TAKE TWO...
Kia Ora, Hello, Vas Happenin?
Welcome back to Monday Mag!
From us to you, we hope you have had a Hari Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori! Let’s keep appreciating the beautiful language of Te Reo Māori in Aotearoa.
To be honest, we are nervous about this week's episode. People have been complimenting us (not to toot our horns) but we can't handle the fame and are crumbling under the pressure.
Speaking of crumbling under pressure, this week's issue is all about students! We are both students and have found that there are many things that we can do to ease the pain of having 5 assignments on the go plus a 21st this weekend plus dinner to cook for a flat. Buckle up and enjoy fellow procrastinators!
Welcome back to Music for a Monday.
Over the weekend I immersed myself in the music scene by attending the Billie Eilish concert here in NZ, where I cried and yelled. This is very fitting to this week's theme, as sometimes you just need to argue with yourself or scream your lungs out to release some study tension. Listen to this playlist and you will feel like the main character in your very own blockbuster drama. The playlist carries a contrast of screaming bops to sob seshs, whatever tickles your fancy.
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4eOw5euIJjHWdwTaFjRLtC?si=wjMV0P16SFameLa5-10vjA
Tea of the Week is a weekly round-up of the juiciest tea and drama happening on the internet and around the world, so what’s happened this week?
To tribute to the Queen, Victoria bridge has been lit in Union Jack colours since her passing. Photo supplied Emma Niven.
We have to talk about English breakfast tea as this has been a hot cuppa recently, Queen Elizabeth II sadly passed away at the age of 96. The state funeral will be held at Westminster Abbey today which is the last day of mourning for the UK. In honour of Her Majesty, there will be a one-off public holiday here in New Zealand on the 26th of September.
PHOTO SUPPLIED: GETTY IMAGE
The 74th Emmys Awards happened last week, and this was the first awards evening to resume as normal without Covid-19 limitations - And what a night. Lizzo won the award for best competition program for “Lizzo’s Watch Out for the Big Grrrls” - an Amazon show which follows her journey to find backup dancers. Lizzo’s emotional acceptance speech elevated her childhood dream of seeing representation and body inclusivity in the media.
PHOTO SUPPLIED: DISNEY
Speaking of representation, Disney released a teaser trailer of The Little Mermaid remake featuring Halle Bailey as Ariel. The African-American actress received backlash due to the animated mermaid having fair skin in the original film. However, black parents have captured beautiful reactions of their girls sparkling with joy when seeing Bailey in the film, as she looks like them.
PHOTO SUPPLIED: STEFANIA D'ALESSANDRO/WIREIMAGE.
Olivia Wilde’s film, Don’t Worry Darling, has been hot tea for a while now but the behind scene drama continues at the Venice Film Festival. So here’s a summary of events.
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Olivia Wilde dodges questions about Shia Labeouf and the fallout between herself and Florence Pugh at the press conference. Pugh didn’t make it to the photocall and press but later that night she made a bombshell appearance on the red carpet.
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While the cast was posing for photos, Wilde and Pugh didn’t stand next to each other, and neither did Harry Styles and Olivia Wilde - although the pair is ‘dating’ a news reporter said they had broken up. This has made Style’s fans crazy as Wilde attends most of his concerts, causing conspiracy theories to erupt amongst fans.
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At the film screening, a video began circulating of Styles ‘spitting’ on his co-star Chris Pine. Although the pair have the utmost respect for one another.
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Wilde and Pugh had their first interaction during the standing ovation as Pugh leaned behind her co-stars clapping in Wilde’s direction, this action was reciprocated by Wilde.
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After the film festival, Styles sarcastically addressed the spitting rumour at his Love on Tour concert in New York, as he explained “I just quickly went to Venice to spit on Chris Pine”.
Don’t Worry Darling is in cinemas 6th of October. Stay tuned as we’ll break down the film to see if it's as interesting as the behind-the-scenes drama.
PHOTO SUPPLIED: TRISHA PAYTAS/INSTAGRAM
Social media personality, Trisha Paytas, gave birth to her baby girl, Malibu Barbie Paytas-Hacmon on Wednesday. After all the confusion and almost panic on TikTok, Trisha’s baby was not reincarnated as the Queen.
Back here in Aotearoa, the Tea continues…
PHOTO SUPPLIED: ROBERT KITCHIN/STUFF
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced changes to the current Covid-19 requirements last Monday, with a two-rule system. Masks are only required in health care settings, and only positive cases will need to be isolated for seven days. Household contacts will not isolate but will be asked to take a daily RAT test before carrying on as normal. The Covid-19 traffic light system has been scrapped and restrictions ended last week. The vaccine mandate will be dropped on the 26th of September, international travellers will not need vaccine requirements to travel. Thanks Jacinda, but is this too soon, and what about international travellers coming into Aotearoa?
PHOTO SUPPLIED: COUNTDOWN
Food prices are the highest in 13 years. From August to August last year, Statistics NZ's index has shown an 8.3% increase in food prices with eggs, yoghurt, cheese and tomatoes having the highest price jump. Wouldn’t it suck to be living off a student benefit during inflammation, def wouldn’t know.
What tea can we expect this week?
PHOTO SUPPLIED: EMMA NIVEN
From Monday to Sunday this week there is a Zero Food Waste Challenge. This challenge aims to put zero food in the bin. This may seem hard, this may seem easy, but all it takes is careful planning and good food preservation. Did you know kiwi households throw away 157,389 tonnes of food each year? According to Love Food Hate Waste, Kiwis throw out 15,174 tonnes of bread costing $62,589,440 each year. This is avoidable if stored properly in the fridge or freezer. Although applications have closed for the seven day challenge, you can still sign up to get the pocket guide until the 29th of September and try reducing food waste. https://zerofoodwastechallenge.com/signup/
PHOTO SUPPLIED: CHRISTEL YARDLEY/STUFF
This Thursday is World Car Free Day. This movement is aimed to spread awareness and decrease the number of carbon emissions. More than 20% of New Zealand's emissions come from Transport and since we love driving our own cars so much, we need to find pragmatic solutions to reach the goal of net-zero carbon emission in 2050. Such as biking or walking, for more information go to https://genless.govt.nz/world-carfree-day/
That's the tea of the week, but our favourite tea is Raspberry Lemon from Red Seal. This tea is a huge game changer for all fruit teas, as this will give you withdrawal symptoms if you run out and forget to buy more.
Trending...
We’ve all heard the stories of the poor old sods (or maybe you are one) in Dunedin with dodgy landlords who think it's okay to have black mould growing on their windowsills and no insulation. And if it's not the landlord, it could be down to user error. Hey, we understand time gets away from you and being a student is tough yakka - but for the love of all things sanitary, please don’t let your flats get as bad as this TikTok.
Speaking of dunners, did you hear it snowed last week? Students grabbed this by the balls and ran with it. Residents of Dunedin were seen skiing down roads, throwing snowballs at each other and making snowmen! Probably the most interesting thing to happen there since Six60.
If you’re looking for yet another way to procrastinate and want some top-tier entertainment, check out our girl Emily Grosser. If you don't get a laugh out of her content, there's something wrong with you… Sorry, we don't make the rules.
https://www.tiktok.com/@emilygrosser
We all have those friends that have never been to uni in their lives but make absolute BANK. They probably have us all regret signing up for our Bachelor's Degrees. A perfect example of this is the Inspired Unemployed. We could take many pages out of their books in creativity and comedy.
https://www.tiktok.com/@theinspiredunemployed
Now, as young people, we all need to expand our internal cookbook from just Mi Goreng noodles and Mac and Cheese. We’re here to hook you up with the best of the best cheap meals so you do not wilt away in your 8 am lectures. Get cookin’!
https://www.tiktok.com/@salmakescheapfood
If you're still stressed, just call your parent figure or anyone else that might lend you a couple of dollars to buy your $13 cheese (or 5 if you're Judith Collins).
This week's random topic is about Mindfulness, although it's not random and should be taken seriously.
If study becomes a little too much, and you feel like you need a breather to avoid a mental breakdown followed by a peace sign selfie, here are some of our favourite activities to reduce stress.
Sunset Chasing
Hamilton do be kinda flat with vibes, but Tills Landing provides an epic sunset over hills.
If you're boujee enough to have a car and can afford petrol these days, or if you are cheeky enough to persuade your mates for a tiki tour, head out to Michael Hope lookout in Raglan to see the sunset on the horizon.
Hamilton Lake can be pretty when the sky is clear, but make sure to avoid the duck shit. You’ll smell it before you see a duck.
Procrastination Bake Off
If it's a matter of time between the assignment deadline and the oven timer… make another batch of brownies.
Hot Gurl Walks
If you need a break from your computer or a break from your study break, go “spread your legs” as Chris Hipkins said and walk along the Waikato River. If you manage to walk the length of the river, go you, but you can also hot gurl walk around Hamilton Lake. FYI there will be duck shit.
Mummy, Please Pick Up
If all the above fails, a call to mum or dad or dog or cat will bring a sense of stability.
Social Media Detox
Sometimes deleting social media apps can make you feel alone or make you feel like you're missing out by not being in the loop. However, this can reduce anxiety and give you a clearer perspective of life. Who knows, you may even start a new hobby.
Coffee Spots
Throughout the Monday Mag journey, we have constantly used the excuse of ‘Let's go study at a coffee shop - it'll help us focus! And now we are writing all our coffees off as business expenses by sharing our favourite coffee spots with you (Ggs cafe Hamilton please sponsor us).
If you want the coffee shakes in the best way you need to head to Grey Street Kitchen. Their coffees are just the right amount of strength and have the cutest CIRCULAR ICE CUBES if you're into a lil iced latte moment.
We went out to Cafe Fresca a few weeks ago and ordered fries and holy shit when I tell you that a literal KG of fries was served to us I'm not kidding. The coffee was pretty bang on too. By the way it's connected to a plant store.
If you study better at night than in the morning, you're not alone! Coffee Culture is here for you. Open late and serving huge caffeinated bevvies, we cannot get enough.
If you want to feel like you're escaping Ham Hole and stepping directly into an industrial Melbourne cafe, SL28 on Riverbank Lane is your spot. The barista laughed in my face when I asked for an iced oat latte in the dead of winter, but hey, mans has humour.
The place to go for coffee at Wintec is Dora’s. Only a hop step and a jump away from the media arts building and they offer a 10% discount with a student ID. Get amongst it!
As a grand finale, we bring to you the best place in the whole of Hamilton, Ggs on Lovegrove Lane! The vibes in this place are just 10/10. The recycled furniture, pastel colours and cheap asf coffee makes you feel like you are thriving even when you're not.
HONOURABLE MENTIONS:
Coffix
Mcdonalds Coffee
Two Birds Eatery
Cafe INC.
Mavis & Co