What We Talk About

The word quit comes from Middle English and it means ‘to be set free’. Ines Maria Almeida has quit jobs, countries, hobbies and much more. She's good at it. It’s in her blood. It’s an obsession. Hear Ines talk about her history of quitting and what it is about it that obsesses her. 

Ines is currently working on a book of essays called ‘Saudade’ an untranslatable Portuguese word that relates to absence and nostalgia, she will be travelling to Lisbon in July to participate in the Disquiet Literary Program.

Most people use their What We Talk About story to talk about something they're interested in or something they like, but with Autism, which Charlotte Simmonds both studies and has, that is not the definition of an obsession, in Autism Literature an obsession is something that causes deep distress. So Charlotte is talking about her obsession with conservation. 

You can buy Charlotte's book 'The World's Fastest Flower' from Victoria University Press.

Most people replace their phones every couple of years, but not David Klein, he's had his phone for five years, it's travelled with him around the world, moved countries and been a huge part of his life. The secret? David has a 'dumb phone'.

David Klein is a science storyteller. He won best newcomer in the 2015 New Zealand Fringe Festival for his show 'Towards a Better Understanding of the Universe' and will be touring New Zealand at the end of the year.

Murdoch Stephens is a writer an activist and is behind the 'Doing Our Bit' campaign to double New Zealand's refugee quota. He claims the only things he loves are the things that make him depressed, but listening to him talk about the Kerala Vadu Mango and Bengali Mixed Veg pickles from Mothers Recipe Brand we know thats not true.

Claire O'Loughlin is a performer and member of Wellington experimental theatre collective Binge Culture, but she did not grow up in Wellington, she grew up on a boat travelling the world. Of all the places she visited the place that lead to obsession was the Chagos Islands. Hear Claire talk about the Chagos Islands and tell us why they left such a lasting impression.

Claire O'Loughlin is a performer and member of Wellington experimental theatre collective Binge Culture, but she did not grow up in Wellington, she grew up on a boat travelling the world. Of all the places she visited the place that lead to obsession was the Chagos Islands. Hear Claire talk about the Chagos Islands and tell us why they left such a lasting impression.

Luke Rowell is best known for his electronic music projects Disasteradio and Eyeliner, but before he was making electronic music of his own he was obsessed with other music made on computers. This lead to a lifetime obsession with computer music, from sample packs from the 80s to synthesisers to vocoders, in this What We Talk About you'll hear about Luke's favourite sounds.

Daniel John Smith plans to live forever, which we are very happy about because he is an incredible comedian and a century's experience will only make him better. He already has won Wellington's best comedian in the 2015 Wellington Comedy Awards, best Newcomer in the 2014 Wellington Comedy Awards and the 2014 Wellington Raw Comedy Competition. He performed on TV3's AotearoHA: Next big Things and will perform at the Opera House as part of First Laughs in the 2016 Comedy Festival.

You can see his show Children and Other Mistakes in the New Zealand International Comedy Festival at Cavern Club in Wellington from the 26-30 April and Cellar at Q Theatre from 3-7 May. More information and tickets can be found at comedyfestival.co.nz

Claire Harris is an artist and MFA student. Exploiting her irrepressible fangirl obsessions and the milestone media moments of her memory continues to be central to her artistic practice and lifestyle, which makes her a perfect speaker in What We Talk About.

Over the last five years Claire Harris has celebrated Lindsay Lohan's birthday by performing an endurance artwork 'Happy Birthday Lindsay Lohan', watching Lindsay Lohan films chronologically for an hour for every year of Lindsay Lohan's life. So of course, Claire has decided to talk about Lindsay Lohan.

Alice Brine is unable to do anything without an obsessive drive, this has lead her to become one of Wellington's top comedians in just a couple of years, she also produces Lip Sync Battles and The Watercooler and has created the viral 'Big Dog Walk with Lots of Dogs' which will be happening in many centres around the world on April 9th. 

You can see Alice in the New Zealand International Comedy Festival in BRINESTORM at BATS Theatre in Wellington from 26-30 April and at The Basement Theatre in Auckland from 10-14 May buy tickets and find out more information at comedyfestival.co.nz