Nathan Weathington
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Size matters: The 1964 guide to the roadside attractions of the South Island
BACK IN 2013, IN SEASON 1 OF THE SERIES HOUSE OF CARDS¸ CONGRESSMAN FRANK UNDERWOOD FACES A POLITICAL CRISIS IN THE FORM OF THE PEACHOID, A 41-METRE-HIGH PEACH-SHAPED WATER TOWER IN GAFFNEY, SOUTH CAROLINA. THE STRUCTURE, WHICH UNDERWOOD HAD CHAMPIONED, IS IMPLICATED IN A FATAL CAR ACCIDENT. THE DRIVER WAS TEXTING HER BOYFRIEND WHEN SHE…
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The rice is right
When is gentrification a good thing? When it happens to gruel, that’s when. Congee is comfort food. A traditional Asian rice porridge, or to be Victorian about it, gruel, congee is a nourishing, reassuring and inexpensive dish that has been a go-to in households across Asia for thousands of years. It has also, of late,…
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To grace the water: A love story
IT WAS ONE OF THE MOST BEAUTIFUL THINGS I HAD EVER SEEN. MERCEDES WAS A MAHOGANY SPEEDBOAT, ABOUT FIVE AND A HALF METRES LONG. A CHRIS-CRAFT, I WOULD GUESS MANY YEARS LATER, THAT HAD COME FROM THE UNITED STATES. ITS VARNISHED WOOD AND POLISHED STEEL SPARKLED IN THE WĀNAKA SUN. MY DAD THOUGHT IT WAS…
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So amped right now
Harry Dawson’s Nixie amps have a heart of glass. SOMETIMES FUNCTIONALITY TRUMPS BEAUTY. SOMETIMES HISTORY DOES TOO. BUT SOMETIMES BEAUTY WINS. EXHIBIT A: THE VALVE AMPLIFIER. The garage-slash-workshop in Harry Dawson’s garage is, in square meterage, as big as his house. It has two spaces: a “dirty room” and a “clean room”. Much of the…
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All our favorite New Zealand Lord of the Rings filming locations listed
The Lord of the Rings trilogy really put Aotearoa New Zealand on the film-making map. It spawned both a thriving locally-based special effects industry in the form of the Oscar-winning Weta Workshop (in New Zealand’s capital city of Wellington), as a whole new tourism draw: New Zealand Lord of the Rings filming locations. According to…
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Review: AllTrails Hiking App
I was introduced to the AllTrails app while travelling for work. I was in unfamiliar settings, and wanted to escape my hotel room and go for a short hike. AllTrails had the answer. The app features more than 400,000 curated trails and a global community of over 45 million users. The largest collection of digital…
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The tree tops! Our five favourite New Zealand trees
Aotearoa New Zealand has some exceptional trees. It’s a lush, green place, with more than 10 million hectares of its land mass covered in native and exotic forests. Prior to humans arriving, more than 80% of the country was forested, and what cool forests they were. Today it’s less that 40%. And while some native…
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Rationalise this
Because we’re nothing but a cross between Caligula and monkeys wearing pants. THESE DAYS, EVERYONE’S AN ENVIRONMENTALIST. TO BE OTHERWISE IS TO RISK BECOMING A SOCIAL EXILE OR HAVING YOUR BUSINESS BOYCOTTED. OUR SOCIAL CHANNELS MAKE US ALL SEEM LIKE THE LOVE CHILDREN OF JANE GOODALL AND DAVID ATTENBOROUGH. MESSAGING CORRECT, BRANDING ON POINT. It…
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The 1964 guide to the small town cinemas of the South Island
Where going to the movies is as it should be. WAS A TIME, MOVIEGOING WAS AN EVENT. GOING TO THE CINEMA WAS AN EXPERIENCE, ONE YOU MIGHT DRESS UP FOR, SAVE FOR, BOOK IN ADVANCE. THOSE WERE THE DAYS. WHICH SOUNDS CURMUDGEONLY, BUT ALSO, MULTIPLEXES ARE TRASH. Fortunately, despite industry turbulence caused first by the…