Debate | Issue 22 | 2016 by Debate Magazine

DEBATE ISSUE 22 | SEPTEMBER 2016

CONTENTS 4

Editor’s Letter

Prez Sez

6 8

Cool Shit Life is like a box of chocolates

Less Than Marvel-ous

The Edge of Greatness: Run This City

Graeme James

Phoney Obstacles

101 Average – Terrible Ways to Deal With Stress

After ‘Ours

What’s On

AUT Sport

In Short

Artist of the Week

Reviews

Puzzles

There’s How Many Weeks?

C O V E R I L L U S T R AT I O N B Y T Y L E R H I N D E

EDITOR Laurien Barks lbarks@aut.ac.nz SUB - EDITOR Amelia Petrovich

CONTRIBUTORS Amelia Petrovich, Conor Leathley, Ethan Sills, Reegan Hill, Kieran Bennett, Ashkan Shafaati, Benjamin Matthews, Carl Ewen, Niki Chawla, Tyler Hinde

DESIGNER Ramina Rai rrai@aut.ac.nz

ADVERTISING Harriet Smythe hsmythe@aut.ac.nz

PRINTER Debate is printed by Soar Print DISCLAIMER

Material contained in this publication does not necessarily represent the views or opinions of AuSM, its advertisers, contributors, Soar Print or its subsidiaries.

Debate is a member of the Aotearoa Student Press Association (ASPA)

This publication is entitled to the full protection given by the Copyright Act 1994 (“the Act”) to the holders of the copyright, being AUCKLAND STUDENT MOVEMENT AT AUCKLAND UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY INCORPORATED (“AuSM”). Reproduction, storage or display of any part of this publication by any process, electronic or otherwise (except for the educational purposes specified in the Act) without express permission is a break of the copyright of the publisher and will be prosecuted accordingly. Inquiries seeking permission to reproduce should be addressed to AuSM.

PUBLISHED BY

www.ausm.org.nz facebook.com/ausmdebate

EDITOR’S LETTER

Hey All! Last week I had a bit of a break in my typical day-to-day Debate schedule, and got to spice up office life by preparing an entry into the annual student magazine awards. The yearly award ceremony is held somewhere in New Zealand, and it’s a chance for student mag teams to gather round, celebrate, and strut their stuff. We send entries into the variety of different categories we’re presented with (best illustration, best design, best feature, etc.) a few weeks in advance, judges pick out winners, and then we sit nervously and hope to have our name written across at least one certificate. This year we’re headed down to Hamilton to attend the event, and after having a look at some of Debate’s entries, I’m feeling pretty excited to see how we fair against the big dawgs. As much of a mission as it is to go through every flippin’ mag with a focus strong enough to make my eyes bleed, it’s worth it to hear our contributors’ names called out as winners on the night.

the effort and creativity of our contributors. The quality of work that I’ve seen over the last couple years has blown my mind, cracked me up, and inspired me hugely. And I hope I’m not the only one who’s been affected like that, because that would mean no one is reading this magazine and that’s too tragic to think about. We have some top notch writers, artists, and general creatives on our little team, and I suspect we’ve only really skimmed the surface of what’s available to us at AUT. I know it’s a little late in the year to be doing a ‘come write for us’ call out, but I know the lot of you will be procrastinating in a number of weeks, and if that procrastination leads to a little something something the mag can benefit from, than I want to remind you that contributions are welcome year round. Don’t hesitate to get involved, guys, we’re always happy to hear from you. I’m forever looking for more team members to be hella proud of. Have an awesome week! Laurien

It’s a tricky business getting a mag out the door each week, and as cliché as it is, it really would be impossible without

CALLING ALL AUT STUDENTS – WE NEED YOUR VOICE!

How could we improve STUDENT LIFE? How can AUT ORGANISE and operate to better meet your needs? U R S H U LA A N S E L L AuSM President

“For once I felt I was in a safe environment where my voice was heard and I believe real change will occur.” Third Year Engineering Student

Kia ora guys It’s already week 9 and I can’t believe it! For all the people in their final semesters before they graduate, I can imagine you are counting down the days, because I sure was! We all only have to give it our all for a short time before we get to go on holiday again! In my job, I don’t go on holiday as I work all year, but I save time not having to go to class, so I am excited. Plan it out – look at how much time you actually have left to complete everything and study. Set yourself little goals over this time. You will need to prioritise everything you do from now and for the next seven weeks. It’s hard, but it needs to be done, trust me. I turned down a free trip to Australia for the weekend because I have an assessment due that week. Plan down to every hour, even your sleep… make sure you get enough. That being said, this isn’t the time to be sleeping in til lunch. Work away at things even if it’s for 30 minutes - that makes a different in the long run. Find different ways to cut down time on normal day to day things. For example, when I am sitting in traffic driving to or from work, I floss my teeth. I know how weird it may look to others, but it saves me time in the morning and it means it’s getting done. Try anything! You might find something that works for you. Good luck guys, Ursh x

“It was a great opportunity to express my views. Desna and her team really want to understand students.” Second Year Colab Student

“I want to share my experiences and help improve AUT ...particularly for my younger brother.” Third Year Creative Technologies Student

You’re invited to afternoon tea with Professor Desna Jury, Pro Vice-Chancellor of Student Success. AUT is committed to providing a rewarding learning experience for you. So how can we do better? Come along for a casual chat and enjoy some nibbles and drinks in a safe environment. Bring a friend – the more the merrier! Select from three dates at each AUT Campus: -

Tues 13 Sep 3.00pm – 4.30pm. City Campus Tues 11 Oct 3.00pm – 4.30pm. South Campus Tues 18 Oct 3.00pm – 4.30pm. North Campus

Confirm your attendance and preferred date to lisa.warner@aut.ac.nz

WA6 MB317 AF316

COOL SHIT End of the Rainbow Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve got two golden tickets to Rainbowâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s end to give away, kids! You and a pal could be rocking up to those colourful gates with an all-day superpass in tow! Just Facebook message us your name, campus, favourite theme park ride, and why you love it so much. facebook.com/ausmdebate

Bounce! Jump, the indoor trampoline park, has given us a double pass to giveaway this week! Spend an hour bouncing, playing dodgeball, foam-pitting, and having the time of your life! To be in to win, email lbarks@aut.ac.nz with your name, campus, and answer the question: Would you rather have the floor of your room be made of trampolines, or a foam pit in your backyard?

Clean Wise Earthwise cares for your skin, hair and body, with a firm focus on the environment, using Mother Nature’s ingredients as the building blocks for beautiful products. By harnessing the benefits of natural and sustainable ingredients. Earhwise creates gentler and more effective plant-based products. All Earthwise product packaging is 100% recyclable and products are never tested on animals. In addition, Earthwise products rapidly break down, making them kinder to the earth. Earthwise Nourish Natural Shampoo and Conditioner is not only designed with the environment and your health in mind, it’s crafted with essential oils and natural botanicals, the range is available in three divine varieties that are specifically formulated to suit and care for different hair types. The shampoo and conditioner are available for $7.49 each at all leading supermarkets nationwide.

Sim Win We’ve got three $50 Vodafone Sim Cards up for grabs this week! To be in to win, simply email lbarks@aut.ac.nz with your name, campus, and a romantic haiku dedicated to your phone.

Artsy Much? Gordon Harris has given us a $20 gift card to give out to one of you lucky dawgs! You could be walking away with some new artsy supplies if you’re the first one to Facebook message us your name, campus, and best art pun!

Life is like a box of chocolates… And Honey Bourbon. Amelia Petrovich Screw what you’ve heard, any event featuring copious amounts of caffeine and cocoa should be called The Amelia Petrovich show- I am obsessed with that shit. Naturally, I was in my element when the (disappointingly named) Coffee and Chocolate Show came to The Cloud in Britomart and, for the first time, I actually got to go. I both did and did not know what to expect, assuming that sweet and decadent goodness would present itself to me around every corner, but not actually having any idea what The Coffee and Chocolate Show was all about. Decadent it most certainly was, but I hadn’t banked on how educational, eclectic and enjoyably educational it would also be. Sure, the enjoyment may have come almost purely from the fact that I was scarfing down sample-sized pieces of brownie and heart-shaped chocolate while people told me stuff, but it was definitely there and that’s what matters. So in the spirit of all things educational, I give you all the weird and wonderful things that only a chocolate and coffee show could teach me. Try not to salivate too hard, but I won’t blame you if you do.

You need money, but honestly not too much. Having never been to this show before, I was uncertain what its main purpose was. I wasn’t sure if there was some big competition on the day, if it was a bunch of demonstrations, or if it’d be row after row

of stalls and samples. Turns out it was all of those things, but with a huge emphasis on the stalls (although there was a super bitchin’ cake decorating competition in which AUT students took out two prizes, congrats Anushka Dias and Komal Narayan).

turmoil when presented with free samples. On one hand (as I keep hammering home) I have pretty much no money and love trying awesome food with no financial commitment, like most people. On the other though, the thought of making polite small

This, in a way, didn’t really suit my broke ass, but I learned that the point of paying $20 for tickets was the discounts once you were inside. Even a penniless loser like me could see the value for money of $35 dollar liqueur and $10 bags of assorted meringue treats. It wouldn’t have taken much effort to have saved up a wee wad of cash and come away with a fair bang for your buck.

talk with someone, eating their food and then having to eloquently reject them puts me in a cold sweat. Thankfully, The Coffee and Chocolate show is all about samples, with nearly every stall and company offering a bunch of them. This means that by the time you get to them, the lovely stallholders have been giving away food and drink all day and are more than happy to let you try their stuff and have a cruisy yarn. I blushed a lot, but that was just me, I didn’t meet one person who made me feel bad for scuttling away empty handed (although oh my god, next year I am coming back with wads of cash).

If you think ‘coffee and chocolate’ just means coffee and chocolate, you would be wrong. This, I think, was probably the best surprise of the day. Not only were there stalls predictably full of coffee and chocolate, but we also had a look at cakes and baking, honey bourbon, craft beer, limoncello, and a massive stall bursting with American food (think Duff Beer and Twinkies). In actual fact, the show itself was focused on indulgent, fun stuff with a coffee-chocolate bend if anything. It meant I came away with a sweet taste in my mouth, but also a tonne of Christmas present ideas for the functional alcoholics in my family. Who knew that in a day I could come away knowing that limoncello can come in four, mouthwatering varieties and that the Jack Daniels bourbon I’d been drinking my whole life is piss in comparison to Batch10? *

Free samples are okay and you’re allowed lots of them even if you’re awkward. I experience a huge amount of inner

Just trust. At The Coffee and Chocolate Show, there are a lot of flavours that seem to make no sense. We’re talking curry-infused chocolate, rosemary and apricot truffles, and beer that tastes distinctly like rocky road. Just let it happen. These taste creators are zany professionals and they know their shit. Even if fusing Indian cuisine and candy seems risky to you, if someone is selling it to you at the Coffee and Chocolate Show you can bet it’s worth your goddamn while. No it shouldn’t work, yes it goes against everything your Mum ever told you about mixing foods, but my goodness does it work well. Let the experiments begin!

* Actually, Jack Daniels being a little bit shit is fairly common knowledge, I’ve just been an idiot

Less Than Marvel-ous Conor Leathley | Illustration by Tyler Hinde There is a reason that I no longer get excited for movie trailers. It was only a couple of years ago, when Marvel released their Comic-Con trailer (Dammit Hydra!) for Avengers: Age of Ultron online. It was the most amazing thing I had ever seen, and I think I watched it like once a day before finally seeing in the theatre. It looked like the film series was finally going to embrace a darkness that it had yet to engage in. Ultron looked menacing as the titular villain, looking like someone who would bring a destruction that the Avengers would truly struggle to grapple with. The penultimate shot of the trailer even showed a broken Captain America shield, which even lead to the possibility that one or more of the main crew could be killed.

It seems that criticism is parsed into normal comic book movies, and Marvel movies. “Oh, that was a great Marvel movie”, they’ll say whilst skewering Batman v Superman.

Of course, we know better now, don’t we. Ultron proved to be an overlong film that ultimately served as a trailer for the next releases of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) films. James Spader was fantastic casting as the voice of Ultron, who seems somewhat interesting if you watch a 10-minute clip of him on YouTube. But he was plagued by the same problems that every other villain has faced in these films. For every action there is a reaction; or, for every moment of meaningful dialogue or emotional gravitas, it has to be met with at least 17 straight quips, lest you forget that it is a Marvel flick. Yes, I know that I am doing the most internet thing imaginable (as John Oliver described it) by complaining about superhero movies. But goddammit, I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore. It’s because I love superhero movies. I grew up on fantastic films such as Spider-Man and the X-Men, before experiencing the best superhero movie year ever in 2008, with The Dark Knight and Iron-Man (sorry The Incredible Hulk). But since that highest of highs, there has been a noticeable drop in the quality of the films released, mainly due to the glut produced by the MCU. They used to be seen as exciting events, the release of comic book films, as it was generally only one a year. Now we are inundated with them, and that does not seem like it will let up anytime soon. The MCU feels like it has become a television series. This makes sense because the people helming their two most recent successes, the Captain America sequels, are the Russo Brothers, of Arrested Development fame. Everything is a bridge to the next, so nothing really matters in the moment. At risk of sounding like a wanky film snob, the

movies just don’t have ‘cinematic’ moments. Yes, they have the pointless action scenes and the rudimentary explosions. But there is no dramatic swelling score, or interesting camera angles. Perhaps the only interesting exchange of dialogue was by Vision and Ultron, two humanoid robots commenting on the future of people; every other exchange is seemingly punctured by conversation ending one-liners in a desperate search of levity. This juggernaut that the MCU has created is almost the worst thing that it could have done. There is far too much money on the line for these movies. They aren’t being created to make art, or to forward the genre – it’s because at this stage they are a perpetual cash cow. The president of Marvel Studios, Kevin Feige, has even come out and said that the MCU films will never be ‘dark’. Not that being purely dark is a good thing for your superhero movie, as most of this decades DC can attest. But it means that they will never tap an emotional level that they could be capable of, with the calibre of actors that they have on staff. To me, it means that their movies will never have stakes. Look at the most recent MCU film, Captain America: Civil War. One of the giant successes of that film that many people point to is the fight scene at the airport in Germany, which pitches Captain America’s team against Iron-Man’s. But why? It’s the equivalent of watching $20million in cash fall over itself. Going into it, you know that they aren’t going to kill each other. Sure, I’ll admit that it was cool to see the new Spider-Man in action, as well as the giant Ant-Man. But nothing of significance happens in it. There’s no point to it at all. The only reason that Captain America and Bucky get away is

because of plot reasons. My god, they didn’t even have the balls to kill Rhodey, even when he fell 3 million feet from the sky and is also like the worst Avenger (along with Hawkeye). He wasn’t a major character by any means, but then you would feel like thing actually mattered; that there are consequences to their actions. But, because they are always the ‘fun’ movies, they are allowed to skate by. Even with critics. It seems that criticism is parsed into normal comic book movies, and Marvel movies. “Oh, that was a great Marvel movie”, they’ll say whilst skewering Batman v Superman. Not to say that BvS didn’t deserve the negative press. It was absolute tripe. But that gets lambasted, whilst Civil War skates by when I’d argue that it is just as bad. It has a poorly developed villain with an inane plan. The course that the action scenes are totally dependent on plot. Tony Stark changes his ENTIRE arc because of one chance meeting. The worst thing is that after all the fighting, after Cap feels totally betrayed my Stark, he sends him a message saying ‘we good fam’, because the next Avengers movie is coming out soon. What even was the point? My totally unrealistic hope is that the films go along the same lines as the Marvel Netflix shows, Daredevil and Jessica Jones. Set in the streets of New York, they have real people having real conversations (which goes some way to showing how ridiculous all the one-liners are), with action scenes that have real stakes. Because they have a minuscule budget, they actually need to focus on character development, which they pull off in a superb way. Will the MCU ever go down this road? Of course not. But I’m still going to be that sucker two years down the line, hoping that they will.

The Edge of Greatness Run This City Ethan Sills

You have probably heard of her by now, despite the best efforts of those arranging the debates. At 22, she is the youngest candidate running for mayor, a fact that has helped get her name out there moreso than many of the other thirteen candidates equally neglected from the debates. Yet her age has still seen her treated as a novelty and seemingly dismissed by the powers that be as a serious contender in this race, but Chloe is not going to let that stop her. With a rising social media following and a number of thoroughly researched policies, her age is the least of her concerns when it comes to Aucklandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s future. She chatted to Ethan Sills about her stance on housing and transport, her reasons for running, and her vision for Aucklandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s future.

In the city at the moment, there does feel like there is a bit of an ‘us-versus-them’ narrative when it comes to millennials and baby boomers. What is your view on this and how do you think it can be solved? I’m not a fan of the adversarial approach, because I don’t believe that it leads to progress. I would much rather create something that has mutual gains and that parties on all sides of the fence understand why we’re moving in a certain direction. And that’s very different to how politics has been run in the past few years. The way I’m approaching this, which is perhaps from a millennial perspective, is to say ‘Look, I understand there is this plethora of opinions and this is where I sit on these issues, and here’s my rationale.’ I’m an open book, honestly, anyone can scrutinise anything that I’m saying and I will talk about it. I definitely think it’s not productive to pitch it as an us vs them, because as soon as that happens, dogma happens, and as soon as dogma happens we are no longer having a conversation about the issues, we’re just clashing.

One of your main policies is transport. Do you think we are close to having an efficient public transport system that can co-exist and begin to replace cars? Far too much is going into roads. We don’t need more roads. We have 800 new cars on the road every single day, and if

we’re consistently investing in roads, those roads will keep getting filled up. What we need is an uncongested network, that’s what the Rapid Transit Network would give us. I’m not sure why it’s forecasted for 2036 for completion, we need to bring that forward. I can only really talk anecdotally about replacing cars, because that is not something we can measure statistically. What we do have at the moment is a lot of people adding to congestion. In creating this congestion free network, something that co-exists but doesn’t feed into it – you see it [here] in Mt Eden, the bus has its own lane right down Mt Eden Road and then right at the end has to merge into traffic, and you get a chokehold. The Rapid Transit Network will allow for public transport that doesn’t feed into and overlap our roads, it allows them to co-exist and run parallel to each other. If public transport was superefficient, more and more people would use it. The biggest problem for people with getting onto public transport is that buses and trains aren’t turning up, that cancellations are happening all the time, and they aren’t frequent enough and don’t go where they need to go. I definitively think we can, and we will have a network that serves its people effectively on public transport. All these problems like housing and transport, they aren’t huge problems, other cities solved them a long time ago, and it’s not like these are specifically unique to us.

Onto housing. Now that we have the unitary plan in place, what is the next step to improving the process? The first part is ensuring we don’t have those artificial barriers to supply. The Unitary Plan by and large does that. I believe that’s not where things end, we need to ensure effective governance of land supply, particularly land use, over the next 30 years, the buck doesn’t stop at the unitary plan being passed. The second part is allowing people to actually build in an efficient and effective way. If you talk to anyone who’s ever been through the consenting process, it’s extremely bureaucratic, super frustrating, and a lot of people have actually given up on development. What I think we really do need is to modernise it a little and put it online. The third part is making building happen, kind of forcing their hand. That’s where my rates reform comes into it. 79 percent of the [rates] breakdown is made up of capital value [which is] made up of two main things: improvement value and land value. Land value is the face value of the land unimproved. Improvement value is whatever you build on the land. I have a problem where, right now, we’re taxing people for improvement value, we’re taxing people for solving our housing crisis, for innovating the community. What we’re allowing with this system is people who aren’t building things to benefit, because they pay less tax, less rates, and are able to just sit on land and speculate and land bank. The words I’ve been using are holding the

community to ransom. Where local government can act on that… and that is in changing rates [to a land value system]. It would become inefficient for them to use their land inefficiently. [The fourth path is] to see Parliament recognise need for real investment and actually provide those finances to Auckland. In OECD. The average spend in local government is 30 percent of government spending. In New Zealand, it’s a dismal 11 percent. We cannot expect an international city if we’re operating with less than half the resources of international cities.

One of Len Brown’s main policies was to try and make Auckland the most liveable city. What is your view on public services such as libraries, tourism and events? Do you think council needs to put more focus on that, or do you think it has become distracted by the most liveable city motto of the past few years? Talking about the most liveable city, the measure we seem to keep referring to is the Economist’s most liveable city scale. There are five measures on that, and none of them refer to the likes of recreation, or community, they are all to do with the amenities. I think the metric is wrong. I think that in aiming to be the most liveable city on that scale… it misses the point of a lot of different things. I think culture a huge thing. I found that speaking in South Auckland… it’s quite interesting, looking at the differences in

All these problems like housing and transport, they aren’t huge problems, other cities solved them a long time ago, and it’s not like these are specifically unique to us. what the audiences in SA want. In Albert-Eden, the concern is definitely on the council, whereas in South, the focus was on what the local wards can do, because people are quite concerned with their community, and they want to see the arts in particular celebrated. One of the big comparisons which keeps coming up is the investment in sports versus the investment in culture, and that’s something that I find incredibly important, and that’s what will make our city more vibrant. I want to see more public art, I want to see artists taking ownership of our public spaces, which will contribute to our feelings of identity, people will begin to feel like they belong in spaces… but it will also help to revitalise all of our community centres which are currently being overrun by malls.

Why should 18-25 year old’s vote for you? I am quite concerned about the Auckland we’re going to inherit. What I’m worried about and what I’m working on is building towards this vision that will work for all Aucklanders. It is going to be representative and inclusive, because right now everybody who isn’t a ratepayer is being left behind, and my vision for Auckland is to see that our poor are provided for. I don’t think this is a generational issue, I think this has become a class issue. People are living on the streets and people are living in their cars and that’s a reality for Aucklanders. I was speaking to Chris Farrelly at the Auckland City Mission, and within three weeks he had buried two people who had lived on the streets, and that is stuff that we don’t see and that we should be talking about and

that is stuff I want to take responsibility for. And where we can’t necessarily act as a local government we need to force central government to act. I know that can cause political rifts but that is what being a representative is, it’s advocating for your corner.

Many young people I have spoken to feel disenchanted with local politics, or don’t see why it matters to them. What would you say to someone like that? This is the decision that decides what their city looks like not just three years from now but ten years from now, twenty years from now. I do definitely feel like right now Auckland is on a precipice so we are finally only realising now we have to be a big city, we’re not just this collection of suburbs anymore, we have an opportunity right now to continue to reinforce that and continue to spread outwards, and capitalise on the communities we do have and bringing people into those communities and densifying those to ensure that they do build up. [The council is] responsible for really mundane things like waste, and are also responsible for funding so many of the arts and cultural events that we see as well as our libraries and our arts gallery. These are things that add to the culture of Auckland and to see them disappear because someone is really concerned about ‘trimming the fat’ would be terrifying, it would be ghastly, it would see us lose our identity and, instead, I want to build it. So if people want to see a city they are really proud to live in, then they should vote.

Do you think that enough is being done at the moment to guarantee the future of young people in Auckland?

As mayor, what do you hope your legacy would be after you leave office?

Right now, no, definitely not. I’m… quite dismayed by other candidates proposals with regards to housing and things like that, because they are just more beige, more nothing is going to happen.

It would be giving Auckland a future. That sounds really cliché and it’s a nice piece of rhetoric, but it really is that. It’s laying the groundwork to see our city flourish, to see our communities empowered, and our art and culture thrive. I want to see people investing here, and not just in housing.

In your words, what do you think Auckland will look like in 20 years’ time? My vision for Auckland is to see it connected. I would see the rapid transit network completed in that time. People would be happy, they would smile at other people in the streets. We’d be technologically advanced so far as we’d have wi-fi on our buses and trains. Nobody would be living in cars, nobody. In terms of those living on the streets, we would be rallying behind Lifewise and City Mission and all those other volunteer services, to ensure that people are being looked after. Essentially, it would just be a thriving city where we don’t have this brain drain we currently have.

You can read more about Chloe and her policies at chloeforauckland.co.nz, or follow her on Twitter @_chloeswarbrick. A full transcript of this interview, including more detailed thoughts on transport, housing and the council structure, is available on ethansills.wordpress. com. Questions with the other mayoral candidates will be available next week.

What’s On? What’s On at AUT?

What’s On in Auckland?

On Friday, October 14th, there will be a Pink Ribbon Breast Cancer Appeal in the Hikuwai Plaza and outside the WF building. If you would like to volunteer for this event, contact emma.wingrove@ aut.ac.nz

UK’s favourite cult cabaret duo, Frisky and Mannish, bring their show Cabariot to the Auckland Live International Cabaret Season. A loud, wild, and expertly delivered evening of disorder, laughter, and pop music. The Auckland Live International Cabaret Season runs September 28th – October 2nd, and tickets are available at http://www.aucklandlive.co.nz/event/auckland-live-international-cabaret-season.

St Paul St Gallery is showcasing ‘Influx’ from September 23rd to October 28th. ‘Influx’ marks a moment where student practices within an academic context find a renewed sense of purpose, embedded in their wider political and social field. The exhibition brings together a diverse range of artworks that reflects tertiary practice as a time where many artists begin to develop a sense of political agency. AuSM is presenting Lumière, the 2016 University Celebration Ball on November 12th! Tickets are available for purchase from all AuSM offices on the City, North, and South Campuses, as well as from www.ausm.org.nz.

Coffee and Cream, inspired by Ministry of Awesome’s Coffee and Jam, is a free weekly lunchtime meet up for entrepreneurially-minded people who are keen to learn and share their ideas – while indulging in a little bit of free ice cream and coffee! Tuesday September 27th at 12:30 til 1:30 is the next meeting date, and will take place at the Grid AKL Innovation Precinct, 101 Pakenham St West. A documentary film by Emmy Award-Winning Director, Ken Stone, on the killing of prisoners of conscience for their organs in China. It’s showing at Academy cinemas on September 28th, and tickets are $10 and can be purchased by calling (09) 373 2761.

AFTER ‘OURS On September 16th, local jazz duo, After ‘Ours, released their debut album. Over the course of five years, they teamed up with the likes of Sharlene Hector, Kevin Mark Traill, and a whole bunch of other talented folks to work literally after hours, and produce the album. With mostly jazz

terms of technical challenges, there was maybe a few but we were surrounded by experienced musical friends that were always there for us when we needed.

vibes, but also hip-hop, soul, R&B, and pop influence, their sound is a diverse one. Debate had a quick chat to the guys this week so we could all get to know them a little better.

and we learned a lot. We had help and advice along the way from some friends which helped us down the right path. One of the biggest challenges early on was finding the right vocalists for the job. Luckily we were blessed to get Kevin Mark Trail and Sharlene Hector on board. They recorded amazing vocals for almost half of the album so we couldn’t believe our luck.

Five years went into the making of this debut album! What kind of challenges presented themselves along the way, and how did you manage them?

Nick Williams: Time was the biggest challenge. It was a very enjoyable process

being able to work with so many amazing musicians like Nathan Haines, Sharlene Hector, Kevin Mark-Trial, and many more. We have learned from each other, and push ourselves to play better and be more creative. I also enjoyed the mixing process. It’s cool to be able to decide how much bass or drums you want to hear on your track. NW: I love recording and all aspects of the production process. Mixing the album is very rewarding, when the tracks really start coming together and sounding good. Wehad an especially great time with mixing the album, as we flew to the UK to mix the album with Mike Patto. That was an experience we will never forget.

Michal Martyniuk: To be honest we didn’t face any major challenges that we had to battle with. Working with Nick was always fun and easy. We never argued. We usually go for the same thing so making

What’s your favourite part of the production process? What makes it such a good time? MM: For a start, I love being in the studio. Love the smell of the analog gear! I think

MM: The album is about being positive. It

this record was a pleasant experience. In

my favourite part of the production was

feels really warm to me. I guess anything

What film or film moment would your debut album best soundtrack?

but a horror movie would work... hehe NW: I’m not exactly sure what movie but it would be uplifting and positive, as this is what the album is about. It is very diverse so different tracks could be suited to different films. Who are your musical heroes and why do you admire them? MM: My biggest hero and influence was always Pat Metheny and his pianist Lyle Mays. I love everything about their band. They always move me and take me places, they’re always rehearsed and full of surprises. I have seen them live many times and I can’t wait to see them again.

amazing music! Herbie Hancock has always been a favourite. Such a great musician and amazing career. Steely Dan have also always been a favourite. So many great albums and amazing recordings using all the best musicians. This was my parents’ favourite music so I grew up to it. What drew you to jazz? Has it always been a sound you favoured, or did something/ someone turn you onto it? MM: Since I can remember that music was always playing in my house, my dad had a huge collection of jazz and funk. I guess that was a starting point for me but I was also lucky to meet great people in my life that inspired me and drew me to jazz from an early age.

NW: My musical heroes are Patrice Rushen, Bernard Wright, Herbie Hancock and Steely Dan. Patrice and Bernard were very young (16-18 years old) when they started

NW: My granddad was a jazz pianist. I started listening to more jazz influenced styles of music when I left school. Nathan

recording albums and produced some

Haines was a big part of introducing me to

jazz, so being able to work with him on this album was awesome! Any future projects/gigs we should be keeping an eye out for from you guys? MM: We will definitely do some more After ‘Ours, we are already working on new material together. I also have another project, Michal Martyniuk Quartet, where I write more jazz material – we just got invited to play at the Java Jazz Festival in Jakarta in 2017 so I’m personally looking forward to that. NW: We will be producing some more releases from After ‘Ours. Also, when our vinyl arrives at the end of this year we will have a vinyl release party, hopefully joined by our UK vocalists.

GRAEME JAMES Graeme James, a busker from Wellington, has released his first album of original tunes, and it is absolutely stunning! He’s got a big reputation for transforming pop songs with his covers, usual featuring a good solo on the fiddle, and as such, his original work has been highly anticipated. His lead single, Alive, has been featured in advertising campaigns, a television show, and named as a finalist in the international songwriting competition, Unsigned only, so he’s definitely one to watch! We had a chat to him this week about busking, his album, and what’s on the horizon.

When did you first start busking? And what kind of response did you get in the early days? I first started busking when my car broke down when I was in Gisborne for New Years in 2012. I was desperate for some cash, so thought I’d try my hand at busking with the loop pedal- it went so well I was back on the road in two days. In a stroke of good luck I unknowingly set up outside the Gisborne Herald and they came out and interviewed me. So my first ever busking session resulted in a feature in the newspaper- which was pretty great.

Any stand out interactions with people on the street while you’ve been busking? Good, bad, or otherwise? So many great times. Busking is completely unpredictable, so you never know what to expect. I’ve actually had very few bad experiences and so many amazing ones- spontaneous dance parties with hundreds of people, impromptu jams with amazing musicians, so many great characters.

Your lead single, Alive, has been smashing it! Congratulations! What has the experience been like for you, seeing one of your songs reach those heights? It was all pretty unexpected actually. I released the single last September and it didn’t really gain a whole lot of traction initially. It wasn’t until May this year that a bunch of people stumbled across it all at once and things really started moving, so it’s all pretty new and exciting for me. That’s the great thing about music in the age of the internet- you never know who is going to come across your music.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received when it comes to your music? Don’t take yourself too seriously!

If you had to liken your album to an animal spirit, what would you compare it to? Probably a Grolar Bear- half polar bear, half grizzly bear (courtesy of global warming these actually exist in the wild).

Any other projects or gigs from you we should be keeping an eye out for in the future? I’m heading out on tour with ‘News From Nowhere’ across New Zealand and Australia very soon –including a show in Auckland at The Wine Cellar on the 22nd of October. I’m super excited to be playing the new album live!

Phoney Obstacles Amelia Petrovich | Illustration by Tyler Hinde Over the last few years, I have pored over articles about millennials and our ‘technology obsession’, which is apparently deplorable and dangerous rather than just, you know, a skill and increasing necessity in first-world countries striving for interconnectivity. Of course there are pros and cons to every generational characteristic, but for the most part articles like these get up my nose and make me really mad. They’re condescending and extreme a lot of the time, implying that we’re all disengaged narcissists glued to screens. I know so many bright, incredible young people and am perpetually ready to defend our collective worth from anyone… but irritatingly, recently a brief loss of one specific screen left me genuinely floundering. I hate to admit it, but when my smartphone died last week I panicked. The world did not implode, my sense of self was not diminished, but as I toddled about completely phone-less for four days I started to realize just how reliant I am (and a lot of us are) on smart technology. I use the term ‘reliant’ pretty loosely, it’s not a matter of life or death, but losing my phone for a bit made me realize how it’d become my first port of call for so many of life’s necessities. Of course, when you lose that first port of call, that safe and comfortable harbour, you’re forced to explore creative alternatives. You just are and you have to because life goes on, even for lazy millennials. So these are the deficiencies and semianalogue solutions that four days without my phone highlighted for me. Hopefully you find some use for them and they serve as a

healthy reminder, lest we all become selfietaking cyborgs who forget how to be outside.*

I don’t know how to remember anything

I don’t know how to wake up

Holy shit, it didn’t become evident to me how much of a gem the ‘Notes’ feature in any smart phone is until this untimely tragedy. I have screeds and screeds of phone-notes written in nearly indecipherable babble to remind me about important shit (‘65218, Guetztrwinner, special burrito baby, classism and longform- increasing the gap’) and not being able to store and file my fleeting thoughts left me feeling incredibly transient and vulnerable.

Because my phone has an alarm clock function, I’ve never had to buy an alarm clock. There wasn’t really any way to ensure I got up on time aside from making my flatmates wake me up, which they would most likely be too polite and afraid of my oblivious morning drool to do. Solution: The best analogue solution would probably be to buy a freakin’ alarm clock, obviously. But since it was only four days and I had no spare sockets on my multiboard, my personal solution was to wake up consistently at midday and apologise profusely to everyone I’d disappointed.

I don’t know how to bank This is a bit of a lie, I do know how to bank because I’m still part of the age group that grew up standing in a National Bank queue with my Mum to deposit my $20 pocket money, but having no phone did make this significantly more painstaking. I’d forgotten that flicking cash around from account to account at the touch of a screen wasn’t a thing I’d always been able to do. Solution: It’s a bit of a bitch to do, but the way you handle this is walk places via your bank of choice and just goddamn speak to a person. All you do is ask to withdraw a certain amount and pretend like you are actually dealing with your own pocket money. $50 for four days? Sweet as. You’ll probably hold onto it for longer too if you’re anything like me because you’d rather starve than trek to ANZ to withdraw again.

Solution: I do believe that people used to carry around notebooks, diaries and pens to alleviate such worries. I, on the other hand, am nowhere near this organised or into future-planning. This meant my own personal ‘solution’ was simply to forget most things over the course of those four days. They may not even have occurred actually, I remember almost nothing about them and therefore am not convinced they happened.

I don’t know how to get home You. Can’t. Uber. Without. A. Phone. This was probably the biggest dilemma of all, because Uber has made my life so easy, I refuse to acknowledge anything else exists. Having to look up actual bus timetables again and resign myself to the fact that I may have to leave early in order to get home was a really rude throwback. Solution: Have a car or ride in a taxi. But that’s money I could spend on fixing my phone, and now I know what my priorities are.

* We won’t. This was humour.

AUT Sport

AUT dominate at the University Tertiary Sport Volleyball National Championships The inaugural UTSNZ Volleyball Champions was held at the ASB Sport Centre in Wellington on the 29-30 August. AUT sent down a Men’s and Women’s team to compete in the event, which featured a number of New Zealand and regional representative players from around the country. Despite this, the AUT teams were feeling confident going into the tournament, having beat UoA in warm up games prior to the tournament, but knowing anything could happen once they got down to Wellington. The AUT Men’s team started strongly with wins over UoA, Waikato, and Victoria University and progressed through to the semi-finals unbeaten. On the other court, the AUT Women were also dominating in pool play, finishing second in the pool and facing Waikato in their semi-final. The second day of competition saw the AUT Men’s team easily win their semi-final against Victoria and cruised into the final. AUT Women fought hard against Waikato, winning their semi in straight sets and booking their place in the final. The finals saw both teams represent AUT with pride, showing resilience and determination to win thrilling 5 setter finals.

In the Women’s final, the AUT Women overcame home town favourites, Victoria, who they lost to in pool play. However Vic came back strong in the fourth set and set a high standard in the fifth set. Before we knew it, AUT were down 8-3, but the AUT women made a strong comeback and came out the eventual winners 3-2 (25-21, 24-26, 25-21, 13-25, 15-13). The Men’s final was also a battle, with neither team gaining ascendency until AUT held their nerve to close out the fifth set and the match 3-2 (23-25, 25-19, 25-22, 22-25, 15-10). The UTSNZ Volleyball Championships is part of the ‘new’ tertiary sport calendar of high quality competitive events held through the year. The AUT Teams are as follows: AUT Women: Orijhan Falwasser, Kainga Vaipulu, Toni Arnold, Hannah Servitillo, Laura Houston, Tyla McMullen, Paige Taniora, Gloria Aiono AUT Men: Christian Tala’imanu, Antonio Esparza Flores, Jeremy Magele, Iutoi Va’ai, Tristan Hegglun, Dillon Petaia, Joseph Ligaliga, Perry Preston

UTSNZ Hockey, Netball, and Basketball Updates The Mid Semester Break also saw the AUT Basketball teams in action in the UTSNZ Basketball tournament held in Auckland at the North Harbour Events Centre and AUT North Campus. The field was strong with the all eight universities competing in the tournament in both the Men’s and Women’s Tournament, and we saw some great basketball from players from around the country. The AUT teams fought hard throughout the competition and played some great basketball. In the Men’s competition, the AUT team made it through to the semi-finals where they lost to a slick looking team from UoA. Lincoln University however, proved too strong for the University of Auckland, taking the final 73-71. AUT finished 4 overall.

AUT Women: Nikita McGruer, Sophie Hergot, Taylah Sykes-Martin, Courtney Wilson, Natasha Glasson, Lara Mead, Alicia Manuirirangi, Aliena Wallis, Vanessa Kiwa, Annabelle Jenkins. Coach: Karl Noyer, Manager: Whitley McGowan AUT Men: Trent Tagaloa, Jodeci Tana, Adam King, Marin Hakaraia, Quinn Witehira, Cameron Couper, Gai’an Fisher, Gabriel Heim, Theo Farrow. Coach: Ray Cameron, Manager: David Couper

The AUT Teams were as follows:

The AUT Hockey and Netball teams were also in action over the weekend of September 23-25 in their respected UTSNZ Tournaments held in Auckland and Wellington. It has been a successful year for the AUT teams competing in the inaugural 2016 UTSNZ Tournament calendar. These tournaments have provided our AUT teams with quality competition against some of the best student athletes from around the country. AUT Sport want to thank everyone who has been involved this year and is looking forward to building these competitions in 2017, making them the best yet! The 2017 UTSNZ calendar will be available shortly, contact AUT Sport to see how you can be involved!

Upcoming Events with AUT Sport

UTSNZ Hockey Tournament from September 23rd – 25th in Wellington

IFSS Rubgy Sevens on September 23rd at Hato Petera

UTSNZ Netball Tournament from September 24th - 25th in Auckland

AUT Futsal League begins September 23rd at AUT Sport + Fitness Centre

IFSS Netball is September 30th at AUT Sport + Fitness Centre

In the Women’s competition, the AUT team had a tough time, fighting a number of injuries and tough opposition, finishing 5th overall. The UoA Women took out the competition winning their final over Waikato University.

There’s how many weeks left?!

Reegan Hill

Keep your space tidy.

Keep your routine.

We’re officially on the downward spiral to the end of semester; we’re going to be under the pump more than ever. All those assignments are due soon, exams are around the corner and the stress is piling on. Even reading this article will be taking away from that precious little time we have left.

Now, this one is hard if you’re not a clean freak, but it helps to be organised, even if it takes you an afternoon to organise and tidy, it is calming. Studying in a mess is a big no, it is a subconscious stress factor. Having things in order around you leaves you able to focus.

Routines are what keep us feeling calm; disrupting it to study will stress you out. So keep to your schedule, keep doing everything you usually do, instead of spending your screen time on Facebook, spend it studying.

But here’s the thing, relax, breathe, and enjoy it.

Download Flux.

You’re probably thinking, enjoy the stress, the pressure and anxiety? Am I insane? Probably, but embracing this time is going to make it go smoother than if you let these stressful emotions get to you. Open your arms wide and take it all in, it’s part of being at uni and it will help you get through life. If you can survive the second half of semester two, you can endure anything. In order to keep cool, calm and collected, here are some things you could do.

Get yourself some chill music. Honestly, it doesn’t have to be Beethoven or Chopin. That stuff is supposed to help you study, but if you’re anything like me, it just makes me feel like I’m not doing enough in my life. Listen to whatever music makes you feel at ease, whatever makes you relax.

Flux is this super cool app you can stick on your computer, or jail broken phone. Apple has recently added something similar into their operating systems, but Flux works the best. You can set it to change the back light colour of your screen to a peach like colour instead of that harsh blue light that disrupts sleep cycles and is an innate stress factor. It even changes the colour as the sun goes down, and reminds you how long it is until you have to wake up.

Don’t go overboard on the coffee. If you read the Vices issue of Debate, you’ll know what coffee can do to your sleep cycle. As a short reminder, coffee makes your body produce adrenaline and can disrupt sleep cycles by about 45 minutes. Keep to your average amount, or even cut it down by a cup, it’ll help kill the stress.

An extra little thing I learned about stress and anxiety today was about Himalayan salt lamps. When turned on, the lamp prompts the salt to emit positive ions, which can negate the negative ions produced by technology such as laptops and phones. Negative ions have a negative effect on the body, so having a salt lamp around could be a great idea. Another thing you could do is to eat a load of nuts, greens and fruit, things like cucumber, avocado, pistachio’s and broccoli are fundamental in letting your brain work to capacity. Also, snacking while studying, or chewing gum helps stimulate memory retention. All those fatty foods like fries, McDonald’s, and pie really aren’t going to help you study, sadly, but they are still a great comfort food! Don’t be afraid to study in those fat pants you love so much either being comfortable when studying is a better idea than wearing skinny jeans and cutting circulation off. But whatever you do, just remember, you can kick ass.

101 Average – Terrible Ways to Deal with Stress Amelia Petrovich The entire world is slowly losing its mind. 1 in 5 New Zealanders say they suffer from workplace-related stress and 1 in 10 are unhappy with their own life-work balance, so for some reason I’ve taken it upon myself to try out all 101 ways to deal with stress suggested to me by a somewhat dubious online pdf. There are better resources for the strung out and lots of them are easily accessible, but hey, where’s the fun in that? Welcome back to: ‘101 Average – Terrible Ways To Deal With Stress’.

19) Look at problems as challenges This one’s worked a treat for the government recently. Housing crisis? Nah mate, housing challenge. Homeless problem? More like challenge, man. Unsurprisingly, this is an approach which hasn’t worked for them either, as both housing challenges and homeless problems alike still exist regardless of clever terminology, and are still proving to be both problematic and challenging. There’s nothing wrong with calling a problem a problem, because however it sounds, it’s what you do about

it that counts. If I go to wash my hair and I have no shampoo, whatever that is, it has to be overcome and surely that’s what’s important here. 2/10, I hate this tip.

20) Look at problems as challenges Go with as much of the flow as you can manage I’ve sacrificed #20 because it’s so vague and horrible it makes me want to cry. Instead, allow me to draw your attention to the fact that I’ve now written about #16- ‘Repair anything that doesn’t work properly’ two weeks in a row and only just realised. Sometimes chilling out and being flexible is hard, and I know that, but this seemed like an occurrence that I could roll with and adapt to suit my day rather than fretting over. So I repeated a tip and might look like a shoddy columnist nowthat’s fine, what’s done is done. You guys got to read a quality rant about irritating real estate, so no one loses here.

21) Unclutter your life On a related, flat-inspection note, I removed a whole bag of rubbish from my room and did that gross thing where you wrench hair out of your year old hairbrush and gag. I’m not ready to think about my wardrobe yet as cleaning that shit up has me in a cold sweat. Unclutter your life by all means, but ask yourself; at what cost? Stay safe.

IN SHORT

Craig Trial Suspended Due to Nausea

Study Shows Everything Harder When You Were Younger

Kieran Bennett The defamation trial against Colin Craig has been suspended after the jury, councillors and press gallery were all struck by incredible cases of nausea, with some members being airlifted from the court. The defamation trial against Colin Craig, brought to the court by a small, angry weasel, claims that Mr Craig actively lied during his election campaign. The weasel claims that Mr Craig not only deceived the public about his status as a genuine human being with thoughts and feelings, but also concealed an affair he was having with a wet ham sandwich. Over the past few weeks the weasel, wet ham sandwich, and Mr Craig have each taken the stand to describe their own version of events, including a number of sexually explicit text messages and emails between Mr Craig and the ham sandwich. The jury initially lodged a complaint after only the first day, saying that they feared for their physical and mental health. Now that Mr Craig himself has taken the stand, however, and described in detail the content of his messages to the ham sandwich, nearly the entire courtroom has taken ill. A spokesperson for the court has said the trial will resume when all members cease vomiting and a few members manage to stop crying.

Kieran Bennett Following the outcry over an NCEA level one maths exam, a new study has been commissioned and released showing that everything was in fact more challenging when you were younger. The study was commissioned in an effort to confirm your rosetinted bias that your youth was a time of prosperity, hard work and dedication. To no one’s surprise, least of all your own, the study has confirmed that indeed everything you undertook when you were younger was not only more challenging, but more fulfilling. The study compared activities that you did when you were younger, with things that young people do now. The study did not take into account generational gap, societal shifts or anything else that you don’t care about and instead proceeded to take a long, hot shit on everything the current generation does. This of course did not make anything they do any worse as it is already pretty awful. The report also discovered that today’s youth are held to a much lower standard than you ever were and that the struggles you faced were simultaneously challenging and fulfilling. It concluded that any difficulties faced by the youth today, if experienced by you, would be mere trivialities.

Never Again Amelia Petrovich The last time I caught a bus down the country I vowed “never again”. Last week after not heeding my own warning and booking a last minute ticket from Auckland to Wellington, I actually mean it. Never. Fucking. Again. It’s not so much the bus service itself that’s annoying or anything though. Everyone knows that it takes a jillion years to cross the North Island by road and it’s generally accepted that overland busses can be late, break down or stuff up in other ways (once I was on a wee bus that overheated half way around Lake Taupo. We all gave the driver our drink bottles to help cool things down, it was oddly unifying). Most of the time, Kiwi busses are alright… it’s the people who hop on them that create drama. This last trip of mine, the final straw that broke the camel’s dehydrated and muscle-cramping back, featured a woman sitting dead in front of me with her chair reclined down as far as it could go. She was very nearly in my lap, I sort of felt like maybe I should be giving her a lengthy head massage or something, except I was way too mad. Why the heck do people think that’s fine?

I’m going to come right out and say it, I don’t think all bus seats (or plane seats, or any seats) should be able to recline. It ends up being this hideous domino effect of rudeness, because as soon as you’ve got someone leaning back all up in your face, you either have to decide to cope with decreased personal space or recline yourself to even things out. This leaves the person behind you shocked, hurt and confused to be so squished until the entire bus is lying down in their seats wondering how they got there. Perhaps the most ‘adult’ thing to do would simply be to have a quiet word with the serial recliner in your general vicinity and ask them not to swing back so far, but frankly that’s terrifying. We’re New Zealanders, unapologetically critiquing a stranger’s actions out loud and in public isn’t really what we’re known for doing. And hey, this is a Kiwi bus service, right? Intercity, Manabus, all of them- they should accommodate New Zealanders and their natural reluctance to stand up for themselves ever. Not all seats need to recline. Maybe it’d pay to have half a bus with reclining seats, clearly marked and advertised, for people who do just need a lie down and are happy to be part of a human domino game. That way the whole ordeal is at least consensual, you know what you’re getting yourself into straight up and you’re not unpleasantly encroached upon. But the way the world is now, bus riders have no such luxury. Instead we are left squashed and silently indignant, cursing our fellow passengers to the inevitable mental chant“Never. Fucking. Again.”

Ashkan Shafaati Ashkan is an AUT PGDiploma Student in Digital Design. Check out more of his work at www.behance.net/Ashkan

Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s early in the morning. People pass by, shops open one by one, owners prepare for rush hour. Istikalal Avenue is waking. A series of experimental street photography at a famous Istanbul landmark. I wanted to see the streetâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s early actions through reflections in shop displays.

Flyer designs

‘Red Planet’. Photography and design, words inspired by Omar Khayyám poems.

Reviews

SCOTT B RADLE E’S PO S T M OD ERN J UK EBOX Aoatea Centre, Auckland | 5th September 2016 Reviewed by Carl Ewen

After their sold out New Zealand tour last year, Postmodern Jukebox returned to our shores to present a seven-show tour across our great nation, culminating in a show in Auckland at the Aotea Centre. With their signature style of delivering a vintage spin on contemporary pop tracks, Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox became a true global phenomenon since their first true viral cover of Macklemore & Ryan Lewis’ Thrift Shop, achieving over one million views in its first week online, and over four million views in its first year. With a rotating cast of truly talented musicians, vocalists and performers, you are never sure what will be instore at a live PMJ show, and the cast presented on the 2016 New Zealand tour does not disappoint! With two of PMJs original viral stars, Robyn Adele Anderson and Cristina

Gatti and American Idol alumni Melinda Doolittle (season 6) and Casey Abrams (season 10) in tow, combined with show MC and equally talented vocalist LaVance Colley, the line up on this show was spectacular!

McDonald, PMJs touring Tap Dancer, taking centre stage during the drum/tap battle, busting out funk and hip-hop beats from Salt-N-Pepa, Jackson 5 and Sugarhill Gang accompanied by bassist Adam Kobuta and drummer Chip Thomas.

Covering tracks by everyone from Justin Beiber (Love Yourself, Sorry), Gun’s N Roses (Sweet Child of Mine), Katy Perry (Roar), Britney Spears (Womanizer, Toxic), Megan Trainor (All About That Bass) and everything in between, PMJ had the crowd swinging, singing and screaming throughout their two hour set.

Also, during the final section of the set, woodwind performer Stephen Spencer even busted out a stunning saxophone solo of George Michael’s Careless Whisper that had the crowd standing in their seats.

The way PMJ rotate through their allstar group of vocalists throughout the evening is seamless with each artist taking turns at both lead and backing vocals. One of the true highlights of the evening, though, comes from Alexander

Basically, if you ever get the chance to see Postmodern Jukebox live in your lifetime, you need to get to the show. Judging by the response from audiences here in New Zealand, PMJ will most definitely be returning to our shores for more shows in the near future. This is a flawless cast that leaves you with the most invigorated feeling post show.

JE FREE S TAR LIPS T IC K

NEWS F ROM N OW HE R E

Velour Liquid Lipstick Reviewed by Niki Chawla

Graeme James | Album Reviewed by Benjamin Matthews

Like every other makeup obsessed person, I was going through a phase, a phase where I needed to buy all the high branded eyeshadow palettes or all the over priced lipsticks with the overpriced shipping charges! But not going to lie, my bank account may not be satisfied, but I definitely was after I purchased three Jeffree Star Valour Liquid Lipsticks, all priced at $18USD and $10.95NZD for shipping.

Every now and then something will come blasting at you. You won’t see it coming, and it’ll catch you off-guard. News from Nowhere by Graeme James has exactly done that. His album harkens back to a time before recording technology. You’d expect to dance to his music around an open fire campsite.

We’re all a little hesitant when it comes to putting in our card details at checkout, thinking: “OMG is this worth it, what if the products don’t get delivered to me, what if the products are damaged?” But I can promise you that these liquid lipsticks are amazing. The pink packaging makes the product very cute, and the actual bottle itself is as big as a normal lipstick, making it easier to carry around. The application comparing to other liquid lipsticks is so easy, I love the wand Jeffree has used for the lipsticks, it makes you very comfortable with the product within the fist use! The lipstick, once on your lips, doesn’t make them dry despite the matte finish. The products get delivered within a week, and come in a box with a photo of Jeffree and a picture of his other products, and the lipsticks are wrapped with bubble wrapping inside a cute pink paper, making it look like a gift. I really enjoy his Velour Liquid Lipsticks, and I’m looking forward to his other releases! Jeffree Star also has a range of Highlighters, Lip scrubs, and a Beauty Killer Eyeshadow Palette. His products are at an affordable rate and really worth giving a shot!

The titled track has a tap dance feel with its drumbeat, quite Irish-like. Violins bouncing their way through the song, with deep vocals, gives the song a jovial feel. With plucking violins and cheerful quick singing, Alive feels like a stone hurdling across the water. With harmonies reminisce of Mumford and Sons, and a soaring violin solo showing off high technical skills, it’s definitely a highlight. A slower paced tune, 21 Birds Of Paradise has piano with shimmering violins. With haunting vocals, deep but occasionally hoping to a higher pitch, makes the song rather confessional. Simple strumming of an acoustic guitar, When You Look At Me That Way is a duet between Graeme and a guest female singer. Home has groovy basslines and clicking guitars, while Highways ends the album with mournful violins. With the sound of lightening, thunder, and rain, it feels as if it’s the end of the night. One last song before everyone drifts off into slumber. Whether you’re looking for your next favourite folk artist or want some music to relax to, definitely check Graeme James’ latest release out.

Whoops! We messed up in issue 20…we gave Shakes’ Strange Tides album 2 stars when we should have given them 4! Our bad, Shakes, please forgive us.

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