The woman who wants to change the way you go to the toilet
...and other things we're enjoying this week!
Kia ora, welcome to this week’s newsletter.
Who’s your favourite entrepreneur? A lot of people will say Branson, Bezos, Musk – but while I certainly envy their extreme wealth, I just can’t relate. My personal entrepreneurship idol is Billie Jo Hohepa-Ropiha, the guest on last week’s episode of Business is Boring.
Billie Jo is the inventor of BDÉT, a foam you spray onto your toilet paper to turn it into an environmentally-friendly wet wipe. You probably don’t think you want to listen to a podcast about wiping your bum, but trust me – this is one of the funniest, most inspirational and just all-round good vibes chats I’ve listened to in a long time.
I think the reason I find Billie Jo so inspiring is that she sat on her great invention idea for about 20 years before finally deciding to do something about it. Makes me feel like there’s still time for me to bring one of my ideas to market – any takers on a hair gel for dogs? Let me know.
–Cal
Scratched
When Jane Tehira’s family moved from the farm down to Auckland in the 1950s, the teenager grabbed the opportunity to start playing team sports with both hands. Playing a lot of different sports isn’t that unusual – it’s being talented enough to represent New Zealand at three of them that makes Jane Tehira special. One of the very first of a very rare club of triple-internationals, Tehira downplays her sporting achievements as “just something to do, I suppose”, which is part of what makes her such a legend. Meet Jane and her sporty family in the latest episode of Scratched!
The Real Pod
Jane says: “I would like to recommend my own coverage of Married at First Sight Australia on The Real Pod with Alex Casey. Not because I'm an egomaniac, but because Alex and I are committing about a thousand hours of our lives to watching and dissecting this show each week and we would really love for you all to listen and share it with your MAFS-loving/hatewatching friends. This is in addition to watching The Bachelor NZ three nights a week. Subscribe to The Real Pod now to hear our spirits break, right before your very ears.”
Fall: The Mysterious Life and Death of Robert Maxwell
Duncan says: “John Preston’s new book Fall tells the story of Robert Maxwell, the holocaust survivor-turned-media tycoon who had a bitter and public rivalry with Rupert Murdoch before dying in mysterious circumstances in 1991. In his time he was one of the most famous and admired business people in the UK, while also being very bad at business – a huge web of fraud and deception was uncovered in the weeks following his death. Preston, whose previous works include The Dig, which became that excellent Carey Mulligan Netflix movie, constructs it like an extended feature – bags of sources, quoted judiciously. It's gossipy and pacy and fun – a frequently astounding psychodrama, building a portrait of an enormously complex man who towered over English society, before he fell.” (Also listen to Power, a good podcast about Robert Maxwell and his now-infamous daughter Ghislaine.)
Vixen Temple
Emily says: “I really love Vixen Temple’s videos on YouTube. She’s hilarious and breaks down stereotypes around stripping and sex work with grace and humor and a really awesome feminist edge. I really loved this video where she rips the stripping shown in TV shows – including the infamous and awful Riverdale strip. Vixen is a New Zealander and has a great blog and her Instagram is awesome too – everyone should check her out.”
Watching three months of Mike’s Minute in a single day
I’m not sure even Mike Hosking himself would recommend watching three month of Mike’s Minutes in one go, but that’s what José Barbosa did last week to find out what would happen. He lived to produce this very funny video – but at what cost?
Remember When...
If you haven’t heard the hellish screech of a dial-up modem in a few years, prepare to be transported right back to the dark days of slow internet in this week’s first Remember When… Join Jane Yee with Stewart Sowman-Lund and Sam Brooks as they reflect on all the mp3 downloads they lost when someone picked up the phone, and celebrate the time Stewart heroically managed to download an entire movie over dial-up.
The Moe Show
Mark says: “The Moe Show has been around for a while but we only discovered it during the most recent lockdown and it really saved our asses. Moe is a monster-like figure (in a happy way) who experiences and learns about all sorts of activities, from how public trains and buses work, to what goes on in animal shelters to how helicopters manage to move around in the skies above. There’s something for everyone and it’s as enjoyable for the parents as it is for kids. But be warned, they’ll get hooked and walk around chanting “Moe, Moe, Moe” until you cave in and switch the telly back on. Alternatively, you could always start drawing Moe during bathtime (side rec: Honeysticks bath crayons) to break up the screen time.”
Star
Sam says: “If you’re a child of the 80s and 90s, the new Disney Plus add-on Star has by far the best archive of content you used to enjoy and now want to curl up with like a weighted blanket of nice memories. I’ve spent the last week alternating between Ugly Betty (which holds up much better than you think) and Alias (which still feels like a strange blend of 24 and Felicity, both of which are also on Star), and it’s a great reminder that we used to expect so much less from our television.”
Green onion chips and champagne
Alice says: “It’s no secret that I am passionate about green onion chips, but I recently discovered a beverage match that took this finest of snacks to new heights. To celebrate the end of Auckland’s recent level three lockdown (which traditional understandings of “time” suggest lasted for only a week, but those of us who lived it know it was in truth much longer), I paired a bowl of the South Island’s favourite chip with a flute of sparkling wine. The crisp dryness of the fizz cut through the tangy, borderline OTT dousing of flavour atop the chip, creating a party in my mouth that felt nostalgic yet somehow very 2021. I was drinking a natural Spanish cava but am convinced this coupling would work with anything from humble Lindauer to the finest champagne. The chip, however, should preferably be Bluebird.”
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 👋