Do you have what it takes to be a beer judge?
'Once you start tasting oxidation it'll ruin your life'
Kia ora and welcome to The Weekend. There was quite an amusing pitch meeting at The Spinoff this week when staff writers Stewart Sowman-Lund, Tommy de Silva, Gabi Lardies and myself all suggested a story about the live music we’d seen last Saturday. Luckily, we’d all been to different shows, and, in a testament to our editors’ ability to indulge us, we each wrote about it. Gabi contemplated the sweaty pleasures of Japanese pop-punk veterans Shonen Knife, Stewart was charmed by P!nk’s trapeze but dismayed by the poor traffic management, and I experienced the colourful exuberance of Angélique Kidjo. But my favourite review is Tommy considering how the Cross Street music festival represents the best of the Karanga-a-Hape neighbourhood. It’s basically enough to convince me to dance another weekend away.
-Shanti Mathias, staff writer
What it takes to be a beer judge
Alice Neville has been the convenor of most of The Spinoff’s taste tests over the years, wrangling our ramblings on everything from meatless sausages to boozeless beers into semi-coherent and largely vibes-based rankings. Things operate a bit more professionally at the New World Beer & Cider Awards, which she dropped in on earlier this week. “They have a nifty computer system where each judge inputs their scores and comments,” she reports back. “The Spinoff has me typing furiously while everyone talks at the same time.” Read on for many other takeaways on what it takes to be a proper beer judge. Will we implement a single one of them at our next tasting? Only time will tell.
The Spinoff’s very amateur beer judges try New Zealand’s newest non-alcoholic beers
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When there’s a shock resignation, an election or rats take over the supermarkets, we know our community comes to The Spinoff to make sense of the world in the best and worst of times. We're committed to telling stories about Aotearoa, for Aotearoa, with rigour, range and humour. If that’s something you value, we’d love for you to consider becoming a Spinoff member or donating. If you're reading this and are already support us, a huge thank you from all of us.
– Mad Chapman, Editor
What’s changed in the 5 years since March 15?
“How long is five years? It’s enough time for a newborn to grow into a school-aged child, learning language and movement in those intervening years. It’s enough time for a sapling to grow a good canopy, crown and shade. And yet. Not enough time to recover, to forget, to carry on as if nothing had happened. We cannot get over it,” writes Anjum Rahman, on the fifth anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. She asks: what has been done to change online environments that were linked to the attack in the years since? “There have been changes to domestic legislation such as the Films, Videos and Publications Classifications Act and the counter-terrorism legislation. These have given the government greater powers but it’s difficult to know if they have been impactful.”
Digging deeper into the truancy statistics
There have been reams of headlines about truancy, and the new National government has promised to crack down on it. But what lies behind all those numbers? Reachel Judkins takes a closer look this week. She finds that the numbers can be misleading: missing five days of school to isolate with a Covid infection, or parents taking their kids on holiday a week before the school holidays begin would show up as irregular attendance. 57% of total absence time is justified for reasons within a school’s attendance policy — not something a government policy could necessarily change.
Meet three Pacific youth enchanted by K-pop
Boba has loved K-pop since they were eight. Ethan dances to express his emotions, and K-pop is a bridge that connects him to others. Ashley has been into K-pop since 2009, when it rekindled her love of dance. The three are K-polys – Polynesian K-pop fans. K-pop began as a musical genre in South Korea in the 1990s and has grown into a global cultural phenomenon. It’s associated with dancing, fashion, and a dedicated fan community. Here, K-polys have found freedom of expression and belonging. Premiering Tuesday 19 March on The Spinoff, K-POLYS presents three intimate portraits of young people drawn between cultures. Made with the support of NZ On Air.
Housing declares victory in the War for Wellington
Wellington editor Joel MacManus has been doggedly documenting the push for housing in Wellington throughout the process of the council voting on its District Plan. On Thursday, after a six-hour meeting, the plan passed. “I knew there was a passionate niche audience of urbanists who cared about the technical details of zoning reforms, but I didn't quite realise just how much it would catch on and get the whole city engaged,” Joel told me. “The series of amendments and the final vote on the District Plan honestly felt surreal. Wellington has such a long history of restrictive zoning, character and heritage protections which stopped the city from truly density and embracing modern houses. That all changed rapidly - and surprisingly easily.” He was surprised by how big and decisive the margin of the vote was.
What’s next for The Spinoff’s Wellington coverage? “The next big test will be making sure the houses actually get built. As for everything else, I'm keen to explore the wider city outside of this one issue - so that will mean a lot more coverage of arts, culture, and music as well as reporting on the big city news.”
A year of Help Me Hera
Poet and writer Hera Lindsay Bird has been The Spinoff’s resident advice giver for a full year now, dispensing compassionate and humorous solutions to uneasy poets, couple BFFs, the parents of teenage libetarians, unproposed-to partners, and reluctant possible aunts. I asked Hera if she’s gotten any updates from letter writers, and she had good news: the letter writer who discovered her friend had a crush on her via Tumblr is now happily in love! She’d love to know what happened to the person whose partner is stalling on having kids. I also asked what kind of dilemmas she’s keen to hear more from: “petty romantic disputes, weird family feuds, r/hobbydrama, what to read, and most especially ‘I'm a rich philanthropist looking to leave my vast personal fortune to someone to in my will in exchange for reading me the newspaper each morning, and occasionally accompanying me to Italy. Do you know of any likely candidates?’”
The typeface that told the stories of Chinese New Zealanders
Everything else
Does the environmental group that gave the government advice about its fast-track consent bill actually…. exist?
The voices everyone should listen to: convicted teenagers talking to select committee about the causes and solutions to youth crime.
Some animals glow. Why?
I loved Claire Mabey’s appreciation of the excellent people at Wellington’s Good Books as the shop announces that it’s closing.
How ultra-specific ad technology has been used to locate Putin – and other Pentagon targets.
Why are Pacific countries so supportive of Israel?
Weekend watching: Kate Winslet in HBO’s “darkly comic” show The Regime.
Take it from an Argentinian: chimichurri is NOT any old mixture of wet herbs.
Who benefits from a feminist city? Everyone!
This article could save you money: a handy email template to request a rent reduction from your landlord now the war on landlords is over.
A strange and beautiful essay about the desire to find empty land and build on it, without knowing its history.
There are some amazing photos in this story about Palestine before 1948.
I was very moved by this essay about Mina Foley, an acclaimed opera singer who spent years institutionalised in Auckland after a mental breakdown.
Yay for decent non-alcoholic beers and great taste test advice! When I stopped drinking alcohol in the late '90s I discovered that I'd actually loathed wine, and just drank it because everyone else did - but although I'd only had a few beers in any given year, I missed that sharp refreshing hit on a warm summer day. It's been a long depressing journey through incredibly bitter (looking at you, Asahi) and thin-tasting non-alcoholic lagers, but we're getting there.