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Werewolf Issue 28: Getting Hot In Here

Out now - Werewolf Issue 28: Getting Hot In Here

Hi and welcome to the 58th edition of Werewolf. For the second time recently, the world is treating what happens in Paris as a barometer of just screwed the planet really is right now. This month, our cover story examines the need for urgency on global warming, and concludes – on all the available evidence - that only paper promises will be made at the big climate change conference in Paris. Moreover, New Zealand seems to be choosing to lead only from the rear on climate change. Expect rising gaseous clouds of rhetoric in Paris, and rising sea levels in future.

Elsewhere in this issue: Richard McLachlan, our New Zealand writer in residence in New York City, has two great pieces in this month’s issue. In one, he looks at the nostalgic romance that NYC is having with its wild, creative past in the 1970s/early 1980s, before Manhattan assumed its current identity as a tourist theme park. (They got what they wanted, but they lost what they had!) In his other story, Richard looks at the role of immigration in the ongoing freak show that is the Republican presidential campaign. When Marco and Ted Cruz are seen to be the voices of reason, surely its time to head for the bomb shelters. Also in this issue: …in their story on Syria, a group of writers from the LSE examine what has befallen the Syrian economy, and what might be needed to put it back in some semblance of normal life.

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Arguably, Rectify has been the best show on TV for the past three years - and yes, no-one but you, me and Philip Matthews have been watching it. In his film column this month, Philip sings the praises of Rectify - notably for the way it handles issues of faith and forgiveness, and for the similarities /divergences it offers to the slow cinema tropes of Andrei Tarkovsky and Bela Tarr. Speaking of television’s virtues and failings, in this month’s issue we also examine the political subtexts/ubertexts in the Homeland series, which somehow manages to be (simultaneously) be both the most and the least culpable show on television when it comes to the stereotypical painting of Islam (and Muslims) with the brush of terrorism.

In our music coverage… this month, we examine white music of all kinds in a search for the ultimate white-out musical experience. By the close, we were hallucinating rainbows of light - which can happen to anyone after listening to the soundtrack of a Terrence Malick movie. Also this month Werewolf traces the evolution of hip hop from a communal music that treated the ‘hood as a mark of its authenticity – to where nowadays, hip hop is more commonly made by solo stars living on lonely, remote planets where the fountains that once bubbled with Cristal now dispense only Ace of Spades, but only to the blessed few who guest on each other’s tracks.

Finally in his satirical column this month, Lyndon Hood discovered the microscopic fine print in New Zealand passports that apparently absolves our governments from the need to ever defend New Zealand citizens when foreign governments begin kicking us around. As always, Lyndon reveals what you need to know.

Thanks BTW to Lyndon for – among other things - helping me post this issue online. If anyone out there ever wants to be involved and talk over some story ideas, contact me at gordon@werewolf.co.nz

Cheers,
Gordon Campbell
Editor, Werewolf

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