Big Magnet
Rec Room #14 – Things we’re enjoying this week
Kia ora, welcome to the newsletter.
In a move that could never have been predicted by anyone (jk it is deeply predictable) I found myself feeling nostalgic for level four lockdown this week. Not all the bad and depressing parts – mainly just all the YouTube I watched alone in my room for six weeks.
When am I ever going to have the time to watch every single Pavement video again? (Anybody have any use for a CCR cover that sounds like The 3Ds? An interview filmed in Dunedin?) What about the week I got really into watching this lovely Sudoku man, or these extremely high production value Chinese cooking vids?
I’m reminiscing about all this because I’ve just found out there’s a guy with a big magnet who films himself pulling things up from the bottom of a lake. How many hours of this would I have watched if I’d known about his channel back then? Hopefully we’ll never find out!
–Cal
Lucy’s mum recommends episode one of The Spinoff’s new podcast Coming Home. “I really enjoyed it, because it was exactly what I had been wondering – who are all these kiwis coming home, where have they been and what will they do now? There are some very talented young kiwis out there in the world, and I’ll be keen to see them tracked and what they are doing now they are back. Great interviews."
Sam recommends watching Godless. “If you loved The Queen’s Gambit and you want more of the same fun, Godless is from the same creator. It’s a Western that revolves around a town where most of the men have died in a mining accident, so the town is de facto controlled by it’s women, including Michelle Dockery (Downton Abbey) and Merritt Wever (Unbelievable). It’s fun, subversively feminist, and a quick, easy seven episodes to chew like some sweet ol’ tobacco.”
Amber recommends the new ep of On the Rag – about boobs – which came out this week. “I may be a bit biased because I had a hand in the show, but the latest On the Rag really is one of the best episodes to date. Watch it and you'll know why Alex, Leonie and Michèle are nominated as Best Presenters: Entertainment at this year's NZ TV Awards.”
Alex G recommends Only Connect. “It’s a BBC quiz show you can watch episodes of on YouTube and it’s so so so hard. One for the quiz fans.”
A couple of new documentaries from the Frame series have come out since this time last week. Three Ticks Chlöe followed the Green Party MP through her long, tireless and (spoiler alert) successful election campaign in Auckland Central, while Ace of Hearts meets some people who identify on the asexual spectrum and sets the record straight on a few common misconceptions.
Emily recommends Top 10 Holiday Parks. “I’m staying at one like 20 minutes from my house [this rec was filed last weekend] and the kids have been so entertained I’ve barely seen them. Obviously if you don’t have kids you would never go to one – that goes without saying.”
Lucy recommends these $2 cloths from KMart – and buying a cheap fan while you’re there instead of waiting until December / January when they’re all sold out and only the expensive ones are left. “It happens every year.”
On last week’s Business is Boring, Simon spoke with Nada Piatek, co-founder of Again Again. If you own a Keep Cup but keep forgetting to take it with you (don’t look at me) this company runs a scheme where you can effectively rent a reusable metal cup from the cafe for a $3 deposit, which you get back when you return it. I also just love drinking out of metal so it’s win-win.
Supermarket time! Toby Morris recommends baked strawberries. “Just a sensational treat. They're so tiny and packed full of flavour. Move over raisins, there's a nice 'nature's candy' in town. Incredible impact food.”
That’s all for this week! If you’ve got a rec, a favourite lockdown YouTube channel or any other business to discuss please get in touch. See you next Wednesday 👋
