The legend of Lee Ralph + WIN tickets to the Auckland Craft Beer & Food Festival
Plus other things we’re enjoying this week!
Kia ora, welcome to this week’s newsletter.
I had never heard of Lee Ralph before I saw this week’s episode of Scratched. But the second he quoted 1994 comedy The Mask, I knew I had found a new sporting idol. Not coincidentally, my cricketing hero Chris Harris also loves to quote from The Mask.
In skating circles, Lee Ralph is almost more myth than man. For a brief moment in the 1980s he skated with and competed against the best skaters in the world. But right when he seemed poised to join them, he was kicked out of the US because of Visa complications and effectively disappeared from the sport forever.
His skating exploits mostly exist in the memories of those who saw him competing at his peak. They remember him as one of the most fearless and aggressive skaters they ever witnessed, and for how he skated in bare feet. But the other thing everyone seems to mention is this kind of raw, poetic beauty to his style that no other skater could replicate. He doesn’t skate much any more – but when you meet him in this week’s episode, you’ll get some idea of what they’re talking about.
–Cal
When the Facts Change
When it comes to the complex intersection of government, business and the economy, nobody is able to paint a clearer and more compelling picture of what’s happening and how it affects us than Bernard Hickey. So we’re excited to announce he’s joining The Spinoff this week for a new weekly column and podcast. Created in partnership with Kiwibank, When the Facts Change is for anyone curious about what changes in technology, the global economy, finance, housing and politics will mean for them, their jobs, lives, communities and futures. If that’s you, keep an eye out for the first episode coming this Friday!
Can You Ever Forgive Me
Sam says: “Can You Ever Forgive Me on the Disney Plus channel Star is a great 2018 film based on the true story of Lee Israel (Melissa McCarthy, in a career best performance), a biographer who pivoted to forging letters from dead famous people to make some quick bucks. That makes it sound like a true crime story, but it’s actually a tremendous bleak comedy with one of the most realistic depictions of being a writer I’ve ever seen – all grime, no glamour.”
Dietary Requirements
If, like me, you’d love to know who in Auckland does a decent scotch egg, Facebook group Lazy Susan is probably the place to ask. It was created a couple of years ago by this week’s Dietary Requirements guest, food writer Anna King Shahab, and is now a thriving hub for crowdsourced food recommendations and opinions. Anna chatted to Sophie, Alice and Simon about what makes Lazy Susan so special, and the new book celebrating the Auckland food community that’s now been published as a spinoff to the group.
***WIN WIN WIN***
Dietary Requirements has a pair of tickets to give away to the Auckland Craft Beer & Food Festival presented by SkyCity. It’s being held at Spark Arena on Saturday, the 27th of March, with performances from Hello Sailor, Anika Moa, Zed and more alongside heaps of craft beer and food stalls. If you’ve ever been to the extremely well-organised and fun Dunedin Craft Beer & Food Festival, you’ll know what to expect – this one’s run by the same team.
To enter, just subscribe to Dietary Requirements on your podcast provider of choice and reply to this email with the best beer you’ve drunk this year. Doesn’t have to be a crafty! We’ll draw and be in touch with the winner on Monday morning.
GeoGuessr
Catherine says: “I recommend travelling the world via GeoGuessr, the location-based guessing game app. It’s a simple idea: you’re shown a street view image of a random location, and you guess where it is by dropping a pin on a map. The first round is gnarly as: one moment you’re patting yourself on the back for recognising a building style as quintessentially Portuguese, the next you’re faced with a featureless prairie that could just as easily be Siberia as Kansas. The obvious thing to claim about Geoguesser is that it makes a great substitute for world travel during the age of Covid, but that’s only sort of true. Even the most spectacular attraction looks kind of humdrum via street view’s awkward lens. But to me, it’s the banality itself that makes Geoguesser so charming. Most places in this world are pretty boring, truth be told – but they’re different from here, and that’s what makes them fascinating.”
Gone By Lunchtime
After Rocking the Dock with Sir Rod Stewart all weekend, the Gone By Lunchtime team returned to the studio this week ready to lay down their own masterpiece in support of Emirates Team New Zealand. They’re supporting Peter Burling and the boys the best way they know how – with a politics podcast that not just covers the latest 1 News Colmar Brunton poll results but all the other political happenings of the last fortnight as well. It’s your patriotic duty to give it a listen.
Palmerston North
Josie says: “I recommend the Rose City, Palmerston North. It’s got it all: a university, agriculture, a train station, art, a thriving cafe culture, and best of all: the Rural Games, an annual event hosting the greatest displays of human physical prowess our country has ever seen (speed fencing, timbersports, caber toss). Apparently the agricultural researchers in Palmy don’t put plastic cannulas in the sides of cows anymore, so that’s good, too.”
White Rabbit ice cream
Charlotte says: “There’s never not a bag of White Rabbit candy in my flat. If you’re into milk bottle lollies, you’ll love this crowd-pleasing Chinese confectionery – they’re milky, chewy and wrapped in some of the coolest wrappers in the lolly world thanks to the brand’s period of being state-owned. If you can get in quick enough, supermarkets like Tai Ping and Jadan in Auckland are now selling an ice cream version and they’re a perfect post-dinner treat. They also somehow manage to replicate the taffy chewiness of its candy form, but in an ice cream. I have no idea how they do it, but I’m impressed!”
The Real Pod
If reality television is any indication of current trends, it would appear train driver hats aka baker boy hats are extremely in fashion at the moment. Annie was cutting about in one on The Bachelor NZ this week, Coco and I think also Melissa were wearing them on MAFS AU this week too... Is it something to do with Peaky Blinders? Probably. Just putting this down here in case my notes don’t make it into either episode of The Real Pod this week – the Bachelor-focused one will be available right after tonight’s episode, and the MAFS one will be available tomorrow.
The Boot
Tara says: “I recommend sleeping inside a shoe – or at least, I recommend the idea of sleeping inside a shoe. The Boot is a giant shoe near Nelson that doubles as an Airbnb, with a queen bed and a shower built for two inside. Phwoar! No, I haven't stayed there, but The Boot features on tonight's episode of The Bachelor NZ, so get in quick before every other shoe-lover in the country books the place out for the rest of the year.”
Business is Boring
If there’s one thing New Zealanders love it’s going for a blat in the dinghy. But New Zealanders also love not destroying the planet – so what do we do with the info that one hour running an outboard motor is bad as having 38 new cars running at the same time? This week’s Business is Boring guest Bex Rempel has a solution – her company ZeroJet makes electric motors for small boats. She spoke to Simon Pound about doing business that’s good for the environment.
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 👋