Saatchi Showdown runner up
Nelson-born artist Charles Olsen was runner up in the inaugural Saatchi Showdown, an online user-voted art competition run by London’s Saatchi Gallery. Olsen received £750, and priceless media exposure, for…
News of New Zealanders via Global Media
Back to baddies
Russell Crowe has impressed critics with his latest role in 3:10 to Yuma. After a string of less successful films, Crowe is back to what he does best: playing “the charming baddie”. A remake…
Film’s Future in Good Hands
Wall Street Journal film critic Joe Morgenstern paid Peter Jackson a visit at his Miramar studios on a recent trip to NZ. The pair discussed their favourite movies, the future of special effects and…
Milking It
NZ is reaping the benefits of a global milk boom, according to the New York Times. Milk is in high demand and short supply due to a combination of global factors, including climate change, trade policies…
MX Star Takes Second World Title
Auckland teen Katherine Prumm has won her second consecutive women’s motocross world title at the series final in the Netherlands. The 19-year-old rider dominated the final day of the competition, beating Kawasaki team-mates Livia…
Rowing Champs Bode Well for Beijing
NZ athletes continue to dominate world rowing, with another impressive medal haul at this year’s world championships in Munich, Germany. Single sculler Mahe Drysdale, lightweight sculler Duncan Grant and the men’s four of…
McKellen’s Middle Earth return
Sir Ian McKellen returned to NZ in August for the first time since 2003, to perform both Shakespeare’s King Lear and Chekhov’s The Seagull with the Royal Shakespeare Company. McKellen, who reached a…
Titirangi Tate
Architect Chris Tate’s Titirangi dream house featured in the Telegraph‘s property pages this month. Tate’s home sits 13 feet above a gully at its highest point, anchored by 16 poles in the earth. The…
Decanter Double
Two NZ wines received top honours in Decanter magazine’s (US) annual World Wine Awards. Central Otago’s Bald Hills Pinot Noir 2005 won the International Pinot Noir Over £10 Trophy and Nelson’s Seifried Riesling Sweet Agnes 2006 the…
Adventure Sports in Aotearoa
A Telegraph feature on NZ adventure tourism gives a comprehensive overview of the range of activities on offer. Tourist operators specialising in adventure sports have moved beyond Queenstown’s borders and can now be found all over the…
Down Under Planter
Next month sees the NZ launch of the Antipode Planter, an award winning upside-down planter by the Matakana-based Morris Design Office. Designed by Patrick Morris, the Antipode Planter won the UK New Designers Award in 2006 and…
China wine and dine
Aotearoa wine and cuisine has gained a significant foothold in China with the opening of the first restaurant and bar dedicated to premium NZ produce. Located in Guangzhou, China’s third largest city, Back Street…
Tautai heads offshore
The Auckland-based Tautai Contemporary Pacific Arts Trust is hosting its first international exhibition, at The Art Studio in Rarotonga. Titled Longitude, the show features works by 21 artists with Pacific heritage, including photographer Greg…
Emotions running high
Crowded House were praised for their “emotion-drenched performance” at The Greek Theatre in an LA Times review. LA Times: “he group’s exquisitely crafted songs are infinitely rich with melodic and harmonic invention but lyrically…
Tributes Flow for Industry Titans
NZ has lost two of its leading business figures with the deaths of Sir James Fletcher and Nick Nobilo (pictured) on August 29. Fletcher, 92, became Managing Director of construction dynasty Fletcher…
Order of Merit for Lomu and Fagan
Two NZ sports greats were made members of the New Zealand Order of Merit at this year’s investiture ceremony. All Black legend Jonah Lomu and sheep shearing champion David Fagan (pictured) both received…
Golden Vili
Shot put star Valerie Vili has won gold at the IAAF Athletics World Championships in Osaka, Japan. Vili threw a personal best of 20.54 meters, beating defending champion Nadzeya Ostapchuk of Belarus by six centimetres. “It’s pretty…
The Future of Transport
Transport Communications, a new book by two NZ professors, predicts an end to congestion, terrorist threats and increasing fuel prices through the widespread adoption of nanotechnologies and satellite communications over the next 50 years. Authors Chris Kissling…
Senior Iraqi Posting for Shearer
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has named New Zealander David Shearer as his deputy special representative for Iraq. Shearer will also serve as Iraq’s UN resident coordinator and humanitarian coordinator. “David’s a pretty special guy. He’s hugely regarded…
Lock-up Lodge
A Napier prison-turned-backpackers features in a Guardian travel story on jail-themed hotels. Decommissioned in 1993, the Napier Prison was reopened in 2002 to offer tours and budget accommodation. Guardian: “You can have it the easy way -…
Auckland films Venice-bound
Two short films by lecturers and a student at Auckland University have been accepted for competition at the Venice Film Festival. Coffee and Allah, written and produced by senior film lecturers Shuchi Kothari and…
Check one-two
Auckland five-piece The Checks featured as the Guardian’s New Band of the Day for August 22. Music critic Paul Lester: “These five New Zealanders may be teenagers, but they sound as old as the…
Nerd chic in Seattle
A San Diego entertainment guide has hailed NZ as “the new Seattle” for its flourishing alternative music scene. The article name-checks HBO show Flight of the Conchords, starring Wellington folk-comedy duo Brett McKenzie and…
Reign of King Tuheitia Officially Begins
King Tuheitia, the seventh Maori monarch, has marked the official start of his leadership after a year of mourning for his mother and predecessor, Queen Dame Te Atairangikahu. Thousands of Maori and dignitaries travelled…
NZ painter in online art showdown
Nelson-born artist Charles Olsen is one of 12 finalists in the UK-based Saatchi Showdown, established by art collector and impresario Charles Saatchi. Olsen’s oil painting ‘La Sundari’, a portrait of a flamenco…
“Imaginative daring” wins literary gong
New Zealander Kirsty Gunn has won the Sundial Scottish Arts Council Book of the Year award, one of Scotland’s most esteemed literary prizes. Gunn, a professor of creative writing at Dundee University, received the…
Home-grown Horror at Frightfest
Two NZ films made the line-up for this year’s Frightfest, the UK’s leading fantasy and horror film festival. “Ovine horror comedy” Black Sheep and “the unclassifiable – and absolutely hilarious” The Devil Dared…
A NZ Space Odyssey
A NZ company has plans to launch rockets into space, carrying scientific packages, DNA and human ashes. Auckland-based Rocket Lab, co-directed by Peter Beck and Mark Rocket, will start sending its 17-foot carbon-fiber “Atea” rockets…
Surf Up-and-comer
Oakura teen Paige Hareb has been ranked fourth in the world in women’s under-18 surfing since the junior world championships in May. The 17-year-old was also the first New Zealander ever to compete…
Maths Prize for Massey Prof
Professor Robert McLachlan of Massey University has become the first mathematician from the Southern Hemisphere to win the prestigious Dahlquist Prize. Presented by the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM), the Prize is awarded to a…
Fifth Win for Warriner
NZ athletes made another strong showing in the eleventh leg of the 2007 BG Triathlon World Cup Series. The event in Tiszaujvaros, Hungary, saw three podium finishes for NZ competitors. Samantha Warriner became the first NZ…
True Romance
Ponsonby Road’s Harrowset Hall was featured in the New York Times travel section this month. Described as “a romantic den of feminine clutter”, Harrowset Hall stocks cotton nightwear, robes and bed linen. The shop…
Highland Habitat Reborn
NZ-born wildlife expert Hugh Fullerton Smith is working at the forefront of British eco-tourism as general manager of Alladale Estate. The 23,000 acre Highland property, owned by Scottish millionaire philanthropist Paul Lister, is soon to become Britain’s…
NZ blues great mourned
NZ blues and soul music great Sonny Day (Hone Wikaira) has died from respiratory complications aged 64. Day launched his career in the late 1950s with his band Sonny Day and the Sharks,…
The Real Deal
The Guardian gave its readers a heads-up on NZ stuntwoman Zoe Bell, in its regular ‘First Sight’ column. The 28-year-old has forged an impressive career doubling actors such as Lucy Lawless, Uma Thurman and…
Booker number two?
Lloyd Jones‘ Mister Pip has made the Man Booker Prize longlist, alongside works by Ian McEwan and A N Wilson. The 13 titles were selected from over 100 international entries. “As for…
Marathon Medal Prospect
Auckland runner Nina Rillstone finished third in the New York City Half-Marathon, just seconds behind Kenyans Hilda Kibet and Catherine Ndereba. The NZ record holder made a career best time of 1:10:35 – three seconds…
Après Vous
Queenstown has been named one of the world’s top ten après ski destinations in the Sydney Morning Herald. “The 120 licensed establishments in this lakeside town are brought to you by the letter ‘B’ where…
Te Kopi a Top Spot
The Department of Conservation’s Te Kopi bach at Palliser Bay has been named one of the five best state-run lodges and cabins in the world by the Guardian. “Light-filled and well equipped, the cottage and two…
Castaway tales from edge of the world
The latest book by Wellington maritime historian Joan Druett uses personal memoirs to recount two very different survival stories on the Auckland Islands, 500km south of NZ. Island of the Lost: Shipwrecked on the…
LonelyGirl signs off
NZ internet sensation Jessica Lee Rose has ended her starring role on the hit web drama LonelyGirl15. Rose’s character, Bree, was killed off by a sinister religious cult known as The Order, ending her…
NZ Academic Unlocks 17th Century Secrets
Research by a NZ academic launched a 40-year code-breaking endeavour that has resulted in the publication of an important 17th century English diary. Robin Gwynn, formerly an associate professor of history at Massey University,…
Stuntwoman turned star
NZ stuntwoman Zoe Bell is described as a “bona fide butt-kicker” in an August Marie Claire profile. Bell has gone from doubling Lucy Lawless in Xena and Uma Thurman in Kill Bill to…
Design Mobel Goes Global
Tauranga bed and furniture maker Design Mobel has launched the first of its Okooko global concept stores in Wellington and Hong Kong, with more to follow in the US later this year. Okooko stores integrate award…
Green Choice for NZ Motorists
NZ has launched its first commercial biofuel – Gull Force 10. Available through Gull Petroleum stations, the “green” fuel blends 90 per cent premium gasoline with 10 per cent bioethanol made from cows’ milk. “We are serious…
Golden Axes
NZ athletes dominated at the 48th annual Lumberjack World Championships in Hayward, Wisconsin. Jason Wynyard beat fellow New Zealanders David Bolstad and Dion Lane to win his ninth All-Around Lumberjack title. The Aucklander described the…
Something to Crowe About
Russell Crowe is gradually proving the naysayers wrong as co-owner of the South Sydney ‘Rabbitohs’ rugby league club. Crowe and businessman Peter Holmes à Court took over and privatised the beleaguered club in 2006, sparking numerous protests from…
Popera stars of tomorrow
Rotorua “popera” singer Elizabeth Marvelly has been signed for a rumoured three albums by record giant EMI. The 18-year-old soprano is related to Sir Howard Morrison, and toured NZ with him and…
Top tucker
US economics professor and blogger extraordinaire Tyler Cowen rates fish and chips as being “to New Zealand what barbecue is to Texas-tops in the world” on his popular website marginalrevolution.com. Cowen regularly compiles…
1,3 NZ Finish in Austria
Christchurch Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Andrea Hewitt has won her first World Cup triathlon title at Kitzbuhel, Austria. The 25-year-old beat Austrian Eva Dollinger by three seconds in a sprint finish, after leading the field in…
Two Down, One to Go
The All Blacks have completed the final leg of their World Cup build-up by retaining both the Bledisloe and TriNations trophies, with a 26–12 defeat of the Wallabies…
Queen Bee Uncovered
A University of Otago study has unearthed the secret to queen bees’ dominance in the hive. According to its findings, queens keep their worker bee subjects calm and obedient by secreting a scent that prevents them…
Future of NZ film lies in Asia
NZ filmmakers are increasingly looking to Asia to fill the void left by the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Annual production financing in NZ soared from $146 to $402 million between 1998 and 2001,…
Humane and Humorous
Wellington-born character actor Gordon Gostelow has died aged 82. Raised in Sydney, Gostelow immigrated to the UK in 1950 to pursue acting professionally. The classic BBC serial became a staple of his career, and…
Paquin up for Emmy
Anna Paquin has been nominated for an Outstanding Supporting Actress Emmy for her role in the HBO telefilm Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee. Based on Dee Alexander Brown’s classic 1971 book, Bury My…
NZ to be Nanotech Hub
The NZ government is investing NZ$628 million into new research programs in a bid to position the country at the vanguard of nanotechnology development. More than 30 organizations will receive a share of the funding, including…
