Dame Ruia Morrison – Chris Parker on FIRST – NZ’s best live sport experience
...and other recs this week!
Kia ora, welcome to this week’s newsletter.
If you had a browse of the Queen’s Birthday honours list on Monday, you might have seen among New Zealand’s four new Dames the name Ruia Mereana Morrison.
Dame Ruia was a trailblazer for Māori and women in tennis, going all the way to the quarter finals of Wimbledon in the 1950s. She also featured in the first episode of our video series Scratched: Aotearoa’s Lost Sporting Legends.
The series is all about celebrating New Zealand sportspeople whose remarkable achievements aren’t as widely known as they deserve to be. For years, Dame Ruia fit that description, and it’s great to see her finally get some formal recognition. If you’d like to know the story of one of our newest Dames Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, have a watch:
This week’s new podcasts
On When the Facts Change [Apple | Spotify] this week, Bernard Hickey looked at the rise of fintech and the competition for the future of currency. On Business is Boring [Apple | Spotify], Simon Pound spoke to Steve Leftly from Myovolt about bringing wearable tech to the consumer market. The Real Pod [Apple | Spotify] watched the latest Apprentice Aotearoa and Masked Singer NZ episodes, and recapped the latest Drag Race Down Under with Chris Parker and Eli Matthewson. Cricket podcast The Offspin [Apple | Spotify] stayed up late watching the Blackcaps take on England as prep for the World Test Championship. And Gone By Lunchtime [Apple | Spotify] is recording right now and will have a new episode out later today! Subscribe and listen now wherever you get your podcasts!
FIRST
You probably know him from his hilarious Instagram, for playing David Halls in Hudson & Halls Live, as one of the hosts of podcast Drag Race Down Under the Covers or as a member of improv comedy show Snort. Or, if you happened to attend the same Christchurch primary school at the same time, maybe you remember Chris Parker as the frog from your school play. He’s the guest of this week’s episode of FIRST, and has some very funny stories about his first celeb crush, first nemesis, being a Mall Santa and more.
Detectorists
Jane says: “Detectorists is a lovely warm hug of a show, just what I needed when I was all full of a cold this past rainy weekend. The series follows a couple of detectorists (metal detector operators) played by Mackenzie Crook and Toby Jones, and the delightful friendship between the two. The two seasons on Netflix (there’s a season three out there somewhere too) lopes along slowly and nothing truly bad or amazing happens, but that’s the beauty of it. As one episode rolled into the next, I found myself slowing down and just enjoying it, which is a strangely novel feeling when watching TV these days. The characterisation is beyond endearing and while it may not be laugh a minute there are plenty of subtle and recurring gags, both clever and silly, that keep me smiling and quietly chuckling throughout. Also, I want to take up detectoring now.”
Lucky Dip and 5 Minutes of Fame
Sam says: “Māori Television has two new-ish shows that are a lot of fun: Lucky Dip and 5 Minutes of Fame. The former is an utterly deranged game show where contestants perform strange challenges like eating a roll-up in a minute for low stakes prizes, such as Māori TV merch. The latter is a singing show loosely based on The Voice, which simply has nice people singing nice songs and getting nice feedback. Best vibes only!” (Read Sam’s full review of Lucky Dip and 5 Minutes of Fame here!)
GREAT SOUNDS GREAT
Toby Morris says: “For anyone trying not to let their music taste slip into “the same stuff I listened to aged 16-25” territory for the rest of your life, I recommend the spotify playlist GREAT SOUNDS GREAT. It’s curated by the staff at Auckland record store Flying Out, who update it weekly with their favourite songs from whatever new releases have caught their ears that week. There's a wildly eclectic range of genres, and every week you'll discover a couple of new things worth delving into further (or at the very least something you’ll be able to say you heard first when everyone else is listening to it in a month).”
NZ Ice Hockey League
Alex says: “I would like to recommend going to the ice hockey. Top three reasons: 1) Extremely furious men skating extremely elegantly on ice. 2) Ice cold beers and piping hot pottles of chippies. 3) A frenzied ‘Sweet Caroline’ sing-a-long but ONLY in 20 second increments. At around $15 a ticket, a single game had more drama, intrigue and thrill than almost any so-called movie. Towards the end of the game, some of the more rarked-up supporters were bashing on the perspex like orcs, while a woman in the stands frantically rang a cowbell. With teams based in Auckland, Christchurch, Dunedin and Queenstown and the season running until September, I simply cannot rec it hard enough for a great Satdee night out.”
Conversations that Count – Ngā Kōrero Whai Take
In this month’s episode of Conversations that Count – Ngā Kōrero Whai Take, host Stacey Morrison is joined by Dr Libby Liggins (senior lecturer in ecology, Massey University) and Kera Sherwood O'Regan for a kōrero around climate change. Together they discuss how climate change is affecting our oceans, and how better incorporating local and indigenous perspectives can help us to mitigate its impacts today, tomorrow and deep into the future.
AA Roadservice
Leonie says: “I realised on Friday, when our car battery died the night before we were about to move house, that AA Roadservice is the best goddamn value for money I’ve ever received in my life. Last year, my elderly Nissan was towed from remote locations three times. On Friday, we discovered the battery for our 2011 Prius is nearly obsolete, and yet the mechanic came out, got us running again, and then showed up the next day with a new battery that he scoured the city for. I pay $66 A YEAR for that service. Heroes.”
Speculoos cookie butter
Charlotte says: “There is a whole genre of dessert food which is best nibbled straight off the spoon as you stand spaced out at the pantry or wander aimlessly around the kitchen. None of that cumbersome plate or bowl fuss. Think peanut butter, dulce de leche, condensed milk, ice cream... Queen of the genre though in my humble opinion is Lotus Speculoos (or Biscoff – same thing) cookie butter. It’s essentially spiced Belgian biscuits whipped into a creamy spread, and vegans will be pleased to know it’s animal-product free. There are likely multitudes of creative things you could do with this stuff, but I don’t think any beat the most simple – the only tool you need is a spoon. You might be able to find it in your supermarket’s international aisle, or you can buy some from Go Dutch or Safka.”
That’s all for this week! Please reply to get in touch and share with anyone else who might like to subscribe too. See you next Wednesday 👋
