End of One Era, Beginning of Another
All Black captain Tana Umaga has officially retired from the game aged 34, with a stellar career behind him. “Already he has been admitted by his countrymen into the exclusive band of great NZ captains, along…
News of New Zealanders via Global Media
NewZealand.com the Business
Business Week hails Tourism NZ’s Webby Award winning website, NewZealand.com, as “a vibrant blend of heritage and enterprise” – media savvy, innovative and easy to use. ” is clearly establishing itself as a prime mover with…
NZ has the Edge Online
NewZealand.com, Tourism NZ’s award-winning website, earned further raves in a feature article by Brand Channel. “A ninth annual Webby Award winner, the homepage of NewZealand.com is a vibrant blend of heritage and enterprise, with both tourism and…
For Love and Money
British male accountants are being lured to NZ with promises of work and women. According to top UK agency, Think Global Recruitment, the shortage of men in NZ has reached its highest level in…
Heading the Catalogue of Life
Dr David Penman has been elected chair of the governing board of the Global Biodiversity Information Facility, an international organization working to develop the world’s first free mega-database of all living organisms. The internet resource, which will help…
Black Caps Start as They Mean to Go On
The Black Caps made a fine start to their 2006 season, cruising to victory in the five-match ODI home series against Sri Lanka. NZ won the deciding third match at Jade Stadium by five wickets. Nathan…
Conference Finds Common Language
Hamilton hosted the World Indigenous Peoples Conference on Education in late November, an event which drew more than 3,000 attendees from all over the world. The delegation from North America’s Kodiak Island is keen…
Revved Up for ’06
2005 was an incredibly successful year for NZ motorsport, as TMC reports in its annual review. Two of the top three places in the world MX1 motocross championship were filled by New Zealanders, with…
Aoraki Off Limits?
Mt Cook (Aoraki) has provided yet another example of the effects of global warming, with local guides warning that visitors may no longer be able to climb its famed heights. “We had a very lean winter…
NZ in a Nutshell
A travel guide to NZ written for a Tennessee paper offers a brief overview of the country, focussing on geographical features and native flora and fauna. Cultural insight is offered by Travel NZ’s Bruce Lahood, who…
Gourmet Burger Kitchen
London’s Gourmet Burger Kitchen – the brainchild of three Kiwi entrepreneurs – is credited with starting the trend for fast food for the organic generation” in a lengthy Guardian piece. Now boasting 8 restaurants,…
Juggling juggernauts with local stories
NY Times piece entitled ‘Spunky NZ film Industry Takes on the Hollywood Juggernaut’ ponders the pros and cons of NZ’s bold new presence in the international film community. Interviewees such as director Vincent Ward…
Celluloid Fantasy Becomes a Reality
The number of Indian tourists travelling to NZ is on a definite increase according to an Express India article. 17,286 Indians visited Aotearoa in the year ending November 2005 – 11.5% more than the…
Billiards Hall of Famer
NZ billiard legend Rocky Lane has made the sport’s Internet Hall of Fame thanks to his undefeated world record in jump shooting. In October 2005 Lane cleared all 15 balls off the table in 14.16…
The many facets of King Kong
Peter Jackson’s King Kong graced the cover of the January issue of Cinefex, America’s premiere cinema effects magazine. Inside is a 45-page in depth look at the incredibly detailed digital, physical and emotional…
Metapsychology
Massey University PhD and Wairarapa philosopher Derek Mesler has been published by the MIT Press. The Act of Thinking is “the work of a mature, sophisticated and profound thinker who may just have written…
A Year for Remembrance
2006 has been designated “Year of the Veteran” by the NZ government,with an official launch planned for February. According to Veteran Affairs Minister, Rick Barker, the government will provide funds for community events to…
Spoiled for choice
Kiwi chef Rex Morgan takes Guardian food writer Jonathan Ray on a culinary tour of Queenstown. The eating extravaganza takes place at Morgan’s recently opened boutique hotel, The Spire (competitors will be “hard-pressed to…
Designs on Hyde
Palmerston North sculptor Paul Dibble is the winner of an NZ government sponsored competition to design a $3 million war memorial in London’s Hyde Park. Dibble’s design – developed in association with Athfield Architects of Wellington…
Brits Back Fat Freddy
Incessant European touring appear to have paid off for Wellington band Fat Freddy’s Drop. The dub/reggae/roots collective won worldwide album of the year at the annual BBC Radio 1 Gilles Peterson Worldwide Music Awards for their…
Keeping it Local
One of NZ’s most successful producers Tim White returned to work on Toa Fraser’s debut feature No.2. An Ilam graduate, White’s producing credits include Ned Kelly, Map of the Human Heart, Two Hands, Oscar…
A thing of wonder
Released in December, Peter Jackson’s King Kong has received near unanimous praise from critics and movie-goers around the world. “This new King Kong is a folie de grandeur with real grandeur; in its power,…
Pinot Lovers Unite
Wellington is to host its third Pinot Noir festival from January 31 to February 3 2007. 500 of the world’s leading Pinot Noir experts, producers and enthusiasts have been invited to the prestigious tri-annual event, which was…
Going All the Way
John Hood continues to shake the cloisters at Oxford University in his attempts, as Vice Chancellor, to secure the venerable institution’s status as an academic powerhouse for the 21st century. A former CEO with Fletcher Challenge…
A Glass a Day Won’t Keep the Doctor Away
NZ researchers have put a dampener on previous claims that drinking in moderation is good for the heart. According to Auckland University’s Dr Rod Jackson, the studies conducted in the 1970s and 80s were flawed and…
Chinese Opportunity
Fonterra has made the biggest ever investment in the Chinese dairy industry by a foreign company by purchasing a 43% stake in the Shijiazhuang San Lu Group for US$107 million. The San Lu Group produces powdered…
2005: Year of the All Black
The All Blacks’ decisive win over Scotland on December 2 made them the first NZ side since 1978 and the first team since Australia in 1984, to complete a “grand slam” of the UK and Irish…
Slipping Into Paradise
Auckland resident and former Californian, Jeffrey Masson, a psychoanalyst and ex-projects director of the Sigmund Freud archives, publishes in August his account of emigrating to New Zealand. Slipping Into Paradise, Why I Live in New Zealand encourages…
Kiwi Story Rings True in US
Roger Donaldson’s World’s Fastest Indian, with Sir Anthony Hopkins playing NZ motorcycle legend Burt Munro, has been largely praised in the US. Hollywood Reporter: “A pleasingly whimsical and slyly mischievous road movie that features…
Kiwi contributes to Anger canon
Auckland University graduate Alice Hutchison has written an internationally acclaimed book on cult 1960s filmmaker Kenneth Anger, the artist who many believed defined the Age of Aquarius with such iconic works as Invocation of…
Auckland to be Shia Centre
The International Shia Cultural and Human Rights Organization (ISCHRO) officially opened for business in Auckland on September 8. The Shia Muslim organization aims to propagate and facilitate Shia thought and culture and protect human…
Walker Ahead
Karen Walker’s most recent London show has been labelled one of the top five trend setting collections for 2006 by the world’s leading fashion forecast agency, WGSN. Walker’s fellow style leaders include current buzz…
Mt Roskill meets Utah… and the world
No.2, the debut feature film by playwright Toa Fraser, has been selected for competition at Sundance 26. Based on his award winning play of the same name, No.2 stars a mixture of international and local actors…
Sir Kenneth Reaches Zenith
NZ Supreme Court judge, Sir Kenneth Keith, has been elected to the UN’s World Court, the highest judicial authority in the world. The court, officially known as the International Court of Justice (ICJ), is…
A Victory for the Underdogs
Not to be outdone by their rugby union counterparts, NZ’s national rugby league side achieved a momentous Tri-Nations win against traditional rivals England and Australia. The BBC describes the NZ’s 24-0 victory over Australia in the…
South Sea Saga
Pamela Stephenson, NZ born psychologist, author and wife to comedian Billy Connolly, has published a book retracing the 19th century travels of Fanny and Robert Louis Stevenson. The Advertiser: ” loosely as the diary…
New Take on an Extraordinary Figure
Sir Edmund Hillary: An Extraordinary Life, a new authorized biography by art curator Alexa Johnston, has been well received both at home and abroad. According to Johnston, speaking in the Sunday Star Times,…
Nuclear Discussion Just That
NZ’s iconic 21-year-old nuclear ban has returned to the news, both as a sideline issue in the recent parliamentary elections, and through a National Power Union-commissioned white paper on the pros and cons of nuclear power….
Crash Claims Liquor Chiefs
NZ liquor innovator, Michael Erceg, was killed in early November when the helicopter he was piloting crashed south of Auckland. As the founder and managing director of Independent Liquor, Erceg was one of the country’s richest people. Grolsch…
Battle Cries
Even more upsetting than giving the World Cup to New Zealand or losing a match to the All Blacks currently seems to be facing their new “throat slitting” haka. British media are feverishly objecting to New…
Award in the Bag
The giant handbag-shaped tent used at the openings of Louis Vuitton mega-stores in Hong Kong, New York, Tokyo and Paris has won its NZ manufacturers an esteemed international design award. Fabric Shelter Systems (Whangarei)…
End of an Era
NZ lost its last WW1 veteran with the death of Victor “Bob” Rudd aged 104. Born in London in 1901, Rudd served with the British Army’s 9th Lancers regiment in the final…
Something old, something new
The internationally acclaimed NZ String Quartet made an impressive debut in Minneapolis, performing as part of the annual Music in the Part Series in St Paul. The Quartet’s program included the world premiere of NZ composer…
All Black Domination
The All Blacks have continued their domination of their Northern hemisphere tour with a 23-19 victory over England. Easy victories over Wales and Ireland were useful opportunities for trying out new playing combinations, but…
In Memoriam
18 NZ veterans attended the unveiling of a memorial commemorating NZ soldiers who served in the 1950-53 Korean War at the UN Memorial Cemetery in Busan. PM Helen Clark was also present. “I came…
Next Stop Commonwealth Games
NZ won the New South Wales 100m Relay Championship at Sydney Olympic Park on November 19, breaking a NZ national record in the process. Led by Olympic representative Chris Donaldson, the winning team also included Dallas…
The new jazz order
Stuart Nicholson, author of Is Jazz Dead (Or has it Moved to a new Address)?, names Kiwi Aron Ottignon as one of the six best new players on the international jazz scene. “Without anyone…
Five Million in the Stands
Despite widespread international media opinion that we would be out in the first round, New Zealand has won the bid to host the 2011 Rugby World Cup. After South Africa’s unexpected removal from the running, New…
On the Mark
The Guardian hails the rise and rise of Mark Baldwin, Fijian-born NZ-raised artistic director of London’s renowned Rambert Dance Company. After just three years in the job, Baldwin has significantly increased the Company’s…
Urban philosophy
Whangarei-born, Caboolture (Queensland)-raised, Keith Urban is the hottest country music sensation in the world. Urban won entertainer of the year and best male vocalist at the Country Music Association Awards broadcast from…
Golden Year for Silver Ferns
2005 has proved an incredible year for NZ netball, with the Silver Ferns winning all eight of their international tournaments. The latest came with a definitive Tri-Series victory over Jamaica and Barbados. “We certainly wanted to…
Hayley hits America
NZ’s popera diva, Hayley Westenra, has landed the coveted opening slot for Il Divo on their U.S tour early next year. Touring with the hit operatic boy band could provide the ideal opportunity…
Homeward Bound
The Glasgow City Council has officially returned the preserved heads of three unidentified Maori warriors to delegates from Te Papa Tongarewa. The moko mokai had variously been gifted to the Scottish city by collectors of antiquities…
A Winning Formula on and off the Field
Hyde Pride, Washington’s only all-African American school rugby side, has a Kiwi connection that extends beyond its game of choice. Established in 1999, the team at Hyde Leadership Public Charter School has been sponsored by the…
Would You Like Fries with that $25 Million?
Three Kiwi entrepreneurs have sold their hugely successful chain of UK burger restaurants for NZ$25.7 million. Greg Driscoll, Brandon Allen and Adam Wills opened the first Gourmet Burger Kitchen in Battersea, south London, in 2001. Similar…
Battle of Britain Hero
Group Captain Edward Preston “Hawkeye” Wells, one of the RAF’s most outstanding WWII pilots has died at the age of 89. Born in Cambridge (NZ) on 26 July 1916 and educated at Cambridge High School, Wells was called…
