#Bestof2021 – The Princess Bride: Home Movie – Shandy
...and other recs this week!
Kia ora, welcome to this week’s newsletter.
It’s the penultimate work week of the year and original ideas are at an all-time low. That’s why I’ve been resharing videos and putting the hashtag #Bestof2021 at the end. But, like Scrooge in A Christmas Carol, doing this has made me appreciate how many good vids I’ve had the privilege of sharing this year. And since I don’t want you to miss any, I thought I’d include them all in this week’s email too. Happy (re)watching!
–Cal
New this week on The Spinoff Podcast Network
On When the Facts Change [Apple | Spotify], Bernard Hickey looked at the new Adele album (and the complex global logistics chains that delayed its release).
On Nē? [Apple Podcasts, Spotify] Maketu’s most famous cooks Kārena and Kasey Bird came through for a kōrero about hākari and the art of the feast.
The final Gone By Lunchtime [Apple | Spotify] of 2021 was an epic Christmas quiz, featuring some very special guest quizmasters.
In the final The Fold [Apple | Spotify] of 2021, Duncan Greive looked back on the year in Aotearoa media, breaking his own Spinoff record for longest monopod in the process.
And on The Real Pod [Apple | Spotify] Duncan joined Jane Yee to discuss a mildly controversial Bake Off result and try an Apprentice’s coffee.
Extremely Online: In defence of stans
Why are young women screaming at a One Direction concert looked down on as hysterical when grown men screaming at a game on TV is just seen as part of being a sports fan? The Shit You Should Care About team stands up for stans in this week’s episode of Extremely Online.
#Bestof2021
In 1978, Wellington teenager Meda McKenzie went for a swim with her brother and ended up on the other side of the Cook Strait. A few years later she did it again, only this time she turned around and swam all the way back too. What’s it like spending 23 hours in those cold, choppy waters? She told us about it in this episode of Scratched: Aotearoa’s Lost Sporting Legends.
There’s only one chainsaw held in Te Papa’s collection. It’s the one activist Mike Smith used to cut into the pine tree on One Tree Hill in 1994 – an unforgettable act of protest, but not many remember why he did it. This episode of The Single Object, produced in partnership with Objectspace, told the story behind the chainsaw.
Part of this year’s Loading Docs collection, Night Ride is a beautiful and personal short documentary from filmmaker Todd Karehana. While he tries to get to the bottom of his mum's nightly ritual of feeding the stray cats at the family’s old house, she does her best to avoid the issue altogether. But slowly, gently, they begin to get somewhere.
What were you doing when you were 16? The rangatahi in Doc Edge original Make It 16 are fighting to lower the voting age in New Zealand, and they’ve taken their petition to the high court (and then the court of appeal). Hear their reasons why in Jess Feast’s short documentary.
Everybody from Chris Parker to Tova O’Brien, Ladi6 to Simon Bridges has graced the FIRST studio this year to tell us about some of their big firsts. There were plenty of weird, funny stories, but comedian Pax Assadi’s epic tale of his first experience with a heckler was one of our favourites. Enjoy!
The Princess Bride: Home Movie
Emily says: “The Princess Bride: Home Movie was filmed and produced by actors quarantining from the pandemic (the first time around, in June 2020,) as a fundraiser for closed down US restaurants. It’s filmed entirely on phones with actors performing alongside their kids and partners, with homemade costumes, Lego sets and umbrellas for swords (and Sophie Turner’s corgi as a Rodent Of Unusual Size). It’s ridiculous, with dozens of actors playing each character with no continuity and absurd “special effects”. Highlights are Rainn Wilson as Vizzini and Jack Black and Taika Waititi as Westley/Dread Pirate Roberts and Jason Segel and Charlize Theron as Fezzik. It has everyone in it. None of it makes sense – it’s just wholesome fun and somehow extremely What We Need right now. Everyone knows the story and the dialogue, so you can just enjoy how silly it is.”
Vanity Fair on Adam McKay
Chris says: “I recommend reading Vanity Fair's “Who the Fuck Cares About Adam McKay?” While everyone was discussing the sordid details of The New Yorker's Jeremy Strong story, this one snuck under the radar – but it's an equally great Hollywood profile on the director of The Big Short, Vice and Don't Look Up (his name's also on Succession) that is full of frank admissions and tough details: depression, therapy, a heart attack, and a falling out with his friend and creative partner of decades, Will Ferrell, over a TV show about the Los Angeles Lakers.”
Dickinson
Sam says: “It’s sort of flown under the radar, but this Apple TV+ series in which Hailee Steinfeld plays Emily Dickinson is one of the most fun and vibrant new shows of the past few years. Rather than presenting us with a dour, sad Dickinson, this Dickinson is full of life, full of love, and raging against the confines of 19th century America. Silly, smart, funny, an ideal way to finish off the year.”
A summer drinks rec 🍻
Bel says: “I would like to recommend the humble shandy. When all else fails, when headaches can’t pass, or the heat simply can’t go on, pouring half lemonade, half beer into a tall glass is the perfect tonic. Some would say it’s the mochaccino of the gastro pub, I would say it’s the drink of quiet triumph.”
OK, that’s all we’ve got time for this week. Please reply to get in touch and share with anyone else who might like to subscribe too. See you next Wednesday 👋