Business | Adweek
2 September 2009
Air New Zealand recently used social-networking site Twitter to seek opinion on a new Grab-a-seat campaign, which featured six advertisements poking fun at six local destinations. The 9000 followers of Grab-a-seat were asked to…
Writers | Hot Indie News
2 September 2009
Browns Bay neuroscientist Dr Kerry Spackman, 53, has written a book called The Winner’s Bible which instructs how to rise beyond your natural limits using detailed examples of people Spackman has worked with over…
Sport General | BBC Sport
2 September 2009
New Zealand striker Kris Bright, 22, has signed a two-year contract with England’s League Two Shrewsbury, and according to the BBC’s sports blogger Paul Fletcher, “in an era when many footballers are regarded as…
Business | Daily Mail
2 September 2009
Invercargill inventor Grant Ryan, 40, unveiled his YikeBike- an electric 10kg mini penny-farthing for the 21st century- at the Eurobike international trade show in Friedrichshafen, Germany. The Daily Mail’s Paul Harris takes the bike…
Dance | Guardian (The)
2 September 2009
New Zealand choreographer and Rambert Dance Company’s artistic director Mark Baldwin is celebrating the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin’s birth with The Comedy of Change, a new work inspired by Darwin’s theory of the…
Wine | Wine Spectator
1 September 2009
New Zealand’s wine industry has further opened up to foreign investment, most recently with the purchase of the New Zealand Wine Fund by California firm Foley Family Wines, pushing the level of foreign ownership…
Science/Tech | Drift Magazine
1 September 2009
Raglan-based marine consultants and artificial reef designers ASR Ltd are profiled in surf publication Drift magazine. Drift’s George Mojo talks to ASR principal Dr Kerry Black about reef-building and creating “surfable waves” without environmental…
General | The Ecologist
1 September 2009
Originally from Takaka, Ewan Kingston has been travelling from the UK to New Zealand by any means possible save for flying since mid-28, posting his adventures on the Ecologist site, the world’s leading environmental…
Fashion | Frankie Magazine
1 September 2009
Auckland footwear designer Kathryn Wilson describes her 1919 apartment, formerly home to the priests of nearby St Benedict’s Church, in the latest issue of Australian bi-monthly magazine Frankie. Living alone, Wilson shares her space…
Film & TV | New Zealand Herald
1 September 2009
The Age of Stupid producer Auckland-born Lizzie Gillett, 31, spent five years working on the climate change drama-documentary with McLibel director Briton Franny Armstrong “working through obstacles as they come up: from difficult…
Film & TV | ABC News | Hollywood Reporter
1 September 2009
Auckland-born actor Martin Henderson, 34, has reportedly signed a six-figure deal with network ABC. According to Hollywood Reporter, Henderson is expected to topline an hour-long project for the network. The former Shortland Street star…
Business | Sydney Morning Herald (The)
31 August 2009
Former Wellington mayor, shoe salesman and business mentor Mark Blumsky has written a book promoting the secrets to success for small business owners: differentiation and attitude. Slippers: Service and Selling begins with an allegory…
Watersports | USA Today
30 August 2009
New Zealander Mahé Drysdale, 31, has won his fourth consecutive men’s single skulls title at the world rowing championships in Poznan, Poland. “I still can’t quite believe it,” Drysdale said. “This is the first…
Visual Arts | Financial Times
28 August 2009
Artist Judy Millar, 52, explains to the Financial Times that she lives “at the end of a seven-mile dusty road on Auckland’s west coast and overlooks perhaps one of the most untouched beaches on…
Music | Telegraph (The) | Times (The)
28 August 2009
Neil Finn, his brother Tim and sons Liam and Elroy are just four of the 21 songwriters, 14 backing musicians and a dog collaborating on the album The Sun Came Out just released in…
Sport General | USA Today
25 August 2009
New Zealand have beaten Australia 100–78 securing the top spot in the Oceania rankings and a place at the 2010 World Basketball Championships. New Zealand’s 22-point margin – its largest-ever win over Australia -…
Agriculture | Philstar.com
25 August 2009
New Zealand dairy cooperative Fonterra’s “secret weapon is vast acres of clean grass.” “What we’re very good at in New Zealand is growing good, high-quality grass,” says area manager of Fonterra’s South Taranaki site Rod O’Beirne. “We…
Film & TV | Nylon Magazine
24 August 2009
True Blood star New Zealander Anna Paquin — “who has an Oscar and a cool accent” — talks to Nylon magazine about the show’s phenomenal success, those nude scenes and going blonde for the…
Obituaries | Guardian (The)
24 August 2009
Pukerua Bay poet, playwright and author Alistair Te Ariki Campbell has died aged 84. One of the leading writers of New Zealand and the South Pacific, Campbell published more than 20 volumes of poetry…
Z-Files | BBC News
24 August 2009
Veteran polar expedition leader New Zealander Rob McCallum is leading the search to find the submerged seaplane wreck which had been carrying Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen to the Arctic island of Spitsbergen in 1928….
Education | Reuters
24 August 2009
A long-term University of Otago study comparing the achievements of 900 boys and girls attending both single-sex and co-educational secondary schools has shown that boys perform better when attending single-sex schools. “These findings are consistent with the…
Cricket | Reuters
23 August 2009
After a two-year break from international cricket Christchurch fast bowler Shane Bond, 34, is ready for a comeback starting with a one-day tri-series in Sri Lanka on September 2 and 4. Bond is currently in Chennai…
Politics and Economics | Nhan Dan Newspaper
22 August 2009
New Zealand’s outgoing ambassador to Vietnam James Kember has received a medal from the Vietnamese government for his contributions to relations between the two countries. Speaking at the award presentation ceremony in Hanoi, President…
Politics and Economics | Fox News
21 August 2009
New Zealanders have voted overwhelmingly to overturn a law that prohibits parents from hitting children, according to the results of a nationwide referendum, but the government says the law is working and won’t be…
America’s Cup | Telegraph (The)
20 August 2009
Emirates Team New Zealand “are back to their best” according to the Telegraph’s Kate Laven, dominating the 29 Audi MedCup circuit with 23 podium positions from 35 races. With a maximum of 16 races…
Sport General | Otago Daily Times
20 August 2009
Wanaka skier Jossi Wells, 19, won a silver at the 100% Pure New Zealand Winter Games at the Remarkables in Queenstown for the freeski slopestyle event. Wells has a big profile in the United…
Education | Pittsburgh Tribune Review
20 August 2009
Napier teenager Rachel Reid, 17, has won a four-year scholarship at Pittsburgh’s Duquesne University and is now able to stay in the United States to be with her younger sister Matisse, 8, when a donor becomes…
Z-Files | Guardian (The)
20 August 2009
Hamilton Niwa ecologist Aleki Taumoepeau went to great lengths to retrieve a wedding band which after only three months of marriage slipped from his finger into Wellington harbour while he checked for invasive plant…
Politics and Economics | Sydney Morning Herald (The)
20 August 2009
On the eve of talks between Australian and New Zealand cabinets in Sydney last week, Sydney Morning Herald columnist Andrew Tink looks back to 1840 – when New Zealand was briefly a dependency of…
Business | Wall Street Journal (The)
19 August 2009
New Zealand power company Meridian Energy Ltd has purchased a Californian-based solar power facility Cleantech America for $8.1 million enabling the electricity generator to explore the potential of solar power in New Zealand. “Hydro…
General | Phnom Penh Post
18 August 2009
Hamilton trans-Atlantic rower Rob Hamill testified at the Khmer Rouge tribunal trial of Tuol Sleng prison camp chief Kaing Guek Eav, alias Duch, who is accused of ordering the torture and execution of Hamill’s…
Sport General | Adventurists (The)
18 August 2009
Tekapo man Dave Murray, 29, now based in Perth, is one of four New Zealanders taking part in the 1000km-long Mongol Derby, which began on August 22 and runs for two weeks. The race…
Film & TV | Examiner (The)
18 August 2009
“Stuntmaster turned-actor of the moment seems to be New Zealand-born Zöe Bell”, writes Douglas Rusley for The Examiner in a review of web series Angel of Death, in which Bell stars as professional assassin…
Opera | Guardian (The)
17 August 2009
Dame Kiri Te Kanawa is profiled in the Guardian’s ‘Portrait of the Artist’ column in which the soprano says opera is sung by performers from “very ordinary backgrounds”. “I’m not an elitist, so I…
Wine | Sydney Morning Herald (The)
17 August 2009
New Zealand wine is becoming increasingly popular for Australian drinkers with exports across the Tasman up by 31 per cent to $323 million in the 2008/09 financial year, according to the New Zealand Winegrowers…
Sport General | Xinhua News
17 August 2009
World champion shot putter Aucklander Valerie Vili, 25, took the women’s title at the 12th World Athletic Championships in Berlin with a final throw of 20.44m. “I’m satisfied I could defend my title. Tonight…
Science/Tech | Daily Mail
17 August 2009
Victoria University associate professor and tourism futurologist Dr Ian Yeoman predicts self-cleaning hotel rooms, sleep deprivation tablets to fight off sightseeing fatigue, robot prostitution and hotel rooms so clever they’ll be able to detect moods and change…
Writers | Christian Bourgois
16 August 2009
Auckland writer Chad Taylor has received a number of reviews commending his latest novel The Church of John Coltrane. A sequel to 1994’s Heaven – made into a film by Miramax in…
Sport General | Sydney Morning Herald (The)
16 August 2009
Seventeen-year-old Afghan refugee Omar Slaimankhel has signed a two-year contract with the Vodafone Warriors and “after surviving the kind of dangers his family has endured, playing rugby league must seem like a stroll in…
Design | Dexigner
16 August 2009
‘Printing Types: New Zealand type design since 1870’ is an exhibition on until September 12 at Auckland’s Objectspace featuring the type faces of local designers including Joe Churchward, Kris Sowersby and Jack Yan. This…
Politics and Economics | Age (The)
16 August 2009
Flights between New Zealand and Australia will soon be as cheap as domestic flights under new efforts to streamline trans-Tasman travel. Following talks between New Zealand Prime Minister John Key and Australian Prime Minister…
Music | Guardian (The)
16 August 2009
Wellington soul collective Fat Freddys Drop released their second album Dr Boondigga & the Big BW earlier this year, an album which according to Guardian reviewer Neil Spencer has an “infectious mix of retro-soul…
New Zealand | Toronto Star
14 August 2009
Owner of Roxborough Farm Lloyd Watkins invites Toronto Star correspondent Adrien Veczan to spend a weekend on his 210ha property in Tirau. Veczan writes: “The feeling of being in the middle of nowhere can…
Film & TV | New Zealand Herald
13 August 2009
Orewa-raised actress Emily Robins, 21, is enjoying international success starring in the Disney Channel’s latest tween hit The Elephant Princess, where she plays Alex, a regular suburban girl who discovers she is a princess…
Media | Filament Magazine | Guardian (The)
13 August 2009
Taranaki-born editor of women’s erotic magazine Filament Suraya Singh, 30, has succeeded in publishing an image of a sexually aroused man in the publication’s second issue and now claims to be “the…
Rugby | Brisbane Times (The)
12 August 2009
World champion Black Ferns will play a rare double-header with the All Blacks against England at London’s Twickenham on November 21 – something Black Ferns coach Brian Evans believed would inspire his players. “Twickenham…
Opera | Guardian (The)
12 August 2009
After 40 years enthralling audiences the world over, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa will give her last operatic performance next April at the Cologne Opera in Germany, playing Marschallin in Richard Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier —…
Film & TV | Star (The)
12 August 2009
Much-loved New Zealand entertainers Lynda and Jools Topp (aka The Topp Twins) will join the likes of Canadian rocker Neil Young, Joan Baez and horror film king George A. Romero for free public performances…
General | NASA.gov
11 August 2009
The Life Education Trust’s iconic mascot Harold the Giraffe, is set to become the first New Zealander (and giraffe) to go to space. Harold will be part of the NASA’s Mission STS-128, lead by…
Film & TV | Iris Prize Festival
11 August 2009
Director Christopher Banks’ film Teddy is the first New Zealand-made film to make the shortlist for the sought-after 2009 Iris Prize Festival, the winner of which receives the largest prize for a gay and…
Music | Argus (The)
11 August 2009
West Auckland six-piece ska-punk band Badtown sold their worldly possessions to tour the UK seaside city of Brighton inspired by the city’s own legendary punk rockers Peter and the Test tube Babies. Badtown’s bassist…
New Zealand | The SKI Channel
10 August 2009
Coronet Peak is an international training hub for the US Ski Team, Swedish, Swiss and Canadian Alpine Ski Teams as they train for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. Of course, the New Zealand…
Agriculture | Weekly Times
10 August 2009
Fielding farmer David Short has invented a battery-powered shearing handpiece that can be used in the yards or paddocks, and for minimal cost. Short has spent four years perfecting the design and now the…
Film & TV | Star (The)
9 August 2009
Actor Sam Neill stars in the made-for-television Canada-China co-production of Iron Road as ruthless Canadian railroad baron Alfred Nichol. The historical mini-series purports to tell the story of the thousands of Chinese labourers who…
Obituaries | New York Times (The)
9 August 2009
New Jersey-based pilot Aucklander Jeremy Clarke, 32, died after the tour helicopter he was flying crashed in a mid-air collision over the Hudson River. Clarke was a certified commercial helicopter pilot an flight instructor,…
Obituaries | New Zealand Herald
8 August 2009
Julian Dashper (1960-2009), artist, died 30 July, 49, in Auckland. Julian had “the unique perspective of attending to an internationalist art history from a distance, enabling him to devise strategies to work around his…