What are you reading this weekend?
A new Saturday newsletter
Kia ora, welcome to this week’s newsletter.
How’s your Saturday morning looking? Fresh pot of plunger coffee, maybe a croissant or something? Nice. Need something to read with that? I’ve got just the newsletter.
Launched last Saturday, The Spinoff Weekend (née Weekly) is full of good reads you might have missed during the week on The Spinoff and elsewhere, assembled by features editor Chris Schulz. Honestly I was a little bit annoyed by how good his first edition was straight off the bat and my first thought was to start a petty intra-office newsletter rivalry. But instead I’m going to take the high road and recommend everybody sign up for it if you haven’t already. Happy reading!
–Cal
New this week on The Spinoff Podcast Network
An emergency episode of Gone By Lunchtime [Apple | Spotify] was called last Thursday to talk about Judith Collins, Simon Bridges and who might lead the National Party next. This could all be very out of date by the time you read this but don’t worry! There’s a new episode coming out later today.
On Nē? [Apple Podcasts, Spotify] the kōrero was all about books and favourite Māori authors, and Te Kuru chatted to Pānia Papa about the mammoth task of translating 100 pukapuka into te reo.
On When the Facts Change [Apple | Spotify], Bernard Hickey spoke to economists from Kiwibank and the CTU about wage rates and inflation rates, and the main takeaway was that we all probably deserve a raise.
On The Fold [Apple | Spotify], Duncan Greive spoke with former Wheel Blacks captain and current Attitude Pictures CEO Dan Buckingham about representing disability on screen and their exciting new primetime series coming to TVNZ next year.
And on The Real Pod [Apple | Spotify] yesterday Duncan joined Jane Yee to discuss some of the week’s least important news stories from New Zealand and around the world.
Listen, follow, rate and review wherever you get your pods!
Extremely Online: The fake world of Finstas
Everybody from “the teens” to Prince Harry has a Finsta (“fake Instagram”) these days. It’s most often treated as a space to be your true authentic self, as opposed to your real Instagram, which is by that logic… fake? The Shit You Should Care About team explains it better than I can in this week’s episode of Extremely Online.
Wonderful Christmastime
It is now December, which means you are allowed to start listening to your Christmas music and anyone who has a problem with that is officially the grinch. My personal favourite Christmas song is Paul McCartney’s ‘Wonderful Christmastime’. Lots of people really hate this song but I think it’s cool – I especially love the little three-note riff before the verses kick back in. I urge you to listen with fresh ears.
Wonderful Christmas trees
Ben says: “If you’re in Auckland and haven’t got your Christmas tree sorted yet, Taupaki Christmas Trees offers the genuine Xmas tree farm experience. You turn up, they give you a wavey-flag, then you go explore among all the live trees. Once you find the one you want, they come down with a quad bike and a chainsaw and chop it down right there. Great fun for kids and adults!”
New Eleanor Rigby
Lucy says: “Cody Fry arranged this version of The Beatles’ Eleanor Rigby with backing vocals sent in by fans (aka all the lonely people themselves), it went viral on TikTok, then he got nominated for a bloody Grammy for it!!!! Also, the chokehold TikTok has on the Grammys this year is kinda wild and you should all listen to our episode of Culture Vulture about it 😎😎😎”
How I Got Into Gaming
Sam says: “Britta aka Food4Dogs is a lovely and kind Nelson woman who is hugely popular on YouTube for her videos about all things gaming. In this video, she explains how she got into games – it’s extremely thoughtful and puts a spin on the form that I hadn’t really considered in my decades of gaming. If you want to read more, she also wrote about her gaming journey for The Spinoff back in 2019.”
Trapped
Chris says: “Yes, I realise the irony in watching a telly show called Trapped when we're into week 15 of lockdown. I also understand the ridiculousness of watching a show full of ice and snow when it's beach weather outside. Yet, I can't help myself. Two seasons of Trapped are available on TVNZ OnDemand, and the Icelandic murder-mystery is equal parts grim and gripping, an intensely claustrophobic experience in which everyone is stuck dealing with shit they don't want to. No wonder it's resonating.”
Handwash concentrates
Sophie says: “I’m a big fan of Ethique’s shampoo and conditioner bars – they’re plastic free, climate positive and NZ made. I recently tried their handwash concentrates to make liquid soap, too, which felt a bit like doing a fun primary school science experiment. I can confirm it does end up being the same consistency as a regular liquid hand soap.”
OK, that’ll do for this week. Please reply to get in touch and share with anyone else who might like to subscribe too. See you next Wednesday 👋
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