Romance and roadkill in
Director Alison Maclean’s edge aesthetic gets sharper: described by the New Yorker as having a “big messy emotional talent”, she is thrilled that audiences are connecting with the romance rather than the wierdness. But…
Blog Archives
#19 World’s Greatests
Edge Message #19 from Brian Sweeney, producer NZEDGE.COM TO NZEDGE.COM COMMUNITY Greetings on this last day of the half year. Voyeurs will enjoy the 60 new messages in the Mailbox. Thank you everyone for writing and…
Kiwi Linguists Chart Man’s Journey Across the Pacific
University of Auckland linguists Russell Gray and Fiona Jordan, “may have solved one of the greatest mysteries in human prehistory – how people managed to colonise the Pacific”. Writing in the journal Nature they analysed 77 languages…
“I’m Quite a Fearful Person Actually”
Sir Ed might have to do some convincing – he will go down in history as one of the Twentieth Century’s great adventurers. The Independent asks if the 81 year-old has any mountains left to climb,…
From One Edge to Another to Take up the Haka Challenge
From Vancouver on the edge of the Atlantic, director Jonathan Tammuz will continue a global roll to the edge of the Pacific to direct “Haka” an 1850s-set $30million British production. The production will be…
The Ubiquitous Crowe Tabloid Dispatch
“Hollywood’s golden girl Meg in marriage split … Crowe has become Hollywood’s latest heart-throb since starring as Maximus, in the summer’s most successful blockbuster. Ryan is reported to have spent considerable time with Crowe…
Danyon Loader: The Retiring Type?
New Zealand double Olympic swimming gold medalist Danyon Loader has announced his retirement, “I’ve been swimming competitively since 1987 … and the desire and incentive to race has diminished,” said Loader, 25, who won gold medals in…
Sam Neill: walking with the dinosaurs … again
Kiwi Neill has become the first major actor to sign on for more encounters with a blue screed/rampaging dinosaurs in Jurassic Park 3. He will reprise his role as Dr. Alan Grant from the…
Bryan Gould: Best Belletrist on the Left
The New Statesman’s literary editor uses his position to weigh up the relative literary merits of the Tory MPs compared to their Labour counterparts, and finds that the Tories are up at halftime, “with the exception…
Simply the best: Dame Kiri: the Tina Turner of the opera world?
Dame Kiri talks about her Maori heritage, playing to an audience of 600 million people, her forthcoming concert with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and how long she can keep performing. Interviewing the world-renowned soprano,…
New Zealand Versus the Mother Country: A Titanic Struggle
We’re obviously not talking rugby, but earthworms. Visitors to the University of Dundee’s Botany Department got to see a titanic struggle of earthly proportions, with the New Zealand flatworm attacking and overwhelming its British cousin – the…
Pete Sampras Follows Historic Kiwi Footsteps at Wimbledon
Kiwi contribution to a tennis legacy: “No man in this century has dominated the world’s only important grasscourt tournament quite like Sampras. Not Hugh Doherty. Not the dashing New Zealander Tony Wilding. Not Fred Perry. Not Rod…
University of Canterbury, (Kuala Lumpur)
The University of Canterbury, New Zealand, held its inaugural overseas graduation and degree presentation in Kuala Lumpur with officials, 60 alumni and 200 guests attending. The universities strong ties with Malaysia stretch back 50…
Graham Henry First Non-British Coach of the Lions
Call it post-colonial, call it usurping, but New Zealander Graham Henry will be charged with giving the British Lions Rugby-Union team a new roar for their tour of Australia next year. Citing his will to win…
Fusion eating: Kiwi food produce makes for great Italian fare in Malaysia
“The start to original Italian food is to use all fresh ingredients … the juicy New Zealand mussels in Amatricana sauce are to die for … the imported New Zealand spring lamb grilled in…
Vodka and herb, a très moderne kiwi potable
The Guardian blows away the myth that herbs are restrained by the cooking pot and salad bowl and offers some herbal cocktails for the urban sophisticate, including herb-based martinis from Dick Bardsell and vodka…
Hollywood Hobbit Brings Trouble to Middle Earth
Literary fans who are devoted to the purity of Tolkien’s Middle Earth ouevre are angry at rumours that Frodo Baggins is ready to flirt. The introduction of glamorous Hollywood stars such as Liv Tyler…
Maori Culture Previewed on USA Today
“The indigenous people of New Zealand are spotlighted at Maori Culture including historical background, portraits and even a cookbook.”
Neighbours no more: Kiwi pop culture export success reverses the flow
Aussie girl-group Bardot, the most manufactured band in the history of pop, have become a sensation. “Popstars”, the hit TV show that followed their evolution from nobodies to Spice Girls, was born from a…
#18 Kiwis Making International Headlines
Edge Message #18 from Brian Sweeney, producer NZEDGE.COM To NZEDGE.COM MEMBERS across the globe We have over 50 new stories this week about New Zealand internationalists. Grant Dalton pure speed across the Atlantic (NY Times) Alison Maclean sweet…
ANZACS Cautious in South Pacific
New Zealand and Australia in recent years have turned their attention away from the South Pacific, and increasingly cast it towards Asia. Two coups in as many weeks, in Fiji and the Solomon Islands, have re-focused attention,…
Helen Clark: Good Bloke
“Good bloke” politics is playing well in “reform-fatigued” Australian electorates. The new model is not gender-specific. Prime Minister Helen Clark in New Zealand may like to imply that it is, but she has profited from the same…
Global Leader in 3d Paint Technology Brings Texture to Cyberspace
Auckland company Right Hemisphere has released ‘Texture Weapons’ its latest imaging product said, “to represent a breakthrough in 3D content creation for broadcast, game developers and industrial design.” What was once an arduous task is now once…
Dotcom Carnage Paves the Way for Kiwi Hard Science
USA Today speculates that the dotcom slump will see investors’ interest return to science-based research companies, including LifeF/x, which is creating realistic-looking, computer-generated talking heads for use on Web sites. The company is building on years of…
Maclean movie puts the art before the horse
Feed gets a shot in the arm from director Alison Maclean. “We all know what to expect from ’70s smack movies. So why is Jesus’ Son so unexpectedly good? Maclean’s movie, like the much…
Kiwi Comics Turn Fringe Festival Into Laugh-fest
The All New Kiwi Stand-up Experience has gained a reputation as one of the funniest acts in town at Ottawa’s Fringe Festival. But be warned that “the routines of these two comics from New…
Kevin Roberts Punts Saatchi & Saatchi into the Premier League
The ideas shop meets ‘La Difference’ when it was announced that Saatchis was to merge, for £1.24 billion, with French giant Publicis. Celebrating the merger, as well as scooping creative awards at Cannes and the company’s…
Large Natural Gas Field Discovered, NZ’s Second Largest
Newly discovered by Fletcher Challenge Energy, the gas field Pohokura may be New Zealand’s second largest and help underpin a sustainable gas supply for New Zealand’s future.
Dallas Cowboys in the Super 12?
Rugby, the sport of choice in countries like New Zealand and Australia is gaining a strong foothold in the States, and particularly in Dallas, Patricia Lowell finds out why. “Rugby may have a reputation for being…
Kiwi King is Queen of the Waves in Singapore
Jane King may only be 8 years old and 1.45 meters tall, but she is already a wakeboarding champion: in an adult category. She recently out-jumped and out-tricked four adults to win the Seventh…
Mike Moore Wants to Give Globalisation a Human Face
The cherubic WTO head Moore, readily likened to a panda in caricutures, admitted that the free-traders were losing the PR battle after the “Seattle Debacle” and failed consensus, but vowed to do what it takes to convince…
Walking with the Gods: Tiger Wood’s Kiwi caddy
When Tiger Wood’s completed his historic US Open victory by an absurd 15 strokes the first person he turned to to celebrate was his advisor, New Zealand caddy Steve Williams. Earlier this year commentator Gary Koch…
j’accuse! Greg Turner and the European PGA
When Greg Turner left last week’s Wales Open before it even started he accused, in his unique way, the European Tour of stifling healthy debate by placing commercial interests before course quality. On the Ryder Cup…
Kiwi Whispering on Stewart Island
The New York Times experiences the thrill of the chase in Kiwi country. “I realised I had been holding my breath, so I exhaled. The whole experience had lasted less than five minutes, but it had…
Tolkien epic is lord of the net
The $200m epic, in production in New Zealand and not due for release for a year and a half, is already burgling box-office treasure and causing a storm on the internet, with a promotional trailer breaking…
Elemental Design Lets House Take Care of Itself
Professor Brenda Vale and Dr Robert Vale of the Sustainable Design Centre Research Centre at the University of Auckland, use The Times to forward their manifesto for environmentally friendly housing design. Their ‘Autonomous House’…
Kiwi Innovation Solution to Indian Sea Erosion
“The State Minister for Minor Irrigation Kumar Bangarappa informed that a permanent solution to arrest sea-erosion in the coastal belt of the Mangalore district would be evolved as per the New Zealand model.”
Party-on in ‘one of the Hippest Cities on the Pacific Rim’
The Guardian reports that Auckland, ‘more like the Riviera than the outskirts of Polynesia’, is having a hard time coming down from the highs of the America’s Cup victory. All part of ‘a burgeoning café culture to challenge…
Cruising New Zealand: Come Aboard We’re Expecting You …
Cruising is the ideal way to see New Zealand, in nine days The Times correspondent saw things exciting and new: the spectacular Marlborough Sounds, dazzlingly beautiful Picton Harbour, Wellington, “a city impossible to absorb in a day”,…
Teddy Tahu Rhodes: Kiwi man singing Houston
Teddy Tahu Rhodes, “a New Zealand baritone well known in Sydney for his Opera Australia appearances”, is playing the lead role of Joe in the Houston Grand Opera’s rendering of Dead Man Walking. It…
NZ Study Shows Women on Pill Face Increased Health Risk
Dr Skegg from the University of Otago, (in a study published in medical journal Lancet) found that although the risk of a fatal clot is still extremely low, women on the pill are nearly ten times more…
All Black’s Blunt Edge in 95 World Cup Final Attributed to Poisoning
A former major in the South African Police has backed up claims that the All Black team was poisoned on the eve of the 1995 World Cup final, “I only have the evidence of my eyes but…
Tex Morton
New Zealander Tex Morton lived a life of breath-taking achievement. He attained fortune and huge international fame in several careers: a recording star (300 songs), singer-songwriter, stage artist (touring sensation in North America, Europe,…
#17 Amazing International Kiwi Achievements
Edge Message #17 from Brian Sweeney, producer NZEDGE.COM To NZEDGE.COM Community Today in HEROES we publish the story of Tex Morton, the extraordinary New Zealander who was one of the most famous entertainers in the…
Oceania Merge the Edges With Log Drums and Electro Beats
Former leader of Killing Joke Jaz Coleman joins Maori singer Hinewehi Mohi in a high-tech fusion on their eponymous debut. “This isn’t a fashion record for me, or a passing flirtation with another culture,” says Coleman, recently…
Kiwi Professor of Pop Crafts Summer Sounds from Nashville
“If there were advanced academic degrees for pop music, songwriter Tim Finn would have achieved professor emeritus status long ago. This Split Enz and Crowded House alum is a craftsman of the first order….
Kiwi Wave Expert Helps the Brits Hang Ten in Bournemouth
The stereotype of the stoic sunburnt pommie enduring another much-mocked English summer is all about to change thanks to a world expert kiwi who specialises in making artificial waves. It might still be cold, but Professor…
Wilson Picked in All-Star Futures Game
Kiwi baseball player Travis Wilson, who is a rookie with the Atlanta Braves, has been selected to play in the US vs the World All-Star Futures Game – a strong indication that he’s on track to…
Raving About Dixon in Detroit
Motown: Scott Dixon has won the first two races of the Dayton Indy Lights series and history indicates that he is well on his way to a championship in his first season with PacWest Racing. “I…
Rebecca Taylor’s Urban Femininity Nominated for Prestigious Perry Ellis Award
New York based New Zealander Rebecca Taylor’s signature brightly colured cardigans with sequin trim have seen her nominated for the reputation-making Perry Ellis Fashion Award. She will be hoping to follow in the fashionable…
Bob Charles in Putting Pantheon
Las Vegas Sun columnist Peter Benton joins the end of century reviews and attempts to evaluate the world’s greatest putter, putting Kiwi left-hander Bob Charles up there with Woods, Nicklaus and Duval.
Give them a taste of Kiwi
“Sometimes expats crave a taste of the familiar – and now they can find it on the net.” A New Zealand writer yearns for Tim Tams and ponders the number of dotcoms, such as…
“He Who Laughs Last …” Kiwi Wines Now the Benchmark
Colonial upstarts from the all parts of the Empire are conquering Britain. As renowned wine merchant Simon Berry ponders regretfully, “We laughed at New Zealand 20 years ago, and now they are benchmark wines.”
“Brain Drain Clouds NZ’s Future” – Refuse the Hype and Get to the Edge
More centric thinking, this time from London’s Observer, “New Zealander’s are leaving their country in droves, placing a strain on the economy and painting a grim picture for the future.” Our opinion: New Zealand Edgers of the…
Save Our Sea-mammals : Pacific Plan for Whale Sanctuary
New Zealand and Australian governments are set to pressure the International Whaling Commission into creating a whale sanctuary in the South Pacific, believing that a plan must be implemented to protect stocks already severely depleted by whaling.
Bonding Bungee Brings Together Father and Son Film-makers
Award-winning doco “Pop & Me” charts father/son relationships around the world as the father/son makers work out their own. The film’s defining moment comes when Chris persuades his Dad join him in a tandem…
