issue 0 by Nexus Magazine

ORIENTATION ‘06 · FEBRUARY 27 - MARCH 4

NEXUS ORIENTATION ‘06 GUIDE · ISSUE 0 · FEBRUARY 20, 2006

To contact your local Bennetts bookstore on the Waikato University campus, email wku@bennetts.co.nz or chris.ďŹ tzpatrick@bennetts.co.nz

Orientation – Sweet.. From the 27th February to the 4th March, Waikato Uni and the Hillcrest Tavern will be a whirl of activity. Get down there and make the most of it. Just for you, Nexus has put together a delicious O’Week guide to tantalize the tastebuds. From Clubs Day to the Bomfunk MC’s, it’s all in here.

Credits Editor Dawn Tuffery nexus@waikato.ac.nz Advertising Tony Arkell admanager@nexus-npl.co.nz

Have fun.

Contents 11

WSU intro and map

O’WEEK Monday 27th Feb

O’WEEK Tuesday 28th Feb

O’WEEK Wednesday 1st March

16-17 Special Pullout O Week Guide 18

O’WEEK Thursday 2nd March

Waikato Olympics Entry Form

O’WEEK Friday 3rd March

Bomfunk MC’s interview

O’WEEK Saturday 4th March

Nexus wants you!

The Exponents

O’WEEK – O What Do I Do?

Sweet Tips for Student Survival

29-31 Puzzles and other fun activities

Designer Matt Scheurich graphics@nexus-npl.co.nz Contributors WSU Dawn Tuffery Matt Scheurich Marty McFly the Puzzle Guy Nexus: As sweet as candy since 1965 The views expressed in this publication are not necessarily the views of Nexus, any of our advertisers, WSU or APN media. Nexus is a member of the Aoetearoa Student Press Association (ASPA). Nexus Orientation 2006 Guide Issue 0 - February 20, 2006

Want to contribute to Nexus?

Email nexus@waikato.ac.nz with your interest and/or check out page 25. Come and join us, it’s darn tootin’ good fun!

Waikato Student Union Summer Orientation 2006

Welcome to O’Week! The Orientation lineup for 2006 is guaranteed to make studying and lectures second priority. The main thing on your mind will be making sure you get to every single one of these tempting events. The Waikato Student Union Orientation 2006 has a great variety of events and gigs on offer. Orientation is a week for you, the new and the old students who

choose Waikato University as their place for intellectual stimulation and discovery. Orientation provides a terrific opportunity to find out where the entertaining and amusing events occur on campus, where your Student Union building is situated, developing new networks and maintaining those existing networks (I’m talking friends/ family/ lovers/ tutors) and basically finding out that University life is not all about the degree but about you

Village Green

growing holistically as an individual. Entertainment during the day will be held down in the WSU Village Green area, also commonly known as The Banks. This area has just been given a facelift and is now sporting brand new concrete tiling, a new stage and a very attractive grass area which will be great for whipping that top off to have a sunbathe. Evening events will be held at our own Hillcrest Tavern situated in Clyde St which is just a stone’s throw away. The Hillcrest Tavern has held a great reputation as the student bar. The scheduled evening entertainment promises to provide an atmosphere of pure euphoria from the talented and artistic musicians on the bill. Tickets can be obtained from WSU reception and door sales for each event will be available. However, we do have limited space so make sure you are there! Orientation T-shirts will be available to win and purchase. The great design is a must for your student memorabilia trunk. Posters and ﬂyers will be distributed in and around the university so you will have no excuse. Make history in 2006 as a Waikato Student Union member and attend all the ‘O’ Week events and gigs - I dare ya!

NEXUS ORIENTATION ‘06 GUIDE

Monday 28th Feb

Start your year in style! Monday. The beginning of term. You could go to your first class, or you could hang out at the WSU Village Green and bask in the sounds of DJ Lotus (11am). Up to you. 12 noon heralds the ‘student initiation’ ceremony. This may or may not involve beer, running, flour and the notorious uni lakes. We will see. Another set from DJ Lotus rounds up the afternoon, and then you’re free to go to lectures and study and all that sort of thing. Nexus suggests a cool bath and a nap under the lemon tree, just to build up your strength for the festivities later. There are a couple of options for evening activities, and keen folk can probably do both. If you’re feeling a tad lethargic after a day walking around uni, and need an escapist injection of sci-fi adventure, go along to the free screening of Serenity at Campus Movies.

On Serenity Joss Whedon - the revered/notorious guy responsible for the television

phenomena of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Angel” now applies his trademark compassion and wit to a small band of galactic outcasts 500 years in the future in his feature ﬁlm directorial debut, Serenity. The ﬁlm centers around Captain Malcolm Reynolds, a hardened veteran (on the losing side) of a galactic civil war, who now ekes out a living pulling off small crimes and transport-for-hire aboard his ship, Serenity. He leads a small, eclectic crew who are the closest thing he has left to family - squabbling, insubordinate and undyingly loyal. When Mal takes on two new passengers - a young doctor and his unstable, telepathic sister - he gets much more than he bargained for. The pair are fugitives from the coalition dominating the universe, who will stop at nothing to achieve their goal.

If it sounds like your kind of fun then check it out at 8pm in the L1 lecture theatre. Also kicking off at 8pm is the Hilly/ WSU Launch party, which promises ‘crazy games, heaps of prizes, specials, entertainment and loads more’. Previous games at the Hilly have included Muff Diving and the Undie 500, and these ones shouldn’t disappoint. Get acquainted with the Hilly and meet some new friends while in amusing compromising positions.

Tuesday 28th Feb

dDub-ble Whammy Waikato students will have not one but two chances to see reggae/ska/ dub stalwarts dDub on Tuesday 28th, so start practicing your moves. First, dDub will deliver a cruisy outdoor set at the WSU Village Green at 12 noon – the perfect accompaniment to your filled roll. Later, they get all amped up and sweaty with Rhombus at the Hilly – more details below. Credited as being one of Aotearoa’s finest live acts, dDub’s unique sound has captured the attention of audiences around the country and they have become firm crowd favourites at high profile outdoor festivals, including Splore, Queenstown Winter Festival,

Soundsplash and Rhythm & Vines. While many will associate the dDub name with 2003’s bonaﬁde summer hit ‘Give Up Your Love’, it is the band’s relentless touring and passion for their craft which has seen dDub grow and expand their existing loyal fan base even further these past 12 months. dDub are proud to announce the release of their debut album Awake at Dawn through Border Music on February 20, 2006.

drenched vibe of dDub’s rock-roots flavour, and a horn line that becomes embedded in your brain, ‘The Flow’ is the perfect accompaniment to any kiwi summer BBQ or drive along the coastline of New Zealand. dDub perform extensively this summer season, sharing stages with other high profile acts including Fat Freddy’s Drop, Salmonella Dub, Cornerstone Roots, The Black Seeds, Katchafire and Kora. Catch em while you can.

Early feedback for Awake at Dawn has been positive; with solid radio and television support for the band’s ﬁrst single ‘The Flow’ which features Caitlin Smith on vocals. Soaked with the sun-

Rhombus RHOMBUS live is an audible and visual feast for the senses. Their performances are full of energy and positive vibes, and their ability to engage their audience is second to none. The deﬁning sound and vision of Rhombus has been acknowledged by media and industry peers alike through various national music awards. These include “Most promising New Act” in 2002, “Best Electronic Album” and “Best Album” in 2003 at the b’net Music Awards and “Best runner up” video at the 2004 Kodak Music Clip Awards

for “Tour of Outer Space”, directed by Wade Shotter. Internationally, Rhombus have established a following in Japan, Australia, The United Kingdom, America, Canada, Scandinavia, Germany, Holland and other EN countries thanks to the wonders of online music stores offering their sound to the world. Rhombus have spread the word during 2002-2005, touring extensively nationwide along with a few international dates in Japan (2002) and across the Tasman, playing twice at the Sydney Opera House in NEXUS ORIENTATION ‘06 GUIDE

November 2004. Shot. Betcha won’t be able to keep still at this gig, and why would you want to? A splendiferous pairing like this calls for the full works – arms in the air, hips moving, and the full slouch from sideto-side groove. Rhombus with dDub at the Hillcrest Tavern, Tuesday. $15 students, $25 public. Doors open from 7. Tickets from WSU reception and probably on the door.

Wednesday 1st March

Going Clubbing Clubs Day is a great O Week occasion. From rowing to singing, theatre to drinking, history to soccer – there will be a club out there for you. Clubs Day gets in full swing at 11am. All manner of clubs will be out to tell you about themselves. There will be demonstrations of different activities, and various tasty bribes on offer. There may even be a BBQ. Make sure

you don’t miss this colourful event and the chance to get involved. At about 12 Contact FM are going to have a live-to-air with mysterious guests. The identity of the bands was so super secret they wouldn’t even tell us, but it will surely be worth a look – or a listen. That’s 88.1 FM, for the uninitiated.

So you’ve signed up to 10 clubs and are cheerfully looking forward to a busy year. How to celebrate? Nexus suggests wandering down to the Hilly, getting a cold beer and chilling with the mighty Kora and Katchaﬁre. Having seen this lineup in packed-out, skanking action last year, we’re pretty sure this show will go OFF.

Kora Kora are a 5 piece band with huge live presence - vocal harmonies sailing on a powerhouse rhythm section. Solid musicians, the 4 brothers & Dan McGruer hail from Wellington & Whakatane. Kora are - Laughton Kora on vocals, guitar & keys; Francis Kora on bass & vocals; Stuart Kora on guitar & vocals; Brad Kora on drums & Dan McGruer on keys & bass. Two of the four musical brothers from the Kora family, Laughton & 14

Brad, began playing together in the early 1990’s in a band called Aunty Beatrice. They won the National Rock Quest high school competition in 1991 and the East Coast region of the Battle of the Bands three years running. More recently, Kora’s hit ‘Politician’ was play listed by 15 stations nationwide and held the number 1 spot on Radio Scopes alternative charts for two weeks, whilst staying NEXUS ORIENTATION ‘06 GUIDE

in the top ten for 8. This summer the band have been pretty busy with gigs such as Splore and the Kaikoura Roots festival, and somehow managed to play Soundsplash and the sold-out Rippon festival on the same day. ‘...Kora is a force to be reckoned with. The band’s funky, dub and reggae beats and awesome vocal harmonies have gained them a hug fan base.’ Sticky Pictures for The Living Room TV2.

Wednesday 1st March

Katchaﬁre Reggae is one of the bloodlines of New Zealand music -- which accounts for the extraordinary success of Hamilton’s Katchaﬁre who, two years ago, emerged as the hardest working band in the country. Their astonishing debut album, the prophetically named Revival, sold in excess of 30,000 copies (double platinum) and they scored massive hits with songs like ‘Giddy Up’, the biggest selling single of 2002.

Katchafire’s music is uplifting and celebratory, and their gigs are joyous singalong affairs where people of all cultures and affiliations are welcomed. Their audiences are still the most cross-cultural, crossgenerational in the country. Katchafire remain unique in New Zealand music. They are a viable, touring eight-piece band which can work the length of the country without exhausting the place. They

can return to a venue they played just a few months before and pack it out all over again - rare for any band. Their shows are epic affairs that keep the crowds dancing for hours and shouldn’t be missed. Top notch entertainment all the way. That’s Saturday, 4th March at the Hillcrest Tavern. Tickets $15 students/ $25 public, available from the WSU reception. Could be worth getting in early for this one.

SUMMER O’WEEK SCHEDULE 2006 Monday 27 February 11am 12noon 1pm 8pm

8pm

DJ Lotus WSU Village Green Student Initiation DJ Lotus WSU Village Green Hilly/WSU Launch Party Start off the biggest night of the year with crazy games, heaps of prizes, specials, entertainment and loads more! WSU Hillcrest Tavern Mystery Spot Prize to be drawn on the night! FREE movie - WSU Campus Movies: Serenity L1 lecture theatre

Tuesday 28 February 12noon 7pm

D Dub (Live Band) WSU Village Green D Dub & Rhombus Tickets on sale at the WSU reception: $15 Students / $25 Public WSU Hillcrest Tavern Mystery Spot Prize to be drawn on the night!

Wednesday 1 March 11am 12noon 7pm

WSU Clubs Day WSU Village Green Contact FM live to air Live bands WSU Village Green Kora & Katchaﬁre Tickets on sale at the WSU reception $15 Students / $25 Public WSU Hillcrest Tavern Mystery Spot Prize to be drawn on the night !

Thursday 2 March 11am 12noon 7pm

DJ Dunc tha Funk WSU Village Green WSU Waikato Olympics Foamy Ed & Elemeno P Tickets on sale at the WSU reception $10 Students / $20 Public WSU Hillcrest Tavern Mystery Spot Prize to be drawn on the night!

Friday 3 March 12noon

7pm

NZ University Emerging Artist tour: The Tutts & The Sneaks (Live Bands) WSU Free BBQ & Drinks WSU Village Green Odessa & BomFunk MC’S Tickets on sale at the WSU reception $20 Students / $30 Public WSU Hillcrest Tavern Mystery Spot Prize to be drawn on the night!

8pm

Askew coffee and dessert evening To welcome new students and catch up with existing members. All welcome, including non-members. Metropolis

Saturday 4 March 12-1pm 3-6pm 7pm

FOR MORE INFORMATION VISIT WWW.WSU.ORG.NZ

Hell of a Pizza 8 slice eating race Hillcrest Tavern Waikato Mechanical Bull Hillcrest Tavern Exponents Tickets on sale at the WSU reception $20 Students / $30 Public Hillcrest Tavern

Thursday 2nd March DJ Dunc Tha Funk has the privilege of getting the love going on Thursday morning (11am), and will no doubt provide some smooth beats to wander round bemusedly lost to. If you’re feeling brave, you can even dance. At 12pm, it’s the annual WSU Waikato Olympics. Many students have spent all year preparing for this challenging test of brawn, brains and drinking ability. The fierce competition of the Winter Olympics will pale in comparison to this white-knuckled contest of precision and speed. Watch in awe as teams brave the dreaded Uni lake, sprint for the finish in an wild arm-flailing 3-legged race, eat and drink freakish quantities of pizza and beer – and much more. Enter a team now (entry form right) and make sure you’re part of this exciting tradition.

Night events Elemeno P with Foamy Ed. Hillcrest Tavern, $10 students/$20 public. Tickets on sale at the WSU reception. Doors open at 7pm.

Foamy Ed After several releases and nationwide tours (adding Australia late last year) the 5-piece from Auckland are still going strong with the recent release of their second single ‘Failing to See’ and straight after Orientation they take to the studio to complete their long awaited debut album. ‘Failing to see’ (recorded by Elemeno P’s Justyn Pilbrow) is an emotional track, covering all the pop elements of the Auckland rock group, and receiving generous attention, both on radio and TV - a great follow up to their last single ‘Exhale’ which still sits at #1 on Kiwi

FM. UK based record label, Jam Central Records, has just included a track ‘Fight’ for a compilation introducing bands to the European market.

Their singles (such as ‘Fast Times in Tahoe’ and ‘Verona’) sneakily etch their way into your consciousness, and the albums Love and Disrespect and Trouble in Paradise both soared up the local charts.

reading this and go get your ticket! Go to the ofﬁcial website or http://www. myspace.com/elemenopband for more info (and various Valentine wishes to the band from smitten females.)

Foamy Ed have proven that the last nine years of playing together has shaped their sound into one that cannot be ignored, thrusting them into the forefront of the New Zealand music scene. Support slots include Blink 182, Pennywise, 28 Days, Fur Patrol, HLAH and the feelers.

Elemeno P ‘Elemeno P make pop music that bangs, guitar power pop with big choruses that is an invitation to a party next to a pool with lots of girlies, where the summer is endless and school or work is but a distant memory. Choice.’ elemenop.co.nz Elemeno P are one of those bands that even people who ‘don’t really like NZ music’ like. “We’re just happy people” says Dave Gibson (vocalist/ songwriter). 18

The Hilly gig will almost certainly be energetic, infectiously rousing, and seething with legions of fans in sing-along mode. If you like shouty loud-quiet power pop with catchy melodies, quit NEXUS ORIENTATION ‘06 GUIDE

Sounds Like: The bastard children of Tim Armstrong, Rivers Cuomo and Jo Jackson all hanging out at a bbq on a New Zealand beach playing drunken odes to the Pixies, Fugazi and Social Distortion.

Friday 3rd March The Friday entertainment kicks off at noon with a special bonus – live bands The Sneaks and The Tutts, from the NZ Emerging Artists tour no less. This

will be on the WSU Village Green so get your lunch, lie back in the sun…and enjoy some Sneaky Tutty goodness. What are they like? Well, we’ve never heard

them before, but it should be good. Here are a few tidbits of information to get your saliva ﬂowing.

The Sneaks On Geeks And other things. An interview. Nexus: Answer the requisite ‘What kind of music do The Sneaks play?’ in 5 compound adjectives or less. Sneaks: Awop-babalooba-awop-bamboom N: According to your slim bio, The Sneaks are geeks. What ﬂavour(s) of geek? S: We’re like a pick n’ mix of Geeks. Generally speaking, we’d be all-round or undifferentiated Geeks in respect to having addictions to Family Guy, The Simpsons, Arrested Development and internet mix tape sites. Professionally we would all fall into the loose umbrella of Science Geeks. You have an Uber Physics/Engineering dweeb, a Geography/Psychology nerd.....a Computer Science wonk and a Health Care/ Pathophysiology dork. And of course,

in the huge zen diagram of nerdiness, the biggest circle that we all would ﬁll would be compulsive, totally-in-lovewith-music geeks. (How’s that for a compound adjective?) N: Quote trivia - ‘He wore sneakers...for sneaking’. What show, what character, and what episode? (and are you geeky enough to know without using Google?) S: That would be the Simpsons. Dunno what episode... but for real deﬁnitely the Simpsons... N: (Correct. It’s Grandpa Simpson exposing cubic zirconia thief Malloy in ‘Homer the Vigilante’.) Finish the cheesy catchphrase - ‘Hamilton:...’

N: What do you get if you cross a Sneak and a Tutt? S: Have you seen the Crying Game? When Steven Rhea throws up? Yeah. Something like that, I reckon... N: What do you get if you wander into an O Week Sneaks show? Does it beat sneaking off to the bushes with the cute girl you just met in Management 101? S: We get pretty excitable on stage. Our songs are really short and all of us are singing all the time. We have heaps of hooks in our songs and wish to cure bovine leukemia through the cause of modelling. Apart from that - if you prefer watching four dudes mincing around on stage rather than getting your fuck on with some milk fed Waikato hottie, you’re a bigger geek than any of us.

S: ‘...If symptoms persist, consult your physician’.

The Tutts The Tutts are apparently ‘an eclectic 5 piece making waves in Auckland with their eccentric performance and unique blend of dance and rock’. Their ﬁrst single “K” has just been released to student radio and they’ve generated considerable word of mouth from their memorable stage presence, lighting rig and ever present smoke machine. Born from both disillusion and admiration 20

for the dance scene, the band is the brain child of frontman Scott Allen and Mat Robertson. Nostalgic for bands such as Happy Mondays and New Order - and impressed by emerging bands of the time, such as The Strokes - Scott & Matt envisioned a busting dance ﬂoor, driven by real musicians and original music. It was a vision they’ve spent the last 12 months trying to realise and anyone who has witnessed the dance NEXUS ORIENTATION ‘06 GUIDE

ﬂoor when The Tutts play can commend a job well done. The members of The Tutts come from a variety of musical backgrounds - from grunge, ska, house, death metal and jazz. Together, their sound is something very different suited to rock venues and dance clubs alike, and hopefully to eating lunch on the WSU Village Green too.

Friday 3rd March

OdESSA

By Pheobe Meryll

‘OdESSA. Garage Funk Pop-Rock - the sound of funk, power-pop with a twist of jazz and a spit of country. Back to the dusty centre-line where rock’n’roll and R’n’B first cross-mutated. Ask anyone who’s seen the live show. Over 200 live appearances in three years to a large and ever-growing loyal army of followers. Sweat-flecked echoes of five decades. Memorable songs played inside out, night after night. A tight, fluid and inventive rhythm section -’Puba’ Swain on drums, Paul Mouncey on bass - with the searing licks and dirty grooves of guitarist Armitage and the slippery vocal range of talented front-man Pender. Four musicians crammed on a murky stage playing wild to hot, sweaty

crowds going crazy in a heady swirl of streetlights and hormones. Exactly the way it’s supposed to be.’ www.odessamusic.net Deﬁnitely worth a look. The National Battle of the Bands ﬁnal in 2002 is rather blurry in my mind, except for two factors that stand out. One was that Htown locals Stardrunk won it. The other was Odessa, who came second. In what was overall a morass of rock generica, their polished performance and high energy pop-funk was a welcome respite. Since then, it’s been up and up for Odessa. They’ve reportedly played over two hundred gigs since forming

NEXUS ORIENTATION ‘06 GUIDE

– ‘anywhere that would have us’. These include the Big Day Out, gigs with Goldenhorse, The Cat Empire, Flash Harry, and an acclaimed performance at the Welington Music Awards. Debut album Oak Park Avenue was released last September. Odessa should be a great start to your Friday night shenanigans, getting the Hilly crowds thoroughly warmed up before Bomfunk time. Don’t miss it. Odessa + Bomfunk MCs, Friday 3rd March at the Hillcrest Tavern. $20 students, $30 public. Doors open 7pm. Mystery spot prize to be drawn on the night.

Right From The Top Of My Dome

The Bomfunk MCs So, the Bomfunk MCs are headlining Orientation this year. Whether you remember them or not, you’ll almost deﬁnitely remember a song called ‘Freestyler’. Next thing you know you’ll be ‘FreeSTYler - Rock the microphone’ing away all over the place. Possibly. Whether you ofﬁcially dug it or not at the time (2000?), you have to admit it was a damn catchy little number. So for future reference, it’s those Bomfunk MCs. And they’re on at the Hilly on Fri-

day 3rd March. Quite a lot of people liked ‘Freestyler’ and it was the highest selling European single of the year. Since then, we haven’t heard too much but the MCs have been busy doing a pile of gigs, lineup adjustment, side projects, and making albums. The latest of these is called Reverse Psychology, and they’re promoting that now. I searched for a review but could only ﬁnd comments like ‘“Reverse Psychology” ist ein cooles

Album, voll von toller elektronischer Tanzmusik.’ I think that’s positive. Nexus had a chat to Bomfunk Willie Makinen – ‘the blond afro himself’, according to their website. It was a late night in Finland at the time. (As I found out in my research while waiting to ring, Finland’s a crazy kinda country. In the north, the sun doesn’t set for 73 days and they call this the ‘white nights of summer’).

Nexus: Hullo, is that Willie? Willie: Yup, it is N: How’s it going? W: I’m very good, I’m ok – soon going to sleep. N: I’ve just woken up. It’s hot. What’s it like in Finland at the moment? W: It is quite warm at the moment actually – it is in 0° Celsius. Not maybe for you. But at Christmas time we have –15. A little bit colder. N: Looking forward to coming to NZ? W: Of course. I will swim.

summer is like party time here. Winter is more like working time. I think you have it quite the same there – winter is darker time, summer is lighter time? Finland is so up North that, at this time of year, darkness comes around 4 or 5

“We’ll just be going swimming and having a good time. You can’t go swimming at this time of year in Finland. There is like too much ice on the lakes at the moment.” N: What are you hoping to do and see while you’re here? W: Well, the sun. I think we are spending our time nearby Auckland, as our last gig is in Auckland. I’ve been there once before – we were touring there in, I think, 2001. I was staying at my friend’s place in Titirangi, which was a very cool place. I’d like to go there again, to see the Piano beach where the movie is ﬁlmed. We’ll just be going swimming and having a good time. You can’t go swimming at this time of year in Finland. There is like too much ice on the lakes at the moment. N: Because it’s dark a lot, do people go to nightclubs and dance to keep warm? W: Maybe, I dunno. Of course, people go to clubs in summertime more, because

pm. It’s like night time almost all the time. And vice versa – in midsummer we have almost 24 hours of sunlight. So this is quite a dark time of the year. N: Do you have O Week in Finland? W: I think they have, sort of. In Finland there are student parties but they’re not such a big thing as in NZ. For example, our Universities rarely have their own (night)clubs. As I understand, almost all NZ Universities have their own clubs. N: What have you been doing since ‘Freestyler’? W: Well, we made a couple of albums in the middle. The second album was not really there. But this album [Reverse Psychology], which is almost 2 years old, is going to be released at the same time as we get there (to NZ). We’ve been touring and doing gigs…playing some new music and doing side projects. But NEXUS ORIENTATION ‘06 GUIDE

from the end of August, we’ve been on holiday. So NZ is the ﬁrst thing to happen with Bomfunks in about a year. I think we have a right to have a holiday as we’ve been doing this for about 8 years now. It’s ok to have a holiday once in a while. N: What’s the new album like? W: It’s more organic. We have more live instruments, but we still have the old Bomfunk sound, which you can hear from In Stereo also. N: What’s it like at a Bomfunks live show? W: It is truly a live set nowadays, because we have a live guitar player, live keyboard player, live drummer, live bass player (which is me), and then we have an excellent turntable, a DJ. It’s going to be…well, we are going to make New Zealand ROCK. N: Any ﬁnal words for Waikato Uni students? W: Be there – we’re going to rock the place! The Bomfunk MCs – playing with Odessa at the Hillcrest Tavern, March 3rd. Whether you go out of curiosity or just fancy seeing them ROCK as promised, make sure you go. Doors open at 7pm. 23

Saturday 4th March

The End? It’s the end of the week. Sniff. But as Orientation comes to a euphoric, ﬁst-clenching climax, you have a few activities left to keep that pleasant sensation alive. First up – a pizza eating contest, that initiation classic. Reckon you can manage 8 slices of pizza – fast? Hell of a Pizza is happening at the Hillcrest Tavern from 12-1. Go and cheer on competitors or have a go yourself. Once people have digested the pizza, they can ride the Waikato Mechanical Bull, in action from 3-6pm. Impress the cute guy you met at the Bomfunk MCs last night by staying on the bull, or enlist his help in tending your bruises. Saturday night brings on the big guns – the Exponents. See page 26 for more info on the singalong kings. And that’s it, kids. I guess then you crawl home to bed and start thinking about actually studying. But let’s not worry about that yet, eh?

O Week - O What Do I Do? Orientation can be a confusing time for new students. In theory, it’s meant to help you ﬁnd your way around but in practice it can be a bit overwhelming.

you’re out, look after yourself and your friends, and try and maintain enough consciousness to remember where your new ﬂat is.

Nexus has made the whole thing nice and easy for you by providing a handy pullout guide to where it’s all at (see pages 16-17), so there’s no excuse for missing out on anything. Here are a few more things to keep in mind.

- If you’re having a loud party, be aware that ﬂouting noise control restrictions can now get you ﬁned. More info on this in Nexus 1.

- Get to the night events reasonably early. While it may be fashionably late to turn up at 11.30pm, the Hilly closes at 12pm so you’ll unfashionably miss out on most of the gig. - Keep your student ID with you during O Week, especially when you’re out. - For many, O Week and drinking are pretty synonymous. If you’re planning some heavy imbibing then watch your drinks while NEXUS ORIENTATION ‘06 GUIDE

- Overall? Talk to people you wouldn’t usually talk to. Wear something you’d never usually wear. Join a club that will surprise your friends. Enter an embarrassing contest. Have a great time.

VOLUNTEERS WANTED! Ever fancied contributing to Nexus? We want FEATURE WRITERS to write fascinating articles! We want NEWS WRITERS to investigate issues! We want REVIEWERS for books, music, theatre and gigs! We want ARTISANS to draw comics and stuff! We want IDEA people to say ‘You should do an article on –’!

YOU!

If any of these sound like you, come and sign up! Being a Nexus volunteer is an exciting, enriching and invigorating experience* that can lead to fun free stuff and high faluting journalism careers, no foolin’! The easiest way to get involved is to email nexus@waikato.ac.nz (attn Dawn) with your details. Or just come and visit – ﬂoor one, SUB building.

We want COLUMNISTS to provide entertaining columns!

WIN! - In keeping with this issue’s SWEET theme, all volunteers

We want MINIONS to bring us pizza and ﬂowers and rub our

on the list by March 4th go in the draw for a delicious block

shoulders on production night!

of Aero ‘bubble’ mint chocolate and accompanying bubble

We also want INTERVIEWERS, PHOTOGRAPHERS, POETS, FASHIONISTAS, PUZZLE MAKERS, MODELS and PEOPLE WITH RANDOM AND HILARIOUS IDEAS!

mixture. Sign up today! And don’t say I never give you anything. * May not always be exciting and invigorating but it will at least be fun!

Saturday 4th March The Exponents Hit Hamilton Grab your beer, hug your friends. All together now - VIC-TOOOOORIA, WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM HIM…? Who hasn’t yelled along to an Exponents song at the top of their lungs in the pub? This legendary band had 18 top 40 singles in their heyday – an NZ record. These included a whole lot of other riotous singalong numbers, like ‘Who Loves Who The Most’ and ‘I’ll Say Goodbye’. Their recent ‘best of’, Sex and Agriculture, contains 38 songs that you probably know backwards even if you don’t realise it. As well as providing a constant irritant for anyone called Victoria, the Exponents have had a remarkable career. And a long one, at that. ‘Eighteen remarkable, hit-strewn, sing-till-you’rehoarse years have somehow elapsed

since a bunch of skinny Christchurch boys tinkered away on an ambitious pop masterpiece called ‘Victoria’ and thus lodged themselves indelibly in the national psyche.’ (www.muzic.net.nz). Yes, these guys were possibly playing Orientation gigs before you were born. Scary. Ex (current?) Exponent Jordan Luck (‘the man with the tunes’) kept things rollicking after they folded with Jordan Luck and the Rock’n’roll Circus. From muzic.net again ‘No one knows how to do New Zealand Summertime Rock n Roll better than Jordan Luck. Bands come and go, burnt by the heat of the summer tour trail, broken by the wind of the road, but not the best live frontman in New Zealand! Jordan’s ability to unite, excite, and bite the crowd is something you just don’t learn overnight. He’s the undisputed King of

the Goodtime’. According to the Herald, the last ever Exponents gig happened on January 29th in Auckland. Well, guess this one will be the last last. We can’t guarantee there won’t be a ﬁnal last last gig after this but either way – it could be your best chance to catch the renowned pub favourites in action. Do a few sample bellows on the way as you wander down to the Hilly on Saturday, just to get the vocal chords ready. We’ll start you off I DON’T KNOOO-OOO-OW! WHY DOES LOVE - DO THIS TO ME-EE? The Exponents – Saturday night at the Hillcrest Tavern. Tickets $20 students/ $30 public, available from the WSU reception. Doors open from 7pm.

‘No one knows how to do New Zealand Summertime Rock n Roll better than Jordan Luck’

NEXUS ORIENTATION ‘06 GUIDE

Some sweet tips for student survival Fly through your revision and assignments by sorting out a good ﬁling system at the beginning of the year and highlighting/making notes as you go. Geeky but sensible.

Sick of being in Hamilton? You can be in Auckland within 2 hours. Or Rotorua, or Tauranga, or Raglan. Or Huntly, if you really want. Waikato’s good like that.

If you get into a sticky ﬁnancial situation, don’t freak out. There are people to talk to who may be able to help. Remember you can borrow extra $$ for study costs from Studylink, and the WSU have hardship grants for those in dire straits

Some people go for black jellybeans, some go for blue. However, Uni is a great time to try things out. Join a club or try a new sport. It may be the easiest time in your life to do so.

Make sure you get plenty of calcium and other nice vitamins/minerals. Bonus - having things like spirulina smoothies for breakfast will quickly earn you the title ‘weird health food nut’ and nobody will bother stealing your food.

Smart people ﬁnd out about scholarships and how to get them. Even if you’re in your ﬁrst year, check out what sort of marks you might need to get in what subjects to apply. Scholarships look good on your CV and the money doesn’t hurt either.

try and be open to compromise with your ﬂatmates. Unless they’re running a P lab in the bathroom and a brothel in the shed, in which case you may wish to explore other options.

Keep warm in the soggy grey Waikato winter. This means thermals, extra blankets, woolly socks, a good raincoat if you’re cycling to Uni. Colds and ﬂu are pretty miserable and won’t win you friends.

For some of you, getting out, having fun and asserting your independence will probably involve sex. Yeah, you’ve heard it all before - be careful. Use a condom and escape chlamydia, babies, and other scary STDs . Hooray!

Eat plenty of fruit and vegetables, even if they’re not as cheap as plain rice with soy sauce. You will survive the late nights much better and get fewer spots. Aim for cheap vege shops like Vege Heaven or Vege King, or grow your own. A few spinach and silverbeet plants can keep the scurvy away and save money for the whole ﬂat.

Inside every hard candy shell is a sweet chocolate centre just waiting to melt. In other words, even those people who look shy or up themselves may be hanging out to make friends. It’s been scientiﬁcally proven that O Week is the prime time of the year to meet people, so leave those inhibitions at home on the shelf with your mp3 player and get socialising.

Fish has heaps of good stuff in like Omega 3 and protein so try and eat lots of it. Frugal option – tinned sandwich tuna; luxury ‘cooking dinner to impress someone’ option – salmon ﬁllets baked in tinfoil with lemon and herbs. Mmmm…salmon ﬁllets…

While flatting, there will be almost definitely be some difficult moments. People eating food they shouldn’t, not cleaning things they should, burning down things they shouldn’t. Communicate a lot from the beginning and

Puzzles and activities Hey! It’s Marty McFly the Puzzle Guy here. Yes, I know my name is cheese, shush your mouth. Anyway, I’ve done some puzzles for fun and hopefully you find them challenging and entertaining. I’ve borrowed ideas from other puzzles and tried to come up with something that isn’t too hard and not all that easy either. To solve the puzzle you’ll need to figure out what the letters are for the crossword part and where they go. The clue will tell you what letters go into the crossword. You can guess the clue’s answer first and work from there, or for a harder challenge ignore the clue! One letter is already filled out for you to help you on your way. The answers will be posted in issue 1 of Nexus. Good luck!

Thought & doodle space

Puzzle 1

Puzzle 2

Post some feedback about these puzzles! Email nexus@waikato.ac.nz with your comments.