Who is Precious McKenzie? – A shock final rose – Conning the Con
...and other things we're enjoying this week
Kia ora, welcome to this week’s newsletter.
Who is Precious McKenzie? I knew he was a national icon, the type who was always on telethons and Celebrity Wheel of Fortune and got invited to the Holmes Christmas party. But I never knew what he did or why he was famous until I watched this week’s episode of Scratched.
His story is a remarkable one. Raised in poverty in South Africa, he was turned away from whites-only weightlifting gyms despite smashing records seemingly every time he lifted. So, he went and became a champion for England instead.
Then he came to New Zealand for the 1974 Commonwealth Games, and basically never left. By the next games in 1978 he was 42 and had nothing left to prove in the sport, but he was determined to win another gold medal – this time with a silver fern on his chest. That’s what Precious McKenzie did, and that’s (part of) why he’s famous.
–Cal
The Real Pod
This is a hectic week to be addicted to reality TV. On TVNZ, The Bachelorette NZ handed out its final rose on Monday, before The Bachelor NZ welcomed a fresh cavalcade of women onto the red carpet last night. And now there’s also a brand new season of Married at First Sight Australia screening four nights a week on Three as well? It’s a lot, some may say too much, but The Real Pod is all over it – join Jane Yee with Duncan Greive and/or Alex Casey this week as they wade through the great reality TV glut of 2021. (Read Jane and Tara Ward discuss The Bachelorette NZ final here, and Tara’s preliminary The Bachelor NZ power rankings here.)
UnREAL
Sophie says: “After watching the final of The Bachelorette NZ on Monday night I started rewatching UnREAL, the completely wild but also apparently not that far from the truth drama set behind-the-scenes on a US Bachelor-style reality show. It’s one of those series where every episode seems to have a twist more shocking than the last, which means I’ll probably have binged all four seasons by the time we’re out of lockdown.”
Conning the Con
Jane says: “Conning the Con is a compelling local true crime podcast that’s independently produced and released by the hosts, creators and subjects of the series. Sisters Emma and Anna Ferris take listeners on a truly bizarre journey through Emma’s experience of a Tinder date that led to her being conned out of hundreds of thousands of dollars. This original con is only the beginning of a story that uncovers a web of lies connecting a number of victims on both sides of the Tasman. All this and we’re only six episodes in, with the promise of more twists and turns to come.”
The Offspin
Cricket’s on today! If you’re looking for a way to pass the time between now and the first ball of the White Ferns vs England T20 this afternoon, have a listen to The Offspin, the podcast by cricket tragics for cricket tragics. In this episode, Simon Day and Alex Braae look ahead to the World Test Championship final in June before chatting to White Fern Frankie Mackay about how good the domestic T20 double-headers this summer have been for the game.
Nigella
Charlotte says: “I’ve been watching a lot of old episodes of Nigella Lawson’s various television shows this week. The denim jackets and silk robes, her iconic mezzaluna, the silver kitchen, the cosmopolitan rainforest music, the hazy transition shots – it’s all a huge vibe. Particularly in a week where many of us are spending more time at home, the lessons learnt along the way in these episodes are invaluable too. Nigella continually reminds us that cooking at home should be unfussy and enjoyable and that the best ingredients are whatever you have on hand. Also, there’s nothing wrong with returning to the fridge at 11pm for a second serving of whatever you had for dinner.”
Business is Boring
Exercising from home is all part of the new normal – but what if you can’t afford or refuse on principle to buy one of those fancy exercycles you can hook up to the TV (I want one of these bikes so much). This week’s Business is Boring guest has started a business to break down the barriers of exercising, offering affordable and accessible daily workouts over Facebook Live. Lisa Fong aka Move It Mama joined Simon Pound over Zoom to talk all about it.
Superstore
Tara says: “I recommend Superstore, the quietly brilliant sitcom on Netflix about a group of employees working in a chain store in the American Midwest. If you've ever worked in customer service, this show will resonate with you on a thousand different levels. It follows the frustrations and joys of working with a bunch of strange but loveable colleagues who, despite their many quirks and failings, are a vital cog in a giant capitalist wheel, and it's the perfect comedy to get us through these hectic times.”
Remember When…
Remember when… this new podcast launched last week? This will never get old. Anyway, there’s a couple more episodes out any day now! This week Jane’s joined by Sam Brooks and Toby Morris to relive the glory days of the all-you-can-eat dine-in Pizza Hut experience, then later in the week Duncan Greive and Leonie Hayden pop in to remember hitting the bins during New Zealand’s peak CD-buying era.
Duncan’s albums of 2020
Duncan says: “It says a bit about the bad vibe that was 2020 and a lot about me rapidly ageing out of relevance that my two favourite albums of last year were Miley Cyrus's Plastic Hearts and The Killers' Imploding the Mirage. Both are essentially heritage artists at this point, and both albums are sonically located in a pre-irony, pre-Black Monday 1980s. Miley’s been on a crazy roll these past few years, pairing a tough, raw leather-n-lace voice with hard drums and soaring melodies. The Killers are basically a Springsteen tribute band now, but with enough Nevada desert Mormon pomp that it feels fresh somehow. Cyrus' album came out in the pre-Xmas rush and Imploding the Mirage has just been reissued with extra tracks, which is my excuse for waiting until now to recommend them.”
astronaut.io
In a kind of Pavlovian response to lockdown, this week I’ve found myself back on YouTube trying to find something pointless but vaguely meditative that I can watch for hours on end. I already did marble races and the clever man who does hard Sudokus last time – what else even is there? Then I saw someone tweet about astronaut.io. It’s a never-ending loop of all the videos on YouTube that have zero views, things that have been auto-uploaded with titles like ‘DSC 4321’. Watching it is a bit like going through a pile of old photos you’ve found at an op shop, or ChatRoulette but without the horrifying prospect of human interaction. It’s definitely something!
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 👋