The natural beauty and cultural success of New Zealand has always drawn global attention but now we are front and centre internationally thanks to our determined community spirit. As optimists look ahead, the desire to be a part of that vibrant community, particularly in a pocket of Grey Lynn, is particularly strong. Only recently launched, pioneering residential development The Hadlow is selling quickly, with construction now set to begin at the end of 2020. Thanks to its unique approach to creating an urban village, the enthusiasm for making The Hadlow a home is easy to understand, with only a handful of the desirable properties left.
Nestled in the heart of Grey Lynn, The Hadlow is a development ideal for those who are wanting the village lifestyle without having to leave behind the benefits of inner-city dwelling. Conceived by the architectural visionaries at Leuschke Group, it comes as no surprise that much of The Hadlow’s allure is down to the impeccable design, both indoors and out.
Each spacious residence, divided by concrete intertenancy walls, follows an open floor plan whereby the kitchen and lounge area connect, and a sliding door between the living quarters and the greenery-drenched private courtyard ensure that the flow between indoors and outdoors is seamless. The residences are characterised by earthy materials, and thus play host to sleek timber furnishings — like the kitchen cupboards and wardrobe doors in the bedroom — and marble tiling, which can be found across the walls of the refined and modernistic bathrooms.
Once outside, each terraced abode boasts a luxurious façade made up of brick slicked in stark white paint with dark timber and metallic detailing. Whether it’s dripping from the window balconies or lining the car park spaces, protruding from the private courtyards or hedged between each residence, flourishing mature greenery can be found peppered throughout the outdoor spaces.
The Hadlow has, after all, been designed to connect residents to their natural environment, not only to provide a stronger sense of community, but also to encourage them to live a more sustainable lifestyle. To encourage farm-to-table cooking at home and general eco-living, in addition to standard neighbourliness and community spirit, a private, communal vegetable garden is available for resident green thumbs. Even the car-share facility, spread across three car parking spaces, will provide the latest model of electric car for residents to use.
When health-conscious Hadlow inhabitants aren’t kicking back in their private courtyard or tending to their flourishing vegetable patches, they can partake in the countless boot camps and fitness groups that are held at the local parks. Dining options are plentiful too: whether it’s a coffee and a spot of brunch or a heartier dinner complete with a glass of wine that incites intrigue, a multitude of cafes, eateries, bars, restaurants and local markets are on hand to satiate local gastronomes.
Needless to say, The Hadlow is set to be an inner-city sanctuary that offers an unparalleled experience to its residents. Intertwining every perk of both the relaxed-village and inner-city lifestyles, there’s no questioning the demand for Grey Lynn’s newest residential offering.
From a gripping conspiracy to an unnerving exposé, these thought-provoking documentaries will change the way you see the world.
The Inventor: Out For Blood in Silicon Valley Like all documentaries by Alex Gibney, The Inventor: Out For Blood in Silicon Valley captures the downfall of a corrupt corporation. This time its Theranos, the breakthrough medical technology company that became infamous for the lies and deceit proffered by the company’s founder Elizabeth Holmes.
The Biggest Little Farm A heart-warming film that not only highlights humans’ impact on the environment but also offers an applicable solution to the growing problem. This documentary follows John Chester and his wife Molly who transform a drab, 200-acre patch of land into a flourishing, sustainable farm.
One Child Nation With the help of journalists, parents, officials and activists, One Child Nation sees acclaimed documentary-maker Nanfu Wang lift the lid on the unsettling cost of China’s one child policy, delving into child abandonment, state-sponsored kidnappings and the unnerving, widespread enforcement of sterilisation.
Ice On Fire Focusing on what we can do to stop climate change, as opposed to what we’ve already done to cause it, Ice On Fire — produced and narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio — offers a glimmer of hope, when so many other documentaries on the matter do not.
Hail Satan Another eye-opening piece by renowned documentarian Penny Lane (previously of Our Nixon fame), Hail Satan gives rare insight and an untold recounting of the jaw-dropping rise of The Satanic Temple, one of the world’s most controversial religious movements in history.
The Great Hack As compelling as they come, The Great Hack investigates the Cambridge Analytica scandal, 2018’s biggest tech controversy that raised concerns about data privacy and our human rights.
We’ve been inspired to downsize our digital landscape and go full Marie Kondo on our devices, resulting in a phone that’s far easier to navigate and that boasts significantly fewer distractions. Digital decluttering is a simple task that you’ll be thanking yourself for doing in the long term. Trust us, it’s easy, just follow these four, uncomplicated steps.
Stop hoarding Just like your wardrobe, overstuffed with old keepsakes and sartorial choices that haven’t been given a second glance in years, your mobile phone is full of apps that sit collecting dust on the digital shelf. Carefully go through those little shaking squares and delete the ones that no longer serve their purpose. Still got TheNew Yorker app even though your subscription expired months ago? Delete. Still clinging on to that small trove of saving apps, even though you haven’t managed to put aside a dime since you downloaded them? Delete. (Or pick one and get your saving backside into gear, either-or.) Are there apps on your phone that you didn’t even know existed? DELETE.
Group your apps Once you’ve made your cull, it’s likely that there will still be a few pages or so of apps that made the cut. Try and save space by grouping those that serve similar purposes or are in the same field, together. Social media, for example, is an easy one: Instagram, say hello to your new flatmates, Facebook, Twitter and Snapchat. That Sims Freeplay app that you just can’t part with, (who’s going to look after them?!) can be grouped together with those tricky digital sudokus you tackle on the morning commute. Travel apps (AirBnB, Skyscanner, I Know The Pilot, etc) can be grouped into one, as can all your news and media apps. This way, if you’re still going to hoard, at least you can hoard discreetly.
Manage Alerts Do you really need to know the exact moment in time when someone is liking your Instagram photo, or when your distant cousin has just posted a status for the first time in three weeks? Having a zillion unnecessary push notifications lighting up your phone each day can be seriously distracting, forcing you to be at your phone’s every beck and call. Instead, switch off a little and live in the moment by only keeping the notifications that matter, like breaking news and current events.
Go on a deleting spree There’s nothing better for the soul than a decent purge, we say. Go through your photos, podcast library, music folders and even your contact list to delete the irrelevant content that remains in your phone. Some of it may be difficult to part with, but when in doubt ask yourself: Have I contacted this person in the past five years? Do I need nine subtly different shots of this exact same landscape? Dirty John was fantastic, but will I listen to it again? You’ll be surprised at how much more storage space you’re left with.
Benee is bouncing towards me in an oversized black ensemble and worn pair of Converse, with an effulgent smile on her face and arms outstretched. I offer my hand in an attempted gesture of professionalism which she promptly ignores, warmly wrapping both her arms around me. “Hugs” she cries. “Hugs all around!”
I’m meeting Benee, real name Stella Bennett, at Auckland’s Universal Music studios. After months of trying to get hold of this rising star, I’ve been granted a 30-minute slot by her management. I’m somewhat taken aback. I’d hardly been expecting a Mariah Carey level of diva but given her renowned elusiveness and the fact that her annus mirabilis of 2019 was clearly signalling the start of potential roaring success, I wasn’t anticipating such effervescence in greeting media personnel as though we are old friends.
The 20-year-old’s debut LP Fire on Marzz, released mid-last year, is certified gold. And its monster track Soaked, which reached number 14 on the New Zealand Singles Chart, has gone platinum. You may recall her show-stopper turn at the Vodafone New Zealand Music Awards (VNZMA) — winning Single of the Year for Soaked, Best Solo Artist for Fire On Marzz, Breakthrough Artist of the Year and Best Pop Artist — before performing to the masses at Auckland’s St. Jerome’s Laneway Festival for the second consecutive year.
When I mention her VNZMA clean sweep, her wordless response is a classic: an exaggerated exhale and a noise resembling a child blowing a raspberry. “It was madness,” she eventually remarks, “I don’t even understand it. The whole night was…” she trails off, squirming in her seat before laughing and finally landing upon “I embarrassed myself on stage.” She’s alluding to her multiple speeches at the Music Awards. Beginning with an outpouring of gratitude and a simple “What the heck is happening?” she snowballed into a series of bizarre noises and crashed out multiple F-bombs, which were as headline-grabbing as her awards’ haul in the next day’s press.
If her liberal use of on-stage profanities offers up any insight, it’s that Benee is unashamedly herself. During interviews she embraces the wacky, often communicating through her notorious noises and fabricated terms. Her sartorial choices veer towards rebellion and could not be further from the manufactured female pop star image. Appearing to channel an unruly teenager, Benee is usually swathed in oversized hoodies and draped in eclectic prints, with brightly coloured dye streaking loudly through her boyishly bobbed hair. Through it all, she somehow manages to remain authentic while balancing herself within the heart of music purgatory: she’s labelled a ‘pop’ star, but will do anything to avoid pop-sounding hooks. Instead, she splices genres until she creates a fusion that emerges into musical life as entirely her own sound. To many, she embodies an impressive cool, but tell that to her and she’ll respond with “I’m just, like, an idiot.”
Equally as organic is her musical trajectory. During her last year of high school, her recorded covers on SoundCloud caught the attention of Josh Fountain, producer and member of Kiwi supergroup Leisure. After two weeks at University — she very briefly flirted with a Communications degree — Benee joined forces with Fountain and together they released her debut single, soft-synth hit Tough Guy. What came afterwards was spirited pop banger Soaked which, with its catchy-as-hell combination of staccato lyrics and earworm melodies, cemented itself as the Kiwi favourite of 2019.
I ask her where she finds the inspiration for such sonically-pleasing tracks, and she credits much of it to her rich dreamscape (“Afterlife, a song on my first EP, is about this very vivid dream I had”) and to the open embrace of her own fears. “I have this huge fear that I’m going to get kidnapped in my sleep, which is pretty fucked up. I actually wrote Monsta about that one.”
Monsta is a track from Benee’s latest EP, Stella & Steve, named as such because “Stella is my name, and Steve is my car’s name”. The EP comprises a handful of synth-infused tracks, some of which she’s been sitting on, waiting for the right release moment, and others she created on a recent songwriting trip to LA. “I had a breakup before I left, and then got to LA and had this first session where I wrote Supalonely.” Despite its sad genesis, the song, featuring American artist Gus Dapperton, is unexpectedly peppy. “I was trying to be funny and self-deprecating by writing a song that was both happy and sad. It wasn’t until the day after that, I entered the studio and was like ‘fuck it, I’m just going to get super sad now’ — that’s when I wrote Blu.”
With quirky lyrics and funky electronic-tinged beats, the five-song EP — which includes Find An Island, and features homegrown blues-rocker Jack Berry on Drifting — is like an invitation to a 16-minute-and-41-second tour, right inside the weird and wonderful mind of Stella Bennett.
It’s evident that the young artist has free reign when it comes to her creative process. For this, she credits her manager, Fountain. “It’s so awesome,” she beams, “It’s cool that I can tell him I want to try different things, and he’s always up for doing anything.” It doesn’t take me long to realise that ‘anything’ really does mean anything, from letting her stand atop her car in a sea of obscure zoo animals for the artwork of Stella & Steve, to making a trap beat because she was drawn to dabble in the hip-hop universe. For the record, we won’t be hearing that song any time soon — “I ruined it, I sounded so lame”, she adds with her signature, searing honesty.
That honest appraisal also defines the list of those she lets in. It seems that Benee chooses the people close to her with great care. Even her live band, she says, is made up of “a bunch of close friends.” And it’s hardly surprising — I imagine that close friends aren’t exactly hard to come by in her case.
As we’re wrapping our interview I ask if she has any musical idols — Prince and Bowie, naturally — and if she has any favourite listening to recommend right now. I’ve long surpassed my consented 30-minutes of media time, and yet she willingly reaches for her phone and talks me through the playlist on which she’s currently gorging. As we sit, shooting the breeze on music and more, I’m struck by her genuine conviviality. It’s almost easy to forget that I’m talking to a rising star rather than a new friend. As in our first moments of meeting, I sense that it’s that warmth, that lingers in her wake, that will attract audience affection and adulation, even beyond the burgeoning Benee brand of musical magic.
Words Mina Kerr-lazenby | PHOTOS Josh Griggs | 17 Apr 2020
The music industry is notoriously difficult to crack, particularly in a small market like New Zealand. Young entrepreneurs Ben Wallace (BW) and Joel Woods (JW) have broken through barriers with their wildly successful vinyl pressing business, Holiday Records. Here they discuss the challenges and triumphs of making it in the music industry with one of the country’s most successful musicians, Nathan Haines (NH)
Nathan Haines, Joel Woods and Ben Wallace outside Holiday Records in Auckland
How did each of you find your way into the music industry? JW: Nathan is going to have a far more exciting answer than ours… NH: Not necessarily! People already know my story. Plus, I’m an artist; with you guys, this is different. BW: I was in a folk band a couple of years ago, and we wanted to press physical because it suited the music. I did some digging, and found I couldn’t get it pressed in New Zealand, so I went to the one person who pressed in Australia, and they were so slammed that they couldn’t even talk to me. JW: That was when alarm bells started going off. BW: So Joel and I went on a research trip to North America, and realised there was an opportunity to bring a pressing plant over to New Zealand. We teamed up with a company in Canada, who had pretty much just reinvented the wheel of record pressing by inventing this automated record press, which makes it easy for rookies to press. And we gave it the green light. JW: In terms of the retail business, we decided to be based in Central Auckland because we realised that people are interested in the process — it’s fascinating. We smashed out a brick wall and put a window in so that people can see through to the plant. NH: It’s like when restaurants decide to show the chefs.
How does living in New Zealand affect your work — do you feel there are more opportunities overseas? NH: I mean for me, absolutely. Although things have changed since I started — that’s my journey. But there’s been other people, like Freddy’s [Fat Freddy’s Drop], that have done the most amazing job, just by being in New Zealand. BW: Six60’s another one. NH: I think it’s very different for young people now, although I would still recommend to every single musician to get out of New Zealand. Even if it’s just to spend four or five years away, to then be able to really appreciate what they have at home. But then again, there was no Internet when I left, so I felt as though I had to move.
And, of course, the Internet has completely changed how people enter the music industry. NH: Yeah. I think New Zealand as a country has got a much higher profile than it did when I left. When I went to New York, people had never even heard of New Zealand. They might have heard of it through various things — America’s Cup, Peter Jackson, Flight Of The Conchords… and Lorde — but that’s it. BW: (laughs) Yeah, they’re like: ‘is that Eastern California?’ NH: So it’s great now, New Zealand has an international profile, and now people know a little bit more about our country. BW: I think, in terms of pressing plants, the Internet has helped because it killed off CDs, and flooded people with digital. But then, because people are so overloaded with digital, they have gone full circle and are now wanting the physical. NH: Yeah, if you really like an album, and you’ve been streaming it loads, then you will get to the point where you want it. BW: And if you like the album, you’re only seeing it on a tiny thumbnail on Spotify. But you want to be able to hold that 12” sleeve and be able to feel it and smell it and put it on — that’s really helped us.
What advice would you give someone trying to enter the music industry? NH: To learn music, and to get good legal advice when you sign contracts, which I didn’t do. And that’s really important. Just get as much advice as you can, because… I would have done things differently. BW: And if you want to get into music, not from a performance side, you need to find something that’s not flooded. We were lucky, we were there at the right time, and we found a niche that no one was doing at the time, and we got in. JW: If you do get an impulse, just go for it. Just work your arse off and go for it. There are no two ways about it.
What challenges did you face along the way? Surely there were some doubters who couldn’t see your vision… BW: Yeah, absolutely. You know, Joel and I were 27 when we started. JW: And people were going… 27-year-olds trying to press vinyl? Are you serious? BW: We get it all the time, we were told we were crazy, but luckily we had support from close family, which really grounded us. You should never be worried about what people think about you. If they’re laughing at you, what are they really doing themselves? JW: Failure is a big thing to use as motivation, too. Because it’s not always going to be smooth sailing, at the start of your business, or being a musician. Everybody makes mistakes, just learn from it. It’s going to be hard… but if it wasn’t, everyone would do it.
Nathan Haines
What are some common misconceptions people have about the music industry? NH: People used to think that, when you signed a contract you would be instantly rich. People also think that, when you’re standing up on stage, you’re just really into it. They have this misconception about musicians just standing there and getting really emotional, but it’s not like that, you have to get very technical. You can’t get too emotional, otherwise, it just ruins it. JW: Yeah, nobody talks about the hours you spent in your bedroom learning the sax. BW: For us, the thing that people don’t really understand is that it’s a craft, it’s not just having a printer and pressing a button. Yes, it’s an automated machine. But one of us is on it the whole time, there are a lot of moving parts, like having to change the steam settings and the cooling settings. You have to find the balance. But it’s the hardship in pressing a record that makes it so beautiful — it’s a made thing, made with blood sweat and tears. Mainly tears…
Ben Wallace
And Nathan, have you accrued a selection of loyal fans over the years? NH: Absolutely — BW: — (laughs) Like Joel’s dad. When we first told Joel’s dad that Nathan was playing a record, he was like “Oh my god! F-ck off, he’s been my idol for years.” NH: (laughs) But no, for sure. Lots of friends that I’ve met…. BW: Stalkers? NH: (laughs) No, it’s very humbling, you know. I just sent two records today to a guy in Alabama. He got hold of me through Instagram and asked me if I have any vinyl. And that happens every week, people contacting me. I’m really amazed that people might be into a record that I made 20 years ago. BW: And obviously that goes back to the Internet — he might not have ever been to a gig, but he’s seen him online and he’s like ‘holy shit, this guy’s fucking awesome.’ NH: Yeah he wouldn’t have seen me live. I’ve also got a new track out, with these young guys from the CBD, and because of it, I’m picking up all these young people, which is amazing for me. They’re doing what I was doing almost 20 years ago. Even down to the same style of music.
I’m sure that when you started out, you never thought that you’d be appealing to such a younger demographic 25 or so years later? NH: Yeah, it’s great. That track I did with Marlena Shaw? Squire For Hire? I did that for her then, and now these guys are doing it for me.
Joel Woods
If you had not succeeded, would you still be in the music industry? BW: I wouldn’t like to say we’ve done well… we’re still in the proving ourselves stage. If we talk in two years time and we’re cracking it then maybe I’ll have something to say… JW: One thing that we said at the start is that we actually like how hard this is. Because no one else is going to be stupid enough to do it… NH: And for me, that’s a hard question to answer. I still feel like I’m just beginning, to be honest. I’m just trying to upskill at the moment, I’m sort of at a level where I can mix now. I’ve been trying to do that for my whole life, but for the last six months, I’ve just been doing it every day until I get it — it’s all about just getting over your fears. BW: And I don’t think there ever really is a destination. A lot of people are like ‘I want to make it’ but then when you get there, there is no destination, there is no endpoint, because when you get to a place you’ve always wanted to be, or you meet a certain goal, then you want to go further. I imagine with Nathan it was like: “I want to learn the sax… I want to write my own song… I want to have an album… I want to tour the world’ you know, and same with us. You can’t be reaching for something, because it’s just about the journey. That’s why it’s important to enjoy every day of it, because if you’re stressing about trying to get somewhere then you just get blinded. Enjoy the journey. NH: (laughs) Holiday Records, enjoy the journey.
Is there any advice that you can give to each other? BW: Me giving advice to Nathan Haines? Are you f–cking kidding me? Erm, press some records with us? Enjoy the journey? NH: I think, enjoy the journey really is a good one. Because day in, day out, you have to enjoy it. And be true to what you guys stand for. And, you know quality is one thing. JW: Yeah, massive. NH: Because your whole reputation is based on quality. JW: Especially with physical music. NH: That’s what separates you from someone else.
Last year, a video of actor Zac Efron began doing the rounds, and while it wasn’t related to his performance in Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile, it was still chilling nonetheless. It began with a shirtless Efron breathing heavily, his huffing and puffing interspersed with a series of self reassuring ‘okays,’ and ended as he ran outdoors, and lowered himself into a bathtub filled with ice water.
Ice bathing, a form of cold water therapy, has become a trend among high-profile celebrities. Funnyman Kevin Hart has even conducted an entire series of interviews in the tub, inviting the likes of Ronda Rousey, Blake Griffin and Floyd Mayweather to freeze off their nether regions in the name of comedy TV. But comedic value aside, Efron, Hart and a string of other household names are using their social prowess to highlight something rather important: ice baths are incredibly beneficial for our health, and not just for the reasons you might think.
Cold immersion isn’t exactly a new concept. Elite athletes have been reaping the benefits of thermometer-shattering temperatures for years, using ice baths post-training or post-match to help speed up recovery, mitigate inflammation and minimise muscle soreness. So why the extra attention now, you ask? It seems that a touch of frost, whether utilised by a weekend warrior or an established sportsman, can work wonders on our immune systems, our sleep quality and — perhaps most importantly — our mental state. The basic theory goes something like this: putting ourselves in a state of controlled discomfort and exposing our minds and bodies to small levels of stress can help them become stronger and more resilient. Basically, if we’re capable of sitting in an unbearably uncomfortable, tank of frozen hell for 15 minutes, then really, we’re capable of anything.
Wim Hof, a renowned Dutch extreme athlete, is a pioneer of cold therapy. He acquired the nickname ‘Iceman’ after his breathtaking feats withstanding extremely cold temperatures blew the minds of wellness aficionados everywhere. Feats which he attributes to his ‘Wim Hof Method’, a combination of meditation, regular cold exposure and breathing techniques. He asserts that this trio of training tactics, when harmonised in the correct way, can allow us to rewire our autonomic nervous system. He even goes as far as to say that we are capable of consciously controlling our immune systems in order to fight off diseases. Since Hof became a household name — due, in part, to his 20, mind-boggling Guinness World Records — so too did his method. Now, when the Dutch daredevil isn’t busy climbing Mount Kilimanjaro in nothing but a pair of knee-length shorts, or floating in a human-sized, ice-filled container for two hours at a time, he is teaching his Wim Hof Method all around the world.
Jay Reeve
“Wim’s method is one of many I use to help people understand what they are capable of,” explains Nigel Beach, a physiotherapist from Mount Maunganui who is just one of a small number of personally-trained, certified, Wim Hof Method instructors. He has gained fame for his cold therapy related workshops and events, alongside his groundbreaking work with some of the country’s top CEOs and athletes, including the Wallabies rugby team, NRL’s West Tigers and even the All Blacks. He explains that our “controlling of environmental conditions — via air conditioners, heat pumps, artificial lighting and an abundance of food — has conditioned us,” bringing about an unnatural lack of resilience when we are forced out of our comfort zones. Now, our bodies perceive non-dangerous stimuli as a threat, hence why we overreact to small aggressors like push notifications, bad traffic, petty arguments and work stress. It’s as though our bodies and minds have forgotten how strong they can be. This, according to Beach, can lead to all sorts of health issues, mental or otherwise. But just as our bodily systems can adapt to a less desirable state, he reassures, “they can revert back to a better one with proper instruction, training and practice.”
Indeed, it’s the proper training here that’s key. Cold immersion is a practice that should be built up over time, performed gradually, consistently, and never with force. Rather than recommending you dive headfirst into your tub with a bag of ice in tow, Beach suggests beginning the journey in the shower instead, gradually adding longer blasts of cold until you can withstand the chill from beginning to end. Even at this point, those yearning for a full ice bath immersion should seek out treatment from a certified Wim Hof Method instructor — the bathing process is a powerful intervention and, to the untrained, can cause the body to go into sympathetic shock. Fair warning though: preparation aside, submerging yourself in a vat of freezing water will never be a walk in the park.
“Your body is screaming at you” describes Jay Reeve, as he recounts his first experience “crouching like a ball” and dropping himself into a “slushy” filled bath, “saying, get me the f**k out of here, are you trying to kill me?!” It was just a few years ago when the radio host turned to the unlikely task of ice bathing. “I was on a bit of a mission to try new things that would make some deposits instead of withdrawals from the body,” he explains, “and so I started looking around, researching and listening to various podcasts that focused on low levels of investment for a solid return.” It was here that Reeve stumbled across a Wim Hof documentary and, inspired by his frozen feats of strength, turned to the guidance of Nigel Beach. “The first time I did it,” he recounts, “I slept a solid ten hours without moving once in my sleep, and woke up feeling amazing.” Since then, Reeve has spent more time focusing on his breathing, cold showering in the mornings and carrying out his ice plunge, once every two weeks. The result, he explains, is phenomenal. “I have never felt more sound in both body and mind. I have almost lost the ability to boil over into anger or sink into a space that is dark and lonely in my head, and everyone — from sports stars to my parents — have had the same results.”
It seems like ice bathing really is worth its wellness salt, and yet, if we are to truly reap the benefits of the process, there is still far more research that needs to be done. That being said, Beach, in partnership with the University of Waikato, is currently putting together a clinical trial that will study the effects of the Wim Hof Method on females with endometriosis. There has been a flurry of reports claiming that cold immersion alleviates symptoms for women suffering this condition, and with Beach’s initiative, we may be able to find a simple solution that is available to any and all. A stronger immune system, mental clarity, and symptom relief for one of the most common female conditions. Now, that’s something worth freezing our nether-regions off for.
If you haven’t come across the term HIIT at some point over the past few years, then you’ve evidently been living under a rock. High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT), is the cardio workout which alternates short bursts of intense exercise with slightly less intense recovery periods, and it’s been heralded as the holy grail of exercise plans. Fat busting, endurance building and metabolism boosting, HIIT workouts seemed like a sweaty miracle. That was, at least, until we realised one terrible discerning factor: HIIT workouts are goddamn hard work. Hernia-inducing, stomach-wrenching hard work. Well, fellow slackers, there might just be an answer.
Say hello to LIIT: everybody’s new favourite acronym. Lower-intensity interval training, HIIT’s smaller, quieter, more relaxed and far more forgiving sibling, is making waves in the wellness circuit thanks to its more accessible and less intimidating nature. The notion is very much the same, high intervals followed by rest periods, except the high intervals aren’t quite as horrifically intense and the rest periods are far longer — the intensity during a LIIT session is never above a sprint. (Amen.) Now, to be clear, LIIT workouts aren’t a walk in the park. Muscles will burn, pores will perspire, and there’s a good chance you’ll still be looking forward to the end with the same longing as before. But the slower, lighter approach of strength-training sections interspersed by longer breaks, means that you’re not absolutely despising your workout while it’s happening. In addition to it being generally more accommodating, LIIT is much more sustainable long term due to it carrying a lower risk of injury. As such, many fitness experts have touted it as one of the safest ways to both build and maintain lean muscle.
So, what’s the catch? You have to be willing to give up a little more of your precious time, I’m afraid. LIIT still offers the same ability to torch calories, but if you’re looking to wave goodbye to the same amount as you would during a high intensity blitz, prepare to double your time. Not all is lost, however. What you lose in idle free time (what would you have been doing with that extra 30 minutes, anyway?) you gain elsewhere. Not only will you receive the same aesthetic benefits that you would from a HIIT session, but your general fitness will improve ten-fold, including improved cardiovascular endurance, increased mobility and heightened strength. In addition to that, LIIT has been described as a far more mindful approach to fitness, thanks to its slower pace and lack of stress.
LIIT serves as a great alternative for a range of fitness levels, whether you’re a beginner, just getting back into the fitness game after a workout hiatus, or recovering from an injury — but most of all, it suits those who want to just take things a little easier.
Try it at home:
Jog at a moderate pace for two to three minutes, before briskly walking
for five minutes.
Carry out a circuit of three to four rounds of 10 push-ups, 10 squats, and a 30-second plank. Take a 90-second rest between sets.
Jog for 90 seconds on the treadmill before carrying out a walking recovery for three to five minutes.
Carry out three to four sets of 10 kettlebell swings, 10 single arm dumbbell rows per arm, and 20-second side planks on each side. Take 90-second rests between sets.
Meet Slow Lit, the growing podcast genre that will knock you out quicker than two sleeping pills and a mug of hot cocoa. While plugging in to switch off may seem like a contradiction, thanks to uninteresting plotlines and maladroit storytelling, slow literature distracts you from the stuff that usually keeps you awake without being interesting enough to hold your attention. (Read: the digital equivalent of a bottle of melatonin.) Press play on one of these five snooze-inducers and we can guarantee you’ll find it impossible to keep your eyes open.
Sleep With Me Boring you to slumber with long-winded tangents and unimportant drivel on an array of bizarre topics, Sleep With Me — narrated by the monotonous, gravelly tones of former librarian Drew Ackerman — gives a whole new meaning to the term snore-fest.
Calm Author Phoebe Smith’s grown-up bedtime stories for the Calm app take you on uneventful journeys around the globe, each narrated by the silvery voices of guest speakers (including Stephen Fry and Matthew McConaughey).
Miette’s Bedtime Story Distracting without being too stimulating, Miette’s Bedtime Story is the podcast answer to comforting white noise. In soothing, purring tones, the podcast recites some of the world’s best short fiction tales, from treasured classics to unknown miniature masterpieces.
Headspace Ensuring that you’ll be counting your zzzz’s quicker than you can say ‘goodnight,’ Headspace’s new ‘Sleepcasts’ series uses subtly changing ‘unique audio experiences’ that combine visualisation and sound to lure you to dreamland.
Sleep Whispers Encompassing poems, meditations, bedtime stories and encyclopedia-type ‘Whisperpedia’ episodes, Sleep Whispers is brimming with whispery, relaxing content to ensure you slip into slumber in no time.
Words Mina Kerr-lazenby | PHOTOS Josh Griggs | 2 Apr 2020
Many artists can go through life producing vast bodies of work while remaining virtually unknown. Graduating from ‘struggling artist’ to success story is a rarity but young Auckland-based painter Toby Raine has already managed to sell-out several exhibitions in his short career.
Raine seems to have reached the top of his game swiftly with a Doctorate from the University of Auckland’s Elam School of Fine Arts and a position with powerhouse galleries on both sides of the Tasman.
In 2018 the artist gained representation at the prestigious Gow Langsford Gallery, allowing him to paint full-time and work his own hours. When I tell Raine that he appears to have been an overnight success he stifles a laugh. ‘Instant success’ is hardly the phrasing he would use.
We meet for a quick drink in the sun-drenched courtyard of a humming inner-city café to discuss his artistic ascent. I’m devouring a New Zealand Breakfast, Raine’s cradling a beer. It’s 11am. Today is his day off from painting, he explains.
“First of all,” Raine says. “I’ve just come out of an incredibly long period of education.” Eleven years of higher education at Elam, to be precise, beginning in 2006 when he was 23-years-old. Starting university as a so-called ‘late bloomer’ ensured he was “hungry and focused.” While his contemporaries were partying, Raine was painting. Over the next decade Raine would go on to complete a degree, then a masters, then a doctorate in Fine Arts. Reflecting back, he says, it was too much education. “I’m still recovering.”
“Education can certainly open a number of doors,” he says, “it’s not completely necessary.” Raine refers to his masters as “not meaning a lot these days” and his doctorate as “more a rite of passage than anything else.” Too much academia, he adds, can stifle a person, and stifle the practice.
The recovering student views universities as strange places where students are not encouraged to think for themselves. “They are encouraging them what to think, and that’s really not great at all,” he says. “Luckily I would never have been shaped in such a way. I’m quite stubborn.”
It’s hard to imagine Raine being fashioned into someone else’s idea of an artist. With copious amounts of oil paint, and often a small image or photograph projected in front of him as inspiration, he approaches the canvas with visceral, kinetic movements and gestures. Lashings upon lashings of paint are applied until “something begins to form.” He’ll scrape away excess build-up, add another energetic stroke, scrape away again until he feels satisfied with what lies before him. It’s “like a compulsion,” he says.
Raine favours what he calls “controversial iconic images.” Think Laura Palmer lighting up on the set of David Lynch’s nineties television series Twin Peaks or Hollywood siren Jayne Mansfield holding a human skull. “If I enjoyed the movie enough, or was interested in the song, or liked a piece of literature, that will inspire me enough to paint.” Raine has a penchant for horror, fantasy and cult classics — The Exorcist, Blue Velvet, Ladyhawke, The Shining — and rock musicians such as The Doors, Deep Purple, Kings of Leon and Led Zeppelin.
His tongue-in-cheek titles are often lengthy and acerbically specific. Take Brandon Flowers with purple hoodie going in for a drunken smooch with groupie which he will regret in the morning, or Ozzy with smoke and teddy bear, skinny from cocaine abuse. “I’m often told the titles are funny.” he says. “I’m not trying to be funny, I’m just being honest.”
Almost anybody with a smattering of cultural references will appreciate the titles. In fact Raine owes much of his success to the approachability of his art but you would be unlikely to hear that from him. He openly admits to regular bouts of imposter syndrome. “I’m always second-guessing what I’m doing. Sometimes I put some paintings that I wish I hadn’t in shows, because I felt as though they weren’t good enough. And I’ll think about them afterwards, and the more I think about them the more embarrassed I get.”
Humility can be useful. “I read something in a book about a year or so ago and it really struck a chord with me. It said that the people who are the best at what they do always remain in self-doubt. Those people who are overly confident,” he adds, “who think that everything they do is great, that’s never going to actually become the case, because it will breed complacency.”
I ask whether this is at the core of any advice he might offer budding artists. “Definitely,” he says, “but also, and it might seem like a very obvious comment, if you want something, then you can have it — but you have to really want it. You have to want it enough to be prepared to work really hard for it. It’s about grit,” he adds, “developing a thick skin, and being patient. Because it took me 11 years, which isn’t exactly overnight.”
As we spend more time with our computers at home than we intended in 2020, it’s the perfect opportunity to upskill, move forward and upgrade our efficiency. Here’s some practical advice on how to successfully use technology to get ahead.
1. Track Your Time To change your habits, you must first understand what your habits are, and we bet you would be surprised at the amount of time you spend procrastinating on the web (even more than you would expect). There are a number of time-tracking apps (such as Intervals and Harvest) that will give you more of an insight into how and where you spend your time online, we suggest you run one in the background for a week while you go about your business, and then you can assess the damage.
2. Do Not Disturb Calendar alerts, software updates and push notifications — it’s no secret that the digital world is a racket of productivity devouring distraction. To put an end to the madness the solution is simple: while at work, put your device on Do Not Disturb mode. If you can’t part with certain push notifications — like the news, — be sure to utilise Safari’s built-in read-it-later tool, or download an app like Instapaper. Both run on the same premise. When a notification pops up and rouses your attention with a juicy story, instead of letting your focus disintegrate, simply click on the browser extension and save it for later.
3. Utilise Your Phone’s Timer There is an abundance of productivity-boosting apps at your fingertips, but instead of littering your phone with further distraction, may we suggest something that’s already pre-installed and ready to use: the clock. Tap into the Pomodoro Technique and use your timer to break down work into 20-minute intervals, each of which can be followed by a five-minute break. Be sure to use your breaks wisely too — here is the one time you can check messages, scroll Instagram or Google mindlessly, so make the most of it.
4. Call on the Help of a Digital Assistant Not only can you offload your mental to-do list onto the, albeit mechanical, brain of your new PA, you can also get them to check in with you to see how you’re getting on with certain tasks. A simple “Hey Siri, in one hour check-in with me to see if I’ve completed this proposal” will automatically set up a reminder that you will receive on both your iPhone and Mac. It’s a little pushy, but we bet you would rather have that spurring you on than your boss constantly calling on Zoom.
5. Manage Your Tabs Messy Internet browser, messy mind — that’s what they say. Like most, you’ve probably got multiple tabs open in multiple browser windows, each of which offers a black hole that will break your productive stride once clicked upon. But not to fear because, of course, the very thing that’s causing you problems (the Internet) also boasts the solution. If you’re running with Google Chrome, you can download the Tabli Chrome extension and instantly file all your messy documents into their own neat little files. No more flicking between multiple tabs desperately trying to find that document. The pop up allows faster switching between windows and tabs and lets you name the windows that you have populated with the tabs relevant to the particular project you’re working on.
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