






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

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

Election campaigns are always learning opportunities for political parties. This year, it seems as though ACT is learning the lesson that it is not good practice to take on people with sections of their Wikipedia pages labelled “controversies” to run for List MP. While I wouldn’t put it past ACT voters to look beyond

I think horror has always been so strong as a genre because it reflects both the best and worst in us. There’s always been a certain pull to the battles that occur in both literary and film within this area. Never have I been an overly large consumer of horror, mostly because I’m a

You’d think I would have stumbled across it before, but for the first time in my life, I recently saw an anti-abortion sticker on the back of an old woman’s truck. ‘Abortion stops a beating heart.’ Well yeah Susan, that’s kind of the point, so it’s good to know you got the memo. Now obviously, we’re lucky enough to

Picture this. The year is 1985, and you are flying into Hong Kong’s old Kai Tak Airport. As you approach the runway, you look out of your window, and what appears is a giant megastructure that is made up of hundreds of buildings crammed together like sardines in a can. What’s even

This show is a gripping psychological survival horror series about the dangers of child neglect. It follows a young girl who suffers from frequent abandonment, often left to wander the surroundings of her town and nearby jungle alone. As a result of her parent’s frequent neglect, it appears the poor girl has

In 1826, explorer Charles Masson of the British East India Company was travelling across the Punjab. Well-versed in the classics, Masson was busy exploring the sites of Alexander the Great’s military campaigns when he stumbled across mysterious ruins near Sahiwal in what is now modern-day Pakistan. Impressed by the site’s size and large

Since his rocket to stardom with the danceable EDM-laden Easter Pink in 2025, UK Rapper Fakemink has been a staple of everyone you know’s TikTok FYP thanks to a slew of catchy hooks, a distinct pitched-up voice and constant invoking of Belgian fashion designer Ann Demeulemeester. Mink’s debut 2023 album London’s Saviour made him concrete in the “UK

It sat empty, the armchair Black, bold, scuffed Home to the ghost of a man He used to fish, He used to walk, He used to laugh, He used to be Then he didn’t It began in his feet, Tickling his toes and grabbing at his ankles, A cruel, curling pain

Welcome to the $50 Date, where a broke university student takes his girlfriend on a date with a budget of $50, and rates the activities accordingly. The rules of this exercise are simple; Whatever we do, we can only spend $50. Each, or total, I hear you asking? Yes. After the activity,

Some people have a countdown until Christmas. I’m crossing off the days on the calendar until it reaches the 7th of November: Election Day. Whether you’re anxiously watching the votes get counted, you’re actively avoiding any mention of politics, or you have no idea how to even wrap your head around the election, it’s important to understand

I have a serious question for all of you. I was watching The Babysitter (2017) last night, and there was the question of who to put in a five-member inter-galactic dream team. I want to know who you guys would choose in a team to fight a star war (hehe),

It doesn’t seem right to be claiming this space as my own. For the past two years, I have worked with Jak, and it feels weird to be succeeding him in the editor’s position. Well, I suppose all there is to do is say thank you. Thanks for being awesome,

Whilst I was under the impression that afternoon lectures started at ten past the hour, when I walked into L.G.01 at eight minutes past twelve, the class was already a few slides deep into what looked like colourful alien language. Those guys just seem to be really keen on learning their programming,
This recipe is a personal favourite, it’s super easy if you’re lazy and doesn’t suck shit like most of the other despair meals that have been in this magazine. Ingredients are pretty simple, its cheap (kinda) and you can throw it into the mix every once in a while so the people around you don’t worry about the person you have become

Aries: Having a good day? Cool! Listen to Sun Bleached Flies by Ethel Cain to make it way better. I promise. Taurus: That green Macbook neo is not calling your name. It’s actually really fucking ugly, not cute and nostalgic. You don’t need it. Gemini: You were really inspired by the Artemis mission, and honestly go off. It was pretty awesome. Just don’t suddenly think you can be an astronaut. Cancer: You’ve been

Let me paint you a picture: Once a year, a few hundred titles which have never before been released on vinyl get pressed and distributed globally. Each record gets pressed anywhere between 20,000 to a mere 750 times, globally. Said records are shipped to independent record stores without any knowledge of what they get.
If you haven’t been taught how to make nachos by a school cooking class or your mum by now, I’m disappointed. So I’m going to teach you instead. You will need: Method:

Not only do I have no business crashing a lecture for a class I’m not in, I have even less business in a sociology 101 tutorial where the tutor is completely unaware I’m not supposed to be there. But there I sat on a Tuesday afternoon in the first SOCIO101 tutorial of the semester, 2048 open on my

He is a 20-year-old third year that was looking for Miss Right that he could plan his environment around. She is a 19-year-old Nursing student looking for Mr Right now. Was it a love connection? We will let you judge. PSA: Women don’t owe men anything – but they do

Aries – Stop procrastinating, embrace your 15 deadlines and get shit done. Taurus – Happy Birthday, also calm down, invest in a journal. Gemini – They’re not looking at you; they don’t want you; stop being a pick me. Cancer – It’s time to become less insufferable. It’s time for you to shine, I feel big things and more friends coming your way. Leo – Spice

Weekly topic: online literature. THEY’RE STUDYING FANFICTION THIS WEEK. Granted it’s that shitty Harry Styles After one. I’d be interested in doing a census and see if people like this homework more or less than reading through a twenty page scholarly article. There are some people who have Wattpad open in this class but, unlike usual, they’re actually engaging with the lecture. I really like the way

Album review Bri Louise Pōneke based, Bri Louise, brings a calm gentleness to this Album; you can hear the smile in her voice and the love she has for those she sings about. With smooth jazz and R ‘n’ B notes, the Album was recorded live, with a ~20-piece support band/choir, giving it

The Beths – gig Review We’re in an old church-turned-music-venue, you can feel the lingering evangelical spirit whipping up the crowd into a holy fervour, worshiping the divine power that is The Beths. It’s hot as hell, packed to bursting with students and mid-30s day-one fans alike. My friends and I manage to push almost
Ingredients 1 cup lukewarm water 1 tablespoon of sugar 2 teaspoons active dry yeast 2 tablespoons olive oil (it wont explode if u use vegetable oil but it wont be as flavorful) 2 ½ – 3 cups standard four (for this recipe I eyeball it but its usually around 350gr) 1 teaspoon of salt Fresh rosemary Cherry tomatoes

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

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

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

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

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

There is no hiding the association university has with stress; deadlines, class, and the pending doom of an uncertain future have always been part of student life. But for many students in Aotearoa, that experience is increasingly being replaced by exhaustion. Between rising rents, grocery prices, transport costs, and tuition

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

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

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

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

Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s 2001 film Amelie begins by describing the movements of a blue fly one day in 1973, and it only grows more whimsical from there. The film follows its namesake, 23-year-old Amelie Poulain, a shy and imaginative young waitress living in Paris. One night, Amelie finds a 40-year-old time capsule behind

Brittle Splits is a 30-something year old Waikato Arts alumni, who wears nipple pasties and fishnet tops onstage (in 9 inch boots) just for fun—and feminist expression, duh. Here, she outlines the mediascape of pole politics within Aotearoa. She recommends strippers to follow (Online only. Do. Not. Stalk.) for equal

On 27 May 2026, a group of disabled student activists gathered in the SUB over pizza and sodas to celebrate the signing of a memorandum of understanding between Te Awa Kōtui Waikato Students Union and the Waikato Disabled Students Association. This small but influential club is dedicated to supporting and advocating for all disabled

Over the 18th and 19th of July, party leader Winston Peters stood up at the New Zealand First convention to announce the party’s proposal, if re-elected, is to invest one billion dollars into the exploration of offshore basins in order to extract oil and gas supplies. Peters claimed that this investment was

Donald Trump unveils mathematical skills Just over a month after bragging about his flawless cognitive examinations – Donald Trump has announced his intention on running for a Fourth Term in 2028: This is batshit in and of itself, but we’d especially like to highlight the fact that the guy is only sitting his second term right

There is nothing that makes me lose faith in a lecturer than blatant and ignorant usage of AI. I write this after sitting through a lecture with so many AI generated images on the slides that it truly made me doubt whether the lecturer had even written the slides themself. I’m sorry professor, but
Te Piringa Student Events Association and Te Awa Kōtui Waikato Students’ Union are coming together to host an event very creatively named ‘The Debate’. On August 10th representatives from ACT, Labour, National, NZFirst, The Greens, TOP, & Te Pāti Māori will gather in the Pā, putting themselves under the scrutiny of tertiary-aged students the likes of which could be a serious deciding bloc in cities like Kirikiriroa if enough

Since the 20th of January the offramp delivering commuters from SH1’s pothole-laden post-work-and-school traffic towards the Cambridge Velodrome has been closed, not because of any particular work on the ramp itself but because the whole southbound part of the road has been cordoned off, drivers detoured with an excess of

TELL ME WHY. Seriously, tell me why I walk into Campus Books needing three – may I stress, only three – texts for an English course I’m currently taking, and I walk out $134.25 poorer. For THREE fiction books. One of which was almost sixty dollars, which sure, it’s a fairly chunky book, but most of the paper isn’t used

For many students, the 2026 general election will be the first time they have the opportunity to directly influence who represents their community in Parliament. While national debates often focus on party leaders, electorate MPs have an important role in advocating for local issues – including the challenges many students face

ROADS OF MAYBE SORT OF POTENTIALLY NOT REALLY NATIONAL INTEREST The Chris Bishop humiliation ritual will continue until house prices improve. MONEYBALL(s) Sunday Star sportswriter Tony Smith has had an opinion article published. In the article, Smith argues that we should put ‘smart corporate money’ on the All Whites just as much

Long queues for slightly promising gas prices might be looming beyond the windscreen once again. After tense ceasefire negotiations with Iran on June 17th, the United States saw some gaudy jackboot phonk edits get thrown up by official White House accounts, there was a period of snails pace, closely monitored travel through the strait of Hormuz. Before any of us regular folk

Indian Prime Minister Narenda Modi arrived in Auckland on July 10th to a wave of fanfare from Kiwi-Indians and our bald Prime Minister for talks of bilateral partnership by way of a Free Trade Agreement. India’s understanding of the agreement, though, seems to be a little flopsided; With Modi thanking us for a ‘commitment’ to investing

Sunday nights are usually the same in my household; something nice for dinner, chilling out with my flatmate, and the compulsory viewing of One News Live at 6. The news was the same as usual last Sunday, with some World Cup updates, something about the United States, and a report on

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

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

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,

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

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,

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,

Rating: 4/5 April Harper Grey is an artpop/hyperpop artist known as Underscores. She frequently collaborates with other experimental pop adjacent artists such as Jane Remover and Danny Brown, whilst having her own unique genre-bending sound that separates her from the rest. Underscores’ latest album U is fully self-produced and feels like her most personal and all-encompassing album

Rating: 4/5 It’s not every day that you watch a movie that, despite its slow pace, absolutely captivates you. Recently, I stumbled across a movie called Kokuho. Directed by Lee Sang-il, Kokuho dives into the world of kabuki theatre and explores themes of artistic discipline and personal identity. But at its heart, it is a universal story

Rating: 4 For many people in the arts, creation is central to identity. I’m in that group. I put a little bit of myself in everything I do. Consequently, I am a huge fan of Studio Ghibli and the work of Hayao Miyazaki, who is one of the most powerful storytellers I’ve come across. ‘Miyazaki’ by Paris Paloma
Rating: 2 Because I didn’t look properly at the specifics of the showing, I walked into the theatre and ended up watching the newest Avatar movie in 3D, which wasn’t something I’d done in a long time, and it made the movie’s experience so much better to be sitting there

Rating: 4 As an avid horror movie fan, I liked to think I could predict how the story was going to go, but this one really had me stumped, and the reveal had me absolutely amazed. Malignant is an incredible movie about a woman named Madison who is starting to have

Louis Theroux: Inside the Manosphere is a compelling but uneven look at misogynistic online influencers and the young men drawn to them. The film effectively exposes an ecosystem where outrage and insecurity are turned into a lucrative business model, with “manfluencers” selling courses, communities, and personas as much as ideas. It’s most powerful

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

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

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,

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

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

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

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