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Pedro Hay Kia ora, everybody! I hope we’re all settling back into 9 a.m. lectures and scurrying over to the Salient stands to see what new mysteries the horoscope will reveal this week. I’m sure we’ve all missed it. I’m back again with more bullshit, so read ahead to see what poor thing evolution has cooked up and set loose for me to take the piss out of. Coming up with a name for this article actually gave me a bit of a challenge, thanks to this animal’s entirely indecisive

Love, death, and the very essence and origin of hard rock. Taine Knox for The Mindstate. The disbanding of legendary band Cream in 1968 changed music history. The supergroup featured Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce, and Ginger Baker, who all went on to have solo careers of their own—to varying degrees of success—while others were left in the fallout. One such example was their producer and frequent collaborator Felix Pappalardi—a man who would go on to lead a career which was, more

Gemma Moore The wind takes up the most space between us now. If I lie on my back and stick out my tongue, all you have to give me is one hundred years and a few more days, and I’ll grow moss like all the other gravestones that brave the wind. I’m braving it. The air looks thick, rosé and grabbable, floating just out of my swipes. I glare at the overbearing clouds, repugnant of their dominion. Moody teenage weather, I cussed it out, but all it could hear was something like unh

Madonna’s dance music has always been social. This might sound obvious; isn’t all dance music social?; aren’t dance floors literally composed of a mass of people? But if you’ve been to a techno or trance gig recently you might be able to hear the difference. (And see the difference, too; as in, a disconcertingly large number of promising young lads slumped over in a K-hole.) Some dance floors are focussed on a self-pleasure kind of hedonism, where the dissolution of oneself i

Zia Ravenscroft There are a handful of moments from my first few years at university that I consider quintessential student experiences. Taking the equivalent of five coffees to the library in a drink bottle to write an essay in one sitting. Sneaking vodka into bars in bottles of hand sanitiser and micellar water. The RAs shutting down every halls-confession page. My theatre lecturer making us promise that no matter how late we stayed in Studio 77 painting our set, we would n

Revenge Wears Prada: The Devil Returns How The Devil Wears Prada 2 undoes the brilliance of its predecessor Spoilers ahead. The year is 2006. Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep)—tyrannical Editor-in-Chief of major fashion magazine, Runway—turns and enters a car. Her former assistant, Andy Sachs (Anne Hathaway), waves from across the street. We cut to Miranda inside the car: over her face, the passenger seat window reflects the highrise building in which her offices are housed.

Taine Knox Award-winning South Korean DJ Peggy Gou stands at the forefront of pop-house evolution. Her debut album, I Hear You, is another showcase of her retro-inspired euro-house style and its way of invoking her signature blend of energy, psychedelia, and nostalgia into the ears of listeners. After a decade of crafting her sound and style through multiple singles on multiple different record labels, she looked to firmly establish her place in the modern House circuit

Within the span of a week, I’ll be trying to accomplish a long-term task just to see if it’s possible, and to see what I can get out of it. Life lessons? Skills? Resilience training? The stimulation alone should be enough motivation. This week, I challenged myself to beat Facebook Marketplace. I’ve never really liked using it—aside from occasionally browsing flat listings—but after discovering the “ One Red Paperclip ” story, I felt inspired. In 2005, Canadian blogger Kyle Ma

Baby, What Was That? How Heated Rivalry helped us talk about sex Mild spoilers ahead. A number of major album releases last week—Mitski, Gorillaz, Bruno Mars, Bill Calahan, 2charm—but I’m putting them all on hold to cover Heated Rivalry this Sex Week, the softcore-porno-turned-character-drama that captivated the zeitgeist last December. There’s a lot to say about the show as a “phenomenon” generally: how it came together on a shoestring budget; was shot at speed over the s

Take this quiz with your friends or flatmates and compare scores. Who’s mild? Who’s extra spicy? Be honest… we won’t tell (but your score might). How to Play: This game has multiple rounds—do as many or as few as you want. Perfect for pacing yourselves or ramping things up. This game is meant to be fun, lighthearted, and pressure-free. Everyone has different boundaries, experiences, and comfort levels—and every score is valid (including not wanting to answer questions). Alway

People like to insist their media tastes are neutral, accidental, or purely about “good storytelling,” which is interesting given how consistently those tastes line up with the way they flirt, date, and behave in bed. This quiz isn’t scientific, but it is based on the fact that people who love prestige television are rarely as chill as they think they are. Add up your letters at the end and sit with (or share with the group chat) whatever that reveals. Pick your favourite ho

Ahead of the 2025 VUWSA elections, we asked the presidential candidates two key questions to help you get to know them better. Their responses to these printed questions offer insight into what drives them and what they hope to achieve if elected. 1) How do you define the role of VUWSA President, and what do you believe are its most important responsibilities? Micah: The VUWSA President is an organising role as much as it is a representative one. I would define it as a role

Unpacking Politics' Most Beloved Shallow Phrase. By Maia Berryman-Kamp (Te Arawa, Mataatua, me Tainui) In this most humble of election...