Columns

Welcome to our columns section. We upload new columns in the first week of every month. Our columnists write from Wellington, Auckland, South Korea and North Carolina. Read on!

Hyougen* Hyougen* Last week it was made official; Tokyo is the most expensive city to live in.  ECA International revealed the news that Tokyo had moved up one spot this year to ... Spencer Harrington Read more...

Londontown 5: Going on Record I was back in NZ for 30 minutes this morning...in the form of a talking head via Skype. This was because I was very kindly asked to talk to a ... S. Hargis Read more...

BAFTFT 9: More than anything, this last year in America has taught me patience. Moving in with a family in rural North Carolina after living with three kiwi gents in a slightly ... Jessica George Read more...

WCC 8: In the Thick of it When the New Zealand Company eyed up Wellington as its first organised settlement, they lacked vital foresight as to how large and populous the city would quickly become. Surrounded by ... Molly McCarthy Read more...

Noun, Verb, Kimchi: Part 5 Preface One: I’m now up on the Twitter, @ClaytronGo.  Would love to see you there.Preface Two: This is a column about life in Korea, except that this particular entry is ... Clayton Foster Read more...

Noun, Verb, Kimchi: Part 4 Bangkok is a city of stories.  If you don’t have a story on arrival, wait five minutes.  The city will be sure to bestow one upon you. Take Irish Jimmy, ... Clayton Foster Read more...

Kyou wa Totemo II Tenki Deshita* I arrived back in the Land of the Rising Sun about three weeks too late to fully enjoy the Sakura (cherry blossom) season and the Ohanami (seasonal-drinking-with-friends-under-the-beautiful-foliage) day.  However, I wa... Spencer Harrington Read more...

WCC 7: A Stranger in Two Cities When travelling to Australia, I’ve always enjoyed discovering the subtle differences between the two countries. The confectionery aisles in supermarkets are often the best for this;  Freddo Frogs replaced with ... Molly McCarthy Read more...

WCC 6: Dining with Ducks I’d never really thought of food as being particularly associated with New Zealand culture. Our perceptions of almost every foreign culture are rich with images of their exotic cuisine. But ... Molly McCarthy Read more...

BAFTFT 8: Kiwi Music With a Bang It’s 2am on a Monday night and I am driving on a dark country road. The crisp, wet air is pouring through all of the windows, my hair is madly ... Jessica George Read more...

Noun, Verb, Kimchi: Part 3 I say the boy needs more homework.  Pile it on.  I want him to be Korean by the time he’s done.- Homer Simpson It’s a question with which every traveller struggles: ... Clayton Foster Read more...

Londontown 4: Attention please! Apparently there is no such thing as a ‘geek’ anymore. In my day, Macs were the shape of E.T’s head and admitting you chatted online was reputation suicide.  Therefore somewhere in... S. Hargis Read more...

WCC 5: One month, one bar, six shows. It was with much excitement that I examined the month of March as it was laid out in my diary. A particularly good Victoria University Orientation programme combined with a ... Molly McCarthy Read more...

Noun, Verb, Kimchi: Part 2 So two Koreans are having sex on a balcony.  Maybe. It’s unclear.  Everything is unclear at this point.  Including what I’m doing watching two Koreans maybe having sex on a bal... Clayton Foster Read more...

BAFTFT 7: Discovering a City: An Attemp (Disclaimer: This list might change depending on the size of your city. The city I am taking on today is RALEIGH, in North Carolina, a city with an estimated 392,083 ... Jessica George Read more...

Noun, Verb, Kimchi: Part 1 Here's how it begins: I'm in a late-model Hyundai on a sprawling motorway in a country I've never seen before.  The heat is raw, and I'm already regretting wearing the tailored ... Clayton Foster Read more...

BAFTFT 6: Trying to get an 'in'... Last month’s column had me marching in a dismal parade and questioning whether or not I should be living in North Carolina. This month, because this is real life and ... Jessica George Read more...

WCC 4: Windy, wild, and just the way I l It truly hit home that I was back in Wellington when, with calves burning and a line of sweat forming across my forehead, I spent 20 minutes marching up the ... Molly McCarthy Read more...

BAFTFT 5: Carrboro Blues I had difficulty writing my column this time around, my lovely readers. The reason is that although I am throwing myself into as much as I can here in this ... Jessica George Read more...

Londontown 3: Fair Play In the art filled offices of galleries across London carefully planned calendars are being restructured around the biggest phenomenon to hit the global art world in the past decade: The ... S. Hargis Read more...

Urban Villager: Music Communities On our first tour with my new band, we travelled North to play two gigs over a weekend. The very short and very sweet mini tour was a testament of ... Louise Evans Read more...

BAFTFT 4: Turkey Farm, Pros & Cons, and Self-motivation can be anything but easy, especially when no one is around to feel inspired by. As quickly as I’d found myself interviewing in Chicago, drinking beers in Boston and ... Jessica George Read more...

WCC 3: It's a Small World After All In recent times I’ve come to realise just how small Wellington really is. Perhaps it is because, thanks to living in a student hostel, I can’t seem to walk down ... Molly McCarthy Read more...

WCC 2: Going Dotty Something strange is happening in Wellington. As if victim to a rare variety of measles, the City Gallery is covered in large spots of every colour – a striking contrast ... Molly McCarthy Read more...

BAFTFT 3: New York - Rooftops, Sweaty S I was greeted at La Guardia airport with a big hug from a friend who I hadn’t seen in a long time. This set the tone for the rest of ... Jessica George Read more...

Londontown 2: Art about Art There’s a lot of art about ‘Art’; questioning how we exhibit, consider and experience it as the definitions mutate and reform along the way. London-based artists’ are good for this, ... S. Hargis Read more...

WCC 1: Tinkering Around Toytown When I first moved to Wellington at the start of this year, a friend told me to enjoy living in “toy-town”. New Zealand’s political and commercial centre described as a ... Molly McCarthy Read more...

Urban Villager - supercities, art and li On Tuesday 1st September I attended a meeting about the future of the arts under a supercity structure. It was pretty full. But it was patently obvious that I was ... Louise Evans Read more...

BAFTFT 2: Boston, familiarity, and strai Anxiously looking out the plane window, seeing the ocean and then flashes of greenery, my heart soared. Once the wheels touched down at Logan Airport, I could hear it ringing ... Jessica George Read more...

Londontown 1: The creative scene in Lon The creative scene in London. That sentence isn’t big enough to comprise the multitudes of artists, musicians, galleries, organisations, projects and publications that thrive here.London is glutted with artists of ... S. Hargis Read more...