Tara Ward talks to presenter Naomi Toilalo about the new TV show that turns food waste into a three course feast.  Naomi Toilalo is standing in the warehouse at Good Neighbour Tauranga, helping unpack the two-and-a-half tonnes of rejected food that will arrive at the community support hub that day. She offloads trays of nectarines, oranges, asparagus and rice, all perfectly edible but deemed unsellable. “True fact: we got two bins of carrots that were too orange,” national food rescue chief Gavin Findlay tells Toilalo, as a team of volunteers packs community food parcels with fruit and v ..read more

Scout is our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Scout’s human, Avril, for her support. Dog name: Scout (named after the little girl in To Kill a Mockingbird – she inherited the independent spirit from her namesake.) Age: 3 Breed: Schnauzer cross If dog of the month had not been a reward in our PledgeMe campaign, give us the pitch on why Scout would be dog of the month anyway Scout loves her humans but is the most independent dog I’ve ever encountered. She’s honestly more like a cat. I’m not sure she’s ..read more

Megan Alatini takes us through her life in TV, including ‘terrible’ daytime TV, the class of Carol Hirschfeld and her most embarrassing TrueBliss moment.  When she responded to a vague newspaper ad asking “do you have what it takes to be a popstar?” 25 years ago, Megan Alatini never guessed she was on track to become a part of the biggest local girl group of the early 2000s, and change the face of reality television for decades. “We really were guinea pigs for what was to be a world phenomenon,” she says of TrueBliss and Popstars. “I don’t know if we were brave or stupid – probably both ..read more

A new exhibition in Wellington showcases the faces behind your local goods and services. Back in 1977, when I was a fine arts student at the University of Canterbury, I took a series of photographs of Christchurch shopkeepers. The photos were for a calendar – a project for my end of year submission. I don’t remember how or why I chose the topic, but the idea of having photos of shopkeepers, being their own boss surrounded by their wares, appealed to me.  After a gap of 47 years I decided to continue the series – this time in Wellington – using the same camera and the same type of black a ..read more

Tara Ward unravels the many nuanced layers of a cartoon about talking dogs. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here.  It’s not often an episode of a children’s cartoon has adults sobbing into their sleeves, but that’s exactly what happened this week when Australian kids’ show Bluey dropped a special extended 28-minute episode. Bluey has become a global phenomenon that captivates audiences both young and old, but why is it so popular? Here’s everything you need to know about why Bluey should be your next must-watch TV show – even if you don’t ..read more

A brief round-up of submissions on the controversial proposed law. This is an excerpt from our weekly environmental newsletter Future Proof. Sign up here. Last week, submissions on the controversial Fast-track Approvals Bill closed just hours after the government released a list of stakeholder organisations who were sent letters advising how they could apply for the fast track. The Bill aims to create a “one-stop shop” for green-lighting infrastructure and development projects of national or regional significance, but it has faced fierce criticism for sidelining environmental c ..read more

A poem from Robin Peace’s new collection Detritus of Empire: feather / grass / rock. Cereal giving I see a woman’s hands, see her curious hands break a stalk as she walks through the tall prairie, the savannah, the steppe, wherever it was. See her idly bite the grass that her fist closed around and find it good. See her smile, snatch another, eyes brightening with delight and passing it over to the woman who walks beside her. Conjure it with me. That first sweet savour of seed on the tongue. Like the day you bit rye grass for a dare, not wanting to be the beggarman or thief. Slightly bitter ..read more

The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington. AUCKLAND 1 Hemingway’s Goblet by Dermot Ross (Mary Egan Publishing, $38) A handsomely produced (debossed cover, lovely textured paper stock) first novel that was edited by the late, and very great, Stephen Stratford. Ross’s project is Ernest Hemingway whom he investigates via the fictional character of Nick Harrieson who, after being accused of sexually harassing one of his students, delves into his f ..read more

The ‘Wicked Game’ heartthrob is in his late 60s now. That didn’t stop him putting on a lively, goofy and very sparkly show. Apart from ‘Wicked Game’, which graces a sultry playlist of mine simply called ?, my last sustained Chris Isaak listening session took place when I was about 11 or 12. I was on holiday in Ahipara with my dad and little sister, and we had Isaak’s 1995 album Forever Blue on repeat. My sister, who was seven or eight, would don my dad’s cowboy hat and do a full-throated, hip-swinging rendition of ‘Baby Did a Bad Bad Thing’ (hilarious and adorable). I would skulk off to the b ..read more

Tara Ward makes an impassioned plea for some vital pop culture merch. In April 1999, I became obsessed with a new reality television show called Popstars. Every Tuesday night, five strangers transformed into music royalty before my very eyes as Joe, Keri, Carly, Erika and Megan were chosen to form our pop group TrueBliss. We’d never seen anything like this on TV before, and they quickly became world famous in New Zealand: their first single ‘Tonight’ debuted at number one, their album went platinum twice, and their national tour sold out. There were also T-shirts. The Popstars format was pick ..read more