Trans-Tasman rivalry entered the field of telecommunication last month, as Australian Telstra and NZ Telecom battled for recognition as the best performer in their field for 2001-02. British consultants, IR Group, awarded top honours to NZ Telecom…
NZ-born South Londoner Peter Bruntnell proves “contemporary Americana need not be reserved for Americans” with his latest alt-country album Ends of the Earth. Hartford Courant: “A deft, tastefully produced album If you have…
Lynda Chanwai-Earle’s challenging one-woman play about growing up Chinese in NZ – Ka Shue (‘Letters Home’) – earned her a major write-up in Hawaii’s Star Bulletin. Described as a “fascinating look at a relatively…
Confused travellers the world over are trying to book holidays to Middle Earth’s fictional locations. According to popular internet site Yahoo Travel, Rivendell and Mordor are frequently entered as search commands. Yahoo Travel’s Morgan Williams: “Personally I’d…
The Human Rights Watch International Festival seems an unlikely place for a feel-good flick, but Georgie Girl is reportedly putting a smile on otherwise grim film-going faces. Boston Herald calls the story of NZ MP Georgina…
Team New Zealand will face the Swiss challenge Alinghi in the America’s Cup finals in February, setting up a match up between Alinghi skipper Russell Coutts and his understudy when he was at the helm of…
Two Kiwis more than make the grade in SMH‘s respected rating of Sydney’s top young chefs. Jared Ingersoll of Danks Street Depot is praised for his “simple yet fine food, cooked with faultless technique,”…
Accolades continue to come thick and fast for Peter Jackson, the latest being a prestigious Directors Guild of America nomination. Jackson is up against Stephen Daldry (The Hours), Rob Marshall (Chicago), and heavyweights Roman…
Dunedin golfer Mahal Pearce has registered on the international radar after a close win at January’s NZ Open. Pearce – already dubbed “the man with the million-dollar swing” – finished just two strokes ahead of Brett Rumford….
NZ’s best-known baby-snapper, Anne Geddes, interviewed in The Baltimore Sun. “Other photographers say to me, ‘Oh, I used to take pictures of babies’ – implying that they went on to better things – but…
AJ Hackett Bungy is soon to open the world’s first harbour bridge jump site. The latest addition to the Hackett franchise will be located on Auckland’s harbour bridge – already a tourist hot-spot thanks to the…
NZ film A Small Life won an inspiring 8 awards at the Karachi International Film Festival (Karafilm). Out of a field of over 75 films, Michael Heath’s “haunting and moving musical” was awarded Best Short Feature, Best…
New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming played the “innings of his career when his team most needed it”, scoring 133 not out, to lead the Black Caps to a comprehensive 9 wicket win over hosts South Africa…
Sarah-Kate Lynch has forsaken editorship of New Zealand Woman’s Weekly in favour of a career in fiction, with a first novel Blessed Are the Cheesemakers. While Guardian reviewer Helen Falconer finds the book “somewhat…
Mt Ruapehu makes the top five in pro-boarder Neil McNaab’s list of favourite descents. “While most people head to the South Island and the areas around Queenstown, the snow-clad volcano Mount Ruapehu makes the North Island…
Proving that NZ is not only destination of choice for Louis Vuitton carrying America’s Cup acolytes, Lonely Planet, bible of the young and Birkenstocked, picks NZ as the grand winner in its annual survey of hot spots….
NZ sent its biggest contingent yet to the prestigious South By Southwest (SXSW) music festival and symposium in Texas. The talented line-up comprised The Datsuns, The D4, Goodshirt, 8 Foot Sativa, PanAm and Damien…
Hollywood A-listers Tom Cruise and Gwyneth Paltrow are both currently on location in NZ. Paltrow is in Dunedin filming scenes for Christine Jeff’s adaptation of the life of Sylvia Plath, while Cruise has set…
“I feel as though I’ve popped a 78 on the phonograph and stepped into my grandmother’s photo album. This is the bee’s knees.” Boston Herald comes to Napier for the annual Art Deco Weekend….
NZ was voted third most popular holiday destination in the NFO Plog 2002 American Travel Survey of over 9,000 U.S households. The report gages the most rewarding vacation experiences, as opposed to a head-count of visitors. The…
The Piano and The Fellowship of the Ring both made SMH‘s list of the top 100 movies of all time. “For the first time in a century, Hollywood was beaten in the big budget…
“For the first time in a century, Hollywood was beaten in the big budget fantasy stakes. Jackson and his team delivered better special effects and better story-telling in what could be the new millennium’s…
Denis Dutton plays scientific advisor to the president in Edge.org‘s hypothetical survey on issues facing governments in 2003. His counsel? Do away with the scare-mongering and cynicism typifying science (and its media coverage) today in favour of “…
The Times takes a tour of the world’s ghost towns and stops off in Macetown, NZ. You could be forgiven for not knowing the name: all that remains of Otago’s 1860’s gold-rush town is the old…
LA Times names The Piano as one of the instrument’s most memorable cinematic tributes in the history of film. “In a category of its own is Jane Campion’s modern-day classic The Piano… [Campion is one who…
The Datsuns’ popularity in the U.K shows no signs of diminishing. The boys from Cambridge took out Best Live Band at the New Musical Express annual showcase of rock’s best. Other winners included…
The Datsuns’ popularity in the U.K shows no signs of diminishing. The boys from Cambridge are soon to headline NME‘s annual showcase of “the forthcoming year’s thrusting new talent” in what will be their fourth U.K tour…
NZ baritone Teddy Tahu-Rhodes is receiving great acclaim as the Don to Opera Australia’s Don Giovanni. “He sings like an angel but there the resemblance ends. He does a nice line in depravity …
Canterbury University’s Andy Cockburn is leading a team of computer scientists in redesigning the back button function on computers. In a bid to up the popular button’s efficiency, Cockburn and co. have reprogrammed web browsers so that…
New York Times heads to NZ to find out if the hype is for real and are pleasantly surprised. “Always seen as ‘clean and green,’ NZ is enjoying a special premium at the moment as Americans…
Peter Jackson has received a nomination for best director from the London Film Critics Circle for his work on Lord of the Rings. The prestigious awards are chosen by London reviewers and are to be presented…
Fellowship of the Ring wins “hands down” the best DVD of 2002 according to a New York Times review. “A movie of 208 minutes takes some tall explaining, but here we develop sympathy for the notion…
The US readers’ magazine Pages (‘the magazine for people who love books’) focuses on literature from Aotearoa-NZ in its monthly global focus. Contributing editor Bethanne Kelly Patrick focuses on biculturalism and asks, “Maoris and Pakehas are…
Fresh out of London’s Royal College of Music, NZ-born Samoan Jonathan Lemalu is being widely touted as “the next big thing in opera.” A qualified lawyer and accomplished (former) rugby player – “I kind…
Easy Jet In-Flight profiles Liz Calder, co-founder of Britain’s most successful independent publishing house, Bloomsbury Plc. Dubbed the ‘Queen of Literature,’ Calder is credited with discovering the likes of Salman Rushdie, Anita Brookner and Julian Barnes. The…
Habitual – brainchild of Kiwi designer Nicole Garrett – is officially the coolest denim line on the street. The range is now stocked by big-gun retailers including Barneys (New York and Japan), Colette (Paris),…
NZ wines cleaned up at the 7th Annual Wines for Oysters competition in Washington. Marlborough vineyards won five of the ten awards, with Charles Wiffen’s Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2001 taking home the Grand Champion Trophy.
Australian Vogue‘s A-Z of deluxe travel destinations includes the historic Eichardt’s Private Hotel in Queenstown. Built in 1873 and recently refurbished by new owners, Eichardt’s contains “a series of luxurious interiors, with a clever melange of…
Kevin Biggar and Jamie Fitzgerald of Team Holiday Shoppe won the epic Woodvale Atlantic Rowing Race from the Canary Islands to Barbados in record time, despite their boat being capsized 40 hours into the event. The pair’s…
SMH pays tribute to Janet Frame – “one of New Zealand’s most celebrated and enigmatic writers” – who recently revealed she is terminally ill with cancer. Frame’s biographer Michael King (Wrestling with the Angel)…
NZ lost one of its edgiest inhabitants with the death of Janet Frame from acute myeloid leukemia on January 29. Frame, the author of 11 novels, 5 collections of short stories, a poetry collection,…
Rugby fans around the world farewell Don “the Boot” Clarke, an incomparable All Black legend. Business Day calls him “an icon for a generation of NZers,” while The Australian remembers his match-winning conversion against France at Athletic Park…
NZ writer Chad Taylor impresses international critics with his new noir novel, Electric. Pulp: “Dark, intense, fast-paced, and perceptive, both noir literary thriller and pulp crime fiction Cool, surreal and sexy – make…
“Historically isolated by geography, NZers are working to reap a publicity bonanza from , marketing their nation around the world as a destination for family tourism and ‘a second Canada’ for…
“The real Middle Earth” features in the annual BBC round-up of new additions to the media lexicon. The official definition: “The country formerly known as New Zealand. An NZ government minister has been appointed unofficial ‘minister for…
“There’s nothing romantic about a corked bottle of wine,” says NZ winemaker Kim Crawford in Time. Crawford is one of many Kiwi vintners thumbing the nose at tradition, preferring screw tops to corks despite a recent international…
SMH‘s summary of Australia and her people for the year 2002 notes a 14% rise in holidays across the Tasman. The dramatically increased figure made NZ the most popular travel destination for the year, ahead of…
“Spectacularly gorgeous NZ a bargain for golfers” (Detroit Free Press). Golf-mad travel writer scours the length of the country for the best greens available – from the golden beaches of Kauri Cliffs to mountain views at Lake…
In-depth spread on NZ in The Philippine Star dubs us “the adventure playground that thinks it’s a country”: “The beauty, the serenity, the vivacity of the greens, the freshness of the blues and the translucency of…
NZ takes out the October slot of Lonely Planet‘s year planner for 2003. “Take one of the world’s great train journeys, the Tranzalpine, across the southern alps the varied scenery takes in the Canterbury Plains,…
Boston Globe: “Who would have guessed that it would take a woolly bear horror-flick director from New Zealand to restore our faith in epic moviemaking?” Praise for Peter Jackson reaches epic proportions of…
“Never before has technology played such a pivotal role in bringing an animal back from the brink, setting the stage for computer-based rescues of endangered species elsewhere.” SMH feature documents the radical efforts of NZ scientists and conservationists…
The Two Towers has set new box-office records around the globe, breaking those set by its predecessor last year. The film made $5.2 million on its first day of release in Australia, and
“It is not just Lord of the Rings that is ushering in a golden age of Kiwi cinema. Everywhere you look, NZers are taking over Tinseltown.” From Peter Jackson, Lee Tamahori and Vincent Ward,…
The Times pays tribute to W.J.B Owen, academia’s pre-eminent Wordsworth scholar. Born in NZ in 1916, Owen forged a distinguished career in England and Canada. “Owen was a scholar’s scholar – meticulous, exact, exhaustive and always reliable…
“Small but perfectly formed.” Lloyd Jones’ The Book of Fame included in SMH‘s tribute to the short novel, or novella. Jones joins the likes of Michael Ondaatje and Jeanette Winterson as one who achieves…
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