Young stars
Australian Ex-Monty Python director, Maurice Murphy, stars students from Toi Whakaari New Zealand drama school in his latest feature film, Zenolith.
Blog Archives
Irish Rugby Miracle
Alone it Stands, a heart-warming and hilarious re-enactment of Irish club side Munsters’ defeat of the All Blacks in 1978, plays to its 100,000th person. “Beating the All Blacks is the ultimate dream of anyone who…
Clean, Green and Safe
Condé Nast Traveller recently rated Aotearoa the world’s safest destination and the Government wants to make sure the haven remains safe, committing increased resources to help fight terrorism.
World First
Associate finance minister Trevor Mallard is the first person to conduct a euro cash transaction, exchanging NZ dollars for new euro notes at Wellington’s airport.
#1 Trans-Tasman Lampoon
Australian correspondent Martin Graham, in the ‘Heckler’ section of Sydney Morning Herald mocks Kiwi hobbit hubris over Lord of the Rings raving. While accusing NZers of fawning over “the fulm” like they’d split…
Awards of Merit
Controversial clergyman and academic Lloyd Geering carried off the highest honour in the New Years’ list, Principal Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit. Colin “Pinetree” Meads, All Black 1957-71 and all-time greatest…
Moment in time
Photographic heavyweight Regan Cameron engages his lens in some model-watching to “express the emotion” behind the new range from high-end watch-maker Patek Philippe.
Double Happy
“Deputy chief content producer Peter is celebrating twice. He’s not greedy, he just comes from New Zealand. The Kiwi has already raised a glass as the clock struck midnight in his homeland – 14…
Movie of the year
“The most heartbreaking thing about faithful movie-going is that awe, beauty and excitement, three of the things we go to the movies for, are the very things we’re cheated out of the most. The…
Top Honours and Front-runner in Oscar-quest
The Lord of the Rings wins Best Picture, Best Digital Effects, and Best Production Design at the American Film Institute Awards. Closer to home, Peter Jackson is named Companion of the New Zealand Order…
Weldon CBE
New Zealand-raised London-based writer Fay Weldon is now Fay Weldon, CBE. “One feels very flattered,” says Weldon, honoured for her charitable work as well as her writing.
Heavenly Creatures
“Director Peter Jackson knew something Hollywood did not. He knew that his home country was more than a match for the imaginative breadth of Tolkien’s vision. The Lord of the Rings blows the secret – there is…
Te Rangi Hiroa / Peter Buck
Te Rangi Hiroa/Sir Peter Buck’s achievements are astonishing for their diversity, reading more like a list of possible careers than a biography – a pioneering and internationally renowned anthropologist, the first Maori medical doctor,…
The Queen and Us
Analysis of the Queen’s Message reveals her accent is going downhill. Meanwhile, New Zealanders and Australians speak increasingly different English.
#48 Remembering The Year Thats Been
Edge Message #48 from Brian Sweeney, producer NZEDGE.COM TO NEW ZEALAND EDGE GLOBAL COMMUNITY TO GLOBAL COMMUNITY OF NEW ZEALANDERS Merry Christmas from the city of Middle- earth-on-the-edge, if I can mix metaphors. Hit your printers for…
Flooring the Market
Forty-one companies, mainly from the US, confirm they will exhibit high-end Wools of New Zealand branded carpets at Surfaces 2002. The giant US flooring trade fair, which last year attracted more than 60,000 trade visitors…
Feel Like Jonah/Never Meaning No Harm?
Phil Robinson, helicopter pilot and Greenpeace activist, films rare Southern Ocean footage of a Japanese vessel harpooning a whale after a 40 minute chase. “Scientists” responded by targeting Greenpeace inflatables with water cannons.
Fellowship of the Rings?
Our neighbours across the Tasman have always thought of themselves as Big Brother, now they want to share toys: “anything which is good for Australia is good for New Zealand, and vice versa. Anyone…
Lord of the Screen
“The Lord of the Rings is easily the best film of the year” – The Times. “Peter Jackson’s adaptation of the fantasy classic is as near to perfection as makes no difference” -…
Tourism Plumbs New Depths in NZ
Tourists can now make in-depth explorations of New Zealand’s Milford Sound aboard a four-passenger sub, descending 330 feet underwater.
Floored by the Rings
“The real star of The Lord of the Rings is New Zealand. The scenery, ranging from snowbound mountain passes to rolling grasslands, has a beauty of jaw-dropping quality and it is all lovingly captured…
Kiwi Hero Laid to Rest
A thousand mouners gather at the parish church of St Thomas a Becket in Warblington to pay their respects to the late Sir Peter Blake. “Peter Blake was a living legend. I believe that he was…
“Call Me Dr Johnson”
Adventure-seeking Kiwi scientist, Mark Johnson, tags 60-foot sperm whales in the Gulf of Mexico. Shrugging off comparisons with Captain Ahab (I’ve already been given three copies of Moby Dick”, complains Johnson. “Never read it”) he modestly…
Where Can Jackson Go From Here?
If anyone wants Citizen Kane remade, here is the man “Potter was made by a committee masquerading as a director. Rings is made by a genius masquerading as a normal human being….it takes a…
Oscar front-runner
“Oscar is no great fan of fantasy. But the Lord of the Rings, with such Oscar heavyweights as Ian McKellen and Ian Holm, may carry enough high-class baggage to over come that prejudice”.
Trans-urbanism: getting Wigley with it
Colombia University Professor of Architecture, NZer Mark Wigley bemoans the divide between theory and practice at a Rotterdam symposium to debate the future of the city. Sharing the hustings with Rem Koolhaas, Edward Soja…
Left-handed Crows
New Zealand scientist Gavin Hunt describes a new theory of “how human beings came to be right-handed” by investigating the “right beakedness” tendencies of crows when “ripping pieces from leaves.” The discovery makes it more likely that…
Olympic Honours
The International Olympic Committee will award the Olympic Order to Sir Peter Blake, one of its highest honours. IOC President Jacques Rogge declares Blake “one of the most gifted and successful yachtsmen in the world”.
The Land of the Rings
“The first thing I thought when Peter showed me the pictures of the locations in New Zealand was: this is Middle-earth,” says Elijah Woods. “I mean, it has every sort of geographical, geological formation…
Gladiator to Genius
Russell Crowe is tipped for repeat Oscar honours following his fantastic performance as mathematical genius John Forbes Nash Jr in Ron Howard’s A Beautiful Mind.
Celebrity Race
Former Olympic 100m champion Linford Christie narrowly beats rugby star Jonah Lomu in a 50m novelty race set up to promote next year’s Commonwealth Games in Manchester. “When he pushed out of the block I thought, he’s been…
On a Wing and a Prayer
Jonah Lomu, “the world’s greatest living player and rugby’s most global individual commodity”, turns to the Bible for inspiration on the rugby field. Says Lomu, “It says there, ’tis greater to give than receive’, so that’s what…
Designer of the Year
New Zealander Frances Howie takes top honours at the Smirnoff International Fashion Awards, the world’s largest showcase of new designer talent. The $115,000 first prize includes automatic acceptance into the renowned Central Saint Martins…
The Heart of the Matter
Dr Peter Hunter, of the University of Auckland, has created a “virtual heart” – hailed by Economist magazine as a spectacular example of in silico biology, an emerging discipline that brings computing power to bear on…
“Over the Last Five Days They Basically Outplayed Us in Most Departments.”
Australian batsman Justin Langer: “New Zealand proved to themselves and the cricket world that they have the credentials and determination to compete with the best.” In the final test of the series the valiant Kiwi cricketers…
Kiwi Success Not So Ethereal in Melbourne Cup
Melbourne Cup winner Ethereal continues a proud tradition of winning New Zealand horses as well as opening a new chapter in Cup history. For the first time a female trainer, Shelia Laxon from Cambridge, is behind…
Shakespeare Goes Maori
The Merchant of Venice is turned into the first Maori-language film of a Shakespeare play. “Shakespeare’s use of language is not dissimilar to the ancient poetic, lyrical and metaphorical Maori style,” explains Scott Morrison,…
Holy lamb of Godzone
Two of the culinary world’s US icons, Julia Childs & Emeril Lagasse, dined on the finest lamb in the world, courtesy of Newport Beach, California-based Noel “King of New Zealand gourmet food” Turner…
Marlborough: An Inauguration of the Senses
NBC editor-at-large pontificates on Marlborough: “what a place I found! It was a delicious way to finish four days of active travel in the near-anonymous adventure axis of the Pacific. It seemed a place beyond…
Penning Style
New York-based Kiwi designer Sally Penn is making her mark on the international fashion scene with her range of innovative, urban designer clothing. At 31, Penn has come a long way from her small…
Suburban Nirvana?
After striving from Yamoussoukra to Tunis to turn trouble-spots to hot-spots aspirational living guide Wallpaper magazine strolls down the “1930s model of modern living” – Savage Crescent, Palmerston North. Named after the then Prime Minister,…
Wheels of steel
Aotearoa’s premier hip-hop DJ P-Money aka Pete Wadhams wins 3rd place in the DMC World Championships at London’s Apollo Theatre. “When he dropped his Dr Dre juggle played at 45 rpm tight!, from then…
Internet Oscars
Wellington web firm Click Suite scoops the internet equivalent of an Oscar at the European Multimedia Awards. The company won the business training award for its ‘Find the Lady’ CD-Rom, designed to inspire…
Hemorrhaging Talent
A disturbing survey of New Zealand’s graduating medical students reveals four out of five plan to depart overseas within two years. The survey makes clear the importance of addressing issues like student loans and remuneration to…
Feast of epiphanies
The praise has not ceased for No.2, New Zealand playwright Toa Fraser’s play, currently touring the world. “The play has been a triumph wherever it has shown, jumping cultural barriers with its universal themes”,…
Coal Ignites NZ Dinosaur Theory
Scientists think coal from the West Coast of New Zealand provides new evidence that an asteroid caused the extinction of dinosaurs.
NZ Rugby Back at #1
You might not know it from the reaction of local fans, but the All Blacks are No.1, at least according to French Centre Thomas Castaignede in the Guardian. “They have the perfect mix.” With England No.2 the Aussies…
Camera ‘on the Ball’
Developers at Otago Polytech say they are close to producing a practical version of a video camera capable of being fitted inside a rugby ball. “We thought, wouldn’t it be good to see on the screen…
This is Your Life: Jonah Lomu
Jonah Lomu is lost for words when Michael Aspel accosts him at rugby training in England with the red “This is your Life” book, before taking him to the BBC studios. A long list of rugby…
Garden-shed Grenade Guru
The reputation of the garden-shed inventor is upheld thanks to New Zealand entrepreneur Bill Sharplin who, operating in a “rough as guts” garage, wins a bid to build and supply practice grenades to the New Zealand Army.
Shining White Antarctic
The environmental state of Antarctica’s Ross Sea region is in pristine condition – “exceptionally so by global standards” – according to a new report from the New Zealand Antarctic Institute. However the reports also points out “significant…
Finn’s food for the gods
Tim Finn takes matters into his own hands with his sixth solo album, “Feeding the Gods. “I’m realising how much of a classicist I am,” he says. “For a long time experimentation with sound…
Paquin comes of age
Anna Paquin has blossomed from child prodigy to multi-talented star. She is receiving rave reviews for her role in the Broadway play ‘The Glory of the Living’, directed by Phillip Seymour Hoffman. “This is…
NZ Hydro Pioneer Passes On
“Each time a switch is thrown on a toaster, in a woolshed or in a steel mill, there is an odds-on chance that John Malcolmson will have had a hand in generating the necessary electricity.” Malcolmson, originally…
#47 Kiwi Heroes in the World
Edge Message #47 from Brian Sweeney, producer NZEDGE.COM TO NEW ZEALAND EDGE GLOBAL COMMUNITY Greetings. New today on New Zealand Edge is a Links page; we’ve started with 24 websites relating to edge theory, New Zealanders…
NZ’s Edge-provoking Entrepreneurial Spirit
New Zealand has the second most dynamic entrepreneurial activity of 29 countries surveyed, according to a study conducted amongst others by the Kauffman Centre, IBM and the London Business School. New Zealand’s vibrant independent business culture composed of…
