Writers | Washington Watch
17 January 2009
Wellington author New York-based John Wareham’s latest book The President’s Therapist and the Secret Intervention to Treat the Alcoholism of George Bush hits US stores on January 20, Inauguration Day. The President’s Therapist is…
Nature | Connecticut Post
17 January 2009
Maori eel catching methods are related in a new book about migratory animals by American artist and author James Prosek, who spent time in New Zealand studying the fish. Bird, Butterfly, Eel is designed…
General | Guardian (The)
16 January 2009
“New Zealand remains a comfortably social democratic society, less dynamic but also less brash or polarised than Australia,” writes Guardian political blogger Michael White in a posting which looks at the reintegration of Chinese…
Opera | New York Times (The)
16 January 2009
Baritone Teddy Tahu Rhodes plays Antony in New York City Opera’s presentation of Samuel Barber’s Antony and Cleopatra, in a performance the New York Times critic Anthony Tommasini calls “fervent and sensitive,” “the best…
Film & TV | Los Angeles Times | New York Times (The)
15 January 2009
Flight of the Conchords “is finally back” on American television screens for a second season. The Los Angeles Times reviews the series opener on HBO: “Mixing the ironic whimsicality of ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’ with…
Writers | Arts & Letters Daily | New York Observer (The)
15 January 2009
Denis Dutton, philosophy of art professor at The University of Canterbury, has published a book building off his standard-bearing art theory website Arts & Letters Daily. The Art Instinct: Beauty, Pleasure, and Human Evolution…
General | Yahoo! News
14 January 2009
Queenstown police have caught a burglar by posting footage of a man trying to break into a safe on the social networking site Facebook. The burglar broke into the Franklin Tavern in Queenstown and…
Business | Wales Online
13 January 2009
Gisborne butcher Heath Raggett, 39, owns a shop on Bow Street, near Aberystwyth in Wales where he sells lamb reared on the hills above Cardigan Bay, encouraging locals to eat locally-produced meats. Raggett has…
Nature | Science Daily
13 January 2009
Paleontology researchers from the University of Adelaide, University of Otago, and the NZDEC have begun to paint a picture of ancient life on the New Zealand islands by investigating the feces of the giant…
Film & TV | Los Angeles Times | Variety Magazine
13 January 2009
Lower Hutt-raised Hollywood starlet Anna Paquin, 26, has won a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Television Drama, awarded for her performance as Sookie Starkhouse in HBO’s vampire series True Blood, beating A-list…
Music | NST
13 January 2009
Christchurch-born musician Bic Runga, 32, has been in Kuala Lumpur performing at the launch of the new BMW 7 Series, having just completed an album for Oxfam with Neil Finn, Radiohead and Wilco. “I’m…
Nature | Age (The)
12 January 2009
A New Zealand man spent one recent Saturday surfing alongside three orcas near a beach on the Taranaki coast, enjoying the perfect waves. Craig Hunter, who has been surfing off the North Island for…
Medicine/Health | Daily Mail
9 January 2009
Dr. Simon Thornly, of the Auckland Regional Public Health Service, has published a recent study claiming that foods high in refined sugars have the same addictive qualities as tobacco. According to Thornley, heavily processed…
Writers | Sydney Morning Herald (The)
9 January 2009
Children’s writer Margaret Mahy, recipient of the Carnegie Medal for Children’s Literature, the Hans Christian Andersen Medal and a host of other awards, says the shared experience of a parent reading to a child…
Business | PR Newswire
9 January 2009
New Zealand advertising agency DDB, creators of the pink hugging monster for Pink Batts insulation, has been rated the world’s best agency in the 6th annual Bestadsontv.com rankings; New Zealand agencies Colenso and Saatchi…
Cricket | Guardian (The)
9 January 2009
Black Caps captain Daniel Vettori, 29, is ranked amongst the top International bowlers on the ICC Player Rankings for One Day International bowlers. The left-arm spinner took six wickets at an impressive average of 12.33 in the…
Design | Chicago Tribune | Robb Report (The)
8 January 2009
New Zealand-born architect David Hovey discusses the designs of his 30-year-old Chicago-based business Optima Inc., which he says are influenced by an appreciation of the outdoors. A trace of an accent reveals his roots….
Business | Examiner (The)
8 January 2009
Wellington-based company “Phil & Ted changed my life,” writes Examiner.com’s Kate Byrd of the New Zealand “stroller gurus”, going on to give ten reasons why she loves her buggy. “I researched double strollers for months….
Wine | Times (The)
8 January 2009
New Zealand sparkling wines Cloudy Bay Pelorus and Lindauer were top sellers over the Christmas period in the UK according to the chief executive of Britain’s biggest wine warehouse chain Majestic Wine – Steve…
Writers | The Metro UK
7 January 2009
New Zealand author Neil Cross discusses his latest novel The Burial in UK publication Metro. “I’ve always been fascinated by guilt,” says the 39-year-old, who divides his time between producing fiction and writing for…
Science/Tech | Times (The)
6 January 2009
The New Zealand Department of Conservation will perform a two-hour necropsy on a 10ft female great white shark at the Auckland Museum in a live operation streamed online, reminiscent of that performed on the…
Nature | New York Times (The)
6 January 2009
Large areas in the Pacific near New Zealand territory have been designated as American national monuments by outgoing U.S. President George Bush. The areas include the Mariana Trench and northern Mariana Islands, a chain…
New Zealand | Backpacker Magazine
1 January 2009
The Tongariro Northern Circuit and Heaphy Track are two of the world’s best unknown treks, an 82-mile “one-two punch that delivers the full range of Kiwi highlights in nine perfect days — and without…
Fashion | Sydney Morning Herald (The)
1 January 2009
Auckland model Zippora Seven, 17, who has been lauded as the fashion industry’s new Kate Moss, is the new face of Swedish clothing label H&M’s spring/summer 2009 campaign. A topless shoot of the teenager…
Fashion | Russh | Vogue
1 January 2009
Auckland-based fashion designer Karen Walker is included in Russh Australia’s January/February edition as one of the magazine’s “favourite creatives” asked to share her current obsessions and influences. The inspiration for Walker’s last collection ‘The…
Nature | Sherman's Travel
1 January 2009
Sherman’s Travel offers up a primer on New Zealand’s “stunning landscapes … fantastic wine scene, unbelievable lodges, and happening cities,” charting a course through the premier attractions of Auckland, The Wine Trail and The…
Visual Arts | Art Asia Pacific
31 December 2008
Having spent the year taking the art world by storm, New Zealand resident and south-pacific artist Shigejuki Kihara is one of artasiapacific’s “five artists for 2009”. Kihara, a Japanese Samoan made a name for…
New Zealand | Robb Report (The)
31 December 2008
Jean-Michel Jefferson heads Ahipara Luxury Travel, offering personalised helicopter tours of New Zealand, custom-fitted to a ‘”clients’ interests, tastes, and aspirations.” The tours typically start at the Cavalli Island Retreat and Spa, in the…
Education | The Learning Revolution
31 December 2008
After the multi-blockbuster book The Learning Revolution, Gordon Dryden returns with his latest book Unlimited: The New Learning Revolution and The Seven Keys to Unlock It. The new book, according to Dryden – whose…
Design | Berlindale
31 December 2008
Paul Snowden – a New Zealand creative director and designer based in Berlin – has just completed the visual identity and overall design for the 59th Berlin International Film Festival, Berlinale. The Berlinale…
Visual Arts | Art Asia Pacific
31 December 2008
New Zealand’s contemporary art scene “boasts established institutions, a healthy commercial scene, and a flourishing network of artist-run spaces,” as catalogued in this year’s artasiapacific Almanac. The Arts Council, Te Waka Toi, and the…
New Zealand | Century 21
31 December 2008
Nelson’s Lodge at Paratiho Farms is on the market for $14,500,000 and features alongside a $16,000,000 Coromandel property, both properties included as part of a New Zealand promotion in the autumn edition of Century…
Sport General | China Daily
31 December 2008
New Zealand’s 2008 Beijing contingent was well represented in the New Year’s Honours list and included Christchurch Paralympics swimmer Sophie Pascoe, 16, board sailor Tom Ashley and shot putter Valerie Vili. In total, seven…
New Zealand | Travel and Leisure
31 December 2008
Five New Zealand hotels and resorts have been included in Travel and Leisure’s list of 500 World’s Best Hotels for 2009 with Rotorua’s Treetops Lodge and Estate the highest rated. “This is the list…
Business | New York Times (The)
30 December 2008
Air New Zealand has made a bold move into the world of sustainability, becoming the first commercial airline to fly using an alternative fuel made from the jatropha plant. The airline recently conducted a…
Obituaries | Time Magazine
29 December 2008
Sir Edmund Hillary is one of 45 individuals remembered in Time magazine’s 2008 ‘Fond Farewell’ tributes. “On May 29, 1953, Hillary, with the help of his Sherpa guide, became the first person to reach…
Nature | New York Times (The)
28 December 2008
Victoria University’s Tim Naish is one of a hundred scientists from 40 different countries working on a map of climate change. The Antarctic Geological Drilling Program (ANDRILL) is digging deep below the Ross Ice Shelf to determine…
Writers | Sydney Morning Herald (The)
27 December 2008
New Zealand historian David Thomson was one of the first people to write about the “phenomenon” of the “lucky generation” born during the period from the late 1920s through the 1930s according to The…
Nature | Chron.com
25 December 2008
Though the battle to save New Zealand’s famous national symbol the kiwi is “conceded unwinnable on some fronts”; the bird’s existence is mounting with the help of Zealandia, Wellington’s Karori Wildlife Sanctuary, which expects…
Film & TV | MTV
23 December 2008
Auckland stuntwoman and actress Zoë Bell, 30, stars in American web action series Angel of Death alongside fellow New Zealander, Lucy Lawless. Bell plays a mafia assassin who suffers a catastrophic head wound and…
Writers | Times (The)
23 December 2008
On March 1910 Katherine Mansfield arrived at the English seaside town of Rottingdean in Sussex where she took a room above the local grocer. While Mansfield craved library books “the sun shone and the…
Film & TV | Fiji Times (The)
21 December 2008
Hamilton-born Shortland Street star Ben Mitchell, 27, has been in Fiji for the premiere of his latest project, the film Love Has No Language in which he stars opposite Bollywood actress Celina Jaitley….
Business | Sunday Times
21 December 2008
For one month from 9 January until February 2009, in a redwood plantation north of Auckland, between Puhoi and Warkworth, and 10m up a tree, the Yellow House restaurant will serve three-course meals…
General | Guardian (The)
21 December 2008
Infamous Winton baby-farmer Minnie Dean, the first and last woman to be hanged in New Zealand, will soon have a headstone erected on her unmarked grave in the Winton Cemetery. Dean’s Scottish great-great-nephew Martin…
Business | Taipei Times
20 December 2008
Founder and CEO of fashion label Untouched World Peri Drysdale – who has an MBE for services to manufacturing and export – began selling garments blended fom possum and merino in 1996, later catching…
Sport General | Sydney Morning Herald (The)
19 December 2008
Champion Taranaki jockey Greg Childs, 46, is retiring from a 30-year career which began in New Zealand in the 1970s as an apprentice and ended with a win in the Bounty Hawk Handicap on…
Golf | New York Daily News
19 December 2008
Wellington-born caddy Steve Williams has “outraged” everyone “in this politically correct world”, but not the writers at the New York Daily News who say rather than offending anyone, Williams has “spiced up a rivalry…
Music | Sydney Morning Herald (The)
18 December 2008
18 December 2008 – Auckland songstress Gin Wigmore, 22, has been named one of ten best up-and-coming musical acts in the Metro section of The Sydney Morning Herald. Wigmore is fairly confident she’s the…
Sport General | Connecticut Post
16 December 2008
Auckland basketball player Jessica McCormack, 19, who was the youngest member of the New Zealand team at the Beijing Olympics this year, now plays for the top-ranked University of Connecticut (UConn) as a…
Medicine/Health | Time Magazine
15 December 2008
15 December 2008 – New Zealand-born CEO of German biotech firm MorphoSys engineer, Dr Simon Moroney is in charge of a different sort of library, an amazing archive containing some 12 billion human antibodies….
Politics and Economics | Time Magazine
13 December 2008
One alternative form of paper money in New Zealand is the local exchange trading system (LETS) of green dollars, which is a particularly useful means of trade in smaller towns. Swiss national and…
Obituaries | Reuters
13 December 2008
Former All Black front rower John Drake has died at his home in Mt Maunganui aged 49. Drake was a tighthead prop in the World Cup-winning All Blacks team of 1987. In recent years…
Te Ao Maori | Age (The)
13 December 2008
Maori educator and chairman of tertiary institution Te Whare Wananga o Awanuiarangi Professor Graham Hingangaroa Smith was a key speaker at the World Indigenous People’s Education Conference in Melbourne held in early December. A…
Business | Forbes
10 December 2008
Scott’s Ferry-raised Victoria Ransom, 32, now based in Silicon Valley, California, has won $450,000 in an international Internet business competition for her design application to be used on social networking site Facebook. Ransom’s company…
Visual Arts | Globe and Mail (The) | MoMA | Sundance Film Festival
8 December 2008
Auckland documentary-maker Pietra Brettkelly has won Best Documentary Award for Art Star and the Sudanese Twins at the 2008 Whistler Film Festival. The jury was quoted as saying, “This is a film that…
Business | Portland Business Journal
8 December 2008
08 December 2008 – Wellington clothing company Icebreaker has engaged a distributor in Germany, Sweden and Norway, having also opened its first Eastern European sales and marketing office in the Czech Republic earlier…