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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

An extremely moving, deeply impressive work of musical design from one of our most important living songwriters “Crying in a suit and tie / But you should see the other guy / One more time for old time’s sake / I’ll watch him get carried away.” There’s the formal attire, then the dad joke, then the adage; by the fourth line, we know we’re at the funeral. Gentle synths drone far back in the mix, a quiet needle drop sounds as though underwater or in slow motion; the vocal comes

Author: KnowYourStuff Cocaine! “Coke” to its friends, “Nose Beers” to its mates, and “Booger Sugar” to the joker in the back of the class that thinks he’s funny. Cocaine is a stimulant drug that increases the rate at which messages travel between the brain and the body. It is made from the leaves of the coca bush, which is native to South America. Cocaine has two main forms, the salt and the freebase: The Salt form Cocaine HCl is the white powder form most people are familia

Dear dating diary, Like many of you lovely readers I have recently been watching Love Island. No spoilers, but all the islanders were asked about their body counts as part of a challenge recently. Their answers typically ranged from around 5 to 12 (with some significantly higher). As one does, I reflected on my own body count (9) and felt a weird bit of shame surrounding it. I feel as though the people on Love Island are stereotypically those with higher body counts. It fo

A feed for fuck-all By the time this issue goes to print, Wellington will again be going feral for chunky sandwiches. Every pub, cafe, and ferry terminal will be scrambling to serve their own Wonky Bonky Baby Burger—a 60-centimetre tall monstrosity, made with the mince of a steer called Jeremy who was fed on a stash of Snickers Pods—topped with beetroot, banana, and a relish of wild dandelion root picked under a new moon, in an Arobake brioche bun. No, I jest. A midwinter fe

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. Waste-free recipe of the week Make your own Muesli bars! It's no secret that a good muesli bar is one of the few unrivaled snacks. Whether it's for gett

HEADING L'Étranger (The Stranger) SUBHEADING New Francois Ozon movie scans a bit like a perfume commercial Albert Camus’ 1942 novel L'Étranger is essentially impossible to adapt in another medium. Francois Ozon’s solution is to turn it into a film of surfaces, glossy exteriors, perfume-commercial sheen. It’s an appropriate treatment for a novel centred on a disconnected, lonely, existentially aloof young man who quite literally can’t see past surfaces; who refuses to allow hi

Kia ora Salient readers, My name is Sarah Douglas, and I'm the Vice President of Connections for the Postgraduate Students' Association (PGSA) here at Te Herenga Waka. You might be wondering: We have a Postgraduate Students' Association?! The answer is: Yes! We're a small but determined group of volunteers working to support and represent postgraduate students across the university. Like many organisations, we've been through a rebuilding phase, but this year we're focused on

What to watch during Welly’s upcoming New Zealand International Film Fest Go to nziff.co.nz and get your tickets! I have been attending NZIFF since I moved to Pōneke, and every year it is an absolute treat. Last year, I was an usher. This let me sit in on movies on shift and get my greedy hands on some comp tickets. The best time of my life. I saw seventeen movies (!!!) at a fraction of the cost. This year, I’m slowing my roll a little with a forecast of 10 screenings. That’