Shin Hanga (新版画)

Posted 12:12pm Sunday 13th August 2017 by Waveney Russ

Early 20th century Japan is a total cultural divergence from a tiny South Island town like ours, but the McDowell gallery has been authentically transformed into a perfect haven for the impressionistic prints of a pre-war age gone by. Shin-hanga (literally meaning “new woodcut Read more...

War for the Planet of the Apes

Posted 1:17pm Sunday 6th August 2017 by Todd Johnstone

Rating 4/5 Seeing an orang-utan and a gorilla riding horseback into battle is a great sight; it’s pure CINEMA. War for the Planet of the Apes embraces these strange sights. After all, the main character in the film is a highly intelligent chimp who talks, surrounded by a troop of slightly Read more...

Long Way North

Posted 1:20pm Sunday 6th August 2017 by Diana Tran

Rating: 4/5 Long Way North is about a 15-year-old rebel who runs away from home after getting yelled at by her father. And it is so much more. Sasha’s journey has all the elements that make for a jolly adventure: unresolved family tensions, a potentially dangerous cute boy, a sassy barmaid, Read more...

The Thirty-Nine Steps

Posted 1:24pm Sunday 6th August 2017 by Nick Ainge-Roy

Written at the start of the First World War while John Buchan was bedridden by illness, The Thirty-Nine Steps is a classic of the crime fiction genre. It stars Richard Hannay as the archetypal action hero. Returning from Africa after several years working as a mining engineer, Hannay intends on Read more...

Dream Daddy: A Dad Dating Simulator

Posted 12:55pm Sunday 6th August 2017 by Lisa Blakie

The title says it all. Dream Daddy: A Dad Dating Simulator (DDADDS) is a Dad dating simulator where you are a Dad looking to date other Dads. Yes, it’s as good as it sounds. I’ve been looking forward to this game for quite some time because I love games that focus on building Read more...

That No I.d. Friend And The Story Of Jay-z

Posted 1:01pm Sunday 6th August 2017 by Grimm Selfie

In July 2017, Jay-Z released his long awaited return with the album 4:44. Like any good story there’s a person behind the elevator miss-haps, sipping lemonade in the shadows, that makes things happen. In this case it’s a person known as No I.D. It’s an odd thing when we listen Read more...

Italian Inspirations Review: Taking Dad to the DSO

Posted 1:03pm Sunday 6th August 2017 by Ihlara McIndoe

Sadly, it’s always a struggle to find somebody to claim the second ticket of my double DSO pass. My friend pool of Western Art Music fans (the “WAM-fam”) is on the light side, and is significantly diminished once you remove those who are members of the orchestra, so have no need Read more...

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Posted 12:45pm Sunday 30th July 2017 by Lisa Blakie

Do we really need another Breath of the Wild review circulating out there? Probably not. But I think I had a different experience to everyone else who has played this game, because I hated it when I first started it. The Legend of Zelda is a franchise I will love unconditionally forever. Ocarina Read more...

Despite the Falling Snow

Posted 12:54pm Sunday 30th July 2017 by Gem MacDuff

Rating: 2/5 Despite a plot that anyone with half a brain could predict, your heart would have to be made of cement not to fall in love with Sam Reid’s earnest portrayal of the male lead in Shamim Sarif’s Cold War drama, Despite the Falling Snow. Reid plays the warm young Alexander, Read more...

Bleaker House By Nell Stevens

Posted 1:15pm Sunday 30th July 2017 by Jessica Thompson

“I am scared that the life I want to lead, the life of a writer, is inevitably built on loneliness, and I need to know if I can hack it.”   Bleaker House is Nell Steven’s first novel and she hit the nail on the head. The book is messy, unpredictable, and absolutely Read more...