Tag Archives: USA Today

Campion speaks out for women in film

Campion speaks out for women in film

Jane Campion has spoken out about the lack of female filmmakers while being honoured for her own achievements at the Cannes Film Festival. The New Zealander was one of 35 high-profile directors – the…

Dining With Giants

Dining With Giants

Canterbury University Professor of Philosophy and Arts & Letters Daily founder, Denis Dutton, was invited to the White House Press Correspondents’ Annual Dinner, as a guest of The Washington Post. The black tie event – a celebrity…

Greenbacks for green ogre

Greenbacks for green ogre

Shrek 2 (directed by Kiwi Andrew Adamson) confounded US box office analysts by taking an incredible US$104.3 million on its first weekend of release – $20 million more than predicted. This makes it the…

Stars in the Making

Stars in the Making

NZ athletes contributed to an international domination of America’s National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Indoor Championships in mid-March. Kim Smith – running for Providence – lapped all but one of her competitors in the 5,000m, breaking a…

Making the cut, taking a break

Making the cut, taking a break

Jane Campion has been welcomed back by cinema critics and audiences after a 4 year break between films, with her harrowing thriller/love story, In the Cut. USA Today describes the film as…

Flat-out Fouhy Takes Kayak World Champ Gold

Flat-out Fouhy Takes Kayak World Champ Gold

NZ’s Ben Fouhy won the individual 1,000m kayaking event at the flat-water world championships held in the US last month, qualifying him for the 2004 Athens Olympics. Trained by NZ Olympic legend Ian Ferguson, he raced…

Aquada, Bond Aquada, 0064

Aquada, Bond Aquada, 0064

International media attention was lavished on The Thames, London, for the launch of NZ-entrepreneur Alan Gibb’s revolutionary Aquada (inspired by inventor Terry Roycroft’s design innovations). The James Bond-style sports vehicle with the amphibian edge can reach up to…

Ka-Pai

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…

Dinner at the Gates

Dinner at the Gates

Telecom NZ head, Theresa Gattung, was in attendance at Microsoft’s 7th annual CEO summit held at Microsoft’s HQ in suburban Redmond, USA. She joined a high-powered collective, including Warren Buffet, Ross Perot, Bank One’s Jamie Dimon and…

Captain Kirk

Captain Kirk

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…

The (Edge) Spirit of a Sailor

The (Edge) Spirit of a Sailor

USA Today ponders Kiwi dominance of the America’s Cup. “No matter that the boats will fly the flags of Switzerland and the United States. The men at the helm are Kiwis, New Zealanders, “mates.” Kiwis are…

The blink and you’ll miss him sex symbol

The blink and you’ll miss him sex symbol

“Lord of the extras: Elfin charmer nets fans.” A pout like that and musical and comedic talent! Wellington musician Bret McKenzie (The Black Seeds, Flight of the Conchords) has found internet fame via…

Oscar front-runner

Oscar front-runner

“Oscar is no great fan of fantasy. But the Lord of the Rings, with such Oscar heavyweights as Ian McKellen and Ian Holm, may carry enough high-class baggage to over come that prejudice”.

The Land of the Rings

The Land of the Rings

“The first thing I thought when Peter showed me the pictures of the locations in New Zealand was: this is Middle-earth,” says Elijah Woods. “I mean, it has every sort of geographical, geological formation…

More to Crowe About

More to Crowe About

Russell Crowe excels on the screen, and now with his band 30-odd Foot of Grunts he is tackling the music scene as well. The bands first album, Bastard Life of Clarity, was released this month.

Touch of Class

Touch of Class

German band ATC’s Around the World (La La La La La) is big in Germany, but hasn’t hit New Zealand yet, home of singer “Joe”. 

Raw Deal

Raw Deal

Choose New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc to match raw oysters – and everything else.  

Vertical Exhilaration

Vertical Exhilaration

NZ-filmed and directed Vertical Limit goes public. The scenery scores universal acclaim: Ottawa Citizen, Chicago Sun-Times, USA Today, ctnow, entertainmentnewsdaily, National Post, Chicago Tribune, the Star, Washington Post. Scott Glen battled Mt Cook, the…

New Zealandese?

New Zealandese?

“‘They’re fighting the 300-pound gorilla. Good on them,’ said Mark de Frere, a marketing manager for Advanced Micro Devices, using the New Zealand phrase equivalent to ‘godspeed’.”

Tua Much

Tua Much

It wasn’t his destiny this time. Pre- and post-fight opinion on Tua-Lennox.Pre in the Sunday Times, New York Daily News, USA Today and the Scotsman. Tua’s toxic hair at News24. Post in Las Vegas Sun, New York and Daily News.

Dr MacDiarmid and His Fantastic Electric Plastic

Dr MacDiarmid and His Fantastic Electric Plastic

New Zealand’s Nobel duo becomes a trio; Masterton-born and Wellington-educated chemist Alan MacDiarmid has joined Ernest Rutherford and Maurice Wilkins as a Nobel Prize (chemistry) laureate. MacDiarmid and his two colleagues discovere conductive plastics which have been…

Maori Culture Previewed on USA Today

Maori Culture Previewed on USA Today

“The indigenous people of New Zealand are spotlighted at Maori Culture including historical background, portraits and even a cookbook.”

Dotcom Carnage Paves the Way for Kiwi Hard Science

Dotcom Carnage Paves the Way for Kiwi Hard Science

USA Today speculates that the dotcom slump will see investors’ interest return to science-based  research companies, including LifeF/x, which is creating realistic-looking, computer-generated talking heads for use on Web sites. The company is building on years of…

Wilson Picked in All-Star Futures Game

Wilson Picked in All-Star Futures Game

Kiwi baseball player Travis Wilson, who is a rookie with the Atlanta Braves, has been selected to play in the US vs the World All-Star Futures Game – a strong indication that he’s on track to…

Serendipity the Secret to Cyber-Success

Serendipity the Secret to Cyber-Success

“Human beings, by and large don’t know what they’re interested in,’ says Denis Dutton, a professor in New Zealand who started and edits the highly accliamed Arts and Letters Daily, perhaps the most eclectic,…

Tua to Lewis: “It’s Time to Face the Music”

Tua to Lewis: “It’s Time to Face the Music”

“The fans need to see David Tua destroy Lennox Lewis. He’s tailor-made for me.  I Respect what he’s accomplished, but I believe I have the style to knock Lennox Lewis out” …

Russell Crowe gets inside his character’s head

Russell Crowe gets inside his character’s head

Jeffrey Wigland, real-life whistleblower says Crowe, 22 years junior and a native of New Zealand “did a remarkable job .. he did things that made it feel very surreal for me, emotionally retching and…

FBI Feels Vengeance of Kiwi Hacker

FBI Feels Vengeance of Kiwi Hacker

e-summit Calls for Vigilance as the FBI tightened its focus on a small number of suspects.

Check Out This Landscape of Timely Tastes

Check Out This Landscape of Timely Tastes

Are you still reeling from the way your guests drained your wine supply during those blowout millennium parties?

Not Crowing About Stardom

Not Crowing About Stardom

Russell Crowe was the darling of the early awards season, picking up a slew of accolades for his role as a tobacco industry whistle-blower in The Insider.