Laura Williamson
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Goodnight bunnies
Aotearoa New Zealand’s curious connection to a beloved children’s classic. Anyone who has ever lulled children to sleep with the bedtime story Goodnight Moon will not be surprised to hear that its author, Margaret Wise Brown, was an unusual woman. It’s a strange book. There’s a wee bunny in bed in a “great green room”,…
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All roads lead to snow
The 1964 guide to the ski roads of the South Island. WE HAVE TO DRIVE TO THE SNOWLINE HERE, UNLIKE IN OTHER PARTS OF THE WORLD, AND THE ROAD UP TO ANY NEW ZEALAND SKI FIELD IS AN IMPORTANT PART OF ITS FOUNDING STORY. Early paths carved by bulldozers, winches and good keen humans opened…
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Book Review: Aspiring
by Damien Wilkins FIFTEEN-YEAR-OLD RICKY LIVES IN ASPIRING, A TOWN GROWING AT AN ALARMING RATE, LIKE RICKY HIMSELF, WHO HAS HIT 6’7” AND IS GETTING TALLER BY THE DAY. IT’S THE SECOND YEAR OF THE TRUMP PRESIDENCY. CLIMATE CHANGE FRAMES EVERYTHING. RICKY’S INTERNAL MONOLOGUEIS GETTING LOUDER. “THE SELFIE STICK CARRIED IN ITS TIP THE MOST…
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Flare – A Ski Trip: A NZ ski film by Sam Neill
Laura Williamson looks back at Flare, a classic New Zealand ski film directed by Sam Neill. Warning: Contains ski ballet. “FREESTYLE,” THE NARRATOR TELLS US, “BEGAN AS AN EXUBERANT REACTION TO THE CONSTRAINTS OF CONVENTIONAL SKIING. NOW IT HAS STRETCHED THE LIMITS OF WHAT’S POSSIBLE ON SKIS.” It’s 1976. Six skiers (five Kiwis and one…
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Let the good times roll
The 1964 guide to the small town cheese rolls of the South Island. THE CHEESE ROLL IS AN EMBLEM OF SOUTHERN HOSPITALITY. CAFES AND DOMESTIC DEITIES HAVE BEEN CLAIMING THEY MAKE THE ULTIMATE ONE FOR DECADES. IT’S A DIVISIVE DEBATE. DO YOU ALIGN WITH THE CLASSIC (GRATED CHEESE FILLING WITH A BIT OF EVAPORATED MILK…
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Book Review: Across the Pass – A Collection of New Zealand Tramping Writing
Selected by Shaun Barnett Across the Pass is like a lolly scramble. It takes you in lots of directions and it’s sweet as. The focus is narrow, sure, but there’s a wide range of voices and genres, including, but not limited to, poetry, prose, song lyrics, diaries, articles, columns and a fair bit of humour.…
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Book Review: Tussock
By Bruce Hunt Despite being primarily black and white, the photos in Bruce Hunt’s Tussocks feel, in both composition and tone, like paintings. Turns out Bruce is a painter, one who likes to head out, brush in hand and polyprop on legs, to capture the hills of Otago and the Mackenzie Basin. He also likes…
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Pants on fire
Revisiting the great exploding trousers epidemic of the 1930s. It was strange behaviour for “a quite respectable garment”. According to the Hutt News, “not long ago, in a country township, a man’s pair of trousers exploded with a loud report.” Fortunately, he wasn’t wearing them at the time and was able to throw the offending…
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Body of work: Ivan Lupi
From Italy to the Southern Lakes, performance artist Ivan Lupi is scratching at the surface of us. TIME BEHAVES STRANGELY IN STRANGE TIMES. WE KNOW THIS NOW; OUR LIVES HAVE BEEN PAUSED, OUR FUTURES ALTERED, OUR HORIZONS MADE UNCERTAIN. IVAN LUPI’S ‘A BIG HAPPY PLANET’ CAPTURES THIS UTTERLY. AN ONLINE VIDEO PIECE, THE WORK DOCUMENTS…