The Sunday Session with Francesca Rudkin

Psychologist and bestselling author Nigel Latta has been honoured with a special in memoriam award at the Aotearoa New Zealand Book Industry Awards.

Nigel Latta passed away last September and his last book, 'Lessons on Living', was published he day he died.

His widow, psychologist Natalie Flynn, says it was a 'lovely event' where she got to celebrate the impact of his work and books.

"His last one seems to have resonated with so many people and touched so many lives - look, his aim while he was living was to help as many people as possible." 

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Stuart Nash appears to be calling time on his political career, ruling out any form of comeback.

Nash has apologised to Napier MP Katie Nimon, after calling her 'lazy' for taking maternity leave.

The controversy, which included MPs calling Nash sexist, prompted the former Labour cabinet minister to withdraw as NZ First's Napier candidate. 

Newstalk ZB political reporter Azaria Howell says Stuart Nash already had a controversial reputation, and he's been warned in the past before this incident.

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A group of experts are looking to turn around New Zealand's lagging cancer survival rates.

Auckland University recently launched its new Department of Cancer Sciences, in the first step of eventually creating our first comprehensive cancer centre.

The university's Department of Cancer Sciences head, Dr Ben Lawrence, says the country can do better in treating cancer and providing clinical care for impacted individuals.

"I think what we have to recognise is that it wasn't that long ago when our cancer outcomes were the same as Australia's, but over the last 20 years, they've unfortunately drifted apart."

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Elon Musk has many talents. Building rockets. Selling electric cars. Turning a social media platform into a daily talking point. 

Now he wants to 'fix' Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey because he disagrees with Nolan’s diverse casting choices and creative interpretation in the film’s production design. Turns out the owner of a social media site that is, shall we charitably say, light on content moderation and unconcerned with truthfulness, is concerned this piece of entertainment isn’t historically accurate.  

Musk has announced he will use his own AI, Grok Imagine, to generate a full-length version of The Odyssey that is “historically accurate and true to the art of Homer.”  

It seems he’s a bit peeved his criticisms of Nolan’s film didn’t stop people flocking to see it. Instead, The Odyssey has been a smash hit with audiences. It took a massive $264 million at the global box office in its opening weekend, has had rave reviews and there’s heaps of Oscar buzz.  

It turns out audiences are pretty relaxed about historical accuracy. This is Homer we're talking about after all, and a poem that's possibly 2,800 years old. It was a story passed down orally for centuries before it was written down. Historical accuracy isn't exactly the point. 

Musk's frustration seems to come from his belief that AI could recreate the world as it really was. Every helmet, every ship, every piece of armour, exactly right. And that would be really clever. 

But is that why people buy a movie ticket? Of course not. 

People don't hand over their hard earned cash hoping someone has finally perfected the precise Bronze Age stitching pattern on a tunic. They go because Christopher Nolan makes films that make them feel something. Awe. Tension. Wonder. Curiosity.  

Nolan’s box office record isn't built on historical precision. It's built on the power of imagination.  

Whether it's Oppenheimer, Dunkirk, Interstellar or Inception, people trust him to tell a story in a way nobody else can. That's what cinema is. 

Could AI become a brilliant filmmaking tool? Absolutely. It can speed up visual effects, restore old footage, help with editing, even create incredible reference material. The industry will be better for it. 

But tools don't replace taste. They don't replace instinct. 

And tools certainly don't replace the thousands of human decisions - from the director, actors, cinematographer, composer and editor - which somehow combine into an onscreen moment that gives you goosebumps. 

If an AI version of The Odyssey arrives one day and every historical detail is flawless, I wish it the best. But I'd rather spend three hours watching Christopher Nolan's imperfect, ambitious, deeply human interpretation. 

Stories survive for thousands of years not because they're accurate. They survive because people keep finding new ways to tell them. 

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The Bookshop Detectives, Murder and Mojitos by Gareth Ward and Louise Ward. Two real life booksellers from Hawkes Bay have created a fictional bookshop named Sherlock Tomes which in this, the 3rd in the series, is cosy crime full of literary mayhem. Sherlock Tomes are invited to work with a visiting writer from Cuba who’s coming to Hawkes Bay for the Art Deco Festival, given the shared architecture style of the two countries, and the bookshop has the opportunity to run a literary event while she’s in town – which of course goes terribly awry.. This is warm, witty and highly amusing. 

The Kingpin by A.A.Dhand. A pharmacist in the city of Leeds is drawn into the underworld through both the temptations of his brother, newly released from prison, and a local cop with a terminal illness who now has nothing to lose. Idris Khan is the pharmacist in question – his dispensary is on the edge of a large housing estate where he supplies methadone to local addicts and he lives in a hard, morally grey world. This is really gritty inner city crime, made more interesting by the pharmacist’s understanding of medicines and how to use them for very specific results.

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Spain is in the World Cup Final, and excitement is felt across the city. 

Despite not being a football fan, Travel Blogger Megan Singleton felt the buzz ahead of the World Cup final against Argentina. 

She tells Francesca Rudkin about the experience, and how you can take a piece of the Camp Nou pitch home.

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It feels like it's flown a bit under the radar, but the Commonwealth Games start this Friday. 

This year's games is a reduced format.  Initially set to be hosted in Melbourne, the event was moved to Glasgow after the Aussies pulled out due to cost concerns. 

NZ team Chef de Mission Nigel Avery has arrived in Glasgow, and he joined Francesca Rudkin to talk about what we can expect over the next couple of weeks.

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Warm butternut salad w black olive honey & rocket oil 

Cook time: 25 minutes 

Prep time: 20 minutes 

Serves: 6 

 

Butternut salad

1 large butternut  

12 small tunnel house tomatoes  

2 tbsp sunflower oil  

flaky salt & black pepper 

Handful rocket leaves  

150 gm danish feta, crumbled  

1 cup walnut halves, toasted till crispy  

 

Kalamata Honey

12 pitted kalamata olives  

1 tbsp honey  

 

Rocket oil  

1 handful of rocket  

1/2 cup sunflower oil salt 

 

Preheat oven to 180*C.  

Carefully cut butternut in half and scoop out seeds.  

Slice into wedges and toss in a large bowl with the oil and flaky salt, spread out onto a roasting tray. Roast in oven for 25 minutes. After this time add the tomatoes onto the tray and cook for a further 10 minutes.  

Make the black olive honey by simply blitzing the olives and honey together until smooth.  

Remove the butternut and tomatoes from oven and arrange on serving dish, top with rocket, feta and toasted walnuts.  

Drizzle with the olive honey and rocket oil.

To make the black olive honey

Simply blitz olives and honey together until smooth.  

To make the rocket oil

Bring a pot of salted water to a rapid boil. Drop in your rocket and count to 5, remove and drop straight into boiling water. Once cold, squeeze out excess water and blitz quickly with oil. Pour over a sieve with a chux cloth and allow the oil to drip through slowly. 

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Newstalk ZB political correspondent Barry Soper joined Francesca Rudkin to discuss the big political news of the week. 

Paul Henry debuts his political career, the new ferries receive names, NZ First's convention makes headlines, and the Green Party calls for union membership as default setting for new employees.

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Listen to the Sunday Session with Francesca Rudkin Full Show Podcast for Sunday 19 July.
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