Here’s to you Ms Hunter
Rachel Hunter subject of a Sky One documentary and two-part interview with The Sun in early August. She describes the documentary as an attempt to “draw a line under the whole Rod thing” and…
News of New Zealanders via Global Media
Wellington wordsmiths mash it up
Wellington authors Damien Wilkins and Elizabeth Knox have been nominated for the 2004 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. Their novels, Chemistry and Billie’s Kiss, are both in the running for a NZ$196,000 prize,…
Tanning Back in Fashion
Fish tanners in NZ, France, and Ireland are peddling their wares to the elite fashion houses of Europe, claiming that fish skin is as durable as crocodile and as strong as any man-made fibre….
Living Large
New research undertaken at Auckland University suggests that the tendency towards obesity occurs in the womb, rather than as a result of our remote-control society. The findings – recently published in the American Physiological Society journal -…
The D4: luring the young and hip
The sounds of Kiwi band The D4 are being used in an attempt to modernise the game of baseball in the US. Videos of The D4 and fellow rockers The Donnas and The Ataris…
Big Idea: Atomic Imagination
Sir Ernest Rutherford featured in an Independent story, ‘Dawn of the nuclear age.’ “No one has described the atom discovered by Rutherford better than the playwright Tom Stoppard: ‘Now make a fist, and if your fist is…
Ringing Up the Profit
Telecom NZ has made a NZ$703 million net profit for the past year, ending a four-year run of negative growth. The solid progress comes despite a troubled foray into the Australian market.
Alone He Stands
Christian Cullen’s signing to Irish side Munster after his exclusion from the 2003 All Black squad has created controversy at home and disbelief abroad. One person happy with the outcome is Munster rugby boss, Alan Gaffney, who…
Neill Keeps it Real
Sam Neill features alongside Sting, Cliff Richard, and Francis Ford Coppola in a Guardian story on celebrity vineyard-owners. Neill is described as one of the more down-to-earth of the bunch, who takes an active role in the…
Down Under Cowboy
NZ-born Keith Urban has been dubbed the new face of country music in the US. With his chiselled good looks, tattoos, and relatively loose jeans, Urban is doing for c&w blokes what Shania Twain…
Tukuitonga Joins WHO’s Who
Nieuean Colin Tukuitonga has resigned as NZ’s director of health to take up a post with the United Nations World Health Organisation. Tukuitonga, a former community health lecturer at Auckland University, will work in non-communicable diseases and…
Paramount Acquires Antipodean Direction
Andrew Dominick – the NZ-born director behind hit Aussie film Chopper – is soon to make his mark on the US movie scene. Dominick has been signed to develop and direct The Demolished Man…
Edge Therapies in Demand
Virionyx – the NZ company behind an experimental new AIDS drug – has been hired by two US organisations to develop therapies for diseases such as SARS. Said PM Helen Clark, at the opening of Virionyx’s…
First Nations Clean Sweep
The NZ Maori rugby team emerged victorious from their 3-match tour of Canada, beating the home side 52-11, 65-27, and 30-9. Between 1994 and 2001, the NZ Maori side have beaten 12 international teams, including England, Scotland,…
Edge: Intellectual Capital
NZ’s nano-tech Nobel laureate Alan MacDiarmid has been appointed to the newly created James Von Ehr Distinguished Chair in Science and Technology at The University of Texas at Dallas. “Alan MacDiarmid’s move to Dallas is an…
Bright Sparks and Smart Studs
A NZ company working in conjunction with Auckland University is set to revolutionise road safety technology. Harding Traffic Systems has developed battery-powered “smart studs” to replace the cat’s eyes currently marking roads around the world. The…
Walker Fesses Up
Karen Walker grilled in Australian Vogue about her annual wardrobe expenditure. “I spend about $10,000 a season on my own ranges and another couple of grand a year on shoes, plus loads of vintage….
Edge Meets Fringe
Kiwi comedy act, Flight of the Conchords, was dubbed the “unlikely hit” of this year’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival by the Guardian, and narrowly missed out on the event’s prestigious top award. The satirical folk…
Ka-Pai
Keisha Castle-Hughes continues to win over critics with her star-turn as Pai in Whale Rider. USA Today calls her “the discovery of the summer,” and the Miami Herald hails her performance as “the…
AJ Hackett: Boucing Tiger, Dancing Dragon
King of all things extreme, AJ Hackett, has led the first dragon dance walk across China’s 233m high Macao Tower. Hackett and a Chinese bungy enthusiast each led a team of dancers around the outer rim of…
NZ Says No to “Suckle Chuckle”
Apparently, the NZ public is “not ready” for the image of a breast-feeding man. The Ministry of Health vetoed an advertisement designed by the Women’s Health Action group in support of World Breastfeeding Week, stating that it…
Space, Time and Einstein
27-year-old Wellington university drop-out, Peter Lynds, claims to have solved a philosophical paradox which has baffled thinkers for 2,500 years. The broadcasting tutor has taken on such heavyweights as the Greek philosopher Zeno and Stephen…
Zealand of Approval
Waiheke retreat gets relaxed raves in Wallpaper: “There should be more lodges like Delamore. Abandoning the servere straight lines of urban architecture, this four-suite sanctuary is deliciously organic, setting off the rugged surroundings of Waiheke Island. All…
East-side story
Te Papa’s ‘Japonism’ exhibition reviewed in August’s Australian Vogue. A joint collaboration with the Kyoto Costume Institute, the show explores the influence of Japan on Western fashion from 1860 to the present. ‘Japonism’ -…
Goodshirt. Good music.
“Since blowing in from their native New Zealand last year with three hits (“Sophie”, “Blowing Dirt” and “Place to Be”), Goodshirt has emerged as one of our Antipodean cousins to watch. Unlike their countrymen…
Pure class
Promoting her international debut release on Decca, (the world’s largest classical label) prodigious Christchurch singing talent 16-yr old Hayley Westenra continues to charm. The album mixes Westenra’s sonorous voice with classical crossover pieces, choral,…
The Name Game
NZ pop-art exponent, Billy Apple (nee Barry George Bates,) listed alongside Odd Nerdrum, Hercules Fisherman, and Seymour Likely as one of the “unbeatable names in the art world.” Buy Billy Apple in the…
An edge rediscovered
Pacifier – the NZ band formerly known as Shihad – interviewed in the Age about their tour of wartime America. Says singer, Jon Toogood; “In hindsight, watching it all go on internally was really…
Cleaning up their act
The Las Vegas Sun applauds the arrival of Anthology – the collected works of Flying Nun legends, The Clean. “Two decades later the music still brims with the raw, lo-fi energy that helped usher…
International Bright Young Thing
Anna Paquin talks dogs, dorm-living, Degas and “living long distance” with the Independent. Currently studying art history – between films – at Columbia University, Paquin will next be seen alongside Joaquin Phoenix and Ed…
Unemployed at Risk
Research into suicide conducted by the Wellington School of Medicine has been published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health and reported on around the world. The findings – based on the NZ population for three…
For him (and her)
First we were treated to the infinite variety of feminine experience in The Vagina Monologues; now actress and playwright Geraldine Brophy has penned the masculine equivalent. She describes The Viagara Monologues – which opened…
Promoting Inter-polar Understanding
NZ Antarctic scientists are joining Bulgarian and American researchers at the Canadian high Arctic this year in a bid to exchange information about their respective poles. By pooling their findings, the scientists hope to better understand the…
Weta Digital Uncovered
The Wellington-based animation team behind the Lord of the Rings‘ award-winning visual effects were one of the main attractions at the annual Siggraph exhibition in San Diego, California. Established in the 1970s, Siggraph is…
Kiwi snaps up award
NZer Antony Rieck was named Photographer of the Year at the annual Florida Association of the American Institute of Architects design awards held on August 2. Rieck, who has a background in structural engineering…
The everyman of pop
NZ-born pop star, Daniel Bedingfeld, shares his thoughts on friends, family, and musical inspiration in an interview with the Guardian. An artist of chameleon-like musical abilities, Bedingfeld has been likened to everyone from Craig…
Clark, Kissinger and South Korea
PM Helen Clark was the keynote speaker at the 50th anniversary celebrations of the end of the Korean War held in South Korea in July. At a luncheon held in her honour, President Roh Moo Hyun described…
You Won’t Need a Blanket
Australia’s Sunday Telegraph stays at a hi-end bach: “Welcome to Blanket Bay, a spectacular lakeshore lodge hideaway 40 minutes’ drive north from Queenstown. It’s the paradise dream retreat of Tom Tusher, former worldwide president and CEO of…
Charting the Edge
Sydney’s Morning Herald publishes its 2003 top-10 lists for global rovers with Aotearoa again destination du jour. The chart toppers – Wine: Marlborough (“with its combination of bush, mountains and coastline … Cloudy Bay, Cairnrae and Allan…
The Bomb Stays Banned
July marked the 30th anniversary of “what was probably the first state-sponsored Ban the Bomb protest” – NZ PM Norman Kirk’s diplomatic and symbolic attack on the French government. In outrage at continued nuclear testing by France…
NZer to Head World Bank
Banker John Austin has been appointed to the helm of the Washington-based World Bank (one of the world’s largest sources of financial assistance for developing countries). Austin has resigned from his current position, as head of private…
Sydney set in stone
Wellington-born Sydney Goodsir Smith is to join the ranks of Scottish poets immortalised in stone outside Edinburgh’s Writer’s Museum. The Makars’ Court attraction is the Scottish equivalent of Westminster Abbey’s Poets Corner, and features…
Silver Ferns Strike Gold
The New Zealand Silver Ferns netball team emphatically shrugged off a decade of being netball’s bridesmaids to beat arch rivals Australia 49 – 47 and win the World Champion title in Jamaica. “Finally,” said relieved Silver Fern’s…
Fast and Furious Springbok Safari
The All Blacks thrashed South Africa 52 – 16 in the Tri-Nations opener in the high velt fortress of Loftus Versfeld. It was South Africa’s worst home defeat with the ABs producing a fine display of…
Once Were Panelbeaters
NZ’s 2003 “Rich List” is headed by billionaire businessman Graeme Hart, who last year accomplished a daring takeover of Australian food giant, Goodman Fielder. Hart was the subject of the Australian headline; ‘Once were panelbeaters, now cashed-up Kiwis.’…
Ted Man Walking
Kiwi baritone Teddy Tahu Rhodes is the Weekend Australian’s cover-boy for his lead role in opera Dead Man Walking, which opens shortly at Adelaide’s Festival Theatre. The opera is based on the story of…
An Eye for Beauty
NZer David Lennie is behind a recent renaissance of works by late Australian fabric designer, Florence Broadhurst. As a director of Signature Prints, Lennie discovered an extraordinary collection of Broadhurst’s work from the 196s…
Cloudy Bay’s Silver Lining
Japan’s Daily Yomiuri tracks the stellar career of NZ’s best known vineyard – Cloudy Bay – in a feature on summery Sauvignons. “NZ zapped into the spotlight in 1985 with Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc. The wine…
Third Culturist Boyd nets Nabokov
Brian Boyd-edited Nabokov’s Butterflies, an exploration of Nabokov’s obsession with butterflies that posits Nabokov’s scientific pursuit of lepidoptry as a way of understanding the author more completely, hailed as third culture exemplar in…
A View from Down Under
A forum for ex-pat NZ, Australian, and South African amateur filmmakers living in London – the UpOverDownUnder film festival – is now in its third year. Over that time, the festival has…
Sarah-Kate Lynch’s Sure-to-rise Kitchen
Ex-NZ Women’s Weekly editor, Sarah-Kate Lynch, interviewed in Canada’s National Post about her first novel – Blessed are the Cheesemakers. The tale of a cheese-making couple and their musical cows has been optioned by…
Land of the long black shadow
The Stedelijk Museum curated Colin McCahon retrospective – ‘A Question of Faith’ – reviewed in the Weekend Australian, prior to its opening at the Ian Potter Centre in Melbourne’s Federation Square. Critic Susan McCulloch:…
Soul Sister
NZ-born Carla Werner’s debut album – Departure – proves a moving experience for New York Daily News reviewer, Jim Farber. ” have a compellingly confessional quality … Werner sounds most like a female…
Legalised Lovin’
A new law has been proposed to grant NZ gay and lesbian partners the same rights as those enjoyed by married heterosexual couples. The Civil Union Bill – which is to be voted on later this year…
Datsuns apply the brakes
The Datsuns made their debut appearance at Ozzfest in July – looking, in their words, like a group of “Nancy-boys” amidst a sea of metal. Rolling Stone had a more favourable outlook, describing the…
The Poetry of Exile
Displaced artists and writers from around the world gathered at Auckland University in July for a 3-day conference examining the link between exile and creativity. Organised by Professor Mike Hanne and officially opened by…
