South Sea’s Cruising
“… Come aboard … we’re expecting you”. NZ makes the Top Ten Winter Cruise destination listing in November’s Condé Nast Traveller.
News of New Zealanders via Global Media
Lego Abandons Maori Names
Danish toymaker Lego is to stop making a multi-million-dollar range of toys after protests from New Zealand Maori groups, claiming the company had appropriated their language and images for the toy range. “Future launches of Bionicle sets…
Photography Master
American Photo Magazine lists New Zealander Regan Cameron as one of ten “photographic masters” throughout the world alongside such legends of the lens as Irving Penn and Annie Leibovitz. The October edition features Cameron’s…
East side story
The famously diffuse art scene in LA seems to have finally found a centre, with galleries and artists increasingly coalescing around the east-side regions of Highland Park and Mount Washington. Much of the east-side’s…
Upside down-under architect
Paris-based Brendan MacFarlane and partner Dominique Jakob talk concept with Interview magazine. “At Georges (the applauded restaurant atop the Pompidou Center), we deformed the floor”, says MacFarlane. “Here … [referring to the duo’s concept…
Jet-powered Beer Cooler
Washington Post columnist Dave Barry raves about Kiwi inventor Simon Jansen: “this guy, using science, has found a new, innovative and, above all, loud way to cool beer, by using a jet engine.”
Adopted Lambs for Japan
School children in Amagase, Japan have adopted lambs resident in Dunedin, Amagase’s sister city in New Zealand. The lambs have their own websites for the children to access and catch up on what’s happening with their…
Frucor’s “V” for Victory
The fast-growing Kiwi success story Frucor is showing no signs of slowing. Forbes declares it among the top 20 small companies in the world – “the cream of the crop”. This international exposure garners international interest with…
NZ Leads “Twist and Sip”
Connoisseurs who once turned their noses up at screw-top wines rethink their opinions after early results from the Australian Wine Research Institute prove categorically that screwcapped wines suffer the least oxidation and are fresher and fruitier than…
“Gale From the Sea” Laid to Rest
More than 6ft tall, handsome and with the build of a rugby lock forward (which he was), John Platts-Mills blew into the English House of Commons as Labour MP in 1945 “like a gale…
Green Party Turns Red
The Green Party briefly turns red after the party swallows a report posing as part of a campaign to ban the substance Dihydrogen Monoxide (DHMO). Convinced it was genuine the party responds enthusiastically requesting more information to…
Kiwi Couture
Kiwi fashion editor of the Daily Telegraph, Hilary Alexander, pushes the New Zealand Edge into euro fashion: ” may be half a world away from Europe and America, but its half a year ahead…
Greener Than You Think
University of Canterbury’s Professor Denis Dutton (Arts and Letters Daily) reviews Bjorn Lomborg’s controversial new book, The Skeptical Environmentalist, in the Washington Post: Dutton concludes that the “richly informative, lucid book” containing “bad news for Green…
Deals Abound in New Zealand
“Wow,” exclaims an article written by an American tourist holidaying in Auckland and the Bay of Islands. Americans are catching onto the favourable exchange rate and the relative equality of prices, making NZ “an adventure playground…
NZ Among Ten Most Competitive
New Zealand ranks amongst the ten most competitive countries in the world, according to a survey conducted by the World Economic Forum (WEF). New Zealand perches at #10 on the index, which the WEF argues is…
Maori 3G Deal Secured
Pan-African cell phone operator, Econet Wireless, signs a deal with Maori to operate their license for running third generation mobile phones. The license was set aside last year by the New Zealand government for…
Stella food in New York
Stella, a dark, candlelit bistro garnering acclaim in New York, is owned by Anna Weinberg and Paul Masters, a husband-and-wife team from New Zealand. “It has a comforting niceness about it,” writes food critic…
Adding Inspiration to Education
Kevin Roberts, worldwide CEO of Saatchi&Saatchi, is appointed “CEO in Residence” at Cambridge University’s Judge Institute of Management Studies. “My role is to encourage and inspire young people to dream, to believe and to achieve – to…
Bridging the Gap
The Computers in Homes initiative based in Wellington has received international recognition for helping bridge the digital divide. So far, over 300 computers have been distributed to those who would most benefit. The Stockholm…
Kiwi Designers Spruce Up
Zeitgiest wunderkind Tyler Brule, founder of the phenomenally successful Wallpaper magazine, launches an even more exclusive title: Spruce. A bi-annual publication focusing on the very best of global fashion, it’s no suprise that two…
Her Majesty
A preteen girl’s obsessive quest to cross paths with young Queen Elizabeth during latter’s 1953 New Zealand tour provides the charming focus for Her Majesty, L.A based director Mark Gordon’s polished feature debut. New…
New Inventions Limits Environmental Damage
New Zealand, long recognised for its environmental innovation, makes another advance. Researches at Massey University have found a unique technique for the quick and safe treatment and removal of hazardous chemical spills. The portable unit draws effluent…
America’s Cup 2003
See the ranking of the announced and unannounced contenders for the next America’s Cup as judged by ESPN celeb Gary Jobson. Team New Zealand is the favourite and is ranked number one based on management, funding, design,…
PDF Copy
Ceci n’est pas le hype New Zealander Jennifer Flay, owner of one of Paris’s “edgiest contemporary art establishments” – Galerie Jennifer Flay – talks to Interview magazine’s October French flair special. Flay has gathered a…
Author graced with further award
Author Patricia Grace is honoured with the 21 Kiriyama Pacific Rim book prize for her novel Dogside Stories. The award was established to promote cross-cultural understanding.
More Margaret Mahy Magic
The multi-award-winning author, who was first published and praised in the United States over 30 years ago, has had her books translated into 15 languages. She has won literary prizes in the UK, Italy…
A Wired Army
The NZ Army is the first in the world to recruit online, and expects to cut the process from 4 to 6 weeks to just 14 days. “If we can offer a way that is faster,…
X – Woman
Anna Paquin is playing another complex and haunted character – but this time on the New York stage. “I don’t think it’s anything in my own life,” she says. “Maybe it’s a fascination of…
“For You to See Our World the Right Way Round”
Allen Curnow, one of New Zealand’s great 20th-century writers and poets, has died in Auckland. Daily Telegraph: “regarded by many as New Zealand’s greatest poet” Curnow helped define a separate NZ identity in verse,…
Virtual Spectator is Simply Red
Fans can watch the latest Simply Red concert from all angles live via the internet thanks to rapidly growing Kiwi software company Virtual Spectator. “Watching live footage from the concert they can create their own unique…
The Person is Political
Voters across the political spectrum have convinced Georgina Beyers not to quit politics after she said she was stepping down. “The fact that a transsexual, a former sex worker and a Labour candidate could win the historically…
Praise for Jewish Museum
Praise keeps coming for the new Jewish Museum in Berlin, and the exhibition curated by Kiwis Ken Gorbey and Nigel Cox. Gorbey and Cox realise that sympathy-inducing gimmicks are pathetically unequal to the gravity…
More to Crowe About
Russell Crowe excels on the screen, and now with his band 30-odd Foot of Grunts he is tackling the music scene as well. The bands first album, Bastard Life of Clarity, was released this month.
Johnson and the Whale
Mark Johnson is literally leading the way with research into whale behaviour – part of his work involves attaching digital recorders to 60-foot sperm whales out in the Gulf of Mexico. Scientists like Johnson are trying…
Hoop Dream
The Tall Blacks NZ Basketball Team has shocked Australia, winning their 3-game series to earn a place among the world’s top basketball nations at the World Titles next year. Says NZ coach Tab Baldwin: “Today, it’s a…
The Fox Boy
The 19th-century studio portrait of a young Maori boy aged five or six, dignified but standing taut and uncommunicative, captured the imagination of New Zealand writer Peter Walker, The result was The Fox Boy…
Granted Respect
“About a third of the 96 professional sailors competing in the Volvo Ocean Race are New Zealanders. But only one, Grant Dalton, commands instant recognition and awed respect from his international peer group as well as his…
Six Months in a Leaky Boat
Has the round the world race – now the Volvo Ocean Challenge – lost its edge? Sir Peter Blake thinks so. “In the 1970s, adventurers in leaky oilskins set out to sea in yachts that by…
Whale of a tale
A combination of German and New Zealand investors will finance Whale Rider, the film adaptation of…
Kiwi Bashing is No Joke
Air New Zealand’s role in the financial difficulties of Ansett Australia has created heated comment in the Australian media. “In recent days it has not been difficult to come by jokes and derisive comments about New Zealanders….
Famous NZ Plants
The Times explores the unlikely problem of growing tea trees like they do down in New Zealand.
September 11
New Zealanders and Australians unite in New York City to share their grief at the loss of antipodean lives on September 11th. Kiwi Alan Beaven, a leading environmental lawyer based in California, was on the hijacked plane that…
Film Success at Montreal
Still Life, a short film that tells the story of an elderly couple who discover that love defies even death, took out top honours in its category at the Montreal Film Festival. It is…
ANZUS Shmanzus
“The Chinese are not coming, the Russians are not coming, the Indonesians are not even coming. Time has moved on.” Helen Clark doesn’t miss ANZUS – and doesn’t think she will any time soon.
Virtual Magic
US-based Kiwi Mark Billinghurst has won the entertainment section of the Discover Magazine Innovation Awards with his ‘magicBook’ virtual reality invention. ‘magicBook’ looks like a normal book, but when seen through a hand-held viewer, 3D images pop…
Native Art Expert
Noted Maori and Polynesian art expert Terence Tui A Tane Barrow, 78, died Aug. 31 at his Honolulu home. “He was very famous — anyone who wanted to authenticate Polynesian art would call… from…
The Odder Rock Tour
Neil Finn has just completed one of rock’s great experimental tours. He started off playing with friends from Radiohead and the Smiths in New Zealand, and ended up on stage with complete strangers in…
Galaxy Star
NZ professional soccer player Simon Elliot kicked his first goal of the season – and ensured his Los Angeles Galaxy team victory in front of 17, fans.
Archived Story
Drilling and hammering continued right up to opening, but the Jewish Museum in Germany is at last open. It is the culmination of an intense period of work for Ken Gorbey and Nigel Cox,…
Lord of the Spin-Offs
“The adventures of Frodo Baggins and Gandalf the wizard are proving so lucrative to HarperCollins that, without spending a penny on promotion or marketing, they have seen sales of the books soar by 400…
Corporate Drain
“Forget the brain drain – the Kiwis who leave usually come back; the real problem we face is the corporation drain, the breaking up or moving offshore of our top corporations,” says Mike Pratt, dean of…
Positive Reinforcement
Researchers from the University of Otago have been published in the totem of scientific veracity, Nature magazine. The paper builds on the notion that positive reinforcement helps the acquisition of learned behaviours.
Amazing Race amazing TV
“More than a thrill a minute” is packed into The Amazing Race, a “dazzling and fascinating show that brings new energy and respectability …
Publishing Gem
Author Fay Weldon, who spent her childhood in New Zealand, has divided the literary world with her latest novel, The Bulgari Connection. It’s sponsored by the Italian jewellery company in what Weldon describes as…
