A bit off topic but funny (I think)... My dad is a geophysicist and their whole department went to see Dante's Peak. I'm sure everyone else's experience was only improved by them laughing in every single suspenseful moment and intense scene. His boss shouted "We need two of those!" when the truck drove over lava.

I loved this movie but haven't seen it in at least 10 years - does it hold up well? I see the reviews online are... well, bad is an understatement.

Full glass of red wine on a six-year-old wearing probably her favourite fancy dress. She was really sweet about it, actually. Just looked down and said "Uh oh. Mom, will that come out?" and I'm busy stammering and apologising and wanting to disappear. I think we comped her meal and paid for the dry cleaning? Not sure,…

I don't know... An NZ judge overruled parents naming their kid Tallulah-does-the-hula-in-Hawaii. Sometimes it's for the best. I think there's a balance to be struck between only having 1000 accepted names a la Japan, and letting drunk parents write whatever they want on a birth certificate.

In New Zealand they reject most titles as names. I think Senator would be okay because we don't have senators but you can't name kids King, Majesty, Princess, Justice etc.

I haven't read Brown's book but I read Neil deGrasse Tyson's and he describes it not as removing Pluto's "planethood" but as better defining and grouping things in our solar system. Instead of nine planets every kid can list in order but knows little about, we have four rocky planets, four gas giants and five (or…

Yeah, as far as I'm aware the US isn't even in the top 20 of the countries with the highest rates of atheism (or people identifying as non-religious).

Yeah, me too. I read the first 50 and last 20 pages and was glad I didn't have to spend the other 400 pages in that world. That said, I do recommend The Perfect Ghost and Before I Go To Sleep, which both often get compared to Gone Girl.

This has saved my life in the past. Reading Joe Hill's N0S4R2 I found myself holding my breath in one scene and thought "No, you're only half way through the book, that character can't die yet, it's okay."

So not disappointing! I skipped The Little Friend because I heard enough bad reviews from friends. The Goldfinch might be even better than The Secret History. No really (but don't tell 18-year-old me).

Unfortunately I can't really never go out with my dad again (although living in a different country has helped) but I also feel obligated to try and educate him and improve his behaviour. It's funny in a way because it means I hate sending stuff back, even when it's blatantly a mistake and no one would blame me for…

This is the best idea ever. My dad never worked customer service and is sometimes so rude to servers I want to slap him. I call him out on it when it happens blatantly - he'll send back a coffee for having too much foam on it or complain that a waitress didn't take our drinks order within 2.4 seconds of seating us.…

This is so flawless. It makes me think of Cleopatra.

I'm from New Zealand AND Canada and suffer this in double dosage. "She's from New Zealand, you know." "That's filmed in Toronto." Anna Paquin and Eleanor Catton (Booker Prize winner) are the best because they are also both Canadian and New Zealandese.

I haven't seen that commercial (I don't watch TV. I mean, I watch TV, but not on TV channels.) but I think in either case it would depend on the context. If it's done in a funny, playful way I would likely think it was cheeky and fun, if it's clearly disrespectful and objectifying then I would probably frown and think…

I've heard often that many eating disorders are about control, where being skinny is a sign of success, so if you have these aversions it may go back to a desire to control things around you or control what you consume.

There have been issues for years in some parts of New Zealand with this happening to kids. Some of the junior rugby tournaments are weight based (because two 13 year olds could have a huge difference in body size and weight) but that leads to 10-12 year olds being put on fasts and extreme diets to meet the…

*eyeroll* This has actually been addressed a million times, but I'll take my turn. The difference is that the buxom women are a male fantasy, and the bulky men are ALSO a male fantasy. Whether it's a sexual fantasy or a power fantasy, it's about male gaze, straight male desires. Gaming, comics, porn... none of these…

I got so mad - I spent a book voucher on this book at a time when I didn't have a lot of money so a book was a treat. I'd heard little about it except recommendations from a few people I trusted and felt genuinely betrayed when I discovered it was a glorified self-help book. Won't be tricked like that again - looking…

The only Hemingway I would recommend is A Moveable Feast. It's autobiographical vignettes from his time in Paris in the 1920s, when he's poor and happy and hanging out with Gertrude Stein and Fitzgerald etc.