Nik Dirga
@nikdirga.bsky.social
RNZ Digital Explainer editor and AAP journalist, indefatigable blogger, cartoonist and creator of small press comic Amoeba Adventures, website nikdirga.com! Used to be an American, New Zealander since 2006.
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Nik Dirga
@nikdirga.bsky.social
· Aug 23
It's been six months since I put out "Clippings," a big old 350-page collection of the best of my journalism over the years. It's been really fab to see the great response from friends, family and even total strangers. Get it here! www.amazon.com/dp/B0DW4D9KR...
Got a surprise very nice hand-written letter and package full of zines today from a cartoonist I’ve long admired, and it was like a ray of nostalgic sunshine from the before times when our lives didn’t feel subservient to faceless algorithms.
November 15, 2025 at 4:52 AM
Got a surprise very nice hand-written letter and package full of zines today from a cartoonist I’ve long admired, and it was like a ray of nostalgic sunshine from the before times when our lives didn’t feel subservient to faceless algorithms.
New on the website: Why Star Trek: The Next Generation remains peak TV comfort food for me after all these years - nikdirga.com/2025/11/14/s...
Star Trek: The Next Generation, my ultimate comfort watch
I’m not a big one for massive binge re-watches of television shows. There’s always so much other stuff to watch, for one thing. So when I see people say that they’re watching all of Friends for the…
nikdirga.com
November 13, 2025 at 8:57 PM
New on the website: Why Star Trek: The Next Generation remains peak TV comfort food for me after all these years - nikdirga.com/2025/11/14/s...
Hey, groovy people! My sprawling memoir of my journalism life and times from America to New Zealand, “Clippings," is now on sale for the holidays for a mere US$12.99 for the paperback (ebook $2.99)! If you’ve been putting it off, wait no more! Get it right here: www.amazon.com/dp/B0DW4D9KRR
November 12, 2025 at 10:28 PM
Hey, groovy people! My sprawling memoir of my journalism life and times from America to New Zealand, “Clippings," is now on sale for the holidays for a mere US$12.99 for the paperback (ebook $2.99)! If you’ve been putting it off, wait no more! Get it right here: www.amazon.com/dp/B0DW4D9KRR
Stood at the end of the world, or at least the end of the south part of this one today (not pictured: Antarctica, at right)
November 8, 2025 at 8:03 AM
Stood at the end of the world, or at least the end of the south part of this one today (not pictured: Antarctica, at right)
I’m a big fan of glorious old school magazines and they’re pretty endangered these days. NZ Geographic is one of the best and if you want to stop doomscrolling and start, um, magscrolling…They’re well worth supporting: www.nzgeo.com/newsletter/t...
The Weekender October 31, 2025
nzgeo.com The Weekender Free newsletter OCTOBER 31, 2025 By James Frankham Publisher What we choose to hold on to says a lot about us. This week I'm helping to move my parents out of the family home o...
www.nzgeo.com
November 4, 2025 at 4:22 AM
I’m a big fan of glorious old school magazines and they’re pretty endangered these days. NZ Geographic is one of the best and if you want to stop doomscrolling and start, um, magscrolling…They’re well worth supporting: www.nzgeo.com/newsletter/t...
New on the website today: I still miss the American Halloweens I grew up with - nikdirga.com/2025/10/31/i...
I still miss Halloween
Of all the holidays of my wayward youth, I think I miss Halloween the most. I have great memories of trick or treating on Race Street back in California as a kid, with my brother and neighbourhood…
nikdirga.com
October 31, 2025 at 2:43 AM
New on the website today: I still miss the American Halloweens I grew up with - nikdirga.com/2025/10/31/i...
Good to see Australian politicians are just as capable of being idiots as Americans these days www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...
Sussan Ley goes after Anthony Albanese’s Joy Division T-shirt as the Coalition tears itself apart, again
While the opposition leader criticised the prime minister’s clothing as a ‘profound failure of judgment’, Albanese posted he was ‘getting things done’
www.theguardian.com
October 28, 2025 at 10:09 AM
Good to see Australian politicians are just as capable of being idiots as Americans these days www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...
It's fireworks season again and time for angry social media posts about it - but will New Zealand ever ban them? My latest at RNZ: www.rnz.co.nz/news/politic...
With Guy Fawkes Day approaching, will New Zealand ever ban fireworks?
Explainer - Every November, talk of banning fireworks sparks up. But despite petitions presented to Parliament, will it happen?
www.rnz.co.nz
October 27, 2025 at 6:57 PM
It's fireworks season again and time for angry social media posts about it - but will New Zealand ever ban them? My latest at RNZ: www.rnz.co.nz/news/politic...
Just hanging out with Elijah Wood and Andy Serkis as you do on Labour Weekend.
October 26, 2025 at 6:25 PM
Just hanging out with Elijah Wood and Andy Serkis as you do on Labour Weekend.
New on my blog: The cinematic crack cocaine of Spike Lee's double dolly shots. nikdirga.com/2025/10/25/t...
That cinematic jolt: Spike Lee and those double dolly shots
I’ve been on a bit of a Spike Lee binge lately, re-watching some of my favourites like Do The Right Thing and The 25th Hour and BlacKkKlansman and dipping into some of the more obscure byways of hi…
nikdirga.com
October 24, 2025 at 8:26 PM
New on my blog: The cinematic crack cocaine of Spike Lee's double dolly shots. nikdirga.com/2025/10/25/t...
Reposted by Nik Dirga
Holy shit! That motherfucker TORE DOWN THE WHITE HOUSE!
October 23, 2025 at 7:33 PM
Holy shit! That motherfucker TORE DOWN THE WHITE HOUSE!
New on my website today - A look back at the Swamp Thing movies, the forgotten comic book movie franchise! nikdirga.com/2025/10/17/s...
Swamp Thing: The forgotten comic book movie franchise
As part of my annual Halloween month monster movie marathon, I went back to the swamp. Swamp Thing, that is, who starred in two almost forgotten comic book movies that oozed their way through the ‘…
nikdirga.com
October 16, 2025 at 8:55 PM
New on my website today - A look back at the Swamp Thing movies, the forgotten comic book movie franchise! nikdirga.com/2025/10/17/s...
Clearly I should’ve just been writing about gloriously weird birds all along
The greatest bird in the universe has finally won Australia's bird of the year. ALL HAIL THE TAWNY FROGMOUTH! www.theguardian.com/environment/...
October 16, 2025 at 7:27 AM
Clearly I should’ve just been writing about gloriously weird birds all along
The greatest bird in the universe has finally won Australia's bird of the year. ALL HAIL THE TAWNY FROGMOUTH! www.theguardian.com/environment/...
October 16, 2025 at 2:36 AM
The greatest bird in the universe has finally won Australia's bird of the year. ALL HAIL THE TAWNY FROGMOUTH! www.theguardian.com/environment/...
New over on my website today: Diane Keaton was always my first movie love. nikdirga.com/2025/10/13/d...
Diane Keaton was always my first love
God, where to start with Diane Keaton. She was perhaps my first big Hollywood crush, because I was a budding teenage intellectual who caught Annie Hall on the TV sometime in the mid-1980s and recor…
nikdirga.com
October 13, 2025 at 2:25 AM
New over on my website today: Diane Keaton was always my first movie love. nikdirga.com/2025/10/13/d...
Diane Keaton forever and ever 💔
October 11, 2025 at 7:18 PM
Diane Keaton forever and ever 💔
My latest explainer at RNZ: Meet the New Zealand doctors trying to sell you weight loss products on Facebook. One problem - They don't actually exist. www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa...
Fake New Zealand doctors are trying to sell you GLP-1 weight loss products
Explainer - The popularity of Wegovy and Ozempic has seen a flood of ads pop up. Who can you trust?
www.rnz.co.nz
October 7, 2025 at 8:09 PM
My latest explainer at RNZ: Meet the New Zealand doctors trying to sell you weight loss products on Facebook. One problem - They don't actually exist. www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa...
New on the website today - Five years, that's all we got - Jacinda Ardern and the costs of being Prime Minister: nikdirga.com/2025/10/05/f...
Five years, that’s all we got: Jacinda Ardern and being Prime Minister
There’s something spooky about watching a documentary covering events you lived through and still haven’t quite processed yourself. Jacinda Ardern was New Zealand’s leader up until about 2 1/…
nikdirga.com
October 5, 2025 at 3:06 AM
New on the website today - Five years, that's all we got - Jacinda Ardern and the costs of being Prime Minister: nikdirga.com/2025/10/05/f...
If you’re looking for a bit of good news today, read this yarn about a meme dude who’s turned out to be a really good dude and raised $300,000 for multiple sclerosis research. www.sfgate.com/sf-culture/a...
'It just happened to be my face': The SF man behind an immortal meme
It may be the most iconic blink on the internet.
www.sfgate.com
October 3, 2025 at 7:41 PM
If you’re looking for a bit of good news today, read this yarn about a meme dude who’s turned out to be a really good dude and raised $300,000 for multiple sclerosis research. www.sfgate.com/sf-culture/a...
Want to see a movie?
Figure 1, the run-down foreign-owned downtown corporate cinema chain ticket price; Figure 2, the locally owned independent cinema ticket price for roughly the same time.
Nearly DOUBLE the price for the pleasure of enjoying the decaying ambience of Sky World/Metro Centre.
Figure 1, the run-down foreign-owned downtown corporate cinema chain ticket price; Figure 2, the locally owned independent cinema ticket price for roughly the same time.
Nearly DOUBLE the price for the pleasure of enjoying the decaying ambience of Sky World/Metro Centre.
October 1, 2025 at 11:27 PM
Want to see a movie?
Figure 1, the run-down foreign-owned downtown corporate cinema chain ticket price; Figure 2, the locally owned independent cinema ticket price for roughly the same time.
Nearly DOUBLE the price for the pleasure of enjoying the decaying ambience of Sky World/Metro Centre.
Figure 1, the run-down foreign-owned downtown corporate cinema chain ticket price; Figure 2, the locally owned independent cinema ticket price for roughly the same time.
Nearly DOUBLE the price for the pleasure of enjoying the decaying ambience of Sky World/Metro Centre.
New by me today: What Trump's calls for a '100 percent tariff on foreign movies' might mean for New Zealand - and if it's ever actually going to happen -- www.rnz.co.nz/news/busines...
How Trump's '100 percent tariff' on foreign films might affect New Zealand
Explainer - Donald Trump wants a 100 percent tariff on "foreign movies" made outside the US. What would that do to NZ's film industry?
www.rnz.co.nz
October 1, 2025 at 1:07 AM
New by me today: What Trump's calls for a '100 percent tariff on foreign movies' might mean for New Zealand - and if it's ever actually going to happen -- www.rnz.co.nz/news/busines...
Even better second time around.
September 30, 2025 at 9:23 AM
Even better second time around.
Perhaps the real Rapture was the hot takes we made along the way
September 23, 2025 at 6:38 PM
Perhaps the real Rapture was the hot takes we made along the way
Is Tylenol safe? What New Zealand says about Trump's latest claims on vaccines, autism and paracetamol
What America's changes on paracetamol and vaccines might mean for New Zealand
Explainer - Donald Trump claims paracetamol causes autism, while the US has also made cuts to vaccine access and research. What could it all mean for NZ?
www.rnz.co.nz
September 23, 2025 at 3:47 AM
Is Tylenol safe? What New Zealand says about Trump's latest claims on vaccines, autism and paracetamol
New by me over at RNZ today - why are some top New Zealand musicians leaving Spotify?
www.rnz.co.nz/life/music/w...
www.rnz.co.nz/life/music/w...
Why are New Zealand musicians leaving Spotify?
Top New Zealand bands like Tiki Taane and The Bats are leaving Spotify behind. Why?
www.rnz.co.nz
September 16, 2025 at 6:50 PM
New by me over at RNZ today - why are some top New Zealand musicians leaving Spotify?
www.rnz.co.nz/life/music/w...
www.rnz.co.nz/life/music/w...