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The Taste of Me is Acquired, But It’s His Favourite Dish Taylor Swift: The Encore Well, well, well... just when you thought the year would escape Taylor Swift, she’s back. This time it’s with four new tracks, The Encore, to round out last year’s The Life of a Showgirl. By all accounts her worst album, I, too, disliked it—for its schmaltz, its derivative musical aspects, its unnecessary Charli xcx diss, and for its straightforwardly triumphal tone about newfound love: “You dug

A feed for fuck-all Dessert, anyone? Thank you for following along as I ate my way around the city, sniffing out the best deals and which promos were bogus. There were the stalwarts that always pull through, like Everybody Eats and KC Cafe, but also surprising first-timers for me, like Kera-la-carte and Platform 145. Of course, there were let-downs as well; places touting a good deal like a Fata Morgana in this desert of empty stomachs and bank accounts. Little Astoria, and

Dear dating diary, As we come towards the end of the year (and my final Salient article eek!!!), it only feels fitting to reflect on the past year of my life. A lot has happened and I have certainly grown as a person. I have found out a lot about myself and what dating means to me, which has been tough but incredibly enlightening overall. There have also been a few stories that I haven’t had the opportunity to tell through this column. SO, without further ado, here are som

I’ll be vulnerable and admit I have a phone addiction. This past year, I've realized my world revolves around a slab of metal, and I’ve let myself become its slave. If I have an extended period of time to myself, I’ll enter a rabbit hole of scrolling, deeper and deeper as hours pass by. What’s scary is that I’ll be aware of it, thinking, “I should look away soon…” Yet, I’ll stay paralyzed in my bed as the afternoon turns dark, and it’s too late to be productive. I’ve wasted m

An Eye for Arovision What to watch on Welly’s local streaming service As we enter October and all the spookiness that comes with it, I figured I would use this—my last article in the last Salient—to remind you of some essential and influential horror classics you can find on Arovision. Horror is hot right now, and it feels fitting to peek back at some turn-of-the-century hits that revitalised the genre. I’m sure you’re at least familiar with these films, so let me focus less

Carly Rae Jepsen: Day and Night Pop’s reigning princess returns with an inspired double album Sometimes the marketing copy gets it exactly right. “Carly Rae Jepsen’s pristine, prismatic pop has long been the blissful soundtrack for first kisses and swirling romances...”—so goes the Canadian singer’s Spotify bio. Pristine, prismatic pop—well, that’s absolutely it. (I guess somebody will hire the English majors after all!) But around the time of the release of her third album,

Bi-Weekly Game Reviews This is it. My ultimate study-break franchise, although it is so, SO much more. With its latest entry bringing the series officially out of Japan for the first time, and releasing on consoles as well, I am beyond excited to finally recommend Touhou Project to a wider audience with New Classic ~ The Embodiment of Scarlet Devil. New Classic is a fantastic entry point into Touhou Project as a remake of the sixth entry in the series—the first entry in the

Good news stories (and more) for the planet Kia ora, Salient reader! Welcome to our fortnightly column on the environment, sustainable living, and the small, stubborn act of hope amongst a world on fire! Check in every second week for waste-free recipes, genuinely good news, and practical ways to lend a hand—nudging a happier, healthier earth a little closer into view. Recipe: Focaccia is surely the most fantastic bread of all time. It’s very simple to make and you can spice

Bi-Weekly Game Reviews Dynasty Warriors is a series I don’t hear discussed enough, and those who know of it can’t seem to agree on what kind of a game it’s supposed to be. While ironically that’s something my studies allow me to go on about ad infinitum, put bluntly this series can be whatever you want it to be. Whether you’re looking for a meaty experience to dive into or something to dabble in episodically, a challenge or a brain-off dopamine hit, Dynasty Warriors 8: Xtreme

A feed for fuck-all Roman’s Kitchen What: Pasta Price: $10.00 - $12.90 When: 11:30am—11:00pm, Monday—Sunday Filling value, but just a bit sad. ⭐⭐ Roman’s Kitchen, on upper Cuba Street and also High Street in Lower Hutt, is on the cutting-edge of efficient, modern-day food production and has gamed the food-delivery market for all that it’s worth. They operate under at least eleven monikers on Uber Eats, which all have slight variations or excerpts of the same menu, while comp

Debt Club: Foothold Wellington band’s beautifully played debut album The first thing to note on Debt Club’s debut album Foothold is the open, buoyant, intelligent musical arrangements—recorded and mixed, too, with considerable skill. This is a lovely record to listen to—like any record by The Beths, its first order is that loveliness—and it floats among its jangly, guitar-forward colour a prominent saxophone part. Playing their damn instruments is clearly not an issue for thi

Dear dating diary, It may shock you to discover that I have never downloaded a dating app. I got into a long-term relationship pretty young and haven’t needed one since we broke up a year ago. Not to sound too up myself, but I haven’t really needed to download one. I have had great success meeting people in real life! But recently, as things have quietened down a little, I have been reflecting on why I haven’t downloaded one yet. It is the norm to use one so what is holdin

Dance-Floor Romance Chris Tse’s laureate collection is a sweet-talking triumph Chris Tse was Aotearoa New Zealand’s Poet Laureate from 2022 to 2025, and did the job so well that the National Library literally extended the term of its laureates by a year as a result. Dance-Floor Romance comes in the wake of this achievement, and in some ways is that achievement, distilled on the page: it’s Tse’s laureate collection, arranged into four years, one for each of his term. Romance

Good news stories (and more) for the planet Kia ora, Salient reader! Welcome to our fortnightly column on the environment, sustainable living, and the small, stubborn act of hope amongst a world on fire! Check in every second week for waste-free recipes, genuinely good news, and practical ways to lend a hand—nudging a happier, healthier earth a little closer into view. Relationship with the Earth It is likely that you, as a reader of this column, already swoon over the beau

A feed for fuck-all Mughlai MerCury What: Filled naan roll Price: $10.00 When: 6:00pm—2:00am, Monday—Sunday Does everything it needs to. ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Mughlai MerCury has had its heyday. I’m not sure what came first, the decision to switch to takeaway order only or the dilapidation of their front of house; it was less restaurant and more forgotten storage unit. There was one black dining table left in the room, holding nothing but a box of tissues. Also in the small, shadowy room we

A feed for fuck-all Caffe L’Affare What: Get Smashed burger Price: $10.00 Remarkable price, unremarkable burger. ⭐⭐ At $17 below this year’s average burger price, the Get Smashed from Caffe L’Affare was off to a good start. Plenty of other people agreed: the line for a table here was out the door when I arrived at lunchtime. Inside, the kitchen was churning out burgers; a long row of white-and-red-checked paper trays was lined up on the counter for service. Certainly a quan

Bi-Weekly Game Reviews Three more Ciph’s Cabinets to go, and as we head towards that final push of the end of the year, I figured I'd cover various pick-up-and-play titles to help you pace and break up the study grind. With that said, I’m not terribly big on visual novels or puzzle games. There are a couple exceptions, but generally they feel a little too monotonous or repetitive to hold my interest. So imagine my surprise when Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective came out of nowhe

Know Your Stuff NZ International Overdose Awareness Day is on August 31. It’s a global day of remembrance, giving space for those of us who have lost people to drug overdose to take a minute and miss our loved ones. Accidental drug overdose is the reason KnowYourStuffNZ began. In the beginning… 12 years ago a batch of “MDMA” was being sold that was definitely not MDMA. It put a bunch of people in hospital, which at the time was considered normal and an acceptable consequence