Bacchic and Bucolic: Les Vins de Sam
The Guardian spends the day with actor/winemaker Sam Neill, who is back home in NZ for 6 months working his three Central Otago vineyards. “I love coming here. I think it’s a great place”, comments…
Blog Archives
The Price of a Degree
New Zealand rates as the cheapest study destination, in terms of living costs and tuition fees, from an IDP Education Australia survey of 168 universities in the “Big 5” major education destinations: the US, Canada, UK, Australia,…
The Empire Strikes Back
The SMH finds Tem Morrison carrying the antipodean banner in the new Star Wars blockbuster, Episode II: Attack of the Clones – the latest installment of George Lucas’s epic fantasy: “The best…
Totem – Mind Your Own Business
An alternative to working at the end of the dining table or in the back of the car and holding business meetings in cafes, Totem on the Viaduct is Auckland’s newest business “meeting hub”.
Bryan Drake Remembered
New Zealand-born baritone Bryan Drake has died in London aged 76. A “fine musician with an equable temperament and warm personality”, Drake will be particularly remembered for his long association with Benjamin Britten and his…
World’s Finest Fleece
Canterbury-based Escorial Company, in conjunction with CSIRO (Australia’s Government science organisation), has produced the world’s finest bale of wool, registering a fibre diameter of 12.7 microns. “The finest bale up to now was 12.9 micron in raw…
Westenra captivates Wembley
NZ singing prodigy Hayley Westenra accompanies Russell “The Voice” Watson to a sold-out Wembley Stadium and provides some sonar respite in a Telegraph review of Russell’s talents. “At Wembley, he was joined by…
Kiwi to Head Biggest British Milk Plant
A veteran of New Zealand dairy industry projects, Steve Satherley, will be at the controls when Britain’s single biggest milk manufacturing plant starts pumping its first milk in England next month. Mr Satherley as operations manager for United…
Wonder Mare
NZ-bred wonder mare Sunline is set to race on in the spring, poised to continue a record breaking run of victories. Presently Sunline is one race short of the record for group one wins set by…
Munster Monster of ABs makes Top-10 Sporting Shocks
Irish club side Munster’s shut-out 12-0 defeat of the 1978 All Blacks proclaimed by Observer Sport Monthly as the tenth greatest shock in sport’s history. Munster playwright James Breen (Alone It Stands – about the events surrounding…
BBC1 Haka Use Stirs Reaction
BBC1 uses the haka amongst a series of segments featuring multicultural imagery used to re-brand the British TV Channel, attracting reaction in NZ. Maui Solomon: “The Western culture, having all their own stories, are starting to mine…
Bacchic and Bucolic in NZ #2
The Guardian’s ‘Superplonk’ column discovers the flavour of New Zealand in a six-week wine tasting trip. Highlights include the “superb, tannic tenacity and layered fruit” of Delegat’s Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 1999, and the “racy, complex, finely textured…
All Blue
Former Kiwi rugby player centre Tony Marsh is “a major force” in French rugby’s resurgence in this years Six Nations tournament as the French take the Grand Slam for the first time since 1988.
Pleasantville 2002: Deep Impact
The release of NZ company Deep Video Imaging’s new ActualDepth 3-D monitor is being likened to the dawn of colour television in the 1950s, with Deep Video aiming to be to the monitor what Dolby was to…
Colonial Post
New Zealand beat England for the first time at home in 18 years as the series finishes 1-1. “New Zealand are a very resilient side and they are very hard to break down”, says England captain…
Land of Milk and Honey
The Scotman reports on New Zealand’s “white gold rush” – the scramble by milk producers to find new dairying land as world prices continue to rise, and further impetus given to the industry with…
Improv Bandits steal America’s Cup
NZ’s Improv Bandits are NZ’s latest world champions having won the Super Cage Match Championship at the Chicago Improv Festival in the USA. Beating off “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” wannabes from across…
Allan Wilson Out of Africa Evolution Theory
“The most profound story Discovery Channel has ever presented.” In Real Eve the Discovery Channel traces the tale of human evolution through fossilised evidence and breakthrough genetic evidence towards the theory that that that all humans…
Kiwis: Our Sheep Don’t Stink
The No.8 gene gets Wired for the 21st Century: “With about 45 million sheep and only 5 million people, New Zealanders hear their fair share of sheep jokes. When it comes to biotechnology and sheep, however,…
Journey to Middle Earth
Following in the tradition of cine-tourism success prompted by such films as A Passage to India, Out of Africa, and Crocodile Dundee, New Zealand is enjoying its busiest ever summer tourism season, due in part…
Boondoggle Playtime
Featured in the April edition of Fortune magazine’s ‘boondoggle’ section: Wall Street billionaire Julian Robertson has built Kauri Cliffs, a “remote, lush getaway on more than 5,000 acres at the northern tip of New Zealand.” “Three private…
Grapes of Worth
Marlborough, “Lively with a distinct lemon/lime character, this sauvignon blanc is snappy but substantial and will take on the cacophony of flavors in the calamari salad with ease.”
Laid back Luna lover’s rock
Indie rock icon Dean Wareham (son of NYNZer businessman and author John Wareham) and lead singer of Luna (“they of the lovely and atmospheric guitar ballads and frontman Dean Wareham’s priceless, Ivy-grade lovelorn quibblings”)…
“A work of almost perfect pitch”
CK Stead’s new novel The Secret History of Modernism reviewed inThe Age: “Stead is very clever and he’s comfortable on this ground, patrolling that sometimes misty territory between truth and invention, between history and…
Edge Triple play
Three New Zealanders – Russell Crowe (no. 28), Peter Jackson (no. 41), and Tim Bevan (no. 51=) feature in Premeire Magazine’s 2002 Power List of the most influential people in Hollywood.
Vanity Fair enough
Ex-Shorties original Martin Henderson, after a stint across the ditch, goes west to LA and hits the big-time featuring in Vanity Fair’s annual hyping Hollywood photo essay for his part in the upcoming Windtalkers….
Tower de force
Pictures from Two Towers, the second instalment of Lord of the Rings, can be viewed in this Sun Online special.
Nabokov’s Butterflies
The Brian Boyd (University of Auckland Professor and the world’s leading Nabokov scholar) edited Nabokov’s Butterflies – a collection of Vladimir Nabokov’s writings about butterflies, reviewed by Mark Ridley in The Times Literary Supplement.
Thinking iInside the Box
NZer Chris Moller is one wall of expat architecture firm, Amsterdam’s S333 Studio for Architecture and Urbanism. The firm has won several international competitions. A winning entry currently being completed is a housing…
Best Supporting Landmass
Tourists lured by LotR: “Too bad they don’t give Oscars for ‘best supporting landmass’. If they did New Zealand’s role in Lord of the Rings would have swept that award”, reports travel editor Anne…
Z-files: Conspiracy Theory
“Pretty unlikely”, is the way Helen Clark responds to allegations that her predecessor David Lange received death threats (“liquidate him”) from former US vice-pres Dan Quayle over his government’s anti-nuclear stance.
Deep Sea Wonder
NZ scientists catch the biggest octopus ever found, a four-meter 75 kg giant hauled from 3,000 feet deep waters near the Chatham Islands. “It’s extremely deep, it’s extremely large, it’s the first recorded in the South Pacific,…
Paul Leads Sevens Revival
Under question marks as to his ability to cope with the code switch from league to union, Henry Paul answers his critics with a “series of virtuoso performances” in England’s Hong Kong Cup Sevens victory. “He was…
Tuatara: Taking it Easy?
BBC News features research undertaken by Victoria University Tuatara Research Group (Professor Charles Daugherty and student Nicola Nelson) into the habitat of New Zealand’s “living fossil”, the tuatara. “They’ve been around since the time of the dinosaurs, so…
Give ’em a Taste Of…
The “dramatic” Crossings Sauvignon Blanc 2001 out of Marlborough’s Awatere Valley “blazes across the palate with concentrated, uncomprimising flavours of pear, herbs, juniper and – dare I say – kiwi” and the New York Post finds…
Wellywood Story
LA film producers look to the edge for inspiration in an attempt to reverse the trend of productions increasingly being shot in foreign locations to cut costs: “Los Angeles is not like Wellington”, says…
Paralympics Gold
New Zealand’s only representatives at the Paralympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City, Rachael Battersby and Steve Bayley, do their country proud winning four gold and two bronze medals between them. “We didn’t have too many expectations”,…
Flight of the Crowe
“To some, Russell Crowe is still a bit of a Hando – there’s that smouldering, explosive edginess”. For Beautiful Mind director Ron Howard it was Crowe’s “physicality and charisma…his intellect, his mental…
Skin Deep
Ta moko retrospectively finds its way into an icon of colonialism: the museum. The Skin Deep exhibition at Britain’s National Maritime Museum, traces the development and diversity of tattoo over the last two…
Kiwi “Who Was Who” Goes Online
A fantastic resource for exploring over 3000 NZer’s who have ‘made their mark’ on our history. The Dictionary of New Zealand Biography puts the entire contents of the previous print Dictionary of New Zealand Biography…
Job with Perks
“A champion no one knew. A finish no one can forget.” In New Zealand’s greatest golfing moment since Bob Charles won the British Open in 1963 Craig Perks shot a stunning final round to clinch the Players’…
Sir Ian swoons for our free land
Sir Ian McKellen: “I fell for New Zealand rather heavily. It’s not just the environment, though that does do something to your head…it’s discovering the culture, one which is extremely relaxed and liberal”. And…
Oscar post-script
Solace for those lamenting that the southern cross didn’t shine brighter on Hollywood’s star spangled banner: “A Beautiful Mind was a Good Film. Not a brilliant film. If Peter Jackson had directed it, it might have…
Oscar Post
They’ll need a nui kete: The technical and creative talent of the NZ film industry acknowledged with Oscars. The Andrew Adamson directed Shrek takes best animated feature. Peter Jackson’s first installment in the Lord…
Runs in the Family
“I might have more than 5,000 test runs – but he makes 40 million bucks a movie!”, proclaims Kiwi cricket legend Martin Crowe about cousin Russell.
School of Hard Knocks
England casts envious eyes on Lincoln’s NZ Cricket High Performance Centre: “An opera singer and a former primary school headmaster have much to do with New Zealand’s present official ranking as the fifth-best team…
Don’t Dream it’s Over
7 Worlds Collide, Neil Finn’s acclaimed live album and testament to his “prodigious talent.” is also Finn’s statement of “relevance and intent. It’s one to believe in” with “7 Worlds” worth of guests: including…
Kakapo’s Getting It On
The world’s “rarest, heaviest, and only nocturnal and flightless” parrot, NZ’s native kakapo, enjoys a record breeding season with 22 chicks hatching on Whenua Hou, a small island off Stewart Island. Thanks to the bumper brood, kakapo…
This is Our Youth
“Highly talented” 19-year-old Anna Paquin combines “prim formality of speech with an argumentative sexual ardour” as she stars alongside Hayden Christensen and Jake Gyllenhaal in the London staging of This is Our…
Wanderlust: On the Beaten Track
A British lecturer has been funded to back-pack around NZ in the name of academic enquiry as the twentysomething MTV generation hit the road with wanderlust in their eyes: “Research done so far suggests that backpacking is…
Edge-zone
“One of the greatest ever test innings … unbelievable savagery”. Nathan Astle produced the most astounding display of cricketing artistry in hitting the fastest double-century in test cricketing history in the first test against England, reaching 200 off…
“Swift and edgy”…
Denver Post review of Margaret Mahy’s new book 24 Hours. “Her writing is clean and spare, as lucid in describing the ponderous weight of a backpack as in narrating an unnerving car…
#51 Local Heroes At Oscars
Edge Message #51 from Brian Sweeney, producer NZEDGE.COM TO NEW ZEALAND EDGE GLOBAL COMMUNITY PUBLISHED TODAY: Kiwi sharpness on show in the world’s online media /category/newzedge/ (72 items and links, see more below) Edgy opinion and affirmation in the NZEDGE…
Jihad … whoops, I mean Shihad
NZ rockers Shihad undergo cosmetic change post-Sept 11 after concerns were raised about the band name’s similarity to the word jihad, (meaning holy war). The name Shihad was taken from a mis-spelling…
A Russian soul
Joanna Wood’s “beautifully written” biography of “short story master” Katherine Mansfield, Katerina: The Russian World of Katherine Mansfield, details the New Zealand-born writer’s lifelong passion for everything Russian: “She liked to wear Russian clothes,…
Shadow play
The allure of the artistic life, “the journey towards the light” is the central concern of Maurice Gee’s “thoughtful” new novel Ellie and the Shadow Man, reviewed by Nicola Walker.
