Great Appointment
Former New Zealand Test batsman Mark Greatbatch, 46, has been appointed Black Caps coach joining Mark O’Donnell and Shane Jurgensen on the team’s coaching panel. Greatbatch, who is already on the national selection panel,…
News of New Zealanders via Global Media
Peter Andre’s flat white
“No one knows exactly where the flat white came from,” ponders Guardian columnist Zoe Williams. “Some people say New Zealand, while others believe it’s an Australian invention.” “Has anybody ever seriously had that conversation?…
Lounging on Air
Air New Zealand is to introduce 22 “Skycouches” — formed out of three economy seats abreast that fold out to create a lie-flat space — in the first 11 rows in the economy cabin…
Barclay a big presence
Auckland actress Emily Barclay, 25, “is in no danger of not being cast” and “right now is one of the hottest new talents in the business — on stage and on screen”, writes The…
Abattoirs maketh the man
Director Martin Campbell is “one of the world’s most revered action directors, twice rescuing the Bond franchise” writes the Guardian’s John Patterson. Now Campbell has returned to Edge of Darkness, the 1980s TV drama…
Beijing Top Spot
Southland sprinter Edward Dawkins, 20, took the men’s individual gold at the Beijing stop of the UCI track cycling World Cup. Dawkins claimed the sprint title with two straight wins against Frenchman Michael D’almeida…
Lonely’s lingerie
Auckland-based label Lonely Hearts has recently released a new lingerie line, Lonely, inspired by vintage corsetry and designed by Aimee McFarlane, Helene Morris and Steve Ferguson. With all bras featuring a Seventies-look soft-cup design,…
Musher Says Hike
Christchurch dog sledder Curt Perano made the list of top mushers for the John Beargrease 150-mile mid-distance sled dog race from Minnesota towns Duluth to Tofte. Perano and his wife, Fleur, began dog sledding…
Campbell’s Big Gun
Hastings-born director Martin Campbell, 66, best known for the 2006 Bond film Casino Royale, has told the Los Angeles Times that “there was nobody else” but Mel Gibson for the role of Boston cop…
Green Hankshake
New Zealand will share its expertise in green technology with India to help the East Asian country produce clean energy and build an eco-friendly transport system. “New Zealand has a competitive advantage in green…
East Coast boy in Utah
Director Taika Waititi’s film Boy, which premiered at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival, “marks a step up in maturity” and “elaborates on a style that primarily belongs to his own unique universe, according…
Super scenery
Lochnagar in Otago provided the backdrop for a David Jones fashion shoot featuring Australian super model Miranda Kerr, 26. Kerr made sub-zero sexy, starring in David Jones’ latest winter catalogue dressed in…
Bent to Every Whim
“The beauty of train journeys is that you can appreciate the dominance of New Zealand’s landscape over its inhabitants,” writes The Independent’s Dan Poole post-Tranz Scenic trip down through both islands. “Over…
Part of the whole
New Zealand-born choreographer and video artist Olive Bieringa — who with American Otto Ramstad form the San Francisco-based BodyCartography Project — …
Christie Gets Loud
Whangarei-raised New Zealand international midfielder Jeremy Christie, 27, has signed a two-year deal with Florida team the Tampa Bay Rowdies in the second tier North American Soccer League. Christie has won 20 caps for…
Extreme Shearing
Shearing sheep in New Zealand is included in Time magazine’s list of ’25 (More) Authentic Asian Experiences’. “Schweebing and Zorbing not your thing? While many pumped-up tourists go to New Zealand to…
Togaless
Actress Lucy Lawless “is attracting a lot of attention for her latest character — not that the New Zealand actress isn’t used to recognition,”…
Courting Kiwis
Prince William, 27, has officially opened the new $80.7 million Supreme Court building on Lambton Quay in Wellington, now the country’s highest court of appeal. Architects Warren and Mahoney modelled the courtroom on a…
Further Accolades for Brown
Ladyhawke is up for another music gong this month having been nominated for a BRIT best International Female Solo Artist award. Masterton-born Pip Brown, 30, will compete with big name stars Lady Gaga, Rihanna,…
Improbable classic
Director Jane Campion’s 1993 film The Piano is considered a “classic” of the cinema by the Times which examines the merits of the film starring New Zealand actress Anna Paquin, Holly Hunter and Harvey…
Barrier Time
“You won’t find street lights, an ATM or a bank on the Barrier,” a local tells Los Angeles Times reporter Rosemary Macclure. “But we do have two stop signs.” They also have a place…
Stepping off the deck
For the past 20 years, Sir Peter Blake’s widow Pippa Blake has lived on the Chichester harbour sea front in a 1940s bungalow where just recently “a forward-thinking architect tore down walls, built a…
Top of the World
Air New Zealand has been named Airline of the Year, with judges of the Air Transport World magazine awards, “amazed and surprised at the degree of innovation that was occurring at a remote relatively…
Fast friends
Rose McIver arrives at New York’s Griffith Observatory “fashionably on time” to meet fellow Lovely Bones actress Saoirse Ronan for a tour …
Auckland Airport Expands
Auckland International Airports has acquired Westpac’s 24.55 per cent stake in North Queensland Airports (NQA) for AU$132.8 million as part of a strategy to grow beyond its New Zealand business. It sees Cairns as…
Shadows and light
New Zealand choreographer Lemi Ponifasio’s “disturbing, visually beautiful” Tempest: without a body, recently performed as part of the Sydney Festival, is reviewed by The Australian’s Deborah Jones who describes Tempest as a production with…
Missouri Dairy Kings
New Zealander Kevin Van der Poel, 46, remembers the skepticism and suspicion when he moved to Missouri more than four years ago to raise dairy cattle. When Van der Poel started construction on rock…
Together in Song
New Zealand’s national anthem could soon be played alongside the Australian during Anzac Day ceremonies at Queensland schools. Premier Anna Bligh, who is chairwoman of the Anzac Day Commemoration Committee (ADCC), is to send…
McIver learns from best
New Zealand actress Rose McIver, 22, plays the younger sister to Saoirse Ronan in Peter Jackson’s thriller The Lovely Bones. Teen Hollywood talks to McIver about working with stars Ronan, 15, and Susan Sarandon….
Ruthless makes US list
New Zealand romance writer Natalie Anderson’s novel Ruthless Boss, Royal Mistress recently featured in USA Today’s top 150 books sold over the New Year. Her book about a “billionaire businessman who teaches a spoiled…
Likened to Lennon
Christchurch singer-songwriter James Milne, or as he is otherwise known, Lawrence Arabia, “can sound uncannily like John Lennon” writes Times Online reviewer Mark Edwards. “Exactly why Milne chose his pseudonym isn’t clear; this isn’t…
Spartacus Debuts in US
Former warrior princess Lucy Lawless stars as Lucretia in Spartacus: Blood and Sand, “a sword-and-sandals epic that Starz, the US premium cable network, rolls out January 22”. Spartacus is a flashy, big-budget attempt to…
Ideal weather for tea
Katherine Mansfield’s 1922 short story The Garden Party provides summery inspiration for Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinel writer Kristyna Wentz-Graff who includes recipes for making club sandwiches, date scones and pavlova as part of a monthly…
On the Floral Trail
New Zealand municipal botanical gardens, including Hamilton Gardens and the Whakarewarewa Forest and Government Gardens in Rotorua, feature in a travel article written by Ray Boren for the Desert News. “Indeed, the…
Attention seeker
“A little bit of Clement can go a long way,” writes Katey Rich for US entertainment site Cinema Blend.com. Quiet Earth is reporting that Clement, “who was so woefully underused in Gentlemen Broncos”,…
Record Warm
New Zealand has had its warmest decade since records began 150 years ago. National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) climate scientist James Renwick said there are plenty of causes. “Natural variations, such…
A Man and His Machine
Extreme enduro rider Aucklander Chris Birch, 29, “is expected to be one of the guys to beat in the World Xtreme Enduro Championships (WXEC)” reports The Independent on Sunday. With boyish good looks and a…
Consistency and then Some..
The NZ Black Caps followed up their Test series victory over India with an unassailable 4-0 lead in the one-dayers. The Kiwis have remained on top form against the somewhat disappointing tourists, with stand-out performances from fast-bowlers…
No Pain No Gain
Dunedin ironman Olympian Greg Henderson, 32, won stage two of the Jayco Bay Classic Criterium in Geelong. And when Henderson admits to hurting, you know he’s had a tough day. “The legs are absolutely…
Y2K a Decade On
University of Canterbury professor of philosophy, Arts & Letter Daily founder and author of The Art Instinct Denis Dutton writes a New York Times op-ed about the turn of the century at the turn…
In Father’s Strokes
New Zealand adventurer Shaun Quincey, 25, hopes to follow his father Colin Quincey into the history books by becoming the second person to row solo the 2200km from Australia to New Zealand. His father…
Record Over Ice
Twizel adventurer Kylie Wakelin and six other women who made up the Kaspersky Commonwealth Antarctic Expedition have made it to the South Pole, cross-country skiing 900km over 38 days to celebrate the 60th anniversary…
Knighthood for Jackson
Director Peter Jackson was among five New Zealanders to become knights or dames after a return to New Year’s honours. Former Prime Minister Helen Clark — who axed British honours while in office —…
Tough cherub
Auckland singer Gin Wigmore, 23, is included alongside Little Boots, Peaches and Megan Washington in Australian magazine Yen, in an article called ‘All the Single Ladies’ , which says: “They may not have rated…
Dishy Beef Cakes
Wellington waiters Strip-of-Meat are a company with “a dress code that involves a lot of skin” writes website Inventorspot. “Yes, we’ve seen plenty of businesses of this sort lately, but with a name like…
Bond Leaves Test cricket
Christchurch-born paceman Shane Bond, 34, has retired from Test cricket and though he played just 18 Tests after making his debut in 2001, he claimed 87 wickets at an impressive average of 22.09. “It’s…
Understanding Terroir
Auckland University scientists are working with winemakers attempting to solve the puzzle of terroir by researching yeast varieties indigenous to West Auckland vineyard Kumeu River Estate. The study has uncovered close to 100 new…
Liddell to Detroit
General Motors, #4 on the Fortune 500 and now US-government-owned following a 30 year decline, has named Chris Liddell as Chief Financial Officer at possibly the most critical time in the company’s history following its…
Manhire made happy
Director of Victoria University’s International Institute of Modern Letters and New Zealand’s inaugural poet laureate Bill Manhire has had a poem — My Childhood In Ireland — published in The New Yorker. It is…
Banning the Bomb
New Zealand has voted to unanimously to ban cluster munitions. New Zealand’s Cluster Munitions Prohibition Bill bans the use, development, production and stockpiling of cluster munitions in the country and by New Zealanders offshore….
Peter Snell Knighted
New Zealand three-time Olympic gold medalist Dr Peter Snell, who is based in Dallas, was honoured twice this year for his athletic career. Snell was knighted in August and his likeness commemorated in a…
Controversy in the Hay
Auckland’s St Matthew-in-the-City church has ignited controversy with a billboard depicting Mary and Joseph lying partially nude beneath the sheets. In an unorthodox take on the Christmas tale, the billboard depicts a forlorn Joseph…
Luxury Lodge World’s Best
Rotorua’s luxury Lake Okareka Lodge has been voted the world’s best luxury country lodge at the Luxury Hotel Awards held in Thailand. The five-year-old lodge has three double bedrooms, each with bathroom en suite,…
Perfectly Picturesque
New Zealand’s “countryside is stunning (no wonder The Lord of the Rings was filmed there); the people are charming — like happy Britons; and the food and drink can be memorable,” writes Oxford University…
Success at boiling point
Fahrenheit 212 co-founder and CEO Geoff Vuleta leans back in his chair and muses thoughtfully about his native New Zealand. “There’s a lawn at Oxford with a sign on it that clearly says, ‘Don’t…
Butter on Ice
The world’s oldest block of butter — believed to have come from the Canterbury Central Co-operative Dairy Company, formed in the 1890s and based in Christchurch — has been found in the stable area…
