Keisha Castle-Hughes Picked for Game of Thrones
Oscar nominee Keisha Castle-Hughes will join the cast of hit HBO fantasy drama Game of Thrones, starring as Obara Sand, Oberyn’s eldest daughter and a fearsome warrior in her own right. In a video of…
News of New Zealanders via Global Media
New Zealand Wine Favoured by British
New Zealand can claim another victory over Australians with research showing British wine drinkers prefer New Zealand vino to theirs. New Zealand is now the second most popular country of origin for premium wine sold…
Velodrome Medal Haul at Glasgow Commonwealth Games
New Zealand has started its 2014 Commonwealth Games campaign with a bang winning three gold medals at the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome in Glasgow. Aucklander Sam Webster (pictured, centre), 23, sprinted his way to New…
Melanie Lynskey Revising Cinematic Female Archetypes
Melanie Lynskey has built a career on genuine, naturalistic portrayals of women in films like Up in the Air, Win Win, Hello, I Must Be Going, and, at age 16, in the Peter Jackson-directed…
Photographer David Melcalf Travelling Home with Borneo Tribe
In the face of threats to Borneo’s cultural history, New Zealand-born photographer David Metcalf is seeking to help reunite the North Kalimantan Kenya Dayak tribe with their ancestral homelands. Environmentalists estimate that over 52 per…
Weird Al Yankovic Rethinks Lorde’s Royals
Lorde should feel honoured, according to Billboard magazine, because on Weird Al Yankovic’s new album Mandatory Fun, Royals is the only song the professional parodist reimagines as a song about food, called Foil. “Fortunately, he…
Planet of the Apes Sequel Motion Rapture by Cinematographer Michael Seresin
Cinematographer Michael Seresin’s recent work on Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes is “stunning, especially when we are following the apes swinging through the trees and across girders,” the Birmingham Mail declares in…
Kimbra Challenging Musical Genres
Over the course of The Vine’s 20 minute telephone interview with Grammy winner New Zealand singer Kimbra, 24, her “voice changes shape, tone, and accent, like an opalescent sheen shifting in the light.” “Like her…
Greg Foran Named New Wal-Mart USA CEO
Wal-Mart, the world’s biggest retailer, has announced New Zealander Greg Foran as CEO of its US business, responsible for 4,700 stores and accounting for 60 percent of the company’s total global revenue of US$476b. Foran,…
The Musket Room Offers Impeccable New Zealand Cuisine
“The Musket Room serves New Zealand cuisine with an impeccable presentation, adding a bit of whimsy with touches, such as edible flowers. And it is shaking things up with a revamped cocktail menu”…
Comic-Con Kicks Off Featuring Strong Kiwi Contingent
Comic-Con begins in San Diego today, with the New Zealand representatives ranging from Peter Jackson and the Hobbit producers to a small movie made by an Auckland animation school. The Hobbit will be a major…
James McCullough Remembered as One of the “Truly Great” Financial Correspondents
New Zealand-born James McCullough, one of Australia’s best-known financial journalists and columnists, and a former London correspondent for the Australian, has died at 56 in Brisbane. McCullough was the long-time writer of the influential City…
New Zealand’s Coromandel Peninsula Well Worth a Visit
“Bake in the sands of Hot Water beach, then take in the art, stunning views and craft beer of the Coromandel peninsula” says Will Macpherson in The Guardian’s Travel Guide. The Coromandel’s charms are no…
Ciaran Forsyth, Rose Escort to Ireland for Some Charming
Taranaki man Ciaran Forsyth, 26, has been chosen to escort the New Zealand Rose of Tralee to Ireland in August, the first New Zealander to be selected for the male side of…
Lydia Ko Becomes LPGA’s Youngest Millionaire
At just 17 years old, Lydia Ko is the youngest millionaire on the LPGA Tour, ever. The New Zealander won the Marathon Classic in Ohio to become the youngest player to surpass $1 million in…
“Bilbo Baggins Slept Here” in New Zealand
“It’s dinner and a movie … set” reports Ashley Winchester of the New York Times, who describes the Lord of the Rings guided tour as “straight out of Middle Earth”. The Hobbiton Movie Set in…
Young Pilot Made Australian Aviation History
For a brief period in the 1900s, New Zealander JJ Hammond gave a small Australian suburb in Melbourne a significant place in the annals of aviation history. Hammond, a young man with a passion for…
Air NZ liberating customers, becomes top profit performer
Within the airline industry, Air New Zealand has plenty of admirers, and is now the most profitable in Australasia with expectations of a full-year pre-tax profit of at least $300 million in August, which…
Rhys Darby Antipodean Answer to Eddie Izzard – “Consistently Funny”
Rhys Darby in character as park ranger Bill Napier and Mr Adventure live in Bristol, proves “oddly, surprisingly coherent and consistently funny,” according to Telegraph reviewer Dominic Cavendish, who awards the comedian four out…
Meringue Girl Pipes Bite-Size Treats for London’s Feast
Growing up in Auckland, co-founder of London’s Meringue Girls Stacey O’Gorman, says from a young age she has always had a passion for food. O’Gorman met Meringue Girls co-founder Alex Hoffler while…
Caribbean Island Getaway Opens Doors
Former music industry executive New Zealand-born Simon Baeyertz is co-owner of El Blok, a 22-room inn which has just opened on a small island off the eastern coast of Puerto Rico, and…
Pilot’s Exploits Inspire Music for US Dance Company
Auckland-raised award-winning composer Rosie Langabeer, 34, has been working on the music for Philadelphia dance company BalletX’s production, Sunset, o639 Hours, which was inspired by the true story of Pan Am’s Captain Edwin Musick,…
Aucklander Wins Washington Amateur Golf Tournament
Aucklander James Beale has won the 113th Pacific Northwest Men’s Amateur Championship in Washington on the 38th hole, defeating American Cole Madey. Beale, who last week finished fourth in the Sahalee Players Championship, capped off…
Askew One Helping Transform Limerick’s Lost Walls
Auckland street artist Elliot O’Donnell, better known as Askew One, the tag he adopted at age 14, is participating in an innovative urban art project, which is using the city of Limerick’s…
Diver Captures Footage of Undiscovered Cave in New Zealand
A diving instructor has found an undiscovered cave half a mile underground in New Zealand, posting incredible footage of the discovery online. Martyn Farr, 63, was diving through a 350-feet-long underwater passage, before he emerged…
Antipodean Superheroes Cross the Bridge onto US Screens
New Zealand-made television series The Almighty Johnsons, which made its American network premiere this month, is reviewed in the Los Angeles Times and stands out according to Robert Lloyd, for its scenery, its 100…
Teenage Girl Tackling Men’s Club Rugby
A teenage girl in Southland has been allowed to play with the big boys, with April Miller, 18, taking to the field at lock in what is typically men’s club rugby. Despite admitting to some…
New Zealand-Based Booktrack Launches Writing Contest with Hugh Howey
Booktrack, the New Zealand-based eBook soundtrack company, has partnered with best-selling author Hugh Howey and digital writing community Wattpad to launch a competition that will reward creativity in words and music with up to…
New Zanada is Officially The Nicest Country In The World
BuzzFeed has compiled a list of how great two of the nicest countries in the world would be if they were put together. The joined nation of New Zealand and Canada, dubbed New Zanada, has…
Luther Creator up for an Emmy
Neil Cross, the Wellington-based English screenwriter and novelist figures among the Emmy nominations announced in the United States, up for Outstanding Writing for a Miniseries, Movie or Dramatic Special for the third season of…
General Motors President Puts Pedal to the Metal
New Zealander Dan Ammann, 42, president of General Motors is one of the fastest drivers in the company, as reported in The Telegraph, and holds a coveted level-six…
Sean MacPherson Lights Up New York’s East Village
New Zealand-born New York hotelier Sean MacPherson’s new hotel The Ludlow is the sixth and largest in his growing empire of soigné, Downtown lodgings and restaurants, reports the New York Observer. The Ludlow…
Kenyan Startup Backup the Internet with a BRCK
New Zealander Reg Orton, one of Nairobi-based BRCK Inc.’s co-founders, is helping to come up with new commercial products specifically designed to address African problems, namely a “backup generator for the Internet.” About a year…
Opera Stars Command Sydney Opera House Stage
As Otello, in Opera Australia’s “appealing revival of Verdi’s masterwork”, New Zealander Simon O’Neill cements his reputation as “one of the world’s top heldentenors, a term usually used to describe the largest…
Reading More Online but Taking in Less, New Zealand Study
The internet is making more information available than ever before, but it’s not necessarily making us smarter, New Zealand researchers have said. In a study titled Is Google Making Us Stupid? The Impact of the Internet…
Lagerfeld’s Bride Steps out in Maternity Chanel
Maternity wear just got a whole lot chicer – and more expensive – thanks to Auckland-raised model Ashleigh Good who closed the Chanel Haute Couture show in Paris during what appears to be her…
Former Hacker Keeping Secrets Safe at First Look
For the last month, 34-year-old former Aucklander Morgan Marquis-Boire has been the director of security for startup First Look Media, a website that has become the most prolific publisher of NSA leaker Edward Snowden’s…
Educating Brazilians about the Art of Coffee
Former Aucklander Marco Kerkmeester, owner of Sao Pãulo-based coffee chain Santo Grão, currently employs more than 200 people across seven stores, and he has grand plans for up to 40 more cafés…
DJ Gets Unrivalled Access to Stars on New MTV Show
Broadcaster Zane Lowe, the voice of the BBC’s popular Radio 1 show, is trying his hand at television with a new show coming to MTV Music, which – despite its mouthful of a title,…
Project Runway Spot for Taranaki Designer
Fashion designer Sean Kelly, 25, from Hawera, is the first ever New Zealander chosen to compete on hit American television show Project Runway, hosted by German supermodel Heidi Klum. Kelly’s mother Margaret said he was…
From Scotland with Love Narrates a Country’s Heritage
Compiled from hundreds of hours of archive material, director Virginia Heath’s From Scotland With Love narrates Scottish history and heritage through the lives of everyday people, to a soundtrack by native Kenny Anderson…
Hot Pools Home to Useful Bacteria
Researchers from the University of Waikato and GNS Science will search the country’s picturesque hot springs for the next big breakthroughs in science over two-years in what is called the 1000 Springs…
Couple’s Literary Steampunk Adventure Continues
New Zealand’s first podcast novelist Pip Ballantine, co-author of the steampunk Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences series, talks to the USA Today about her and husband Tee Morris’ most recent addition to the anthology, Dawn’s…
Glass Sculptures Capture Raw Power of the Sea
Self-taught artist New Zealander Ben Young, 31, a boatbuilder by trade and avid surfer, has made a name for himself creating intricate glass sculptures that uncannily resemble moving water. Young crafts his sculptures – all…
Architecture Full of Romantics – Mark Wigley, Retiring Columbia Dean
New Zealand-born Mark Wigley has stepped down after 10 years as dean of the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation (GSAPP) at Columbia University. Under his leadership, the school has built on its…
Kiwi Punter Makes Global News with Germany – Brazil Prediction
A New Zealander who bet $2 on the exact score between FIFA World Cup Semi-finalists Brazil and Germany has made global headlines. The semi-final, which ended 7-1 to Germany and has been called “Brazil’s worst…
Effortless New Zealand Electro Making Waves
Electro-pop duo Broods, comprised of brother and sister Georgia and Caleb Nott, have helped draw the eyes of the music industry to a country that had only rarely troubled the international charts, Laura Barnett…
I Love Ugly to Open Store in LA
Founders of menswear label I Love Ugly have reluctantly stepped into the spotlight as they prepare to go global. The New Zealand entrepreneurs are about to open their first international store in LA on…
Auckland’s Greatest Ruin Comes to Life
“Creative enterprises and unique collaborations are flourishing in Auckland thanks to the dramatic renovation of a collection of 1960s city council workshops,” Monocle reports. “Until two years ago, the City Works Depot was a near-derelict…
Lorde Reminds Us of the Intensity of Being a Teen
Grammy winner 17-year-old Lorde, who has urged people to believe that teenagers are wiser than adults think, has made the Telegraph’s Radhika Sanghani pine for the passion of her younger self. “Defender of teens
NZ Security Expert – ISIS Positioned to Develop Chemical Weapons
In the course of its Blitzkrieg in northern Iraq, ISIS captured the Al Muthanna complex, which contains remnants of Saddam Hussein’s chemical weapons stock, buried in underground concrete bunkers and left undestroyed by American…
Flat White Emblematic of Berlin’s Coffee Evolution
The flat white has transformed cafés in Germany’s capital Berlin, with the city’s “dreary drip brew and morbid Milchkaffee” fast becoming a thing of the past. New Zealander Shannon Campbell – owner of café
New York via Te Papa for Flax Art
Fifty woven panels by 40 Maori artists are to hang permanently next to the entry of the General Assembly Hall at the UN Headquarters in New York. The tukutuku panels, a revered art form in…
Kiwi’s Photo of Star System Shortlisted for International Award
A stunning image entitled “The Turbulent Heart of the Scorpion” by New Zealand photographer Rolf Wahl Olsen has been shortlisted in the Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition. The photograph is of the multiple star…
Berlin Keeps Acclaimed Author Under Its Spell
New Zealander Sarah Quigley initially came to Germany on a one-year writing scholarship in 2000. Quigley, the author of acclaimed novel The Conductor, arrived with no German and little knowledge of Germany, but was…
Century-Old Photographs of Tennis Star Auctioned
Rare photographs of New Zealand’s greatest tennis player, four-time Wimbledon champion Anthony Wilding, have emerged for the first time in more than a century, selling for an undisclosed sum to a New Zealand buyer…
