Josie Adams

After being whipped, branded and hungry, Critic sexpert Josie Adams recounts her night at Dunedin’s Fetish Ball. It was a dark and quiet night on Crawford Street. The darkness was warm and lit by the still streetlamps, and even the shadows glowed with beckoning comfort. It was an empty night, Read more...

Knowing nano and when to say "no"

Posted 2:07pm Sunday 25th May 2014 by Loulou Callister-Baker

Technology and medicine at the nanoscale has the potential to solve countless issues from climate change to cancer. But the uncertainty surrounding this area also poses serious questions for regulators about if and when to draw a line. Clothing, household appliances, food packaging, sunscreen Read more...

High off the moral ground

Posted 2:07pm Sunday 25th May 2014 by Anonymous

Purchasing illicit substances off the internet is risky business at the best of times. An unnamed writer breaks down the process - ultimately begging the question as to why it should be such a mystery in the first place. The art of buying drugs face to face during these times of prohibition Read more...

The perplexity of sin

Posted 4:32pm Sunday 18th May 2014 by Lydia Adams

We've all heard of the big, bad Seven Deadly Sins, but where did they originate? Lydia Adams has a glance at their history, religious parallels, and possible modern-day alternatives. As I sat there at my dimly-lit desk, thinking of all the possible things I could have done in my life to Read more...

The underbelly of Dunedin streets

Posted 4:32pm Sunday 18th May 2014 by OUSA Feminist Group

With street harassment posing a constant threat of intimidation to the women of Dunedin, the OUSA Feminist Group presents a call to action for both bystanders and victims. "I was walking down George Street with my boyfriend one night when a group of guys walking behind me kept talking aloud Read more...

Irrational riches

Posted 4:32pm Sunday 18th May 2014 by Lucy Hunter

The perceived distance between money and reality is such that it can result in anything from fraud to online shopping binges and irrational approaches to TradeMe auctions. Lucy Hunter investigates why we struggle so much with what seems like a basic concept. Chances are you are terrible with Read more...

From anonymity to local

Posted 3:11pm Sunday 11th May 2014 by Loulou Callister-Baker

As more people feel the need to slow down and connect with the world around them, organic and local food choices have become increasingly important. Loulou Callister-Baker sat down with an organic farmer to work out how her lifestyle could influence the Dunedin student community’s food choices. Read more...

The golden games

Posted 3:11pm Sunday 11th May 2014 by Josie Adams

Arcade games have been around for a while now. With their near-certain demise playing out since the 1980s, Josie Adams explores Dunedin’s final bastions of vintage electronic entertainment. In 1770, Europe and America were spellbound by a machine. It was called the The Turk, and it was an Read more...

Where art thou, muse?

Posted 3:11pm Sunday 11th May 2014 by Adrian Ng

Dunedin musician and Critic music editor Adrian Ng explores the phenomenon of the artist’s muse, from greek and roman mythology to the early musical influences of his childhood. Having released two records around the start of the year, I was unfortunate enough to be the only individual Read more...

A love letter to literature

Posted 4:20pm Sunday 4th May 2014 by Anonymous Bird

I confess. I am a book addict. In my flat I have about 1500 books – give or take a few (they make shifting hard for me). Literature has always been a passion and interest of mine. Recently, I’ve given a lot of thought as to what initially sparked the flame that has led me to do an English degree. Read more...

The reality of conspiracies

Posted 4:20pm Sunday 4th May 2014 by Lucy Hunter

The problem with laughing at conspiracy theories is that they actually happen. Governments, corporations, and regular people sometimes do horrible things to each other for personal gain. They sometimes even manage to keep it secret. By definition, a conspiracy is a secret plan by two or more people Read more...

They walked the streets that we do

Posted 4:20pm Sunday 4th May 2014 by Nina Harrap

Dunedin has been impacted by its writers, but how have the writers been impacted by Dunedin? Nina Harrap examines the lives of Janet Frame, James K. Baxter and Charles Brasch, the city’s instrumental place in their writing, and the legacy they’ve left behind. It wasn’t until halfway through Read more...

Climaximum

Posted 1:58pm Sunday 27th April 2014 by Josie Adams

For such a sexually active group of people, the student populace knows surprisingly little about the end goal: orgasm. Critic’s Josie Adams explores the body areas and methods for having the best time. For many of us, sex is simple. We want it, look for it, have it, and then start all over Read more...

The great annual Critic pub review

Posted 1:58pm Sunday 27th April 2014 by Critic

With the likes of regular student jaunts Monkey, The Cook and Metro now out of business, it’s not quite so easy to plot an evening through town. We’ve certainly seen a trend of “out with the old,” but the question still begs: what, exactly, is “the new?” Ever sacrificing our limited free time for Read more...

The art of faking hypochondria

Posted 1:58pm Sunday 27th April 2014 by Loulou Callister-Baker

With limitations on how much genuine clinical experience a medical student can expect to get, there exists a high demand for trained medical actors. Loulou Callister-Baker investigates Dunedin's very own Simulated Patient Development Unit. She sits in the waiting room. She feels Read more...

Turning off the enlightenment

Posted 4:31pm Sunday 13th April 2014 by Hadleigh Tiddy

Exploring the three main obstacles on the search for enlightenment, Hadleigh Tiddy ventures back through his experiences of a meditation-fuelled spiritual quest. At some point in my first year of University, during a particularly bleak mid-winter-hide-under-the-covers-for-two-days binge, I Read more...

Lovemaking preachers and salvation at the checkout counter

Posted 4:31pm Sunday 13th April 2014 by Martin Baker

The reverend Martin Baker has practised as a minister for several decades and currently holds a position as the Assembly Executive Secretary of the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand. But, despite his experience (or maybe because of it), it is still a simple interaction at a supermarket Read more...

The immorality of magical thinking

Posted 4:31pm Sunday 13th April 2014 by Lucy Hunter

Frustrated by how frequently those suffering will be told to "think positive" and pray, or be blamed for having bad karma, Lucy Hunter delves into the struggles of Zoe, a young woman living with a chronic auto-immune disease. Zoe was 15 when she was diagnosed with Granulomatosis Poliangiitus Read more...

What Is Happiness, Anyway?

Posted 4:50pm Sunday 6th April 2014 by Allison Hess

As university students, we are at a defining time in our lives. We are furthering our worldly education, learning to be adults and earning degrees; all of which will propel us into the rest of our lives – jobs, careers and families. My own university career is very nearly coming to an end, which Read more...

The Great Wall of Internet

Posted 4:50pm Sunday 6th April 2014 by Loulou Callister-Baker

With the news these days constantly filled by reports of governments exercising power and influence over the Internet, Features Editor Loulou Callister-Baker takes a step back to look at a country with years of experience: China. As a tool for democracy, the Internet is a threat to Read more...

Where the Wild Things Aren't

Posted 4:50pm Sunday 6th April 2014 by Josie Adams

I am not a very good user of the library. I came once in first year for the comfy red couches, and I stayed because when you bump into people you vaguely know there and engage them in conversations, while they’re busy, they’re not allowed to yell at you – because you’re in a library. The library may Read more...

The Real Flatmates of Dunedin

Posted 7:01pm Sunday 30th March 2014 by Lydia Adams

When I asked students from around New Zealand what the first thing is that sprang into their mind when I said “Otago University,” the answers I received were all fairly similar. Most of their reactions were something along the lines of, “Ya’ll a bunch of Scarfies,” “Bad drinking culture,” and, Read more...

Journey Into "The Uncanny Valley"

Posted 7:01pm Sunday 30th March 2014 by Lucy Hunter

No person can claim they weren’t slightly disturbed by the near-human animation of the children’s film The Polar Express. Lucy hunter explores the mystery of something being both strange and familiar or, simply put, what it means to get "the creeps". Imagine coming home and putting your key Read more...

Life at a funeral

Posted 7:01pm Sunday 30th March 2014 by Loulou Callister-Baker

Loulou Callister-Baker explores the burial ritual and current, sometimes bizarre, trends within funeral industries around the world We reached Hamilton the day before Christmas. It was a reflective time - the drive was long and stuffy, another year was coming to an end and both of my parents’ Read more...

A House Without Books

Posted 5:30pm Sunday 23rd March 2014 by Sarah Ley-Hamilton

Unless you have been hiding under a rock for the past ten years you will have realised that there have been significant changes in the world around us. You will have heard people banging on about the “digital age,” or the “frontier” or “revolution.” You will have also heard that if you want to move Read more...

Antarctica On the Brink

Posted 5:30pm Sunday 23rd March 2014 by Thomas Raethel

New Zealand has never enjoyed a prime position in the international arena, and most of us are rather content with this. Our antipodean status has let us foster interest in unattended corners of the globe, and place great stress upon the importance of conservation. We have shot to the forefront of Read more...

Diary of Armageddon

Posted 5:30pm Sunday 23rd March 2014 by Josie Adams

Simon Pegg once said that being a geek is about “being honest about what you enjoy … It means never having to play it cool about how much you like something ... Being a geek is extremely liberating.” Armageddon is a national expo for New Zealand’s geek community; all these enthusiastic folk convene Read more...

Opinion entitled to hearing?

Posted 2:59pm Sunday 16th March 2014 by Loulou Callister-Baker

Troubled by recent stories of embezzlement in both government and university communities around the country, Loulou Callister-Baker addresses issues of corruption within New Zealand – ultimately advocating for the maintenance of transparency and for a turn away from complacency in the voting Read more...

Five surprising things I learned about psychopaths

Posted 2:59pm Sunday 16th March 2014 by Lucy Hunter

From James Bond to Hannibal Lector, individuals with psychopathic tendencies continue to captivate people around the world. Lucy Hunter explores the defining aspects of psychopathy and ponders whether she risks adopting the dark and charismatic traits she obsesses over. I wish I were a little Read more...

Barter, Banter and a Condom

Posted 2:59pm Sunday 16th March 2014 by Max Callister-Baker

While trading a good for another good of similar or equal value used to be an everyday practice, this type of exchange has now largely become a thing of the past. In a burst of nostalgia, Max Callister-Baker goes on a quest to resurrect bartering in the modern context of the Dunedin student Read more...

How to navigate the deep web

Posted 4:35pm Sunday 9th March 2014 by Zane Pocock

With Edward Snowden, the NSA and Bitcoin all gaining popular attention recently, you are almost certain to have heard of the “deep web” by now: the huge, anonymous mass of the Internet that you can’t reach conventionally. Whether you see it as a network for human traffickers, a threat to Read more...

The Future is Dead Humans

Posted 4:35pm Sunday 9th March 2014 by Josie Adams

Technology is advancing at a stupendously quick rate. We still don’t have flying cars, it’s true; but maybe that was a stroke of genius, an idea that’s just a little too crazy to be realised. We have the know-how and the wealth to produce a myriad of future gadgets: thin-as-air graphene armour; Read more...

Navigating Relationships in the Digital Age

Posted 4:35pm Sunday 9th March 2014 by Sarah Ley-Hamilton

We Tweet, we Snapchat, we’re friends on Facebook and, hell, we even match on Tinder – but where has that left us? Navigating the social media swamp isn’t easy, and that raises the question: has technology really been helping or is it hindering our romantic pursuits? Sarah Ley-Hamilton looks to the Read more...

Brothel

Posted 4:44pm Sunday 2nd March 2014 by Hadleigh Tiddy

What I remember specifically about the first time I went there – not the first actual time but, like, the preliminary meet-and-greet type thing – was the lemon. Sliced, floating pale in a cool glass of water. The glass it was in was crystal and heavy and felt moneyed, somehow, cylindrical and Read more...