Blog Archives

Edge Treatment for Classic Americana

Edge Treatment for Classic Americana

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, the new film by director Andrew Dominik, earned four stars out of five in The Guardian. “This is a real success for New Zealand-born,…

Nearing perfection

Nearing perfection

The Guardian‘s guide to the world’s greatest music acts beginning with C features Flying Nun luminaries The Chills. The band’s 1994 best-of, Heavenly Pop Hits, is recommended to first-time listeners. The Guardian: “Set…

Fashion writer swaps stilettos for saddles

Fashion writer swaps stilettos for saddles

Well-known NZ fashion reporter Stacy Gregg has turned her hand to writing children’s fiction. Gregg, a keen horse rider as a young woman, noticed a gap in the market for well written pony…

Champion Red

Champion Red

Central Otago vineyard Bald Hills has continued its remarkable winning streak with three more major international awards for its 2005 Pinot Noir. The wine beat 4,760 other entries to take the Champion Red award at the International…

Passchendaele Remembered

Passchendaele Remembered

NZ and Australian leaders led commemorations at the 90th anniversary of the battle of Passchendaele in Belgium this month. PM Helen Clark and Australian Governor General Michael Jeffery paid tribute to the 10,000 ANZAC…

World Environment Day in Wellington

World Environment Day in Wellington

Wellington is to host World Environment Day 2008, the UN Environment Program has announced. The focus of next year’s global celebrations will be encouraging countries, companies and communities to “Kick the habit” and make…

NZ Commits to Climate Change Cause

NZ Commits to Climate Change Cause

NZ will introduce a carbon trading scheme next year in a bid to cap greenhouse gas emissions at the lowest possible cost to the economy. Under the plan, every industry will be allocated an agreed level…

Designing Women

Designing Women

New Zealand Herald writer Fiona Hawtin reports on the unique nature of the NZ fashion scene for the International Herald Tribune. “Of the 45 labels showing at the seventh New Zealand Fashion Week ……

Back to baddies

Back to baddies

Russell Crowe has impressed critics with his latest role in 3:10 to Yuma. After a string of less successful films, Crowe is back to what he does best: playing “the charming baddie”. A remake…

Pluto: Long White Cross

Pluto: Long White Cross

The video for Pluto’s track, Long White Cross, from their 2005 Album Pipeline Under the Ocean.

Marathon Medal Prospect

Marathon Medal Prospect

Auckland runner Nina Rillstone finished third in the New York City Half-Marathon, just seconds behind Kenyans Hilda Kibet and Catherine Ndereba. The NZ record holder made a career best time of 1:10:35 – three seconds…

Design Mobel Goes Global

Design Mobel Goes Global

Tauranga bed and furniture maker Design Mobel has launched the first of its Okooko global concept stores in Wellington and Hong Kong, with more to follow in the US later this year. Okooko stores integrate award…

Wet Win in Vancouver

Wet Win in Vancouver

Whangarei triathlete Samantha Warriner has won the US $100,000 BG Triathlon World Cup in Vancouver, clawing back from 20th place to beat American Sarah Haskins and Australian Erin Densham in wet and cold conditions. “The rain coming…

Killer opportunity

Killer opportunity

Annie Crummer has been handpicked by the surviving members of Queen to sing on the remake of their best-selling single Another One Bites the Dust. The NZ singer caught the attention of Brian…

Finn spreads the word

Finn spreads the word

Tim Finn talks about future recordings with brother, Neil, being made an Officer of the British Empire, and the recent spate of band reunions (Spilt Enz and Crowded House included) in an interview with…

Ideas of abstraction

Ideas of abstraction

New York’s Esso Gallery in Chelsea’s West 26th Street, is holding a second solo exhibition by Auckland artist Julian Dashper. Titled The Abstract Office, the exhibition is a broad survey of Dashper’s work from…

Ice Blacks Perform Haka on Ice

Ice Blacks Perform Haka on Ice

The New Zealand Ice Blacks perform a Haka on ice during the 2007 World Championships.

Big pond, big promise

Big pond, big promise

Wellington singer/songwriter Brooke Fraser relocated to Sydney three years ago, hoping to create an Australian following to rival the one she enjoys back home. In NZ, Fraser’s first album – What to do…

Writing in the margins

Writing in the margins

Auckland writer Tzeming Mok spoke about globalization and the Chinese Diaspora at last month’s Shanghai Literature Festival. Mok, a published poet, author, blogger and journalist, is known for writing about issues of displacement, with…

Legend of The Bear Lives On

Legend of The Bear Lives On

NZ car racing great Denny Hulme was the subject of a retrospective article on the sport in the Guardian. Known as The Bear for his rugged looks and gruff manner, Hulme dominated Formula One…

Impossible is Nothing to Lomu

Impossible is Nothing to Lomu

All Black legend Jonah Lomu is one of 21 elite athletes to feature in the latest advertising campaign by Adidas. Titled Impossible is Nothing, the series shows internationally recognised sports figures discussing how they overcame adversity in their…

Ten Years of Te Reo

Ten Years of Te Reo

Te Kohanga Reo o Ranana in London is celebrating its tenth anniversary this year. The centre was established in 1997 by a group of parents who wanted their children to retain their NZ…

Everest Round Two

Everest Round Two

NZ innovation could conquer Everest for a second time thanks to the invention of an unmanned helicopter capable of rescuing stricken climbers from its summit. Auckland-based company TGR Helicorp has spent six years developing the Alpine Wasp,…

Astle Bows Out

Astle Bows Out

Nathan Astle has retired from international cricket as one of NZ’s most successful ever batsmen, just six months before the 2007 World Cup. In his twelve year career he has accumulated a total of 11,792 Test…

Kahurangi in Kuala Lumpur

Kahurangi in Kuala Lumpur

The Kahurangi Maori Dance Theatre will celebrate Waitangi Day in Kuala Lumpur, performing at the Malaysia-New Zealand Cultural Extravaganza. Founded by Tama Huata in 1983, Kahurangi has showcased the songs and dances of the…

Don’t Dream it’s Over

Don’t Dream it’s Over

A new album and world tour by Crowded House, has made headlines across the globe. According to chief songwriter Neil Finn, he and bass player Nick Seymour have been considering regrouping since the tragic death of…

Bay of Wonders

Bay of Wonders

The LA Times offers a brief guide to NZ’s Bay of Islands, home to “some of the best scenery in the country.” Visitors are advised to check out the arts and crafts centres at Kerikeri, take…

Kilgour flies solo

Kilgour flies solo

David Kilgour of seminal Flying Nun band the Clean has launched a new solo album entitled The Far Now. “The songs sprung into my lap and pretty much decided how they wanted to…

Icebreakers Canadian Connection

Icebreakers Canadian Connection

Nova Scotias Chronicle Herald reveals a NZ business success storys Canadian connection. Jeremy Moons outdoor clothing company Icebreaker enjoys CA$100 million in annual retail sales, largely thanks to its revolutionary merino wool thermal underwear. Icebreaker and…

San Diegans fall for NZ designs

San Diegans fall for NZ designs

Christine Nottingham and Andrea Peach have opened a gallery-cum-store in San Diego to showcase designs by established and emerging artists from their native NZ. Moana Design on Solana Beach features works by glass…

Nevis Bungy Queenstown

Nevis Bungy Queenstown

Watch this video of the 134 metre bungy, Nevis, in Queenstown.

Let Them Wear Possum

Let Them Wear Possum

The Independent reports on NZ’s thriving (and environmentally kosher) possum fur trade. “Elsewhere, designers who work with fur earn the wrath of animal rights activists. But in New Zealand, they are considered national heroes.” Imported from Australia…

Beautiful on the Inside Too

Beautiful on the Inside Too

Novelist Emily Perkins points out the lesser-known urban pleasures to be found in her NZ homeland in a travel feature for the Observer. It is the latest in a line of “yes, but…” travel features on NZ,…

Loving the lovemarks

Loving the lovemarks

An Australian is looking to NZ for inspiration in re-branding itself at home and abroad; hoping to shed its “where the bloody hell are you” ocker image by emphasising its sporting culture, vibrant food…

Moko Takes to US Streets

Moko Takes to US Streets

The sale of Maori themed Halloween costumes by an American store has angered Maori leaders. Halloween Town in Los Angeles is advertising the Maori Facial Tattoo Kit for $US10. Rotorua academic Ngahihi o te ra…

Imitation, Inspiration or Appropriation?

Imitation, Inspiration or Appropriation?

2006 has seen a rash of advertising and design taking inspiration – with varying degrees of offensiveness – from Maori art and culture. An Italian ad for the Fiat Idea showing a group of…

Itinerant observer

Itinerant observer

Groundbreaking NZ anthropologist, Michael Jackson, currently Visiting Professor in World Religions at Harvard Divinity School, has released his memoirs. Titled The Accidental Anthropologist, the book details his nomadic lifestyle since leaving NZ as…

Wonder of the Natural World Reborn

Wonder of the Natural World Reborn

Rotorua’s famed Pink and White Terraces – destroyed in the 1886 Mt Tarawera eruption – are being replicated 8km away at Wairakei by businessman Jim Hall. The original staircase-like tiers of pink and…

Right Royal Exposure

Right Royal Exposure

The Queen’s official 80th birthday was marked in suitably sumptuous fashion, with a 4-course lunch at Mansion House for more than 350 guests. The four British chefs charged with overseeing the dinner won the honour after competing…

Big fish, little fish

Big fish, little fish

Bic Runga talks about her new album, Birds, her “secret little country,” and being a big fish in a small pond in The Guardian. The biggest selling solo artist of all time in NZ,…

Highest Honour for Top Brass

Highest Honour for Top Brass

Retired Air Marshal Bruce Reid Ferguson, NZ’s former Chief of Defence Force, has been awarded Singapore’s highest military honour. The Darjah Utama Bakti Cemerlang Tentera, or Distinguished Service Order, Military, was awarded to Air…

Weldon in Class and on Screen

Weldon in Class and on Screen

NZ raised novelist Fay Weldon has signed on to teach creative writing at Brunel University, as part of the UK institution’s new MA course. The prolific writer of bestsellers including Puff Ball, Praxis and…

On show in Soho

On show in Soho

Out From Down Under and Beyond: an Exhibition of Fine Art from Australia and New Zealand is currently showing at the Agora Gallery in Soho, New York. Helga Windle (pictured) from Buller, West…

Welcomed to the fold

Welcomed to the fold

Wellington band Recloose earned a positive plug in the Hamstead & Highgate after a packed gig at the Jazz CafÈ. Recloose was formed around the Detroit born producer/DJ of the same name,…

For Love and Money

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…

The many facets of King Kong

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…

South Sea Saga

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…

Hayley hits America

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…

Golden Year for Silver Ferns

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…

Kong is coming

Kong is coming

Wired magazine’s October issue features a lavish 16-page look at Peter Jackson’s remake of King Kong, due to hit cinemas this December. Wired examines the greatly anticipated film through an…

Message in a vessel

Message in a vessel

NZ sculptor Roger Thompson is one of 400 artists from 65 different countries exhibiting at the second annual Beijing International Art Biennale. His Cultural Vessels/Amphoric Triptych is a collection of three containers representing…

Less is More

Less is More

In a study released by the World Bank, New Zealand has been named the most business-friendly nation in the world. The study ranked 155 countries and was based on classic American assumptions of economic success, like…

Keith Urban up for US music awards

Keith Urban up for US music awards

Country music star Keith Urban has four nominations at this year’s Country Music Association Awards. Urban is up for entertainer of the year, male vocalist of the year, album of the year for…

Triumph of Nature

Triumph of Nature

Cairo magazine writer admires NZ’s greatest natural resource – the landscape itself – in a hiking tour of NZ. “Once we finally got it was easy to imagine what it had once…

Hot Spots Outed

Hot Spots Outed

“Scenic, comfortable and tolerant, NZ has always been an attractive destination for gay and lesbian travellers. In recent times things have been getting even better, with gay venues and activities popping up like drag queens in a…

Wilding at heart (2)

Wilding at heart (2)

A stylish black and white music video by LA-based nzer Anna Wilding (and relative of Wimbledon chamption Anthony Wilding) reached final competition of the first ever Los Angeles Femme Festival held in…