Takeout Kids (out now!) – Venus is Home – The Worst Person in the World
...and other recs this week
Kia ora, welcome to this week’s newsletter.
As promised last week, all four episodes of new series Takeout Kids are available to watch on The Spinoff now! The first one stars Rama (who early worms may have seen cracking up John Campbell on Breakfast the other morning) as she moves between home and school and Arabic school and her parents’ restaurant Petra Shawarma, director Julie Zhu and her crew gently capturing all the tender, funny and poignant moments along the way. Find 15 quiet minutes this week to give it a watch!
–Cal
🎧 New this week on The Spinoff Podcast Network
If you’re keeping up with Married at First Sight Australia (or want to but don’t want to have to actually watch it?) make sure you’re following The Real Pod [Apple | Spotify] Real Recap for a weekly debrief every Wednesday.
Stand-up comedian Joe Daymond is big into the business side of comedy – he joined Duncan Greive on The Fold [Apple | Spotify] this week to talk about his plans to shake up NZ media.
On Nē? [Apple Podcasts, Spotify] last week, guests Joe Pihema and Karen Leef joined the pod to talk about what “going home” means to them, the history of our urban communities and how to be good manuhiri on someone else’s land.
And on When the Facts Change [Apple | Spotify], Bernard Hickey spoke with transport minister Michael Wood about light rail’s heavy carbon footprint.
💿 Venus is Home
Mad says: “Venus is Home is the debut album from Erny Belle, New Zealand’s next big thing (calling it here first). Erny Belle is Aimee Renata (Ngāpuhi), based in Tāmaki Makaurau and Maungaturoto, and from what I can gather, extremely cool. If you’re into Aldous Harding or Lana Del Rey, you’ll love Venus is Home – my current favourites on the 32-minute album are ‘Hell Hole’ and ‘Sorry Not Sorry’. It’s a stellar album full of funny lines (“I’m full of shit and I admit it – shit shit shit”) and shocking lines (“I’m gonna go and smoke some P and put my baby in a washing machine and pray to god that a nuclear bomb’s gonna kill me”) in close proximity, and I’ve had it on repeat since it was released. And that was last Friday, which means you, dear reader, are in prime position to be an OG fan. Thank me later.”
🎥 The French Dispatch
Toby says: “The French Dispatch has popped up on Disney+, and it's Wes Anderson dialled all the way up to 11 on the vintage analog Wes Anderson dial – which is either a warning or a strong recommendation depending on your appetite. Impeccably staged costumes and sets, lots of right angles, symmetrical framing and clipped dry performances from a huge cast who seem like they're having a lot of fun. I really enjoyed the magazine office stuff (could've spent the whole movie in the editorial meeting) and overall it's pretty silly – but it's stylish and silly.”
🎥 The Worst Person in the World
Alyssa says: “Norwegian film The Worst Person in the World is coming out (at the movies) later this week. It’s one of my favourite films of the year – I think it’s very well made, and makes me feel a bit less shit when I feel like I’m the worst person in the world for very natural human thoughts/feelings. Lol.”
🎧 Things Fell Apart
Stewart says: “Things Fell Apart might not be Jon Ronson’s most engrossing work – this is the guy behind the Men Who Stare at Goats and the incredible podcast series The Butterfly Effect – but I’d happily listen to him read the phone book so I’ll take it. It’s described as a podcast about “the culture wars” and includes stories about religion, abortions, banned books and basically any other quote-unquote “controversial” topic that continues to plague social discourse today. Like all of Ronson’s work, it’s incredibly down the line reporting in that sort of Louis Theroux-esque way where the people he interviews are open and honest because they feel comfortable to do so. It’s humanising, at times disturbing, but ultimately just interesting.”
📺 The Tinder Swindler
Chris says: “If you've got the post Valentine's Day blues, I recommend Netflix's The Tinder Swindler for some absolutely out the gate love scam shenanigans. Or if you've already seen it and want more, try Love Fraud on TVNZ OnDemand for some even murkier affairs of the heart ”
🎧 Scam Goddess
Sam says: “If you’re intrigued by the Anna Delvey/Sorokin story but don’t want to spend ten hours watching Inventing Anna, I recommend listening to the first episode of Scam Goddess instead. Comedian Laci Mosley goes deep on various scams and scammers in the pod, and in the very first episode focuses on Delvey as delightfully bemused guest Paul F. Tompkins listens along. The rest of the episodes are great too, but this one is still the peak for me.”
OK, that’s all we’ve got time for this week. Please reply to get in touch and of course feel free to share with anyone else who might like to subscribe too. See you next Wednesday 👋
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