Innholdsfortegnelse for July - August 2019 i Metro NZ

Hello from the internet! Metro’s new(ish) website metromag.co.nz has been trucking along nicely these past few months, bringing you daily dispatches from the city, political takes and searing cultural critiques (i.e. reviews and such). WHAT’S ON IN AUCKLAND Every week, twice a week, Jean Teng rounds up the best of what’s happening in Auckland and puts it into a handy little guide so you can check out the best of what the city has to offer in the coming days. We put out a food-based calendar every Tuesday and an events calendar on Friday — perfect if you’re at a loose end over the weekend and keen to see what’s on. METRO RECOMMENDS We’ve got a new regular recommendation of food we love, whether it’s an unsung hero…

Metro Peugeot Restaurant of the Year Awards — Auckland Town Hall Opening night of the Carried Away: Bags Unpacked exhibition — Auckland Museum…

Unpredictable, wild, reliable Rangitoto. A local fixture, framing every sunrise on the eastern shore, but now more visited by tourists than residents, it is — as American politician/poet Donald Rumsfeld might have put it — Auckland’s greatest unknown known. Rangitoto was born from the actions of an ancient tribe of giants, as landforms so often are. This tribe (relates John White in The Ancient History of the Maori, His Mythology and Traditions — Nga-Ti-Whatua [Vol. XIII]) amused themselves in “games of throwing stones from hill to hill”. One of the giants, dared by his mates, drew a great hill “as a farmer would a turnip” and carried it across Titirangi before throwing it into the ocean between Takapuna and Motutapu. Other stories speak of a falling-out between two tupua, strange…

A traditional finance minister’s speech surveys the economic data, including unemployment, wages, inflation, interest rates, the dollar, public and private debt, the trade balance and balance of payments deficit, and total and per capita gross domestic product (GDP). Trade-offs are made unashamedly. A minister might concede without embarrassment that interest rates and unemployment are up, but that this is the price of bringing down inflation. They might acknowledge the average wage has stayed stagnant but point out this is because youth unemployment has fallen with more lower-skilled people able to get their first job. It is almost impossible for all the indicators to be moving in the right direction at once, and the public and media accept this. Together, the numbers present a reasonable picture of where a country is,…

For some, an education is about the acquisition of a set of skills. That might mean reading and analysing texts and communicating your ideas about them effectively. It might mean mastering a language, be it Maori, Mandarin, French or C++. It might mean mastering the application of certain mathematical equations or scientific principles. It might mean an introduction to macro-economic theory or the movement of tectonic plates. For others, an education might mean the procurement of numbers and letters on a certificate (and, more likely, a database somewhere), which gives the procurer of said numbers and letters entry into yet another form of education, which may provide more sets of skills and even more letters and numbers. For others still, education might be about the installation of values. That might…

A classroom in Western Springs College is full at 4.30pm on a Monday, chairs haphazardly arranged in a circle. On them sit students from high schools all over Auckland, facing a whiteboard laden with scrawls. On one half, an abandoned Classics lesson plan; on the other, a bullet-point list of demands. Several students sit cross-legged in the centre, ripping tape with their teeth to spell #Wakeup on the back of neon hi-vis vests, in preparation for the upcoming climate-change strike. Voices overlap, until one yells out, “Who wants to talk to 95bFM in five minutes?” It’s the week of School Strike 4 Climate’s second strike of the year, when thousands of students will stomp down Queen St after lying down in defiance on the paving of Aotea Square, a sea…

“I have great faith in our young people, and I’m confident they’ll be able to make our world an even better place. It’s a huge privilege to be part of helping to craft this next generation of leaders and influencers.” When term three begins there’ll be a friendly new face around Kristin School in Albany – that of Executive Principal Mark Wilson. While the Junior, Middle and Senior School Principals will continue overseeing the day-to-day running of their schools, Mark will take responsibility for guiding the top performing school into the future. It’s a position Mark is well prepared for, having held leading roles within education for over 20 years, as well as successfully facilitating the turnaround of Cashmere High School during his ten years there as Principal. Despite negotiating…

Metro: How did you come to direct a film version of a 700-page economic text? Justin Pemberton: I bought the book when it came out and noticed the surprise interest in it. When I read the book, it was a surprise to see that it really was an economic textbook, an academic text that crossed over and caught people’s imagination. And when I heard that New Zealand producer Matthew Metcalfe was in discussion with Thomas [Piketty] to secure the rights to make the film, I really wanted to make it. He asked me to come up with a treatment. That got sent to Thomas and he really liked it. The first thing we talked about for the film was that it really needs to be more of a story, not…

When I turn up at his Greenlane bungalow, Nathan Haines is making the most of the early winter sun by hanging out the washing. We adjourn to the dappled light of the living room, where he reveals himself to be a turbulent conversationalist. His thoughts turn into sentences that dart around like a saxophone interrogating the nooks and eddies of a solo, but can also riff along on an extended narrative, or surprise with pre-determined structure. He’s always in control, and today, has got a lot to say, even if he hasn’t quite got the voice to say it with. We choose to meet in the quiet of his home, because the nine-hour operation to remove a large tumour from his throat in December 2017 has reduced the sound of…

We are all in need of our places of communion. A place to break bread and swap stories, to unload our burdens, whatever stress has built up over the week, whatever triumphs we want to share and share in. Our place sits on Dominion Rd, as I’m sure is the case for many Aucklanders. It is worth the drive, worth the traffic, worth the many minutes circling the block trying to find a free park. When you finally give in and pay, it is worth the parking fee. It’s worth that cold wait outside. As the tables clear, the others arrive. A weekly tradition no one wants to break. Inside, warm smiles over hot food and Chinese tea. And egg fried rice. There may be slight variations to the order,…

We do what we can. Or, we do what we think we can without changing our lifestyles too much. We know the world is heating because of how we, as a species, are living and have lived since the Industrial Revolution. We’ve dug and drilled and burnt the earth, powering the development of the modern world. With the energy we’ve extracted and released into the atmosphere, we’ve built cities, heated homes, travelled over oceans. We’ve cured diseases, brought millions out of abject poverty. The industrialised world is, by almost every measure, safer, healthier and less violent than the pre-industrial world. And we owe a lot of that to energy. But, for all the good it’s done us, releasing all that carbon into the atmosphere is now, unquestionably, threatening our very…

The man challenging Phil Goff to be Auckland’s next mayor is at the Otara Markets at 9 on a Saturday morning, walking around with a small team of campaign staffers and volunteers. But it’s early in the campaign and few people are focused on the city’s mayoral race. Most have no idea he’s running for the job. Hardly anyone wants to talk to him. It’s awkward. When faced with this kind of adversity, many politicians would plaster on a fake grin, don a campaign badge and glad-hand every potential supporter in sight. As he often has during a career pockmarked by controversies, Tamihere adopts a more defensive posture. He seems resentful of this ritual humiliation; embarrassed by his relative anonymity. Instead of strolling up to the shoppers, he strides around…

We have drawn on data from the Ministry of Education (data on the schools, 2017 data on academic performance, and 2018 data on school roll), the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (University Entrance achievement in 2018) and some schools themselves (numbers of students who gained a New Zealand Scholarship in 2018). In collating data and performing our analyses, we quickly found that the definition of percentage pass rate being used in various sources was far from consistent, leading to spurious variations in the figures available. The UE pass rates can change dramatically depending on whether every Year 13 student at a school in a given year is treated as being a UE candidate (the NZQA and Ministry of Education approach) or if only students who are eligible to receive UE going…

Whether your daughter excels on the sports field, stage, academically or in another unique way, St Cuthbert’s ensures that every girl is able to explore her strengths in a supportive and inclusive environment. This thriving independent single-sex Christian day and boarding school has created a unique pastoral care model that is tailored to the needs of girls at every stage of their educational journey. Starting their Senior School journey in Year 7, each girl is assigned to a homeroom – and introduced to her classroom buddy and a dedicated homeroom tutor teacher – where she is taught English and social studies. Not only does this model assist with building a rapport between teacher and student, it also replicates the single-teacher model that is traditional to primary schools, while gradually getting…

“Our focus is not purely on the academic, but also on ... leadership skills, emotional intelligence and social skills” Kristin’s Senior School Principal David Boardman explains how the school future-proofs its students The Senior School at Kristin is focused on offering students a wide range of opportunities to grow and flourish in these crucial final years of education. Our focus is not purely on the academic, but also on developing the whole person, their leadership skills, emotional intelligence and social skills which will enable them to tackle any future challenges head on. Kristin School was the first school in New Zealand to offer the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programmes introducing it in 1986. This programme, combined with NCEA, provides our students with options to tailor their secondary education based on which…

You probably know Madame George as a bar, and it’s a very good one — summer or winter, Thursday to Saturday the pavement outside the place is crowded with people drinking wine from the short but accomplished wine list or perhaps the city’s best pisco sour. In a sense, it’s a successor to Golden Dawn: there’s a distressed vintage vibe, sarked timber walls, bare tables and beaten-up school chairs. But what you might not be aware of is that it’s also an exceptional place to eat, serving the kind of food you’d expect from a much fancier place, at a fraction of the price, but with a level of service you also might not expect from what is, essentially, a bar. I like this. Auckland has many excellent cooks but…

CONGEE Soak the black fungus and dried shiitake in boiled water (just enough to cover) while you prep everything else. Heat up a large pot (ideally non-stick) containing 2 tbsp of oil. Sweat ginger and spring onion until aromatic – you don’t want it to colour much. Add in the cooked rice and stir around, followed by half the oolong tea. Add the miso. Drain the black fungus and shiitake, adding the liquid to the congee. Roughly chop the fungus and shiitake into bite-sized pieces. Add to the congee, along with the goji berries. At this point, have the congee simmering away and keep adding the liquids over a period of 4 hours (more if you can!) as the rice absorbs it, similar to risotto. Stir regularly to make sure…

In order to explain why I wish to avoid talking about individual films in this column, I want to tell you how many different personal schedules it’s possible to construct from the 2019 New Zealand International Film Festival programme. But I can’t. This is not because factorial maths makes my head hurt, although it does. It’s because writing the figure down would require filling an impractical percentage of this page with zeroes; it’s one of those unlikely-sounding numbers that exceed the number of atoms in the universe. Talking about individual atoms in this context is just not very useful. We need to talk about the universe and how to navigate it. There are only two kinds of film festival schedule. This is a ridiculous over-generalisation, but also, it’s true. You…

Celine Sciamma (Girlhood) is the first woman to win the Queer Palm at Cannes Film Festival with Portrait of a Lady on Fire, a love story between the daughter of a countess and the painter commissioned to paint her portrait. Also from Cannes, Les Miserables is described as Victor Hugo meets La Haine; the winner of Un Certain Regard’s top prize, The Invisible Life of Eurídice Gusmão, follows two inseparable sisters in 1950s Rio de Janeiro. Rural New Zealand is thrown onto the big screen in Bellbird, a father-son drama inspired by director Hamish Bennett’s childhood in the small Northland community of Tauraroa. Come to Daddy is the debut feature of Incredibly Strange programmer Ant Timpson, a horror-comedy blend about a boy (played by Elijah Wood) who visits his estranged…

We all love our kitchens, and so we should. The kitchen is the single most important room in the home – not only nourishing us on a daily basis, but also acting as the social hub of the family and the focal point of activity when entertaining. So it’s no surprise that when it comes to replacing it, we spend an inordinate amount of time on our devices researching, long evenings on the sofa buried in brochures and magazines, and countless lost weekends driving to every conceivable showroom, poring over everything from taps to tiles and sinks to splashbacks. But, over and above the mammoth task of whittling down the myriad options of its constituent parts, the fundamental decision you have to get right is settling on a kitchen design…

Dear Metro, I think my bae is angry with me. I work really hard and so does she. It’s just that I work in an office where I have strict performance criteria and she works at home looking after our daughter. If I don’t meet my sales targets every month, I sit down with my boss and we figure out what went wrong. So, anyway, since my other half works in the home it’s kind of annoying when she’s not on top of things. On the first day after the weekend, I realised my daughter’s school uniform wasn’t washed and asked about it. “Whoops,” she said (not for the first time). “I didn’t get around to it.” This was really annoying, so I suggested that we could agree upon some…

The food show returns to Auckland. Keep up with the latest in all things food at the Auckland Food Show, returning to the ASB Showgrounds from 25-28 July. Discover everything from handcrafted goods to delicious cheeses, trending health foods and a bevy of craft beers. Plus, see celebrity chefs such as Annabel Langbein, Josh Emett and Luke Hines and baker extraordinaire Jordan Rondel live in action. Win one of two Food Show prize packs worth over $350 each, including two tickets and a goodie bag filled with delicious Food Show products. Terms and conditions: Entry is open to New Zealand residents. Employees of Bauer Media Group (LP) NZ, their affiliates, agencies and immediate families are ineligible to enter. Entries are limited to one per person. This promotion commences on 4…

A23-year-old sex worker in Auckland, with a day job in the tech industry, is explaining to me the ins and outs of selling nudes online. “I’m a hooker — I’ve been a sugar baby since 15 and a full-service worker all my adult life,” Jyoti, who uses they/them pronouns, says. “I often sell nudes to people who see my full-service Twitter or escort ads, or to people who have seen me and pay a little extra for an extended ‘Girlfriend Experience’ where they get to sext with me, or get custom polaroids of me, or whatever.” Over the past few years, there has been increasing interest in the phenomenon of people, usually women, selling nudes online. Articles have tended to sensationalise the practice with headlines like “How to Make $10,000-A-Week…

Top-shelf indulgence With a creamy golden curd shot through with etchings of inky blue, the award-winning Kapiti Kikorangi has passed into legend. This marbled triple-cream blue cheese has a delectably punchy taste and smooth velvety texture which is guaranteed to invigorate. A decadent combination Generously layer the cheese on buttery thin fennel biscuits with lashings of apricot butter – the vibrant veins play off the creamy sweetness and the crisp savoury base brings it home. Hero the Kapiti Kikorangi blue with intermittent sips of a tawny or fortified dessert wine such as Port, and savour late into the evening. Tip: To create your own apricot butter, mould dried apricots whipped butter and a pinch of salt, into a log then wrap firmly in baking paper before refrigerating for 30 minutes.…

“There’s so many boys touching my butt. I hate them.” It’s early morning and Family Bar is heaving. It’s thronging with people, drunk, sweaty, dancing, spilling out onto K’ Rd, unseasonably warm at 2am in early winter. Having fun. Fed up. A man raises his hands in a kind of faux-apology as a woman whips around on the dancefloor and tells him sharply not to grab her. Doesn’t he know this is a gay bar? “We’re all trying to have a good time,” he bleats, plaintively. That’s what Family Bar promises, isn’t it? A good time. Spanning three levels and open later than most along the inner-city’s party strip, Family can put on a night out few venues in the city can rival. Come August, its doors will have been…

New Zealand’s technology curriculum is due for an upgrade. The Ministry of Education’s revisions to the subject will be mandatory from the start of the next school year, putting a greater focus on digital technology. The aim is for students to evolve from being competent tech users, to digital creators and innovators. What place, then, does technology have in New Zealand’s classrooms? Sometimes it seems like our lives revolve around digital technology. For many of us, our phones are the first thing we pick up in the morning and the last thing we look at each night. We watch TV on the same laptop we work on all day. A generation or two ago, schools were tasked with teaching New Zealand kids about digital technology by instructing them how to…

Inspired is a collection of 51 premium schools educating more than 38,000 students on five continents. Its private schools include the majestic Reddam House Berkshire, UK; St George’s International School, Switzerland; and the International School of Milan, Italy. ACG Schools CEO Clarence van der Wel says the partnership with Inspired will bring immense benefits to ACG staff and students. “They will have opportunities to participate in international exchanges with Inspired schools all over the world, gain access to educational leaders at the forefront of ideas and practice, and share best international practice. Inspired’s progressive approach to education is closely aligned with the ACG Schools philosophy, which makes this such an exceptional partnership.” ACG’s three schools in Auckland, and one in Tauranga, provide a world-class, student-centric approach to learning, offering globally…

Four months ago on a Saturday night, a Metro Restaurant of the Year judge attempted to dine at Williams Eatery at 8pm, but found their attempt foiled. Williams had lost their booking, the place was empty, and they were closing up early. It did not make the Top 50. Eager to recreate the scene, I booked on a Saturday, too. And at 8pm. This time, I walked into a party. Nearly every table was full, and there was plenty of chatter to fill the oblong Scandinavian space, muffling the jazz in the background (or hip-hop, I couldn’t tell… probably Frank Ocean). In part, the buzz could be attributed to their excellent $23 pasta-and-wine dinner deal, and I was glad they were doing better. Owners and brothers Charles and Patrick Williams…

For 13 years, Jeremy Rameka has been quietly building up a gastronomic heavyweight on Napier’s Marine Parade. Huddling in the shadow of the Six Sisters, the iconic row of two-storey villas beloved of Instagram influencers, Pacifica sits inside a weathered bright-blue bungalow. It’s an avowedly Kiwi setting for a restaurant that arose out of Rameka’s frustration with a national food identity he considered derivative and, well, a bit boring. Of Tuwharetoa and Ngapuhi descent, Rameka grew up in the tiny King Country town of Kakahi where food was part of the daily rhythm of life — foraging with his koro, trying stuff out, having a go. Eleven years in Australia — in Vietnamese, Indian, Greek and Italian kitchens — honed his sense of what food could be. For a decade,…

Everything at authentic Indian restaurant Big Tikka lives up to its name. The interiors of both the Takapuna and Stanmore Bay restaurants, designed by the legendary Paul Izzard, transport you straight from the familiar streets of Auckland to a bustling restaurant on the streets of India. Details and decor flourishes are carefully considered, with an intertwined structure of copper and bronzed pots hanging above colourful mismatched seats, bringing a delightful character to the space. The long menu bursts at the seams with breads, tandoor-roasted meats and seafood, complex curries, aromatic biryanis, and plenty of vegetarian options. Big Tikka doesn’t restrict itself to only cooking delicacies from one region of India, so there’s always something new to come back to each and every time. The food here is the true taste…

Entrée platter Sweet Chilli Jam Lavosh Crisps combine red quinoa with the subtle heat of chilli flakes, made moreish with the zing of vinegar and a sprinkling of brown sugar. PERFECTLY PAIRED WITH... > Huntley & Palmers Sesame, Quinoa & Cracked Pepper Baked Oat Thins> Pink pepper and sage chicken liver pâté> Cultured cashew cheese pâté with herbs> Cornichons> Candied nuts> Champagne grapes Main platter Robust and brimming with moreish notes of sea salt, spelt flakes, sunflower seeds and red quinoa, Salted Lavosh Crisps are a main course non-negotiable suited to a minimalist menu design. PERFECTLY PAIRED WITH... > Huntley & Palmers Cracked Pepper & Rock Salt Baked Flatbread> Wafer-thin, delicate slices of rare roast beef> Roasted red pepper and sunflower-seed pesto> A silky smooth Kapiti Aorangi Brie cheese offset…

Venice’s central mystery is that it exists at all, but it may not for much longer. The most singularly wondrous expression of humanity’s textural, sensual and spiritual potentials will likely disappear, eventually, under rising tides attributable to another, completely human-made creation: climate change. And yet despite being on its last legs, Venice still resists the contemporary urge to control and know everything about it. It’s impossible not to get lost there, no matter how well you know it; even the Sauron-eye of Google Maps glitches in its alleyways. But in the end it will go, and we will be entirely responsible for its destruction. The depressing truth at the heart of Dane Mitchell’s excellent exhibition Post hoc, New Zealand’s official presentation at this year’s Venice Biennale, is that when Venice…