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.
Pinned
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
Unlike my usual bespoke finely crafted yarns that ramble on far too long, I bashed this one out in about 20 minutes mainly so I could use the word "Labubu" to start a story. www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa...
Google’s top New Zealand searches of 2025 revealed
From sports stars to viral trends, Google's top searches reveal the year that's nearly over.
www.rnz.co.nz
December 3, 2025 at 10:47 PM
Unlike my usual bespoke finely crafted yarns that ramble on far too long, I bashed this one out in about 20 minutes mainly so I could use the word "Labubu" to start a story. www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa...
How do you run the roads in a city of 1.5 million people? My latest explainer at RNZ: www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa...
Metallica, Santa and IKEA - How Auckland Transport Operation Centre controls the city's traffic
Explainer - It looks like Mission Control, but it's actually where traffic for Auckland and much of the North Island is managed.
www.rnz.co.nz
December 3, 2025 at 7:04 AM
How do you run the roads in a city of 1.5 million people? My latest explainer at RNZ: www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa...
New by me at RNZ: What happens when a political party decides to roll its leader? www.rnz.co.nz/news/politic...
How leadership challenges happen in New Zealand politics
What happens if National or Labour MPs decide to turn on their party's leaders?
www.rnz.co.nz
December 1, 2025 at 7:16 PM
New by me at RNZ: What happens when a political party decides to roll its leader? www.rnz.co.nz/news/politic...
New by me at RNZ - why the heck is Black Friday a thing in New Zealand when Thanksgiving doesn’t exist here? (short answer: 💰💰💰)
www.rnz.co.nz/news/busines...
www.rnz.co.nz/news/busines...
What is Black Friday and why is it a big deal in New Zealand?
Explainer - You can't turn around without seeing a Black Friday advert this week. But where did it come from?
www.rnz.co.nz
November 27, 2025 at 8:52 PM
New by me at RNZ - why the heck is Black Friday a thing in New Zealand when Thanksgiving doesn’t exist here? (short answer: 💰💰💰)
www.rnz.co.nz/news/busines...
www.rnz.co.nz/news/busines...
post your warning label
November 26, 2025 at 2:31 AM
post your warning label
New in the website today: Adventures on the edges of the world - nikdirga.com/2025/11/23/t...
There’s more than one edge of the world
I’ve always been fascinated by the edge of the world. Regrets, I’ve had a few, but one of them is that I’ve never travelled as much as I would like. In my free-wheeling 20s I was dead broke, …
nikdirga.com
November 22, 2025 at 8:47 PM
New in the website today: Adventures on the edges of the world - nikdirga.com/2025/11/23/t...
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...