Paper Jets

Having spent the first years of his life locked in a room so his mum could go to work to keep a roof over their heads, Ned So’e grew into a bitter young man. Otara born and bred, So’e spent his early years in poverty and drug-dealing, all the while there was a greater calling on his life. The LIFE Regional Pastor says his troubled past has equipped him with the tools to help others from troubled backgrounds. “It took me 30 years to get over it but now I can talk to young people for 30 minutes and say, ‘these are your keys to unlocking your healing’.” This Sunday, LIFE South opens the doors of its new state-of-the-art Manukau campus with the hope that it will bring life and fellowship to many, including those who may never have set foot in a church before. So’e admits it might seem like there’s a “saturation” of big-name churches in South Auckland and particularly Manukau, but there’s a need for all of them. “There are lost souls in my community who have never heard the ...

It's strange to be interviewing Jono Pryor and Ben Boyce. Several times Pryor turns it around so he's interviewing me. "Do you guys always meet people here for pizza? What are you guys doing after this? Is Stuff going behind a paywall?" Pryor peppers us with questions as he chauffeurs us up the mount in his legendary black 1970s Holden Kingswood. It's back to black, having recently been painted a vibrant pink in a Boyce-ordered prank. The presenters of late-night current affairs spoof Jono and Ben at Ten are facing the challenge of capturing two types of audience. They are branching out their TV show to include the hardcore fans of drivetime rock radio. Tall, thin, buzz-cut and jeans-clad, the comic presenters take the piss as they pose for photos. "Is it too late to pull out?" Boyce asks. "They caught me at a low point." The move to replace Pryor's deep-voiced, decade-long co-host Robert Taylor with Boyce has attracted a legio...

Before you relinquish all your dreams of cracking the Auckland property market, may I suggest house sharing? I know you’re wrinkling your nose as you picture upturned toilet seats, negotiating the last of the milk and arguing over Wifi. But house sharing may be the ticket into a market you didn’t think you stood a chance in without a $160,000-plus deposit. Last month, popular short-term house sharing site Airbnb received its four millionth customer. In Auckland, as many as 40 percent of buyers are wanting to share their homes with their folks and another 30 to 40 percent are after a home and income situation. Tall Poppies real estate’s Hamish Anderson has even had requests from young married couples seeking “community living” “There are a few others who want to be living with their mates and to be able to buy in the Auckland property market,” he says. His most popular listed home is this six bedroom, three bathroom home boasting a 4000 square metre section in Henderson. ...

Jason Kerrison made a calculated risk before putting himself in the public eye. If attention was what he wanted, he surely got it. The singer and guitarist created his own maelstrom by announcing plans to build an "ark" in preparation of the end of the Mayan calendar year. Anticipated by doomsdayers as the end of the world, December 21, 2012 rolled past without a glitch. A year on, Kerrison's views remain largely unchanged. "I absolutely stand by those beliefs I had then," says the frontman of rock-pop outfit OpShop and founder of funk-groove band The Babysitters Circus. "The whole concept of it being the end of the world . . . I never said that. What I did say was it's the end of time, that's an entirely different thing. It's the end of the calendar and the start of a whole new sequence. "The Gregorian calendar will catch up one day." OpShop's hugely successful 2011 album was titled Until the End of Time, hinting of...

Stereotypes are being pulled apart, thrown around and stuck back together by the next generation of the Kiwi comedy circuit. Young, gays, women and ethnic minorities are carved up on stage in a domain traditionally filled with white men. The 14 freshly-minted comedians who perform in Takapuna's Bruce Mason Centre have a lot going on and often, some strong messages to share. Singing duo Fan Brigade sure have a lot to say – well, sing about. Their song ‘It's Great to Be a Woman' tackles tough issues like rape and domestic abuse in a way that is still light-hearted and witty, which is no mean feat. And they manage it all while giggling and strumming a ukulele.  They do it better than TV3's Funny Girls writer and actor Laura Daniel, whose wry humour is at times lost on the audience. The point the Billy T Award nominee is lamenting on ‘not wanting a wedding' is a bit laboured, but she redeems herself with a cute staged proposal involving a bottle of mouthwash. ...

“I come away for four days and I still get the wet patch.” Yep, there is plenty of sex chatter to be had when six gal pals head off for a weekend tramp in Roger Hall's Social Climbers. It may have been written by a man, but you wouldn't know it by watching his recognisable characters play out on stage at the PumpHouse Theatre in Takapuna. There is plenty of girl power in the between-scenes song choices alone, from Tina Turner to Beyonce. The stand out performer though has to be Louise Wallace, whose brazen character Maxine creates a stir as soon as she enters the stage. Her teasing, spewing and ‘histrionics' are a welcome bit of mischief in the mix of slow-burning character and relationship development around her. Maxine is joined by her well-cast teaching colleagues played by Lisa Chappell (of McLeod's Daughters fame), Darien Takle, Michaela Rooney and Michelle Leuthart. The colleagues, along with a reluctantly accompanying daughter (played by Donna Brookbanks), end ...

I was overcome with ecstasy at what I had birthed and yet my new found confidence was crumbling as the question dawned on me, would I be enough? It's been a year since I really wrote anything. For eight years I pushed out words, hour after hour, day after day, my world not caring whether my creativity flowed freely or not. Carving out new angles, splicing pithy phrases, I honed my craft. Then came my greatest ever creation and the enormity of this masterpiece snatched every ounce of my focus. August Lotter Kotuku. For once, words evaded me. How could I begin to translate the tide of emotions which overwhelmed me? As one predecessor so aptly wrote, it was though all my hopes and all my fears were suddenly in front of me. So greatly desired, this tiny picture of perfection awed me, his vulnerability ensnared me and his innocence frightened me. Who was I to carry this precious gift, this gargantuan responsibility? I was overcome with ecstasy at what I had birthed and...