Ten things that are so hot right now

1. Aubrey Plaza: So you probably only know this standup comic from her bit part as a weird office intern on mockumentary Parks and Recreation, and a minor role in recent comedy feature Funny People. She's drier than a sack of hay, and she can even make Sarah Silverman funny. That's a miracle.

2. Ad-free TV: Whether you Tivo, MySky, fast-forward or use other, dodgier, methods, sitting through three-minute ad breaks every 10 minutes is so 2007. Can you imagine watching The Wire like that?

3. Charlotte Gainsbourg: The French chanteuse worked with Beck on her really-very-good new album IRM. Check out the folky stomp of Heaven Can Wait and get ready to fall head over heels.

4. The Powerstation: Until the St James gets up and running again, this is officially Auckland's hottest live venue. Everyone from Raekwon to The Pixies will perform there over the next couple of months, so get into it.

5. Old '80s hip-hop and R&B: Break out your old Young MC, Warren G, Pharcyde, A Tribe Called Quest and Montell Jordan cassette tapes, crank up your ghettoblaster, chalk out a breakdancing pad on your lino and kick it like 1987.

6. New MIA songs leaking: About time, I reckon. Check out the woozy Major Lazer song Sound of Siren, and There's Space for Ol Dat I See, both reportedly from an upcoming new album due later this year.

7. Surf City: The pick of the newbie local acts at Laneway should have their debut album ready this year. To prepare, air out your animal costume, watch Dickshakers Union again and track down some good ear plugs. They're pretty noisy.

8. Kristen Wiig: She's been on Flight of the Conchords, Saturday Night Live, Walk Hard, Ghost Town and Whip It, and her awkward monologues are always guaranteed laughs. Here's the Conchords song dedicated to her.

9. MacGruber: Like MacGyver, but updated for the 21st century and with added goofiness. But whether we'll get to see it is anyone's guess.

10. Hungarian pizza bread: Worth queueing for two hours at the recent Laneway music festival, apparently.

What are your favourite hot things?

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guy   #1   04:01 pm Feb 10 2010

aubrey will go places cos she's hoooot

Mike   #2   04:02 pm Feb 10 2010

Never heard of any of them ...and gosh...i'm still alive....(OK.... I ahve heard of/used Mysky & Tivo....;))

tony toots   #3   04:10 pm Feb 10 2010

yo big ones

Andrew Stevenson   #4   04:11 pm Feb 10 2010

I can't believe someone else has seen The Wire!

It must be a best show that no-one's seen. I rate it above the Sopranos as the best show ever.

If you like crime dramas and can stand swearing and drug use, buy the first season on DVD without hesitating.

Oh, and my other DVD of the moment is "Generation Kill". An excellent view of the second Gulf War seen through the eyes of a journo embedded in First Marine Recon. Kind of like Band of Brothers for Generation Y, without (most) of the killing and gore of BoB.

Kirst   #5   04:14 pm Feb 10 2010

Hungarian Bread - YES! This is huge in the Czech Republic. Pretty much just a big donut pizza with tomato sauce and garlic. YUM

Andy   #6   04:34 pm Feb 10 2010

Not sure who put this list together, but if that's really the ten best things you've got going on right now, might I suggest an un-attached swandive off the skytower bungy platform?

max   #7   04:42 pm Feb 10 2010

Not to nitpick but I think Warren G and Montell Jordan were more 90's than 80's....

H   #8   04:47 pm Feb 10 2010

"Old '80s hip-hop and R&B: Break out your old Young MC, Warren G, Pharcyde, A Tribe Called Quest and Montell Jordan cassette tapes, crank up your ghettoblaster, chalk out a breakdancing pad on your lino and kick it like 1987."

Hate to break it too you Chris but in 1987 none of those acts had even released anything. Would have been more like Eric B. & Rakim, Run DMC, Beastie Boys, LL Cool J and Public Enemy (just), unless you also had a DeLorean, a flux capacitor and a suspciously older friend in a lab coat.

Mike   #9   04:53 pm Feb 10 2010

Re ad-free TV, purchasing legitimate DVD box sets of TV shows to watch at my leisure is not dodgey!

Ali   #10   04:54 pm Feb 10 2010

I take it you're an Aucklander Chris? Sigh..... Not everything revolves around JAFFA land.