Saturday Morning With Jack Tame

What's the news?  Fonterra has announced an On Farm Services incentive programme for qualifying farmer-shareholders.   The scheme allows farmers who meet their cooperative difference standard, a baseline performance and efficiency standard, to receive what is effectively a $1,500 yearly subsidy to invest in on-farm technology or services.   Ranges from animal performance tools from genetics companies, as well as pasture and data optimisation tools, and on-farm planting to improve carbon sequestration.   Pasture Management: Apps and dashboards, AI and satellite imagery to manage and optimise pasture on farms. Data optimisation: Farmers deal with so much data flowing in through so many on-farm touchpoints, some services aggregate all that info into key insights farmers can rely on to make good decisions.   Animal performance: Animal testing on their cows.     Why it matters   Obviously a massive deal – this contributes so much to on-farm costs and gives farmers a co

Washington Black   Follows the 19th century adventures of George Washington "Wash" Black, an 11-year-old boy on a Barbados sugar plantation who must flee after a gruesome death threatens to turn his life upside down (Disney+).     The Game   Detective Huw Miller is haunted by one case he failed to solve. As he settles into retirement, he suddenly thinks he has found the elusive killer in the shape of his new neighbour Patrick Harbottle (ThreeNow).    The Hunting Wives   Sophie trades city life for East Texas and falls into a wealthy socialite's magnetic orbit - where a clique of housewives hide deadly secrets (TVNZ+).    LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There’s no other way to say it – this cake is magical! The way the simple batter settles into layers of custard and sponge seems impossible and yet it works, and the tamarillos are all tart and jammy and YUM.        Ingredients  3 large eggs, room temp   2/3 cup sugar   90g butter, melted   1 ½ cups milk, lukewarm   1 tbsp vanilla extract   Generous 1/2 cup plain flour   1 ½ cups scooped and chopped tamarillos (about XX)    Icing sugar for dusting cake   Whipped cream or yoghurt to serve      Method  Preheat oven to 190 C. Grease and line a 20x20cm cake tin with baking paper.   Put a saucepan on with milk and butter and heat to lukewarm – this will melt the butter.   Separate eggs into two mixing bowls.    Beat the egg yolks and sugar until pale and light. Add in flour and mix until combined. Slowly add warm milk, beating until everything is well mixed together.    Beat the egg whites unt

The Fantastic Four: First Steps  Forced to balance their roles as heroes with the strength of their family bond, the Fantastic Four must defend Earth from a ravenous space god called Galactus and his enigmatic Herald, Silver Surfer.    Four Letters of Love  Nicholas and Isabel are made for each other, but as destiny pulls them together, family, passion and faith drives them apart. As they embark on journeys of heartache and misplaced love, fate soon contrives to pull the threads of their lives together.    LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In the end it was only a matter of time.   It took a day or two of virality for the CEO caught cheating in the now truly infamous Coldplay kiss cam to publicly announce his departure from the company. I’m frankly surprised it took much longer for the woman caught canoodling in his arms to do the same thing. She was, after all, the Chief People Officer for the same company. On top of what I can only imagine is a personal calamity, the incident strikes me as a fairly grave professional conflict of interest. Indeed, the company that employed them both has announced that she is now gone, too.  I’m not gonna pretend to be all high and mighty. Like however many hundreds of millions or billions of people around the World, I found myself titillated by the video. It’s so dumb. So clumsy. Perfect fodder for a viral sensation.  But in the last few days, as the stories have continued, I’ve also found myself thinking a bit more about what the whole thing says about us more generally.   As consumers and

Who else could pull off the animal transformation of one of the world’s biggest rockstars but Wētā FX?  Wētā is well known for its visual effects mastery, and so when Robbie Williams said “make me an ape!”, it’s only natural that they were the ones for the job.  The man responsible for Williams’ simian visage in Better Man was Visual Effects Supervisor Luke Millar, who was nominated for an Oscar for his work.  A visual effects supervisor is responsible for coordinating all the different elements that comprise the visual effects of a production – most of which is invisible in many movies.  He told Jack Tame it’s about balance – everyone always wants more for less, and so being creative and efficient is the name of the game.  When it comes to Better Man, Millar got involved after working on the pre-visualisation work for the musical sequences before shooting began.  “After seeing a couple of those sequences, I read the script, and that was me,” he said.  “I was all in at that

Written over the course of twenty years, from 1993 to 2019, 'Strange Visions 1' details the apocalypse in a sci-fi infused, post-modern satirical manner.  It’s the work of underground artist, producer and engineer Quaint, part one of a project called 'Polar Extremes'. Estelle Clifford joined Jack Tame to give her thoughts on the album.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

"It’s undoubtedly Britain’s equivalent to our Queenstown Lakes district. Windermere and the Lake District is England’s favourite national park, a sprawling tourist honeypot that stretches across hundreds of square kilometres of rugged Cumbrian countryside, woodland valleys, shimmering tarns and lakes – all backed by strikingly craggy mountains. It was the 18th century Romantic poets who captured the world’s imagination, igniting the region’s first tourism wave. Since then, the stature of the Lake District has only grown as a getaway destination, the wave has never crested, culminating in the district securing World Heritage status just eight years ago." Read Mike's full article here. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

While we all have difficulty remembering and placing faces sometimes, some people are unable to do it altogether.  Prosopagnosia, otherwise known as face-blindness, is a psychological condition that renders people unable to recognise faces – sometimes including their own.  Dr Dougal Sutherland joined Jack Tame to delve into this rare condition.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Polkinghorne by Steve Braunias   In Polkinghorne, literary journalist Steve Braunias takes readers on an extraordinary and often chilling journey through the most high-profile murder case in modern New Zealand history.   With unparalleled access to the key players, Braunias offers readers his unique insight into the investigation, the trial and the astonishing revelations that kept the New Zealand public utterly transfixed. The death of Pauline Hanna in her home in Remuera, and the arrest of her husband, eye surgeon Dr Philip Polkinghorne, led to an epic trial that played out like a scandalous expose of rich Auckland life. Braunias pieces it all together and presents it as an unforgettable opera - including an extraordinary encounter that will leave readers stunned.   Fascinating, engrossing, and filled with unforeseen turns, Polkinghorne goes deep inside the courtroom case that shocked a nation and explores the lusts and torments that we try to conceal. This is a must-read for true crime enthu

Just spent a week with 30 teachers in various environmental locations of Auckland. The Sir Peter Blake Trust do this every year under the umbrella of BLAKE Inspire.   Learning outside is part of the curriculum: water quality, Matauranga Māori, rockpools, school gardens (with pigs etc), climate change, StarDome, political policy simulation, corporate sustainability, and good, old nature nerd stuff in forests and reserves.   Often the question comes up: what good do Mosquitoes do? And beetles? And weta?, etc.   Those are also the questions I receive on talkback radio – makes sense?   Teachers can use this knowledge in the curriculum and hence create Nature Literate students.   We need those invertebrates (they really don’t need us!).   In fact, when it comes to bugs that “invade” our homes, it pays to remember that we built our homes right on top of theirs. They are pretty generous about that, really: nice house you built on top of mine – might just move in with you!   They f

On the Saturday Morning with Jack Tame Full Show Podcast for 19 July 2025, Oscar-nominated visual effects artist at Wētā FX, Luke Millar joins Jack to discuss just how he turned one of the world's biggest pop stars into a chimpanzee for the Robbie Williams biopic Better Man. Plus, Millar shares his insight on AI's role within filmmaking.  Jack pays tribute to the legendary Fat Freddy's Drop producer Chris Faiumu.  Kevin Milne tells of his attempt to forge a pop music career with the help of the Fat Freddy's band.  Orange you glad it's citrus season? Nici Wickes shares a delicious orange cake recipe that stays fresh for days.  And Dr Bryan Betty drops in to discuss the newest weight loss medication available in New Zealand: Wegovy.  Get the Saturday Morning with Jack Tame Full Show Podcast every Saturday on iHeartRadio, or wherever you get your podcasts.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A new weightloss medication is now available in New Zealand – accessible on a private, nonsubsidised script.  Dr Bryan Betty joined Jack Tame to discuss Wegovy – what it is, how you use it, the side effects, and why people are seeking medical treatment for their weight.    What is Wegovy?   A once-weekly injection for weight loss known as a ‘GP-1 agonist’.   It mimics a hormone in the gut that reduces our desire to eat and controls sugar in the blood.   Developed originally for diabetes but found to help with weight loss, especially at higher doses.   The same drug at lower does is known as Ozempic, which is used for diabetes.     Is obesity a problem in New Zealand? Why medication? Shouldn’t we just eat better and move more?   We do have problem in New Zealand with obesity – it's a major heath issue.   Over a third population is classified as obese, and it costs the economy $2 billion a year in healthcare costs.  A good diet and exercise are crit

Weddings aren’t cheap – well, most of the time.   In New Zealand, the average wedding costs between $35,000 - $45,000, but depending on your tastes and needs, it can grow much higher.   The recent wedding between Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez cost somewhere between $20 million and $50 million USD – roughly 200 times more than what the average Kiwi spends.  However, one columnist points out that compared to their wealth, Bezos and Sanchez actually spent quite little.  So Kevin Milne is wondering, is it Bezos who’s being excessive, or is it the rest of us.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

ChatGPT is ready to take on more involved tasks   Agents are the next phase of the AI evolution, in which the AI can go away and can complete multistep tasks on its own. So, you could give it a bunch of information —PDFs, emails, spreadsheets— and ask it to find the narrative or insights and create a PowerPoint. It'll then go away, do it, and let you know when it's done. There's less hand holding and more 'reasoning' from the AI.    It can also browse the web for you and take actions in the browser on your behalf –imagine a scenario where you could give it a photo of the contents of your fridge, give it your food preferences, tell it to come up with a meal plan, and even order the additional ingredients for you.     Valuations are skyrocketing for these companies   Bloomberg is reporting that OpenAI rival Anthropic is in the early stages of planning another investment round that could value the company at more than $100 billion.     The mad scramble for talent is gettin

Untamed   In the vast expanse of Yosemite National Park, a woman's death draws a federal agent into lawless terrain, where nature obeys no rules but its own (Netflix).    Sneaky Pete  Marius, a fraudster, finds himself followed by a dangerous criminal whom he once robbed. Soon, he disguises himself as Pete, his cellmate from the past, for safety (Netflix).    Game On   NZ Netball legends return for a high-stakes tournament, battling international stars to prove they've still got it. But they won't do it alone - six promising young athletes will join them. Can the past & future of netball unite? (ThreeNow)    LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Grace: A Prayer for Peace   Artist Robin White (Ngāti Awa) has spent more than five decades creating work which ranges from iconic New Zealand landscapes to collaborative tapa cloth. Grace: A Prayer for Peace, directed by Gaylene Preston, traces White’s evolution as an artist, and her creative response to the world around her.   Filmed in Aotearoa, Japan and Kiribati, the documentary follows her working with collaborators and reflecting on what drives her creativity. Grace offers a meditation on living a creative life in motion — shaped by community, faith and a deep engagement with the Pacific.    Universal Language   Two women find frozen cash, try to retrieve it. A tour guide leads tourists around Winnipeg sites. A man quits his job and visits his mother.    LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This cake is literally crammed full of the intense and fragrant flavours of oranges, and it stays moist for days. A slice with a cup of tea seems to make the world a better place.     Makes one loaf tin cake but doubles nicely if you wish to make a larger cake.      Ingredients  1 cup raw sugar    Rind of 2 oranges + 1 lemon – avoid the white pith, I use a potato peeler   Flesh of one orange    1 egg   ½ cup oil, I use grapeseed or olive oil    ½ tsp salt    ½ cup thick natural yoghurt   2 tbsp. lemon juice   1 ¼ cups plain flour    2 tsps. baking powder       Method  Preheat oven to 180C fan bake. Grease and line a loaf tin with baking paper.   In the bowl of a food processor blend the sugar and citrus rind until the rind is chopped very small. Add the orange flesh. Blend until smooth.   In a mixing bowl beat the egg and sugar/citrus mix together until it is thick and

I played the trombone in high school.    I know what you’re thinking: squeaky-voiced Jack running through a few scales on his big brass slide? Hello Ladies...    But honestly the fact that my instrument was seen as a bit quirky was kind of an attraction for me at the time. What the trombone wasn’t —at least back then— was very cool.   To my mind it was good for jazz band and good for a blast in orchestra, but I wasn’t creative enough to find or even search for a different sound with my trombone. Brass had its place and that was that.   But the year after I left high school, Based on a True Story hit record stores. I’d never heard of Fat Freddy’s Drop, but I was played a song by a friend and I bought the album the day it was released. I know it was 2005, because I can literally remember buying the CD from a Sounds record shop. I can remember walking down Madras Street in Christchurch with it burning a hole in my bag, so excited to play it.   Let me tell you, I’ve never thrash

Maren Morris is a country music superstar.  She’s a Grammy Award Winner and a five time winner at the Country Music Awards, breaking records and writing songs for iconic artists like Kelly Clarkson and Tim McGraw.  And now she’s entering a new era in her life and career with her latest album ‘Dreamsicle’.  She’ll be heading to New Zealand next year to ride the country music wave that’s sweeping the country, performing shows in Auckland and Christchurch.  Morris joined Jack Tame to discuss this next phase in her career, the meaning behind Dreamsicle, and next year’s tour.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.