Wine | Scotsman (The)
17 August 2003
Lawson’s Dry Hills Sauvignon Blanc scored the highest overall marks for a white wine in the Scotsman‘s high-altitude taste test. In conjunction with 6 international airlines, the Scotsman and a panel of expert judges sought out…
Film & TV | Independent (The)
30 July 2003
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…
Rugby | Rugby Heaven
20 July 2003
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…
Writers | Australian (The)
19 July 2003
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…
Theatre | Sydney Morning Herald (The)
16 June 2003
NZ performers feature strongly in Sydney’s highly anticipated production of The Lion King. Vincent Harde plays the lead role of Simba, with Water Rats star Jay Laga’aia as his on-stage father, Mufasa. The Disney…
Motorsports | mcnews.com.au
15 June 2003
Australian-based NZer, Stefan Merriman, earned his third motorcycle world title at the World Enduro Championship in Skovda, Sweden. It was his second world title win in the 250cc two-stroke class. Merriman now ranks as Australia’s second most…
Visual Arts | Australian (The) | Mambo
12 June 2003
NZ-born Mambo creative and ex-Mental as Anything guitarist Reg Mombassa turns his satiric talents to serious effect for Isle of Refuge, a show of 13 high-profile Australian artists protesting the treatment of refugees. “I felt…
Wine | Observer (The)
8 June 2003
NZ wines rate highly in Tim Atkin’s list of ‘summer corkers’ at their peak of drinkability. 2002 Villa Maria Private Bin Sauvignon Blanc: “I’ve never tasted a better vintage of this intense, guava, gooseberry and mango-like South…
Business | the Gulf
5 June 2003
NZ company Airways International is currently overseeing expansion plans for Iran’s Qeshm International Airport. “Strategically located in the Straits of Hormuz, in close proximity to Iran, the Gulf countries and Central Asia, Qeshm Island has a vast…
Sport General | Salt Lake Tribune
1 June 2003
Three-time NZ Ironman champion, Cameron Brown, has won the Utah Half-Ironman Triathlon, beating Sweden’s Bjorn Andersson by just 6 seconds. Says Brown; “I didn’t think I was going to win it, but I just put my…
Wine | winemagazine.co.uk
22 May 2003
Sacred Hill Wines earned a gold medal for their Helmsman Cabernet Merlot 2000 at the renowned London International Wine Challenge. Chief winemaker Tony Bish sees the award as proof that “Hawke’s Bay, indeed NZ, continues to produce outstanding…
Sport General | Age (The)
18 May 2003
NZ athletes made a strong showing at the track World Cup held in Sydney last month – boding well for the coming world championships. Cycling star Sarah Ulmer won the women’s 3,000m individual pursuit, and the men’s…
Theatre | Victoria Times
9 May 2003
NZ ballet export Bebe Eversfield profiled in the Victoria Times. Now 78, Eversfield won a government scholarship to study at London’s prestigious Sadler’s Wells Company (now the Royal Ballet) and made her Albert Hall…
Nature | Sydney Morning Herald (The)
7 May 2003
Native rats (kiore) on Little Barrier Island were saved from a scheduled DOC extermination by local tribe Ngatiwai, who claimed them as taonga. The rats, now almost extinct on mainland NZ, pose a threat to tuatara…
General | Belfast Telegraph
5 May 2003
Ex-pat Kiwi Richard Stevens likes to do more than his bit for charity. The Belfast resident hopes to raise £2,000 for the Save the Rhinos fund by running both the Belfast and London marathons…
Science/Tech | Hoovers
18 April 2003
The GE debate steps up a notch as the government prepares to lift its current moratorium on modified organisms. A commissioned financial projection of the pros and cons of going GE (by Business and Economic Research Ltd)…
Film & TV | Variety Magazine
29 March 2003
Watch out Sky Tower: Peter Jackson is to direct a remake of King Kong for Universal Pictures. The epic production will be filmed on location in NZ and released globally in 2005. Says an…
Sport General | USA Today
24 March 2003
Aucklander Kirk Penney is one of the brightest stars on the American college basketball circuit. Penney captains and is the highest point-scorer for the Wisconsin Badgers, a team he has lead into the top 16. A…
Film & TV | Financial Express (The)
15 March 2003
The Taj Palace Hotel in Delhi held a NZ food festival in honour of The Two Towers‘ Indian release. The event, organised by the NZ Trade Commission, aimed to win the hearts of…
Sport General | Age (The)
9 March 2003
16-year-old New Zealander Chris Pither came second in the Formula Ford Track Attack at Albert Park, Melbourne. Pither has been racing since the age of seven, and already has three national karts titles to his credit….
Magazine
31 January 2003
Edge Message #59 from Brian Sweeney, producer NZEDGE.COM
TO NEW ZEALAND EDGE GLOBAL COMMUNITY
Welcome to 2003 from the edge. As unsettling winds blow globally, the Aotearoa advantage and geography has never been so prescient….
New Zealand | Observer (The)
26 January 2003
NZ waters crop up three times in the Observer‘s list of the world’s best scuba spots. Hauraki Reef and Kaikoura Canyon are recommended for mammal enthusiasts, while a night-dive at Rikoriko Cave (Poor Knights Islands) comes with…
Writers | Guardian (The)
24 January 2003
Chad Taylor’s Electric continues to receive great press from leading reviewers. Guardian: “The hypnotic pull of Taylor’s story lies in the zigzag dance of its forlorn characters, casting a murky, uneasy sense of doom….
Film & TV | Sydney Morning Herald (The)
5 January 2003
“For the first time in a century, Hollywood was beaten in the big budget fantasy stakes. Jackson and his team delivered better special effects and better story-telling in what could be the new millennium’s…
Music | NME | Scotsman (The)
3 January 2003
The Datsuns’ popularity in the U.K shows no signs of diminishing. The boys from Cambridge took out Best Live Band at the New Musical Express annual showcase of rock’s best. Other winners included…
Taste | Business Day
6 December 2002
Business Day gives Ray McVinnie’s latest cook book a review good enough to eat. The Modern Cook is more than “a series of mouth-watering recipes,” it also builds one recipe upon the next in…
Wine | Guardian (The) | Which? Magazine
5 December 2002
Deutz Marlborough Cuvee beat Bollinger, Moet & Chandon, and Veuve Cliquot in a blind-tasting by seven British bubbly experts. Which? magazine organised the test, asking local supermarkets and high-end liquor stores to submit the best of their respective…
Film & TV | Toronto Star
4 December 2002
Anna Paquin joins an ensemble cast including Edward Norton and Philip Seymour Hoffman in Spike Lee’s latest film, The 25th Hour. Advance screenings of the (typically) dark drama have sparked talk of likely Oscar nominations.
Media | Hoovers
4 November 2002
“New Zealanders watching the latest batch of car advertisements on Australian television could be excused for thinking they were back at home.” Rugged and diverse, NZ terrain is the showcase of choice for the…
Education | Scotsman (The)
30 October 2002
Ken Ring has taken his own special brand of mathematics to the UK. The former teacher is now president of the New Zealand Society of Magicians – a career change reflected in his “eccentric approach to…
Politics and Economics | Times (The)
30 October 2002
In a letter to the Times, ex-PM Jim Bolger cites the role of water in global tensions. Warning against letting War on Terror overshadow basic human needs, Bolger advocates a government-led promotion of water conservation and efficiency:…
Media | Arts & Letters Daily | Chronicle of Higher Education (The) | Lingua Franca | Sydney Morning Herald (The)
14 October 2002
“If the internet could express emotions, a collective groan of despair would have filtered through a quarter of a million modems with the sudden closure of a site called Arts & Letters Daily.”…
Media | Advertising Age
23 September 2002
The latest US advertising campaign for the Toyota 4Runner sport utility centres on scaling the rugged heights of Mt Everest. The Saatchi & Saatchi production uses NZ icon Sir Ed Hillary in its bid…
Watersports | World Rowing Championships | worldrowing.com
21 September 2002
Living up to expectations, Georgina and Caroline Evers-Swindell powered to gold at the 2002 World Rowing Championships in Seville, continuing a strong lineage of NZ international rowing achievement. Winning comfortably, the twins knocked more than three seconds…
Wine | Guardian (The)
14 September 2002
Special mention is given in Malcolm Gluck’s wine column to the “spectacular” Wither Hills 2002 Sauvignon Blanc: “a beguiling sauvignon blanc of mouthwatering scrumptiousness.” The 2000 vintage was NZ’s most awarded sauvignon ever – could 2002 go…
Film & TV | Guardian (The)
13 September 2002
It is official: NZ is the most popular long-haul destination for Britons. From January to June, a record 228,000 British travelers visited – 8.9% more than in 2001. The Guardian puts the increase down…
Education | Guardian (The)
10 September 2002
The Guardian survey of international universities commends the NZ government’s ” in higher education and research,” noting “Blairite” Helen Clarke’s role in making “the culture at large more research-friendly.” As a result, student numbers in…
Rugby | Sydney Morning Herald (The)
9 September 2002
“Kiwis break a few hearts.” The New Zealand Warriors continue an impressive NRL season by finishing top of the table and taking out the minor pemiership (and a $100,000 bonus for the club) – meaning…
New Zealand | New York Times (The)
8 September 2002
Writer Luba Vangelova takes a road trip up the “stunningly beautiful” east coast of the North Island – a journey described as “temporal as well as geographical.” Vangelova muses over the locals who ” the lost days…
Rugby | Sydney Morning Herald (The)
6 August 2002
The heart-stopping (breaking?) Bledisloe battles are becoming enshrined in Ocker sporting lore: “Once, Australians could rattle off virtually every ball of an Ashes cricket series. Now it is Bledisloe Cup rugby.” According to Spiro Zavos, the battle…
Visual Arts | Stedelijk
31 July 2002
“He is the first important painter in that part of the world.” The Netherlands’ Stedelijk Museum is to hold the Western hemisphere’s first major retrospective of Colin McCahon’s work. “What at first sight…
Opera | McDonald's Operatic Aria
21 July 2002
NZ tenor Benjamin Makisi won the prestigious McDonald’s Operatic Aria in Sydney after making the finals three years running. He intends to put his NZ$41,110 prize money towards enrolment in a European opera studio….
Politics and Economics | Australian (The)
20 July 2002
Greg Sheridan, using some sobering cliches, gives his views on the trans-Tasman relationship: as well as comparing NZ to Tasmania he invokes ghosts of ANZUS past and our “unreliable” unwillingness to join Australia in Pax-Americana, as reasons…
Science/Tech | World News
12 July 2002
NZ and US scientists in Antarctica recently celebrated the centenary of the first midwinter stopover by British explorers. Fun and games included swimming naked in an ice hole and hurling a (frozen) turkey in Scottish Highland-style games….
Music | Verve
31 May 2002
Jazz has been described as the “original dance music” and one of the genre’s legendary labels, Verve, has dipped into its vaults and commissioned new mixes for contemporary dancefloors. Kiwi Mark de Clive Lowe…
Writers | Sydney Morning Herald (The) | Washington Post
19 April 2002
“The literary traffic across the Tasman isn’t as brisk as it should be. Much good writing has to come from Auckland or Wellington to Australia by way of publication in London; and New Zealand…
Film & TV | Sydney Morning Herald (The)
13 April 2002
The SMH finds Tem Morrison carrying the antipodean banner in the new Star Wars blockbuster, Episode II: Attack of the Clones – the latest installment of George Lucas’s epic fantasy: “The best…
Rugby | Guardian (The) | Observer (The)
7 April 2002
Irish club side Munster’s shut-out 12-0 defeat of the 1978 All Blacks proclaimed by Observer Sport Monthly as the tenth greatest shock in sport’s history. Munster playwright James Breen (Alone It Stands – about the events surrounding…
Film & TV | Bay Area Daily | Guardian (The) | iTV
29 March 2002
Tourists lured by LotR: “Too bad they don’t give Oscars for ‘best supporting landmass’. If they did New Zealand’s role in Lord of the Rings would have swept that award”, reports travel editor Anne…
Film & TV | Entertainment News Daily
27 March 2002
LA film producers look to the edge for inspiration in an attempt to reverse the trend of productions increasingly being shot in foreign locations to cut costs: “Los Angeles is not like Wellington”, says…
Magazine
15 March 2002
Edge Message #51 from Brian Sweeney, producer NZEDGE.COM
TO NEW ZEALAND EDGE GLOBAL COMMUNITY
PUBLISHED TODAY:
Kiwi sharpness on show in the world’s
online media
/category/newzedge/
(72 items and links, see more below)
Edgy opinion and affirmation in the NZEDGE…
Film & TV | Observer (The)
16 February 2002
“Are Tim Bevan (43) and Eric Fellner (41) the most powerful London-based film producers in history? As Working Title (of which they are co-chairmen) is responsible for Bridget Jones’s Diary, Billy…
New Zealand | Seattle Times
10 February 2002
The Southern Alps. The Tongariro volcanoes. The Fiordland rain forest. “There is something archetypal about the scenery here, as though someone copied the planet’s most distinctive landscapes and jammed them all on two islands….New Zealand is the…
Theatre | Age (The)
6 February 2002
Applauded young Aotearoa actress Madeleine Sami, dodges questions about her involvement with Rings star Elijah Woods (“we kind of hung out and went to the movies a bit”), a day after Woods confesses he’s…
Watersports | crash-b.org
1 February 2002
Competing on an indoor erg (affectionately known as the ‘love trolley) Georgina Evers-Swindell wins the Crash-B World Indoor Rowing Championship with a time 0.6 sec off her world record. The win caps off a huge year…
Business | Sydney Morning Herald (The)
1 February 2002
NZ-born Sam Chisholm, the man who spent more time in the boxing ring than class room at King’s College, who then went on to become deal maker and right hand man for both Kerry Packer and Rupert…