For the working man
DB Breweries is celebrating its 5th anniversary of beer DB Export launching a 9-second black-and-white commercial, developed by Feedthewalrus editor Adam Jenkins via Colenso BBDO. “ tells the true story: in the…
News of New Zealanders via Global Media
McCahon for auction
Colin McCahon’s 1982 canvas I applied my mind is up for sale and will be auctioned on November 17 at Sydney auction house Deutscher and Hackett. Estimated to sell for between $8, and $1,2,,…
Eerie Compulsion
Lloyd Jones’ latest novel Hand Me Down World is reviewed in the Financial Times. Hand Me Down World, about an illegal immigrant who makes her way from Tunis to Berlin to find her son…
Sci-fi Artistic Wonder
To be released in November, art book White Cloud Worlds showcases a never-before seen collection of science fiction and fantasy artwork from New Zealand, “home to Weta Workshop, and a fantasy/scifi concept art powerhouse,”…
Ballet Appointment
The Royal New Zealand Ballet has appointed American dancer Ethan Stiefel, 37, as artistic director of the company. Stiefel, who assumes the role in 211, will be taking over from London-born Gary Harris, who…
Age of Now
Saatchi & Saatchi CEO Worldwide and nzedge.com co-founder Kevin Roberts appeared on US financial and business news channel Bloomberg. In a 14-minute interview with Pimm Fox, Roberts talks about the concept of
Tasmanian tiger hunt
Actor Sam Neill stars alongside Willem Dafoe and Frances O’Connor in the Australian psychological thriller The Hunter which began production in Tasmania in late October. The Daniel Nettheim-directed film, based on the book by…
Simply affordable
Earlier this year, director of Auckland-based S3 Architects Limited Stephen Smith won a Department of Building and Housing competition challenging entrants to come up with a design for a cheap, easy-to-build house which complied…
Rocking good chat
Juice TV presenter Scotty Rocker, 3, host of the Rocker’s Hell show interviewed American popstar and 29 American Idol runner-up Adam Lambert who was in New Zealand in October on his Glam Nation…
Hobbit gets greenlighted
Film industry labour issues between actors and producers were among the elements that triggered a month long crisis in Peter Jackson’s production of The Hobbit, solved only by the intervention of the Government which…
Bindi on at Pataka
Porirua’s Pataka Museum of Arts & Culture is currently holding “Bindi — The Indian Dot” exhibition, which will continue through November 14. Applauding Pataka for holding an art exhibition related to Hindu cultural…
Song for consolation
Christchurch-born singer Hayley Westenra, 23, performed Taiwan on November 1 as part of her 21 Asian tour. Westenra, sang Amazing Grace at a press conference in Taipei as a prayer for victims of Typhoon…
Classic Q for Finn
Neil Finn, 52, earned a Classic Songwriter Award at the Q Awards 21 held in London at Grosvenor House on October 25. He was presented with the award by Scottish singer KT Tunstall, who…
Finding Jean Batten
New Zealand writer Ian Mackersey’s 1991 biography of aviatrix Jean Batten is reviewed by Joseph May on the Seattle Post-Intelligencer Readers Blog page. “In unlocked the mystery…
Hospitable angles
“Inspired by the nearby Remarkables and Bob’s Peak, architects incorporated intriguing roof angles into a low-line structure housing just 19 rooms, including a fabulous two-level tower suite complete with fireplace,”…
Intimate Sophistication
Wanaka’s Whare Kea is included in a Forbes’ list of the ‘World’s Top Microboutique Hotels’. “Whare Kea means ‘house of the kea’ in Maori — the kea being the world’s only alpine parrot. This…
In pencil at Rare Device
Wellington-based artist Sarah McNeil is presenting new work at San Francisco’s design store and gallery Rare Device in an exhibition entitled, ‘Eighteen Twenty Three’, from November 5 through November 29. According to a press…
Christmas in the UK
Comedian Jarred Christmas is in the UK touring his show, Jarred Christmas Stands Up. Christmas reveals he cannot get enough of the UK’s comedy scene. “The crowds over here are so savvy when it…
Waving the flag
Wellington-born singer/songwriter Brooke Fraser’s third album Flags is reviewed by Birmingham, Alabama university magazine The Samford Crimson. Reviewer Matt Davidson describes the album as “unlike any other Fraser has put out because it tells…
Dangerous embrace
Auckland musician Zowie (born Zoe Fleury) made the best fashion statement of the day when performing at the opening of New York’s CMJ Music Marathon in October, proclaimed New York Times blogger Jon Pareles….
Releasing the writer
“It’s a weird thing to call yourself a ‘writer’ before you’ve written anything that others have read,” Lower Hutt-raised Eleanor Catton, 25, tells the Calgary Herald. “I’m not sure why that stigma exists, exactly,…
Urban takes lessons
“Like it or not, I’ve become a global citizen,” Auckland actor Karl Urban tells The Kansas City Star. “The challenge is to maintain your cultural identity, especially back in your home country, where it’s…
Seeing some girls
Lord of the Rings stars Sean Astin, Dominic Monaghan, and Elijah Wood discuss their time spent in New Zealand working on the trilogy 11 years ago with Entertainment Weekly. Here they are, in a…
On kissing and reading
Miller’s Flat children’s book author Kyle Mewburn was in Wahpeton, North Dakota, at local schools talking to students about reading and writing. Mewburn’s award-winning 28 book Kiss! Kiss! Yuck! Yuck! won the 21 North…
Unmistakable humour
Comedian Rhys Darby, 36, has an “unmistakable” voice, retaining his “thick New Zealand accent despite increasingly frequent roles in Hollywood films,” The Sydney Morning Herald’s Kylie Northover writes in a profile headed, ‘Darby acts…
Obsessive Beats
Auckland singer Zowie, “New Zealand pop phenom”, is touring the United States during October. Music blogger Arjan writes: “Zowie has already received a steady amount of buzz at home having performed at some of…
Gin and Stan’s night
Singers Gin Wigmore, 24, and Stan Walker, 19, earned four Tuis apiece at this year’s New Zealand Music Awards held at Auckland’s Vector Arena. Wigmore’s folky debut Holy Smoke won the album of the…
Intimacy in Cincinnati
Geraldine-born playwright Gary Henderson’s Skin Tight opens Cincinnati’s Know Theatre’s season. An hour-long memory play, Skin Tight is part theatrical and melancholy tone poem and part showcase of stage combat. Skin Tight, an intimate…
Musical portraiture
Photographic portraits of New Zealand musicians Bic Runga, Dave Dobbyn and Neil Finn are included in a new international coffee table book, called Music, shot by renowned New York photographer Andrew Zuckerman. Zuckerman flew…
Turning on the ignition
“You know what you’re going to get with Shihad — punchy hard rock, deep grooves, industrial riffing and Jon Toogood’s hypnotic vocals,” The Border Mail’s writes in a review of the band’s latest album,…
Urban takes on Willis
Actor Karl Urban, 38, plays the role of a CIA agent in the movie Red, which is based on the comic book limited series of the same name and which was released this month…
One of The Dudes
Singer/songwriter Ian Morris, the frontman of Th’ Dudes has died in Napier, aged 53. Morris formed the band with school friends Peter Urlich and Dave Dobbyn in 1975 but left the group in 1980…
Their Own chapter
Dunedin trio Die! Die! Die! is currently touring Australia and are profiled in The Sydney Morning Herald. “Die! Die! Die! is feeling right at home on seminal record label Flying Nun,” Craig Mathieson writes….
Perfect introduction
“If you’ve yet to become acquainted with Janet Frame, one of New Zealand’s finest literary exports, then you are in for a treat,” Eden Carter Wood writes in a review of The Daylight and…
Clean Patience
“Legendary masters of pop” Dunedin band The Clean played Portland’s Holocene in October on the final stop of their seven-date US tour. “For all the waiting we’ve done for the band, the patience finally…
Aggressive and winsome
The Naked and Famous song “Young Blood, which recently became the first by a New Zealand band to reach No 1 in their home country for 2 years, is ecstatic, uplifting, thumping, pumping psych-dazed,…
Roundhouse drama
Wellington seven-piece dub/reggae group Fat Freddy’s Drop played a sold-out gig at the Bristol Academy and at Brighton’s Concorde2 in September on their European tour. Their live experience is now available in their latest…
Wild Frontier Music
New Zealand-born author Garth Cartwright’s More Miles Than Money: Journeys Through American Music has been released in the United States. Cartwright describes the inspiration for the book in the Wall Street Journal: “Growing up…
Return post-change
Crowded House head to South Africa in October performing concerts in Cape Town and Durban before ending their tour in Johannesburg on the 3th. Neil Finn said he and the band have fond memories…
Wilderness gold
“Just like the safari camp and the ski chalet, the New Zealand lodge is a triumph of reinvention, the transformation of a utilitarian wilderness refuge into tourism gold,” writes The Sydney Morning Herald’s Max…
Edgy roots an asset
Actor Karl Urban, 38, is happy to commute between Auckland and Los Angeles saying that his New Zealand roots are proving to be an asset to his craft. Unlike Hollywood-based actors, those from Australia…
Apprentice Acumen
Paloma Vivanco-Coutts, 29, is the first New Zealander to appear on reality television show The Apprentice UK. Peruvian-born Vivanco-Coutts has been living in London since 2006. She recently married a New Zealander and is…
Eclecticism for Finns
The one-woman band Annabel Alpers aka Bachelorette stopped off in Helsinki, Finland as part of her European tour playing at the city’s Club YK. The Helsinki Times wrote: “The live music scene of Helsinki…
Northern resonance
Northern resonance Musician Tim Finn is playing a “best-of” show in Cairns, his first show in the northern Australian city in nearly 3 years. Finn says he’ll be performing music from his 29 album…
On the Small Screen
Filmmaker Jane Campion has been commissioned by the BBC to work on a television series thriller set in New Zealand called Top of the Lake. The series will follow the disappearance of a five…
Cool but not too cool
The Flight of the Conchords appeared as camp counsellors in the premiere episode of season 22 of The Simpsons which went to air in the US in September. In the episode, titled…
Picnic in Boulder
New Zealand dance troupe EyeSoar Performance opened the second day of the weekend Boulder Fall Festival in Colorado with a 3-minute modern-day circus act called, “A Delightful Show”. Shown entirely through a narrative dance,…
Calling All Hobbits
An advertisement in Wellington’s Dominion Post has called for diminutive actors to audition for the parts of Middle Earth hobbits in Peter Jackson’s prequel to the Oscar-winning Lord of the Rings trilogy. Roles for…
From planet Wow
“Coming on like a teenage Joan Jett with a drum machine, all Pulp Fiction bangs and kaleidoscopic baton swinging, Zowie is a futuristic cheerleader from planet Wow,” writes US culture and entertainment site…
Talk like a vampire
New Zealand-raised actress Anna Paquin and British husband Stephen Moyer worked with Los Angeles dialect coach Liz Himelstein to get their accents right for True Blood. Their speech is nothing like wide-eyed Southern waitress…
Worth the Wait
Wellington-based Maori electronic duo Wai has released their second international release Ora and Guardian reviewer Andy Childs gives it four out of five stars. “Ten years ago, singer Mina Ripia and her partner Maaka…
Welsh Prize Shortlist
New Zealand author Eleanor Catton, 24, has made the short list for the University of Wales Dylan Thomas Prize. The award, which is open to writers under the age of 3 who have been…
Funding local talent
New Zealand On Air is a “generous government-funded programme that’s fast-tracking New Zealand bands on the road to stardom and beyond,” writes Lars Brandle for Australian site The Music Network. “The likes of Kids…
Special mention
Actress Melanie Lynskey, 33, gets a special mention in a Tulsa World review of director Tim Blake Nelson’s black comedy Leaves of Grass. New Plymouth-born Lynskey plays Colleen opposite star Edward Norton, who plays…
Hottest tickets play NY
New Zealand artists Ruby Frost, winner of 42 Below’s 42Unheard competition, Zowie, Street Chant, Kids Of 88, Electric Wire Hustle and Lawrence Arabia performed at the CMJ Music Marathon festival in New York City…
Familial trail-blazer
New Zealand director Jane Campion’s daughter Alice Englert, 16, has her sights set firmly on a career in music rather than film writes Kristie Lau for The Sydney Morning Herald. “I love my mum…
