Afternoons for Wednesday 7 August 2019

Knit a Critter

Knit a native NZ critter for our Knit a Critter competition. All items are donated to the Mangere Refugee Resettlement Centre, via the Red Cross.

Your knitting or crocheted item can be shaped like the critter or knitted critter image on an item of clothing like a beanie or another creative idea you come up with. It's up to you!

For any wearable items, do please use pure wool.

You can find all the details here

1:10 First song: Cavalcade - Twisted Paradise

Luke and Amberly are the Whanganui based duo Cavalcade. They're in our Auckland studio for First Song today to perform Twisted Paradise from their debut EP  - THE VACANCY.

1:17 World's largest parrot fossil discovered in Central Otago

Palaentologists from New Zealand and Australia have discovered a fossil of what's thought to be the largest parrot the world has ever seen.

It's called Heracles inexpectatus and Professor Paul Scofield from Canterbury Museum's on the line now to tell us more.

1:27 Blood from a stone: getting local councils to talk on-the-record

RNZ's Hawke's Bay reporter Anusha Bradley has been working her patch for nearly two years now, and knows it just about as well as anyone.

But, as she posted on Monday, it's been more than 30 weeks since the Napier City Council last granted her an interview with a staff member; and more than a year since the Hastings District Council did - despite repeated requests.

Anusha is on the line to chat a bit about how this has changed over the years, and why it makes her job of reporting on issues of public interest more difficult.

1:34 Ngā Taonga Sound Archives: The Abbotsford Disaster 

Forty years ago this week, a nightmare was unfolding for residents of a south Dunedin suburb,  as nearly 70 homes slid off a hillside in a massive landslip.  In today’s visit to the Sound Archives we revisit the Abbotsford disaster of 1979.

1:50 Making New Zealand Home: Batool Arif

Batool Arif is originally from Pakistan, but fled the country to join her husband and young daughter in New Zealand after attacks on ethnic Hazaras in Pakistan ramped up.

Batool joins us to talk about er experience of re-settlement; what she's learned along the way; and how she adjusted to living in a new country.

 

2.10 Podcast critic Katy Atkin

Katy Atkin reviews two podcasts for us today - CARRIER - Q Code and Spectacular Failures. More top picks from Katy can be found here​

 

2:20 Bookmarks: Kalyani Nagarajan: Partying with Mrs Krishnan

If you've seen Polo, Pickle King or Mrs Krishnan's Party, you'll have seen today's Bookmarks guest in her element.

Kalyani Nagarajan is one of the rising stars of Kiwi acting talent - she's toured with The Gruffalo stage show, the Auckland Arts Festival hit Tea, and she appeared in the third season of televisions' The Brokenwood Mysteries.

She's one of the most in-demand, exciting South Asian-Kiwi acting talents in New Zealand. Just weeks after graduating from Toi Whakaari: NZ Drama School in 2015, iconic director Colin McColl cast her in Auckland Theatre Company's Polo, and she returned to ATC to perform in Ahi Karunaharan's adaptation of A Fine Balance this year.

Kalyani Nagarajan is in to talk about the hustle of building an acting career.

Mrs Krishanan's Party is playing at the Q Theatre until 13 August. 

3:10 Is pain all in our mind?

Chronic pain has become a new epidemic and the man who treats elite athletes and even Elton John when they're suffering has a message; the pain is in your brain. Nick Potter means that in the nicest possible way. He says pain can be burnt into our neural pathways and almost becomes a habit. He offers alternatives to drugs and surgery for relief in his new book, The Meaning of Pain: What it is, why we feel it, and how to overcome it .   

3:35 Stories from Our Changing World.

Gadget is a little terrier with an important job. She is a trained rodent detector dog, and she and her human, Sandy King, are in the business of keeping islands pest-free and tracking down any unwanted rat visitors. Alison Ballance finds Gadget and Sandy on the job on Whenua Hou, best known as home of the kākāpō.

3:45 The Pre-Panel Story of the Day and One Quick Question

4:05 The Panel with Jo McCarroll and Anton Matthews