Wellywood Story
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…
Tag Archives: Wellington
Kiwi “Who Was Who” Goes Online
A fantastic resource for exploring over 3000 NZer’s who have ‘made their mark’ on our history. The Dictionary of New Zealand Biography puts the entire contents of the previous print Dictionary of New Zealand Biography…
Kiwi Prof Named Head of International Federation of Accountants
Professor of Accounting and Public Policy at Victoria University, Wellington, Ian Ball named chief executive of the world’s top accountancy body, the New York based International Federation of Accountants. “Ian is ideally suited to lead IFAC during…
NZ: Stroppy Sheilas & Mana Wahines
Hauling a caravan behind a vintage Valiant, the Adventure Divas crew do New Zealand. Along the way they shoot pool with young film-maker Sima Urale, chill in Wellington with documentarian Gaylene Preston, are welcomed into the…
Progressive Governance
Prime Minister Helen Clark joins leaders of “third way” governments from five continents at a Progressive Governance Conference in Stockholm. “The post-September 11 environment requires not just a military response but much broader international cooperation”, says Helen Clark. “If…
89 All Out!
“England were routed by an undeniably better team”, proclaims The Guardian, as New Zealand dismisses the poms for their second lowest one-day score ever (80) in the 2nd ODI in Wellington. Meanwhile Stephen…
A Beautiful Mind
Wellington-born Russell Crowe, who last year won an Oscar for his lead role in Gladiator, pulls off the second biggest win of his career – a Golden Globe for best actor, in A Beautiful…
The Peoples’ Choice
“New Zealand’s most revered sportsman”, Michael Campbell, finishes a gallant second at the NZ Golf Open, five strokes ahead of world No 1 Tiger Woods. Back in the clubhouse, Campbell announces he will allocate to children’s charities…
Internet Oscars
Wellington web firm Click Suite scoops the internet equivalent of an Oscar at the European Multimedia Awards. The company won the business training award for its ‘Find the Lady’ CD-Rom, designed to inspire…
“Gale From the Sea” Laid to Rest
More than 6ft tall, handsome and with the build of a rugby lock forward (which he was), John Platts-Mills blew into the English House of Commons as Labour MP in 1945 “like a gale…
Bridging the Gap
The Computers in Homes initiative based in Wellington has received international recognition for helping bridge the digital divide. So far, over 300 computers have been distributed to those who would most benefit. The Stockholm…
Remote Control
Wellington design student Rodney Mackrell has won the top prize in a $46,000 competition, run by Korean giant LG Electronics. His “cellular remote” is a pocket-sized device that operates as a cellphone with the fold-out screen allowing…
Wgtn Saatchis in world top-10
In a volume compiled by editors of graphic design bible Graphis Saatchi & Saatchi’s Wellington office, originator of the award winning Toyota bugger and Adidas All Black haka campaigns (left), makes the world top-10…
Fusion Capital
The Independent takes a tour through the capital’s cultural collage: fusion cooking, Te Papa, cafes, Mansfield, transexual MPs, colonial history and Pacific awakenings, and finds in the cosmopolitan brew that “It is hard to know which flavour…
Wellington or Dunedin?
Is Wellington wonderful or should you skip the capital for the joys of the deep south?
Abandoning “Captain Calamity”
Crew-member Rob Salvidge said goodbye to round-the-world challenger Tony Bullimore at “a late-night cook-up in a Maori taxi-drivers’ cafe in Wellington”.
Smells Good
Scientists at Wellington’s Industrial Research have been getting a bit sniffing about their new “electronic nose”, designed to help detect chemical spills and fires.
Must do Today: Production, Script, Light
Wellington-born Richard Curtis penned the Bridget screen adaptation: one of Britain’s “cleverest screenwriters” in LA Times and “a virtuoso at devising horrific embarrassments for his protagonists,” in Slate. Rounding out the kiwi trio, Stuart…
Green Edge
The Greens are a presence in parliaments around the world – the revolution started in Wellington.
Cisco of the South
Funky Wellington’s natural glories make the city “a superior urban roost with a view, a mini-San Francisco”.
Sexy Collette
Wellington-trained Aus-based designer Collette Dinnigan’s international reputation makes her Australasia’s most prolific fashion designer, conjuring for all shapes and sizes “unashamedly feminine, decorative and sexy creations that hug your body and delight your spirit”…
Edge Unity
“There are no two countries in the world that are closer historically, culturally and economically than Australia and New Zealand,” stated Australian PM John Howard on a friendship visit, claiming a “relationship that has substance and durability…
Compudigm is Watching You
Wellington compu-data wizards Compudigm nominated for prestigious 2001 Computerworld Honours (Smithsonian). The nomination recognises the “spectacular success” of Compudigm’s Telstra Sydney Olympics Project.
Furry Love
Wellington residents disturbed by amorous possums engage in chemical warfare to keep the peace.
Living Well
Buzzy Auckland hits the big time, ranked 7th best-living city world-wide. Wellington also cruised high, beating London, Paris and New York at 23rd equal.
No talk, just sex
Intimacy is a smouldering film about a man who is living in a basement in south London who has a sex affair with a woman at his place every Wednesday afternoon. They don’t talk,…
Capital Style
“Deregulation and the cosmopolitan tastes of a new generation of globe trotting Kiwis have transformed Wellington from a gray town for civil servants into a cultural haven with a thriving cafe scene, a budding movie industry, a…
Go Russell, go!
“What we do in life/echoes in eternity.” Russell “Maximus” Crowe gets a second Best Actor nomination (last year was for The Insider), continuing a fine run of Wellington actors and filmmakers who have been…
Refresher Course
“New Zealand celebrates its National Day today. Situated in the South Pacific Ocean southeast of Australia, it is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations. It has an area of 27,534 square kilometers. Its…
Ringing up the gold
Lord of the Rings has brought the gold into Wellington, the city of “tearooms and sea views”. View the New Zealand setting in the round at the official site.
Is That a Wallet in Your Sofa or Are You Just Pleased to See Me?
After 57 years apart US marine Chuck Herrler was reunited with his wallet, courtesy of Wellington woman Louise Alliston, who noticed a strange bulge in the arm of her second-hand sofa.
Cold Shoulder
Warming-swarming says Wellington scientist Vincent Gray, whose anti-global warming beliefs challenge scientific orthodoxy.
Escape from Middle Earth
With a $100 000 budget and all the glamour Wellington could muster, the Rings wrap party was like “something straight out of Tolkien”.
Circus Ribbons
Wellington performers staged a twelve hour festival in support of international White Ribbon Day, organised to raise awareness of violence against women.
Muscling In
Wellington will host the 2002 World Bodybuilding Championships. The influx of talent should put paid to the brain-drain hysteria.
Stadium award
“The trend has finally swung away from the exaggeration of post-modernism … Buildings are now plain, restrained and professional.” Capturing the mood, Wellington’s WestpacTrust Stadium picked up the international section at the Australian National…
Well-ing-ton!
Wellington took out the NPC, beating a Canterbury side that fielded 12 AB’s in the starting line up. International stars did their bit for the Lions, with Lomu scoring twice and Cullen setting up for Inoki…
Acing It
Wellington hair maestro Constantin Harach played his cards right to win the Moscow International Poker Tournament Pot Limit Omaha: “Aram rolls over 8K510 and Constantin 6QJA. Constantin’s up and down straight is made with a K…
Kava Kafuffle
Unusual intoxicant attracts international notice. A Wellington man was picked up for driving erratically after consuming kava, a ceremonial drink in many Pacific Island communities.
LA Love
The LA Times runs a triumvirate of New Zealand travel features: Compact New Zealand, Wellington and comment from Fabio, King of Hearts: “They have the most amazing lakes. They’re huge and as deep as the mountains are high”.
Aria noms for Shihad
Shihad, hard edge rockers of Wellington, now Melbourne, have three nominations for the Australian Recording Industry Awards, the Arias: best group, best album and best rock album.
Through Now
Seepower, global/ Wellington IT company Compudigm’s data visualisation software, delivered smooth connection of more than 500,000 calls from Stadium Australia on the opening day of the Olympics.
Why do it yourself when you can play a CD?
Wellington coffee czar Geoff Marsland has issued a CD aimed at the neighbours – at annoying them that is. The CD features the noise of a lawnmower and runs for 64 minutes. “If your neighbours have…
Phar Lap’s Hide on Display Again After Three Years in Storage
“The hide is in Melbourne, the heart in Canberra. The bones are in Wellington, the big delicate skeleton of a horse who used to mean business.” (from ‘Phar Lap’, by Bill Manhire)
Ruskies Clone NZ Lawyers
“A computer programmer from St Petersburg has cloned a New Zealand law firm’s website and changed its details to make it appear Russian. Patent attorney A J Park’s website was plagarised down to the last detail:…
Sssshhh! Silence is Regulated Golden
A multiplex in Birmingham banning kissing in its cinemas prompted the BBC to investigate cinema etiquette leading them to uncover the news that an independent cinema in Wellington, New Zealand, banned crisps from its…
Cyber-policing
In Porirua, New Zealand, the thin blue line has turned into the thin blue URL in the fight against crime. Police have decided to enlist the use of a website as a way to…
Gaping Gandalf
In the The Grey Book, acclaimed actor Sir Ian McKellen’s diary of the Lord of the Rings film shoot, McKellen raves about the scenery: “New Zealand would amaze and enrapture anyone who responds to the wild landscapes of…
Wellywood
Hobbits boost the local carpentry trade: “They haven’t begun construction of a new Hollywood sign yet on the steep hills that encircle New Zealand`s capital city of Wellington, but it would not be surprising…
Cruising New Zealand: Come Aboard We’re Expecting You …
Cruising is the ideal way to see New Zealand, in nine days The Times correspondent saw things exciting and new: the spectacular Marlborough Sounds, dazzlingly beautiful Picton Harbour, Wellington, “a city impossible to absorb in a day”,…
Windy Wellington Challenges the Eternal Spirit of the Olympic Flame
NZ Prime Minister Helen Clark was forced to take an unscheduled breather on the Olympic Torch Relay when “Windy” Wellington remained true to name. As the Prime Minister jogged down the stairs of Parliament House in the…
Superstar Jonah Shows that He’s got Grass-roots
Rugby superstar Jonah Lomu, shows he still knows what the game’s all about in the professional era, and will play for a local club in the Wellington second division club rugby competition.
Voon New Zealand Fashion Showcased at Lucire
Wellington designer Sophie Voon brings her distinctively antipodean dresses to the world; from the ‘Pavlova’ (left with buzzy bee) in white, to the ‘Southern Cross’ in mauve. Her latest edition of influential fashion magazine…
Black Holes, Time Travel and Ramjets
Vanessa Collingridge explores the cosmic questions with a little help from Te Papa: “The nearest I’ve ever been to wormholes as entertainment was in a New Zealand museum …”
Hotspots: Wellington, New Zealand
With more cafes per capita than New York, the city has been transformed into one of the country’s leading holiday destinations “… whether you choose to eat, drink or just relax you can’t escape Wellington’s beautiful…
Wellington: A Village with Skyscrapers
“Kia-ora Wellington: All the high-tech architecture in the world cannot disguise the fact that New Zealand’s capital city is still a village at heart. Paul Gogarty ventures into a very enjoyable timewarp”.
