Golden Moment
Edge machine Rob Waddell takes the Olympic gold in rowing’s glamour event, the men’s single sculls.
News of New Zealanders via Global Media
Mr Parsons’ mystery
New Zealand-born thriller writer Julie Parsons featured in a British TV series, True Lives. She was filmed returning to New Zealand, the scene of her father’s mysterious disappearance all those years before…
Tamahori: Edge iconoclast
The Boston Globe profiles the Boston Film/Video Foundation, mentioning Kiwi Lee Tamahori, along with Rose Troche (Go Fish) and Whit Stillman (Barcelona) as an “international iconoclast” from their “Meet the Director” series.
Murderball 2
Cage fights? Question time in the New Zealand Parliament is being broadcast live on the net.
McKinnon Calls for Debt Relief
Commonwealth Sec-Gen Don McKinnon has called on G-7 countries, the World Bank and the IMF to “just do it” on the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative which would write off debts owed by some of the…
Taylor Tailor
“Citrus silk wool bell-bottoms, lilac silk lace cardigan and a soft grape lace print cami-dress with lavender shearing were eternally pretty,” in Kiwi style-queen Rebecca Taylor’s New York Fashion Week show.
Soft-soaping Protector
Waiuku orchardist Chris Henry has created the world’s first organically acceptable soft-soap fungicide. The product, branded as Protector, is “just what environment conscious growers and customers have been demanding”.
Well done
NZ-bred Fay Weldon needn’t have the Rhode Island Blues over reviews for her latest book: “she writes thoroughly modern fables that throw light and cast doubt on the meaning and wisdom of contemporary pieties.”
The Hills Are Alive with the Sound of Runners
Jonathan Wyatt (1998 Champion) took out the Mountain Running World Trophy at the Bavarian village of Bergen, while the New Zealand Women successfully chased Gold as well.
Entrepreneurial Drive
The Waikato Management School has launched an innovative scheme to counter the supposed Brain Drain.
Virtual Hobbits
“In a nondescript suburb of New Zealand’s capital, the team at Weta Digital, an offshoot of Peter Jackson’s Wingnut Films, is producing more than 1,200 visual effect shots for the three Lord of…
Dollar for Dollar
Ian MacFarlane, Governor of the Australia Reserve bank, has been positive about the idea of currency union with New Zealand, but has left the initiative firmly on the Kiwi side of the ditch. Earlier this month…
Kudos for Kiwis
Messages of thanks and congratulations poured in from all over the world in response to New Zealand’s decision to take the Afgan refugees. “By accommodating our homeless and stranded children and mothers, New Zealand…
Post-punk Beat
“New Zealand post-punker Chris Knox and Austin, Texas-based cult figure Daniel Johnston are as indie as indie gets. Both write unflinching lyrics about love, life and madness. Both record their ditties on low-fidelity four-track…
High Dependency Unit and Loraxx play Chicago
The Chicago Independent Arts Festival begins in early October. New Zealand bands High Dependency Unit and Loraxx are going to be there, giving Chicagoites a taste of the Edge.
Top of the Pots
New Zealand plants have a distinctive look to them, and the tree-fern is perhaps one of the most unusual. Ponga trees are a hot item in the UK. Home Front TV gardener Diarmuid Gavin highlights them on…
Tiger Almost Tamed Almost by Waite’s Deft Strokes
The New Zealander gave golf’s biggest star a few worried moments at the Canadian Open. Grant Waite stayed with Woods the whole day until the closing strokes of the final round. “If you make a mistake, he’ll…
Biking Across the World
Kiwis turn up in the most extreme places. The Copper Canyon region of Mexico is hardcore: the roads are rocks-strewn, pot-holed and dusty. Typical terrain includes dizzying curves, steep switchbacks and narrow passageways. Intrepid mountain-biking Kiwi Blair…
Are You Reading This Now?
New Zealand ranks among the most literate countries in the world, according to a study released on September 8. The Scandinavians, with their long winters by the fire, ranked at the very top of…
Dame Kiri at the Meyerson Symphony Centre
Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, star soprano, is appearing in a recital in Dallas. “In recitals it’s a partnership—you and your pianist partner performing for each other. I love that give-and-take, that wonderful feeling of…
Sweet Sugar
Peter Gordon is the man who launched a thousand experiments with seaweed, noodles and kangaroo. His latest book, “Cook at Home with Peter Gordon”, applies the same eclectic principles, offering something for cooks of…
Fair Go, Mate!
Game theory is used by many branches of the social sciences to help explain some the seemingly irrational behaviour of humans. Paul Walker, a New Zealand academic, has constructed a time-line of the development of games theory…
Pask Bask
Where do you go for the top Bordeaux? Edge Hawkes Bay winery CJ Pask makes the best Bordeaux-style wine in the world, according to the world’s premier wine judging event.
Home Run
Shane Hunuhunu plays baseball for the Ashland (Ohio) Bombers’. The fireplug slugger imported from New Zealand features in “Fastpitch”, a new film by first-time film-maker Jeremy Spears. The footage was shot over a summer Spears spent playing…
Team NZ Pickup Pace
Having carried off the wine prizes, we’re now taking skippers. Bertrand Pace, who skippered the French boat in the last America’s Cup, has signed on with Team NZ. “I am very pleased and excited to join the…
Braces, John
John Bracewell, the New Zealander who has coached the Gloucestershire County Cricket team to the top of the sport in England, says that he has been preparing himself to become an international coach. Though his first loyalty…
Licensed to Squirt
A unique initiative has seen New Zealand kindergartens offering “licences” for toy guns in a bid to instil the “use guns responsibly” message in youngsters. Police have tacitly endorsed the scheme, but will not…
Better, But Not Good Enough
Helen Clark addressed a UN meeting of world leaders, stating: “We recently announced that our next governor-general will be a woman, our prime minister is a woman, the leader of the opposition is a woman, the cabinet…
Brain Gain: Happy Consultants Flock In
On-island media has been hyping the “Brain Drain”, but check out the opposite story: “Last year, a few of my friends from Gujarat migrated to New Zealand. They are very happy. I was thinking to procure…
Moa Simulation: The Strange World of Canterbury Ecology
New Zealand has more small-leaved, tangled shrubs than anywhere else in the world. Some experts think the plants evolved like this to deter the now-extinct moa from making them dinner, but Canterbury University ecologist Dave Kelly doesn’t…
Keep Our Yurts Nuke Free!
Mongolia, inspired by New Zealand, is asking to be declared a Nuclear-Free Zone. No more American warships for them!
Rena Owen on jury at Montreal Film Festival
Feisty Kiwi actress Rena Owen (Once Were Warriors, What Becomes of the Broken-Hearted), sat on the jury of the of the Montreal Film Festival. The jury awarded the festival’s major award, the…
Does This Man Have a Government Scholarship?
It’s more cost-effective than traditional space-flight, and it’s spiritually enriching … the New York-based International Institute of Projectiology and Conscientiology has been guiding consciousnesses’ astral bodies through the extraphysical dimensions since 1988. Kiwi attorney David Lindsay, who is…
Malaysia and New Zealand: Becoming Closer Neighbours All the Time
Trade between New Zealand and Malaysia totalled over NZ$1 billion for the year ended June. As well, there are major cultural and social links between the two countries. “Over the years, tens of thousands of Malaysians…
Who is that famous writer living next door?
Michael King spoke about his authorised and hugely successful biography of Janet Frame at the Melbourne Writers’ Festival. Frame a recluse: she writes under her own name, but lives under a pseudonym. Other Kiwi…
Temping: A Permanent Way of Life
“Temping” is a phase in the life of many young Kiwis, but some, like Tracey Ward who is profiled in this article, are beginning to see it as a flexible, stimulating career in itself….
Hadlee Awards Trophies, Deplores Fixing and Lauds Lillee
Sir Richard Hadlee, former New Zealand pace bowler, awarded the trophies at the Buchi Babu tournament in Chennai earlier this month. He railed against international match fixing, but had congratulatory words for the players in the tournament. Hadlee…
A man of many amenities
Hundertwasser, the Austrian architect who lived out his last years in New Zealand and designed the famous toilets in Kawakawa, also left his mark in the curving lines of Bad Blumau, a spa…
Stirling Effort
British energy companies are looking at the Stirling engine produced by NZ company WhisperTech. By 2025, 13m households in Britain could have their own little power station installed with this technology.
Rugby: Brits Gush About All Blacks
“To watch the sheer brilliance of New Zealand’s opening passage of play against the Wallabies, and then to have that followed by the marvellous fightback which took Australia to level pegging—and for that quality to be sustained…
Thigh-deep in Flyfishing
What does New Zealand have in common with Argentina, Russia and Alaska? No, not an “a” in the name – they’re all “flyfishing glamour spots”. Thomas McGuane chronicles his time standing thigh-deep in glamorous rivers in his new…
Initiative Edge
In a tough call, trust your instincts, says cognitive psychologists Gary Klein. “The best decision makers that Klein has seen are wildland firefighters … They fight fires 12 months a year – in western…
The purloined piano?
The Piano secured Jane Campion as a major director and catapulted her from the art-house to the multiplex, but the Oxford Companion to Australian Film recently cast doubt over the originality of the screenplay for…
Inky Waves
Tattoos have become increasing popular among the men and women who chase the massive waves of the Pacific. For many, a tattoo is an important way of recognising their Polynesian heritage.
The Piano plays on
Holly Hunter, who played a mute Scottish widow in Jane Campion’s The Piano (1993), muses on the unexpected success of the movies. “It was a $5 million movie in New Zealand, and it ended…
Dean’s Decision
Dean Barker, Team New Zealand skipper, had ten minutes to make up his mind to take the hottest seat in sailing.
Tuaman
”I discovered at an early age that I had something special,” says championship contender David Tua. ”It’s a God-given talent I have to knock people out.” It is a gift rewarded only in one place. Only…
Stunts at 25mph in six inches of water help to demonstrate the Audi Quattro A6
The ad took nine days to film at Bethell’s Beach on the west coast of New Zealand.
In Chicago Beach did Fletcher a stately pleasure dome build
Fletcher Construction was the managing partner in the construction of the world’s tallest hotel, the hyper-luxury Burj Al Arab Hotel in the United Arab Emirates. The facade, designed like a giant sail represents an…
Moko-Maori
“Ta moko exposes more than the revival of a tradition – it reveals the beauty of Maori past and the promise of Maori future.” – photographer Hans Neleman in Moko-Maori Tattoo.
Flaming Fox
“It’s difficult to pin down Kerry Fox. For every film-goer who knows her as the murderous medical student in Shallow Grave, there’s another who remembers her as the dumpy author Janet Frame in An Angel…
Kiwi Trout: Once Bitten
Studies at the Cawthorn Institute in Nelson have revealed that trout learn from experience. Fish that have been caught and returned to the water stay out of sight next time. The trout are also smart enough to…
Xena Fights Child Abuse
Xena Princess Warrior has launched a real-life crusade against child abuse in New Zealand. Using her profile, Lucy Lawless has begun a national campaign to raise money for child protection agencies.
Musicking: an activity not a thing
New Zealander Christopher Small’s books have been paradigm-changing events. His latest “Musicking” focuses on what Small believes is music’s ultimate function: “to provide insight into relationships: between and among notes and chords and rhythms…
Kiwi to Protect London Children
Moira Rayner has been appointed Director of the newly formed Office of Children’s Right’s Commissioner for London. She is a New Zealand lawyer with international experience in the field of children’s right’s.
Edger takes to fringe
New Zealand actress Giarna Te Kanawa in New York plays all five parts in “Verbatim” by William Brandt and Miranda Harcourt, which played in the New York Fringe Festival. “Verbatim” is based on interviews…
