Design | World Interior Design Network
24 March 2011
The Gascoigne Associates-designed Japanese restaurant Cocoro in Auckland features on the World Interior Design Network site. “The interior décor features large squares of woven charcoal and chocolate carpet that resemble subtle tatami-style matting. All…
Business | Huffington Post | Sydney Morning Herald (The)
22 March 2011
Air New Zealand’s mascot Rico has teamed up with US rapper Snoop Dogg to produce a music video for the airline. Rico, whose controversial antics promoted Air New Zealand’s Skycouch, joins Snoop, who dons…
Film & TV | Wall Street Journal (The)
21 March 2011
Production has now begun on Peter Jackson’s film adaptation of The Hobbit, set in Middle-earth 6 years before The Lord of the Rings. Not an earthquake, a health scare, a labour conflict, financial concerns…
Design | Guardian (The)
19 March 2011
New Zealand-born designer and ceramicist Jeremy Cole’s porcelain Aloe Blossom suspension lamp hangs in the living room of German writer and producer Peter Schlesselmann’s one-bedroom flat in Berlin’s Tiergarten. The lamp has…
Film & TV | Variety Magazine
17 March 2011
Children’s television series, The Tribe, which was first produced in New Zealand, is being developed into a film in the United States. According to Variety, “Peter Jackson’s Weta Workshop has already agreed to tackle…
Obituaries | New Zealand Herald
14 March 2011
New Zealand scriptwriter Graeme Tetley, whose body of work included films Vigil, Ruby & Rata, Bread and Roses and the Aramoana depiction Out of the Blue, has died in Wellington, aged 69. A script…
Theatre | New York Times (The)
10 March 2011
New Zealand-born Simon Phillips is the director of the new Broadway version of Priscilla Queen of the Desert which opens in New York on March 2. Phillips said that his North American producers —…
Music | The Honolulu Weekly
9 March 2011
“What Peter Jackson did for New Zealand tourism with the most expensive ad campaign ever — The Lord of the Rings — singer/songwriter Maisey Rika could possibly do for New Zealand music,” Honolulu Weekly…
Music | BBC News | NME
7 March 2011
Art-pop quintet The Naked and Famous has been named as this year’s “most promising new act” by NME; post-award ceremony the band talks to Mark Savage of BBC 6 about their recent “good fortunes”….
Taste | Independent (The)
7 March 2011
“You could call it the gastronomic upset of the night,” The Independent said. “New Zealand-born chef Robert Oliver beat out some formidable competition to land the title of best cookbook, which was announced last…
Theatre | Los Angeles Times
6 March 2011
Auckland-based choreographer Lemi Ponifasio will perform Tempest: Without A Body on Broadway at the historical Million Dollar Theater on April 2-3. Performed by Ponifasio’s company MAU, the production is making its US premiere in…
Writers | Guardian (The)
4 March 2011
Wellington author Craig Cliff’s debut short story collection, A Man Melting is in contention for this year’s Commonwealth £5, best first book award. Cliff is up against South African writer Cynthia Jele’s Happiness is…
Visual Arts | Tricycle
1 March 2011
Auckland-born artist Max Gimblett’s new versions of the Buddhist ‘Oxherding’ series — ten drawings which represent a parable about the conduct of Buddhist practice, most commonly attributed to a 12th-century Chinese Zen master –…
Writers | Daily Mail
28 February 2011
Robin Hyde’s “remarkable tribute, in tough and rugged language, to a Chinese peasant”, the poem “Ku Li” is the Guardian’s “Poem of the Week”. “Ku Li” was begun in China during the second Sino-Japanese…
Film & TV | Orlando Sentinel
26 February 2011
“I’ve always liked Phil Keoghan as host of The Amazing Race,” Orlando Sentinel television reviewer Hal Boedeker professes. “I didn’t realize he was from New Zealand, but there he was on The Late Late…
Film & TV | Windsor Star
24 February 2011
Lucy Lawless, New Zealand’s one and only Xena, Warrior Princess, doesn’t mind being typecast, saying, “What am I going to complain about? How many actresses work as much as me?” “Being the star of…
Media | Sydney Morning Herald (The)
21 February 2011
Aspiring Auckland actresses Jessie Gurunathan and Reanin Johannink used hidden cameras fitted to the back of their jeans to film unsuspecting individuals staring at their backsides. The footage, taken in LA, was the idea…
New Zealand | Daily Mail
20 February 2011
“We had only been in New Zealand for a weekend but already I had begun to understand how the country’s dramatic landscape — volcanoes, mud pools and geysers, pristine beaches, lush vegetation, lakes and…
Te Ao Maori | Independent (The)
19 February 2011
Gisborne hosted as many as 25, spectators and 2 competitors at this year’s National Kapa Haka Festival, Te Matatini o Te Ra, held from16 through 2 February, with Rotorua-based Te Matarae i Orehu taking…
Film & TV | Metro (Canada)
16 February 2011
Actor Martin Henderson — who stars in the latest series from Grey’s Anatomy creator Shonda Rhimes, Off the Map — talks to Metro Canada about working in Hawaii, keeping his accent and arguing for…
Obituaries | TV Tonight
14 February 2011
Veteran New Zealand actor, Frank Whitten, has died at age 68. Best known for his role as Ted “Grandpa” West on Outrageous Fortune, Whitten passed away in his sleep on Saturday after a battle…
Music | Los Angeles Times
12 February 2011
Soprano Kiri Te Kanawa is a “sucker” for sentimental Irish ballad Danny Boy. Te Kanawa is one of eight musicians asked by the Los Angeles Times to share their favourite love song in the…
Music | Guardian (The)
12 February 2011
The Naked and Famous are currently on tour in the UK and with their London performance feature in the Guardian’s weekly gig guide. The publication writes: “Essentially the project of Thom Powers and Alisa…
Film & TV | New York Times (The)
11 February 2011
The cast of Peter Jackson’s two-film adaptation of The Hobbit were this month introduced to the news media at a press conference in Wellington at the Park Road Post production facility. The event featured…
New Zealand | Independent (The)
10 February 2011
With filming on The Hobbit confirmed to begin in March, New Zealand is preparing for another tourism boom. It is expected that Peter Jackson’s latest film creation will drive a renewed bout of Tolkien…
Taste | Good Food Channel
10 February 2011
New Zealand cook Annabel Langbein’s television series Annabel Langbein: The Free Range Cook is now screening on UKTV’s Good Food Channel. The series of 13 episodes has already been sold into 73 markets. “I…
Writers | Guardian (The)
9 February 2011
Fleur Adcock’s Dragon Talk, her first poetry volume since 1997’s Looking Back — which explored “part of the poet’s wider enquiry into geographical and cultural displacement” — is reviewed by British poet Julian Stannard…
Music | Pollstar
9 February 2011
Musician and songwriter Liam Finn launches his first-ever full band tour beginning with two gigs in Austin at this year’s South by Southwest (SXSW) music festival. Finn’s next album is set for a spring…
Film & TV | Guardian (The)
8 February 2011
Unbeknownst to The New Zealand Film Archives, 75 early American films have been in its possession, including the sole copy known to exist of a silent film directed by cinema icon John Ford, who…
Theatre | ExBerliner
7 February 2011
Wellington-raised actress and English teacher Amy Nye, 31, appears as ‘Louise’ in playwright Duncan Sarkies’ 1992 Love Puke at Berlin’s English Theatre through July 1. Also from Wellington, Fingal Pollock, 28, directs “eight characters…
Theatre | Today Online
7 February 2011
New Zealand’s Indian Ink theatre company has been collaborating with the Singapore Repertory Theatre presenting Wellington actor Jacob Rajan’s The Guru of Chai, which was on at Singapore’s DBS Arts Centre. Not only did…
Opera | Macarthur Chronicle
4 February 2011
“Described by some of his more excitable fans as the Brad Pitt of opera, New Zealand baritone Teddy Tahu Rhodes certainly has plenty of stage presence,” Fiona Boxall writes in a lifestyle article for…
Music | Deadline
3 February 2011
New Zealand’s Army Band will perform at the 6th anniversary of the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo in August. Major Leanne Smith, director of music for the 28-piece Band said they can’t wait to perform…
Dance | The Press and Journal
3 February 2011
Christchurch-born Dancing with the Stars judge Brendan Cole was recently in Scotland touring with his own theatre show Live and Unjudged. The professional dancer, known for his snake hips and equally venomous…
Film & TV | Santa Barbara Independent
2 February 2011
Writer-director Mike Wallis’ western Good for Nothing was given its world premiere at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival (SBIFF) in February. Santa Barbara Independent reviewer writes that Good for Nothing “is a strange…
Film & TV | Berlinale
1 February 2011
Outrageous Fortune actor Tammy Davis’ directorial debut Ebony Society screens at this year’s 61st Berlin International Film Festival in the Generation 14plus section, which is aimed at a young audience. Go the Dogs by…
Film & TV | Elle Magazine
1 February 2011
Star of cult HBO show True Blood, Anna Paquin tells Elle that “once you’ve been spray-tanned, bleached, and given the correct push-up bra, it’s like playing dress-up — it’s liberating.” Paquin features in a…
Film & TV | Film Industry Network
1 February 2011
Peter Jackson’s film adaptation of JR Tolkien’s classic The Hobbit “is already one of the most talked about before shooting,” according to Christopher Wright writing for the site Film Industry Network. “Controversy surrounded the…
Music | Charleston Daily Mail (The)
28 January 2011
Whanganui-born composer Douglas Lilburn’s overture ‘Aotearoa’ and ‘Symphony No. 2’ were recently performed by the West Virginia Symphony Orchestra in Charleston; the conductor was New Zealander Grant Cooper, who is also the orchestra’s artistic…
Film & TV | Reuters
28 January 2011
Wellington actor Nico Evers-Swindell will play the part of Prince William in a television movie about the royal couple, William & Kate, which is due to start production in Los Angeles in February. Evers-Swindell’s…
Music | Billboard
27 January 2011
Auckland five-piece band Naked and Famous have won the Silver Scroll prize for their smash hit “Young Blood” at the Australasian Performing Right Association’s awards held in Auckland on 8 September. Alisa Xayalith, Thom…
Music | Asia One
26 January 2011
“For an artist with such a fierce-sounding moniker, award-winning New Zealand singer-songwriter Ladyhawke — whose name conjures up anything from female shaman warriors to an Academy Award-nominated fantasy film — is surprisingly shy,” Asia…
Film & TV | New York Post
26 January 2011
“As Dr Ben Keeton, the head of a South American jungle clinic, actor Martin Henderson has finally found a role that not only maximizes his ruggedly handsome good looks, but also jives with the…
Visual Arts | QUEM
26 January 2011
New Zealand fashion photographer Regan Cameron who is based in New York, has shot some of the world’s biggest celebrities including Brazilian model Gisele Bundchen, Madonna, Kate Moss and Cameron Diaz; this month he’s…
Dance | BBC News
25 January 2011
A New Zealand dancer took out one of the top accolades in the dancing world at this year’s Critic’s Circle National Dance Awards. Following in the success of her dance company, Rambert Dance, Pieter…
Opera | Wales Online
22 January 2011
Dame Kiri Te Kanawa is the new patron of the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition following the death of Dame Joan Sutherland last year. Chairman of the jury John Fisher said they…
Film & TV | Los Angeles Times
20 January 2011
Director Lee Tamahori’s new Sundance film The Devil’s Double, a violent glimpse at Saddam Hussein’s notorious son Uday and his unwilling body double, is a chance for the 60-year-old, he says, to prove once…
Music | New Jersey Online
20 January 2011
Tim Finn’s ballad “Persuasion”, from his 1993 album Before and After, was named ‘Song of the Day’ on January 20 by the New Jersey Star-Ledger’s Tris McCall. McCall declares Before and After “one of…
Visual Arts | Winnipeg Free Press
15 January 2011
New Zealand artist Lisa Reihana is one of three New Zealand artists participating in an exhibition called Close Encounters: The Next 500 Years on at an “unprecedented number” of venues throughout Winnipeg until May…
Music | Huffington Post
14 January 2011
“For the first time, probably ever, a band from is poised for huge success in the States,” The Huffington Post’s Jon Chattman predicts. “The Naked and the Famous have already taken their…
Visual Arts | Tweed Daily News
14 January 2011
New Zealand printmakers are showcasing their work in New South Wales at Tweed River Art Gallery, in an exhibition titled Out of the Box. Out of the Box features a range of printmaking skills…
Fashion | Ragtrader
12 January 2011
Fashion designers Trelise Cooper and Karen Walker are among a wave of labels turning their hand to costume design in 2011. Cooper has created costumes for the Victorian Opera and NBR New Zealand Opera’s…
Music | NME
12 January 2011
“Z is For (New) Zealand,” in NME’s New Music Glossary for 2011, “a handy guide to all the buzz-worthy jargon for the coming 12 months.” “Finally it seems there’s a new generation of bands…
Film & TV | Dazed and Confused
10 January 2011
“Everyone’s favourite sexy vampire-loving barmaid” New Zealand actress Anna Paquin is on the cover of the January 2011 issue of Dazed & Confused magazine. In the cover story titled ‘True Colours’, Paquin, 2008, was…
Writers | Arts & Letters Daily | Wall Street Journal (The)
8 January 2011
Arbiter of culture Denis Dutton was one of the most prominent patrons of the arts of the 21st century, writes Sam Sacks for the Wall Street Journal, reflecting on Dutton’s legacy. While being a…
Film & TV | AfterEllen.com
7 January 2011
Auckland-born actress Lucy Lawless returns to ancient Rome as Lucretia in the prequel to Spartacus: Blood and Sand, Spartacus: Gods of the Arena, which premieres on American television channel Starz on January 21. Lawless…