At what point do we admit that Aotearoa has a drinking problem?
We all know it’s the case - admitting that you’re sober or just generally not a huge fan of alcohol will usually get you side eyes rather than looks of admiration, and your choice of poison will often dictate how people read you at whatever shitty house party or basement gig you’ve ended up at. You’ll have a superiority complex drinking wine, a horny emotional breakdown drinking soju, and you’ll feel like Willem Dafoe’s rat twink from Fantastic Mr Fox drinking cider.
I’ve recently ended up reliant on a cold beer (or ten) at any given social function where I have to act like I’m not terrified of everyone in the general vicinity. While my general aura is more reminiscent of a hipster craft beer enthusiast, I’ve aimed to beat stereotypes by drinking the cheapest lager available at whatever venue I’m in - usually a can of Gisborne Gold, firmly crushed in my hand after I downed it five minutes into a set at the late great Wine Cellar.
I lean on a vague autism diagnosis I informally got when I was four to justify my need for alcohol at gigs and such. I’ll tell myself it’s a social lubricant, a potion of charisma that lets me go from a quiet gay nerd to a gay nerd that’s kind of funny - but in reality, the environment around me and the way I'm acting don’t really change. It’s just a mindset shift, as I lose the usual anxieties that hold me back from interacting like a normal person and make me seem like a bit of a dick.
There are other ways I can fix this. I can take my actual anti-depressants, and work through the emotions that tell me I’m not entertaining without a few drinks in me. I can suck up my pride and accept the fact that I’m kind of annoying, and people are allowed to not interact with me if they don’t want to. Or, better yet, I can stop convincing myself that I’m annoying in the first place.
But the drinks are a bandaid - a temporary solution to my inherent awkwardness that gets me through the night and makes the next time I see the people I was with sober slightly more embarrassing. Sure, some of my best memories of the past few years have been drunken ones - but it’s hard to say whether that’s because alcohol has made my social life better, or because I’m barely ever hanging out with peo ple past 5PM without a drink in my hand. Besides, can I even remember the shitty times I’ve had while drunk?
I spent last weekend with a Gizzy Gold in my hand, watching The Beths belt out
the last-ever set at The Wine Cellar before the back wall gets knocked down and the space becomes Double Whammy. They played the intro of ‘Just What I Needed’ by The Cars on repeat, slowly encouraging sound engineer and venue owner Rohan Evans to come on stage and sing it along with them. He did not want to, and very nearly got out of it until the crowd managed to kindly pressure him into taking the microphone - at least for a verse and a chorus before he scuttled back behind his sound desk.
The new space will be ushered into existence this coming Saturday, the 17th of August, with Whammy regulars Dick Move, Na Noise, Grecco Romank, Dbldbl, and Filth playing the new, 400 capacity venue to a crowd of dancing drunks. Whammy is often a safe space to drink, with people generally looking out for you and bar staff responsible enough to hold back liquor if you’re too drunk (don’t ask how I know this). I will be there, with another beer in my hand, having a great time as we welcome in a new era of Auckland live music. I reckon you should buy a ticket, grab a few drinks to support the venue, and rock out with me - but know your limits.
On that note of my ideal place to consume my ideal drug (Gizzy Gold at Whammy), read on for shouts of other drug stories - LSD, mescaline, wine, antidepressants, cocaine - have fun vicariously taking all of these drugs, and check thelevel. org.nz if you think about doing any of them to find out the safest methods and risks. Get them checked, take them in a safe place, and don’t watch any Yorgos Lanthimos films afterwards.
The Next Drug Crisis may be in our Medicine Cabinets
Drug use, alcohol, narcotics and addiction are often discussed issues in student media, and for good reason. But there’s another drug crisis that could hit our shores that has yet to take its fair share of airtime.
It’s a crisis that’s emerging here and overseas. It could put millions of lives at risk, even from just scrapes or routine operations. It could make treating UTIs and STIs (the famous fresher special) substantially harder. And it’s got nothing to do with what the drugs do; it’s what they soon might not be able to do.
Fight bacteria.
Act 1: Good Drugs Hunting
It’s almost far-fetched now to consider that people genuinely used to die from cuts, scrapes and minor surgical fuckups, but Alexander Fleming’s discovery of penicillin in 1928 ushered in a new era in modern medicine.
Yet, in his Nobel Prize acceptance speech, Fleming already warned that his miracle discovery could be ruined if we aren’t careful.
Bacteria, like all other living things, evolve; and some bacteria have naturally evolved to resist antibiotics. There’s numerous ways different bacteria actually become resistant to antibiotics; the specifics of these are far above the prerogative of this magazine.
The key issue is the introduction of antibiotics into an environment can effectively kill the competition for these so-called ‘superbugs’. While most bacteria die, resistant bugs get to take the resources in the environment and spawn countless newly-resistant clones to fill the void; these germs may even be capable of passing the resistance on to any new bacteria they find. The zealousness of mid-century doctors to prescribe antibiotics for next-to-any illness did no favours in slowing down the progress of resistant bacteria.
Luckily, this wasn’t too much of an issue for us industrious little capitalists in the mid twentieth century. If you were a pharmaceutical company in the ‘50s, you could pump out countless new antibiotic variants and be sure that health agencies would be keener to get their hands on them than guys in suits are keen to get into law lectures. But as time went on, the antibiotic compounds we were discovering became more and more specific, targeting smaller ranges of bacteria. If early antibiotics were sledgehammers, newer strains were more like twigs; and it’s hard to make money selling twigs.
As the new drugs got less broadly effective, less were sold; not
just because the drugs were simply less applicable to as many conditions, but also because doctors finally realised blindly throwing antibiotics at anything probably wasn’t helping.
The profit motive of big pharma essentially trapped us in a feedback loop. Concern over resistance reduced the net demand for antibiotics, which disinsentivised research on new antibiotics, which only increased the concern for resistance. Since 1987, precisely zero new antibiotic families have been found, and we now live in a time known only as “the discovery void”...
Act 2: Journey to the Centre of the Void
The continued rise in resistance and the fall-off in drug development is already causing problems The WHO was clear in a 2014 report that “this serious threat is no longer a prediction for the future, it is happening right now in every region of the world and has the potential to affect anyone, of any age, in any country.”
Dr Bryan Betty, Chairman of General Practice NZ, spoke on the AM show in early March, warning that health professionals have been seeing an increasingly prevalent amount of antibiotic resistant infections in Aotearoa. In particular concern to the demographic of this magazine, UTIs & STIs, are rapidly becoming more resistant to antibiotic treatments. Now one of our most commonly used anti-UTI drugs is basically ineffective.
Dr Betty also warned that gonorrhoea has developed resistance to all but one known antibiotic, and around the world cases with total resistance are rising. Gonorrhoea can cause chronic genital pain, infertility and infections in newborns, so to put it mildly, resistance in this STI is concerning.
Around 4.5 million people annually die from resistant superbugs, however that number is expected to surge to 10 million within two decades if we cannot get this under control.
So, what next?
Act 3: Eternal Crisis of the Drugless Time
Humanity’s collaborative effort to completely fuck modern medicine may well succeed if we don’t change course.
An easy step anyone can take to discourage resistant bacteria is simply to follow the instructions when prescribed antibiotics. A curtailed course can purge weaker bugs, but let more resilient bugs survive and reproduce. As much as it may seem trivial, finishing that prescription could potentially save a lot of pain in the future.
While Aotearoa now maintains some of the strictest rules and regulations on prescription, some other countries, particularly in the developing world, have yet to follow our stride. A massive medical culture shift is required in these places if we hope to get on top of the crisis, but it’s very possible; after all that is exactly what has happened here.
Pivoting away from a volume-based profit model in pharmacology to a system that still rewards the creation of new antibiotics may help us out of the void. In the UK, a system where developers are paid a licensing fee for their drugs to be used by the National Health System, regardless of overall production, has seen some success in encouraging the development of more antibiotic drugs.
Ultimately, these solutions are to fight the fire, not prevent it. The single best way to discourage resistance in illness is to prevent the transmission of them in the first place. Healthy warm homes, affordable healthy diets and better preventative health are some of the best tools we have to fight the antibiotic crisis, and while a lot of our solutions rely mainly on hope, these things are almost painfully simple.
While this crisis is looming, all it takes is a bit of political will to protect this medical miracle for future generations.
Written By Jamie Clumpas (he/any) CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Whining & Dining Obsession
So you like the rat man from Grey Lynn.
Every weekend, countless $15 happy hour margs at Coco’s are downed in order to quell the anxieties caused by the hottest accessory of every bang sporting bisexual. You’ll hear him coming before you see him, carabiner jingling from some low-waisted and wide-leg Diesel jeans. He lingers in the second-hand section of a record store, riffles through the racks of your local Save Mart and scurries along Karangahape Road on a Friday night. He’ll woo you with his knowledge of local sounds and will probably play the guitar at you. Unfortunately, you’ll let him. The f-boy has morphed into a loafer-wearing monster that quotes Joan Didion on command and has the uncanny ability to pull every Tamaki it-girl you’ve ever met. However, this tantalising creature may not be good for you. He is afflicted with the emotional availability of Barney Stinson and leaves a trail of tormented past lovers in his wake. As a point of principle, my friends and I refuse to fall victim to this man in our next relationship. So, how do we get over this uber-cool but ultimately disappointing love interest?
Some of the most independent and rational women I know have offered themselves up as cheese for this rat. Exhibit A, a friend of mine, Eileen is the perfect vintage thread-wearing prey for this predator. They typically drive her to Otessa Moshfegh levels of insanity. She was wined, dined, love-bombed and instantly dropped by the rodent man after they had been intimate. Rumour has it she checks his Instagram twice a week. He removed her from social media and yet I still hear about him fortnightly. It’s been five months.
Another friend of mine, Miriam, was driven to similar levels of despair. After a man noted her Baobei necklace and showed her his well-organised record collection, she knew it was all over for her. A few dates and a few nights together later it ended abruptly and all but mutually. Miriam found herself relating a little too hard to Sylvia Plath and no longer listens to Heaven or Las Vegas without feeling wistful. And every time she drinks a few too many natty wines, she leaves him a few too many missed calls.
These men seem to have one common thread: they outwardly present a façade of emotional intelligence and a desire for a relationship. They lure you in by presenting a multi-faceted character who aligns with you spiritually. Internally, however, all they want is a night or two with someone to fill that void created by the first person they ever dated. Harsh.
Over several conversations with friends, I have found that we all want to appear a little less psychotic and fall a little less hard. Simply, if you smell incense and hear the click-clack of
a square-toe boot, RUN! Easier said than done? Well yes, but maybe this archetype is worthy of further dissection. In this desert of a dating landscape, we look for easily identifiable traits to mark whether someone is worth pursuing. Horrifically, compatibility with a love interest cannot be calculated by the sum of the books they read, coffee shops they frequent, or films they can quote on command. It is all too easy to fall for, wait for it, the idea of them.
Before getting swept up in the smell of a replica perfume, stop and ponder. Is he prone to large declarations of affection without any follow-through? How sporadic is his communication? When you do talk, can you sense an agenda or price to his attention? How does he treat the other people in his life? These kinds of inquiries do go without saying, but I often find myself blinded by the romantic version I’ve created in my head. So blinded, that I forget to work out if I even like spending time with them. Regrettably, sometimes, I ignore the fact that they make me far too anxious for the benefit they provide. I think, more often than not, we can hyper-fixate on certain traits we find attractive and ignore some of the harmful yet material traits they carry. You won’t always get it right, but grounding yourself in the nonphysical traits you’re looking for can prevent unnecessary heartbreak.
Moreover, these situations end because of ill-defined relationship expectations. Sometimes it can be good to recognize what you’re looking for and understand that your needs may be incompatible with what they are willing to give.
But at this young age, there are, in fact, many people out there. Don’t be disheartened when the pet rat of your dreams, Timothee Chalamet, turns out to be a nightmare. There will always be another person out there; you just have to be open to some trial and error. And often, those trials can be oh-so fun. Or at least make for a salacious story to regale over dinner. Never forget that in the end, he’s just a rat, and rats come in packs. There’s plenty more crawling around your local Tatty’s, looking at baggy jeans and sporting some Sambas.
Written By Elle Daji (she/her) @ellemnopow CONTRIBUTING WRITER
How ketamine could be a new depression treatment in Aotearoa
Written By Amani Sadique (she/her) @amani.sadique CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Researchers at the University of Otago have recently proven ketamine to be successful in reducing depressive and anxiety symptoms in patients with treatment-resistant depression (TRD), and are now recruiting patients in Te Waipounamu to participate in a new trial of the drug.
Medsafe has yet to approve ketamine as a treatment for depression and Pharmac does not subsidise ketamine in any form as a treatment for depression.
Group Manager of Medsafe Chris James said “It is important to note that for Medsafe to consider a medicine for approval for a specific treatment, or ‘indication’, a pharmaceutical company must make an application. An application would include data demonstrating clinical efficacy and safety, generated through clinical trials.
“No Pharmaceutical company has yet applied for approval for a ketamine-based medicine to be used for TRD.”
Pharmac’s Manager of Pharmaceutical Funding Adrienne Martin said the company hadn’t received a funding application for ketamine for depression.
“Pharmac has received three funding applications for a similar medicine, esketamine for TRD. Based on the clinical advice received, two of these applications have been proposed to be declined.
“We have a third application for esketamine for TRD, post augmentation, where an individual has tried many or all treatment options available. This was reviewed by clinical experts on our Pharmacology and Therapeutics Advisory Committee (PTAC) in February 2024. PTAC recommended this funding application be declined.
“Ketamine is funded in hospitals without restrictions which means it can be prescribed by a clinician for any relevant use. This means it may be used for depression, but Pharmac does not have data on what clinical indication ketamine may be being used for.”
Researcher and Senior Lecturer in the Department of Psychological Medicine at the University of Otago Dr Ben Beaglehole said ketamine treatment is offered by some healthcare providers in Aotearoa.
“The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists has a position statement about ketamine and makes recommendations about how it should be used by mental health services.
“Es-ketamine (Spravato), a close relative of ketamine, is already licensed in Aotearoa but is not funded and is very expensive. There is also a limited amount of ketamine treatment occurring privately in Tauranga and in the public system.
“More widespread use of ketamine is probably dependent on several factors including clinician training/expertise, the results of longer-term studies, and the arrival of tablet formulations as most ketamine studies use injectable ketamine which is not feasible for widespread use.”
The Otago researchers’ report published in January said “The rapid-onset activity of ketamine on symptoms of anxiety and depression in patients with TRD has been reported from multiple research groups (Bahji
et al., 2022; Johnston et al., 2023), so the positive mood responses in this paper are unsurprising.
“As expected, we have confirmed ketamine’s antidepressant and anxiolytic activity in patients with TRD.”
Their new study aims to see if adding behavioural activation therapy prolongs the benefits of a course of ketamine treatment, as their findings showed symptoms were only reduced for up to a week after treatment.
Half of the participants of the trial will take part in an eight-week course of ketamine alone, whilst the other half will receive ketamine in conjunction with behavioural activation therapy.
Behavioural activation therapy is a type of psychotherapy which aims to reduce symptoms of depression by increasing activities that improve mood and overall well-being.
The researchers expect the trial to conclude by mid-2026, or when 60 participants have completed the trial. So far, it has recruited 12 out of 60 participants.
Otago researchers are also interested in the benefits of ketamine for other indications.
“We are in the early stages of applying for grant applications to assess the benefits of ketamine for other health problems such as Alcohol Use Disorder,” Beaglehole said.
However, Beaglehole has concerns that using ketamine for medical reasons would increase its use recreationally.
“My impression is that harms associated with ketamine are likely to be less than with amphetamines, much less than with alcohol, it’s probably less likely to cause a psychotic illness than cannabis, but I suspect there will be some harms associated with wider use of ketamine as a treatment. When that occurs, the benefits have to outweigh any harms for it to be used clinically.”
Beaglehole shared he thinks the social idea of drugs being “nasty” is a “social phenomenon,” and that classing drugs as legal or illegal isn’t the right way to go.
“I think it’s better to think about drugs as having therapeutic and harmful qualities.
“If a substance has therapeutic qualities that need to be researched and explored, I think that should be done. If enough research suggests that it’s got benefits as a medicine, I’d prefer it to be available.”
The NZ Drug Foundation has said there are no moves to decriminalise ketamine in Aotearoa, but there are moves afoot in several American states to decriminalise possessing or using ketamine as part of a wider move to decriminalise the use of psychedelic drugs.
A media release published by the foundation in January suggested that significant boosts to funding are needed in Aotearoa if we want a healthbased approach to drug use.
Antidepressants Are Saving Lives
Antidepressants saved my life. Despite the taboo surrounding mental illnesses and mental health medication, it’s important to show that it is worth talking about. I never thought I would make it past 2022 but with the help of therapy and medication, I’m here writing this article for you to read. Whilst some people deny the benefits of drugs used for the treatment of mental illnesses, I’m beyond grateful for them.
Psychiatrists believed that chlorpromazine was the first drug which treated the symptoms present in an individual, rather than masking their symptoms. In 1957, iproniazide was used in patients experiencing depression, and after a year, over 400,000 patients were treated using this antidepressant. Despite its success, in the 1970s, scientists started to be concerned about the side effects associated with these antidepressants; thus, they turned to exploring selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs).
There are four categories of antidepressants: SSRIs, mixed reuptake inhibitors, tricyclic antidepressants and monoamine oxidase (MAO) inhibitors. SSRIs are usually the first choice when starting treatment for depression, as they prevent the presynaptic reuptake of serotonin, which as a result increases serotonin levels. Fluoxetine, better known as Prozac, is the most well-known SSRI. Despite its effectiveness in increasing serotonin levels, its side effects include physical agitation, insomnia, constipation and nausea.
Mixed reuptake inhibitors are related to tricyclic antidepressants, and block the reuptake of norepinephrine and serotonin. Typical side effects include nausea and sexual dysfunction, but this class of antidepressants reduces the risk of damage to the cardiovascular system and reduces side effects associated with SSRIs. Moreover, MAO inhibitors are suggested to be more effective with depression, but they are not typically prescribed due to severe side effects. Eating or drinking anything that is high in tyramine can lead to hypertensive episodes, which can sometimes be fatal. Tricyclic antidepressants are now less commonly used because of the introduction of SSRIs. Common antidepressants include imipramine and amitriptyline. Side effects can include drowsiness, constipation or a dry mouth. Despite its side effects, multiple studies and reviews show that the combination of therapy and antidepressants is more effective than just using one of those forms of treatment.
Whilst there are various side effects associated with antidepressants, they have many positives. When people suffer from depression, they can struggle to engage in daily activities and tend to be in a very low mood. Antidepressants help improve a
Written By C Fonseca (they/them)
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
person’s quality of life, which can be quite low when suffering from depression. Since antidepressants are well-studied, they are generally safe and have been proven to be effective at relieving symptoms. Antidepressants can also help an individual follow through with the rest of their treatment plan. An example of this would be helping individuals to get out of bed to go to a psychiatrist’s appointment to review their medication, or to a psychologist to have their weekly therapy sessions.
Unfortunately, stigma is very prevalent in the topic of mental health, particularly referring to medication. For those unaware, stigma in this case refers to people being seen in a negative light due to their mental illness. This happened in my case, where people I know stopped talking to me as soon as they found out that I was taking antidepressants. There are a lot of myths surrounding antidepressants, which have contributed to this stigma. An example of these myths is that antidepressants are a quick fix, which is untrue, especially because finding the right medication is a lot of work and it can take a long time before the effects of the medication are felt. Speaking from personal experience, I still haven’t found a medication which completely works for me and it has been over two years. It is a long and exhausting process, with trial and error of individual antidepressants, or a combination of multiple. However, I have found some medications which worked to an extent, and despite the frustration of not finding the right one, it is reassuring that at least some drugs can help. One of the most common myths is that antidepressants simply make an individual happy without having to work through treatment themselves, which is false. I have been in therapy for over two years, and the antidepressants haven’t magically made my issues go away, but instead help alleviate some symptoms experienced on a dayto-day basis.
Stigmatising antidepressants creates a barrier to mental health treatment, as those who truly need the treatment hesitate to reach out for help when they need it the most. I hesitated to reach out for help, and so have many people I know. As depression is life-threatening, its treatment needs to be taken as seriously as someone with the flu. Just because it is not as physically visible as the flu, it does not mean that it does not exist.
So yes; I’m not afraid to admit that antidepressants saved my life. I am not at 100% yet, but I am still here, and that still counts. If antidepressants are saving lives, then why are people so quick to hate on them? Is it because of the medication itself, or is it because of a much deeper issue of people not viewing mental illnesses as real?
My LSD Breakup: From BoJack to Bushfires
It was the 5th of January 2020. My boyfriend and I arrived home to our muggy Grey Lynn flat. We’d been trudging our way through some family event, we hadn’t told anyone we were in the midst of an ongoing conversation about whether or not to break up. Our relationship had been rocky for a while. The discussion led us to the sombre conclusion that we should end our relationship. In our infinite wisdom, we decided to take acid together and watch Bojack Horseman, a sort of ‘last hurrah’ to what had been a pretty fun 1 ½ years.
Drying our tears and blowing our noses, we got the acid out and he instructed me on how to take it. I’d never done acid before, and throughout our relationship, he’d introduced me to quite a few recreational drugs in a way that made me feel safe. He patiently answered all my anxious questions.
“Will it make me feel nauseous?”
“Very unlikely.”
“Could it make me shit or piss myself?”
“No.”
“Is there any, even small chance that it could cause instant death?”
“No, but if you took an absolutely insane amount, you might fry your brain.”
“And how much are we taking?”
“One tab, which is not that much, you’d have to take the whole sheet to get close to the danger zone, and even then you wouldn’t die.”
Waiting for it to kick in, we passed the time watching BoJack get up to his shenanigans and intermittently pausing to burst into tears. Just as the walls started melting, I looked at our bay window, our curtains closed to keep the glare of summer sun off our TV screen. I noticed an unusual orange glow. I looked around our bedroom and sure enough, it looked like a photo from the 1860s, distinctly sepia and off-kilter.
“Does the room look orange to you?” I asked my now ex-boyfriend.
He looked around, “What the fuck?”
We hurried to the window and drew back the manky flat curtains to a sight most commonly found in American movies when there’s a scene set in Mexico. The colour graders had fucked up in the editing room and forgot we were in New Zealand.
Someone had dropped a 30% opacity orange filter over Tāmaki Makaurau.
It wasn’t just the sky that was orange. Everything was orange.
Being of a rational mind, I immediately assumed the most likely of causes:
An atomic bomb
A planet-destroying comet
A solar flare so large it was about to kill us all
But the funny thing about being under the influence of a potent psychedelic drug is that it alters your thoughts, emotions, and sensory perceptions. So, at that moment, while my anxious brain conjured all the worst-case scenarios for me to have a panic attack about, I felt uncommonly calm. My internal monologue sounded something like this:
Death has become a friend. My inevitable expiration feels harmonious with the cosmos. Everything that is must end, everything returns to a state of not-being. I can not fear death while alive because I am not dead, and I can not fear it while dead because I am it. Death is just the return to the state of non-existence, which I experienced before I was born. All we humans do on this mortal plane is create cultural and religious systems to manage the anxiety and fear of death. To live authentically, one must come to terms with death, to feel the despair and accept it as a natural element to living. The dead cannot mourn life, only the living can mourn the dead.
I gazed into the fiery expanse of the orange clouds and surrendered calmy to the inevitability of death.
“Oh man, the smoke from the Australian bushfires has travelled over the Tasman, turning the sky orange around Auckland,” My ex-boyfriend said, looking at his phone.
Overcome with relief, I replied, “I don’t want to break up.”
Written & Illustrated By Tashi
Donnelly
(she/her) @tashi_rd FEATURES EDITOR
My father turns me into an alcoholic:
My current diet is reminiscent of that of a classic student meal - instant ramen and Sensational Chicken, which is not exactly what you would call a ‘refined palette’. This is compared to my winemaker father, who has worked in the fun grape juice industry for over 20 years and got cursed with a kid who has no interest in wine.
Despite this contrast, a stroke of genius has recently hit! What better way to elevate my taste buds and impress my friends than by using my father’s wine knowledge and letting him pair some wines with some of my most commonly eaten kai? Because I’m a nice person, I’m letting you too, dear Debate reader, take a glimpse at the most glorious (and student-friendly) wine pairings. Dearest Dave has never faced a challenge like this.
While prices will go up and down with inflation, sales and such, these selected wines are all around or under $20.
Cheese is so very expensive. Describing a $14 cheese block as an “extra low” price truly bring you down to earth. You know what isn’t expensive right now? Peckish Cheddar Cheese crackers. I would happily trade two dollars for some ultra-flavoured snacks. No, I do not want to address the sadness of eating cheddar cheese-flavoured crackers because actual cheese is so expensive. Thanks for understanding.
Dave’s Recommendation: Sauvignon Blanc
Sauvignon Blanc, pronounced “sow-vuh-nyon blongk”, is a white wine (hence the ‘blanc’) with a refreshing sharpness. Dave recommends this as the saltiness of the crackers will go well with a light high acid wine such as this. Sav is a very student-friendly wine, with most bottles we looked at in supermarkets being under $15! Put this one in the fridge for an hour before opening for optimum tastiness.
Villa Maria Private Bin Sauvignon Blanc ($13.99 at Pak n’ save)
Montana Affinity Sauvignon Blanc ($10.99 on sale at Pak n’ save) Lower alcohol option
Stella’s Pick: Shin Ramyun
I love Shin Ramyun. With its spicy, salty aroma, Shin is a perfect blend of heaven and small green squares that vaguely resemble vegeta bles. This delectable noodly broth is my ride or die. While I am hurt by the price hike in the past few years from $1.50 to $3.20 and beyond, *cough* Break Time *cough* I will never leave Shin’s side.
chugging down this drink. Gewurztraminer, pronounced: “ga-VERTZ-trah-mee-ner”, is a white wine with a low acid content, typically providing aromas of rose petals, lychee, cinnamon and ginger with styles that vary from bone dry to a sweet late harvest. The Gewurztraminer Dave has selected is on the sweeter side, as it will balance the spicy heat of Shin Ramen.
Seifried Gewurztraminer ($14.99 at Pak n’ save)
Mission Estate Gewurztraminer Hawkes Bay ($16.99 at Countdown)
Stella’s Pick: Steak and Cheese pie
Nothing beats the adolescent mood-swings of Tāmaki Makaurau weather like a warm steak and cheese pie. When I’m feeling particularly fancy I pick the Big Ben ones - however, it usually ends up being whatever is cheapest. There’s something about the damp pastry of a dairy pie, despite being left under the heated light for hours, that will always leave me in a state of confusion and nostalgia. Perhaps it is that mystery that makes me keep coming back or maybe just low iron.
Dave’s Recommendation: Aussie Shiraz
Pairing one classic with another, Dave recommends an Aussie Shiraz with your pie. Quoted directly from the source, these Shiraz are “classic gluggable big reds from over the ditch. They do it well!” After adding “gluggable” to my dictionary, he assured me there was nothing more to say as the wine would speak for itself. So who am I to not trust the man who’s been in the wine biz since I’ve been in the womb? Precisely.
Jam Shed Shiraz ($12.79 on sale at Pak n’ save)
Wolf Blass Red Label Shiraz ($14.99 at Countdown)
Stella’s Pick: Veggie Samosa
Dave’s Recommendation: Gewurztraminer
Now this one looks like a tongue twister, but I’ve been assured the only thing your tongue will be doing is gracefully
While our Editor-in-Chief, Liam, is more attached to the humble veggie samosa than I, you can’t deny the impressive impact that this triangle-shaped godsend has had on university populus. Often filled with ingredients like potato, peas and onion with a dash of curry powder, the samosa is a perfect parcel of nutrients for the student on the go. Hearing the delightful crunch of a corner part is just one of those simple pleasures of life, you know?
Dave’s Recommendation: Pinot Gris
Pinot Gris, full name Pinot Grigio, pronounced: “pee-no grijee-oh”, is a white wine with a fruity vibe. Enjoys long walks on the beach and is a Cancer rising. Think pears, apples and a layer of citrus with this one. Pinot Gris is a very versatile
alcoholic: Pairing campus kai with student wines
variety, allowing easy drinking to soak up the potato in the samosa, ensuring to match well with any spice that may be in the snack.
Thornbury Pinot Gris ($11.90 on special at Countdown)
The Ned Pinot Gris ($15.79 at Pak n’ save)
Stella’s Pick: Original Oreos
I am well aware of the Oreo cream shrinkage conspiracy, and yet, they still are an immovable part within my food pyramid. While I have been a regular consumer of Oreos for some time, I have yet to pin down which way is best to consume this scrumptious treat. I go between eating them whole or taking them apart, for no real reason outside from momentarily stalling the process of going through most of a pack in a sitting.
Dave’s Recommendation: Riesling
Dave was not entirely pleased with the concept of me eating Oreos with wine, however, he is a good sport so didn’t walk away just yet. With another white wine, Riesling will provide a zesty grapefruit aroma with “flinty undertones”, whatever that means. “While the match is a bit of an outlier, the right Riesling will be delicious. They can sometimes be hard to find in a supermarket, but look out for these cheap quaffers!” While I proceed to also add “quaffers” to my dictionary, make the most of some good deals that can be had with select Riesling.
Stoneleigh Riesling Marlborough ($12.90 on special at Countdown) Jacob’s Creek Riesling ($10 on special at Countdown)
Accompanied with the mandatory chicken salt chips, this burger feels like it could solve all my problems. The incorporation of pickles is greatly appreciated and deserves its own sentence. If I ever had the opportunity to receive a Sensational Chicken voucher, I would start thanking my parents, the Academy and that bus driver who let me on when I left my hop card at uni. I sincerely hope every Debate reader experiences this delectable combo meal, as it has certainly changed my life and depleted my bank account.
David’s Recommendation: Prosecco
Bosco Sparkling Prosecco ($14 at Countdown)
Jacob’s Creek Reserve Prosecco ($13.79 at Pak n’ save)
Stella’s Pick: St Pierre’s Salmon and Avocado sushi
Look, I know it’s overpriced and not at all means close to what ‘good’ sushi is, however, just let me have this. While location-wise it’s accessible, this tasty lunchtime favourite is not exactly accessibly priced. Ah yes! I remember the days of $6 ‘Sushi of the Day’, it seems so long ago now. Simpler times
Dave’s Recommendation: Pinot Noir
A common favourite, the red Pinot Noir (pronounced “pee-now nuhwaa”) is a household staple. Being the second most planted grape variety behind Sav Blanc, I’d imagine out of all the wines mentioned so far, this one would ring some bells. Pinot Noir is known to hold an oaky smokiness, with hints of deep plum or black cherry, depending on the region the batch originates! Father states that “a young fruity pinot noir is a good choice with fatty fish like tuna and salmon.” Have at it!
Dashwood Pinot Noir ($16 from Countdown)
Diggers Law Pinot Noir ($23 on special from Countdown)
Stella’s Pick: Thai Sweet Chilli Doritos
Yum, yum, yum. These never get old. I’d like to think everyone reading this knows what Thai Sweet Chilli Doritos taste like, so I don’t need to explain the obvious. But just in case you live under a rock, or have some Dorito allergy, they’re a nice mix of tang and sweetness which leaves you feeling that you could eat 100 bags at once. A friend once told me these chips were spicy, and I think my brain erased who said it so the comment wouldn’t permanently damage our friendship. Understandable brain.
According to the man, myth and legend: “Fried chicken and sparkling wine is an easy go-to.” Within this sensational pairing, we are faced with the sparkling wine: Prosecco, pronounced “pruh-seh-kow”. Prosecco is like the younger sibling of Champagne, unbothered by them always taking the limelight, as they know both can be equally drinkable. Dave has provided the dearest ‘Debaters’ with wine options that are two different styles: One dry (Bosco), and one a touch sweeter (Jacob’s Creek).
Dave’s Recommendation: Rosé
Rosé! Just say “rose” but pretend you’re Canadian at the end. I like this wine purely because it’s a cool pink colour. From my limited experience, I’d say it tastes how it looks. Take that as you will. According to you-know-who, this is “definitely a challenging food to pair, however, the salty spicy Doritos will tend to go well with the fruity drier-style Rosé.”
Yealands Rosé ($12 on special at Countdown)
Sacred Hill Rosé Original ($13 on special at Countdown)
May you use this document wisely, and pretend you know everything there is about this funny fermented grape liquid. I hold no responsibility for anything connected to this article. All I ask is to be responsible, drink in moderation (ideally with Shin Ramyun at your side) and deadname Woolworths. Curse your noodle price-hikes, Countdown.
In society women and sport don’t fit together. Women are to be dainty and feminine so participating in competitive, exhausting or demanding sports are far too manly. These archaic and sexist views hold back women in sport to this day. Now we are able to participate, but gaining respect and equality is another story.
NFL cheerleading is a modern sport that has so little respect many wouldn’t even bother to give it that label. Cheerleaders are perceived as simple visual assets to entertain, look good and bring up the morale while the crowds cheer on the real sportsmen at play. These perceptions are entrenched in societal expectations of women and need to be challenged.
Recently released to Netflix was the docuseries America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, I expected it was going to be another empty and shallow show ironically displaying the issues of sexism and unrealistic standards for women within our society. My preconceived notions came from watching the CMT show Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making the Team on Youtube as a tween. That show was based around body shaming women so I was cynical about what insights this new show might display.
It was evident from the beginning of this show that the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders association did not have any dictation as to what was or was not to be captured. This series was created by Greg Whiteley, a filmmaker who has specialised in sports documentaries. This critical perspective foregrounds the show as it means the stories
being told felt authentic and genuine. It is not a puff piece that is trying to show the company in a good light. It is also possible that without the outside storytelling perspective of Whiteley, any hard work shown from the cheerleaders would have been disregarded as exaggeration due to the societal preconceptions.
This series highlights the incredibly hard working and talented cheerleaders who put their body and minds through extreme pressures to be the top at their sport. In episode 1 you feel the excitement of game day, the nervousness and pressure, then the intensity of tryouts and the amount of training that goes into it. The show details what is expected of these women. They must be fit and flexible, as well as having the looks and personality to match the expectations of the team. They must maintain these stands on top of their jobs and lives outside of cheerleading. After all of that comes Charlotte Joans, the vice president of the Dallas Cowboys and chief branding officer who explains that the cheerleaders get paid a pittance compared to the millions the Dallas Cowboys make in revenue. I had to pause the show. Hearing the spokeswoman and leader of the organisation speak them down was incredibly disheartening. She goes on to say, “But the facts are that they actually don’t come here for the money. They come here for something that’s actually bigger than that to them.” Suggesting the bonds they will make with their team will be more payment then any money could provide. Yet they slave away working incredible jobs such as orthodontics to make enough money on top of maintaining peak fitness and physique.
This is a harrowing part of the show. It is easy for women to blame men for having sexist and prejudiced mindsets but it’s not the only issue the show depicts. In order for women in sport to gain more respect, we must look inwards. Whether we like it or not we have been conditioned by society to see women as less than men when it comes to physical activity. This broadens over all sports, and with the encouragement and support of other women, then gender equality and society views of women in sport will start to change.
One of the defining features of a cheerleader is their looks. From big bouncy hair to small waists, short skirts and push-up bras it is an expectation for these women to look a certain way. It is made clear in the tryouts that if there is more weight than expected they will not make it, even if a girl is incredibly fit and capable. On the other end of the spectrum, if they are too thin they will be cut for looking ‘sickly’. After all the criticism, work and tears that go into keeping their bodies toned and petite, they are then punished with sexual and objectifying comments from men. They are being torn down whether they look right or not. There is no winning.
In the opening scenes of episode six we see the cheerleaders performing one of their most difficult dances at a game. The huge crowd buzzes with anticipation while they applaud and dance to the music. The show then cuts to a groundskeeper showing a group around the stadium which is now quiet and empty. At one point of the tour they show only the men of the group around the cheerleaders changing rooms. After posing next to pictures of the cheerleaders the tour guide explains how they sign contracts saying they will not date or sleep with the players but in his words “they do not have to sign that same contract with tour guides.” This left a sour taste in my mouth but displays how the series importantly highlights these moments of disrespect. The cheerleaders are a group of professional athletes yet their value is determined by their looks. It is profound to see how strong these women are to come out with smiles on their faces every single game knowing the way they are talked about and viewed. Imagine the quality and performance they could achieve if they were given even half the respect male sports teams get.
This series gave me a higher level of respect for professional cheerleaders but most importantly it made me think about my own expectations of women in sport. The Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders give their whole heart, mind and body to the sport but the brutal reality of it is they are seen only by their looks and never for their skill. To invite change in the hetero dominated industry it seems difficult but it is not impossible. In order to empower cheerleaders we must see them for
their sport and start commenting on their ability rather than their looks. That broadens over all women’s sport, where respect can be gained through looking at skill and never looks.
Should Crate Day be a Public Holiday?
Crate Day began in 2010 when the hosts of The Rock radio station got creative with their marketing strategy. They encouraged Kiwis to spend the first Saturday of December to consume a crate of twelve 745ml beers with their mates. During their twelve-hour show the hosts listed a number of “Crate Day commandments”. The list included the concept of drinking “thy crate of origin” and that the only ‘beef’ that should attend Crate Day “is thy beef for thy BBQ”.
Scorching sun, ice-cold beers and meat on the barbecue are all long-standing traditions in Aotearoa. But what started as a day to celebrate the arrival of summer with friends, has quickly divulged into a day of chaos for emergency services across the motu. A study from the New Zealand Medical Journal of hospital emergency department patients in 2019 and 2020 highlighted how alcohol-related admissions in 20 to 35-yearolds doubled on Crate Day in comparison to a regular Saturday.
what started as a day to celebrate the arrival of summer with friends, has quickly divulged into a day of chaos for emergency services across the motu
In 2021, the leader of the ACT Party, David Seymour announced that “under ACT, [Crate Day] would be a national holiday.” This comment referenced the controversial discussions surrounding Matariki at the time, and whether or not it should be observed as a public holiday.
When approached for a comment on this statement, Seymour claimed the comment was a ‘joke’. He stated, “It was really a satire of, first of all, the anti-alcohol, anti-fun brigade who permeate our country’s politics, and also the controversy of the time that the government wanted to make Matariki a public holiday, which it subsequently did. My comment was designed to satire those two points, but sadly, we live in a world where you’ve got to be very careful when making jokes.” Whether it was a ‘joke’ or not, Seymour’s original comment brought about a discussion on the culture of Crate Day and how Kiwis celebrate the start of summer.
Whether it was a ‘joke’ or not, Seymour’s original comment brought about a discussion on the culture of Crate Day and how Kiwis celebrate the start of summer.
Crate Day is a harrowing continuation of Aotearoa’s historically destructive drinking culture. This culture dates back to 1917 when pubs and bars were required by law to close at 6 pm which resulted in the ‘Six o’clock swill’. A 6 pm close was intended to encourage working husbands to come home to
spend time with their families. But it instead led to them consuming as much alcohol as they could between clocking off work at 5 pm and licensed establishments closing at 6 pm. Lasting for fifty years, the ‘Six o’clock swill’ played a major part in creating a culture of binge drinking that Aotearoa has yet to shake.
it’s impossible to ignore the day’s destructive consequences despite what benefits there are for the social well-being of Kiwis
A survey done by CoreData and One Choice NZ found that the COVID-19 lockdowns left a third of Kiwis feeling lonelier than before. Crate Day provides a reason to socialise in person and catch up with friends we’ve lost touch with. But it's impossible to ignore the day's destructive consequences despite what benefits there are for the social well-being of Kiwis. Dr John Bonning of the Waikato Hospital Emergency Department shared his personal experiences of Crate Day in a 2023 interview with The Post. He mentions patients “drunkenly falling over, injuring themselves, or cutting themselves on broken glass bottles; they’ve fractured bones and significantly bled after getting into pointless fights; they’ve seriously hurt themselves or others while drinking and driving.”
If Crate Day were to become a public holiday, I fear that we would see a drastic increase in people engaging in drunk and disorderly behaviour that endangers themselves and others. Moreover, if Crate Day were to become an official public holiday to celebrate summer it would be a government-sanctioned day of binge drinking. This would contradict section 237 of the 2012 Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act, which mentions the offence of “anything that encourages people, or is likely to encourage people, to consume alcohol to an excessive extent”. The government should not promote the harmful use of alcohol. Rather, it should focus on reducing the negative effects of drinking and alcohol intoxication.
To answer the question ‘Should Crate Day be a public holiday?’ Well, no. Seymour’s ‘joke’ trivialised the dangers the day can bring. Through promoting the day as ‘fun’, he has further cemented Crate Day as a part of Kiwi culture. Not very funny, David.
Written By Kyla Blennerhassett (She/Her) @kylablennerhassett CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Written By William Lyall (he/him) @willis.davies_ CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Under The Influence — A Trip Through Stoner Media
Midnight Gospel
The quintessential show your particularly suggestable friend claimed had “opened their mind” for 30 minutes in between rips from a phallic-shaped bong. Midnight Gospel is an endearingly strange show. It follows the adventures of a multiverse-travelling podcaster conversing his way between different simulated universes. The show is a surreal blend of podcast audio from ‘The Duncan Trussell Family Hour’ and scripted segments. Combined, discussions about psychedelics, death and spiritual enlightenment are crafted into a cohesive yet mildly disorienting narrative.
The visual storytelling of this show is near perfect. The blend of smooth animation, imaginative designs, and endless visual gags makes the viewing experience unmatched. A particularly stunning sequence is the ‘Clown Revolution’ scene from episode 2—an action-packed musical number following the minced remains of our protagonists. They morph into a titan of flesh and casually stroll through a revolution against oppressive mind parasites.
On top of the breath-taking visuals, the conversations between the main characters of each episode provide sharp insights. Their discussions allow us to interrogate our understandings of cultural taboos such as dealing with death, handling negative emotions and secular spirituality.
As a result of its imaginative intricacy, Midnight Gospel is more of a journey than a casual binge. It implores you to pay attention to both the stunning animation and often unrelated podcast dialogue at the same time. This viewing experience is delightful but would be wasted on those looking for a show to put on in the background. Midnight Gospel is not a show to binge whilst doing the dishes or scrolling through reels in a zombified malaise. If this review has piqued your interest, I recommend you sit down, place your phone out of reach, grab a snack and enjoy half an hour of top-notch TV.
Half Baked
I expected the Half Baked experience to be a feature-length Chappelle’s Show episode. A film chock block with high energy, crude, and sometimes poorly aged humour. In retrospect, a more accurate comparison would be a single low-quality Chappelle skit. Half Baked is a completely aimless slurry of lowest common denominator gags and unlikeable characters that refuse to cease their brain-melting stupidity for a second. The film perfectly balances feeling excruciatingly long whilst allowing nothing of substance to happen during the entire runtime.
Half Baked follows the story of Thurgood (Dave Chappelle) and his gaggle of life-long stoner friends and their mission to raise funds through a pot-dealing scheme, using the proceeds to free their childhood friend from jail before he gets... molested. This paper thin premise is dragged on for an hour and a half whilst the writers desperately try to pad the time with inane nonsense.
Although Half Baked is dumb, trashy and poorly conceived, I wouldn’t say it’s completely devoid of entertainment value. The inciting incident of a diabetic police horse being fed to death caught me off guard, but that’s all the film can offer. Shock value. The various fourth wall breaks, cheeky editing and absurdist humour are ultimately purposeless. This film is deprived of the structural framework and carefully written dialogue that separates a feature-length dime bag of cheap weed jokes from a functional comedy film.
In an alternate universe where Half Baked committed fully to its wacky premise, unlikable characters and absurdist humour, audiences might have gotten a perfectly passable popcorn film to enjoy in between hits of the Devil’s lettuce. However, as it stands, Half Baked exists only to maliciously absorb valuable time you could’ve spent watching paint dry or staring at a particularly uninteresting wall.
Stoner media is a unique phenomenon. It’s a specific subset of TV shows and films that pair well with a lava lamp, comfy sweatpants and an off-brand Pickle Rick bong. Much like children’s content, stoner media is mostly consumed by a less critical audience. These pieces of content are watched by people more easily pleased than joyless critics. Most of these critics prefer Hitchcock and Kubrick to Harold and Kumar.
However, as one of these unpleasable critics myself, I have often wondered if these collections of stoner media have merit. Or has an epidemic of reefer madness diluted the average stoner’s conception of quality? To answer this question, I have critically watched four pieces of content cited as best watched in a purple haze while remaining completely sober. A challenge only a truly moral boy scout such as myself could ever achieve.
Pineapple Express
Pineapple Express is the product of decades of stoner media evolution. In other words, Half Baked walked so Pineapple Express could hungrily scroll through the Uber Eats menu at 1 am. Would I say it’s a riveting experience deserving of the coveted Letterboxd watchlist status? No, but not all films have to be.
Pineapple Express follows Dale (Seth Rogen), a laidback document deliverer, joined by his pot dealer Saul (James Franco). Together, they embark on an adventure to escape the grip of cronies, kingpins and the corrupt police. The film hinges on the natural chemistry between Rogen and Franco, who propel the plot forward in a series of increasingly ridiculous shenanigans.
For the most part, this film is sufficiently entertaining, sometimes even becoming a captivating exploration of friendships forged in shared experiences. But, the film contains some glaring issues that become distracting while watching. For the majority of the runtime, Dale, a 25-year-old man, dates an 18-year-old high schooler. This choice is bizarre, especially for a character who is supposed to be a sort of every man that the audience can relate to. The pacing of this film is also frustratingly inconsistent. The film shifts between balls-to-the-wall action in one scene and then meandering improvised comedic dialogue in the next. On top of this, for a comedy flick, it is surprisingly unfunny. Some moments are painfully choreographed in order to manufacture ‘laugh out loud moments’ which fall flat.
Despite its flaws, Pineapple Express is a perfect film to exist in the background. Not watched, but casually consumed. It is a film to briefly pay attention to at the most exciting moments and drift away from when you need to take a load out of the dryer. If this is what you’re looking for, you won’t be disappointed by this run-of-the-mill Seth Rogen comedy.
Smiling Friends
Some may say this one doesn’t count. They would say that a show with such universal critical acclaim shouldn’t be classified as stoner media. Those people should get a life. My friends watch it high, so I don’t care what you slugs think. Now that’s out of the way Smiling Friends is a contemporary animated comedy following a charity with the sole aim of making people smile. The two protagonists, Pim, a chaotic ball of optimism and Charlie, a more cynical and grounded foil to Pim’s energy, attempt to make their world a better place. One smile at a time.
The show uses its premise perfectly to parody the insanity of the modern world. Smiling Friends balances painfully realistic dialogue against a world of unending chaos and characters built to satirise some of the most unflattering elements of modern life. Although the show often plays with dark humour and often irredeemable characters, it never feels mean-spirited.
For example, in the most recent episode, ‘Rotten’, the living snowman, learns that once the winter ends, he will likely melt. Permanently ceasing his existence. Initially, the idea of death terrifies Rotten, leaving him in a constant state of mortified screaming. Pim places Rotten in the office freezer to calm him, where he can live safely forever. However, as time passes, the snowman realises life is hollow without risk and novel experiences. So he asks to be taken outside and enjoy an afternoon at the beach with the rest of the Smiling Friends.
Of course, the writing isn’t the only high-quality element of Smiling Friends. The voice acting, music, and animation all indicate a level of care and effort seldom seen in mainstream entertainment. So, if any of you readers haven’t seen Smiling Friends yet, I recommend rectifying this mistake.
So, does stoner media live up to the hazy hype constructed by our cannabis-controlled frontal cortices? Kind of. It's hard to say with a sample size of only four. But this endeavour has taught me that you don't need weed to enjoy stoner media. With the benefit of a sober mind, we might appreciate this media more when we're not under the influence of the giggle bush.
An age-old ingredient in Hollywood is cocaine. If you had to replicate Tinseltown on an alien planet, you'd have to import tons of the nose candy. Similar to the events depicted in Damien Chazelle’s Babylon, Hollywood is notorious for a culture of hedonism. It is no surprise then that the industry is fueled by cocaine.
In the early 20th century, when anti drug laws were lax, cocaine, opium, and morphine were the popular drugs. Weed and heroin were also legal. The societal use of cocaine was widespread and was integrated into popular products and medicine. Coca Cola once contained the drug. Soon, cocaine became the era’s ‘white gold’. The more you had of it, the higher you were on the social ladder, because of its hefty cost.
A film like The Mystery of the Leaping Fish, released in 1916, highlights how permissible cocaine was in this era. The poster describes the comedy film as a “cocaine classic”. The Mystery of the Leaping Fish depicts a Sherlock Holmes-type detective solving cases while being a cocaine addict. In one scene half his face is covered in the drug.
In the early days of Hollywood, cocaine was already rearing its ugly head. Regarded as the first Hollywood scandal, actor Olive Thomas’s premature death is a melancholic example of cocaine’s fatal power. She often attended “champagne and cocaine orgies” with her husband. Drugs are rumoured to have caused her marriage to fracture and her untimely death.
In 1910, President William Taft made a report to the State Department stating that cocaine was “more appalling effects than any other habit-forming drug used in the United States.” This led to the Harrison Act in 1914. The act strictly regulated the distribution and sale of drugs. By the start of World War One in 1914, 48 states had outlawed the nonmedical use of cocaine.
Dr Hamilton Wright, the Opium Commissioner under President Theodore Roosevelt, warned that Americans “have become the greatest drug fiends in the world.” In 1911, he told the New York Times that the nation's drug habits had gripped America “to an astonishing extent.” Moreover, Wright stated that “our prisons and our hospitals are full of victims” of drug addiction.
Cocaine had turned from a ‘wonder drug’ to a drug synonymous with society’s destitute
Cocaine had turned from a ‘wonder drug’ to a drug synonymous with society’s destitute. But in the 70s, America and Hollywood relapsed. Cocaine was everywhere. President Richard Nixon declared drug abuse as “public enemy number one”.
The 60s and 70s marked the birth of the counterculture revolution. Individual expression was paramount, and with it came feminism, sexual autonomy, civil rights, gay rights, and the peace movement. From the counterculture revolution came New Hollywood and auteur filmmakers who had an identity that resonated and reflected a changing America. Filmmakers like Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese and William Friedkin were at the forefront of this cinematic revolution.
During the resurgence of cocaine in the 70s the drug became immensely popular with Hollywood. Known as the “champagne of drugs”, cocaine could easily be obtained on film sets, clubs, discos, hotels and dinner parties. One of the most famous cases of a Hollywood lifestyle fuelled by cocaine, is John Belushi’s. Cocaine was integral to the comedians and musicians’ life. The drug eventually led to his early demise at 33 years old. Blueshi had become analogous with drug addiction. His best friend, Penny Marshall, describes how people on the street would hand him drugs:. “And then he’d do all of them. He’d be the kind of character he played in sketches or Animal House.” Blueshi was so synonymous with his concoction of cocaine and heroin, that the combination of the two drugs is sometimes anecdotally referred to as a “Belushi”.
Landis once found a “mountain of cocaine” in Belushi’s trailer.
Belushi’s co-star Dan Akroyd and director John Landis both recollected how cocaine was involved in the production of Blue Brothers. Landis once found a “mountain of cocaine” in Belushi’s trailer. His addiction went so far that the drug started being accounted for in his film budgets, with the rest of the crew in Blue Brothers using cocaine as a ‘reward” for late-night shoots.
A significant number of films produced in the 70s and 80s had cocaine included in their production budgets. Actor Dennis Quaid, recalled that cocaine “was even in the budgets of mov ies” as well as that “everyone was doing it.” In the film shack, the drug was “driving everyone” on set, with a star of the film Michael O'Keefe describing the experience shooting the film as a “permanent party”. In addition, the cast of stated that there was “really good cocaine” on set.
Director Paul Schrader recounts having cocaine offered to him for the first time on the set of the 1978 film ing to Schrader, his associate producer insisted it would “help [Paul Scharder] work better”. His frequent co-collaborator, Martin Scorsese, was hospitalised in New York because of his cocaine addiction. In Scorsese's Raging Bull, the film's last frame is of the quote: “All I know is this: once I was blind, and now I can see.” At first, Schrader, who co-wrote the film with Mardik Martin, was confused by the inclusion of the quote. But Scorsese explained it was a remorseful reminder to himself about how his cocaine addiction nearly killed him.
To Scorsese, cocaine was a therapist that could help him through his struggles in life.
Scosese’s introduction to cocaine was born out of disillusion ment. After his hit 1976 film Taxi Driver the musical drama New York, New York. The film soon proved difficult for Scorsese when the production became tumultu ous. Because of Taxi Driver's success, Scorsese didn't want to be a one-hit wonder. He turned to cocaine to battle his inner demons. To Scorsese, cocaine was a therapist that could help him through his struggles in life. Until it didn't. In 1978, he nearly died and had to be hospitalised as years of abusing cocaine had finally caught up with him.
Hollywood’s obsession with cocaine carried on well into the late 80s and early 90s. Renowned author Stephen King was “coked out of his mind,” when he made Maximum Overdrive, his directorial debut in 1986. Jean Claude Van Damme, during the production of 1994’s Street Fighter, was reportedly consuming $10,000 dollars of cocaine a week. His addiction spiralled so out of control the studio responsible for the film hired a wrangler to try and control his habit.
Hollywood's thirst for the drug decreased significantly by the mid 90s, as the deaths piled up and harsher punishments were dealt. By this time, America had seen a dramatic increase in heroin use. But cocaine addiction is still an issue in Hollywood. Robert Downey Jr., John Mulaney, Demi Lovato, Bradley Cooper, and Drew Barrymore all have harboured addictions to
Illustration By Sahana Vijayaraghavan (she/her) @_sahana.shavij_ CONTRIBUTING Illustrator
Trigger warning: Drug abuse, and mentions of sexual and domestic violence
WHAT IS UP YOU GUYS, it’s Maia, BACK with another video! TODAY we are counting down MY Top 10 WORST Drugs! Don’t forget to SMASH THAT LIKE BUTTON and SUBSCRIBE!
10. RITALIN!
Doing Ritalin sucked, especially compared to everyone else! They all seemed to be having the best time ever, yet I was off to the side, calm, twiddling my thumbs and wondering if I was defective. It just turns out I have ADHD, and my experiences with Ritalin actually helped me figure that out! I now take it daily, and its actual prescription use is great!
That’s why it comes in at number 10 on the list – disappointing, but not AWFUL.
9. DEXTROMETHORPHAN!
Every time I did this dissociative drug, my body wanted to mimic the thick, dark red syrup of Robitussin and start its damn period. Imagine having no depth perception and trying to buy tampons for a bleeding part of your body you felt like was 10 metres away from your head! I still managed to have fun on this one (back before it was yanked off shelves), despite often coming to the conclusion that my birth was the reason everything was wrong with the universe.
And that’s why DXM is at number 9! Thought I’d dissociate away from my typical thought patterns a bit more.
8. ORPHENADRINE!
Coming in at number 8 – this one needs some explaining! Orphenadrine is a muscle relaxant anticholinergic drug. There are many drugs that fall into the anticholinergic category. I’ve linked a Wikipedia list in the description below.
I found the blister pack on the ground, accidentally overdosed, and went to hospital with anticholinergic toxicity. I was utterly delirious, tripping tits, and I’m finding it difficult to recount. There’s nothing I can compare it to – it wasn’t like any psychedelic or dissociative I’ve had.
To help you guys, I’ve also linked some Erowid bad trip reports of similar deliriant anticholinergic drugs, like Benadryl. There’s only one orphenadrine report available, and that person had a different experience to me, so the other links will describe the vibe better. Sorry to disappoint, guys!
7. BENZODIAZEPINES!
My ex-boyfriend and I used to order unmeasured, unregulated Xanax powder off the internet (I was almost arrested, but that’s a story for another video...) and lick it off the end of a knife. We decided to start weighing it safely and properly, but the benzo blackouts made short work of that. We lost so many days, and I don’t know how many times almost our lives.
I’ll never forget the time I came to in a bush right beside the Northwestern motorway. How many days had it been? Where did I go
6. CANNABIS
“Try a different strain.” “Was your shit laced?” it was just weed. No matter how much or little, no matter the source or type, it mutated my brain. It speedran the beginning-middle stages of my mental illnesses. I watched it happen on the backs of my eyelids. please listen
I cannot possibly explain in any short form the way my brain cannibalised itself I’ve never heard of any experience similar and I wish I would so I wouldn’t feel so weak ALONE the exponential speed that my thoughts multiplied the babbling the terrifying illusion that burnt pathways in my head consuming eating myself the neurons destroyed essence lost. The Paranoia the static the PSYCHOSIS! (the delusions I still carry) the fear the mind-reading the insistence the way I could not stop smoking because it might be OK this time I have to see if it will fix me this time instead of unravel me even more and reform me wrong
it was just weed it was just weed and I’ll never be able to explain
5. SYNTHETICS
I take the can pipe from my friend in the stairwell. Is she my friend? I can’t tell anymore. The acrid smoke assaults my lungs and my body begins to sway. Everyone is looking at me and I wish they would stop. Side to side, side to side –My eyes are locked in the vacuum of the place eyes go when they roll back. There is a pulsing, sucking force around the eyeball and it is tinted a shiny, smoky grey. Suddenly, my eyes are released and I vomit. The smell wafts into my wet nose. I beam at everyone.
“You had a seizure, Maia.”
“Oh, did Iv I grab the can off the stinking carpet. No one stops me.
4. METHAMPHETAMINE
Doing meth is nice and normal.
She’s a nice lady, save for the fact she’s helping 18-year-old me shoot up in the bathroom of an internet cafe. And he’s a nice guy, despite what he’ll want once the bag is gone. And this church is quite nice if you look past the scorched ceilings and rubble; if you drown out the sounds of two of us fighting for the meth in the pipe stem. And this house is nice, nice enough to burgle. I haven’t slept in days. I can see them everywhere. They are in the room
I’m nice and normal too, obviously.
3. HEROIN
It comes into my life so casually. It should scare me. It doesn’t.
It removes my thoughts, which is so peaceful and necessary that I don’t care when it replaces them with blown veins and pus-filled injection sites. Or when I start to steal and sell my body for it. I don’t care, not even when I spit on and punch my mother during an argument. And certainly not when I give myself sepsis by cooking and shooting my months-old, heroin-infused blood that sat in a discarded syringe. Or even when my lips turn blue on a friend’s garage floor. And when I become homeless, all it means is that my WINZ doesn’t need to be spent on rent anymore.
2. GLUE
I ate Subway. It had too much salt and pepper in it. We rounded the corner near the Art Gallery and I came face-toface with a man holding a plastic bread bag to his mouth. A sandwich, like me? But he wobbled on his bench, his eyes were crazed and threatening to disappear back into his skull. He tipped back and dropped his hand as I fell backwards, hyperventilating, into my mother. She told me he was huffing glue.
“Well, I’ll never do that,” I said.
11 years later I am sitting on a bench. I can hardly see a thing.
1.
ALCOHOL
I mean, that’s what kicked this all off, isn’t it? I don’t know. Being 8 and sculling three cups of wine you unsuccessfully tried to peer-pressure your friends into drinking doesn’t bode well for anyone’s future, really. I was an addict before I knew what that meant. And it ruled my life for almost 13 years.
Little Maia, please slow down
0.
GOING TO FUCKING REHAB
It took time, but I’m almost four years clean. Don’t skimp on healing. Heal twice as hard as you hurt yourself. It’s a slippery slope, but there are exits everywhere. You just need to look –and use them. The earlier the better.
Don’t forget to hit that notification bell.
Written By Maia Carr Heke (She/her) CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Since I was a young lad, I have always been a bit of a curious human. For much of my youth, I was amazed by the reality of cause and effect; every action having an equal and opposite reaction (or so the internet tells me - I didn’t take physics in high school and science was never my forte). As a toddler, I had an apparent interest in chewing electrical wires, horrifying both family and foe alike. At the tender age of 5, my elder brother told me to throw gravel at a stranger’s car, which I promptly did without much thought. I rained a near-biblical hail of stones on this poor woman’s vehicle for no more reason than my brother telling me to, and my wanting to see what would happen. What happened was the understandably incensed owner catching me red-handed in my act of wanton vandalism, and exploding at me while my brother disappeared like smoke. You might wonder what this has to do with drugs. Not a lot. It’s more to do with ME and that insatiable curiosity of “what’s gonna happen if I do this” in relation to drugs. Unfortunately, this evidently misguided curiosity would have significant negative consequences on my academic and financial life in my early 20s. For one fateful day, while perusing the internet and reading about the indigenous Mexican use of the mushroom peyote (of which the active psychoactive substance is an alkaloid named mescaline), this writer wondered thoughtfully to himself - “Huh, I wonder what THAT feels like?”
With a little further research, I discovered that this psychedelic substance mescaline, present in the peyote cactus used by the Mexican shamans, was also present in a particular species of cactus that is 100% legal to own in NZ and is quite a popular ornamental garden plant - perhaps even owned by the reader’s aunt or grandmother (or dubious hippy uncle, maybe). Upon procuring a segment of said cactus through entirely legal means, I proceeded to skin, freeze, thaw, and strain the cactus flesh in a process that is entirely NOT legal (although possession of the cactus itself is, so presumably the only way you could get in trouble is by literally brewing your trippy cactus drink in the presence of a police officer - but I digress). Perhaps
the most salient point of this whole story is that the amount of liquefied cactus juice I ended up consuming was actually double the amount I had intended to trip on - a dire mistake caused by a combination of:
1. The varying internet opinions I was reading about the appropriate amount of cactus to trip confused my already weed-addled brain
2. The fact that the cactus juice tastes like absolute shit and most people puke as part of the experience due to the extreme bitterness of the alkaloids - with this in mind I wanted to make sure I drank enough of it to absorb the mescaline before I puked it up
3. That aforementioned insatiable curiosity of me wanting to have an extreme and out-the-gate psychedelic experience that, in the folly of youth, I hoped might fix and enlighten my precarious mental state
12 long and rather illuminating hours later, I had made some big important decisions about my life. No longer would I continue my bachelor’s degree in history and international politics at the University of Auckland, no - I was to drop out halfway and enrol in another bachelor’s, this time in psychology and philosophy, at Massey University. Of course, this made total sense to my naïve young brain swimming in mind-altering chemicals, but would have far-reaching consequences for my life that cost me a lot of time, effort and money.
I won’t bore the reader with an account of the visually stunning and admittedly quasi-mystical drug experience I embarked on via this mysterious cactus, in this day and age such stories feel cliché and overplayed. The point is that I had decided, firmly and resolutely, that my professional future lay in the academic realms of psychology and philosophy - and not history and politics (the justification was something along the lines of - “maaan this shit is trippy, I’m into trippy stuff, this makes me think a lot about the mind and reality, damn, maybe I should study that shit
instead, yeah, mind and reality = psychology and philosophy, hell yeah, maaan I’m smart...” etc etc). It would have been cool if this totally illogical frame of mind had only lasted the duration of the mescaline trip, alas this was not so. At this point in my life, as far as psychedelics go, I had only tried psilocybin mushrooms once, the really-not-wonderful salvia divinorum a handful of unnerving times, and was yet to embark on my truly enlightening and still flowering love affair with LSD. I was unused to the wildly unorthodox thoughts and frames of mind that occur with strong doses of psychedelics and believed without question in the logic and validity of my cactus-inspired switch in life direction with regards to my university studies. I distinctly recall my partner at the time expressing her concerns about my random drug-fuelled decision-making, which I brushed off and ignored with what I’m sure was an infuriatingly smug “I know what I’m doing, you weren’t there with me and the spirit of Mescalito, you don’t get it” type response.
True to my word, unfortunately, I went through with my plan and dropped out of the UoA and enrolled at Massey. It was only a matter of weeks before I realised my terrible mistake. The cactus-induced psychoactive glow had faded, and with it my passion and determination to become the best and trippiest psychology and philosophy student the university had ever seen. Furthermore, I discovered that despite my keen interests in the 3 B’s of Buddhism, Blake and Bongs, I was far less philosophically adept than I had originally assumed (even Descartes was annoying for me to read). It turned out that I was more of a “smoke weed and discuss the Matrix” type of philosopherwhich is kind of like saying I’m not really a philosophy guy at all, I think I just like taking drugs.
Before long, I had come to my senses. I needed to drop out of this new degree and return to my original one (costing myself a whole semester in course fees and student living costs in the process). This meant I would have to actually complete and pass the Massey coursework for that semester to ensure that Studylink would continue to loan money to me for the following semester when I returned to the University of Auckland. Like, fuck me, right. My curiosity about cause and effect ended up causing a considerable headache in my life, although providing me with a super fun and costly cautionary tale on drug use for my fellow spiritual truth-seekers.
Funnily enough, the psychology side of things I actually did end up pursuing in a different way years later, completing a qualification in Mental Health Support and currently working as a Mental Health Support Worker and Rehabilitation Coach. The irony of my current job in relation to my past drug experiences is not lost on me. In many ways, it makes me perfect for the role. I work with clients experiencing schizophrenia, a condition studied by psychological researchers in the 1950s by using mescaline to induce mind states in experiment participants that they believed were very similar to those experienced by people with schizophrenia. My weird and wild mescaline ride provided me with an understanding (however limited) of what it feels like to not have a solid mental grip on reality, to think that you are enlightened with information privy only to yourself because you are a particularly special and important human, and to empathise with the dual forces of fear and awe that are so often experienced by people who are diagnosed with schizophrenia.
In the end, for these reasons and more, I don’t regret my
strange and costly dance with Mescalito. My curiosity about cause and effect has not totally evaporated, and I know that one day I will likely roll the dice once more with my mental state and the mighty mescaline cactus. In fact I currently have 2 adolescent specimens growing healthily in my backyard, but due to the many years it takes for the cacti to grow to a mature and trip-worthy length, I will have plenty of time to prepare my mind for another such psychological rollercoaster ride. Fingers crossed that when this day comes, I will have the personal fortitude and basic common sense to not uproot whatever life plans I have in the works on a misguided odyssey of academic study in philosophy and psychology. But then again, maybe it is a good idea after all...
Written By
Illustration By
@tashi_rd FEATURES EDITOR
Stu Paul (he/him)
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Tashi Donnelly (she/her)
Ant Timpson is a stalwart of the Aotearoa film industry. He founded the annual 48Hours film challenge, which helped birth such talents as Taika Waititi, Gerard Johnstone, Tom Furniss and Chillbox. But now the producer and director best known for his genre work with The ABCs of Death, The Field Guide to Evil, and Come To Daddy is branching out.. Timpson’s sophomore feature, Bookworm, co-written with Toby Harvard, is a far cry from the blood and gore he’s most associated with. The film is a family-friendly story of an absent father, a washed-up illusionist, connecting with his whip-smart daughter. Together, in the rugged plains of the South Island, the duo set out on an expedition in search of a mythical Bigfoot-type creature:The Canterbury panther. Does it exist? Many seem to think so.
11-year-old Mildred, played by Nell Fisher, recently cast in season 5 of Stranger Things, believes in the creature’s existence. Her father, Strawn Wise, played by Lord of the Rings star Elijah Wood, reunites with Timpson after working together on Come To Daddy. Together, Fisher and Wood star in a charming story that has a few tricks up its sleeve. There’s a twist you won’t see coming. Moreover, Bookworm is a welcome throwback to films like The Goonies, Jumanji and Hook
I spoke to Timpson days before he jetted off to open the Fantasia Film Festival with Bookworm. We discussed Bigfoot, working within different genres, fatherhood and aspect ratios. And, of course, as film obsessives, we got sidetracked.
What drew you & writer Toby Harvard to the mythos of the Canterbury panther? Our version of Bigfoot. Are you two believers?
Absolutely. I grew up in a period when Bigfoot felt very, very real. There was an avalanche of these documentaries that filled cinemas in the heyday when I was at an impressionable age. From about seven to ten, I saw numerous ones on the Bermuda Triangle, life after death, UFOs and, of course, Bigfoot. I just soaked them all up. And so, in my mind, the world was full of unexplored areas where anything could happen.
You’ve mentioned that the film is a love letter to the 70s. It was a time when you weren’t all wrapped up in cotton wool. You could go out into the great expanse without worrying about being home on time.
I do remember a pivotal visit to my cousins in the South. I must have been seven, around seven or eight and saying we’re going to go off and explore. There were no questions about where you’re going or how long you’re going to be away. No deadlines. You could roam great distances without parental supervision or helicopter parenting. Now you’d be GPS tagged up the wazoo, and you’d be made to text or have a Starlink connection to let everyone know where you are. So Bookworm is a real nostalgic ode to those times and the loss of innocence kids have.
Bookworm is another parents-meet-child fable like Come to Daddy, but it’s very different in genre. It’s a bit of a detour from your roots as a genre director and producer. So, I’m curious: how did you find yourself working within this ‘new’ genre?
I feel like a lot of the sensibilities in Come to Daddy are threaded through this film. It feels like it’s from the same birthplace, in a way. It’s just a PG version of the same male insecurities and fears of parenting that Toby and I mine for comedic effect.
You’re a father of two. I wonder how being a father informed the writing person process and the film’s depiction of parent-child relations. Would a younger you have written the same film?
Oh, hell no. It would have been a blood bath. The younger me was a huge fan of the exploitation elements of the genre. How do you freak people out? How do you shock people? It was always about boundary-pushing. I got the most kicks as an audience member of things that were confronting or over the top. I still have that deep within me. But I also am not stuck to that these days. I find so much of it a little bit mean-spirited, and I don’t know whether that’s me getting older. It definitely wasn’t turning into a parent because I kept making crazy things when I had our kids and when they were also super young. It’s more about what feels right for the story and the characters involved. I’m sure I’ll go back to something that’s got a lot more viscera in it.
Have your kids seen Bookworm yet? Or are they waiting to see it?
No, they haven’t. My wife’s annoyed that other people have seen it before she has, but I like them to see it at a premiere. A special night for everyone to get together and see it for the first time under optimal conditions. The idea of showing them [Timpson’s family] a screener on a laptop or a badly lagging TV is not something I’m fond of. I want them to see it under premium conditions.
And you’re working with Elijah again. Were there always plans to work together again?
Both Come to Daddy and Bookworm were written specifical ly for him.
So we would have been in a little bit of trouble if he said no. Because of the characters involved, he becomes a vessel or an avatar for the insecurities that we have deep down. Elijah’s someone who’s got a huge amount of inherent likability. So it’s easy to hang all this baggage on because he’s got so much empathy from the audience. His character has so much vulnerability and humanity that it’s easy for others to empathise. No matter how idiosyncratic or potentially annoying that character can be in real life.
Can you tell me about Elijah’s character’s ridiculous hat?
Well, to be honest, there were many more wardrobe changes for Strawn Wise throughout the film. But the logistics of shooting in the wilderness on location with costumes that you have to keep track of for continuity was hard enough. So we ended up trying to do a lot of bangfor-buck stuff with Strawn Wise. When he first arrives, in full majesty, in his head, he’s doing a performance to win her [Mildred] over. Then it’s how can we keep this sort of look going, which is so inappropriate. It was inherently funny to see someone completely ill-prepared and dropped in. And it’s me. I never travel well. I never prepare. I’ve turned up to places with subzero conditions without any thermals or gloves. I’m terrible. There’s a lot of that—using Elijah’s character to become this coat hanger for all our [Timpson and Harvard’s] foibles.
Elijah’s co-star, Nell Fisher, is rumoured (now confirmed) to be in season five of Stranger Things. What was it like working with her? You gave Nell a glowing endorsement at the preview screening of Bookworm I attended.
We searched through a few hundred kids to find Nell, and she came highly recommended by the casting agents, who did a great job assembling a lot of awesome talent. It was great to see that there’s a good depth of up-and-coming young talent. But honestly, when we got down to a very short list, and we did chemistry reads with Elijah with them [the auditionees] and sat them together, I bought that she [Nell Fisher] could easily be his daughter. They both have striking eyes, and she’s super confident. Then I talked to Lee Cronin, the director of Evil Dead Rise. She had a great part in that film. I just asked him off the record, “How was it working with Nell?” and, “What was it like for you?”. He was so effusive about her talent and confidence on set.
He said, “Get her before you lose her.” We were so stoked that she accepted the role, and we love her for it. She’s going to be a big, big star.
Can we touch on the aspect ratio change? Like Xavier Dolan’s Mommy, you go from the Academy ratio to Cinemascope. Can you talk me through that creative decision?
To be honest, that wasn’t in the script. That was something I came up with when I was down South scouting with my DP [Daniel Katz]. We were talking about the look of the film throughout the whole thing as we started getting to all the locations and seeing these expanses. I suddenly had a Wizard of Oz moment, like Dorothy opening the door in a whole new technicolour world. I wanted Elijah’s character, who’s been trapped in Vegas bars and would never set foot in the wild, and Nell’s character, who’s been contained by her mother’s love and suburbia, to feel like they are being enveloped in a new, wide-open world. So it was natural to go from Academy, and then blow it out to Cinemascope at the right time.
You mention Wizard of Oz, and I know you’re a cinephile. From your encyclopaedic knowledge of cinema, what films did you draw on as a reference for Bookworm?
The weird thing is that I am such a cinephile that when I hear about other people’s films, I always come up with a list. I’m one of those annoying people. Oh, you mean it’s like this, this, this and this, which just pisses off any person who’s got a script or has made a film. I do make lists of stuff for others to get the vibe. The editor [ Dan Kircher], the DP [Daniel Katz] and Kar [Sölve Steven], who did the score to get a sense of the world that we want to have as a touching point to work off. But the reality is it all goes out the window. In my preparation, there are all these types of things that I want to riff on, do homages to or lift and steal.
But I completely forget everything and lose it all. You create so much once you’re down there [on set]. There’s only so much you can retain. And unless you’re doing Xerox copying, storyboarding the whole thing based on other people’s work, so much of it [a film] comes off being in the environment itself and seeing how it all plays out. That’s one of the joys of filmmaking. There are so many happy accidents.
[This interview has been edited for length and clarity.]
Bookworm releases nationwide on August the 8th.
Written By Thomas Giblin (he/him)
EDITOR
How to beat your Homesickness
I do not want to see another Linkedin post telling me that an Aucklander is moving to Melbourne. Every week, another figure in Aotearoa music flees across the ditch for the brighter horizons of Naarm, burnt out from the incessant price hikes, venue closures, and general uncertainty plaguing the music community in Tāmaki Makaurau. It’s fair enough, but I miss y’all. Come back.
Siân Fenwick joined the musical Melbourne brain-drain after her Grey Lynn flat was flooded - she tells me at a cafe near her new workplace of Bigpop Studios. She hung around in Naarm, did some hospo work, freelanced as an illustrator, and called it quits - returning to Auckland a couple months ago to take up the new role and pick up where she left off with her relationships and network back home in Tāmaki Makaurau.
One of those relationships was with Cindy’s drummer, Jordan Lim, Siân’s other half both in life and the creation of the upcoming Homesickness gig on the 24th of August. Homesickness is Jordan’s return to all ages gig management and Siâns first proper foray into the field. “He wanted to put on a gig. And I was like, “Well, do you know what? I really want to bring Sweet Home back.” Sweet Home was her magazine/documentary series/general creative outfit in the early 2020s, which she used as a way to promote her creative mahi and stick a banner across all her work.
The line-up fucking kills it, with a batch of bands who often stray away from the all ages circuit signing on to show the youths what they’ll be getting themselves into when they become old enough to frequent Whammy. Post-punk outfits Ringlets and Salt Water Criminals both stunned crowds at June’s Junkfest; SWC is an incessant burst of emo-adjacent indie rock energy that threw the grounds of The Wine Cellar into chaos, which myself and my partner had to squeeze out of early to stand front of stage for Ringlets at Whammy Mainroom - which became equally rambunctious in no time. Their debut, self titled LP is one of my favourites to come out of Aotearoa in recent years, and if their recent single ‘New Life’ is anything to go by, they’re just getting started.
Recently added to the lineup, Elliot & Vincent have been stunning the masses with their crunchy, minimalistic alternative rock as opening acts for Royal Blood at Spark Arena and The Jesus & Mary Chain at The Powerstation. Roy Irwin has been prevalent in the indie scene for close to a decade, and is returning to the stage after hitting the decks recently at Wine Cellars closing party to perform their fantastic lo-fi pop. P.H.F will be terrifyingly dynamic as always, bringing his recent hyperpop/noise
`projects to the forefront like the Old Folks stage is a stadium, and finally the organisers themselves will take to the stage to introduce their new band Preacher into the scene and remind everyone how incredible Cindy is after they spent some time touring Japan last year.
So much of Homesickness was built around Siân and Jordan’s shared nostalgia - but it’s likely that this will be some teenager’s first gig. Before then, they could’ve been daydreaming about moving to Melbourne too - but gigs like this might help keep them around, becoming a night they’ll look back on for years to come with immense nostalgia and a willingness to do something like their own. And so, the cycle continues.
Sweet Home Presents: Homesickness will take place at the Aucklands Old Folks Association on Saturday, the 24th of August. The gig is all ages, and tickets are 30 dollars from Under The Radar. You’ll regret not going.
Written by Liam Hansen (they/them)
Salt Water Criminals taken by Nico Penny (sve/her)
RELAY
AUT TOI ATAATA VISUAL ARTS
17 August – 15 September 2024
Te Uru Waitākere Contemporary Gallery Open seven days 10:00am - 4:30pm
RELAY is presented by 31 contributing artists and collaborators from across AUT Toi Ataata Visual Arts programmes (BVA, MVA, PhD): A’aifou Potemani, Amy Potenger, Ana Ter Huurne, Anna Finlayson, Beth Dawson, Cath Thomson, Elisha Oloapu, Emma Beth, Ethan Morais, Greg Thomas, Hana Carpenter, Harriet Graham, Ingrid Boberg, Jeorja Duffy, Joshua Whitaker, Keani Rewha, Margo Dolgova, Mereem Dewerse, Mia Foulds, Monique Redmond, Natasha Munro Hurn, Ngahina Belton-Bodsworth, Nikita Hesketh, Rebecca Lees, Rita Takeuchi, Samantha Cheng, Stella Roper, Te Ra Awatea Kemp, Tess Elliott, Yuji Iwase and Ziggy Lever.
Responding to notions of ephemera, accumulation, compilation, trace, and relay, a series of projects, events, and workshops will take place in Te Uru’s Learning Centre Gallery over the course of four weeks. These will be enacted in the manner of a relay race, with the four phases transitioning each week and passing onto the next one, with some projects overlapping or building on previous ‘legs’. A ‘RELAY: pass the baton day’ will be held on Friday each week. One-off events will occur on these days alongside the longer-duration projects.
A print publication (edition 200) with essays, ephemera, and documentation of RELAY will be assembled and distributed via a subscription model as part of the project.
