THE FINNISH LINE: About Food / Ruoasta

The Finnish line is a column series by Martta Tikka, an exchange student from Finland. In this column series, they talk about their experiences about Aotearoa, its people and events. After a careful consideration I have come to the conclusion that Finnish people don’t feed each other nearly as often

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Notesapp – three 

I fell in love with the moon the darkness swallowed a pale silver glow on pink blush cheeks  lay awake   with the stars   where in the week-long nights  there was company  I fell in love with the sun shining on ocean waves with my feet in the shallows  sinking into the sand  golden

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The Notesapp

I Miss You  You were waiting for me,  The sun met your skin,  Absorbing rays like they were yours to take.  I almost skimmed past,  But you caught my attention,  The right moment – our moment.  Golden locks settled inside you.  There was something clean about you,   with the smell

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The Hindi–Urdu Controversy 

Many people think of Hindi and Urdu as two distinct languages. Others believe the exact opposite. In my experience, few debates get as heated as those concerning the relationship of Hindi and Urdu. Open the comment section of any video discussing this question, and you will find Hindi and Urdu

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$50 Date 

Welcome back to the $50 Date, the column where a broke Uni student tries to have fun somewhere near to Hamilton without breaking the bank. The rules of the activity haven’t changed; We get $50 (Each or total, it’s not specified), we find something to do fairly close to Hamilton,

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Long History Of Creativity: AI’s Problem With Human Hands.

It’s almost pyrrhic that Artificial Intelligence struggles to replicate the way hands look, when some of the first pieces of evidence regarding human creativity are handprints branded on the walls of caves. Located in Indonesia are what is believed to be the oldest known handprint stencils, dated around 67,800 years

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What’s the Buzz: Luxon needs to Beehive himself

I think we bullied Christopher Luxon a bit too hard.  I never thought I’d say that, but after all the jokes about him avoiding questions, he’s really started to speak his mind. If you think that’s a good thing, then what I’d say to you is that what’s going on

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The Problem of Pests, Taken Seriously

By Timothy Townshend.This first paragraph is largely introducing the lineage that Brushtail Possums inhabit, if that does not interest you skip it. Brushtail Possums are a member of the the clade Diprotodontia, a ~25 Million Year old group ranging in diversity from the extinct Hippo-sized Diprotodont to the Tasmanian pygmy

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The Finnish Line

About Understanding / Ymmärryksestä I’ve been training how to speak English for over a decade now. In Finland, most people have learnt English since elementary school as a mandatory part of the curriculum. We learnt proper UK pronunciation, we watched The Simpsons, we did everything in school and outside of

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Auckland’s Aotea Square, Skateboarders, & A.I.

To skateboarders, where we skate matters. AI will harm our connection to the places we skate. This may seem like a small concern in the scheme of things, but that might be the point. Maybe you don’t care about skateboarders, but something as specific as this shows us just how all-consuming AI’s effects

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Revealing Reviews

Content warning: this review discusses themes of graphic violence and feet   This informative film acts as a metaphor for the exploration of one man and his weird obsession with women’s feet. While this review is non-kink shaming, it will explore how the director’s action film is an intertextual expression across

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The Notesapp – Depression in the garden

The sun casts down onto the water that decorates the grass beneath me, a million tiny prisms littering the strands that intertwine like lovers. My feet are white, bleached by the winter of shoes and the endless torrent of rain. Gross. The bottoms of my jeans and the shoulders of my shirt are

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Opt-Out of Voting ACT 

ACT’s newest policy is giving students false hope for cheaper study costs.   Under its proposed tertiary policy, students would be able to opt out of paying Student Services Fees, which currently help everything from our health services to UniRec to this very magazine. ACT argues this would give students more

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Post-irony, AI, and Trust in the Media

Over the past decade trust in the media has declined. I think this has moved beyond postmodern scepticism, so I’ve written a bit about how technology influences culture and reminded you all that we’re getting fucked by AI.  I believe the gap between media’s representation of truth and reality itself

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Toby’s Tips 

For issue 12 I wrote an editorial telling you to use academic jargon and the language of your field of study in your assignments. Here’s more unsolicited advice for writing assignments.  There’s something I’ve noticed to be constant across my assignments, papers, and the fields I’ve studied. Virtually every assignment wants you to apply a framework to

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“I Gotta Put Me First”

The best decision I ever made as someone in their early (to mid) twenties was to stop caring what other people think. And that’s not to say I’m perfect at it but I try to focus on me and only me. I don’t care if my outfits fit the trends; here at Nexus, I write what I want to write. I take uni papers that

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The Difference Between Giving Up and Taking a Break 

University students have become experts at being busy. We juggle lectures, assignments, jobs, internships, clubs, relationships, side hustles, and somehow try to maintain a social life in between. If you’re not exhausted, it almost feels like you’re doing something wrong.  Somewhere along the way, we’ve started wearing stress like a badge of honour.  The advice we’re usually given falls into two

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The Imposition of AI here at UoW 

The following is based on anonymous reports from teaching staff and students, my personal opinion, and a healthy helping of speculation. We cannot find any evidence this is certainly happening; there is no uni statement or policy I could find from a google search. However, if the university is mandating that teaching staff include AI in their

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Editorial – Issue 12 2026

Citing McGall’s recent work – seminal in the intersection of nexus thought and academic meta discourse – this paper outlines strategy for furthering one’s linguistic execution in the context of undergraduate scholarship. Positing a reductive angle, sharpened by a pragmatic approach, this article cuts through the academic noise and offers advice both

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The Politics of Exclusion 

The proposed Definitions of Woman and Man bill seeks to define a woman as “an adult human biological female” and a man as “an adult human biological male” in the Legislation Act (2019). Its explanatory note claims the purpose is to “protect the integrity of sex-based rights” and ensure language reflects “biological reality.”

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Fees Free Scrapped

On Friday the 8th of May New Zealand’s beacon of austerity, Nicola Willis, confirmed what NZ First gerontocrat Winston Peters had leaked on Newstalk ZB, that fees free will be scrapped in the upcoming budget. Our very own iron lady shared that “We will have more to say about this in

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Gaza and the Ongoing Reality of Survival

So far this year, international affairs has been consumed by the USA and Isreal targeting Iran, however, the genocide on Palestine hasn’t ended just because Isreal is occupied elsewhere. The scale of suffering in Gaza Strip right now demands attention to what daily life has become for Palestinians still living through the

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An Open Letter to Old People: Gen Z Don’t Like AI 

Japan is turning footsteps into energy… jk.  But that’s an example of one of the many ways AI is enclosing the internet. We, as young people, have seen its slow creep into our lives, from uncanny AI generated images to Russian bots celebrating Putin’s gains in the Donbas. But old people haven’t. They haven’t grown up

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A Rant About Humanities

Toby gave me 48 hour notice to write this editorial because he didn’t want to do it so now I’m going to convince you to study humanities:  When choosing a degree pathway, one question remains: Is the humanities dying? The rise of STEM fields being framed as practical, employable subjects intensify this narrative. Yet, beneath this rhetoric lies

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Horoscopes – Issue 18

Aries: please break up with your shitty boyfriend, he’s ruining your life dude.   Taurus: if you need life advice, refer to the lorde x jack antonoff lore slideshow. it knows all.   Leo: it’s time to confess your sins on a piece of paper in a park, and then smoke three

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Random Audit: ENGLI202 Shakespeare and Performance

Now, I will admit that even though a random audit is supposed to be going into a class you have ZERO business being in, I kind of do have a slight amount of business here. Sue me, you’re going to hear about an english paper from an english and writing

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REALITY COULD – AND OUGHT TO – WAIT  

Strokes frontman Julian Casablancas holds a special place in my heart. When I was highkey fat and horrifically depressed in highschool, I mean like completely miserable – I had a nose pimple and my crush called me Rudolph – sitting in the library and letting my Spotify shuffle through Room

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Horoscopes – Issue 17

Your horoscope your pop culture moment Aries: ‘beefin’ wit my chick while I’m in jail’  Cancer: The time Charli D’amelio thought the #HereForCharli movement was about her  Aquarius: ‘she’s got… PTSD, or, whatever. Post traumatic… Downs Syndrome’  Sagitarius: ‘ninnies on the glass, ninnies on the glass’  Gemini: ‘Stop sign?? What

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Recipe: Girl Dinner 

It’s important to note that ‘girl dinner’ is extremely subjective. It is different for everyone, and varies on your levels of energy, motivation, finances, and total personal value (amongst others). That being said, let’s get into my personal dinner.  Playlist: Do not listen to any music, just open Spotify and

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The Backseat Lovers: When We Were Friends 

When we were friends is The Backseat Lovers’ 2019 debut album, an indie, slightly pop-rocky-y lyrical exploration of being 18-20, learning about people and the world, and having wonderful experiences whilst being not too sure on what to think of them.   The album opens with ‘Watch Your Mouth’, a song about wanting to help someone you love get through something, before

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COMPX202 Mobile Computing and Software Architecture 

It is the first week back at uni (yay) and I had nothing better to do. Actually that is a lie, I was assigned three practicals on my first day back that I had to complete by the end of the week but instead of doing that, I decided to attend a random lecture. You’re welcome.

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Horoscopes – Issue 16

Aries: Have you thought about cancelling that gym membership? When was the last time you actually went?  Cancer: Do not go anywhere near the library stairs this week. You will be cursed to fall down them.  Aquarius: Consider the fact that doing the readings for class might actually help you pass whatever you’re

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Playlist:

Best songs with colours in the title  Back to Black: Amy Winehouse  Black Hole Sun: Soundgarden  Brown Sugar: The Rolling Stones  Red Moon: Big Thief  Orange Show Speedway: Lizzy McAlpine  Big Yellow Taxi: Joni Mitchell  Yellow ledbetter: Pearl Jam  Green Light: Lorde  Blue Monday: New Order  Purple Rain: Prince  Pink + White: Frank Ocean 

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The Good Shit Has Changed 

In today’s day and age, when you step out into the public world, you’re very likely to see an array of people clutching an array of drinks that all have one thing in common: caffeine. You’re probably holding one yourself, whether it’s a hot coffee spewing steam, a cold coffee

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When the Attacker Becomes the Story

In the hours following the attack at Berlin’s Christopher Street Day Pride celebrations, the focus of public conversation shifted with remarkable speed. Before many people knew the names of those injured or understood the impact on Berlin’s LGBTIQ+ community, headlines were already highlighting one particular detail: the alleged attacker’s links

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Bisexual girls are allowed to have boyfriends- just accept it.

Since pride month has finally ended, it’s appropriate to talk about what’s happening to bisexual women in queer internet spaces at the moment. Since the 1980s, there has been an observable rift between bisexual women that date men and lesbians, which has been recently revived on social media. I sat down with Sonja Ellis, a professor

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The iPad Kids Aren’t Alright 

A New Plymouth primary school has phased out the use of iPads for students in years one to four.  Omata School was one of the first in the country to adopt the use of devices in the classroom, but Principal Karen Brisco is now not so convinced that they are

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Gymfluencers and the Ozempademic

Scroll through social media for five minutes and you’ll find a new body to aspire to. One creator swears by becoming a “muscle mommy,” another insists Pilates is the secret to a lean physique, while someone else claims marathon training transformed their body and life. Alongside these fitness trends come equally viral

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The Tavern – Grassroots NZ Film with Matt Hicks

Sup Matt! Tell us a bit about yourself and your time at Nexus?  I used to write a column called ‘Making living cheaper with Honest Matt’. It was dodgy (borderline criminal) financial advice for poor students. I won columnist of the year for 2012 and got really drunk at House.    Also, that

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Maiki Sherman’s resignation: more than just a controversy

Maiki Sherman has resigned from her role as political editor for 1News at TVNZ.   That’s the headline, but it’s not the full picture. The circumstances surrounding her resignation have been only one part of an ecosystem of muddied waters that now make up the relationship between Parliament, the media, and the New Zealand

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The Rise and Fall of Fees Free

The tumultuous history of deciding who pays for university  The University of Waikato opened in1964, and its students back then had a much different experience financing university than we do today. From 1962 until 1989, the government paid for tertiary tuition fees in full with the state bursary.   As the story often goes, all good things

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Red or Black? 

It’s not much of a secret that online gambling has seen a rise in popularity in the last few years, especially with the younger generation. The technology being offered today means you can gamble from anywhere you can find a connection, anytime you want, on whatever device you’re using. It’s convenient, accessible, and marketed as entertainment suited

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An Objectively Good Jawline – the Dehumanisation of Looksmaxxing

Content warning: mentions of sexual violence, drug use and suicide   The popularisation of looksmaxxing has opened a gaping glory hole in the manosphere – ironically by some of the most homophobic people on the internet.   Looksmaxxing, a portmanteau of ‘looks’ and ‘maximising’, is the idea and practice of improving one’s physical appearance through a variety of

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Metamodernism: The Feeling After Irony 

At some point in the early 21st century, it became clear that the cultural mood had shifted. The ironic detachment that defined late 20th-century art and thought – so central to postmodernism – no longer felt sufficient in a world shaped by climate anxiety, digital hyperconnectivity, and renewed political urgency. Yet a return to

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GENERATION Zzzz… ‘Cuz they’re sleeping on us. 

There was a twinkle of optimism drifting through the air just a week ago, it seems. Greens MP Francisco Hernandez put forward a Private Members’ bill that would see students receiving support during winter under the pretense that, like our country’s old, students are particularly at risk during the colder months of the year.   But Fees Free is getting canned, continuing

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Cost of Learning Crisis: Quiet Questions with Quigley

Fees Free is gone! Winston Peters let it slip on the eighth that one of the outcomes of the upcoming budget would be the end of Fees Free, and Finance Minister Nicola Willis confirmed it. The policy has had a short and, to put it bluntly, awkward life.   Introduced by Labour in 2018, the policy made

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Political Virgins – Issue 10 2026

Four people who’ve never voted, 25 weeks and 4 days until the election, and a whole lot of issues on everyone’s mind. It’s a simple set-up, and this week’s been made a lot simpler with the buh-byeing of Fees Free.   LABOUR  ACT  NATIONAL  GREENS  NZFirst  Te Pāti Māori  Opportunity Party   Response:  Lauren: Green party is definitely the one I agree with the most at the

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You Are Sightseeing

Ah, travelling. Something so many of us want to do but can’t afford to. But regardless of whether you have booked your flights to your dream destination or are currently fantasising through your TikTok feed, buckle up. Because today I want to rant about the difference between travelling and sightseeing. By the end of this piece, you will hopefully be

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BYE BYE BSA – OR – BUSTING SHIT, ACT?

The coalition government is scrapping the Broadcasting Standards Authority. You know, ‘if you think we’ve breached these standards, please feel free to make a complaint’? That BSA.  What does this mean? Well, the proponents of this happening, like ACT MP Laura McClure say that it’s a “Massive win for free speech.”  It means that, rather than broadcasters (which broadly includes podcasters and streamers,

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Big News for Airplanes: Flight Cuts and Airport Expansions

Domestic flights across the country have been seeing a rapid decline due to petrol prices. Flights are being cancelled and as of late April, Air New Zealand continues to cut domestic air travels. 44 return flights have been removed from Tauranga’s schedule from June to July (including flights to Auckland,

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Artemis II

Copy moon joy. On the 1st of April, 2026 the Artemis ii mission commenced, launching spacecraft Orion from Kennedy space centre in Florida. Significant in many ways, this   was the first crewed flight to the moon in over 50 years, (the last being the Apollo 17 in   1972), as well as this being the farthest

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NEXUS POLITICAL VIRGINS

With the election coming up we are getting (more) political. Each week we will choose a policy topic and show you how each of the major parties (and ACT) view that policy. Then our panel of four political virgins who have either never voted or voted but were never that interested, give their opinion

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Nexus Breaks the News – Issue 9 2026

Better Bus Services on the cards for Cambridge  You read that right, Cambridge’s population – which consists entirely of people over the age of 70 – will finally be seeing better bus services that will more efficiently shuttle them between their retirement homes and the horse races.   CHRIS BISHOP REBUFFS PLEAS TO SLOW DOWN

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Residents and Students flooded in Wellington areas

On Monday afternoon on the 20th April, the Wellington region’s wet weather suddenly increased, leading to flooding in various areas. Suburbs such as Vogeltown, Berhampore, Island Bay, Newtown, and Kingston, suffered damage both due to the water and subsequent landslips. Overnight the city endured 77mm of rain. As many as 150 callouts were received by emergency services during the period and photos released

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Nexus Breaks The News – Issue 8 2026

Over enthusiastic conductor sends $2m violin flying:  Why the fuck was someone playing a violin that was worth $2m in the first place?? This seems like an entirely preventable incident. Was it made of gold or something?  Video of Prince Louis on holiday released to celebrate 8th birthday:  It’s good to

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LUXON LUCKS-OUT… SO LUX-IS-IN 

On the 21st of April, during a National party caucus meeting, Christopher Luxon initiated a vote of no confidence upon himself, a vote the National party leader and current prime minister survived. This comes after the 1News-Verian Poll placed the National party at just 30% and Luxon’s own personal favorability at 16%, 3% beneath Chris Hipkins. The results incited a resurgence in whispers of a

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Have an interview with yourself in the mirror

Rating: 3/5 Highly recommend. I find myself doing this all the time, and I have done so since I was a kid. Not only is it an imagination exercise, but it can be grounding and help you get to know yourself just a bit better! And let’s be real, who doesn’t like pretending to be

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Hamilton Gardens

Rating: 5/5 Hamilton gardens are free! Wes free, and while you kinda need a car to get there, it is a pretty good spot to wander around pretending your degree still has a ROI. When people ask “what’s there to do in Hamilton” I often say the gardens are nice, having only been there twice

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Auckland Tattoo Studio

Rating: 2/5 As a girly with, now, thirteen tattoos, I have been in tattoo studios of all sorts. I have had tattoos done by apprentices, senior artists, drunk artists looking for a bit of fun, pop up market artists, and – as of recently – a very posh, incredibly professional, and extra expensive studio in Auckland

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GENER8TION & YUNG LEAN – STORM

Rating: -3/5 Yung Lean’s new song is trite shit. Fantano was right. I knew this for sure when, lashed by the sun and staving off offerings of gear, I watched him & Bladee project themselves in AI Generated Dragonball Z style form at Laneway.   Now, I can’t blame Lean for trying to divorce himself from shit he was making when

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The Anarchy by William Dalrymple

Rating: 5/5 William Dalrymple’s The Anarchy is a cautionary tale about what happens when a corporation is left dangerously unregulated. Set in the distant east, the book navigates the story of the British East India Company, a trading corporation accountable to only its shareholders, as it rises to overthrow one of the

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Coachella

Rating: 4/5 Okay so we all grew up watching Coachella videos on YouTube, right? Right. But what’s it actually like to be a peasant at one of the world’s biggest festivals? Unfortunately, it’s pretty incredible.   Listen, there’s really no “budget” way to do Coachella without sacrificing a fraction of your dignity, so I’m not about to give you numbers or

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Pretty… Lame

Rating: 3/5 Pretty Lethal, the action thriller starring Uma Therman and Maddie Ziegler is pretty damn lethal to the eyes. The plot has great potential – five ballerinas travel to Istanbul but TRAGICALLY ARE TRAPPED IN A SCARY HOTEL. I’m sure you can see where this is going: 1. Someone important dies 2. The ballerinas freak out 3. All five

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Euphoria Episode 2 

SPOILER WARNING  Euphoria episode 2 wasn’t any less inane than episode 1, however a little less disgusting. Amazingly we got blessed with a Maddy opening scene, who is deservingly living her best life working a high-end office job. While also being an only fans manager on the side, I love women in male dominated

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It doesn’t feel like Euphoria

Rating: -2/5 If you’re a Euphoria fan that hasn’t seen the new episode, then skip this because I am about to spoil it. It was good. It wasn’t amazing, or mind blowing, it was just an episode of Euphoria. I watched it twice, to try and work out what the problem was, and I deduced that while it

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Goodbye Julia

Rating: 4/5 Set in the years leading up to the secession of South Sudan, Goodbye Julia tells the tale of an unlikely friendship between two women in a racially divided nation. The story revolves around Mona and Julia, two women who could not be more different. Mona is North Sudanese,

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Bojack Horseman- Escape from LA

Rating: 5/5 Bojack Horseman is constantly controversial in my mind- I flop between hating him because he’s an asshole, to feeling terrible for him because his life is falling apart, before I realise that’s entirely his fault and flop back to the first opinion, but nothing conflicted me more than season two,

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The Drama

Rating: 2/5 A24’s The Drama (2025), directed by Kristoffer Borgli, is a razor-sharp satire that skewers modern Hollywood with gleeful abandon.   Starring Zendaya as a fading starlet navigating auditions, breakdowns, and absurd industry rituals, the film revels in cringe-inducing cringe comedy – think improvised tantrums and viral meltdowns that expose fame’s hollow core. Its lo-fi aesthetic,

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Kōrero Mai – Issue 10 2026

I’ll just come right out and say it. If there were no extra financial support for education, I would not be attending university right now. Many tauira don’t have the luxury of a safety net or financial stability. Many come from homes that don’t have an extra $20 to spare.  Back in the dark ages, in

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Kōrero Mai – Issue 7 2026

Tauira Māori on campus   Māne (Monday)  Tūrei (Tuesday)  Wenerei (Wednesday)  Hoki atu ki tō kāinga – Just go home   Nā Elyse Rahiri   Only a quarter of the way through the year and already most of us are feeling a bit pau te hau. Getting back into the swing of study can be overwhelming and even worse if you have people pleasing tendencies, don’t say

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Kōrero Mai

Tauira Māori on campus   Tūrei (Tuesday)  Wenerei (Wednesday)  Taite (Thursday)  Te Waiora – Rā Hākinakina | Gate 2b – 4:30 pm  Reo Māori Phrases of the Week  Kia ora koutou! Here are some useful everyday Reo Māori phrases to help you talk about holidays, whānau, and what you’ve been up to.  COLUMN  I tōku whānau tokorua ōku kuia, noho tahi ai. Arā, ko tōku kuia a toto nei, me te kuia o tōku ngākau. Ko te rongo o te aroha, kāore i rerekē. He tirohanga Māori tēnei. Ahakoa te momo aroha,

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Kōrero Mai

By now you’ve probably heard we’ve got a new name. We’re still WSU, but now we also carry our ingoa Māori, Te Awa Kōtui.  This didn’t happen overnight. WSU has been working towards an ingoa Māori that truly reflects us and our tauira for a long time, across multiple boards. I also want to acknowledge the presidents, vice presidents, VP Māori, and life members who contributed

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He Kura Tūroa

Kia ora, my name is Anaia Rua, and I am from Ngāi Tūhoe & Ngāti Awa. In the following piece, I reflect on the profound connection shared between Aotearoa and our relatives from Hawai’i during the “He Kura Tūroa” wānanga.    He Kura Tūroa: Relatives Across the Pacific  He ahurea te taiao, he taiao te ahurea. The environment is the culture, the culture is the

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Tikanga: Does It Evolve in a Modern World? 

A question I heard recently has been sitting with me: can tikanga evolve in a modern world? It came up during a kōrero between a group of tauira, and it sparked a lot of reflection for me about what I’ve been taught and how I understand tikanga today. For many people, tikanga is

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Tauira Māori on campus

There’s a strong Māori presence on campus and plenty happening this week, from Cultural Hour to weekly wānanga and study spaces. If you want to meet other tauira, build your reo, or spend time in a Māori space between classes, there are kaupapa running across campus. Keep an eye on…  Te whakahiapo – Maori law students association – @te_whakahiapo 

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