MediaDecember 29, 2017

The 10 Best Kiwis of Snapchat in the year 2017 AD

Staff writers

The 10 best Kiwis of Snapchat as brought to you by auteur and comedian Tom Sainsbury.

10

Let’s be honest, 2017 was a pretty shit year for a lot of us. There was one demographic however who did really bloody well out of the clusterfuck that was Auckland city: landlords. And nobody captured just how far they’d push the limits of credulity as Tom Sainsbury. Or, is this in fact just a regular landlord? Hard to say.

9

“They asked, ‘how do you deal with aggro people?’ and I said, ‘Well, I’ve gotta be honest with you, I throw the first punch.'”

8

The life of a list MP is a tough one. Just ask Green Party hopeful Robin McCandless, on a mission to meet every single person in his notoriously blue electorate.

7

In the space of a few short months, fishing host guy Clarke Gayford went from a sort-of celebrity to the First Man of New Zealand. But how does he feel about losing his partner to service to the country? There’s a fishing metaphor for that.

6

God have mercy on the poor intern tasked with making the notoriously boring Bill English a hit with the youth. They did their best, I guess?

5

Performance-based pay for teachers is a contentious issue in New Zealand. Helpfully, New Zealand’s most famous beneficiary David Seymour has a few easy questions to determine your worth as a teacher. Things like, can you inspire a classroom full of thugs to appreciate Shakespeare? Top points if you can!

4

Labour, Greens, National – so many choices once you’re in the booth. Ahead of the election this year Tom Sainsbury asked Kiwi voters which way they were gonna vote on the big day.

3

Plastic blags cop a lot of blame for being such visible signs of late capitalism in all its single-use excess. But for one man they’re about as good as it gets.

2

“We do NOT CELEBRATE HALLOWEEN IN NEW ZEALAND! For heaven’s sakes!”

1

Nobody in any medium covered the 2017 election in all its fucked up glory as Tom Sainsbury. This compilation will be studied in PolSci classes from the UoA to Vic and…that’s about it.

Keep going!

MediaDecember 28, 2017

10 stories we thought were great but bugger-all people read

The Spinoff

Staff writers

It may surprise you to hear that not every article published on the Spinoff is read by tens of thousands of discerning punters. Here are some of the (relatively) neglected crop that we think warranted more click-love in no particular order.

1. The Art of the Thiel

Super-wealthy internet tycoon, Trump-booster and ordinary Kiwi geezer Peter Thiel was spotted in December at an exhibition in Auckland based largely on his ideas. Who better to review the show than (definitely not) Peter Thiel?

ALDOUS HARDING AT THE GREAT ESCAPE, PHOTO: Paul Hudson

2. ‘What if birds aren’t singing, they’re screaming?’: Inside Aldous Harding’s head

A couple of years ago Aldous Harding was just another New Zealand folk musician. Then she found a fierce voice, and started playing a string of mesmerising live performances which now have her on the cusp of international stardom. Henry Oliver sat down with her to try and find out what sparked her transformation.

3. Off course: the pricey private education which left its students indebted and fuming

Private education providers have been in the news this year for all of the wrong reasons. Don Rowe takes a deep dive into a scandal typical of many institutions in New Zealand.

4. A youth worker to New Zealand parents: You need to help our young people

Connor McLeod is a youth worker and activist with InsideOUT, an organisation that is trying to make New Zealand a safer place for our children. Here he calls on parents to help in this vital and important work.

5. Xerocon is Coachella for accountants

Don’t believe the hype, people – or should we? Rebecca Stevenson reports from a slightly cultish Xerocon in Melbourne, and finds accountants (and bookkeepers) just wanna have fun.

6. When the vice squad came calling

From the 70s through the 90s, Auckland’s inner-city streets hosted a population of trans sex workers who were not only outside the protection of the law, but often at the mercy of those who enforce it. Those who survived that era tell Julie Hill about the sexual acts demanded by police, and how they made it through.

7. Communism by stealth: notes on conservatism, neoliberalism, social investment, and a UBI

Danyl McLauchlan writes an epic and extraordinary essay drawing threads from the past and present of political history and discourse and various books that, he said, ‘might be peripherally relevant to the 2017 General Election but to be honest probably won’t be’. In hindsight, they might well have been.

8. Last man standing: life alone on a disappearing island

Climate change is a harsh reality for the Pacific Islands. Madeleine Chapman travelled to the Solomon Islands with World Vision to meet the communities whose lives are already being upturned by climate change in this three-part series.

9. One year on, Losi Filipo’s chance at redemption isn’t just for him

The young rugby player at the centre of last year’s biggest news stories, Losi Filipo made his Mitre 10 Cup debut for Wellington in September. It was a chance at redemption, but not just for him, wrote Jamie Wall.

10. After midnight: An oral history of SKY 1 porn

Remember staying up extra late, one hand hovering nervously over the remote in case of footsteps, waiting to catch a tantalising glimpse of nudity on TV? You were not alone. In what may be Calum Henderson’s greatest work, an anonymous panel revisits the golden era of SKY 1 soft porn.