Direct Success
Saatchi & Saatchi’s Access 50/50 campaign for Telecom scooped a Gold International Echo award from the Direct Marketing Association. Auckland’s Aim Direct also won gold, making a tally of two New Zealand firms among…
News of New Zealanders via Global Media
Devils’ Playground
“If they were human they would be regarded as severely dysfunctional.” New Zealander Rod Morris on Tasmanian Devils, the stars of The Devil’s Playground, which has won him a Wildscreen Panda – wildlife film’s…
His Way
Road cyclists usually compete in teams for strategy and support. North Hastings 18-year-old Jeremy Yates, the new Junior Men’s Road Cycling World Champion. Yates beat 166 international riders, sprinting the last 4kms of the 127km race in…
What Goes Around Comes Around
Hans Schwarz, an Austrian now living in NZ, sailed to Melbourne in 1956, to attend the Olympic Games. He threw a bottle into the ocean, with a note for a “dusky Pacific maiden”. Now, in a typically…
E-e-e-e-readiness
Kiwis are on to it online. This has been confirmed by a Vic University study that lists NZ among the top four countries in the world for e-commerce and connectivity. The edge has the world’s fastest…
Motor Masala hot fave
Peter Riordan is in contention for the Asia-Pacific Travel writers’ prize. His book, Motorcycle Masala is the story of a journey around India on-you guessed it-a motorcycle. The award will be announced at the…
Dr MacDiarmid and His Fantastic Electric Plastic
New Zealand’s Nobel duo becomes a trio; Masterton-born and Wellington-educated chemist Alan MacDiarmid has joined Ernest Rutherford and Maurice Wilkins as a Nobel Prize (chemistry) laureate. MacDiarmid and his two colleagues discovere conductive plastics which have been…
Cullen a Keeper
Christian Cullen has resisted overseas contracts to concentrate on winning the World Cup for New Zealand in 2003 (which will be held in Australia and New Zealand). “The World Cup is the only thing I haven’t won…
Repair Bill
New Zealand vet Deborah Saunders describes the revolutioary bill-binding putty she used on Deidre the duck: “it’s nice and hard and keeps the two parts of the bill together and well supported”.
MurderBall
Wheelchair rugby, “Murderball” as it’s known by the players, is the only full contact wheelchair sport at the Paralympics. New Zealand is ranked second, behind the USA.
Speed + Power = KO
That’s the equation chalked on Kiwi David Tua’s wall as the build up to the Tua-Lewis fight continues. In this interview Tua promises to put that equation into practice. He also talks about the importance of…
Fine Vintage
1978 was a good year for wine in New Zealand. That’s when John Simes, now winemaker at Mission Hill in Okanagan, Canada, began his career. The Kiwi is one of the “trained and experienced winemakers” imported to…
Multiple murders
Anne Perry, formerly Juliet Hulme of the Parker/Hulme case, tours her latest novel Slaves of Obsession in the States. Perry has authored over thirty best-selling murder mysteries.
Kava Kafuffle
Unusual intoxicant attracts international notice. A Wellington man was picked up for driving erratically after consuming kava, a ceremonial drink in many Pacific Island communities.
Guy Pearce’s Kiwi Dad
Yes, Guy is an Australian (he spent fours years on Neighbours to prove it), but his father was a New Zealander who tested planes for the Royal Air Force. Pearce, also Russell Crowe’s side-kick…
High Stakes
Christchurch Casinos Limited and international affiliate CryptoLogic have debuted Kiwi Casino on the net. Punters drop their dollars surrounded by “the exotic sub-tropical rainforests of New Zealand”.
Edge into Growth
Canadian design guru Bruce Mau created “An incomplete Manifesto for Growth” in 1998. “The oddest thing I heard was that a New Zealand company had used the manifesto on its website,” says Mau.
Sia in America
Samoan New Zealander Sia Figiel reads from her second book, They Who Do Not Grieve (US edition forthcoming). Figiel won the Commonwealth Writers’ Best First Book Prize for Where We Once Belonged.
Golden Deeds
Catherine Chidgey, novelist and editor, won the Pacific Commonwealth Best First Book award for In a Fishbone Church. Golden Deeds, her second novel has been published by Picador, leading publishers of contemporary fiction world-wide.
The Gravy Train Will Now Depart …
Some members of the Penang Municipal Council enjoyed a recent trip to Adelaide, but not everyone got to go. Those who missed out launched a protest campaign, ending in a working paper being prepared on the…
Phar Lap Not Spiked
A mystery finally solved. Phar Lap, the new bio of the legend concludes that he was not poisoned as previously suspected. His death in America was due to duodenitis proximal jejunitis, a disease not identified until 1983.
Perfect Pinot
An ever-increasing variety of New Zealand wines are being enjoyed and celebrated throughout the world. Al Bassano recommends our Pinot Noir.
TAPping into Productivity
Synapse TAP, the alternative computer input system designed by Kiwi Neil Scott of Stanford, doesn’t just allow disabled workers to perform jobs: TAP’s voice and gesture-guided system gives users a edge over their able-bodied counterparts.
Wright for the Job
John Wright has secured the national cricket coaching spot in India. Wright’s command begins just before Zimbabwe tour India later this month.
V Good
New Zealand company Frucor, dominant in the NZ and Australian energy drinks market, feels V ready to compete with international behemoth Coca-Cola. “We believe we can grow the market fivefold in Australia,” says CEO Mark Cowsill.
See You Latte
Once you’re safely at the cafe, you can order an extra frothy latte, courtesy of a herd of cows deep in the heart of New Zealand. The milk of these cows has been found…
Miracle Flightless
Since 1984, New Zealand has undergone “the most comprehensive economic reform programme undertaken by any OECD country in recent decades”. Not all the results have been bright: “Looking back over the past 15 years, you would have…
Kiwi Water Winner
The gold medal in women’s 470 sailing class at Sydney went to Australia – with a Kiwi doing the work. New Zealander Jenny Armstrong teamed up with Barbara Stowell, originally from Zimbabwe, to win Australia’s 50th medal.
Election Blues
American academics laud MMP: “When New Zealand had its first PR election in 1996, the first Asian citizen was elected, and Pacific Islanders and indigenous Maoris tripled their representation.”
Moa Manipulation
Digital manipulation is an example of Stephen Jay Gould’s ‘Great Asymmetry’: creation takes much longer than destruction or consumption. “It takes millions or billions of years for evolution to produce a species well-adapted to its environment, while…
LA Love
The LA Times runs a triumvirate of New Zealand travel features: Compact New Zealand, Wellington and comment from Fabio, King of Hearts: “They have the most amazing lakes. They’re huge and as deep as the mountains are high”.
Fishy Dispute
The science of salmon conservation is muddy, but, as New Zealand’s introduced salmon show, the king of fish is an adaptable beast.
Dogs of Auckland
Robert Creeley’s Dogs of Auckland sequence grew from the poet’s extended stay in his wife’s native New Zealand: “Isolation seduces and terrorizes” him. But at times, as toward the end of Edges, Creeley rediscovers…
Truman to Simone
Oscar-nominated Andrew Niccol (Gattaca, The Truman Show) has scripted and will helm Simone. Al Pacino stars alongside a mysterious actress who may or may not be real.
Aria noms for Shihad
Shihad, hard edge rockers of Wellington, now Melbourne, have three nominations for the Australian Recording Industry Awards, the Arias: best group, best album and best rock album.
That’s Not a Camera Flash
PM Clark ventured on a guided tour of the Sydney Harbour Bridge super-structure. Was that an admirer taking a picture? Was it an apparition of Roger Kerr? No, the sudden illumination was lightening striking the bridge, narrowly…
Jumpin’ Jai
With a name like Taurima, he must be one of us. Jai Taurima, the Queensland-born son of a Maori father, just missed the gold in the long-jump, but a personal best of 8.49 metres was enough…
NZ Economy Surged
New Zealand’s economy surged two percent for the June quarter, Statistics New Zealand has revealed.
Menace Knox in Chicago
Truly edgey Chris Knox described as “an acerbic, forceful wit, accomplished tunesmith and almost menacingly extroverted showman.”
Purapurawhetu: Shining Stars
Purapurawhetu, Briar Grace-Smith’s 1997 award-winning play, has completed a successful tour of Canada and is now on its way to Delphi in Greece. This has been a mega year for Grace-Smith, who received an…
Jonah Joins the Kids
Eighty school children from around the world joined in the “Forever Sports Challenge” during the Olympics. Some major sporting metal flew in to assist with the challenge, including Jonah Lomu as specialist warm-up coach.
Reading Edge in US
Over the last twenty years, many young New Zealanders have benefited from “Reading Recovery”, the revolutionary learn-to-read programme created by Dame Marie Clay. Now the programme is spreading into American schools.
Why do it yourself when you can play a CD?
Wellington coffee czar Geoff Marsland has issued a CD aimed at the neighbours – at annoying them that is. The CD features the noise of a lawnmower and runs for 64 minutes. “If your neighbours have…
NZ 3-D LCD
Images on your monitor create the illusion of depth, but remain flat. Now a Kiwi company, Deep Video Imaging, has created a new kind of double-skinned monitor which delivers true depth of field and allows the display…
Framing the truth
Wrestling with the Angel, Michael King’s bio of Janet Frame, has generated acclaim, column inches and voluminous sales in New Zealand and overseas. Stephanie Dowrick describes Frame as “(one of) the two great 20th-century…
Through Now
Seepower, global/ Wellington IT company Compudigm’s data visualisation software, delivered smooth connection of more than 500,000 calls from Stadium Australia on the opening day of the Olympics.
Kissin Pad Goodbye
New York-based New Zealander, restaurateur and business partner of Sir Terence Conran, Joel Kissin, sold his four-storey townhouse at 53 West 68th Street for US$7million. His new home is “is opposite the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It is…
Kiwi Coach Conquers in Rowing Eights
The Olympic eights were taken out by the British for the time in 88 years and it was a Kiwi who pushed them to their win. The team cited Harry Mahon, their assistant coach, as a…
Dunkin’ Dream
Kiwi Kirk Penney describes 2000 as “just dream after dream” after playing in the NCAA final four and the Olympics in one year.
A Long Way to Deliver a Letter
Jules Brown from The Observer takes a scenic trip up the stunning Whanganui river on some rather usual transport – a mail bus.
Crushing Cushing
Ansett International is looking to expand into Asian and European routes, challenging Australian giant Qantas. Asked how worried Qantas executives should be about the new competition, Air New Zealand executive chairman Selwyn Cushing advised them to “take…
Ski Bunny Finds Roads Funny
Amy Chavez of Japan visited the NZ recently to ski. She found some of the mountain roads a little too close to the edge for comfort.
Dame Kiri Star Attraction at Arts Fundraiser
Dame Kiri Te Kanawa and her “velvet voice” joined Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa, raising $200,000 for the NAC. The Ottawa Citizen describes her as “one of the world’s great opera stars”.
Ultra Careful
Sarah Buckley, a New Zealand-trained family doctor looking into pre-natal care, has produced research that challenges the safety of ultra-sound scans routinely performed on pregnant women.
Seeding Change
New Zealand scientists from the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research have been collaborating with their Australian and British counterparts in experiments that may hold the answer to global warming. By adding extra iron to the…
